The last couple years. :-)

Big changes, HUGE. 

It just dawned on me that I may have not added anything to this blog in.. I don't know, FOREVER?

Looks like I was right! 

Here they are, my boys: Timothy, Jeremiah and Jonathan.

  and me and Roy <3> 


More to come...(not kids, just blogs, lol)

Cooking, Working, Changing Diapers, REPEAT,...

Here we are in October and it's almost Halloween! Jonathan is going to be Captain Jack Sparrow this year, and Timmy will probably go as a cute baby in a skeleton onesie ;-) I bought him a pumpkin costume, but his legs are too long for it now.

Recent Happenings:

I went back to work after 3 months off with the new baby! Yay! Jonathan started 1st Grade this year and God bless his poor teacher,..one of the things I warned her about before school started was that he has been pent up with me, Grandma and the baby since little baby Timmy came in July. Poor kid. We would all go places occasionally, but it was too hot to take walks a lot of the time, and other days we were all sleeping in shifts, so , whomever would be awake would be trying to entertain Jonathan. :-(

Since going back to work on Oct. 5th, things are finally starting to become a working, but mostly unbearable routine. Mom quit her job to watch the kids, so she is with me from Mon-Fri, and sometimes Saturday. On a daily basis: I pump at work in the morning, bring that milk home at noon, feed the baby and eat simultaneously, get back to work, pump in the afternoon and bring that milk home at night. My lunch is 45 min long, and it takes me 10-12 minutes to get home. It's been wear and tear on my car and myself, but on the bright side-it's for a very good reason!!

I'm interviewing for 2 jobs this week, hoping that one of the two is a better fit, because besides my current job's 45 minute lunches, the hours aren't very "family friendly" at all. SO, gimmie a 9-5, and pay me a dollar more...or gimmie a 7-3 and give me a 401k with profit sharing, and I'm yours..
At the place I'm at, they charge 1100.00 a MONTH for Health insurance and their 401k only matches half of 2% - for those of you who have 401k, you know that sucks if you have kids and you can't afford to put much in every pay period.. So, I don't have a 401k or Health Insurance through my job (obviously), but would LOVE to work for a place that appreciated me in more ways than an hourly paycheck.

So I'm moving on... hopefully by mid-November. Yeah, maybe I'll drive a little farther but I will be HAPPIER and MORE ENTHUSED about coming in to work everyday, especially if they offer hour lunches!!

When your life outside of work is stressful, it's nice to know that a job doesn't have to be THAT stressful also.

Adios

The New Addition: Timmy

Here he is! Almost 2 months old already! Timothy Ayden Born July 11th 21 inches long 8 pounds 7.5 ounces

Bigger than ever

Howdy folks.. it seems as though I should update everyone>> First-my belly this week: 10 weeks to go!

Muy GRANDE, eh?

I keep telling myself that I only have X amount of weeks to go..but I am really counting down the paychecks.

My employer has only decided to offer me Short term disability, which will be a ...500 dollar a month pay cut..roughly. So I guess since that is my daycare budget a month, and Jonathan will be with me - so it just might work?? And I wont be having "cravings" anymore.. so that factors in money that I won't be spending at Taco Bell, Dairy Queen and a local gyro place that I can't get enough of!!! I'm also going to call up my student loan place and see if they can't help me by either lowering my payment even more, or making it disappear for the first calendar year of the birth of my baby-like they did for someone I know who went to LCB too... we shall see.

Update on baby daddy? Well, lets just say, I've been "had" in the worst possible way that I could ever imagine happening to ANY woman ever.
I think I said it best in my Facebook note:
In this case, I was under the assumption that the person that is the father of my baby on the way was single. Boy, was I wrong-and here I am-after he was deported in early March-i found out in a very cruel way how much his wife really meant to him. Ever able to forgive something so monumental? You decide.

The baby I will give birth to sometime in the next 3 months will not only be a blessing, a choice, but a link to a person that doesn't deserve to be named here.

In the future it will be my decision to tell him what happened with his Daddy-but how to explain something so complicated. But like everything with this baby-it will be solely my choice.

