Friday night was my first night in a real restaurant kitchen and I LOVED it! As dorky as it may sound it was such a high! One minute there are a few tickets at the window and the next thing you know the window is full and there are tickets pouring in. It was insane.
The hardest part for me was figuring out where the tables were! I started to get it my second night but I still got confused. Luckily most people are nice so they didn't mind helping me. Both nights I worked with another girl but she is in Cancun next weekend so I am on my own and I am nervous! The last thing I want to do is deliver food to the wrong table. Chef does not like it when that happens.
Speaking of Chef, everyone said he was mean but I didn't think so. I think he has high standards and wants the best from his staff. If you have ever watched Hell's Kitchen, Chef stands at the pass and makes sure the food is good enough to go to the customer.
There is a lot of noise and yelling in the kitchen, calling out orders, yelling "behind!", "hot", etc. It is organized chaos.
I have my orientation for school on Thursday. I feel a bit better starting since I have been in a kitchen, even though the only food I have touched is parsley and cilantro. Regardless I am nervous and excited to start.
Wish me luck,
Future Chef Ruby
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Food Prep? Just kidding...we actually meant Bomb Squad member!
So Tuesday was my last day at ACS and it was sad. I had the pleasure of working with some of the most kind, smart and caring people in the world. I will miss them, but I look forward to a continued friendship with them.
After leaving ACS I went to begin my new culinary adventure. When I interviewed for this job I was told that it would entail food preparation and bringing trays to the patients. Ok great, food prep is kitchen experience and that is what I need. So I go to the orientation and I am thinking that it will be short and sweet. Boy was I wrong. Thankfully there was another kid there so it wasn't just me and the scary director lady. She went on and on and on...and on! For eternity it seemed like, about the codes at the hospital and what they mean.
I definitely want to know which code means fire (or run in my case) and other disasters that have the potential to take my life (or the lives of others, I am not selfish). Anyway, the Scary Director Lady says that this hospital is state of the art, so if there is a fire we do not evacuate, this building is THAT safe. Supposedly it is divided into "smoke zones" that are independent of one another and if there is a fire in Zone 1 for example, Smoke Zones 2-4 are perfectly fine. Really? Well that's great so I won't die from inhalation due to the "zones". Does the fire just magically stop at the next zone? It's raging in Zone 1, comes to Zone 2 and says "SHOOT" can't go over there, that's zone two! Yeah freakin' right lady. I was taught to run outside if there is a fire. My Poppa was a Fire Chief, so I consider myself somewhat fire savvy. Regardless of all that, I have no intention of keeping my butt inside a burning building, whether or not the fire is in my "zone". So Scary Director Lady goes on to say, if we happen to be taking trays to patients and there is a fire we have to shut all of the doors so the fire doesn't spread. Sounds smart right? Well then she says if a fire is in the patients room and the patient is in there, we have to tell them it is going to be ok and shut the door. Seriously?! I will not do that. No way am I telling someone its going to be ok when I am shutting them in a room with a fire! No thank you. So after this lovely tidbit about fires she moves on to bomb threats.
So, if there is a bomb threat the loudspeaker will say the code. Then we are supposed to come back to our unit and LOOK FOR THE BOMB! Yes, thats right, LOOK FOR THE BOMB. Excuse me? I am NOT a Bomb Squad member, just in case you thought I was.
So I sign on thinking I am doing food prep and find out that is not the case. So needless to say I was PRAYING I would get a real kitchen job at a great local place. Well ladies and gentleman, I did it! So hopefully I can say goodbye to the Bomb Squad before I even start. Wham, bam, thank you Ma'am!
So I start taking food from the kitchen and serving it and then I move to salad and then to hot foods! I start tomorrow, woo hoo! Can't wait!
-Future Chef Ruby
After leaving ACS I went to begin my new culinary adventure. When I interviewed for this job I was told that it would entail food preparation and bringing trays to the patients. Ok great, food prep is kitchen experience and that is what I need. So I go to the orientation and I am thinking that it will be short and sweet. Boy was I wrong. Thankfully there was another kid there so it wasn't just me and the scary director lady. She went on and on and on...and on! For eternity it seemed like, about the codes at the hospital and what they mean.
I definitely want to know which code means fire (or run in my case) and other disasters that have the potential to take my life (or the lives of others, I am not selfish). Anyway, the Scary Director Lady says that this hospital is state of the art, so if there is a fire we do not evacuate, this building is THAT safe. Supposedly it is divided into "smoke zones" that are independent of one another and if there is a fire in Zone 1 for example, Smoke Zones 2-4 are perfectly fine. Really? Well that's great so I won't die from inhalation due to the "zones". Does the fire just magically stop at the next zone? It's raging in Zone 1, comes to Zone 2 and says "SHOOT" can't go over there, that's zone two! Yeah freakin' right lady. I was taught to run outside if there is a fire. My Poppa was a Fire Chief, so I consider myself somewhat fire savvy. Regardless of all that, I have no intention of keeping my butt inside a burning building, whether or not the fire is in my "zone". So Scary Director Lady goes on to say, if we happen to be taking trays to patients and there is a fire we have to shut all of the doors so the fire doesn't spread. Sounds smart right? Well then she says if a fire is in the patients room and the patient is in there, we have to tell them it is going to be ok and shut the door. Seriously?! I will not do that. No way am I telling someone its going to be ok when I am shutting them in a room with a fire! No thank you. So after this lovely tidbit about fires she moves on to bomb threats.
