Month: September 2006

DINNER 260: Sunday, September 17, 2006

DINNER 260: Sunday, September 17, 2006

Wendy & I went to dinner with Bob (who is also celebrating a birthday today — Happy Birthday, Bob!) and Sharon to the Cheesecake Factory. We set to meet there at 6:30 and Wendy & I were right on time — arriving at 6:30. We…

DINNER 261: Monday, September 18, 2006

DINNER 261: Monday, September 18, 2006

Dinner? What’s that? No dinner tonight, as I went from work at UC down to work at Jean-Robert at Pigall’s preparing a special dinner for a bunch of wine people. I nibbled a bit here and there, but no real dinner was consumed.

CULINARY: Another night at Pigall's

CULINARY: Another night at Pigall's

After working a full day at UC, I headed down to Jean-Robert at Pigall’s to help prepare a special dinner (the restaurant is usually closed on Mondays) for 60 members of a wine club.

When I arrived around 5:15, the kitchen was in full swing. Jeremy, Rob (who left for class around 6:00), Mike, Richard, Luke, Raymond, and Karen were well into their mise en place and I was immediately put to work plating a duck salad hors d’oeuvre, a one-bite item on the end of silver spoons. Once that was complete, I worked on a tuna salad with melon on toast hors d’oeuvre. There were other hors d’oeuvres, too, including a very tasty sweetbread wonton.

Once hors d’oeuvres were sent, we worked on the rest of the banquet-style multi-course meal and I assisted with plating, cleanup, and fine-dicing shallots (I diced up a LOAD of them). I don’t have a listing of the complete menu to share, but if I can find one, I’ll post it.

I left the kitchen around 10:00, tired and sore, but glad to help.

DINNER 262: Tuesday, September 19, 2006

DINNER 262: Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Though the wine dinner at the Iron Horse Inn was postponed this month, Brian and Milan agreed to meet up with us for dinner. We met at the HORSE, but decided to dine at the Glendale Gaslight, and we’re glad we did. The food was…

DINNER 263: Wednesday, September 20, 2006

DINNER 263: Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Today was the first day of the new school year for students at the University of Cincinnati, so energy was high around the college. It is nice to get the new students started, and nice to have the returning students back. On the way home,…

DINNER 264: Thursday, September 21, 2006

DINNER 264: Thursday, September 21, 2006

I had a busy day at work — the first few days of classes are always a bit challenging, with the increased traffic on my commute (both ways), the idiocy of the new drivers (driving the wrong way through the parking garage — I saw a young woman driving the wrong way yesterday as I was walking in from the garage. I shouted, “You’re going the wrong way!,” to which she replied, “I know!”. So I said, “Then why are you doing it?” and she just kept driving. The wrong way!), the ongoing construction (that was supposed to be complete before classes began) in and around our building, the variety of little questions asked by the students new & old, and the regular hectic nature of my workday.

I came home and got most of my chores done — some laundry (though I think I dyed my side towels pink since I threw them in with a red towel), some cleaning, and getting ready for tomorrow. It was a nice surprise that Wendy didn’t have rehearsal this evening, so around doing my chores, we got to spend some time together over dinner and television.

I ate an oniony hamburger and some garlic bread for dinner. Dinner of champions, I know, but I went to lunch with Paul at Skyline yesterday and, since it’s been a while since I’ve had Skyline, it hit my stomach rather hard. On the upswing, I should be back in business by Saturday, assuming I don’t do anything stupid during meals tomorrow.

DINNER 265: Friday, September 22, 2006

DINNER 265: Friday, September 22, 2006

After working at UC most of the day, I went with Kristin, Matt, Chad, Kevin, Tara, Adwoa, Lisa down to the Cincinnati Reds game at the Great American Ball Park to work a food stand. It was a lot of work, and a lot of…