So here I am-frightened to death, knowing I have loved ones who are here to help and support me through all this madness. But who will be there when baby cries at 3 am? Me. Who will be there to answer the baby when he's old enough to ask why his Dad isn't around? Me. Who will plan and execute every single solitary Birthday party? Me. Who's income will be supporting this creature? Besides WIC, and food stamps eventually...Me. Who will grow to be proud of him for who he is and what he will stand for because she knows him inside and out? Absolutely and positively ONLY Me. And that, my friends, couldnt make me happier! Thats how this last couple months has been. Not only recognizing and accepting my future with a new little boy in addition to my existing soon-to-be 6 year old, but learning to love it.

I'm not gonna lie, I wasnt feeling that excited about this pregnancy after I found out all the details of the father; making me despise ever meeting him..but knowing that I will keep the best part of him all to myself, to enjoy all by myself is liberating.

After all, I will soon have two little amazing boys.. that will love me and respect me not only for who I am, but for what I help make of them.

Constant whirlwind of change!!

This blog entry is going to be colorful because my son is on my lap ;-)

So when I think that the world is finally going to crash in on me, I receive word from my BF finally. I'm still not happy with him after we spoke, but at least I know he's alive.

Sometimes I think, How could he?!? But then I get jolted back into my reality, and honestly feel better without his drama around me. He's where he started and that's that. Maybe he doesn't want to come back-maybe he does?.. all he says he needs is "time." I wish he could be more specific instead of giving me this vague "time" bullshit.

But since this blog is not focused on what is happening with the baby's father and more about the baby-let's get to that!

I had my Level II ultra sound on Monday morning and finally found out that what I have been concerned about for the past 3 weeks-The Choriod Plexus Cyst-is gone!! The baby looks fine, is growing normally and measures about 1 pound and 1 ounce and 21 weeks and 5 days.

Here's what I look like so far....

It's always difficult to sleep, and my dreams are more vivid than I ever remembered..Here's what the little dude looks like: He's pointing at what I think is his other arm, or leg..Here is the other pic: I actually saw the baby's retina outlines too-it was very creepy looking-haha. This is his face with his eyelids sealed together. Both are very E.T.-ish, huh?

Here's the main man in my life: always bringing on the charm.. He's super excited about being a BIG BROTHER!

Could anything else be happening right now!?!

Today..

I can't get comfortable, can't eat anything that makes me feel full, and here I am typing at 10:30pm. It's past my bedtime. I felt strange all day. My boyfriend told me that if he didn't call from where he is being held; it's because he wasn't going to be there. Sure enough, he is now in immigration's hands, and being ready to be deported. I have mixed feelings about all of this. I know what our future plans are, but being pregnant alone was never one of them. I haven't been able to touch my boyfriend since January 16th at 9pm. Last kiss until God knows when. I wasn't even showing yet.

Rewind to yesterday..

I had my second checkup with the midwives and they gave me a new due date: July 14th. They also told me that they found something during the Ultra Sound. I never thought Ultra Sounds had results-until now. Little Timothy Joseph has a "Choroid Plexus Cyst" on the right side of his brain.
They also told me not to worry. I'm not sure who they realize who they are talking to!?! I am pregnant!! I worry about today, about tomorrow, about the birth, about stretchmarks, about if I am feeling kicking or not, I worry about umbilical cords, amniotic fluid supply..EVERYTHING!
I passed the Quad screen-which is the test for Down Syndrome and Spinabifida..and that was all fine and dandy. But with this cyst, it could mean that there is a Chromosome imbalance, which is VERY scary. But, they don't want me to worry.. interesting.


Back to today..

I feel kicking all the time and I don't want to think about my unborn child having any problems that they are going to have to wait until he is born to thoroughly diagnose him with anything. For now, they ordered that I have another Ultra Sound that will determine if that cyst is gone or not. It usually goes away in the third trimester. I am 20 weeks right now.

Here is a profile of the (first) Ultra Sound - -
Please pray for us..

Emily-
J-
J-
baby-

Ultra Sound this Thursday..

I am sweating about everything now!! I just want things to go right for this new addition to our lives. I am excited about the Ultra Sound because I want to know exactly what's making my mood swing as much as it has been.