So, if there is a bomb threat the loudspeaker will say the code. Then we are supposed to come back to our unit and LOOK FOR THE BOMB! Yes, thats right, LOOK FOR THE BOMB. Excuse me? I am NOT a Bomb Squad member, just in case you thought I was.
So I sign on thinking I am doing food prep and find out that is not the case. So needless to say I was PRAYING I would get a real kitchen job at a great local place. Well ladies and gentleman, I did it! So hopefully I can say goodbye to the Bomb Squad before I even start. Wham, bam, thank you Ma'am!
So I start taking food from the kitchen and serving it and then I move to salad and then to hot foods! I start tomorrow, woo hoo! Can't wait!
-Future Chef Ruby
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
First Quarter Schedule
I am very lucky to have been assigned a wonderful group of people at AI to help me navigate through everything. I got my permanent schedule yesterday and I am super excited. My days in Culinary School will look like this:
Monday: 1-4 Sanitation & Safety
5:30-10:30 Intro to Culinary
Tuesday: 1-4 Concepts and Theories
5:30-10:30 Intro to Culinary
Saturday: 8-12 Biology
Sanitation and Safety is about Food Bourne Illnesses and where they come from. In addition, obviously to how we prevent them in the kitchen.
Intro to Culinary is the basics, knife skills, stocks etc.
Concepts and Theories covers the origins of certain foods, recipes and why we do things the way that we do.
Finally Biology, this is not your average Bio course because it really has to do with digestion and how the human body processes food, what we need nutrition wise etc.
Orientation is April 1st and that is when I will get my uniforms, knives and books. Woo hoo!
The more I read my new chef book the more nervous and excited I get. I am still at the beginning of Michael's Culinary experience so I am really trying to learn from his mistakes. He is so detailed in his writing that it is easy to understand the proper and improper way he does things.
Anyway, that's all for now.
Future Chef Ruby
Monday: 1-4 Sanitation & Safety
5:30-10:30 Intro to Culinary
Tuesday: 1-4 Concepts and Theories
5:30-10:30 Intro to Culinary
Saturday: 8-12 Biology
Sanitation and Safety is about Food Bourne Illnesses and where they come from. In addition, obviously to how we prevent them in the kitchen.
Intro to Culinary is the basics, knife skills, stocks etc.
Concepts and Theories covers the origins of certain foods, recipes and why we do things the way that we do.
Finally Biology, this is not your average Bio course because it really has to do with digestion and how the human body processes food, what we need nutrition wise etc.
Orientation is April 1st and that is when I will get my uniforms, knives and books. Woo hoo!
The more I read my new chef book the more nervous and excited I get. I am still at the beginning of Michael's Culinary experience so I am really trying to learn from his mistakes. He is so detailed in his writing that it is easy to understand the proper and improper way he does things.
Anyway, that's all for now.
Future Chef Ruby
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tentative Schedule and Orientation
I just got my "tentative" schedule for school and thank God it is tentative! As you know I got a new part time job so I could watch the kiddies on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday each week...well here is my "tentative" school schedule:
GEN 105 Effective Speaking Wed 1:01pm-5:00pm
CULA 105 Intro to Culinary Skills Wed & Thur 7:00am-12:00pm
CULA 110 Sanitation and Safety Thur 2:30pm-5:30pm
CULA 100 Concepts & Theories of Culinary Techniques Mon 8:00am-11:00am
Despite being a little difficult to read, I am sure you can see the problem. Shoot! Good thing I have a wonderful Assistant Director of Admissions to help me out. She forwarded my request onto another lady who can "hopefully" change my schedule to Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. Aside from the date conflicts I am excited to jump right into culinary.
I am reading a great book right now called, "The Making of a Chef" by Michael Ruhlman. Michael wrote about his journey through The Culinary Institute of America. Right now I am still reading about his first day and I am nervous and excited for mine. Nervous because I am not sure how I feel about boiling blood and excess proteins out of bones to make stock. Excited because I can't wait to learn! I am excited to be able to cook things that sound french and taste like Heaven. I can't wait to learn the cuisines of over 27 countries(and my husband can't wait to eat them).
For all my band geek friends out there imagine being able to go to school JUST with band kids (Loads of people dorky like me). That is what this school is like for me so far. Maybe it will be like band camp? LOL. Anyway the school is a creative arts school so everyone there has some serious talent. Walk the hallways and you will see everything from photography and paintings to sugar sculptures and wedding cakes. Pretty cool.
