Green Days

Days 81 and 82

Arugula. Frisee. Mache. Greens are taking over my life.

The first (official) two days of Level 5 I spent making salads at the garde manger station. Monday it was a chicken salad, today it was a seasonal salad. Too bad the orders weren't flying in—I spent more time prepping for the dishes than actually making them for customers.

It's OK, though. I know the time will come when I'm completely overwhelmed with dishes. Tomorrow is a start: I'm on escargot duty, which is one of the more popular appetizers. I'm crossing my fingers for at least a handful of orders.

I'm just hoping the day doesn't move at a snail's pace.

I was awoken from the slow day—ahem, days—post-class when I attended my second demo with Jacques Torres. He showed the students how to make croissants, pain au

chocolat and rum cream-filled brioche doughnuts. Amazing. Seriously, his movements are so fluid, you can tell he's been doing this for years.

When I arrived in the culinary theater, a camera crew was camped out. Apparently, they were filming a Jacques Torres iPhone app and the audience was part of it. Now that's a first for me.

Just wish there was an app that would magically write my menu project...