Size comparison? I look like I did when I was 6 mos along with Jonathan. Scary! Makes me think I have 2 in here. (That will be answered too on Thursday) If not, I'll just get a lot more stretch marks than before :-(

I will upload a pic of the Ultra Sound ASAP.

This new year..

This new year, my beloved family, will bring another little gift to our family. I found out in November that I am expecting another child with my boyfriend. Yes, it was unplanned, yes, I am not married to him, yes, I regretted it for a split second.. But looking at the big picture-a life is a blessing. I know my Mom is going to be angry and worried that I decided to announce it like this, but like this child, it has been my choice all along.

I have had the worst heartburn and the worst morning sickness that I've ever known, but I am surviving-and I believe I am through the worst of it. Everyone says it will be a girl.

I know it sounds CRAZY, but I have not been to the doctor yet, but I will go SOON! I could be anywhere from 12-15 weeks along and I can already feel a lot of movement. Due date will be sometime this summer.

Current events include what is happening to my boyfriend right now. He has to leave the country and he cannot come back for sometime. He might miss the birth of our child, but only God knows when it will be OK for him to come back. He did nothing wrong, it's strictly due to his immigration status.

All I am asking for unconditional support from those who know and love me and I am hoping that the judgements stand aside. I never would wish on my worst enemy what is happening to me right now. I am sad, can barely keep it together at work and when I am reminded about my boyfriend, when my friends ask about him, I always get emotional.

Please, I just ask for the best to come out of all of this and I know it is natural for people who don't know the whole story to judge. If anyone has any questions, please don't bother my Mom about it, ask me.

Love you all to the core.

Mom-to-be-again

HELP! WHERE DID 2008 GO?!?!

What a change that a year can make. Seriously..

If I would have known what going to school, finishing school and surviving my Student Loan payments would have gotten me, would I have gone through all the trouble? Yes and no.
Sallie Mae-that bitch, charges me $477.50 a mo to reap the benefits of the money they borrowed me to find my passion at Le Cordon Bleu. And for that, I am grateful for what I learned, but wish that I could win the damn lottery of refinance somewhere else for a better rate..which is kind of like asking for someone to pull the moon down a little closer for me to examine. Hopeless.

Tables have turned for me on many other levels since that amazing day in May when I graduated from a School that I never thought I would go. I am thankful in many ways for the opportunities it has given me on strictly a culinary basis. On every other level, I feel betrayed. See, the great people in the Financial Aid Department at the school told me that I wouldn't have to pay during the time I was going to school. What they left out was that the 12 mos I was active in the classes, my loan was in defferrment. Unbeknownst to me, that was my only year that my loan gave me for emergencies (a.k.a. percious defferrment).. So now, I pay my 477.50, along with all sorts of other things, my rent and daycare..knowing that I can never for any reason stop paying with permission, until it's done.
The Cafe on the bottom floor at work employs a woman who went to Le Cordon Bleu back in 2003 I believe. I asked her what she does to stay sane, she says she pays as much as she can, when she can: using her tax money to help her loan come down faster, even though at the time that she went to school, her price was not even half of what they quoted me.

Still, she suffers right along with all of us, with her own financial problems, paying and paying until our eyes bug out of our heads..but we can't dare miss a payment, or it's coming right out of our payroll. I feel like I'm paying for a Cadillac Escalade that I will NEVER SEE! Which is kind of ironic because what I do at work everyday is to remind people of the bills that they don't "have" to really pay-cars that were repossesed, that they don't have anymore, are on their credit, that were picked up from their driveways or at work, and resold within a month.

So here I am, stuck in this seat due to my financial jail cell, making exactly what I need to make to survive, to pay my loan and to have a bit of money left over for gas to get to work.

What will this new year bring? Sigh..

Stuck in a cubicle, again..

