Work is going good.

I am getting paid, it is minimum wage but i think that it will so i can save up for japan.
I am getting good! I am finally starting to get the hang of the line (not that i was doing bad before, but it was still a little stressful and I would make a couple of mistakes (such as how much salad to put in the bowl)). I don't make those mistakes anymore, and I still keep my cool when a couple of tickets pile up.
The other day Jay took the day off, so Vance was covering for him and I was on the line, after about half of that time chef took over the grill, I was on a role so there was no way that I was going to give up my spot when Vance came over and tried to help. In my mind I was like "Hell nah, Back off this is my station), but loud i did not really say anything and just demonstrated that i had everything down and that i did not need any help, after the rush chef left and Vance went back to the grill we finished up, It was a great night.

This week has been good, I have worked on the line everyday that I have been there And I am pretty sure that my suspicion that Jay hates me was all in my head. According to Vance it turns out that they last grill chef was a homosexual, I had no idea, just thought that it is interesting. in no way dose that change my view of him and I still want to work with him again if I stay in Utah (please god no).

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I had a hard time deciding whether to name this post "$$$$" or just "getting paid now mother F*kers!", but ether way, I am getting paid now.
as you probably have read, I have worked on the line in no specific schedule, and the current pantry chef (Vance) was working six days a week, lunch and dinner service and he was starting to get burnt out, so I took the opportunity to talk to Chef Peter about working on the line on a regular basis... And he happy to oblige. after a bout a week thought nothing had happened and he made no mention of it ,so I brought it up a second time, he said that he was waiting for it to get busy, but he was still confident on letting me on the line. the next workday I was told that i will start working Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and That i should be working on the line most of those days.

School buring me out.

I love working at the chefs table, I look forward to it and with everything going so well there it is making it extremely hard to stand school, both MATC and Walden. I am failing my AP US gov class, and not doing too hot in any of the other classes. At MATC I am having that great of a time, I can't afford any of the books that I need and I am not really getting along well with anyone. about three people from my first year class are in the second year class, and I did not really talk to any of them, the rest of them where all in Nancy morning class, so they all have this tight bond that I am not in.
Although I do feel like I am starting to get along with the two people I am in a group in (Roberto & Juan).
But Tonight I was doing a Catering Dinner, I had a hand in about 60% of every dish that went out, but the cool thing was that I worked the grill cooking all the steaks, needless to say there was a lot at steak with my job (pun intended. I cooked all of them great ( a couple where not perfect), but none of them came back, I felt great because I feel that I am needed at MATC when I do caterings, I am given big jobs and am left to do it without supervision, Which is nice because at chefs table I don't feel needed at all, I am useful, but not needed.

After the dinner (which we got done with at like seven thirty) Me and my ride went off and hung out with some of the other people that where at the catering. I hated the frozen yogurt shop that we went to (It was all colorful and happy). Although I was not really enjoying myself it was nice to be around people after work and blow off some steam, I don't do that at the chefs table, I am so much younger then everyone there that I would never really do anything not work related with them. After the frozen yogurt shop we went to one of the peoples houses and hung out and talked a little, her parents where also talking with us it was a little weird, but not that much. by the time that I got home it was about eleven thirty, but I am okay with that.

This was supposed to be a short post, but I guess not.

I think that I may be a masochist

I think that I may be a masochist because I have Just agreed to start working at MATC, I am on the payroll now. Don't get me wrong, YAY MONEY!!!! but this means that I am going to be going to high school, Culinary school, Internship at chefs table and working a catering job. And on top of that I somehow joined the basketball team at my school (I don't even like basketball.
I am hoping that when the time comes for me to ask for money from chef peter that getting paid at MATC will give me some extra leverage.

this week, saterday the 8th 2011

This week was a good one, Fryday was super busy and I got to work the line a little bit, but I also helped with the party that the chefs table was hosting, overall we had about 160 people on. They best part happened after service though. I was talking to Vance and he was saying how the hours where waying on him, he works lunch and dinner service every day with only a two hour break, 6 days a week. It is not hard to see how you could get burnt out being worked liked that, So I talked to chef peter as he was leaving, as I asked if i could "Lighten the load" A large smile came across his face and said a very enthusiastic yes, and seemed very happy. So it looks like I may be getting to work the line on more of a schedule, awwwwww...yeah. I am hoping that the more work I do on the line the sooner I will get paid.

Saturday, I was not needed as much, but there was a catering for a BYU football game, so I went to that with chef troy. I gave vance a ride home because I had the car, other then that It was a basic night.

