An Applesque Return

Well, here is the promised returning blog post. Not quite what I had in mind or probably you, but I am super excited about it and found it blog worthy. ! Since my return from Spain, I am now cooking and have been promoted to Sous Chef at Secco Wine Bar. If you haven't visited me there yet, you truly need to come in. Beautiful unique space, under the ownership of River City Cellars' Julia Battaglini. Really really great Italian and Spanish influenced food from Chef Tim Bereika, my time thus far  has been both a learning and truly an enjoyment, I learn something everyday! You can taste not only the love, but the flavor from the ingredients that are purchased from local markets. And, the people working around me, WANT to work there! They care about the Beer they are serving, and the cheese that abounds! Passion emanates from all corners of the restaurant, come in and experience it!

But I am not writing to advertise Secco, but more to record my making of Apple Cider! That's right, what screams fall more than a nice glass of local Apple Cider!

On a cool, Monday morning I ventured up the treacherous what-seemed-to-be 80* hillside that leads you to Charlottesville's Carter Mountain Orchards! There, millions flock yearly for the pick-your-own apples, and, oh yea, Apple Donuts. (They also have grape vines?!) At the orchards, I picked close to 10 pounds of apples, all being Fuji's. Following the pickin', having gotten wind of a special deal known only to those in the know, I asked the registers for apples known as Dear? Apples, or Apples that one necessarily wouldn't want to eat due to indentations or other defects, but perfect for a low budget cider. The pick'em yourself apples are 1.19 a pound, and the 2nd's were 75 cents? I think I left the mountain with between 20-30 pounds, or about a bushel.

Now, conventional Apple Cider makers would use a mill to juice the apples, but being a cook, I chose to use my trusted Cuisinart Food Processor, and then push the juice out using cheesecloth. A little slow, but it did the job!

The Yield from the apples was almost exactly a gallon, and wanting a bigger production, I purchased two gallons of cider. (Note: these must be preservative FREE, or else it will affect the fermentation process/yeasts)

If you are to go about doing this, I would suggest reading anything and everything you can online, as I did. Following my research, I was warned of wild yeasts in the cider producing off putting flavors and unwanted desires. Therefore, it is recommend to simmer all cider before jarring for 45 minutes. Before simmering, I added 1/3 pound of honey in each gallon, and approximately a pound of dark brown sugar in each. (A POUND of sugar you say?!) Yeast is an active micro-organism, or fungi. It is alive! What yeast does, is eats the sugar, lets off Co2, and, well you know the other. Upon some research, I found that the yeast should and will most likely eat all of that sugar.

Now, after the simmering, I let the ciders cool to close to room temperature, which went into the early hours of the morning. Once at an acceptable temperature, I added a controlled purchased yeast, and siphoned the cider into three-one gallon super sanitized with special cleaner jugs. Attached on the top, are sanitized "airlocks" which let the co2 out, and forbid the oxygen or other yeasts or bacteria in.

The jugs now sit for two weeks, for the fermentation to change the cider. Following the two weeks, the cider is then siphoned into bottles, capped, and let sit for one more week to carbonate before being enjoyed. A priming sugar, or sugar added before bottling may be added to give the yeast more "food" to carbonate in the bottle, that decision will be made upon tasting the sweetness before bottling.

This has been an incredible learning experience and exciting process for me to induce, amazing thinking I have been a part since the apples left the tree!


I hope you found this entry as intriguing as I had dreamt, albeit my writing is rusty and it is late! I hope to write more often, thanks for reading!

PS: Apple Butter is truly delicious, and so simple. Google a recipe and make a batch from some apples this fall, you won't regret it!

Back in Richmond

Although it has been busy since my return to Richmond, the blogging will commence once more in due time! Sorry about the recess, I have much to post! Hope you all are enjoying your summer! Post soon!

Collin

So so long

Have been living some busy days here on the island! I hope to craft a blog post in the coming days on the world of cooking, perfection, the next step, and generally life on the island. The past week has been great, although extremely stressful and tough. I took over a station by myself, and am doing decent. A new cook from France arrived on Sunday last week, she is extremely nice and I am learning a lot from her. We hang out a significant amount of the day. Amazing hearing about the food culture and lifestyle in France. More on all this later! Tomorrow will mark two weeks until my departure from the island! Today I  have off, as does Markus. We are renting a car and driving around the island, eating, seeing. Should be a wonderful day, will take many pictures! A blog on all this coming soon, sorry it takes so long! In the meantime, watch a video of the evolution of an idea at the seventh best restaurant in the world, Alinea, in Chicago, which I had the privilege to eat at last summer. So much thought goes into a single element, the centerpiece, for a menu. Mind blowing, it is a dream place of mine to  one day work.

Cathedral

Martin, Uruguayan. Speaks no English, I no Espanol. Our

relationship is funny. 

                                              Markus, I, Marco(last night spent at Factoria),
                                                         Irene, Irene boyfriend Jose                        

Overdue

Although hectic, I can't seem to find a reason for the delay in this post. Maybe partially linked to a lack of inspiration and thoughts to inscribe..who knows! But here I am now, two weeks since the last post. One month ago today, I began this journey. Seems so many days ago, ! But only one month, and one month until I will be boarding a plane back to the U.S. Oh my, how time goes. Time, Tiempo, Zeit, (my Spanish has gotten increasingly better) I have realized that I must enjoy and take in everything whilst I am here. Life moves far too quick...I hate that. I enjoy so much thinking about past memories spent with friends and family from various occasions. My life has been so incredible and continuous to amaze me, what a path.

Flavor is memory, the best food/tastes/dishes are ones that evoke a memory from before, from an event/past time that was ethereal. Example: last summer, I had the chance to travel to Chicago with my good friend Emma. We (from my persistence) went to a very expensive dinner at my dream restaurant, Alinea. Currently I believe it stands at fourth best restaurant in the world? We had the smaller set menu, of 12 courses. The best course and one that I will never forget was Blue Crab "Salad" frozen pea puree, cinnamon, ginger, rice milk, and clove. Many times before, I have eaten blue crab close to the Potomac river with my good friends, a feast, good weather, great place, not a happier place to be found. Immediately this dish brought those thoughts forward, with a taste more refined and so so decadent. 

I have off today, and have spent it eating a cheap and delicious meal in the local town, wandering the town, buying a few groceries, and relaxing. Spain and this life has now become very natural, seems I don't even remember what the days are like in Richmond, VA! But do not think I have forgotten any of it, it is far from that. Life is very enjoyable here now, and the kitchen is challenging and rewarding. I have not eaten as much food as I am here ever in my life. Two and a half full meals each day, and still hungry. I think and hope I am on a growth spurt! But not too much, I need to fit my tux that I got suited in before I left for the wedding five days after I arrive home! 

One of the more recent updates and most exciting for me personally is that soon I will acquire a borrowed bike from Sous Chef Damian! I am quite excited about the soon possibilities of seeing the local areas via bike! Who would have thought, ! 