What can I say?? I gave in again to the debt collection world. I try to be the 'helpful one' 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. That's right-business hours. Working exactly where I worked when I was pregnant with Jonathan, 5 years ago. The restaurant I was at was going down, and I had to give my 2 weeks before I sunk with them. It truly broke my heart. I adore my chef and I feel horrible. But when I had to wait weeks to cash my payroll checks, I knew it was time.
Now I'm at a place that puts my hard earned money, right where it belongs, every two weeks like clockwork. It doesn't last, of course-but such is life.
I'm not throwing my cooking away at all, I'm perfecting at home, what will someday be a catering business- big or small. That is my aspiration more than renting at an outrageous price, to sell food at outrageous prices, to make ends meet.
Not my idea of paradise.


Til next time-
The Chef

GREAT SUCCESS!!

Amongst everything else that is going on right now in my life, I have completed Culinary school! With high honors no less!! A sincere thank you all for believing in me and helping me reach my goal. I will keep you updated on other happenings now that I have my new degree!

Love,
Em

New phase of the internship..a happier one! :)

Last Monday after coming back to the cities from a weekend excursion, I went to work. I ironed my uniform in the locker room, and got myself ready for a night of service. The AM Sous Chef poked her head in and asked to speak with me. She led me out into the empty dining room to a table, where my Executive Chef and PM Sous Chef sat. It took them only a few short minutes for me to realize how much I have learned from my first restaurant experience, and that the frist ever professional culinary experience was now over. I learned so much, and I will take my knowledge with me. What I learned can never be replaced, and I thank the family and friends that I will keep from my time there. I feel that in many ways, the timing lacked heart, but this is my first step up the staircase to the beginning of my career. Ironically, my last post was written the night before it happened. It just proves how fast things can change. In an industry like this, nothing is truly certain.

Fortunately, with my soon-to-be Le Cordon Bleu Certificate, I landed a new job, starting the following Friday, making more than I had at my previous restaurant.

I really love it at my new home : a restaurant not even a year old in downtown Minneapolis!

I took this picture with my cell at work today: it pretty much sums it up!!



"Success is brewing"

Trials and Tribulations of the Internship

Tomorrow I will meet the almost-halfway mark of my internship for school. 7 weeks to go!! So far I have worked the two stations I am used to the most: PM Prep/Food runner, and pantry. Most recently I have worked in the exposition kitchen in the bar: Lovingly referred to as the O-Bar or oyster bar, where all the happy hour hot appetizers are made. This station always used to scare me, but now it's beginning to be second nature. I have to start an hour earlier than normal now, but get there an hour and a half early. My first couple of days training made me realize how VERY small this area is for two people having to cross in front of each other dozens of times during the night. I was later told that it's much easier to be alone, once you got the hang of it.
A day in the life of the O-bar for me, now that I have worked out there for 3 weeks, goes a little something like this: Arrive at 1:45pm, iron my uniform and change, then from 2 to 3:30 I load every possible thing I need on a cart which I have to push up an incline and through 2 doors to get from the kitchen to the O-bar. I make 2 trips, and have to load food in one load and plates etc. in the next. Did I mention that there are things along the way that will trigger the cart to fall, tip, or for things to fall off and in turn I could fall or trip on?
I have to be technically set up at 3:30pm for Happy Hour to start at 4. As the night goes on, I feel less and less prepared as I start running out of things and have to call for help or have a server or manager send a list back to the kitchen of anything I need. I try to keep tabs on everything, but when someone is out helping me, they are taking care of the fried items/oyster end and I have the stove and oven end and am plating most of the things, it's hard to know waht I do run out of. From 4 to 6 is technically "happy hour" but it can go from 3:15pm to 8:30pm.. Every day is different. Everyday I get better. Everyday I ask the Sous Chef for his "honest" opinion of my performance. Everyday he says something else. I feel like it's not an easy station and I will only get better with time. After 8 months working there and perfecting my skills on the other stations I know, I know that I will have this down only in a matter of time.
A month ago I had barely ever worked a fryer before, not in a professional setting, and I have never had a stove or oven of my own to worry about: besides the ones at home. I feel like they should be a little easier on me and realize that I have to get used to it, but knowing the volume of people that go there a night, and the demand of the ticket timings, it makes me feel like it's not my place to be demanding. 8 minutes per ticket, by the way, is the "goal." It's a feasable goal for someone who likes to be quick and careless and likes to get burnt and splashed with hot butter or oil on a daily basis. Not me. My sous chef is surprised that my arms and hands are not plastered with burns and marks from hot oil. I told him that I can't get hurt: I have a kid to take care of and left it at that. Nobody understands that very well, because barely anyone has kids, or a significant other for that matter. Oh yeah, and I am the only female cook that works during the PM shift. Must count for something, I just wished it counted for patience from them.
My night ends when it ends, but I am supposed to be done at 10pm, which is possible 95% of the time. I am trying to be the miracle worker they want, but when I sweat before my shift starts from lugging everything out there and trying to get set up "on time", I feel like they are asking a bit too much. I didn't feel this way working other stations. We shall see what the future brings...

