Monroe County Community College Holiday Party
Posted on 21 December 2007 under Catering etc., Eat This Blog, Holidays, Special Events | 4 Comments
I didn’t put this plate together. Neither did one of the many chefs working on yesterday’s holiday luncheon for the 240 staff and faculty at Monroe County Community College. This was just some guy who’d made up his own plate. I stopped him for a few seconds as he went by, and shot this photo before he went to sit down to enjoy his holiday lunch on his last day of work at the college prior to the holiday break.
Catherine Cousino of the college’s Frog Leg Bistro had asked me to be there yesterday specifically to shoot photos of both the food and the proceedings, and I was all too happy to simply look for decent shots, and stay out of the way! When I got to the dining room at the college at about 9:30 yesterday morning, Catherine and her staff had already been working for almost three hours. I’d barely gotten into the door and hadn’t even taken my coat of yet when I lined up this shot of the tables in the dining room. Of course right away one of the school’s administrators came up with the first instance of the seemingly common phrase, “Can I help you with something??” I explained that I was there at Catherine’s request. He was happy with that, and was on his way. This happened at least three times that I remember, possibly more! For next year’s festivities, I think I should probably wear a nametag …
Back in the Bistro’s large catering kitchen, one of the busier prep stations was where Molly and Alicia, both current students in Monroe County Community College’s Associate of Applied Science Degree program with Specialization in Culinary Skills and Management, were putting together a few hundred desserts. From Molly’s iced-and-decorated sugar cookies, to Chef Cedric’s rich chocolate cake medallions, to Alicia’s cherry pies, chocolate pecan pies and fresh apple pie with caramel, to Cedric’s beautiful Buche de Noel, along with smaller desserts such as a pecan mock baklava and chocolate brownies with shaved white chocolate, Molly and Alicia took care of each dessert individually. Once the desserts were ready, loaded onto a speed rack and taken out to the dining room, the girls built an amazing dessert table, with each piece arranged perfectly for a mouth-watering presentation to a large crowd. I lost track of how many pieces of how many types of desserts the girls prepped for this incredible dessert table, and the work took them almost the entire morning to accomplish. Alicia actually insisted I wait before taking any shots of the end result so she could position each and every dish just so, so each dessert would stand on its own within the photo you see here. The whole of it, each and every dessert, and various levels on the final table, was something I think the girls were quite proud of.
Returning to the kitchen while Molly and Alicia finished the dessert buffet, I found the various other dishes for the holiday lunch were taking shape. Chef Tad made about four gallons of Alfredo sauce for the multi-colored farfalle, or “bow-tie”, pasta, while a chunky marinara sauce was also made for those diners who would prefer it with the pasta. Towering over the rest of the crew, Michael took care of the redskin mashed potatoes, which was coming together alongside a number of huge sections of slow-roasted roast beef. Chef Cedric concentrated on the steamed al denté vegetables with butter and 15 Million Spice, while Catherine and Claudia ensured each of the slow-roasted hams, custom cut for the occasion by a local butcher, were glazed to perfection and piping hot.
The college’s faculty and staff were more than punctual for this lunch! People started showing up shortly after 11:30 a.m., scoping out their tables, checking out the dessert buffet, and talking to the Bistro’s staff as final preparations continued. Two serving lines had been created in the room behind the culinary program’s kitchen, with five ornate chafing dishes on each line, along with a carving station at the far ends. The line of guests in the hallway outside the serving room started forming at about five minutes before noon and grew rapidly as more-and-more guests arrived from across the campus. The anticipated number of guests was 240, and it seemed as though the final number was quite close to that preliminary estimate. Once the guests were finally able to enter the serving room, lines formed on either side of each of the serving lines and, with Chef Tad and Chef Cedric carving the roast beef, all the guest were able to work their way through the room and back to their tables rather rapidly.
Along with the massive dessert buffet in the dining room and the two serving lines in the smaller room off the Culinary Arts kitchen, the dining room also contained two smaller tables. Here were large bins of various types of dinner rolls, along with huge bowls of freshly-made Ceaser Salad topped with mounds of shredded parmesan cheese. The drink counter in the dining room had also been commandeered. Available drinks were coffee, ice tea, and a made-from-scratch punch made of a mix of orange and cranberry juices. All the guests seemd quite happy with what was available for their holiday meal, many of them thanking the Bistro’s staff and exclaiming about how wonderful the food was.
Finally, after most of the guests had finished their meal and the immense stack of china plates and dirty utensils were on their way to the dishawashing room, the staff of the Frog Leg Bistro were finally able to break down one of the serving lines, and then enjoy their own work at a stand-up meal at one of the Bistro’s prep stations. When I was growing up my mom had taught me the cook always eats last, regardless of how hungry they might be. This hard-working crew is proof of how much this statement still holds true today. It was after 1 p.m. when they were finally able to have their own lunch, having started work on the meal about 6 hours before. There was simply no time to do otherwise, given the scheduled time of the lunch for the guests. This is just a small part of why these kinds of folks deserve considerable respect.