Soccer on Wednesdays is as fun as ever, and finally I have begun to get comfortable again like the old days on the field. In shape, also! Chef Felix is in Germany currently, he was suppose to come back 4 days or so ago, but because of the volcano is stuck there. But, he is not working again until the end of the month. In Europe I have discovered after discussions that holiday time is much more common. Two months, for the chefs. That is quite unheard of in the U.S, and is almost a deal breaker for me to settle down in Europe. Only future will tell, however I do think cooking in Europe gives a more comfortable lifestyle than that in the U.S. 

Two weekends ago, my good friend Mona from Germany was on the island. I got Saturday and Sunday morning off and got to go spend the night and day with her and her german schoolmate, Carina. We spent the time in the German part of the island, seriously. All of the signs were German, Schnitzel and Sausages served everywhere, German spoken everywhere. Almost thought I was in Germany! It was extremely rewarding seeing someone I knew outside of the hotel and to being able to spend sometime with them. Last weekend, Marco, Markus, and I went to one of the biggest "Disko-Teks" as they call them, or clubs on the island. House(my kind of music) was played all night long! It was an incredible experience, and I think we will venture there tomorrow. 

Because Chef is gone, Markus has been taking care of Chef's dogs, sleeping at his house, and using his car. Because he has a car, I have seen and done much more on breaks when normally I was in the room or walking to and from Santa Maria. One day, due to a need of more dog food, we went to Alcampo, or Spain's answer to Walmart. It was huge, bigger than walmart, with a filled food section. One whole aisle dedicated to Spanish Jamon(Ham, like prosciutto but better) and sausages. 

One sad update is that Marco will be leaving at the end of the month. The English owner of the hotel does not like seeing so many paid cooks in the kitchen, whilst so little business is being done. Sad and a stupid mistake by him for making Chef let Marco go, he is talented and has become my closest friend here. Stupid order from the owner, seeing as I will be leaving in one month, and business is surely going to rapidly increase in the coming weeks. Without any reservations I am sure the kitchen will need to pick up at least one more cook for the summer. In the past summers, I have been told that there were at least 7 cooks in the kitchen during the height of the season. When I leave, it will be two cooks and the chefs. 

(Whilst writing this before, on Friday night, I was interrupted and went out for the night, and now am finishing the post. Time has been flying by this weekend, it is now Monday at 4:45!) 

I am getting extremely comfortable in the kitchen...my skills have increased visibly in the past few weeks. Today I worked a station by myself, and exceeded proficiency. Exciting stuff! 

Saturday night we went again to the disko-tek, and had a extremely enjoyable, and late(got home at 5:30ish, woke for the morning shift at 10:45) night. Highlight was meeting a large group of Americans who go to Bucknell (all but one were girls) studying in southern Spain in Granada. They were here for the weekend to see the island. Funny to see/and talk to them. 

Also interesting and fun to see has been two 18 year old students who are doing externships at the restaurant. They are attending a culinary school on the island and will be at the restaurant for two months. Slow, but good workers. About the skill-level I was at a while ago. 

I am getting excited for a promised dinner next week, with one of the front of house managers named Dmitri, from the Ukraine, and Jozef, a server from Slovakia. They are both hilarious and nice, really funny when together. They promise to take me to their favorite spot, a Chinese food place, and then out for drinks afterward. I think to this point in my travels, I classify eastern Europeans as the nicest and most fun. They don't come from much, and are happy it seems to be where they are. Funny lifestyles and characters, I truly excited to go to dinner with them. 

I am also excited to bike around the island, all over the internet is information and recommended routes to travel on the island for bikers. That will be a great way to see the island and good thing to do on a day off. Tomorrow, I have off, and tentatively plan to bike around Palma, we will see! 

That is all I have for now, not much. I need to regain some concentration and organize my thoughts. Another blog post should come later this week. Also, more pictures! I am on a "Police-listening-to" streak at the moment, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" is a great song! The weather is really really great right now, almost too hot already though! I am getting tan! Hope you all enjoyed or will enjoy the postcards, I think I've sent around 20! Let me know if you want one and I'll send you one! 

Buenas Dias from Spain, talk soon! 

Mah and I parting ways at the airport, she cried

The "Yellow Ferrari" range. Hotel reads inscribed on the front. Tour/pictures/more details about the kitchen coming soon.

Local town Alaro

An array of thoughts

It's been a week; lo siento. This post will most likely be quite random with thoughts scattered across the spectrum.

It is Thursday, at 12:30 for me. The past few days and the next few days the weather is suppose to be rainy, and has been cloudy/extremely windy the past two days. Although today there were patches of very bright skies and nice weather. The island seems to crave good weather, and somehow makes it happen to my point of view most of the time. My window view (seen here) will be changed tomorrow, as the owners of the hotel, an old British couple, are putting all three cooks who live in the hotel in one room as to make more rooms available for guests(the hotel has in all 23 rooms). In some ways, bad, as we already spend 5 days a week/10 hours a day together more time isn't quite needed. Also, a bit of privacy/space to be away is always good. But then in some ways it'll be better, get to know them better, become closer friends with them, have something to do/talk to. We will see. The new room I think is going to be nice, maybe I will give another tour soon. (still due, a tour of the kitchen and hotel, coming soon)

Tuesday was my second day off, and I spent it sleeping in and then went to Palma. Palma is a bit of a small city, and the parts that are interesting to a foreigner/traveler to my knowledge are able to be seen in one day, as I did last time. So with little of must do's during the day, I spent it walking around, eating, seeing, sleeping on a bench, and enjoying being in a different environment. When I first arrived, it as lunch time, and per Lars Johansson's suggestion I went to "Cellar Sa Premsa." Great recommendation! Lars is the Swedish exchange teacher, through whom I got in touch with the Chef here and got here. As said in the past, I will never be able to repay him! I owe him much. Bon Voyage, also, on your upcoming trip to Richmond with the students. Sorry I won't be able to be there! En route to the restaurant, which I figured I could make by walking but was sadly mistaken as there are little to no road signs here on the island, I eventually took a cab a mere 500 yards to the restaurant. It has begun to get very frustrating when I have an address and can't seem to see where I am, because of no road signs and the people not speaking english or not knowing where they are either. On to lunch, a big, wooden/brick building, nice interior. Sat around 300 people I'd say, big and bustling restaurant. After a little wait, I was seated. Popular and abounding in Spain, the restaurants all offer a "Menu del Dia?" I believe is how it is spelled, menu of the day, for lunch. They give you options for 3 courses, and it is usually very reasonably priced. As was this lunch, although the menu was in Spanish, and my waiter only spanish speaking, it turned out quite a meal and enjoyable experience. First course I had a tomato, beef/offal/rice dish. (Although in that definition it says waste, in culinary terms it means more organ meats, that most of the time turn out much more tasty than other part. Also, it is kind of a hip thing in the culinary scene nowadays to turn these use-to-be throw-away parts into a art. ) Very tasty, and generous portion. Also with the menu is the option of a cerveza, small bottle of wine, or any other drink offered with the meal. I opted with the local red wine, which came out very chilled, and tasted as if a sangria, very delicious. Second course was a fish that I could not understand the name of, served simply with olive oil, lemons, and potatoes. Texture like a halibut, but with more flavor of the sea, not as bland as you would expect with a halibut. And for postre, or dessert, Creama Catalan, a popular and local dessert found in Spain. Much like but less set then a Creme Brulee, and with lemon and cinnamon, this was spoon lickin' good. This three course lunch amounted to 13 Euros, so very affordable, and becoming more and more everyday thanks to Greece bringing down the euro. I would like to thank Greece at this time personally for helping me financially whilst in Europe. !

