Jan 14, 2004

This morning I woke up early to see my uncle at his dental office. I have a dry socket as a result of a wisdom teeth extraction two weeks ago. For the last couple of weeks I have been in quite a bit of pain...but the recovery is going nicely. After my appointment I made it to the T without getting lost!

Today I worked with Julia. We made 9 different batches of chicken and pasta. I bumped into Christopher Kimball in the hallway. He is taller than I expected and we didn't exchange words. I was waiting in the hall to be let into the kitchen, as usual, because I don't have a pass key.

Someone made salmon today and was throwing it out because the grilling wasn't perfect. I rescued half of it before it hit the trash and we had it for dinner. It was fabulous! I am staying with an incredibly generous family, the Jorgenson's, who have lent me a room to stay in for my entire six week internship.

America's Test Kitchen was in the Boston Globe today. It was pretty cool to read about the test kitchen that I have been working in. My life is starting to settle into a pattern. I am adjusting to the internship fairly well. I think I was so excited about it I had inflated it's possibilities, but now am grasping exactly what Cook's Illustrated is and does. It is too early to see if I think I would be a good addition or if I would enjoy working here in the future. Most of the women are in management positions and they are fairly uptight. The guys do most of the testing and are extremely jovial and good natured.

Overall though I am most impressed with the women. They rule the roost but are extremely fair and even tempered.

Jan 13, 2004

Second day on the job. I only spent a half hour getting lost this time. Woohoo! Took the T for a total cost of $4.40. At this rate I will be hitch hiking home.

Today I read up on grilling -- then grilled a few clabs of ribs. After 2 1/2 hours of checking the temp in the grill every 15 minutes (in the freezing cold) the meat was cooked. Tasters sampled the meat with six different sauces. The original sauce was not the favorite. Most tasters preferred test 5 which used the original recipe and substituted brown sugar for white sugar.

The goal is to create an authentic Southern bbq sauce which I learned was a lot thiner and tangier than sauces I am used to.

Jan 12, 2004

Today was my first day as an intern at Cook's Illustrated (America's Test Kitchen). I arrived 10 minutes late because I was lost for an hour and a half on crazy streets that made no logical sense and most definitely did not appear on any maps I was using.

When I entered I was greeted by Erin McMurrer who offered me some water. The group of kitchen testers was tasting water and there was a station set up for me already. I blinkly tasted 12 water varieties and rated them on odor, flavor, and aftertaste.

After this I was assigned to work with Julia during my internship. She seems to have her finger in several pots. I prepared several version of Texas BBQ Sauce previously published in preparation for tasting with ribs tomorrow.

I also began research on an article I will help Julia with on chicken and noodles. The article will appear in the Sept/Oct 04 issue and will highlight five chicken and pasta recipes. Julia is also working on a casserole cookbook and I helped file and categorize some of those recipes.

Overall it was a great day. The work environment is upbeat and busy. The kitchen is beautiful and their library is very extensive. I am looking forward to the next six weeks. Tomorrow I will take the T.