This morning Shaun Gaines, sous chef at Alan Wong's Honolulu, is doing his competencies for me. He is cooking every dish off his station for me to taste and approve. Since he has been at this for awhile now, it's more like a "recalibration." One of our new cooks, Keralina, is from Louisiana. Her accent seems doesn't make her sound like she's from the South, however, she can say "y'all" in the prettiest way. She is externing with us, along with Shari, who started as a Leeward Community College extern and stayed on with us because she likes it here. Jason was promoted from the day cleaners job and is now a prep cook. They all got to share the food with me. I explained how I taste food. Keralina, not being from here, got to write down a lot of foreign words for her that locals know already, like, mochi, tsukemono, li hing mui, "Da" as in "Da Bag" and what it means (a little pidgin English and culture), and crack seed store (auntie's store downstairs who sells these things). They get to see the recalibration in terms of seasoning (salt), balance, execution, and presentation. There were a couple of things that needed to be corrected this morning. Check-ups are good beacuse they keep us healthy and on path.
~AW