And so the wine do me in. The plan was after lunch to go back to the Vodofone store to get the Sim card that I purchased for my phone whilst here to work. I had bought a prepaid plan/card to slip in my phone so that I could have a local number while here, don't know if it'll get much use but good to have. When purchased I asked the associate if I only had to slip it in and it would work, and of course he said yes. But when doing so, admittingly careless in doing it after leaving the city that night, it asked for numbers and codes that I did not have and didn't know where to get. So when I tried to go back, they, as all other Spaniards living the great laid back life, had gone on siesta break. With nothing to do, I wandered and became increasingly tired from said wine, around the time I reached the old part of the city near the cathedral, laid down on a cement bench and slept for two hours. There were many people bustling around, so I was in no harm. Until some punk came and screamed close to me as to wake me up, and be cool in front of his friends.

By that time I figured the store would be back open, and so I went back, go it sorted out, and texted cook Marco who also had the day off, whom was roaming around the city trying to get his recently broken 3-kilometer-pushed to mechanic moped fixed. Just after texting him, I look up and there he was. And so we took a coffee, he got a music tattoo on his wrist whilst I sat and cringed at the needles, and we headed off to a pub in old town to watch the Champions league soccer game that was on that night. (There are more details to this part of the day, but at this time I feel as if I am rambling too much and providing too many useless, boring thoughts.)

FC Barcelona vs. Arsenal

Cultural epiphany of the week. Soccer(I get yelled at here when I say soccer, its "Fuutball!") is embedded in their culture. It is organic for the European men and (most)women to like it. But not just like, but know the teams, when the games are on, who is playing, and the players. More mainstream and embedded than football, basketball, or baseball in the US. Everyone knows and watches here. If you like soccer, as I do, it is awesome to be around. The news of the game the night before is not in a sports section, no, it is on the front page. The news of the fuutball games is the news. Awesome. I knew I would be in for something special seeing Barcelona play, as the Barcelona fans would be predominant in Palma also. The star of the Barcelona team, and one of the best players playing in the game today from Argentina, Lionel Messi, scored 4 goals in the game. One big fan of Barcelona, after every goal, fist pumped to the window screaming. It was a good sight and awesome experience.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we played soccer against another hotel. However, I was pushed onto the other team, disappointed at first but it turned out better. They were much better then my hotel's team who is all talk and extremely competitive. They knew how to play, the structure, the shapes and runs and how to show for the ball. Brought me back to my days of playing, it is nice playing again. Although I am in terrible condition, it was tough at times, I hope to start running here during breaks soon.

Now onto thoughts about cooking. One technique that has piqued my interest is the kitchen's use of Parmentiers. A french word, pronounced as one would expect in french, pronounce the "tier" as tee-ay, and you have it. Because starch is heavy and boring plated as is, such as potatoes, parsnips, or salsify, we puree a well cooked mix of potatoes and said flavoring veg(parsnip, salsify) to create a nice potent puree for the dish. Interesting, and fulfilling. Next thought is rudiments. As I have come to learn, success/praise for a cook cooking in a restaurant kitchen comes from precision and the ability to work extremely quickly. Thats about it. The faster you are, the better and more praise you get. Quickness comes from years and the rudiments that come so naturally after hours and hours laboring over those vegetables. And slowly, I am getting them in. I have in my opinion so much knowledge about the craft, but lack the rudiments and hands on. But it is coming along.

It has become to seem as though I am the outsider in the kitchen, with the jokes on me and I being the..."bitch." Although somewhat expected as I am the youngest and lowliest person. But also being not from Europe and not understanding or speaking Spanish, I am kind of an outsider. Could almost say I'm getting bullied at times. Sucks, but alas.

Can I say that I love it or hate it here, no. There are good and bad aspects that I have seen thus far. It is a great experience and I am surely learning a lot, and it will be good to have done. But this past week I have missed having someone to talk to to that I know, having someone to do stuff with, and kind of being around things that I am familiar and comfortable with. I miss all my friends and family, all the people that are so amazing and kind! It is kind of lonely and boring here at times, as working leaves little time to meet other people/get further away than the little town of Santa Maria. I like the people I work with, but would be nice to meet some other people also, and be around other people since I am around them so frequently. I truly believe things will only get better though.

I hope Easter treated you all well, for me it was a normal day here. Thank you for reading, hope you could follow and understand. Let me know if you want any information, descriptions, or posts on anything in particular and I will try to deliver! I am working on postcards now, but don't quite know where to find stamps...I am doing my best. It's late now, much love, see you all soon. Enjoy the below pictures from the last week.

The restaurant I had lunch at, Celler Sa Premsa, thanks again for the recommendation Lars!
Nice view of the mountains with the Reads vineyard in the forefront, taken after a walk from Santa Maria
Meadows/groves
Forgot to mention, Saturday night we went out to "Factoria De Sol?" A music school who in the nights puts on jam/concert/parties. Pictured from left to right: Marco(Venezuela), Me, Chef Felix(Bremen, Germany), Damian(Argentina, Sous Chef), Marcus(Dortmund, Germany). (Not pictured: Martin, who I work next to, speaker of no english, Uruguayan)
Woman in picture, Damian's wife, Mallorcan

Also forgot to mention in post, on the return trip from Santa Maria one day, a group of 5 or so 16ish year old girls on bikes figured out/talked to Marcus who was with me and found out I was American. They took a picture with me. Alas

Peace!

A day in the life

So, a week now! Wow. Feels as if it has been much longer! Everything is good here, today was a long day in the kitchen, everything is picking up a bit, because of Easter and the weather. I am a bit tired, so lets see how good my writing goes tonight. PS if you didn't know, as I didn't, Spain is crazy religious. Super religious, they are (apparently? I have not seen) having parades/marches? through many of the major cities right now because of Easter. Lets see if I can catch you all up on some of the occurrences from the past few days.

I'll start tonight with a daily "schedule" in the day and life of cooking at Reads Hotel Mallorca, for me.