To another day well spent away from work, only to go back to more self-improvement tomorrow in the O-bar.

Hard at work and NO MORE CLASSES!!

Okay, everyone needs to try and forgive me for not having time or energy to write anything. These last couple months have been very scary, emotional and HEAVY DUTY for me. Now I Can say that I am done with classes as of the 21st and I am so glad! The last two classes were the hardest, first set, we were in the restaurant at school waiting tables. It gave me a new appreciation for waitstaff - for sure! And the last class was Back of the House, or BOH, where we got a taste of what it COULD be like in a real restaurant. With a capacity of 50, the restaurant was surprisingly busy, due to the time of year. At work, I am used to 250-350+ a night, and have trained myself with the mentality - GET ER DONE.
I chose to do my internship at my current job because I want to see how far it will go - and if I wouldn't have gotten a job there early, they would have never paid me my internship! With a child and bills, I could have never afforded to do what some people in my class are doing: working for free! One guy in my class went to the Playboy Mansion: Nice!




I'm not gonna lie, I will miss every single person that I met doing this! There are so many great new memories to cherish, and friends that I will keep in touch with forever!

Where has the time gone!!!!

I have been through a couple more classes since I last wrote something, so I will bring you all up to speed.. I am still working at the restaurant and loving it. Unfortunately we lost two of the funniest guys, so I decided to take the funniest guys from my class, and make them apply there. They both work there now, by the way. :-)

What else...umm..oh, my Literature teacher just told me that I am on the school's new website a total of 4 times. The photographers came in when I was in my advanced baking class, and basically set up camp right by my station. The photographer mentioned that I had this positive vibe about me and that made me look like I was excited about everything I was doing. It was fun to be a part of. The website is www.twincitiesculinary.com and there are 2 pics on the front page in the loop, one it's just my body and I am frosting a cake, and one is of my hands and I am about to cut a strawberry. Then on the "contact us" page, I am sitting with one of my classmates, James, and we are both looking pretty tired. Then on the "learn more" link on the front page, there is a pic of me frosting the cake again! Just thought I would share...

Have a good weekend! I will be working hard!

Another 3 weeks..and more great food.

I hate to say this, but since it wasn't required in our last class, American Regional, to take pictures, I didn't...except the last day.
Everyday we studied a different reigion, and while doing so, our Chef Instructor, who will remain nameless, tried to mold us into his own personal little army. Yes, we put out great food, and we all did a good job, but the Chef needs to realize that doing something, anything "his way" for the length of the time in "his class", can wear a person out. My goal was to get his class out of the way, and take some knowledge of my country with me. Mission accomplished..easy A...

Here is my last meal from the last day of American Regional, before we spent 3 hours deep cleaning. (the only part of the class I failed, was at eating this all.)
On a regular day, you have to try everything the class makes, sometimes totaling 10-15 different things, so you can analyze every angle and aspect of it, and describe it in detail. I shouldv'e mentioned on the sheet somewhere that my pants were fitting a bit more snug as the days went by--even though these meals were the only ones that I would eat all day.

Hmm...almost forgot I took this...Here is a pic of the set up we had on Tex-Mex day, a grandiose assortment of deliciousness...
(notice how all you can see is the shorties of the class and all of our towering male companions??) hehe


On to International:

We are on the fourth day of International Cuisine and so far we have hit Italy, Spain and Greece (a country a day), and, my stomach is already angry with me.

To be continued....

