In the Kitchen

What’s New at Paulding & Company

February 2010

Reel Good Job!

January was a great month for Paulding & Company, a busy and productive month that ended with a major movie shoot, with Clint Eastwood directing, Matt Damon, Bryce Howard and Steve Schirippa acting, plus assorted extras, a ton of crew, and a plethora of equipment. The movie, Hereafter, is scheduled for release late this year, and the experience of having the shoot in house was enlightening, especially the intricacy of the dance of production, which involves at least 100 people.

About Clint Eastwood—words can’t describe what a normal, down-to-earth, friendly guy he is. His crew loves him, loves working for him, and the amount of times I heard about this were countless—and that he worked fast, which became obvious as the two-day shoot went like clockwork. Clint and the whole crew were gracious from the first moment to the last. Did you know Clint was a local guy? He grew up right here in the Oakland/Piedmont area, and he graduated from Oakland Tech although he spent a year at Piedmont Middle School first. He told us stories of school—how when he was at Tech, shops stretched out from the back of the school, where you could study all manner of useful skills, including auto and aircraft turbine engine mechanics. Many of the WWII soldiers came back and returned to high school to study at Oakland Tech, to learn trades that would be useful to earn a living. Too bad this is no longer true, as it harkens to a time when we did not expect every kid to either start out as a junior exec or work flipping burgers, but rather, realized that for many, becoming expert in a useful trade would be very rewarding.

It’s hard to fathom the movie making process. Intricate, choreographed in a near-seamless dance of at least a hundred people and pieces of equipment galore, with everyone knowing exactly what to do when, as if by magic. One guy, a happy fellow named Bernie, seemed to know how every part fit together, and things did run very smoothly. The transformation of our kitchen and lobby into an adult school, complete with course description pamphlets, bulletin boards, artwork, signage, started last Monday. By Tuesday evening, we looked like a school campus, complete with artwork and pottery that appeared to have been made in their respective classes. To finish the job, a big tent was constructed outside the kitchen windows, black enough to make it seem like we were in night classes inside. Our neighbors all participated—one office became the pottery classroom, another painting, etc., and outside (they shot quite a bit out of doors, as people came and went), they went so far as to have our across-the-street neighbors place artwork and strategically light their windows. A giant crane was topped with a camera, that took film from at least 40 feet up for some of the outdoor scenes.

Tracy and I did all the food for the scenes, which was great fun. We made our share of novice mistakes—like spending a long time preparing for the final scene, only to have it shot in one minute or so, without ever showing all our handiwork. Days were long, often 12 hours, and learning the etiquette of a shoot was interesting. When the cameras roll, everyone stops. Stand-ins for the stars are doing just that, leading up to every shot—so that the lighting can be perfected. “Working fast” means not doing many retakes of the same shot—but it does not mean they’re working fast. If they do a scene from one angle, they move the camera (complete with either track or ramp, depending on the action) and reset from the next angle, then shoot it again. And again from a third, sometimes more. So, for every short sequence of action and dialog, there are at least 10 minutes between “takes” and several different angles. A couple of minutes action can take hours to complete.

Hereafter is scheduled for release before the end of the year, but I’m not sure when.

Other News

Did I mention, January was a great month? We had a very busy time, because so many of our corporate clients delayed having anything like a party before the holidays. Now, they are making up for it, by scheduling fun events at the kitchen. Besides fun team events, we’ve done a lot of catering, both corporate and private. The trend continues through February, and into March—and beyond. If you are thinking of having a kitchen party, or influencing your work team to come in and cook together, do contact us!

Skipping to Summer

Tracy’s hard at work on summer camp plans. She has the schedule online and plans for a great series of camps. With the word spreading about how great this camp was last year, we expect to fill up—so we hope some of you will think about sending your teens (and preteens) and sign up early. If you want a testimonial, you have only to look at all the pictures of happy and engaged kids from last year—but there are written testimonials to read as well.

Classes

There’s still room next Sunday (the 7th) in my Knife Skills/Pressure Cooker cooking class! We have at least a half-dozen spots left to fill, so don’t delay. This is the first public class I’ve taught in a while, and it should be a great one. We’ll practice knife skills (your knives or mine) and then, cook with much of what we’ve cut up. The pressure cooker makes it easy to complete several dishes fairly quickly.

Rosetta’s classes are selling out—as they always do—so plan ahead. Check out her schedule on our calendar, or at cookingwithrosetta.com. There’s still space in March and April classes, and if you desperately want to get into an earlier one, do sign up for the waiting list—sometimes, if there are enough people on the list, she’ll schedule a second class.

We are introducing Ethiopian cooking classes this month, with Selome Haileleloul. the first class on February 20th is for omnivores, and the second, on February 27th, for vegetarians. Come welcome this new teacher, and learn how to cook with the earthy yet exotic flavors of Ethiopian food!

In the Market

Blood oranges, Pomelos, Cara Caras, Mandarins, Meyer lemons—citrus rules! Apples, pears and Asian pears round out the fruit offerings, with (if we’re lucky and it hasn’t rained too much on the fields) some modestly sweet strawberries. Vegetables are a rich mix of greens, chicories and roots—kohlrabi and turnips, sweet parsnips and carrots. I learned from a friend this week, that they plant carrots in cleaned-up toxic sites, because they do such a great job absorbing bad chemicals. One strong reason to always get organic carrots! Potatoes, yams, winter squashes, Chinese long beans, plenty of texture, color and flavor in the farmer’s market right now. If you haven’t ever mashed a Carola potato, come to Grand Lake one Saturday and pick some up—there are maybe 15 varieties to choose from at one stand, but these make memorably good mashed potatoes, the perfect texture and a rich, elegant flavor.

Recipe of the Month

Valentine’s Day is here. Time for a treat! I’ve published a lot of desserts lately, so I’m going to skip the obvious and head for an easy, delicious and symbolically rich entree, one I often included in Valentine’s class menus in the past. Serve it over some soft polenta with some green vegetables of your choice, for a beautiful and delicious dinner for your sweetheart that won’t take all day to make.

See the recipe »