I had grabbed a couple small to-go containers and headed to the remains of the dessert buffet when I found Alicia staring at the beautiful Buche de Noel her guy Chef Cedric had made. Without extra plates at this buffet, and without anyone thinking about cutting this amazing dessert … as seen below, the darned thing was still in one piece while most of the guests had already left! We felt so bad for Ced, who had literally spent hours creating this dessert. Alicia and Ced took the flowery left end for themselves, and I cut off about the next four inches to take home. A couple more pieces were then cut by some of the guests who’d stayed longer before Catherine decided to save the rest of the dessert for another event.
This was an amazing meal. Kudos to all the folks at the Frog Leg Bistro at Monroe County Community College who worked so hard to make it happen.
The Busy-Ness Of It All
Posted on 21 October 2007 under Catering etc. | No Comments
I know, this has been a longer break than usual, but the end of this past week just wore me out! As the election is just a little more than a couple weeks away, the local campaign for Mayor is heating up … unfortunately, more than should be necessary for a town of 1,800 people. But we’re plowing our way through with laughter, and relaxation when we can get it.
I’m only blogging long enough this morning to update you on a couple things:
- As there’s now a decent video camera here, you’ll be seeing some of our test videos with Chef Tad as he and I start gearing up for other projects.
- Today’s out third anniversary … so-o-o-o-o-o …
I’ll blog again tomorrow about this evening’s dinner. Hope everyone has a great day!
Adam’s Omelets
Posted on 2 October 2007 under Catering etc., Recipes | 4 Comments
So, what do you do when you’ve got a 14-year-old like this one, who can whip up the kind of omelet you see in the above photo? That’s right, ya’ take him on the road! This is the same Adam of mine who lost his head for the camera a few posts back. In this image to the left, he’s actually cooking the omelet in the above pic. Turned out beautifully in my opinion. How cool is that? Here he’s in a small cottage in Canada using a pair of professional-grade butane stoves I’d picked up at an Asian grocery up in Ann Arbor, along with foodservice-grade WearEver Lincoln skillets with CoolTouch handles, which I’d gotten at GFS Marketplace. He made 10 omelets this past weekend, practicing for an omelet buffet he and I will be cooking for in mid-October. In this instance he’s used a store-brand olive oil, Egg Beaters, cubes of real ham, low-fat shredded cheese, and turkey bacon on the side with the toast. The previous day he was practicing with real bacon, and omelets made from real eggs mixed with 2% milk on both days. He’s getting pretty darn good at this. I think dad’s got some competition in the cooking area in this one. Bring it on, son! Dad’s so proud … 
‘Healthy’ Dining Undone at Subway
Posted on 16 September 2007 under Catering etc. | No Comments
Reuters is reporting that people who eat so-called “healthier” meals at restaurants end up not eating so healthy when they assume they have a little wiggle room. From the MSNBC version of the report:
“People think that the same 1,000-calorie meal has 159 fewer calories if it comes from Subway than if it comes from McDonalds,” Dr. Pierre Chandon, at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, told Reuters Health. “If they choose to consume this fictitious ’calorie credit’ on other food, and it they eat at Subway twice a week, they could gain an extra 4.9 pounds a year.”
Researchers used a number of tests to find out what was going on:
Next, the researchers offered people a coupon for a Big Mac (600 calories) or a Subway 12-inch Italian BMT sandwich (900 calories), and asked them whether they would like to order a drink or cookies with their sandwich. People eating the Subway sandwich were more likely to choose a large drink, less likely to opt for diet soda, and more likely to get cookies. This meant that, on average, they wound up consuming 1,011 calories, compared to 648 calories for the people given a McDonalds coupon.
The overall perception of where the diner is eating is what’s important here. People are assuming Subway is healthier simply because the chain makes that claim. Even the company name, Doctor’s Associates, can be misleading in terms of how people see the chain’s food. In 1965 Dr. Peter Buck, a nuclear physicist, loaned his friend Fred DeLuca $1000 to open a sandwich shop. That’s where the association with a doctor comes from for the company name.
Kinda makes you think, doesn’t it?
Whoop! There It Is! New BloggingMonroe Software
Posted on 14 September 2007 under Catering etc. | No Comments
Welll … it appears they’re tweaking the blogs here at BlogsMonroe.com, and have loaded a newer version of WordPress into the steerage. Unfortunately, it no longer shows descriptions for the links down the right sidebar. I’ll wait till the dust settles, then see if I can bring those back. As to the rest, she’ll hold together. [rumble!!] C’mon, baby, hold together …
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