31 October, 2006
CHiPs
24 October, 2006
Ford F500 Theme
I’ve just finished a new theme for word press. Click on the image to download it.
18 October, 2006
Line Chef
Right now I’m reading a book about a chef (reference) and it has really got me thinking about my time spent in the kitchen as a line chef or second expo… It wasn’t like any other job I have ever worked in. The pressure was immense when you were working in a team that was cooking over 600 meals a shift, particularly when I was in charge of calling out orders and judging timing for half of the kitchen (grill, flat top and broiler).
It was hard work in incredible temperatures. The first year I spent as a line chef in Montauk, the lowest temperature in the kitchen was 110 degrees. We had 6 300 degree fryers, an open top grill, a flat top and a broiler which was a bitch. By our second hour of work, the fridge would be running at 72 degrees.
Your station was kitted out with everything you needed to cook food fast and well. Sometimes when the shit would hit the fan and there were 20 orders in the window and a queue of orders waiting to be put up, things would really move into hyper drive. The rest of the time was spent getting prepared for the rush and keeping the place clean.
During these times I could have been asked for an all day by somebody (what was on that person’s station at that time, how it was to be cooked and information about what I needed first or yesterday). In Stephen’s case we sometimes used to add an extra salmon on that we needed yesterday J… salmon being the slowest thing to cook in the kitchen (sorry dude). It was hot smelly work but also very rewarding. There is no feeling like it when you are on one of the stations and you manage to get through a rush with no panic. You were part of a team, and if you messed up an order, the entire meal could be in jeopardy and the last thing you want to ask your team mates to do was redo a meal. They had enough going on.
Things moved fast in a kitchen. You constantly had to be working out how to load up your station so that you were prepared for an unexpected order of 20 salmons, or 50 lob rolls. When the shit hits the fan, you don’t want to have to leave your station for even 40 seconds to pull a new lob.
Stephen joined me in the kitchens during the second stint which was great. I think we were both very good at what we did, something I know realise shouldn’t have been taken for granted by us. The challenge of spending 45 hours a week in 120 degrees is not a small ask, let alone the added pressure of the actual cooking, cleaning and planning.
So, why am I writing about this now? Because I am really feeling the pull of the kitchens… and I might go back.
17 October, 2006
I Love Bluetooth
I woke up early this morning and took a picture of my room which I had cleaned the night before… I sat down at my desk and the picture was already on my computer… between entering the front gates where my connection gets picked up, and sitting down at my desk, the phone and computer had synced… how cool is that?
16 October, 2006
I had a fro… ???
Some belated pictures from Fergal’s 21st… with some strange hair styles… there is a reason tho… my mum thought I looked like a drug dealer with a really tight hair cut… so I decided to go the other extreme…
Me and the Dude
11 October, 2006
Marco’s Stag
This is just going to be a brief overview of what went on… More stories will follow which will give more detail into individual events which combined to make this weekend.
Friday
I took a half day and went to pick up Chris in a 7 seater Santa Fe. The plan was that we would both drive one to Galway and back. We got to Myos for before 1900 to pack the jeeps and fill them up with beer. It was hard to believe after all the planning and talking about it, that it was actually happening…
We hit the road… The check into the hotel was painless enough and within a short period of time we were in Eyre Square and heading into Cuba, which is a strange place and not one I would ever go back to. Everybody had a laugh, a few drinks and a good time before we headed back to the hotel for some late drinks.
I was driving to Limerick the next day and so I was conscious of my alcohol intake and took it easy. Getting into the hotel wasn’t easy because I got my room number wrong. I was staying with Chris as it turned out because Mark pulled rank and got a room on his own.
Saturday
Breakfast was fine. Nothing special and not disastrous. In general I liked the hotel, but being a veggie, breakfast was limited to toast and cereal. Myself and Chris then made a dash into Galway to pick up some clothes for the paint balling. A couple of scarves, runners etc etc. Before we knew it we were on the road to Limerick, and lets just say the length of time it took to get there was underestimated by the paint balling crowd. Another bit of crazy driving ensued and we arrived about an hour late. SK was meeting us there.
