week 2: Sonic Boom and Thyme Crisis

image from here

So, I stepped things up a bit this week, and so next week I'm moving to a new section, and a whole new set of challenges! Let's go... Separately, I'll tell you a small tale of just how the smallest details can make a huge difference in a day....

One of the things that has to be done every single day is that 30 grams of lemon thyme has to be picked. No stems, no yellow leaves, no black leaves....so pretty much you have to pick each "good" leaf by hand. Usually this is not a big deal, it takes right around 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete. Until of course, the day I discover that the lemon thyme is not in the herb fridge ready for us to pick as it is every day. There's some left from the day before, but not nearly enough to get us through.

So as I'm picking what's left, I start asking where I can find some more...first I ask the guy who put away all the herbs this morning...he says he didn't see any come in. I then ask the chef de partie who's responsible for checking all deliveries, and he says that one package did come in, he saw it himself, and that I should re-check with they guy who put it all away...= waste of time loop #1(har har! pun #1). Still picking away at the dwindling stash, I recall faintly that pastry also uses lemon thyme. So I send someone to run downstairs to get it from them before we run out of thyme (har har! pun #2).

He comes back and tells me, "pastry's got it, but they don't want to give it to us...they have to pick through it first." waste of time loop #2. So, then I have to run down to the sugar sluts and charm them with my pimpin ways. I find out that their dish requires the nice "tips" of thyme and since there's only one package...they need every tip they can get or they'll be in the shit. Also, they're super specific about what's an acceptable thyme tip vs an unacceptable one. I strike a deal...and make out with the golden package of thyme (eww gross). Now, our task is two-fold, we have to pluck out perfect tips for the dough hoes, and pick the leaves for ourselves. We work furiously to pluck out tips and spit out stems that we can pick for our mise en place. I have the guys just pick enough to give us enough thyme (har har! pun #3)to work with...then run downstairs with the tips and the rest of the unpicked thyme. They're happy with the tips...and it's back upstairs to continue to pick what we need.

Of course, on this happy day, the thyme is also shittier than it ever has been...it's wispy, sparse, and more difficult to pick through than usual. Great-o! We run out what we took and need more...so back down stairs for more thyme... Run back upstairs, and this time we do things in reverse...we pick our stuff and leave the tips to send back down stairs.

In the end all of this nonsense turns a 1:15 minute job into a 2:15 job...which means 1 hr less in the day to get a shit ton of work done. And because of this, I will always appreciate the sous chef who orders the product (because he'll get me more, higher quality thyme for the next day), and the cdp who accepts the deliveries, the guy who puts away the herbs, and pastry for picking through the bunches first before giving it to us to do our thing...All for a little herbage.