This week has by far been my favorite week of the internship (and not because it is my last week) But because this week I feel like I finally fell into a flow state where each day became easier to work and time started to fly by. I just can't express my gratitude enough to high tech high for this experience and especially to Tom and Jessica from Ale Tales for giving me this opportunity to intern at their establishment. I've really loved getting to know all the people I worked with, connecting with regulars at the bar and getting the privilege to build the dinner menu for one of the Thursday dinners. Especially during the internship I find that it becomes easy to take the experience for granted and not hold onto the memories but I feel like this internship has truly stuck with me and made me fall in love with cooking al over again. I've noticed my own growth in my cooking abilities as a result of this and I have Tom the head chef to thank for this. Tom made me feel welcomed the second I stepped into that kitchen and I just wanted to take this section to thank him for making this whole month so enjoyable and so informative. 

Here is a book Tom got me as a parting gift, I love this so much and I can't wait to read it!!!!!

This week has by far been the most challenging but also rewarding week of the internship. Through having to trouble shoot plantain ripeness to making the perfect beans for the Thursday dinner we had a lot to work on. But all this work made the dinner even more worth it and much more enjoyable. I got to see one of my high tech teachers at the dinner too! (hi mr Phil!!!) Something that I wouldn't have predicted liking was the stress of a big order or a big variety of dishes all at once, but I think that feeling of finishing up a big order and also the feeling of working on a hard situation with other people in on it too is what makes it so much more rewarding. That feeling of finally being past the rush is something that just assures me that I love working in the kitchen

I miswrote it as cuban bears

Here to my right are two photos for what has been sort of this weeks main project! I first painstakingly zested and then juiced both the oranges and the limes as the main base for the Mojo sauce included as the main dish for my Big Thursday menu next Thursday!!! The sauce had a sweet flavor profile from the orange juice, that paired perfectly with the bitter/sour zested lime/orange and as a fresh note we added some cilantro. Overall the mojo sauce came out great and I can't wait to see how the 4 day marinade turns out on the pork. Here in the photo you can see us injecting the sauce into the pork to insure all the flavor is trapped in the pork whilst also breaking down the tougher fibers inside the pork to make it perfectly tender and almost melting in your mouth. This Thursday dinner prep although stressful has been a fun challenge! One of the larger challenges we have been facing was getting the perfect balance on the caramelized fried plantains. We wanted to get the crispy sweet outside but weren't sure how to make it not super hard on the inside. The goal is to have a hard sugary shell and soft almost gooey inside that bursts with the sweet plantain flavor. We found that If the plantain was too ripe it would be too mushy and burnt by the time the outside shell was fully hardened. Our solution was to get really unripe plantains and let them ripen perfectly on schedule to sync up with the Thursday dinner making it so when we fried them they would have the perfect sweet gooey center with the hard shell outside. Another problem solving technique I found that before frying the plantains we could put sugar on the outside so that the sugar hardens and caramelizes on the outside making it even crispier.  

Here is one of my coworkers Takashi. He is literally an amazing coworker and person to work with. I wanted to dedicate this little section to thanking him for being so helpful with teaching me the ropes and being so patient. He also is like the funniest person ever so it makes this already fun internship even more enjoyable when you work a shift with him. "Thank you Takashi!!!" we all say in unison!

<------ Here is a burger salad I made for my boss (beaus mom) burger with a side of burger salad is what it said on the ticket. This was by far one of the funniest orders I have gotten all week. Compared to the normal recipes and orders this was a fun change of pace! Most of this week I spent learning most of the menu and working on cooking the menu! Some bigger projects I have been tackling is the prepping for a Thursday dinner where I am working with my mentor tom on a Cuban Style dinner with a Cuban roasted pork, rice, beans, caramelized plantains and a caramel flan.  Another big project has been making and cooking a huge stew using the extra brisket that got shipped to Ale Tales. They have a large amount of brisket so this was no easy task. I had to season each brisket, bake it, shred it or cube it, and cook it in various styles depending on the recipe/dish.  I learnt a lot about the intricate muscle groups in a cut of meat and how brisket has two types of muscle present in it. And what really blew me away was how much an importance of anatomy of the animal your cooking is. It was cool getting to see how each muscle cooks differently and what each part of the cut of meat has as a flavor profile. Although I found it a little gross when shredding the large amount of brisket I still really enjoyed getting to learn from this dish  and the growth I have made as a cook from shredding/cooking so much meat.

Here is an image I find amusing but also interesting. Here is toms "Secret Ingredient" mix that he puts in the salt and pepper wings (or any Thai dish he whips up in the kitchen) Its so secrete he doesn't know some of the ingredients in it. All we know is that it makes things tastier and apparently has something tom labels as "super MSG". ----->