Tuesday, May 4, 2010

portland part three

a lot has changed since my trip to portland. mostly i changed jobs. the right way this time with a respectful letter of resignation, two weeks notice and a plan. i'm at local 123 now on the green belt of san pablo in berkeley, california.

i'll be making soup again. we have a sandwich on the menu that i made up called the salty goat. it has goat cheese, happy boy farms letttuce and my recipe for olive tapanade, with a whisper of orange zest and thyme. i'm a chef again. savory and sweet.

everyone has their own strengths in the kitchen, and every person i work with and job i have leaves me with a little something i learned. a little system or trick, a different way of doing something. even the people and jobs that i didn't like.

when i went to portland i knew i needed to get away and look at my life from a different angle. luckily i fell deeply back in love with food. when i arrived in portland and my sweet chefriend tressa introduced me to everyone as the first chef that she worked under i was in a fog of self doubt.

a few days later in her kitchen at home i teased and reprimanded her about chopping wet parsley. i saw her struggle to slice olives off of their pits. she didn't know that you can pit olives by crushing them under a juice glass. a good chef is a teacher.




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