Same routine, wake up, put life together and head to Melange. I had a feeling that today was going to be a good day. This feeling was only compounded when I showed up at 7 and Tio was hard at work making tacos. Oh how he loves his tacos. He mad some wonderful breakfast tacos with eggs, fried tortilla strips, and other things in it and black beans. A great way to start the day.
Then things got rolling. I was helping chef John make 25 pounds of grilled vegetables, but we ran into a problem. He assumed we were preparing them the same way he had before which was cutting the zucchini and squash into half moons while julienning the red peppers and onions then cooking them on the flat top. After 25 pounds of cut veg were made he discovered he had assumed wrong. They wanted them cut into long strips and then actually grilled. He did not take this very well and went on a tangent about how there is no communication between the sales staff and the kitchen, we make things one way and then as we are sending them out the door they tell us we did them wrong for the way they wanted it, and so on. It was a very heated moment. I told him I would take care of it, I found Linda, asked her how she wanted them and then moved on from there.
Grilling veg in general is not my favorite activity. You use really high heat, you have to do a lot of them and I usually burn myself. This time was no exception except for the placement of the grill in this kitchen. It was back in the corner, with a 6 foot flattop right next to it. When you get both of those item cranking at full heat and people are trying to cook on them, that corner turns into Satan's furnace. The heat from the grill keeps you leaning back while the grease and steam from the flat top keep hitting your left side. You feel like you are dancing the way you have to move around so much. But I sucked it up and perfectly grilled zucchinis, squash, eggplant, red onions, mushrooms and red peppers. I then pattered them up and sent them out the door.
Tonight I was working an event at "The Ranch". A good client and friend of Lind's has a ranch about an hour east of Houston where he does corporate team buildings with his company,"The Cowboy Solution". Here people come in and ride and train horses, sleep in a really cool converted barn, and do all sorts of cowboy things. Well tonight at the Ranch it was his wedding night, number 4 i believe. And everyone was very excited. The menu was broken up into two different stations, city and country. His new bride lived in the city and he was going to keep living in the country, so aptly named.
Passed Apps
Fried Asparagus Spears, Dill Pickle chips and Stuffed Olives (stuffed with pimento, jalapeno or blue cheese), served with an avocado ninfa sauce.
Fried crab cakes topped with a tomato basil jam
Roasted corn quesadillas with sour cream and jalapenos
Tomato consume shooters with avocado, jalapeno, cilantro, red pepper and tomato garnishes
Country
Fried green tomatoes topped with shred lettuce, bacon, and thousand island dressing
Roasted red potatoes stuffed with twice baked potato filling topped with BBQ Brisket
Seared grits cakes topped with pulled pork
Chimichurri grilled and sliced tenderloin
City
Margarita Salmon
Tear drop tomatoes, red and yellow, with buccacini and a basil vinaigrette
Grilled veg platter
Grilled marinated shrimp skewers
The plan was to bring deep fryers and fry all the items on site, but as soon as i plugged one in it flipped the breaker. So there I am fry station set up inside on a kitchen pot, on a 4 burner electric stove that's near death, and i start the operation up. I now fully understand why Lon never frys anything on site, this is just a pain and its so messy! But myself, the Sous Chef, Andrew, and his wife kept everything running and the buffet full. After all the plating was done and the cake was being eaten Andrew gathered us up and we were about to take off... that's when it happened.
"My car has about 6 miles left of gas and the nearest station is 5 miles away. Can you please fill it up, I don't want to do that by myself at midnight." Linda asks very nicely.
"Sure, no issue." Plus I really like her car, a little Lexus sports car.
Andrew and I drive it over to the station and start filling it up. Apparently premium gas is not in high demand out there so they don't keep a lot on hand. It took 15 minutes to put $30 worth in her tank. We said that was enough to get back and were heading out. Well almost. Her car doesn't have a key per say. Its a touch start, and you have to have your foot on the break to start it. I was unaware. So here I am punching a button trying to start this car and all it does in response is blink some lights at me. I find the key hold it up to the wheel, yell for quite a while then out of frustration hit the breaks and the starter.... there we go. I drop her car back at the Ranch then we head home.
Right as I am getting in my car, I left it at the shop because i left with Andrew from there, I get a call.
"Do you have my car keys?"
"No, why?"
"The car won't start, and if they are somewhere inside the car, the car will start. You must have them." Dread is all I feel. I search everything, Andrew searches everything, we come up with nothing.
"Maybe it fell out of the car, look around the drivers side door."
"Nothing, well maybe someone will have to come pick me up." On that drive, through the stick with no lights after this day was asking for trouble.
"No worries, I will get a ride back with the crew and pick up a spare car from the company."
So that's how I went to sleep, thinking that I had just lost a $250-300 key for my most gracious hosts Lexus. Man tomorrow had better be better than this.
Stewart Lane
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