Wake up at 10:00

Hang around, get awake, take a shower,

Head downstairs to the kitchen around 10:45-11:00

Cook, cook, cook, drink espresso,(oh boy, oh boy, do I truly miss a good cup of coffee. There is none here. Only espresso. So sad.) eat croissants,

12:45ish, eat lunch, prepared by us everyday. It is very good usually, much better than other family meals from other restaurants that I have experienced

1:15ish Come back for lunch service

3:45ish-4:30 Depending on how busy lunch was/how late the last table ordered in, break time from time we get out to 7:15

BREAK...for me, this has been really weird, luxurious. So much free time in between working. Some days its good, I do things during it, other days its bad because I get tired. I am not use to this. It's a hefty amount of free time. I almost wish we worked straight through..

Although,

7:15-10:30-12ish Finish prepping and dinner service. Spaniards eat LATE. Our first order doesn't usually arrive until atleast 8, if not later. And we some dinner get orders in close to 11

So one week ago, I had my first day of work. Was tired, we got out late, and was still settling in. Did nothing over siesta(nap) break.

Here following are activities done on break:

Friday; walked (uncertainly, unaware, and scared about getting lost) to the local town, or the outskirts of, and found a small convenience store. However, the problem is, is when I am free, so is everyone else. And so most stores, restaurants, and cafes are closed. But I found a open convenience store and bought a fanta and that apricot cake. On the way to the store, as I had just entered town and was wondering if there was anything. I saw an old man walking very slowly with a cane, past a school. And so I first asked him "Con permiso, hablar ingles?!"(excuse me, speak english?) He chuckled, and shook his head, saying he was from the island. Next I asked if he spoke any german, again a chuckle and a no. Finally I asked in my very weak spanish, where I could find a cafe or something. And he pointed me in the right direction. This right direction put me walking right down a school with a playground, with kids playing in it. And, I guess due to my clothes, they could tell I wasn't from there. I was in disbelief, they were all pointing, laughing, and looking at me. A group even took a picture of me. However, It is a beautiful walk, it is nice to get out and see things, and later in the week I found more interesting things.

Saturday, with the Germans (Chef Felix and MarKus, fellow cook, who I was misspelling the name of earlier on) went to Felix's house and watched Fuutball matches. As they described to me, Saturday in Germany is the Fuutball holiday, with the German League teams playing. Felix's team is Bremen(who's jersey's I think are cool, they say "So gut. Bank Heute." So good, bank today They are sponsored by some bank.) and Markus's team who is Dortmund. Both of them are from said team's towns. This coming Saturday they play against eachother, and in the standing one or the other is winning by 1 point. Should be funny watching with them.

Sunday during break: Walked to Santa Maria. Overview of walk: past grove, after grove, after grove, of Almond Trees, Olive, Lemon, Orange, and Clementine trees. Past dogs barking (everyone has livestock/dogs here, they are loud in the nights/mornings, and wake me up), past a few houses/ranches here and there, and then finally to the small town of Santa Maria. Through my perspective, Santa Maria is profitable because of the foreign bikers that bike the island and need a place to stop. On Sunday, the 7 or so cafes located on the main street in town had tables and chairs scattered all about, and everyone was sitting outside, enjoying tapas, drinking espresso, beer, or a wine. And so I followed suit, ordering from a non-speaking english/german restaurant crew a potato/olive/chicken salad, local wine, and some croquettes.

Monday I had free! The following is what I did on this day. Palma is accessible via train, which comes every 20 minutes to Santa Maria, where I had been just the day before. And so, although weary and with so very little information, I headed to Palma for the day. I wandered the city, looking in the shops, walking along the Mediterranean, seeing the magnificent and huge cathedral, seeing the old palace, royal gardens, and generally feeling the vibe of Spanish culture. The highlight of the day was lunch, which was truly spectacular. Also, the girls are BEAUTIFUL here. agaaast. I found the city to be very interesting, small and walkable, but very nice. It didn't quite feel like Spain however, with for the most part a majority of German and other people.

For dinner, I ate and relaxed at a place in Santa Maria. It was an Italian place, and because I didn't want to be in or coming home too late, I decided to head back kind of earlier. The restaurant in Santa Maria was enjoyable, I talked a lot to the waiters and bartenders.

Tuesday during break, I decided to relax as I had done something every waking moment since arriving.

Wednesday: Fuutball, although we we're suppose to play against a different hotel, they didn't show. And so we played 3 vs. 3. It was fun running and playing once again, as I haven't done in a while. I believe everyone was making fun of me or something, because I am new? American? or something, I don't know. That got a little annoying, but it's o k. I have blisters now from my shoes/we played on fake turf, with the black pellets, and they got in my shoes and clustered under one area, making my feet blister.

And now we arrive at today. A week, it feels much longer. Some side notes that I have been wanting to mention in previous blog posts but have yet to. Every time I step outside of the hotel I get a big wift of straight olive. It is so refreshing, and walking every few hundred yards I get it again. Its amazing. Also, dotting the island every which way are windmills, as seen here , they make a nice scenery. Driving through the island is nice, the scenery is beautiful, with groves every which way, mountains abounding, and sometimes the sea in sight.

The past few days I have begun to miss my people, it is different being somewhere where most of the time you can't understand anything anyone is saying, and you don't have anyone too close to talk to. I have also been craving a heavy, American meal, as most food here is light with bright bright flavors. Not bad, quite the opposite, but every once in a while you crave that hearty meal.

I hope soon that we will go out and I will get the chance to be around a common place for some Spanish people, talk and meet to some other people.

This wasn't the best post yet, hopefully next time will be better! Soon, a blog with pictures and stories from the kitchen. Also due, a tour of the kitchen and hotel. Hope all is well! Happy Easter, miss and love you all!

A food Epiphany

Hello!! Sorry it´s been so long for some words! (Now Playiñg: Stevie Wonder-Uptight) I am sitting now again in the hotel lobby on their computer, as Marcus took his computer power cable last night(I´ll get it back tomorrow, for first time readers my electricity converters aren´t working over here even though they should be and so I can't use my computer.) The time is now 12:10(lets see what time I finish, I bet 2ish), and I had free all day today! I spent the day in Palma, the capital and biggest city on Mallorca. In the past few days I have been working and had many blog worthy stories, as I will recount later on. But I want to recount this one to you all first.