The past 3 weeks of Advanced Baking

For the past 3 weeks, we had Advanced Baking with Chef Michelle, who worked many years of her career with the very famous Chef Charlie Trotter. She even co-wrote a Dessert book with him that won a James Beard award for best photography. She was down-right amazing to know and to be taught by. The dessert below is what I made for the plated dessert test we had yesterday...

Advanced Baking Practical Plated Dessert!! ( got 100/100 on it!!)

It's a Hazz Sponge Cake iced with a orange and Garam Masala infused Ganache, plated with Garam Masala gastrique and Chocolate foam. The garnish is a twist of carmelized sugar and orange cells. I made 3 of them and they were gone before I knew it. Chef Michelle's advice to us was to, "taste your food, taste your food, taste your food." And to not forget to add salt and an acid element to sweets. I am SO going to miss her..

Iron Chef Competition Round 1

On Monday, June 25th, a fellow classmate Melanie and I, along with 25 other groups of two, competed against each other to win the first round of Iron Chef through school. There were so many groups competing that we had to cook in flights. 1st flight started at 2pm, last flight started at 2:50pm. We got 5 minutes to get our station ready (Mise en Place), then 55 minutes to make something outstanding out of random ingredients to impress the judges. Unfortunately, I did not converse with my underclass partner except when she said,"I am looking for a partner", and I said, "hey, I am too." Turns out that she had no culinary experience prior to school, much like myself (not counting Subway 9 yrs ago!) , but we have taken some serious classes that she hasn't got to yet.
Anyways, our ingredients to work with were a Cornish game hen, an egg, 1/4 bunch of broccoli, a sprig of lavender and a sweet potato. There was a cart of Mirepoix (onion, carrots, and celery) , potatoes, and herbs and spices that we also got to pick from. The stove was made up of maybe 18 burners and a grill. Since we were closest to the grill that there was no room anywhere else, we just laid our pans right on the grill. I threw the hen in a court bullion (aromatic seasoned water or stock) and let it roll. Then I used the same water to blanch the slow cooking veggies (cut sweet potatoes and carrots) in after I took the hen out. I De-boned the par-cooked hen and instructed Melanie how to cut up the rest of the vegetables best for the stir fry while I cut the hen up. Then I started the sauce. I took some wine, some garlic paste mixed with the lavender and started to reduce it. I had Mel make a beurre maine(flour and butter paste) to thicken it later and sent the guy running around taking pictures to find me some ginger...fresh or powdered. We used the egg in the stir fry and threw the chicken in. All while watching the clock as the Chef instructor monitoring yelled out how many minutes each team had left. We made two identical plates to serve to two chef instructors and another group of "celebrity" guests (2 Gen-Ed teachers). The ending result was a very potent sauce and diced hen with stewed vegetables. But together, it was surprisingly very accurate on flavor. BUT, we needed higher heat and since the stir fry was cooked in a pan over the grill, we didn't obtain the required heat, and we lost points for that. We also lost points because we were so worried about getting started that we forgot to get a towel and sanitation bucket for spills and cleanup. Only 8 teams advanced and unfortunately, we weren't one of them. But it was fun and I definitely will try again--and learn from my mistakes.

I think it looks good...

