Week Nine - Eggs and Breakfast

Last night we took on the ever delicious breakfast. We chatted about eggs for a bit, went over some variations on things, talked about what happens to people who die while on a submarine (they get zipped into a body bag and put on deep freeze until the next resurfacing). Then Chef broke us up into five groups of two (Cake Lady got put on fruit platter alone) and off we went. I got put on Team Frittata, which turned out to be the most delicious one Chef has ever had. I'm not going to fool myself into thinking this is one of 7,000 that he's eaten, but I also know it's not the only. Frittatas, to me, have always been the everything but the kitchen sink of brunch items, so that's the plan of attack we took. I had to run downstairs and turn in my four page questionnaire on why I think I am capable of taking an on-line class (which had to be signed by an instructor vouching for me) so that I could register for the nutrition class Fall Quarter. Yes, everything this school makes its students do is ridiculous to a certain degree. So while I did that my partner in frittata set about gathering what ingredients we had per the recipe. When I got back she let me know we didn't have cilantro (yay since I really can't stand it) or chicken. Since we *did* have about 17 lbs of bacon (only a slight exaggeration) we decided to go with that and added more vegetables. This is what I ended up putting together (with slicing and shredding done by my partner):

I diced up the bacon and put that on the stove. While that was rendering, she worked on chopping up garlic, jalapeno, slicing mushrooms, and grating cheddar. I julienned some red bell peppers and got the salt, pepper, and cumin ready. Using some of the bacon fat, I sauteed the vegetables, jalapeno, and garlic, oh! and some green onions and then scrambled in the seasoned eggs until they were just set. Topped it all with some shredded cheddar and put it in the salamander. I want one. Those things are really just amazing and so incredibly useful. So, we were done within an hour, including cleanup. That left us plenty of time to wander about from team to team helping as they needed.

I ended up helping Cake Lady with the fruit. She was staring at the pineapple wondering how to core it. I suggested we slice it and then use the ring sets that came with the baking and pastry peoples' kits to core the slices and then use a larger one to make rings. She didn't have hers with her, so we got someone else's. About 45 minutes later, I was over at the stoves working with Team Crepe when she called over to me asking who I had gotten the rings from. Assuming she was asking so that she could give them back, I let her know and didn't think anything more of it. Turns out Uppity had asked CL earlier in the evening for her ring set and CL had let her know she didn't have hers with her. (Uppity wanted to use the large one to form her pancakes. I know...just...sigh.) So when Uppity saw that CL had rings, she walked over and said "You didn't have to lie to me about the ring sets. You could have just told me you didn't want me using them." That's when CL yelled out to me asking from whom I had gotten the rings. I just. Wow. But Uppity was in rare form people. She did not stop talking all night, except when I would catch her just staring at me, which I must say was a bit disconcerting. She went to every single student, except yours truly, to comment on how they were doing whatever it was they were doing wrong. She was like a drill instructor from hell. Absolutely out of line and ridiculous. At one point, Chef asked me to make him a shrimp and avocado omelette. I started prepping for it, but after literally one minute at the stoves listening to her, I had to walk away. Which is exactly what I told him when he asked about his omelette twenty minutes later. I also pointed out that I really didn't want to have to deal with her bitching about being in a room with shrimp yet again (she's allergic). He agreed.

Let me say, I get that people have food allergies and I fully understand that they can be very serious, to the point of life threatening. I am incredibly careful when working with shellfish in the class because we have three people who are allergic. However, two of those people choose to work in another kitchen when we're working with shellfish. She does not. She stays and then complains and bitches and wheezes the entire time. Look - we get that you're allergic. STOP BEING SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN. Either it's a bad allergy and you shouldn't be around it, or it's a manageable one and you can. You can't have it both ways. Okay. Sorry for the rant but man she was Out. Of. Control. last night. Sigh.

I was really hoping she wouldn't be in Baking and Pastry next quarter, but she is. I continue to hold out hope that Chef F will not stand for her tomfoolery. I need to track him down tomorrow and see if he's putting a team together for a competition that was just announced by the Research Chefs Association. He's the only faculty member, that I know of, who is a member and I am the only student I'm aware of who is a member, so I'm really hoping to get in early with him on this. Keep your fingers crossed!

Tonight we do more of the same. Cook bacon. Use up the four loaves of white bread and 10 tons of fruit and 8 dozen eggs on the cart. It's going to be a madhouse.