Let me start by saying I don´t know if anything can bring more happiness to me than eating. Not just eating, but eating good food, with the setting matching the food. Mostly, I don´t think these occasions can be duplicated. It happens at the right time, right place, and can only happen there. The food came from a few miles away, maybe the yard next to the table where you are eating it. It is so fresh you can taste the last rain that dropped on the vegetable. You can´t quite say you´ve had tapas, if you´ve eaten them in Richmond. It´s not the same. It may be good, but eating it in Spain, hearing Spanish all around, eating the food with the ingredients that came from so close to where it was prepared. What only makes the experience better is eating with people you love and enjoy being around. Food is a commonplace, brings people together, everyone is in a joyous mood, naturally as food is only good for the body. On many occasions in the past, and I hope you all have had these also, I have had food epiphanies. Times where happiness is so full, everything is so right, overcome by a blissful food blanket. It is ethereal. My mind, body, and soul are at ease, and the only thing that is coming to my mind is how dang good the bite is that is in my mouth, and how good that next bite will be. (Now, I am not fat, and hope to never be fat, food is just so good, it is my medium, my art, my love.) Today, I had one of those occasions. I´m going to attempt at writing this a la Anthony Bourdain esque...if you don´t know who he is, he is the only tv show I watch. He travels the world and eats, and was a former french chef in NYC for 30 years. He knows what he´s talking about, and more importantly, HOW to talk about it. He is funny, smart, and puts on a very good show. Check it out. If you´re in a foreign place reading this, search his name and your country on youtube and who knows, he might have done an episode in your country.
Hungry, hot, tired, I continually stumbled through the streets of Palma looking for that right place to eat. I had no idea where I was or what I was looking for to eat, something good and Spanishesque, please though. Finally I trudged onto the right street-seeing six or eight Jamon Iberico legs hanging in the window, I thought this is the place for me. And I was right. Busy, and deep in the streets, not along the water tourist trap, I foresaw this meal being a very great one. This blissful moment in my life all began with five nice, crusty slices of bread generously smothered in a vibrant, most true tomato flavor I have ever eaten. Topped off with a good handful of olives and more pressing, the oil. The oil was seeping from side to side, onto my fingers. So substantially beautiful, I would truly soak myself in this stuff. I was crying with pleasure. The oil/brine from those olives, with that tomato...heaven. The olive in the juice rang the taste buds, I couldn't stop eating it.

Next came the good friend sausage. Sausage you say, you mean that tough, flavorless, fake casing tube of meat found in the U.S.? Oh no my good friend, this was tender enough to cut easily with a fork, flavorful and juicy. Soaked/braised in red wine, I say we replace the hot dogs in the baseball stadiums with these. The fans wouldn't know what hit them, this my friends would be more historical to the game than Babe Ruth.

And finally, the Primeros (Primeros meaning appetizer or small plate in Spanish) sampling paradise.

When this came into my life I was already tense with happiness, still working on the Sausage and Bread, but the feeling had already blanketed my whole body. Nothing could stop it, it was flowing through the veins with such intense vigor as the Nile. It flowed faster and it grew.

The platter was composed of Dates wrapped in Bacon, Fried whole Baby Calamari con Lemon, Croquettes, and Mussel shells filled with a mousse of the mussel, and other joyous ingredients. Salty, fatty bacon encased the sweet morsels from god, and the flavor profiles went in the same order. The mussels were rich, beautiful. Croquettes fluffy and full of flavor. The calamari was great and tender, unlike the chewy normalcy I have experienced in the U.S. Flavor was extremely fresh and vibrant, rang true and complemented well with the lemon of course.

All this swished throughout with a local, cold, and as of right now my favorite cerveza to taste in Spain. Of course, no, I cannot remember or tell you all the name, as I couldn't quite understand the person who served me. Guess I can account that to more authenticity of the place?

This was a lot of food. And I finished it all. I sat after for quite a few minutes, gazing, still in a food bliss euphoria. Beginning to snap back, I attempted to talk to the minimal english speaking workers, wandered the restaurant, gazed upon the Jamon Iberico legs incredulously, and eventually wallowed back out onto the small streets of Palma, Mallorca.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Tomorrow during break I will hope to recount the rest of the day spent in Palma, and finally recap the past few days for me here. Enjoy the night, talk soon!

Tour of my room

Hope to soon also give a tour of the hotel and the kitchen! Stay tuned for that and a blog post later on tonight!

Collin

PS 12:35, not 2:35!

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures from my first few days. I have some more and there will definitely be many more. I wandered away from the hotel today into the small town...funny stories to come. Now, I am really tired and am working the morning. (Also, my body is feeling a little achey/sick...hope I don't get sick.) I am borrowing the German cooks power plug for the computer, although it doesn't resolve all the problems (don't know when he will want it back, how will I shave?, and how will I charge my camera...) all is o . k . right now. Have a good day, and we will talk soon! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031554&id=1573200196&l=e24510d76a

The tales of a stupid American

Alas. I am sitting here in the "resort", it is definitely not what you would consider a hotel, lobby, drinking a glass of the wine made from the "resort`s¨ vineyard, a red wine. Bare with me, for my lack of correct punctuation, as I DO not know how to use this keyboard. The time is now 23:18, or as we Americans say 11:18. Back to the start, no?

Boarded the plane from Philadelphia to Washington after a grueling few hours in Reagan International. That flight was good..If I remember. Ah yes it was half full(all the memory is now coming back to me) My bad din´t fit in the area and I was confused and then the flight attendant told me the flight would´nt be full and I could move to the back. I sat near some pilots, and when we were landing, some Asian guy had to go to the bathroom. The flight attendant told him no, to sit back down, he din´t listen, went anyway, got arrested when we left the plane. Drama. Then, as that flight was a little late, I had less time than expected in Philly. I wolfed down a Philly cheese steak, walked to the...what Do you call it, I´m thinking two other languages right now, also. Gate? Yes. Called my people to say goodbye, charged my phone, had to get my boarding pass ¨"stamped?" and then pretty quickly boarded the plane. I took a video that was SUPPOSE to be with that lame post from Philadelphia, but for some reason it didn't´t work. I even had tried it before to make sure it would work. It was a funny video of me walking through the terminal talking to myself (my phone) so people were looking at me. Perhaps I will get it up here sometime. Onto the plane to Madrid: 1. There was a stupid/fat Mom-Sister-Grandpa sitting in front and to the left of me. The mom and grandpa who wasn't that old by the look kept complaining "I have NEVER been in a seat this small, OMG" I laughed. There was nobooody sitting next to me. That was nice, I listened to music, watched "Love Happens" but fell asleep to it. Good movie!!! The part I saw, Jennifer Anniston is beautiful. I barely slept, which sucked. Almost everyone on the flight was speaking Spanish, so already I was confused. "Dinner" (I barely ate it) was Tortellini? With spinach mush, 5 pieces of lettuce with carrot sticks, potent Italian vinaigrette, and a fluffy chocolate something. Oh and a packaged role that was good. I took a picture of it as it to me was kind of ironic, a cook on a plane going to cook, and getting served that POS. One of the flight attendants was kind of mean, and yelled at me for not saying please first.