The paint balling was well worth the trip down and was excellently run. Driving in there was like driving into an army camp. The guns were heavy and not very accurate and within a short period of time I had been tagged twice in the side.
The various games that followed improved the game play, but getting hit by those paint balls was no fun. If the guns had been accurate I might have had some chance… but why everybody else seemed to be able to pick out me at range is beyond me.
The trip back was uneventful and we had dinner before hitting the town. JM, David and BJ had made the trip up earlier that day and we caught up with them in Busker Browns, before heading to Pi Bar. It was actually a fantastic night and I think everybody had a great time. We then went back to the hotel for some more late drinks and while JM plotted a way of getting into the bar which was shut at this stage, everybody else sat around and had a laugh. I was driving home again the next morning, and I was already fucked, so I didn’t make it past 0400. Mark stayed up all night 
Sunday
After breakfast we hit the road and met up with Team Gihad in Moat for a super macs. There were Irish people working there which was actually really strange… and not something I was used to. The food is cheap crap of the worst kind, but it was what we needed right then.
In general everybody had a great time and some of the stories (such as the guide dog shot) and the antics will live long in my memory.People kept coming up to me to thank me for organizing the weekend and that they had had a great time. I kept telling people it was a team effort between myself and Mark. I was absolutely delighted with the resulting weekend and now I’m looking forward to the wedding… I will add more stories to the blog over the coming weeks about particular events that happened during the stag…
10 October, 2006
Hotels in Dublin (Post Exchange)
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9 October, 2006
Dollymount Strand
I love Dollymount and always have. When I first moved to Drumcondra, I was delighted to be close to this oasis in the middle of Dublin. Unfortunately I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would have, but on Sunday when I was there it was fantastic… so I took a picture of it with my new phone…
New Phone (6233)
I got a new phone last week… because as it turns out I got my old one wet in the rain… To get a phone with bluetooth, I had to leave vodafone and join Meteor, and I have got to say, the phone I got is the business… it works with my computer, my online calendar and even has a 2mp camera… a decent voice recorder and 64mb of removable memory.
So why am I telling you all about my new phone? Because I think it will help me blog better. I always stayed away from phones with cameras… but a 2mp resolution is perfect for blogging and putting up pictures and I may even experiment with some podcasts…
8 October, 2006
Kingston
I have to get into the habit of writing about things on this blog when they happen. At the moment I am kinda putting things on the long finger and then coming back to them…
I travelled to Kingston with Niamh on a Thursday. I was doing a 15 hour trip which would have me take only a half day off work… as it turned out I took the extra day off anyway to go and try on suits with Mark.
The flight over was non eventful, but the bus trip from Heathrow to Kingston is not a journey I will ever look forward to. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we didn’t have tons of luggage for Niamh, but 1 hour 40 mins of crawling through the traffic in London in a bus and looking after some seriously heavy suitcases was a major pain in the ass.
When we got to Kingston, I was really impressed. It was a really bueatiful suburb of London and I was delighted that Niamh would be living her for the next few years until she finishes architecture. We checked her into her residence which I was also very pleased with, and then went about buying some of the stuff she would need such as sheets for the bed etc etc. As it turned out she is allowed have over night guests so for the 3 hours of sleep I did get that night, I didn’t need a hotel.
After buying the necessary items, we had some food in Pizza Hut and then spent the rest of the evening walking around Kingston. We headed up to see her college and just explored the town more than anything else. It is actually really cool with little avenues and streets everywhere. It has a nice sedate feeling to it… a comfortable place maybe. I don’t really know how to describe it.
Luckily the same bus we got from Heathrow to Kington operates 24hours, so I was up and on the bus for 0420. The architecture of the place is beautiful, and as I stood there waiting for the bus to come along I had the strange sense that i was standing in a painting…
I got to say I was really proud of Niamh. She took to the whole thing very well, and I’m sure the challenges she will face over the coming times will be no problem to her. For the first time ever, at 0400 on this Thursday in August, she was on her own… out on her own.