1 - C

Mike, you are right. A chef invents, he/she creates. He/she runs the kitchen on paper per say. The sous chef makes sure that all of the gears are running right. He/she is the right hand man of the chef. Sometimes a chef has several sous chefs. A great chef mentors his sous chefs, to learn to grow, to take over his/her position. A chef wears many different hats. They are an account, marketing director, shrink, cook and sometimes an ASSHOLE. The restaurant business is so different from so many different jobs. We work when you are off on holiday or weekends. Are weekends are your week days. Our hours SUCK at best. We work with fire, oil, knives and people either on drugs or alcohol. I cannot tell you how many times I have burnt myself, or cut myself or have gotten into physical altercations. There have been times that I have cut myself and used CRAZY GLUE to stop the bleeding. Or have had to get stitches and I have pulled them out myself. Or the countless number of times that I have really burned myself really bad, that when I finally go to the hospital the Doctors yell at me for waiting so long. I am not but far, the best chef out there. I think I do a fair to good job at what I do. I love what I do and that is the difference I guess over some. One day I was having Chinese food and the fortune cookie spoke VOLUMES to me; it read “Choose a job that is a hobby and you will never work a day in your life.” BLAM; from right field that hit me! Don’t get me wrong, I have worked for some pretty shitty owners. At times, I have questioned what the hell I am doing. My best friend of 35 years has been telling me get out! My reply; “you are asking me not to breath!” Eventually, I will find that perfect fit, whether it will be my own or someone else’s that I run for them. My future in this business is endless. I will make something happen, because no one will do it for you, you have to do it for yourself. Life is not easy, if it were, then would there be such things as hunger, war or death? I can go on with all the old sayings but where will that get me. More and more I am leaning towards saving my money up and going to three different countries to refine my skills. I think there is SO MUCH OUT THERE FOR ME TO LEARN. “A wise man admits he knows nothing, while a stubborn man admits he knows everything.” Socrates said it the best. I am not a chef, I am a cook, I am a sponge that needs to learn. I live to eat not eat to live. I look at food as an art form not just eating. We use all of our senses when we eat. Our smell makes the others start or maybe it is the sight of a slice of pie. I just went back to my childhood city. I wanted a slice from ANGELOS CORNER. Why, memory. Food does that, invokes memory. That is a powerful product. No other thing, to me, does that. You could be 38 years old and remember being a teenager skipping school to have a slice, (sorry mom I skipped).

Oh the stories that I could tell you that I have seen in this business or what I have not seen cause of the industry. For starters, I do not know how many family functions I have missed. Or, how many parties that I have missed cause I was working. I have seen guys fall elbow deep into a 350 degree fryer. I have seen a bartender dry a martini glass and the stem brakes and slices (lengthwise) cut into her wrist. The gut wrenching scream of my name hunts me, still to this day. Oh and the fights with guests that I find myself in, some physical some verb. I cannot count how many times when I have fired an employee I hear, “GO FUCK YOUSELF!” My reply is “I have been told that so much I am an expert, and you should try it yourself.” I will never forget I had this cook that worked for me, he got caught smoking weed in his car before he punched in for his shift. When I cornered him about it, he fought me, and said and I quote “DUDE, I was not stoned. I know I took a hit but when I punched in I was fine.” If you know me, think animated facial expression (insert here, if you don’t think YOU ARE FUCKING HIGH TO B ARGUING WITH ME RIGHT NOW FACE) my words were “Are you kidding me, what you have magic weed. When you punched in, you were magically not stoned!” The fight went on for months. He asked every other employee to talk to me so he could get his job back. I mean, come on people, he is the reason why they’re warning labels on products. If he read the back of a shampoo bottle he would still be in the shower right now. Go, look at the back of your shampoo bottle I will wait….It says wet hair, apply leather rinse and repeat if necessary. He would still be there right now, folks, trust me.

Some friends have been telling me that I have to fine balance in my life. That life is not all about cooking and working on Chefffrey’s. To me, bite your tongue. Well, they are somewhat right. My ex girlfriend told me that a lot. “We are losing you again!” I would get so wrapped up in my work that I would forget to see what was right in front of me. My best friend would tell me, “Pick 5 things that you want to learn and then do it. Take a break from the food, the hussle and bussle of the business. Do what makes you happy, that something you have always wanted to learn to do and then do it. So, this week I started. It is all to find balance. I went to library and got a book out that has nothing to do with cooking, no really, stop laughing serious! NO really I did. It is important to find balance. I know too many chefs that have taken from us for not taking care of themselves. One mentor died at the age of 47, heart attack! He was not that much older than me. I come up with excuses to not go to the Doctor’s. I am busy or working on this or that. Well, this has been a long rant huh. What can we talk about food wise? Hum, what is the difference between a pastry chef and a chef? One more thing, is it important for a chef to know how to make desserts or pastries? Or, is it that a chef who is going to go on the Foodnetwork is suppose to know how to make pastries or desserts?