Saturday morning and all I could look forward to was my next 2 days off for a mini vacation! But first, a cooking demo, 29 person party, prep for dinner, and a 15 person party. This was the day ahead. We got into work and as Chef and Carlo took the 29 person group to the market, we set up the classroom for a cooking demo and the kitchen for dinner service. It is a cool concept, Chef takes the group to the market and then makes homemade pasta and sauce as a cooking demo, then they are served 5 courses. I made the pasta dough and set the mise en place for the demo. It was pretty fun actually to set it all up.
From here, we were on the move to get the party food set and organized for an easy delivery of service. Meanwhile, we had a party of 15 for the evening which was not quite set. So as Chef and Franchesco worked on building the cake for the party, I butchered lamb chops. Way fun and a little dangerous since our house knives are not too sharp and I was basically cutting through bone. But nonetheless, I took 2 racks down pretty quick for my first time.
With the crazy day, there was no family meal, so on my short siesta, I headed to get my first Piadina. It is like a burrito sort of, but better. There is this large rotating piece of pork on a spit, that they literally shave meat off of when an order comes in. Then they place it on burrito like tortilla, fill it with onion, cabbage, spicy ketchup, french fries, slaw, and tomato. Served with fries and a coke, multa bene. I was so hungry and this thing was taking me no time to eat, rest assured there would be a gut bomb sitting later, but it was worth it. At $5.50 Euro, not a bad little afternoon meal.
Dinner went smoothly and we had a few a la carte customers as well, so that was nice too. We ran out of a few of our sides, which was nice since they were on their way out. The boys will have plenty to do tomorrow at work while I am off enjoying the train and Bologna. Yup, I booked my trip to Bologna on Siesta and my train is set for 9:33 am, two nights, and an early train back to Orvieto on Tuesday morning in time for work.
The party people stayed until after 11, which was a bit annoying, but that just means we drank 2 bottles of wine amongst the 5 of us. With some of the left over truffle risotto we made for the party, this was a nice end to the night. Headed home to see if my mom is available to skype and she was. We talked a bit about her impending trip to Italy, I can hardly wait. And since, officially, today is my halfway mark at 45 days, only 45 more to go. That is of course of the internship, then there will be a few weeks of travel around Italy and France. Then I am not sure, once I get on the ball and start applying to gigs in Europe, I may be off to another adventure. Here is my plea to any of my fabulous readers: If you know anyone with a cooking connection in Italy, France, Spain, or Portugal, let me know, I am on the hunt for a paying gig.
Have a safe and wonderful Saturday night.
Ciao Riggotssi!
Tried the piadina in on the am menu a couple of quarters ago, but people didn't understand it. They kept thinking we were trying to do a panini. Oh well!
ReplyDeleteYou have done so well there and have had some awesome experiences that will last a lifetime. It isn't always easy being in another country, no matter what the circumstances are. It will be awesome for you to spend time with your mom! Hang in there! btw...will you still be there for truffle season? I think you were near Perugia (spelling?) which may be a great place to go hunting.