TGI Friday??

Well I work for a hotel and they have  a Restaurant that is run by the kitchen staff.  I heard that they might close down the Restaurant and Lease out the space to TGI Fridays or some other Chain Restaurant.  Which means some cooks might loose there jobs,because they still need some cooks for banquets.  Or TGI Fridays might hire us?  I dont know if I wanna work for a franchise bcause all of there stuff is already premaid and alls you have to do is microwave it and then BAM its done.  I dont know,but we will see what happens down the road.

Culinary School

Well I want to be a chef. I know after most people get out of Culinary school they dont become chefs automatically you still have to work your way up there in this Culinary Industry Chain.  I dont know what I should do.  I want to get a degree in Culinary arts and a minor in Hotel and Restaurant management.   I dont know if I should get as bachelors Degree or an associates.  Should I got to Arts Institute or a Community College.  There are  a million things going through my mind.  I dont want to spend 80,000 on a school because when I come out I will be in debt.  So I guess I should go to a community College because I guess chefs look at experience more than a degree. 

One man Line (Breakfast shift again)

 
     


     

           Well today I woke up at 5:30 again for another breakfast shift today.  Today was busy and I mean busy.  I know this isn't allot for some of you experienced line cooks,but I did 73 covers by myself and I think thats good for a 17 year old who is only 9 Months into the trade.  As soon as breakfast was over I began to pack up and put the lunch stuff up and then two pilots came in (Pilots have some sort of VIP deal with the hotel) and they wanted breakfast at 12:00 So I was like alright I guess so.
            
            I turned on the deep fryer  then I noticed that it wasnt working the pilot light was out,but it wanst lighting either.  Employees meal has to be out by 12:00 so  since it was so busy today I decided to  just fix them Chicken Fingers and French Fries so I had to run back and forth to the banquet side to do orders that had to be fried so I was rushing a round allot.  I went through 4 big trays of Bacon and 3 trays of Potato's. About 2 boxes of liquid eggs and allot of eggs and a metal bucket of Pancake batter.  I also set up the pantry made some fruit plates,and I cut half a bag of potatoes.

      So after everything died down prepped up the Breakfast box and refilled everything and made some more home fries for the breakfast cook  tomorrow.  The 2 cooks for the Night shift came in and one of the Top Line cooks  (The one thats an ass to me) Said "Oh you didn't prep up the lunch box.  MTV makes kids lazy theses days"  That really pissed me off I told him it was busy as hell and he still thought I stood around doing nothing for 8 hours what an ass hole.  I was really offended by that comment. Plus I didn't really even use the lunch box.  They use the lunch box for dinner.  What 17 year old do you know that would wake up and 5:30AM an work his ass off all day by himself.

         I stayed until about 2 PM because they needed help prepping up for tonight so I bagged up some Calamari and Trayed up some bread sticks for them. Then I left  I dont think a lazy person would do that

anyway I'm tired and I have to go to school tomorrow and then  have to get my Wisdom Teeth Pulled so I'm a little worried about that.

Breakfast Shift

Today I worked the breakfast shift which involved waking up a 5:00AM in the morning.  I was the only cook this morning.  So I have to open up the kitchen sign for delivery's and such. I first ask for the occupancy levels which it was at 60% today.  So I put in 2 trays of Bacon 1 tray of sausage and 1 tray of Home Fries.  I then set up the steam table turn on the flat top.  Today was steady so I kept up with the orders pretty fine.  Most of them were omelets.  When the Restaurant died down I set up the pantry side and cut some Romaine Salad.  Made some more Pancake batter and prepped up the breakfast box.  I did allot more things but I'm too tired to remember what I did.  I work the breakfast shift tomorrow too.  Good night

Tired

Well Yesterday I worked 3-10 on the line.  It was really busy from about 2:30 to about 8:30 and that never happens.  its because allot of people were in the hotel because there were several Banquets/Meetings going on.  Well we had a table that annoyed me they ordered a penne vodka,and steaks.  The table ate half of each steak and they didn't even touch the Penn vodka they said the shrimp smelled bad ,but we tasted it and it tasted fine.  I The chef said it was because I didn't cook the shrimp in the Vodka sauce I just laid them on top of the pasta. I think we was right,but I dont know why they only ate half of each steak.  Any way we gave them a free desert.  After the line died down me and another cook jumped over to help the Banquet side. They had to plate up for a sit down for about 150 people.  I was exhausted after that night.

Then after I got off that shift I went home and went to sleep at about 1130PM and I had to wake up this morning for the 6-12 shift.  It was just me by myself it wasnt really busy this morning ,but it was  steady.

