eG FoodBlog: KatieLoeb - I've been tagged!

[Suzanne F]

That's always the problem with food professionals: no eat, or else taste taste taste taste taste, and since Katie is not in the kitchen it tends to be NO EAT.

Where'dja get the pizza?

[herbacidal]

Where'dja get the pizza? 

i'm gonna guess Lorenzo's.

[KatieLoeb]

Where'dja get the pizza? 

i'm gonna guess Lorenzo's.

Good call Herb. Open late, $2/slice and right on my way home! Humongous slices (The whole pies are probably 24" in diameter and sliced into eighths) of solidly mediocre, but tasty-in-a-pinch pizza. For an extra .50 toppings of your choice will be slapped on top haphazardly and with little love. But hey - you get what you pay for. Both in the pizza and with the help

That's always the problem with food professionals: no eat, or else taste taste taste taste taste, and since Katie is not in the kitchen it tends to be NO EAT.

Suzanne - very astute observation. With me, it depends on the day. Mondays, since I'm in the dining room early doing inventory before service, I'm there when breakfast is made so I'm all over it. Other days it's haphazard, because I'm either running between the three restaurants (only three blocks) or am chained to my chair in front of the computer crunching numbers and going blind looking at those little boxes on the spreadsheet. Eventually I realize my stomach is growling and I look at the clock. If it's the right time I can run downstairs and score staff meal, if not I'll go run around the corner to the food court and see what strikes my fancy. Sometimes I'll have lunch at one of the other restaurants if I'm meeting with the manager for whatever reason and they're about to have lunch too. But yes - if I were in the kitchen I'd definitely have more regular eating habits!

[Suzanne F]

Yeah, one place I worked had a GM who was a lactose-intolerant vegetarian. Now THAT's tough. I worked grill at the time, and often made her a grilled chicken sandwich, hold the chicken and no butter on the roll. Just tomato, lettuce, avocado, chipotle mayo, radish sprouts.

[KatieLoeb]

Wow - I've really been terrible about keeping up with my blog the last couple of days, but perhaps when I explain the outrageous level of activity and stuff that's been happening you'll all forgive me. This will be a long one, so go get a drink...

The reason I had to go into work at all on Saturday was because I found out incredibly late on Friday night that we had a Chef's table for 10 people on Saturday night and no one had told me So I went in to get the menu from the kitchen (which is never made up until that day, as are all our menus) and set out to pairing wines. I shall try to recreate this from memory for all of you as best I can:

1st course: Baked Oysters with Lemon Sabayon and Beluga caviar

Pierre Moncuit "Cuvee Reserve" N.V. from magnum.

2nd course: Mackerel Carpaccio with Melon & Cucumber and Ponzu sauce

Theo Minges Riesling Gleiswieler "Holle" Spatlese 2001

3rd course: Jumbo Lump Crab salad with ...(I don't remember)

Domaine Dominique Roger Sancerre "La Jouline" 2001

4th Course: Poached Salmon with Chive Butter sauce and Osetra caviar

Neyers Vineyard Estate Chardonnay 2000

(This bummed me out fiercely that the cellar is so light right now that there was no high end rose wine to pair with this course. Would've been a knockout with this dish I think, but with the butter sauce I was forced to go with the obvious chardonnay. Grrrr...)

5th Course: Serrano Ham wrapped Wild Striped Bass with sauteed Oyster mushrooms, truffle, and Foie gras

Talley Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir Arroyo Grande Estate 1999

I had to leave for the football game before Pastry had told us about dessert. I left it in the hands of the sommeliere and told her to give them whatever she thought complimented the dessert. It ended up being some type of chocolate thing that they were served 5 year old Malmsey Madeira with. Brilliant menu with adequate wine pairings given the shortness of prep time and the dearth of what I really would have wanted in the cellar. Unfortunately it was all for naught. More on that later...

Went to Temple-Villanova football game at new Lincoln Financial Field with my dearest friends and their two children, Ruben (6) and Sasha (4) whom I consider my niece and nephew as they do call me Aunt Katie . My friend is a partner in a law firm that purchased one of the club boxes so he gets tickets whenever he wants and when there aren't too many folks with seniority in front of him. Eagles games are tougher to score ticket for than a college game, so snagging an extra one for me wasn't a big deal. Game was pretty tight most of the way, but Temple totally blew it by shooting themselves in the foot TWICE with two offsides when they could have put it away. Eventually Villanova won in OT, but it certainly was a good game. And the club boxes are the way to go! Comfortable, great view, giant flat screen TV, private bathroom, their own refrigerator, etc. Cool.

