Internship: Day 6, 10/19/05

Second day on the line, and I actually felt I had a little more of a grasp on things. I studied the menu and the prep sheet before going in, and I was able to remember more of what went with what. I’ve got the Endive Salad down (although I forgot the endive the first couple of times): endive with baby lettuces, potato, dijon, pancetta, and poached egg. I had a lot of trouble with the poached egg that goes on top, though. We keep a pot of simmering water, mixed with a little vinegar, on the back stove. When the salad comes up, the first thing that you do (which I also kept forgetting) is grab an egg, swirl the water, and drop the egg in. The swirling helps keep the egg compact. You then assemble the salad, mix it, and plate it. The egg perches on top. I tended to either break the egg trying to get it out of the water or onto the salad, or if I did manage to get it onto the salad intact, it often rolled off when I placed it on the counter for pickup. T says I have a nice hand with presentation, though—Chef likes the presentation to be tight with a fair amount of height, and I think I’m getting that down. My first career was graphic design, so I’m very visual—making things pretty is almost second nature. Making things pretty quickly is a little tougher, but that’s probably the least intimidating thing about this work. The hard part is keeping everything straight and organized, remembering all of the orders, and the timing. It’s like a dance, and I still have two left feet.