a postcard from aquidneck island

& baltimore & boston | may recap

housekeeping! hello, hello! thank you for reading claudeata—it means so much to me. i’ve been eating and thinking about food for as long as i can remember, and having a spot to put all those thoughts is very important to me. i’m thrilled that you care enough about it too to read about it once a month. if you aren’t subscribed, please do (and tell a friend to subscribe too)! throw me a like every now and then because we all seek validation from others...

I am about one month into my internship, and although my time as a prep and line cook is in its infancy, I’m really liking it. This summer I am determined to figure out whether or not restaurant life is for me. I love hospitality and the honesty of this type of work, but being on your feet all day and working when everyone else gets to play takes a toll on you. It’s good right now, so I won’t dwell on the “what ifs.” Anyway, here’s what’s up!

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some background

At most (maybe all?) culinary schools, working out in the industry is a degree requirement. My first restaurant job ever involved closing out checks and watching line cooks cook all night at Le Bernardin, so I thought for sure that I would end up back in fine dining. When I staged at two very well regarded fine dining establishmaaahnts, I felt stunted. Sure, I have lots to learn, but the goal at those types of places is to cut your production time in half (ie, building one dish in thirty seconds instead of a minute), so I took my job hunt outside of the Michelin guide and found a great place on a beautiful island that prides itself on from-scratch cooking made with ingredients from the island itself and its surrounding towns.

Week one was chock full of cutting vegetables, cleaning greens, and preparing for a 400-person Mother’s Day brunch. My very first task on the job was cutting about twenty pounds of onions. Unbeknownst to my new boss, I have a great sensitivity when it comes to chopping onions, and shortly after slicing into the first one, tears dripped down my face. Then I transitioned to working in the restaurant kitchen on the garde manger station. Now most of my time is spent building cheeseboards and salads and ensuring that my station is stocked with all the greens, dressings, fruits, cheese, et cetera that I need to fulfill orders. There are plenty more tasks that I could bore you with (and I will if the interest is out there!), but I’ll cut to the part in my day that I look forward to the most.

Mornings on the island are still tame enough to go for a walk without breaking a sweat, so I’ve gotten in a few miles of walking at the start of each day. Growing up I was not a beach person. I did not enjoy being in a bathing suit, covered in sand from head to toe. I hated seeing people from school at the shore unless I was also with people from school at the shore (iykyk how embarrassing it is to run into your classmates on the boardwalk holding your baby cousin’s hand. What I did enjoy about going down the shore was my mom’s willingness to appease my early bird self with walks along the beach. I also loved running into boutiques in town to escape a summer rainstorm (and the gearing up for a beach day) (although I do appreciate beach days now that I’m older). These things are what I love most about Newport and Middletown. There is so much coastline to walk, and if you wake up early enough like I have to (I’m talking 6:45–7am), you are likely one of the first people to set foot on the beach for the day, save for the countless gulls.

My family took a trip to Newport when I was younger, but I don’t remember much of it. I was preoccupied with a tweenage tantrum over spending my birthday walking around a bunch of old houses, so I’m trying my best to soak up as much of the area as I can. I already have a favorite beach and have been to the famous Cliff Walk a few times now. There is also a great wildlife preservation that juts out to the ocean where I saw a pheasant within seconds of exiting my car. Nature!

bmore

A week-ish ago I traveled from Rhode Island to Maryland to watch my little sister graduate from college. Being by her side for all the moments before and after she received her diploma was very important to me because she could not attend my college graduation — horrible timing for a positive COVID test. Although my time in Baltimore was short, it felt monumental, as all core memories do. From having one last sleepover in Maura’s apartment (on the bed that I slept on in college too) to having pre-dinner drinks at her professor’s home in Mount Vernon, everything was just so precious! Even careening through traffic in the Inner Harbor on scooters felt fragile, like falling off would somehow deter me from participating in the rest of the celebrations. We ate at Mo’s Seafood (a place my mom loves because the crab cakes are full of crab and not “filler,” as she puts it) with our parents, and then walked along the harbor with ice cream. I tagged along to a party with Maura at the end of the night, and although we only sat around a table over a card game, I had to tap out early because my eyelids were getting heavy and my head began to droop — THAT is when I felt old.

caesar salad

The food I consumed the most in May was not first of the season strawberries or potatoes or spring asparagus but Caesar salad. I think I ate one for dinner every night one week, all from a different source — and it was by accident, I swear! Molly Baz’s recipe still reigns supreme in my house, but the one on the menu at work isn’t bad either (it’s complete with parm crostini 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫). I used my new bottle of Algae Cooking Club cooking oil for the one below, and it really made the garlic and lemon shine!!!!!! Get 15% off here or with the code CLAUDEATA_. THX!

used algae to make molly baz's killer cae sal

That’s all for now, folks!!!!!!