We went to Chinatown for dinner and feasted on all manner of yummy things. Crab & Corn soup, spring rolls, Oysters in Black Bean sauce, Singapore Noodles, Orange flavor Beef and Snow Pea shoots. The kids tried a few new things and liked them. I trying to become a good food influence for the kids and so far have succeeded. Their parents certainly let them eat everything and they've both loved sushi and lobster for as long as I can remember. Recently I was out with them for lunch at a Japanese restaurant and ordered a baby octopus salad for an appetizer. I showed the little bitty octopi to the kids and Sasha (the four year old) said she'd try a little bite. She liked it so much she decimated my order and we had to get another one! (That's my girl! ) So they had a little of this and that and found a few more things to like.

I was dropped off back at the restaurant after dinner at about 10 PM, since my car was close by and I wanted to check in on how the Chef's Table was going. The Chef's table was supposed to have begun at 8:30 PM. I figured they'd surely be on 3rd or 4th course by then. Nope. They'd arrived late, hung out at the bar for at least an hour getting smashed before dinner (ordered and drank a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec prior to even sitting down) Turns out they were loud, obnoxious, and utterly unappreciative of the experience. The Chef even came over to speak to them and ask how everything was and according to every single staff person I spoke with, they were rude to him. Can you imagine? After having that awesome menu prepared for them personally, to be that crass??!!?? Then I found out they insisted on switching to red wine for the 4th course and insisted on drinking the Pinot Noir I had so carefully chosen for the 5th course because it had all those lovely earthy nuances to go with the mushrooms and truffles, etc. Bloody Philistines. I guess I should have known after the bartender told me how drunk they got before dinner that there was nowhere to go but downhill and pick up speed.

Alrighty then. So I go up to my desk to do about 15 minutes worth of paperwork that will prevent me from having to come in too early on Monday and the first bartender gets off of work. "Hey Kate! I'm done. Wanna go grab a drink?" Sure, I say. I needed to calm my nerves after learning about what an effing waste of work the wine pairings were, and how the Chef got dissed. So we go down the street to the usual staff hangout, have a great chat and a couple of drinks. So far, so good. Slowly, the rest of the staff start trickling in as they finish up their respective shifts. We have a couple more drinks. Now my bartending friend is about one half drink over the line, but has definitively crossed it. She decides that NOW, while she has the courage, is a good time to find out why a certain waiter gives her a hard time. Oy - I think. This isn't a good idea. Mercifully he is saved by other staffers calling him on his cell phone. I stay out of it. Bar announces last call. Staff announces they're going around the corner to after hours club. "C'mon Katie. You never party with us..." OK - I'll go have one. Definitely had fun even though I gave myself a mild hangover for the next day...

Sunday. Sleep in. Drink tons of water and take an Aleve. Watch some TV. Work on computer. Have plans for dinner with my buddy Barb (we've been friends since we were roommates in college, some tweny odd years ago, so we go WAY back.) to celebrate my new job. We decide we shall BYOB and each bring a bottle of wine. I decide since we're being celebratory I should whip out the big guns and bring along a bottle of Ployez-Jacquemart N.V. Rose Champagne. Can I tell you how yummy this was??? We went to a little restaurant that's right in my neighborhood called Azafran. A great Nuevo-Latino quaint bistro with a very ecletic menu. We ordered a seared spiced tuna dish with a fennel slaw on the side, and a grilled calamari dish, that was basically a gigantic salad with a flattened, scored and grilled calamari on top. There were crisp thin plantains instead of croutons for crunch. Calamari was incredibly tender. Very tasty! Of course both of these things went fabulously well with the Rose bubbly. Loved it! We both ordered the filet for our main course. It came atop a log cabin built of logs of fried yuca, steaks grilled to order and covered with chimichurri. It was so beautiful we didn't want to touch it. Barb described it as "Culinary Jenga"! Great analogy. We got over thinking it was too pretty to knock over and enjoyed. Barb had brought along a bottle of Rioja Riserva, 1995 (can't remember the producer since it wasn't in MY wine rack) that was tremendous with the filet. All in all a lovely dinner, and a great way to treat myself to celebrate my promotion. Good food, great wine, company that knows me well and loves me anyway ...

I went to sleep in anticipation of waking up early and going in to do the inventory as I always do on Monday mornings. My ringing phone awakened me at approximately 3 AM. It was my friend Catherine, who is also our lead receptionist at work. She called to let me know whe was in labor and at the hospital, dilating and getting ready to give birth! She wasn't due until the 18th! Her last day was supposed to be this coming THURSDAY!!! Since my home number was the only one she had, she called to make certain the management would know why there was no receptionist this morning when they came in! Oh my! I rolled over and went back to sleep and then called the office first thing to let the manager on duty know what was up. At first I thought I had dreamt it, but realized when I was a little less foggy, that no, this was no joke, baby was making an early appearance. Called and left voice mail (since Catherine wasn't there I had to do the voice mail route) re: impending motherhood and then jumped into the shower.