My First Week At The Chef's Table

Well the first week was eventful (considering that it has been me first real look into a real restaurant).
There was just one little hiccup that first day, I was supposed to a statement from my parents saying that they would not sue the restaurant if/when I hurt myself, I was just planning on having them write something on a spiral sheet, but on my way there my father that that it was a better idea to run to his office (with ten minutes till I was supposed to be there) and wrote something that seem to come from a lawyer. by the time we got out of his office we had five minutes left, luckily my father drives a slick black jaguar and was able to speed me there, right on time. when I opened the door the first person that I talked to was one of the chefs, troy. they kitchen was one of the smallest I have seen, with about two and a half feet in between the line and the pass, and a small back room for prep. after talking with troy about what I was expecting and about what I was going to do. after talking with troy he handed me off to a man named mark (or Marco), He was in charge of pantry. I was helping prep mostly, but I also paid close attention to the dishes.
After about the clock hit 4:00 Mark left for school (he attends the UVU culinary arts program). soon after the other pantry chef Vance arrived. I continued to prep and clean, still just getting used to the kitchen and the way it works. I left at about six - six thirty, due to the lack of things to prep by the end of the day.

I went in every day at about 9:00 - 9:30 AM, leaving around six. I later met the other chefs.
there is Romero, a Hispanic man who works the main line.
there is also Cameron, he works the grill, For some reason I feel that he is the one that i need to impress, don't know why though.
there is Emilio the dishwasher, he is from Mexico and dose not speak a lot of English, listening to him talk to the other chefs I have picked up a little more Spanish, but they are all insults.
and finally there is peter, the other chef and owner, the first thing he dose when he comes in is greet everyone in the restaurant enthusiastically, he is a very happy person and seems to be a great chef.

The kitchen dynamic is strange to say the lest (in my opinion that is a good thing) and seemingly random times the kitchen staff may make some sort of animal sounds or cartoonish laughter. There is also a surprisingly lot of ass-grabbing, between the men. I guess the small kitchen dose stuff to you, it is all playful though (no homo).

I have loved my first week at the chefs table, i am so lucky to have gotten this.

FINALLY!!!

Yesterday was the first day of august and at the beginning of the summer the Chefs Table told me to call back in august. So i picked up the phone at a slow hour of the day and called, but the chef was unlivable. The waiter said that he wanted my contact info and that was probably the best news i have herd all summer, not that that ment anything, but the face that they didn't say no, I gave then my e-mail (witch is the best way to contact me due to me not having a cellphone.)

Today I woke up to do the thing I hate most in this world (and if you read my last post you would know what I am talking about, but if you did not I am talking about yard work) so after I got home I was pretty tired and a little bit angry, I picked up to liters of Cokeacola and walked to my computer and as always I checked my face book and e-mail, as I was looking threw my e-mails I say that a chef troy had e-mailed me, and this is what it said:

Ethan,
Sorry I didn't have time to talk to you today. I would however like to have you come by the restaurant so I can meet you. I think you would have a great learning experience here at CT.
Would this be an official internship? or just you bettering yourself skills wise?


Call me on Tuesday if you get a chance.

Thanks!
Troy

I was slap jawed, the chefs table! one of the only fine dining restaurant in the Provo/Orem area sounds like they want me to work with them! yes! My emotions instantly turned into joy and excitement!
I could not get My hopes up to high though. I read the e-mail at about 1:30 PM, I did not want to call in the middle of lunch service. so I waited till 3:00 PM. I was almost instantly connected to chef troy, And the words that I wanted to hear most was said in that phone call "you can start tomorrow". I was amazed, his only concern was insurance stuff, and all I have to do get my parents signatures saying that it is not the chefs tables fault if I get hurt.
So I start tomorrow at 9:30 AM! I will have a lot to tell you about when I get home.

so in summary: The summer just got better.



It was like a wonderful late birthday present (which was a couple of days ago).

Sun, Yard work and kitchen Withdrawals.

As it sounds I am still unemployed, actually... worse, I am doing yard work, YARD WORK. I have yet to find anything that I hate more then yard work. I am doing it so I can take that internship with chef Kieffer, but that has come to a standstill, he was supposed to send me some insurance forms, but that was about a month ago we have not come in contact seance. This summer has made me depressed to say the least, It looked like that pizzeria 712 was looking real good, I got some face time with the sue chef and he sounded really optimistic about letting me work there, but when I call the head chef he told me to call back late august. I have even gone to almost every single Japanese restaurant in Provo/Orem and told them I will work for free, but still nothing. I really want to quit doing yard work, but I am afraid that chef Kieffer will contact me, but if I have no money I will not be able to go, so I continue to persevere looking for any way to work. as I said: I am having kitchen withdrawals.

So in summary: This summer is turning out pretty bad.

