Bakersfield, Day Two - Part One

Woke up bright (ok, not so bright) and early on Thursday. Nervous? Nah -- I only woke up before my alarm. Like that ever happens. Then forgot my chef's jacket on my way to the lobby. And, forgot my recipe. Couldn't believe I forgot that. Had a momentary feeling of panic, but then I realized a) I knew most of the recipes by heart b) I had a crack team of food scientists and expert chefs behind me -- what did I have to worry about?

After breakfast, we headed up for a brief "orientation" and our first opportunity to meet the chefs. They (Floyd Cardoz, Nancy Silverton, and Jacques Torres) were already seated when we arrived. As they were at the front table, with their backs towards us, it wasn't very conducive to introductions. We were escorted to our seats, to the left of the chefs; Chrissy to my left, Leslie to my right, then Jacques, Floyd, and Nancy. Jacques broke the ice by introducing himself, but before we could finish, the orientation began.

After orientation, we broke out into our teams and headed to the test kitchens; Bonnie and I were teamed with Denise and Mandeep in Kitchen #1. This is not your typical kitchen - it almost felt like I was back in my lab in Berkeley, except I had to be even cleaner (we had to don hair nets, lab coats or chefs jackets, and gloves). I felt right at home in the lab/kitchen -- this was the moment I'd been waiting for. No problem putting on my nitrile gloves. Hey, there's a water bath in here too. And a scale. Oh, and the Kitchen Aid mixer, but too bad it was red (ssssssss!, Go Bears!).

Part Two tomorrow...