Finally in Madrid. After 2 hours of ansy-news, we finally landed. Beautiful, the Spanish country that we flew over. Groves/vineyards everywhere, and MOUNTAINS. ! There were mountains surrounding the Madrid Airport, which by the way is HUGE. Got off the plane, with a 3 hour layover, pretty tired. After a bus ride with a man who I thought was going to the same place(the guy was from Miami) he was going to "Las Palmas" which is in some islands of the OTHER coast of Spain, not in the Mediterranean. I didn't know that. Good thing I didn't board his plane with him. Went to the food court, and immediately it struck me. Spain is food centric. It is AWESOME. I mean, orange juice freshly squeezed by some compounding machine, it must take 6 oranges for a glass. Iberico Ham, (the GOOOD stuff) being sliced to order for a baguette by some girl who decided to get a job at the airport cafe. Awesome. At the duty free shop, a whole refrigeration section dedicated to iberico ham and manchego cheeses. Iberico ham to those in the not know, is like proscuitto, or salami almost, but much much better. The fat ribbons melt on your lips. Take a little bit of this stuff, keep it in your pocket, and you will never need chapstick again. I don´t know if you can say that you have eaten unless you´ve come to Spain. So I hung out at the Madrid airport for a bit...began To get very tired. My first meal in Spain was a Baguette with Iberico ham slathered all up inside. Very good! Some old man came up to me and said "Nordsk?" which sense I have Scandinavian connections, I knew meant Norwegian? And I said no, and he proceeded to ask me ins Englisch if it was free internet in the airport, and I said no, I had my laptop out. Lame Madrid, even Richmond has free internet.

So, then, when they released which gate would be my flight I went to that gate. Sat there for a while, people watched, listened to music. After a while I looked at the monitor that displayed where the flight was going. GONE. What?! This is where I was suppose to be. Ok. Went back, looked again, 6 gates away. Ok. Went there, began to get VERY tired. That was when 5/6 was hitting me. I was getting so tired that I was scared I was going to fall asleep and not wake up, so I set my alarm on my phone. By the way, there were people all around me speaking every language, I truly think I was the only American.

Finally the time arrived to start boarding, about two minutes when we were suppose to start boarding, a HUGE group of old people got in line. They were obnoxious/oblivious. And of course the person over the intercom saying which zone was boarding spoke spanish very fast and English very fast with an accident low so that I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND. I just boarded. They let me on aha. I sat next to a couple, from Ukraine? We didn't talk on the plane/I passed out.

I awoke, began to get excited since I was finally on the island. All was good. Until I started looking for my bag. Went to the first belt that it was suppose to be at. Nobody else came. Looked again at the screen, it was the WRONG belt, a different flight from Madrid. But on the way there I saw a plane had come in from Paderborn, which if you really know me would know I have a friend from there, it is a small German town.

Finally got to the right belt, after everyone else had come and gone. My bag was nowhere to be seen. But the Ukrainian seat passengers were still there. Where are our bags!? I was super scared. Almost started crying ahhh. The Ukrainian girl went to look around, and apparently since we weren´t from the EU our bags were suspicious and sent into this gated belt. We had to get them scanned again. Thank goodness for that couple, or else I probably wouldn't´t have found my bag. If I could have read the signs, I might have gotten it, but ALAS.

And then, out into Mallory looking for the Chef´s wife that was suppose to pick me up. Couldn't´t find her. Walked every which way, no sight. So I tried to call her. Couldn´t get the payphone to work. At this point I was getting pissed off/nervous. I tried and tried to get the payphone to work. I had the right money in it. Of course it was in Spanish and had no German. No budging. I pressed all the buttons. Agh.

Then, I walked to all the booths and asked if I could PLEASE use their phone, I couldn't get the payphone to work. Finally a German tour type of group girl let me borrow her phone. She was nice and cute, and I talked to German to her. Everyone, speaks German here. It is amazing. Finally reached the chefs wife, Sarah, I don´t know if she didn't´t come or had come and gone, but she was no longer there. I had to take a cab.

An experience that was. He was of some different origin than I am aware. He played cool music that was rappish/rockish, of which I could not understand. That does not however, rule out German. He drove fast. Weaving in and out of cars, on the highway. And then we get to the closed in Spanish roads, which are curve and you can´t see past that curve. That didn't´t mean he slowed down. Good times. I saw part of Palma I think¿ Quintessential Spanish looking place. It seemed as though every house/place had their own grove/vineyard, we drove past so many. It was amazing. I have pictures of the ride in, but my camera is upstairs/don´t want to upload on this computer.

Finally to the Resort. This is becoming quite a long blog post. Entschuldigung(sorry, don´t know if that's how you spell it in German?) Saw it from a distance. It is so beautiful. Walked in, and Chef Felix was standing there. Awesome. Then came the rest of the restaurant crew. (Bless your heart if you´ve read this far, this must be boring.) I met three of the cooks then, Marcus, 22, from Germany. Very nice, it looks like we will be good friends. He is very funny, don´t know where he is from. Has a girlfriend from the island, who is 30. Told me some crazy stories of what happens on the island. Is currently playing poker with Chef Felix, told me he goes out everyother night. Went to sleep last time at 5. 5! Woke up at 10:30 to start cooking. I am not ready for that, I am still jet lagged for **** sake! Marcus speaks German, ok Spanish(better than anyone I know) and good English. (In Europe, they say their English is OK, or their Spanish is OK. But it seems they are MUCH better than we are at other languages, I can talk almost how I feel and he can understand me. Crazy. They are insecure about their speaking of other languages.) The other cook who I worked today also was Marco. He is from Venezuela. Speaks Spanish, perfect English, and no German(although im sure his German is better than mine.) Felix speaks perfect all three languages. Marco is 26? Martin is Spanish? And around the age...30? I don´t know. After I arrived I talked for a little, and then went up to my room...a Room IN the hotel, queen sized bed, nice EVERYTHING, kid you not. ! Cheese diese ist zu laange! (shit, this is getting too long.) Unpacked my stuff, hung up all my shirts, (kid you not mom) unpacked everything. The restaurant people were going to play soccer against another hotel, as they do every Wednesday. Apparently they lost 12-6. They were excited when I said I though I was pretty good and would be of assistance next week. I was suppose to meet back downstairs for a meeting/food at 7:00. Set my alarms. For sure over slept them. I was soo angry. I knew how much it would mean for me to wake up for them. Aagh. Woke up around 830? And found out that none of my lights/electricity were working. They have a very weird system for the room, there is a box in Spanish, and then a card that you have to slip in to turn it all on. I didn´t have the card. Went downstairs, got Malcolm (English? The hotel is owned by English people) and he got me a card. But agast, I can still not get my plugs to work even though I have one transverter, and a borrowed one from the lobby. Must be something else with the plugs. I will ask another day, I am too embarrassed currently. For now, this lobby computer suffices. Finally after getting the lights on, I took a shower and was invited down to eat at the casual area and have a drink. I had Mango Risotto with Duck Confit, stir fryed vegetables and a spicy sauce. It was extremely good. Before I had house cured olives, if you have not had an olive in Spain you have not eaten an olive. So amazing. With a yogurt chive spread and olive tapenade. All amazing. And a huge "Becks" beer to go with it. I tried to pay for it, but apparently if you work here and are eating, alle ist freu. (All is free) The bartender/my server was Slovakian and spoke English, German, Spanish, and Slovakian. Blows my mind.