Made it into work and spent my day as I spend all Mondays - counting unending bottles. Mercifully, I have assistance from the sommeliere and between the two of us we can usually bang it out in about 4 hours. Entered all the inventories from all three restaurants, made a bunch of calls to place orders, placed the beer/soda/water orders for all three restaurants and prepared to go down to the hospital to see mother and bouncing 7lb. 8oz. baby boy! Cory, our Reservations Manager and also friend of mine and the new mother came with me. We brought a big bunch of flowers, some plastic stemware (hey - a girl's got to have her standards! I may drink wine out of a plastic cup, but it's stemware dammit! ) and a magnum of Mumm Cuvee Napa. Now, before you all condemn me for the lush that I probably am, please know that I've been promising Catherine for seven months that the first time she saw me after the baby was born would be with an outstretched arm with a drink in it for her, who complained about not being able to drink all through her pregnancy. I am nothing, if not a woman of my word. I thought her whole family (husband, sister, in-laws, etc.) would be there so I figured it would be rude to show up with just one dinky bottle. Since the mags were in the cellar anyhow, and we got an awesome price on them, it seemed both more cost effective and just good old Girl Scout thinking to show up with the big assed bottle, n'est ce pas? It turns out that we were the only visitors until one of our managers joined us there. So we asked the nurses if it was OK for her to have a glass of bubbly, and after checking her chart they said (direct quote) "Oh - she's bottle feeding. Tell here to knock herself out!" So great - we opened the bottle and all had a glass or two. But now onto the best part. Baby Kenyon is truly an example of an angel on earth. An absolutely gorgeous and perfect little being - fresh out of the wrapper, but definitely an old soul. I'm told he finally came out while Miles Davis was playing in the delivery room. I think he was just waiting for the appropriate tunes to be on for his grand entrance . Calm, sweet, with an enviable head of wavy dark hair, and translucent skin. Perfect little fingers and toes. Wrinkled little knees. Too cute to be true. Mother and baby are happy to finally meet. This child is destined for great things. I just know it. His name is grand, masculine and powerful. He could be a Supreme Court Justice or a Poet Laureate. But he'll be something and someone on a grand scale. No woman has ever wanted a child as much. She's going to be a wonderful mother. If he gets half of her wonderful disposition he'll be unstoppable.

So I am finally at home and having an opportunity to catch you all up on the foodblog and life for the last few days. Pretty hectic! But wonderful things have happened. I think I shall go to bed now. I'll try and be more on top of this tomorrow, but then I think it'll be my turn to tag somebody else! Watch out...

[KatieLoeb]

Here I am, dutifully at my desk, having a bowl of fat free Trader Joe's Blueberry Meusli, 2% milk and a couple of sliced strawberries I swiped from the pastry station. Good stuff. My cauldron sized mug of cappuccino is steaming before me nad I'm ready to roll.

More later....

[aliwaks]

you know what katie I can't rememeber what I made. ...oh yeah pulled some veggies (zucchini, potatoes, carrots, red onions some tomatoes past thier prime) some chickpeas, found some coconut milk dug into my secret stash of herbs & spices found the ingriedents for garam masala and made a veggie curry w. basmati rice that I cooked with cardomon, cinnamon, cloves & almonds. Served it with a raita of yogurt cucumber & meadow mint. It was really good staff was much appreciative.

off to Trader Joes now god bless them!!! to search out a few more finds

[beans]

Katie-

I love your foodblog! Somehow reading about someone else counting unending bottles for inventory ...

Seriously though, sharing that very sentimental celebration of a new, perfect little being was lovely.

Oh, don't tag me! I'll foodblog, but not until I get to my beloved Alaska next week. *sigh*

[hjshorter]

Holy cow Katie, how do you do it? And that chef's table. What jerks.

Loved the hospital section. Please print that post and save it for your friend. She will want to read it when he's two and taking apart her house. And where were you when I had my son last year? I could have used a magnum or three. Champagne is the perfect new-mother gift - much better than flowers.

[fifi]

Hi Katie... I am playing catch-up. That hospital section made me all misty eyed. You should definitely save it for the little tyke's posterity.

That Chef's Table episode is bizarre. Too bad that the "hospitality" industry doesn't have some kind of escape clause that allows you to throw out jerks.

