Friday, August 04, 2006

My Own Private Gym.



On more than a few occasions, I have been asked the question, “you are a pastry chef? (their eyes shift, scanning me up and down)…how do you stay so trim?” My standby answer has always been, “well, I usually get “sweeted out” around 9am, I don’t have time to take a break, let alone to eat lunch…and I usually go running after work.”
Lately, I have been exhausted after work, and then it dawned on me. When I go into work in the morning, I am essentially stepping into my own private gym of sorts. Here is a typical day, in my ‘gym.’

Arrive at crack of dawn, almost. Survey the dessert damage from the night before and make my prep list.

Test a few biscotti, a truffle, a gingersnap and couple crackers…for freshness, of course.

Lift 4 heavy rubber mats and flip onto floor of kitchen.

Make a coffee. Drink three sips.

Lift and carry a pile of 8 large sheet pans, downstairs to the pasta and cracker production area.

Work the triceps and biceps further by rolling trays and trays of crackers..

Work the Quads by running up and down the stairs to check on crackers in the oven.

Roll more crackers.

Drink a few sips, of lukewarm coffee.

Run up and down the stairs, carrying heavy trays, around 30 more times in the course of the next few hours. Oh baby, Feel the burn.

Work the Quads and Glutes by Squatting down by the oven to prepare the lemon tart and crème brulees (the oven is lower to the ground)

Work the arms further by pushing a fruit puree or two through a fine mesh sieve. (this really burns!)

Run down the stairs to grab something, run back up. (do this a few more times)

Walk back and forth from the ovens -to the walk in fridge -to the dish pit, about 100 times…

Drink a few more sips, of cool coffee.

Lift 50 pound bag of flour and empty contents into bucket.

Roll bread dough. Again, work those triceps.

Lift bread rolls to proofing location, then again into and out of the oven.

Squat and Pull heavy pan of Chocolate Cakes out of oven..lifting from the legs, of course.

Drink a few sips, of the now cold and stale coffee. Mmm, delish.

Carry heavy pan of hot cakes, to far end of kitchen….

Lift heavy boxes of produce and place in walk in fridge.


Repeat 5 days a week.

Now, If only my private gym had spa services… Posted by Picasa

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now, that's the type of gym Im talkin' bout!!!

Sara said...

but, darn, there is no pool and hot tub!!

Beitlers said...

What I like most about your gym is its efficiency. I don't like taking time out of my busy schedule to work out. And because I no longer have a coach to yell at me or make me feel guilty, I usually don't work out!

Sara said...

I agree! unfortunately, there are still the sweets...especially at night, when I have been away from them for a few hours!