Turning a new culinary leaf...at $9.50 and hour

Last night was my first night at the pantry station at my new restaurant job. I was told by the Sous Chef Lori, who has also attended LCB, that she wanted me on 3 straight days to train with the same person. Even though I heard from some students at school that it would be easy, there was another batch of them that said it would be hard. I asked my first instructor for advice later in the day at school and he said, "do what you are told and keep your head down", with a big smile.
There were many hoops I had to jump through before I got to work that stressed me out completely as I rushed to get Jonathan, rushed home to change, rushed him to Mom and rushed there, averaging about 75 mph on the highway. Whew..I got to work exactly at 3:15pm, signed a few more things for my file with the Sous Chef, and went to meet Steve, my trainer, in the major artery of the kitchen: The Pantry (cold prep, salads, and desserts.)
Stalky, blue eyed Steve laid it all out for me. We are open from 5-10pm, and it was then 3:45pm. We efficiently followed the list of prep as Jack 104FM screamed in the background and got our Mise en Place together. 5 Mixing bowls with spoons and a roller coaster of 3rd, 6th and 9th pans across the station. Ladles for dressings, and bare hands for everything else. Was I ready? I didn't even have time to think about it.
Here is how fast the night went:
Ticket print, stamp, and Steve had whizzed through the first blue cheese salad in well under a minute. Ticket print..here we go!! 4:45pm.."sorry"..."Fucking-A.."...."wait for the line to cook that chicken before you toss the salad"....6pm..."I'll make the Caesars"..."nice to meet you"..."shit"...6:30pm...."Jaime, mas platos chiquitos porfavor!!"...7:25pm, "what sauce goes on this dessert??"...."I'll be back in 1 minute"..."Make it however you want, it's not on the menu"....8:23pm.."don't worry about it"..."order please, Jeremy..Steak for the salad, rare"..9:45.."what doesn't get labeled again?"...11:15pm..."see you tomorrow!!""....Whoops, I forgot my keys.."hey, I forgot my keys, hehe, okay, see you tomorrow"..

293 customers dined that night, Wednesday night, not counting the bar. There were 220-245 people originally on the books (reservations). In this block of 8 hours I was able to consume 2 glasses of ice water, a hefty first taste of halibut, 3 bites of garlic mashed potatoes, 3 sprigs of asparagus, 3 bites of a medium steak and random pieces of miscellaneous dressing drenched pieces of romaine, and a piece of calamari. I had one bathroom break and had taken about 10 trips to the dish pit and 3-5 trips to the cooler. I had to prep more product as we ran out and wiped my station clean during the down times, which were mostly 1-4 minutes long, just to make things dirty again.
I'm not positive how many salads were tossed, desserts were drizzled or creme brulee were wiped clean, but the speed, accuracy and communicating orchestra of teamwork was thrilling to be a part of. When I left, I went and filled up my gas tank proudly plastered with blotches, sprays and showers of an array of different sauces or dressings on my uniform. When I finally got home, it took me a while to get to sleep due to the build up of energy still pumping through my veins, but this first day was undoubtedly a GREAT initiation.

Can't wait to train more tomorrow.

Test #1, Butchery Class and a Full time job

Butchery was a class that almost everyone was looking forward to. We learned the primal cuts of meat, we learned how to cut a chicken 4 ways and how to fillet a round and a flat fish. We tried all different kinds of meat, and organ meat. I have had several types of organ meat before, but there were a few things I hadn't tried. All of my questions were answered in this class. Our Chef instructor, or Chef Sledge was a whiz at what he did. Cut up a whole pig? No problem. Remove silver skin from a whole tenderloin? Sure. Need that in 10 minutes? How about 5...

During the length of this class, I was going through money issues and had to pick up a job, fast. I called my favorite temp agency and got a warehouse job in 2 days working what I was told, a part time job. First day, I got to my new job, and when I said, "so I can work at 5pm to anywhere between 10 and 1am?"
Unfortunately, my trusty temp agency rep misinformed me and I worked the next 2 1/2 weeks from 5pm to 1:30 am. There were maybe 3 days that they let us out early, one of those days was my last day. I simply could not handle it and I had absolutely no time to study, but since good grades and attendance couldn't pay my bills, I had to make a very hard decision to fight for what I needed. I lost a tremendous amount of time with Jonathan, that I desperately tried to make up for on the weekends. It was a nightmare. But, I did end up learning what I needed to learn in school and taking off a day of work to get what I had to turn in on the last day done, and staying up until 1:30 to do it. Never again. It was a test, but I pushed it to the limit. When you break down and cry in the middle of the deep clean day at school and have to excuse yourself, you have to review your critical options.

Anyways, here''s a little of what I snapped pictures of in Meat and Seafood Identification and Fabrication class.......

Trussed chicken. Roast ready.

Chef S cutting up a primal of beef
Steak tasting day!! Tartar, Filet, Wet age NY, Dry age NY, Marinated Flank.

Boneless in 4 steps

Matt on leg #1 (Farm Raised from IA)
Chef Sledge in the middle
Connor on leg #2 (the Vegetarian)
Sawing a whole pig in half..

Nothing is gross anymore after this class.