The Mise en Place...

Okay everybody, I'm sorry it's been soo long since my last post! With graduations and weddings and visitors all happening every weekend, this is the first chance I've gotten to sit down and blog...plus, this time I have pictures!

So, first I wanted to show you guys real, living proof that I met the Lee Brothers! Note my super-cool, super-official Croissants chef coat! They were really nice. I was surprised that they were going around to the guests and talking with them and signing whatever books and magazines they asked. I've met a few celebrities now and none of them seemed this down to Earth. When Chef introduced me, he told them that I helped out with the prep work for their brunch that morning as well as the event last night (the one with Paula Deen!) and they said it was a HUGE HELP to them to do all those little things before hand. Many of you already know, but "mise en place" means "things in place" and one of my first lessons of working in the restaurant was how important your mise en place is.

...Which brings me to my next story. I have already mentioned that I've been working the line for the last month. An hour before the dinner service starts, I'm responsible for setting up my end of the line: getting my salad dressings stocked, slicing tomatoes and cucumbers, and organizing my lettuce,,.things of the sort. I like to organize things according to what they'll be used for. For example, I put the ranch dressing and cucumbers together for the Bibb salad we make. I keep the sauerkraut next to the thousand island dressing for our reubens. I find though, that my biggest time saver is washing and sorting my lettuces. We do four different salads, each with a different lettuce. Our bibb salad involves laying a piece of lettuce in between two slices of cucumber, all of which have been dressed in ranch. Bibb is usually pretty gritty, so I like to separate the leaves, wash them, and put them in something like a hotel pan. It makes my life so much easier. In the beginning, I was always washing heads of lettuce in between tickets. Mise en place is awesome!

All of these things I try to get done within the hour before service (which always seems to conveniently fly by.)  Chef will come by to do a line chef to make sure I've got everything I need. I always joke and say, "yes Chef, I have all my mises en places!" But apparently I think it's a lot funnier than he does...because I die laughing each time.

Next blog will be about ice cream! I'm going to try and write it before I leave for New Orleans this weekend...IFT OR BUST! Go Clemson Quiz Bowl team!!