[KatieLoeb]

Alright - I admit it. Maxima Mea Culpa. I've been truly horrible about keeping up with my blog. My sincere apologies to everyone, but the new responsibilities at work and complete exhaustion when I'm not there have taken their toll on me this week. I think once I get the timing down of my new responsibilities, all will be well. But I've been doing the beverage accounting for so long, I had my days planned out in little anal-retentive 15 minute increments. Always knew what I'd be doing on each day and had definitely gotten into a rhythm with the job. Now I have to fit in endless meetings with wine purveyors, Manager meetings and tons of plain old web surfing time, as I'm trying to compile wine tasting notes for the staffs at all three restaurants. They've been without formal wine tastings and training for far too long, so I'm making it a point to at least give them some crib sheets for now. Even monkeys poke twigs into anthills. Given the proper tools, anyone can excel

I've eaten lots of late night Chinatown take-out this week, as it's been too late and I've been too beat to want to cook by the time I was done with work. Had lots of good soup, my favorite steamed dumplings and some fabulous Beef Satay and Broccoli Chow Fun. Just had some leftover Szechuan eggplant on the side of a couple of small defrosted steaks I bunged into the trusty George Foreman grill. My only noteworthy meal this week was last night at Bleu, one of the restaurants I do the buying for. The General Manager has been asking me to put together some pairings for the staff of menu items and by-the-glass wines, so I figured it was time for some "research" I tried the oysters on the half shell served with a Champagne/Lemongrass granita. Very yummy!! I loved the contrast of the ice cold and crunchy granita with the cool, briny oysters. Excellent with a glass of the white Bordeaux, "La Fleur du Roy" we're serving. Followed with a duck breast salad with mixed greens, crumbled blue cheese and raspberry vinaigrette. Perfectly medium-rare duck breast on the salad with a slightly crisp skin. Paired it with the Olivier Rion Pinot Noir and was very pleased. These will be my first two no-brainer pairings for the staff.

My thanks to everyone for their kind words concerning the birth of my dear friend Catherine's son Kenyon. I haven't had a chance to see mother and son since that first night, but have spoken with her on the phone. All's well and she can't bear to put the little tyke down as he's so cute and cuddly . She and her famille MOVED this weekend, five days after giving birth! Can you imagine! And I thought I had a hectic week...

I think it's time for me to bow gracefully out of my foodblog, since I'm having such a hard time keeping up anyhow. Thanks to Fifi for tagging me. This has been a very interesting experience, I must say. It's like food journaling, but with feedback! I'll tag a few ladies whose writing I admire and who I don't think have done this yet and you can all fight it out amongst yourselves to see who wants to follow...

Eenie, meenie, miny, mo....

The honor goes to Heather Shorter, Lady T, or Beans (once she gets to Alaska). Step up to the plate girls! Tell us about your life and the meals that punctuate it! Looking forward to reading all about it.

[SobaAddict70]

*jingles in*

Like Highlander, there can only be one....

*jingles out*

Soba

Edited September 15, 2003 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[fifi]

Katie... Thanks for a wonderful journey. And I like your tags.

(Sooner or later we have to start tagging the guys.)

[KatieLoeb]

Katie... Thanks for a wonderful journey. And I like your tags.

(Sooner or later we have to start tagging the guys.)

Thanks Fifi! I've PM'd the ladies and let them know they've been tagged.

Yeah - sooner or later we do have to start tagging the guys, but since the ladies seemed more interested than the gents in my silliness, I figured this was my chance to subtly strongarm someone whose writing I admire into amusing me/all of us for at least a few days...

[beans]

They've been without formal wine tastings and training for far too long, so I'm making it a point to at least give them some crib sheets for now.  Even monkeys poke twigs into anthills.  Given the proper tools, anyone can excel 

I had tears streaming from the corners of my eyes with the monkeys poked! You go girl!

I leave for Alaska Tuesday in the very early morn. Ahhh, vacation. But an ambitious one. I guess the planning of my elderly Grandfather's birthday has become quite an event for the small town.... (he's a published and well known Tlingit "Elder" for Tlingit culture and history) and has become large enough to warrant a community center Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi house party. It should be quite an event.

Thankfully, "Dr. Frank" of Shooters will be providing me with a digital camera for borrow for the trip. And I found the AOL 800 number access....

After inheriting my Grandmother's recipes and endless cookbook collection, I thought I'd be making him the forever fav Pineapple Upside Down Cake .... More like for a group of 100+

[maggiethecat]

Katie:

We may be what we eat, but these blogs are letting us see a really personal side of the lives of the writers. I've loved the peek at your life, and of the Swell Gal that you are. Thank you.

All your nominees are terrific

[hjshorter]

I would be willing to take this on, unless Lady T really wants to. Beans, you sound like you might be a little bit busy next week. Can't wait to hear about your trip.

[Lady T]

*Bows politely*

You first, Ms. Shorter, and I'll follow when you're done...later this week, or early next, as you like.