My personal "Farm to Fork"

In my last post I said that not much was going on for me, but then the next day something did happen. well... I have chickens in my backyard and I love to use there eggs for all of my delicious food, but every year we get a rooster in our new batch of chicks. it had been a year sense we got a new rooster and out of no where my dad said this: "Lets kill the rooster today". At first I thought that he was joking, but after a couple of seconds I realized that he was most defiantly not. I was okay with the idea because we had done it in the past (I had not personally done it). By the time I caught the rooster, my father had already gotten a large pot of water boiling (to help feather it). we had two roosters and my dad had "Chopped" the first one, and then it was my turn. I was holding it by its feet, after a couple of seconds it became docile, I laid it's neck against the log, it did not take long for me to raise the hatchet and to hack at it's neck, but it did not just cut threw, I had to hack about five times until the neck was only being held on by some skin. I looked down at my apron and it was covered in blood. Some people say it was odd that I named the roster before I killed it, But I guess that is just how I roll.
After that I feathered it, took the guts out (I will spare you the disgusting details) and Broke it down, It was amazing, I was chasing it around the yard a half a hour ago, now it was just two breasts, two legs, two thighs and two wings. Now I was out of Ethan the Butcher mode and was in Chef Dutcher mode. I had decided to brine it over night (so it would get extra moist). I looked to see what is in my pantry, and decided that I should make Italian herb Chicken breasts, and buffalo wings. the wings where fine, defiantly not my best work, but the breasts where great, the bread crumbs where home made and the herbs I put in was delicious, I even fried it in clarified butter. My father thought that it was wonderful.
I fell that doing this is important, I always knew where my food came from, but there is a whole new depth of respect for my food now.



Me right before I Chopped "Rudy"

Never take yourself too seriously.

I have not posted in a little bit because not a lot has been happening, the general, going to culinary school, cooking dinner, so on and so forth, but if there is any thing a can post on it is the best/strangest time I have ever gone looking for a job. In a nutshell myself and a couple of other students (from my high school) burst into a restaurant dressed like pirates... yes I know, but hear me out. It all started at school we where doing a skit about pirates and afterwords one of my frends yelled out "LETS GO GET A JOB A PIRATE ISLAND PIZZA!" and at the time seemed like a great idea, but I was not open yet. so we waited till the restaurant opened (acting like pirates the whole time) and drove over there. when we got there we opened the door and all yelled "AARRRRR", the hostess seemed surprised and amused, I walked up to her, looked at here and said "Arrrrr ye hire'n" and that was when she started to laugh. they did say that they where taking applications, so we grabbed some a left because none of us remembered our SS#. we we came back we did pretty much the same thing, made a lot of noise, dropped the applications off and left as I said before, Never take yourself too seriously.

Internship, It is looking good.

Well, today is Sunday I met with Jason Kieffer and it went great! We mostly just talked about what sort of things that I would be doing if I do intern there. It was great, The cafe was all about using fresh ingredients from local sources and making it from scratch, even the stocks and to be truthful MATC dose not exactly make all of there stuff from scratch, lots of frozen breads and pastries and having somewhere that has the same philosophy as I do is wonderful. I am extremely exited for this to work out, but there is always a downside... Gas. If this dose work out then I will be doing yard work, so I can do more work, but lucky Chef Kieffer talked about maybe making it so that I can get paid a small amount for working up there, And if that will pay for gas money, then I am ecstatic! It looks like I will be starting in the summer after school starts. I will post more as I find out more.
But today I had another adventure, as I was trying to get home I got lost, which I am notorious for. long story short I was in Utah... and I ended up in Wyoming. it was not good. now hopefully my parents wont read this because they don't know that I got that lost.

So that was my day, I am so happy I am finally moving forward, I have felt like I have been floating in a stagnant pool for a while. My culinary career starts now.

Internship!?!?!

As you may have heard I said what mattered to me was not getting money, but working and lucky for me I have some resources, anyway I was trying to get a hold of a Chef Jason Keiffer (http://chefkieffer.blogspot.com/), but was having some difficulty getting any info, but after a couple of days of looking i had finally found it, here is the are the emails that fallowed:

Hello Chef Kieffer,
My name is Ethan Dutcher and Nancy Weller suggested that I should talk with you about the possibility of an internship with you up in Park City. I am finishing up my first year with the MATC Culinary program and would be grateful for the chance to work with you.

Thank you
-Ethan Dutcher


Hello Ethan,

My team and I would love having you aboard. Is there a good time that you can visit our facility and chat with me?



Namaste

CHEF JASON C. KIEFFER

HEALING PALATE
Enlighten the Mind-Nourish the Soul



Great! Sunday (the 1st) would work best, but I would be able to make Saturday (the 30th) if we do it sometime past 5:00 PM.
Thank You
-Ethan Dutcher


Thank you Ethan. I will be in the office/kitchen on May 1st Sunday. Let's move forward on this date at the Park City Medical Center at 9:00AM



So yah! sounds great I am so happy, but the big problem is gas money, I am almost sure that this is going to be an unpaid internship so I will have a lot of trouble getting it. but things are looking up for me, I am way excited and I will tell you guys all about it when I get back on Sunday.

