In the weeds

That's a term I've picked up quickly on in regards to a kitchen and well at least in class. Just Friday I found myself knee deep before I knew it, and it took a bit to get out of said weeds. If you're not sure what "in the weeds" means, think of it this way knee deep in crap, way behind. But I wasn't nearly in the weeds as much as the rest of my Group B partners. Let me back track, at the beginning of Skills II with so many students, we were split into groups. Of course being the oldest guy in class outside of Chef's Winter and Matt - everyone immediately looked to me for guidance.

I'm pretty anal retentive when it comes to lecture and demo notes, so much that when I'm doing home work I'll type out that days notes, print them out and put them in a binder with sheet protectors. So up until Friday I had been letting my group members take a look if needed. On Thursday Chef came up and quietly pulled me aside and asked me to not bring them, or at least let my group members fend for themselves.

Both Chef Winter and I watched in amazement as at least 3 members of our six person group were constantly in heavy weeds not to mention every time they turned around they were asking Chef what they needed to do next.

Here's an example.

On Friday we were to do the following:

1. Steamed Salmon with brown butter sauce
2. Poached Halibut with Lemon Buerre Blanc Sauce
3. Steamed Broccolini with melted butter
4. Par Boiled Green Beans which were to be used on Monday.

Pretty simple right?

I guess it wasn't for one person, who had not paid attention the day before in the demo and lecture. She plated her Halibut with not only the lemon buerre blanc but on a bed of green beans that were to be used on Monday. And then she had the audacity to be pissed about it. Hello, you didn't pay attention in the first place and now you're the one pissed at Chef? Holy crap woman, catch a friggin clue.

It was also due to this particular person and her roommate that our group White Bean soup project was an abject failure. Too gritty (beans weren't cooked enough), it sat in the walk in over night as we didn't get it plated in time. Though when I presented my plate, Chef gave me that knowing look. A couple days before 4 of our group was missing leaving two of us to do our work, and work that had been divided between group members the day before.

I've got to work on getting lest frustrated, and just plow forward. It was definatly a learning experience.