You know what else I am excited about, THE UNIFORM. Seriously, I am excited about it. I loved my Marching Band uniform so I imagine I will love this too. Who doesn't like houndstooth pants? Plus the chef coat! I will LOOK like a chef (so what I can't cook like one yet?). Also they are giving me a knife set...yes knives. Super sweet knives! How many of you college students or grads got to bring knives to class, huh? Huh? Anyway, I get three uniforms because I have to wear them in the kitchen, so we have locker rooms that we get to change in so we don't have to wear our uniforms all day. (Who wouldn't want to do that?)
So as you can tell from this long post I am EXCITED! Culinary school is bringing back the band dork!
~Future Chef Ruby
GEN 105 Effective Speaking Wed 1:01pm-5:00pm
CULA 105 Intro to Culinary Skills Wed & Thur 7:00am-12:00pm
CULA 110 Sanitation and Safety Thur 2:30pm-5:30pm
CULA 100 Concepts & Theories of Culinary Techniques Mon 8:00am-11:00am
Despite being a little difficult to read, I am sure you can see the problem. Shoot! Good thing I have a wonderful Assistant Director of Admissions to help me out. She forwarded my request onto another lady who can "hopefully" change my schedule to Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. Aside from the date conflicts I am excited to jump right into culinary.
I am reading a great book right now called, "The Making of a Chef" by Michael Ruhlman. Michael wrote about his journey through The Culinary Institute of America. Right now I am still reading about his first day and I am nervous and excited for mine. Nervous because I am not sure how I feel about boiling blood and excess proteins out of bones to make stock. Excited because I can't wait to learn! I am excited to be able to cook things that sound french and taste like Heaven. I can't wait to learn the cuisines of over 27 countries(and my husband can't wait to eat them).
For all my band geek friends out there imagine being able to go to school JUST with band kids (Loads of people dorky like me). That is what this school is like for me so far. Maybe it will be like band camp? LOL. Anyway the school is a creative arts school so everyone there has some serious talent. Walk the hallways and you will see everything from photography and paintings to sugar sculptures and wedding cakes. Pretty cool.
You know what else I am excited about, THE UNIFORM. Seriously, I am excited about it. I loved my Marching Band uniform so I imagine I will love this too. Who doesn't like houndstooth pants? Plus the chef coat! I will LOOK like a chef (so what I can't cook like one yet?). Also they are giving me a knife set...yes knives. Super sweet knives! How many of you college students or grads got to bring knives to class, huh? Huh? Anyway, I get three uniforms because I have to wear them in the kitchen, so we have locker rooms that we get to change in so we don't have to wear our uniforms all day. (Who wouldn't want to do that?)
So as you can tell from this long post I am EXCITED! Culinary school is bringing back the band dork!
~Future Chef Ruby
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Beginning
I decided to start this blog to document my journey on the road to becoming a chef. This way my friends and family can be up to date on what I am doing in the culinary world.
I was recently accepted to The Art Institute of Michigan in Novi, yay! I will begin my first semester in the Culinary Arts Program on April 5th (SOON!). Luckily some of my previous credits transferred so I will be graduating with my Associates next May and my Bachelors the following May. Woo hoo! I am SUPER excited because I love to cook! Eric and I recently went to an Open House for the Culinary students and Eric fell in love with the place like I did. Only he was thinking about all the yummy (I hope) food I will have to make and bring home for him! So we got a tour and then we got to listen to one of the Chef's speak about the program. Basically as soon as I pass my Sanitation course I will be in the kitchen cooking. The first course is basically Intro to Culinary and The Chef described it as Culinary Boot Camp (Whoa)! That sounds scary, yet exciting. So I cannot wait! I JUST got all my financial aid taken care of so I am good to go to set up my schedule and will report it as soon as I get it. Chef did explain that we have to take pictures of all of our dishes to document where we started and how we ended up. SO I will be posting those here to document them! BTW, he said we will have over 1000 recipes when we leave...holey moley!
I just gave my two weeks notice to my employer yesterday because I accepted a part time job doing Food Prep at a Hospital right near my school. So I am entering a new adventure and would like to share it with all of you.
Future Chef Ruby
I was recently accepted to The Art Institute of Michigan in Novi, yay! I will begin my first semester in the Culinary Arts Program on April 5th (SOON!). Luckily some of my previous credits transferred so I will be graduating with my Associates next May and my Bachelors the following May. Woo hoo! I am SUPER excited because I love to cook! Eric and I recently went to an Open House for the Culinary students and Eric fell in love with the place like I did. Only he was thinking about all the yummy (I hope) food I will have to make and bring home for him! So we got a tour and then we got to listen to one of the Chef's speak about the program. Basically as soon as I pass my Sanitation course I will be in the kitchen cooking. The first course is basically Intro to Culinary and The Chef described it as Culinary Boot Camp (Whoa)! That sounds scary, yet exciting. So I cannot wait! I JUST got all my financial aid taken care of so I am good to go to set up my schedule and will report it as soon as I get it. Chef did explain that we have to take pictures of all of our dishes to document where we started and how we ended up. SO I will be posting those here to document them! BTW, he said we will have over 1000 recipes when we leave...holey moley!
I just gave my two weeks notice to my employer yesterday because I accepted a part time job doing Food Prep at a Hospital right near my school. So I am entering a new adventure and would like to share it with all of you.
Future Chef Ruby
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