Intro to Internship

No class today! (Instructor's In-Service Day.) Which means I got an extra 2-1/2 hours sleep, and still got up before 8 am.

On Saturday, I spent the day at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, site of my upcoming twelve-week internship. I'd emailed Sarah, my supervisor, that I'd like to come to the market on Saturday to check it out, as I'd never been. Part of the farmer's market experience means shopping locally, so I've visited the Montclair market on Sundays, as well as the bigger Jack London Square one. Sarah's reply included my schedule for the day, and she booked me fully from 6:30 am until 2 pm. Jumping in with both feet, as it were.

I had to wait outside the Rockridge BART station until the attendant opened the grill at the top of the escalators, and I was on the first train westward. I came out of the Embarcadero Station to a flurry of activity, with vendors on both sides of The Embarcadaro setting up tents and tables. I spent the day in CUESA's exhibition kitchen, which is at the north end of the Ferry Building just outside of Taylor's Refresher restaurant. The kitchen area is under the building eaves, in between the arches, and the equipment is all stored behind big mural-covered barn doors that slide open. Inside, there are four portable stainless steel work tables and two propane stoves on wheels, a dish sink, several refrigerators, and a bunch of lockable cabinets which hold dry ingredients, tools, and supplies. I sanitized work surfaces, set up cutting boards and chairs, then set out with Sarah to "shop".

She had a list of the produce we'd need for the day's demonstrations, so we set out to peruse the market. We traded goods for receipts -- the farmers are reimbursed monthly for the foods they provide, and we ended up with four arm-loads of squash, pears, apples, and vegetables for stock.

It was about 8 am by that time, and I was instructed to cook! First, I made a simple vegetable stock, which was the basis for my next project, butternut squash-pear soup. I worked at the demonstration stove, in front of the 20 folding chairs set up for the morning's chef's demos, and in my head, I narrated my progress. I'd told David the night before that I wouldn't be the kind of chef who uses the Royal We when talking through a recipe: "Now we're sauteeing our onions in olive oil..." but that would be an easy trap to fall into.

Anyway, the chefs on Saturday were Jay Foster of farmerbrown restaurant, who demonstrated a couple of salads, and Louise Fong Bonham, who produced the Presidio Hill School cookbook. She made yet another salad, and the butternut squash soup, and my batch was used to feed the assembled hordes. Well, really, about 30 people.

There were lots of activities this Saturday: CUESA was also hosting an apple-tasting and a butter-churning demonstration (using heavy cream, glass jars, and marbles). Sarah was busy organizing volunteers, who did everything from slice and offer apples to dishes and clean-up. After I made soup, I helped serve samples and make sure the chefs had the supplies they needed, then helped deconstruct the kitchen, bag up the leftovers, and sweep. The day flew by and I felt like I belonged there. I'm looking forward to really starting my internship, two weeks from tomorrow.