In the spirit of Influence...

Influence.

In an entire lifetime/career, we can usually pinpoint very specific moments which determine the course upon which our lives follow. This week is officially the halfway point for me and my tenure here in Spain. In this week I thought much about a few of the moments in my life that led me to only here, but to follow this path.

My first serious food memory was from when I must have been about three years old (an assumption only because I think I can remember my brother being born already) , and though I often try to think back to other moments of importance, this is the most distinct one. I remember my dad cooking squid with garlic in our kitchen in Cohoes, New York. I can't remember much of the peripherals, but I remember the smells of toasting garlic and black pepper, the sound of the semi-moist tentacles kissing the hot oil and inciting a near flare up, and image of the squid quickly coagulating and seizing. That was it, the entire symphony of senses culminating with taste of calimari. This week I had a moment not so much unlike that in the movie Ratatouille when the critic, Anton Ego, tastes the Ratatouille and is snapped back to a moment in his childhood. One of the days this week we were serving a new apertivo course dish with baby squid (or chupitos) and Andoni was demonstrating with the first few how he wanted them cooked and such for the chef de parties. It was eery to watch and cross fade in my head the visual memory of my Dad cooking that first squid and the live image of Andoni testing out these precious little baby squid which underwent much meticulous prep. Techniques: in full circle.

My dad cooking in the Old House

The current incarnation of Squid at Mugaritz (with baby carrots and arbequina olives)

A few years later when I was in elementary school, my mom took me out to dinner at a fancy restaurant (The Mansion Hill Inn) for my birthday, maybe in fourth or fifth grade. It was funny because I was ambivalent to the experience at the time honestly, it seemed fun, but I could have given or taken it. None the less, it was an early peek at the restaurant world and I remember it was one of the first times I had lobster in a restaurant. Though by now, my image of the meal is quite antiquated, I remember the lobster was served with a stew of corn, tomatoes and the claws, with the butter-poached tail sitting on top of Israeli Cous Cous. I too experienced a "deja vu" of this experience during a stage at Per Se in May of 2007. Come to think about it, almost exactly 12 years after my first restaurant Lobster encounter. On the day I staged at Per Se, I helped the fish station Chef de Partie with her mise-en-place and pre-service set up. On that given night, on the menu, they served one of the Thomas Keller originals, "Mac and Cheese", which is rather orzo pasta enriched with marscapone and served with a butter poached lobster tail. The visual though, dragged me right back to those first awkward moments sitting in an expensive restaurant in my Sunday best.

The cover of the New Yorker that ran a few years later, and ironically, came on my birthday.

Thomas Kellers "Macaroni and Cheese"

In the summer of 2000, I took my first employment at a summer camp in Western New York, near the Tug Hill Plateau. It was my first time really living away from home, first time keeping a responsible schedule, first time working, and first time making (though very little) money. It was a fun summer, and though I was only 15, I think there were some good lessons to be taken from being a grunt. 14 hour days beginning at 8 a.m., 6 days a week, were all good preparations for professional kitchen life, but it was here that I met another early role model, Martin Geskalney. Martin was this cool dude from Montreal who ran the kitchen for part of the summer, and not only did he turn me onto (good) music, but he taught me how to season food properly and really take ownership in my work. He didn't take things too seriously, but he was responsible and at an age and place where one would normally look towards older brothers, I had a few people to look up to.

I guess what Im getting at, is that my time here has made me more sentimental. We watched a video the other day in the kitchen that was shown at Madrid Fusion. It showed the evolution of our salsify dish with fish eggs and marine herbs. The funny thing was, the video showed that the original inspiration for the texture and visualization was fallen trees in the woods.

This is a picture of fallen trees...

...and this is a picture of the Salsify dish here.

The lesson, maybe even a good definition of the evolution is this: the farther "forward" we go, the closer we get to where we started. Maybe evolution is the wrong term, maybe revolution is better. I think the more I see things that test the boundaries of my imagination or understanding, the more I take comfort in the things I know very well or am familiar with. It's good to know how far you've come, and equally important to know where you started.

Im trying to take more photos and put together another little movie. Hopefully in the coming days and weeks I can amass a little bit of worthy content.

Anywho. I am also headed back to Barcelona in April to meet some of my friends from back home and am open and interested to any suggestions people might have of other things to see and do there. Likewise, I am going to spend a bit under a week in Paris in May just before coming home and am curious if anyone has must see foodie recommendations there as well (Pierre Herme/Laduree macaroons, Poilane Bakery, the Dehillerin kitchen shop, and a meal at Le Chateaubriand are all on my interest list).

Cheers...(and congrats to the saints ;-))

Agur,

Greg