The New Kid

It has been a while since my last post. Phase II has now officially ended and Phase III is in full force.

Our last week week was full of exams and the last day, we had a wrap up, which included a giant sushi boat from a company that works out of our school. Delicious.

I was a little dissapointed that some of our classmates didn’t show up on the last day since it was supposed to be our farewell. We socialized, ate sushi, talked about our externships and said our goodbyes to the chefs and staff at school. We also took our class photo, which was fun.

I am now externining at a restaurant in DC. For now, I’ll call it “Il Restaurant” (yes, it’s Italian). Gaining an externship was actually much harder than I anticipated. It seems that many places either are not hiring or simply cannot devote the time to showing a newbie the ropes.

The staff at “Il Restaurant” is small. Very small. Many times, it is only three of us in the kitchen – the sous chef, who handles the sautee and grilling, the second in command who handles the pasta and yours truly, who now handles cold salads and appetizers (Garde Manger).

I have been at it for only four days and already I feel that this is going to be an extremely long six months. Not because the place is awful. In fact, I am really enjoying it though I am exhausted all the time. My hours are basically 3:00 p.m. to close, which leaves very little time to socialize before or after. For those who thought I was bad about keeping in touch before – things are about to get much, much worse.

The only exception is Wednesday breakfast. We are a hotel restaurant so we offer breakfast every day. I have to be there at 6:oo a.m. and work until 3:00 p.m. – the kicker is that this is a shift that I basically handle ALONE. They assured me that it is nothing to worry about and as long as I could fry an egg and make some bacon, everything would be fine.

But is it ever that simple? The answer is NO. F$%K  NO…

Thankfully for the first time, one of my co-workers offered to come in and show me the ropes – where everything could be found, etc.

Breakfast was busy and I was a panicy mess. Lots of custom requests that were apparently “unusual” for breakfast.

In addition, no one mentioned that on top of service, there would deliveries that needed to be checked signed for, our dish washer was off so when I was able, I needed to keep load up the dish washer so dished would not pile up and were clean for lunch then at 10:00, prep for lunch service began and I had to prepare the salads and cold appetizers for lunch and then there was a list of prep items that needed to be complete for dinner service.

According to my co-worker, I did really well. She said that if I were a disaster, she would have come in again to help me next week but she was definately not coming in.

I think they find it amusing how easily freaked out I am by this whole experience. After only four days, I find myself on the verge of tears at the slightest request, which they assure me will only get better.

In a small kitchen, everything is fast paced. I really am learning a lot and even thought I have no idea how much I am getting paid right now, I must admit, I am having a ball. I am really doing this.

My former life and career seems like decades ago.

The staff is cool – they seem friendly and helpful. Of course, I think I am going through the “new guy” test with everyone so right now often times, they will chat and joke around with each other while I attend to my station quietly. Occasionally, they will chat me up or I will try to engage so they know I am interested and happy to be there but this is a rite of passage.

On top of this, soon I will need to start focusing on my group demonstration for school. As part of the final phase of the program, we are broken intogroups and once a month, will lead a group demonstration where we will prepare a four course meal in front of the entire class.

The rumor was that the first group would have it the easiest because they knew we were still learning. So my group and I signed up first. I realize now this might have been a MISTAKE! When I am not at work, all I seem to doing is sleeping. Certainly not cleaning my apartment or cooking. But at least we will get ours over with and then all we have to do for the next six months, is watch other groups demo. Smooth sailing.

Hopefully, I will gain more confidence and speed in weeks to come.

I need to shower and get to work. Pray for me. I can only imagine that as we approach the weekend, things are going to get more busy.