Memories of Seattle –new city, friends for life, wine, cheese, great learning, studio at capitol hill and tasty rustic desserts. Read on…my externship experience!

Dahlia lounge, one of the well-known fine dining restaurants is located in downtown Seattle. The restaurant is run by one of the famous chef of the Pacific Northwest, Tom Douglas. He also owns two more renowned restaurants in downtown Seattle. My externship was in the pastry kitchen that serves all the three restaurants and also the retail bakery located next to the restaurant. I worked under the supervision of the pastry Chef Toby Matasar who is also a CIA graduate. The first month was spent getting used to the work environment of the kitchen but as time passed I felt my sense of comfort and understanding grew exponentially. My teacher was my Sous chef Mark LeBlanc who taught me everything I was to learn during my tenure and got me in the habit achieving perfection in making the items even if it was something as simple as a cookie. He was patient and understanding. He spent a lot of time going over the recipes and making sure I got them.

The quality of the products used was very good. Most of the produce was organic and fresh and the menu was based on seasonal produce. This meant that the menu changed practically every month. High quality ingredients were used for garnish. The raw ingredients came from local distributors. The inventory was checked by the chef everyday and ordered in the morning. On weekends the same job was done by the Sous Chef. The way the pastry kitchen worked was very simple.

The items that were to be produced were marked on the Prep list and on completion they were struck out from the list. The techniques used in the kitchen were very basic and simple. The main aim in the kitchen was to get the work done easily and efficiently. In order to stay ahead of time a lot of production items were prepared before hand. Being the summer season there were a lot of catering events and private parties in the restaurant. The items were baked in the order they were required. All the retail bakery items were baked first (Dahlia Bakery) ; this was followed by items for Etta’s, then Palace Kitchen and last but not the least for The Dahlia lounge. As there were generally three or four people working at the same time, the work got divided and a lot of products got done before time. At the end of the day of there was more time left prep work was done for the next day. The food was tasted by Shelly who was employed as a quality controller. Each production item that was prepared was tasted by everyone. By doing so not only everyone got a chance to taste the food but it also served as a way of checking the quality of the food. Being a highly reputed restaurant it was necessary that the food was of the highest quality and steps were undertaken to maintain the quality.

Tom Douglas believes that a dessert should be simple and elegant. All the finished food once plated looked very rustic and simple. The dessert had to taste good but that did not imply that less time was given to its appearance. An uncomplicated way of presentation was used, a small cake with a scoop of ice cream with the fresh fruit coulis. For most of the summer the kitchen was busy with we did have some slow days.

I personally felt that sometimes there was a lot of wastage in the kitchen. If the monetary value was calculated over a period of time, I am sure it would be a lot of money. Sometimes the sale was overestimated thus leading to more wastage.

Working in the kitchen not only teaches one to learn about food but also the human side to it. I worked and dealt with different kinds of people who come from diverse backgrounds and with different personalities. I personally felt that each day was a challenge since I had to deal with a new situation, different from what I was faced with the previous day. Through this interaction I also greatly developed my interpersonal skills.

On the whole, the environment was healthy and happy and the people were very approachable. Everyone while working talked about their life and the kind of activities they are involved in. Our discussions ranged from food to clothing to religion, music and likes and dislikes amongst other things. I also learned about the American culture and provided as much information I could about India. Over a period of time the work place started feeling home to me.

Working in Dahlia lounge has been a great learning experience and working in a real world kitchen has greatly added to my confidence. This experience has not only helped me make concrete my career plans but taste and decide the kinds of desserts I personally like. Learning about a new place and city, a new culture and meeting new people thus made my externship one of my most cherished and unforgettable experience in my life. I would personally recommend this place to any enthusiastic student who is willing to take challenges and roll with the situation. It’s not only a great place to work and learn about the culinary field but also to meet some great people.

Now and again I make my checklist in my brain and habitually I tell myself to write it on a piece of paper and despite that the stubborn me fails to follow it. When I was in NY I told myself to watch Julie and Julia knowing that it will take a while before it comes to Delhi!! And bummer by the time I grappled the movie thoughts I was on the flight to Delhi
I have heard some good quality things about the movie and now I am patiently yet eagerly waiting for it to come to the theatres. I love watching movies and here is a list of some fun food related movies:

Big Night
Woman on Top
Ratatouille
Like Water for Chocolate
Tortilla Soup
Mostly Martha
Babette’s Feast
Soon to come Julie and Julia!!

It’s not my darling dessert as I am more of a fresh fruit person. I do make it once in a while when I crave mushy and smooth stuff!!
Cream Caramel, flan, or caramel custard is a prosperous custard dessert as I’d like to call it with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to Crème Brule, which is custard with a hard caramel top.
Here is a simple quick recipe…eat it with dulce de leche and it’s even tastier and will show the prosperity on the belly

Crème Caramel

Sugar 250 Gms
Water 50 Gms

• Make a nice dark amber colour caramel by cooking the sugar with water.

(To make the caramel, mingle the sugar and water in a stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil and clean the sides with a pastry brush to avoid any crystallization. When the mixture starts to colour, swirl the pan to ensure an even colour. When it is deep amber, remove it from the heat)

• Pour the caramel into containers. And let it cool.

Eggs 7
Yolks 4
Sugar 250 Gms
Milk 1000 Gms
Vanilla bean 1

• Boil the milk and sugar and vanilla bean.
• Temper the eggs with the hot mixture and cook till nape consistency.
• Sieve and pour the mixture in the ramekins wit caramel in bottom.
• Bake at 170 for about 30-35 mins or till set.

It’s been a roller coaster ride for a while and my blog has been suffering coz of that. I think everyday that I will sit down and write but I never get down to typing. Other things have taken main concern. But you know sometimes you got to do it and force yourself.
I was away for a month and more in the US and that has made be behind with things. But no grievances, knowing myself I will catch up soon.
I am going to write my experiences about USA and The Netherlands in different posts. To begin with I started my journey from Delhi to Amsterdam and I stayed there couple of days. Met few friends there and also was travelling with another friend. So all in all it was a fun trip. Amsterdam is the land of beer. I don’t think I have had so much beer at one go as I did in Amsterdam. And Cheese can’t forget that
I got some old Gouda, aged dry goat cheese back with me too with some Holland mustard.

The architecture is amazing, the canals so romantic and in all I loved the city. Would I go back again…yes in a heart beat?

My next stop was New York, Miami, Key West, San Diego, SFO, Boston and then going back to my school- CIA. So you see I have a lot of stories to tell.

On the other hand I have been craving pancakes so I made some.

Flour 140 Gms
Sugar 2 tablespoons
Baking powder 2 teaspoons
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
Egg 1 large egg
Vegetable oil 2 tablespoons
Milk, to make the batter pourable

Method:
Mingle dry ingredients. Swirl in the egg, oil, and enough milk for batter to pour easily. Mix lightly to unify. Cook pancakes on a hot, well greased griddle or a flat pan.

I ate it with the maple syrup I got from Us with just plain amul butter!Yummmmmy!!

Enjoy while I work on my stories and catch up on work!