July 3, 2013.
11:50pm.
We started work this morning at 9:00am. When we got
there...there were three huge deliveries each of about four chin high stacks
of...groceries. Oh boy. Battiste and I were in charge of putting them away.
Hmmm. Well at some point it seemed like it was going to be pretty bad. But
first of all we actually didn't up doing all of it at all. Second of all, with
two of you there it's not so bad. Third of all...I got to see some kind of cool
things. I was in charge of moving the fish from the ice boxes they came in to
our boxes and then putting saran wrap over them before putting them into the
fridge. Well, the fish were no little cute fish or chunks of prepared fish.
There were like two feet long, really slimy, and had REALLY POKY SCALES. Which
are really not at a problem in the least, because they lie down flat and feel
super sleek and silky...as long as you pet run your hand over them the right
way..... BUT I didn't know how poky they were and thus didn't think to be super
careful with them. So I just picked one up, and it kind of slipped down(they're
pretty heavy too!) and rubbed my hand the VERY wrong way. Like I said, THE
SCALES ARE SHARP! It hurt surprisingly much! I kind of yelped, embarrassedly
looked around, and was pleased no one was around to see that. Ha.
Another thing that came in the groceries was...yep, live
lobsters. I actually didn't realize they were alive when I first saw them, but
I thought about it a little later, and as Jean-Baptiste was bringing them in to
the kitchen I took a closer look, and indeed when I touched a leg it started
moving. Oh god. The next time I saw them they were cooked and I was removing
the shells. Euuhh. I tried to ask Jean-Baptiste if he killed them but couldn't
remember the word for a second. He said yeah it was him who cooked them. And
then I remembered the word, so I clarified whether he was the one who killed
them. He kind of laughed, and said, 'well yeah..' and he and Chef seemed kind
of amused at that way of putting it, maybe because it's just so normal for them
and it's just the way of cooking the lobsters. Anyway, that was interesting. I
wonder if I'm going to do that one of these days.
Lunch:
Before I came here, mom told me "You know you should
maybe get some recipes ready or something, and be ready for an opportunity to
prepare or cook something for some of the other kitchen staff, and impress them
with your delicious food!" I just got kind of frustrated because I thought
she was overestimating by far what I would be expected or able to do in the
kitchen/as an intern this summer. I had gotten the impression I would pretty
much only be cutting and washing vegetables, and that I would be somewhat of a
nobody to the other kitchen staff. (I also thought there was going to be a
fairly large kitchen staff!) I told her that there was no way I was going to be
able to make dishes for the chef and staff! Well, mom...you were right! At
around 11 this morning Jean-Baptiste (my mentor again today) told me to stop doing
whatever I had been doing, and go prepare lunch for the personnel. "Uhhhh,
pardon?????" That's kind of my favorite phrases these days...because I
have so much trouble understanding that I rarely DON'T need something repeated
for me. But this time I really did understand what he said, I was just kind of
taken aback and definitely needed it repeated. So he said again that I was to
make lunch for everyone. Well...sorry mom, I definitely did not jump on my
chance to 'impress all the staff with my cooking'. I kind of stared at him
blankly. As much as I cook at home, I really do use a recipe most of the time.
It tends to take me a long time to prepare my meals because I always spend a
long time deciding what to make, etc. I tend to choose what I want to make,
then go out and buy the ingredients, as opposed to seeing what we have, and
then making something from that. Well, given how much I've cooked I feel pretty
sure this kind of cooking is within my capabilities. And something I want to be
good at anyway - it's kind of the most useful in general. But firstly I haven't
done it much. Secondly, I'm always scared of sharing my cooking even when I do
have tons of time and make really awesome things. Thirdly, my audience was more
intimidating that anything - it included the head Chef of a Michelin starred
restaurant. But in all honesty...lastly and most important, I really didn't
know what ingredients I was supposed to use, what kinds of things are expected
for the personnel, how long to take, etc. I just didn't know the customs at
all. So Jean-Baptiste did lunch with me. He brought me to get something to
prepare, looked around, handed me two bags of pasta, and said, "you'll
cook this pasta?" Ohhhh boy. This was the worst. I looked at him, flushed
(probably bright red), and said, "Ummmmmm sooooo I don't really eat a lot
of flour at home, so I actually never cook pasta...." Well, that oughta
impress them!!! Hah... But they have never actually seemed annoyed with me yet,
which is really nice. He just made spaghetti carbonara with me, and it was fine.
Quite yummy actually. Perfect Paleoism right?? :P
Our afternoon shift ended at around 2:30 and evening shift
started at 6:00pm. About 15 minutes in Jean-Baptiste told me to go with
Battiste to make the food for the personnel. I went outside to tell Battiste, and
he told me to tell Jean-Baptiste that he was doing the eggs and something else.
So I did, and Jean-Baptiste...looked...FURIOUS! Like holy shit I hadn't seen
them mad like that before. He started doing what he was in the middle of very
fast and furiously, using his knife angrily (which was additionally scary), and
in a minute he fast-stomp-walked-ran outside to...I don't, discuss...with
Battiste. I really didn't see what happened but he didn't look calm when he
left. Anyway, a few minutes later I went with Battiste to start preparing. To
my huge surprise, he said we would make rice and hamburgers. And when I asked
what to put in the rice, he said...nothing. Literally, just plain hamburger and
plain rice. Wow. Well...though it was maybe unexciting in the sense that dinner
was pretty...average...I'm actually really happy about it!! It takes off so
much pressure for next time, and makes me much more confident in cooking for
the personnel. I feel pretty up to trying to make something yummy next time =)
The main problem is that I'm still not exactly sure what things I can use for
the personnel. There's one fridge I know is for us, but that really doesn't
have much in it. I'm pretty sure I can use some of the other restaurant
ingredients, but I'm sure there are also ones that are not for our use. Well, I
guess I'll figure it out.
Tomorrow I start work again at 9:00am. I'm excited :) I love
work. I hope I continue to. And of course, I still hope my French improves
quickly. I went to the little café and got a cappuccino so I could connect to
the internet to use Duolingo and translate/study some phrases that I've needed
but not know how to say. Either cappuccinos here are really sugared and stuff
or they gave me a hot chocolate instead...oh well, it was delicious. But I
really wasn't going for a sugared drink, so whoops. I also very briefly skyped
with my mom and sister which I was really excited about. Unfortunately I
couldn't talk to them at the café because...I was at the café, and that would
be weird. But I had headphones, so they could talk to me, and I could type
back. I also skyped with them briefly at the restaurant after work and could
talk to them there. But they said they were really busy so they only talked to
me for like 5 or 10 minutes. Which made me sad. I realized how much I walk to
talk with family and friends from home. As much as I love working in the
kitchen, and am really happy with and excited about my life here right now,
there's definitely something that's scary and that I long for. Which is someone
I can actually converse with. I guess it's kind of lonely in a way. But it's
also just...kind of unsettling, not being able to say things and talk with
people because you simply don't know how to. And it's not just to one person.
It's not like I can just revert to the other people who I can talk to. There's
no one. I literally have no one I can truly talk to here. Like I said, it's
kind of unsettling. It's also very interesting, though, because I'm observing
things from a very different light. In away, I feel like I'm standing in
someone else's body, like someone who's much shyer than me or something. There
are plenty of people, after all, who just don't tall very much because that's
their personality. I feel like I have a totally different perspective. That's
not at all saying that I want it to stay like this though. What I really,
really want is to become really good at French. The prospect of actually being
able to understand everything in the kitchen and conversely freely...really
appeals to me.
I miss you all!
Love,
Monisha
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