The discovery -The VERY beginning - Part II

After those lemon bars I did work harder, but it did not feel like work... it was just fun. I mostly made cakes and desserts, but that soon transformed into baking, I loved making baguettes and other fun breads, and after I came home from San Fransisco all I wanted to do was make sourdough. Unfortunately sourdough seemed a little out of my reach and it was not long after my mother made a deal with me that I would lose interest in baking. She bought a book of beginner recipes and told me that if I could cook my way threw that book that she would take me to the Chefs Table In Orem, which is the only fine dining restaurant in Orem/Provo, so I was pretty excited. I remember getting 3/4 of the way threw that book when I started to do a little more complicated recipes. after I got done with the book I was not only able to go to the chefs table, but my mother was able to set it up so that we could talk to the head chef, Chef Kent. We talked for over an hour, but the thing that I really remember, the thing that I carry with me to this day is that expectations will make are break you If you don't live up to them then you are a disappointment, no matter how good you are, if you meet them then you are okay at best, but if each and every time you exceed them... then you are truly great. I use this in everything that I make, I have not yet achieved this, but I will get to that point no matter what.

The discovery -The VERY beginning - Part I

I titled this post "The discovery" Because I remember the first time that I had discovered cooking and it was undoubtedly the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I fist started to play with the Idea in seventh grade, as most seventh graders I hated homework and I loathed math so the thought that I could cook all day instead of going to some collage to do more papers, projects and math, but at that point I wanted to be an animator, I would make stop motion with Keynote and sprites with my best friend Andrew, but being a chef was always at the back of my head when I was thinking about my future. the point that I vividly remember is when I was at my house with my friend Terrin when my parents where gone. although we would usually stay out of my house when it was only us because we where convinced that a monster was living in my house, but the hunger for lemon bars helped us overcome the fear. this was really the first time that I had cooked without someone to tell me what to do. something you must know is that I am massively dyslexic, and when I read that you needed to put in 1/8 teaspoon in my lemon bars i read it as 1/8 cup... as I am sure you can tell those lemon bars where inedible to say the least. as I was cleaning up when my mom got home I remember asking her why cooking was so hard, why I could not just make a something and letting it flow she told me that if I keep working at cooking then someday I can just flow, I can make something on the fly without restraint. I remember thinking that I will get to that point no matter what.

Where I am Now, Lots of Passion and No Job.

For my first real post I will talk about where I am at this moment in time (April 13, 2011). I am currently attending the culinary arts program at MATC in Lehi and I love it, great kitchen and I am contently learning new things, but I have become unsatisfied with what I have, I long for a job. Considering that I am a junior in high school that is proving to be difficult. I am a little obsessed with Japanese food, Cajun food and Indian food. As I said lots of passion and no job and it is killing me! It is not the lack of money that gets me, it is the lack of importance that I feel because I am not working, to put it simply to me food is life, and when I not in the kitchen working I am lifeless... what can I say? I am a kitchen addict. I am preatty sure that the problem is with me though, my standards are too high, I will NOT work at a fast food "restaurant" and at the very least I am willing to settle for a line cook at a local owned restaurant, so yah the problem is me.

lately I have been having trouble knowing were I want to live when I move out (and I am counting down the days!). San Fransisco, Seattle, Chicago, LA, New York! there are so many choices, and only until a couple of days ago did i realize that I should see what restaurants would take me, and that will decide where I live. Most people my age don't have to worry about this stuff, they usually just go where there collage is, but I am not going to collage and I am already going to culinary school and I need to get more experience working in real restaurants instead of sitting in some room as some stuffed up french teacher tells me how to cook.

so to sum it up:
On the end of my first year at culinary school
Looking for a job with no success
Worrying about where to live
Junior in high school
16 years old

I Should Introduce Myself, My Name is Ethan Dutcher and I... am Culinary Titan... Well... Not Yet.

I guess I should start off with a simple hello and welcome, as you may have noticed I am a 16 year old Aspiring chef, I live in Mapleton (close to Provo) Utah (Sigh... why utah? do you live in Utah? have you ever been to Utah? if not let me tell you, food is not the highlight of this place. fry sauce and funeral potatoes are the staple of Utah food, need I say more?). This blog is about me and my Culinary journey, what I think, What I do and how I do it. I will post something every week perhaps it will just be a couple of interesting things that I have learned this week.
Well, Welcome to My Life we will see how I do and how hard it is trying to become a chef.