My Wannabe Culinary Arts Honors Class

          Well I'm in high school and I enrolled in the new Culinary Arts class that we have and I am very disappointed with the class. One of the first things we made were donuts using biscuit dough.  One kid in the class had the nerve to tell me he for got how to cut a pepper and I showed him.  I told them I'm a cook at  a hotel,but I guess they thought I was bragging.
            What we are basically doing is we are learning about different regions in the world and learning about the foods and the teacher find recipes off of the internet and we make them.  We dont plate up the food we just sit down and eat.  I told the teachers that we should plate the food up and make it look presentable besides flopping down and eating  it but no one too my advice. I also told the teacher that we should be learning knife skills,but the teacher said since this is a honors class we should already have them.
        


        I laugh when I watch these people cut things and how they cut.  I mean your suppose to rock the knife and take advantage of its shape,but they just slame the knife down on the food.  The class is a joke to me and I Learn more at work in one day than I will probably learn in one month in that class.  I mean the kids in the class dont even know what a mirepoix  is or how to make sauces or stews.  Alls we do is  find a recipe make it and eat that's it.  Well I'm off to learn some new stuff at work.

Lobster Tail Soup!

Well Yesterday We were running low on Lobster Chowder,and the other cook nor I knew how to make it.  So I got a note pad and a   Pen and asked him how to make it.  He wrote it down for me instead.   First you had to saute your mirepox had some garlic then some other ingredients,and  then he told me to add Lobster bodies.  Well being to rookie that I am I went in the freezer and added (What I thought were lobster bodies) but they were lobster tails and I sauteed them with the mix.  He didn't notice it until about 5 Minutes and rushed to the pot and he just took Them out.  "I said Lobster bodies not Lobster tails,now go get some lobster bodies out of the fridge."  I found them this time. He told me they were 19 dollars a pound and I put 3 in.  He dint make a big fuss over it he just said "Now you know not to do it again" and he told me about his past experiences and mistakes. He enjoyed telling that story to the staff.  I'm probably going to have to hear that for along time.  Well the rest of the day turned out good,and the soup came out tasting good.  It wasn't really busy I dont know why.  Well I learned a valuable lesson. Now I can make that Chowder soup again with any problem.

Heres a pic I took a while a go of our Chowder soup.

Worked the line

I worked the line last night.  Excuse my spelling mistakes because its about  6 in the morning and I have to go to school soon.  Well Yesterday I came into work preped up my side of the line.  One of the other cooks left a note  saying   "Make Crab mix,and Travis(my name) the cocktail sauce looks like ketchup".  I'm like umm I dindnt even make any Cocktail sauce.  The cocktail sauce is in the pantry and I haven't worked Pantry since Monday so I dont know,but the chef  came over It told him I didn't make it,but he still said taste everything it doesn't matter.  I understood where he was coming from and I tasted it and it did taste like Ketchup iy had enough horseradish in it So I put a little bit more Conqac  in it.  I guess I was just a bit defensive since the other day someone blamed me for cutting the New York strips wrong and I had never even cut any New York Strips.  I got to work early that day I heated the sauces put them in the steam table and such.  We weren't that busy Yesterday,but I learned something.  The chef asked "What did you learn"  I said"Taste stuff the chef replied "Taste What"  I then said "Taste everything"  The Chef then said "Good I got alittle worried there"  Then the sous chef said "I stopped worrying about him I'm in acceptance now" funny moment I guess. I worked with the sous yesterday well hes really not a sous chef hes a cook too,but he acts as one.  He still nagged at me and such about the Mash being warm,but I understood where he was coming from.  Anyway I have to go to school now and then after school back to work again,but I'm happy because today is pay check day.



The picture is a New york Strip Accompanied with Garlic Mash and Vegetable's.

Worked Pantry Yesturday

Yesterday I worked Pantry. I get out of school at 2:30 get on my bus and get home by 2:50 and then I have to be out the door and get to work by 3:00.  I was told by the sous chef that the pantry box had to be cleaned out and restocked since no one really works at Pantry anymore. I cut Peppers onions changed sauces into clean containers.  I then made a fruit platter and chopped up some Garlic using the buffalo chopper trayed up some bacon.  We had no dishwasher yesterday so the sous went to go wash the dishes and I jumped on the line to help one of the other line cooks when it got busy.  I'm a JETS FAN so I had to hear about the JETs losing over and over again.  We also have a Bar tender whos mind is in the gutter and always compares everything we make to a body part. Wasnt really that busy yesterday so the other cooks were reminissing about High school and such.  Thats about it.  In my next blog I will write about working on the line more.

Heres a Random Picture!