After eating I went into the kitchen after they had just finished up. We had some more beers outside and talked and they smoked cigarettes like they were nothing. 5 or 6 a piece, crazy. Felix, Martin, and Marco left, and it was just I and Marcus. Again we talked, he is very nice, we are going to be good friends. As customary in the kitchen, you are always playing jokes on eachother, saying nasty things. Today I already made a joke about Marcus´s sister. ha ha! Aso, before Felix left, he told me to meet down in the kitchen at 11 ready to go. Already?! What!! I still have jet lag! Ok. Chef.

So I went back to my room and soon thereafter fell asleep. Woke up at ten, opened my window and enjoyed the amazing view of the mountains, orchards, houses. Everything.

Headed down to the kitchen at 10:45, by the way, its just two flights of stairs and I´m to my place of employment. Crazy. The hotel has many rooms that are just for decoration, with all sorts of plates and things. Weird. There is one dog and one cat that live here. I think? I hope to make good with the cat by the end. My room number is 15.

I started by cutting breakfast fruits for the next morning. One melon I have never seen before. As cooks, we get three meals a day from the kitchen, and thus far they have been quite good. During my cutting of the fruits for the next morning, a Spanish waiter asks me if I want a coffee with or without milk and something or another else, my Spanish is good for only 1. Cafe-Coffee. 2. Leche? Milk? I think. I had to translate. Still jet lagged, as this was 5 or so for me, I got to work. Next I worked on small dicing parsnip, and running Salsify along the mandolin. Sorry for you non foodies..Look the terms up, this is a cooking blog. The littlest things were big differences to me, I had to check about everything before I went. We put salsify in Water and lemon, they, in Milk and Lemon¿ What is better? I don´t know. Their plastic wrap is just a roll without a cutter, that caused me the biggest problems. To me, their coriander tastes the same as parsley, I got in trouble for that. I have never used fresh coriander before. This will be a long journey. Along comes 2/3 o´clock. Then arrives tickets for dishes to start coming in. You want me to do what chef, already start being the Entree-Mat for your proteins? I don´t know any of the dishes or even where anything is...agast. So I worked lunch service with chef doing all the accompaniments to the meat/fish. It was long and grueling.

After we cleaned and organized for dinner service, which apparently was much later than usual...around 5:45, we drank cokes and hung out for a few minutes, and then got a 1 hour break. By the way, during the prep time, we were listening to the radio. No no, not some foreign radio, but what I would call Classic, lame, American music. And they all sang to the songs?! What! Any American coming into this kitchen seeing German/Spanish guys singing to...the Titanic theme song?! We are family?! Smash Mouth Shrek song?! Oy, it was funny.

I went to my room, tweeted? Hung out for a few with some sparkling water. Tried to get the electricity to work...nope...read Over the menus or as Felix calls them "cards" and by that time it was time to head back. During break I had imagined how to set a more efficient station, although I had no idea what I would be doing that evening for dinner. What is the main difference for me though, is not having a open "station" that which I have everything set at to pull from. Here, everything is in closed containers, some distance away, with a different language written on them for what it is. That for me has caused problems. Also, my sharpie doesn´t write on said containers?! Agh.

During lunch, I ran a very messy, disorganized, ugly, bad, station, that was quite hectic. During dinner, this was changed quite a bit. Although still a bit lost, it was a great improvement. So I made a few mistakes, I am still an American, who has never worked a hot-line before, doesn´t speak Spanish, doesn´t know anything about the food here, and, is STILL JET LAGGED. I think my work was quite good. It can only improve. I think by the end, I will be ahead of the game. I can make a much more efficient station, with food of better quality. (Although, the products here are AMAZING. Seriously, the lemons, local, oranges, from here. You can feel, smell, taste the difference. It is mind blowing.)

By the way, I forgot to interloop the beautiful English girl I met. I don´t know what her job is. She is soooo beautiful, brown hair, her name is Roma? Ruma? I don´t know. We talked for a little. Ahh.

We cleaned after service, made a list, ate curried chicken/pineapple/pepper/other things over rice. It was good. Had a Spanish beer with that. I don´t think I will be spending much money, as when I am working all meals and drinks are paid for. Awesome. Scrubbed the beautiful range down, it has the name of the restaurants/hotel painted on it. Unlike other kitchens I have been at where it is a line, this is an island, as I have seen only at Metro! Roanoke, great restaurant, check it out if you have a chance. After, I was invited to go and play poker with the other cooks, people, at Chef´s house. But am tired, and weary of losing sight of the cooking, and becoming too tired. I will go out next time with them.

Thus far, the food has been somewhat familiar. The pastries were of a different world, I didn't´t recognize much. I saw a beautiful paella that felix made that I didn´t get to try. Next time. We try everything before we plate it, that makes it fun and exact.

My scabs were worn off during services, I now have bare wounds that are hurting currently while typing. Already, my German/Spanish have gotten better. I spoke a good bit of both today, although most could speak English to me. The hotel is beautiful, my room is beautiful, I hope to get my computer working up there so I can be on more often. I work in the morning, who knows what tomorrow will hold. Hopefully should be a bit better, as 2 more cooks will be there tomorrow.

This was too long of a post with a lack of pictures. Hopefully it won´t happen again. I hope you enjoyed it, laughed, and learned about my first two days. It is now 1:10, and I should head to bed pretty soon as I must wake up around 10 again to start day 2. I thank you sincerely for reading, I hope it wasn´t too boring. The next will be better, I promise!

Day 2 at the beautiful Mallorca awaits! Tschus! Adios! Guten night! Good night! I love you all!

Hello from Philadelphia! PS I just crushes a philly cheese steak!! Talk to you next from Spain!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The "why", "what", and an adiós

Please note: If you are an English major, highly intelligent, or generally get angry about poor writing, grammar, or incomprehensible thoughts, please don't hate me.

Plane leaves tomorrow, 6:00, from Ronald Reagan National Airport across the river from the District. Just about to start packing, no I have not started yet. I'll be fine, I have a list. I had a superb weekend at James Madison this past weekend, spent it with most of my best friends. Nick, Jeff, Emma, David, Kelsey, and every other person, thanks for making my last weekend in the United States(for two months, or forever!?) a memorable one! I love you all. Seriously!

In the past week or so, I have begun thinking about the "WHY" and the "WHAT," of everything. Why I love cooking, why I want to cook, why do I enjoy traveling, why do I sometimes have reservations about fully committing to cooking for the rest of my life, what do I want in life, and many more, I'm sure. My memory is horrible.

