Life in San Francisco

For Chanukkah this year, I asked for and received the gift of learning to be the chef at Benihana. Today I went for my chef training, and on Monday, January 19th I get to actually be the chef, and prepare dinner for my family.

I arrived at 3pm for my training session, and was met by 2 other would-be chefs, Carlos and Mike. We then proceeded into the restaurant, and were met by one of the managers, and by the master chef, Anton.

After signing a waiver that said we were responsible for any cuts, burns or food poisoning of our guests due to improperly prepared food, we were shown exactly how to prepare teppanyaki-style shrimp, steak, fried rice, and vegetables. We will be preparing Benihana's Spring 'N Meadow, which is a steak and shrimp combo, with mushrooms, onions and zucchini. I learned how to cut the shrimp (much, much harder than I expected), as well as how to make the famous onion volcano. I learned some spatula and fork tricks, and how to properly bow and serve the sauces. Chef Anton was with me every step of the way, and he made me feel so at ease!

I was dressed in the chef's red toque and jacket, and I was incredibly hot while I was cooking.

Most of all I learned that it is much harder to do all of this, and I only prepared dinner for one. It should be interesting to see how well I do preparing dinner for five.

Here's the bonus photo for today. That's me on the left!