I have a deep passion for cooking, and it continues to thrive and develop every moment I spend in the kitchens and eating, seeing, enjoying. However, I know the lifestyle, I know that once I commit to cooking, there is no looking back. I know that if I do cook, my days will be long, pay will be short(although I firmly believe due to the Food Network and food awareness that has come about that wasn't present during my role model's in the culinary field's beginnings, that hopefully the field will get a bit more recognition and overall the harshness in the field will be relaxed) In the past, I have been weary of this. But thinking about what I really want, and why I want it, it helps to really show whats true and what would make the best sense to continue on with. I recently applied to George Mason University, thinking that I would attend there for a degree in politics and work the nights in one of the kitchens in Arlington/Washington, D.C. Therefore, simultaneously keeping both paths running that I wouldn't mind spending my life in, Politics and Cooking. However, due to my mediocre grades, average SAT scores, and what appeared to them as a lazy, recently-graduated high school kid, who has done nothing in the past year, they denied my acceptance. I can't blame them, but how do I explain what I'm doing on an application that is solely education based? I don't know if I could do politics, maybe too much paperwork, might be too boring at times. But I would have liked to try. But currently that path has been closed. I'm alright with it though, food and cooking are my gig.

Hang in there, I hope the thoughts in the past few paragraphs have been comprehensible. It's difficult at times for me to communicate what I am thinking.

If I work hard enough, cooking and food will give me all I need in life. It might be hard, but it will be rewarding. I owe it to everyone who has helped and shaped me in the past 8 years of my culinary journey.

Why I love cooking: the food, the fast pace, the comradery, the people involved, the places it can take you, the difficulty, the reward after a successful dinner service, the drive and endurance it takes to succeed, the feeling of pleasure that you receive after someone eats and is blown away, smiling ear to ear, because they don't know what they just ate, or why it tasted so good, but they love it, and it evoked memories from the times that I can't know, but connect to only by means of food.

One recent memory of this is just last week, during dinner service as it often happens, a patron came up to the window at Acacia, and older gentlemen. With a huge smile and with jubilance in his voice, he said something to the like of "Outstanding, really amazing. That is all I have to say. Amazing. Thank you." It hit home for me.

Who knows what my next year will look like, I wouldn't mind spending it in kitchens in Europe. Or perhaps Culinary school in NY or Providence. But they need to give me some money. I'm not trying to have over 40,000$ in loans. We'll see what happens.

It is now 12:23 and I need to begin packing.

But first I want to thank everyone who is in my life, a lot of the time I think about how incredible all of you are, how everything is so perfect, I like to think that my life and relationship with you all is really something special. Different. Thank you familia for supporting, being amazing and funny, and awesome. I love you all. Thank you Nicholas for being my best friend, you are my boy, YOU ARE AMAZING. Thank you Jeff for teaching me, we're good counter parts. Emma, we have grown, I love you. You keep me grounded. Thank you Courtney I owe you, your passion amazes me. Ynhi, Caroline, Joni, David, Kelsey, people at Cafe Caturra, teachers at Midlothian, Phil, Andy, Dale, Chris, Star, Edgar, and Aidan at Acacia. Chef Joe at Can Can, Chef James at Can Can, Mike Y, foreign friends. If I know you, then thank you for being a part of my life. So many thanks and appreciation.

I began to find my voice in this post, awesome. Much to do in the next 24 hours before I leave, thank you sincerely for reading.

Now listening to: Gettin' Over-David Guetta Ft. Chris Willis

Next post should be from the Philadelphia Airport, Stay Tuned!

Below are some shots I took during my last days at Acacia, Enjoy

Finishing Scallop plate

Sous Chef Phil

Peruvian Style Tuna Ceviche, avocado, pickled watermelon rind, tuna, pickled red onion brunoise, cucumber, crispy shallot.

Left: Smoked Salmon Salad: celery root, pickled red onion, hearts of palm, blood orange mousseline, house smoked cured and smoked salmon, blood oranges

Picture at the top: Pan seared Sea Scallops, house-made linguine, baby carrots, brussel sprouts, cipollini onions, basil butter sauce (That picture came out real nice)

A superb day for a first blog post

First blog post. You all will have to bear with me, hopefully I will develop a blog voice in the coming weeks. In one week, Tuesday, March 23rd, at 6:00 in Washington, DC, I will be boarding a plane en route to Palma De Mallorca, Spain. I am embarking on this journey to work at a one Michelin star restaurant, at the Reads Hotel and Vespasian Hotel. I will be working the restaurant Bacchus. Once again I apologize for my dry writing at the moment.

I come back to the states on May 25th, four days before my sister Morgann's wedding.

I am nervous, anxious, excited, uncertain, and at the moment disillusional that it is truly becoming reality. A giant opportunity for me to not only increase my skill and experience in the kitchen but also as a person, learning a different culture, language, and lifestyle. Nervousness resides due to the huge step up this will be in the culinary artistry....the food is much more refined and precise then I have ever been exposed to. I can only hope that I will be able to hold up in the restaurant. Without any reservations I am sure that I will learn extraordinary things and my skill will be increased ten fold.

This opportunity came about due to the Swedish Exchange teacher, Lars Johansson, whom I will forever be in debt to. He has a house on the island, and is a friend of the Chef at the restaurant. Hopefully one day I will be able to treat him to the meal of his life at a restaurant that I own. Until then, I can only offer many "thanks" or, in Swedish, "Tack!!"

I am hopeful that during my stay on the island I will be able to provide all my family, friends, and random people that decide to read my less-than-average writing style with a insight into the kitchen, my day to day in Spain, and other occurrences!

Today I am counting down my time in Richmond(Midlothian), enjoying the beautiful weather, gathering things needed for the journey, and enjoying my last few nights at the restaurant I have worked at for the past year and some.

Acacia Midtown, which since being employed at, I have repeatedly insisted to all inquiring as the best food in Richmond, Virginia, today finally received the press it deserves. Today, Style Weekly awarded the team with "State of the Plate Best Restaurant 2010." A HUGE and well deserved award, Chef Dale, Phil, Chris, Andy, Star, Edgar, front of the house staff (and I, although deserving much less of the credit to compared to the others) have worked tirelessly the past year, and it shows in the food. Come out and eat, you will not be disappointed. I cannot express how proud, honored, and happy I am for the restaurant.

(In picture at the top, from left to right: Andy(stirring caramelized white chocolate), Me, Chef Dale, Phil, Star, Edgar, Chris)

Also deserving some words, Chef Dale was nominated as a Semi-Finalist in the James Beard Awards: Best Chef Mid-Atlantic. Finalists will be announced in the coming week I believe, and he certainly deserves a spot.

A sincere and big thanks is due to Sous Chef Phil and Andy, I have been working under them for over two years now, in the beginning at the Can Can Brasserie, and then following them to Acacia. They have been like brothers to me in the kitchen, teaching me and giving invaluable guidance. I will forever remember them, as they are my beginnings.

Hope this wasn't too painful of a read, thank you for taking the time to read it! Off now to Sur La Tabla/Williams Sonoma for some last minute kitchen items needed. Then to dinner service at Acacia. Half Price wine night, come eat! 7 Days until I depart! In the words of my Swedish friends Robert and Jonathan, who blogged their cross the United States van trip, "Stay Tuned for more information!"

Hopefully sooner rather than later!

Collin