Back To The Grind

After a good 13.5 hour sleep (albeit slightly noisy with roommates coming and going) I felt refreshed for work this morning. Not too lonely either, but work would help keep my mind off things anyway. I worked in the bar all day doing prep. It wasn’t overly busy for a Friday, and fairly uneventful. Except for the head chef complaining about what the cooks made for staff meals – which was the same things every day in rotation (roast turkey, roast pork, fried fish, potatoes). He said, “I can order in anything at any price to make these staff happy. But you are too f-ing lazy and not imaginative enough and just make what you want!”

I mostly worked between the starter section prep list and prepping/doing orders for pastry. I made egg mix, salad mix, mashed potatoes, set up the section, put on a dessert of the day special of raspberry delice, crumble mix, strawberry compote, etc. I handled some orders for the starter section, and put together an afternoon tea that had to be held here as there was a wedding on at the castle. I was actually in a bit of a funny mood today. We served one celebrity and four of his guests (I made their chicken wings and salad!), but I didn’t recognize the name (Mark Moriarty). It is some huge chef with Michelin-star restaurants. 

Starter special/my supper - vegetable tartlet with crispy brie and cranberry relish

The cook on starters let me have a starter special of the day, a vegetable tart with crispy brie, because he knew I didn’t really like the staff meal of chicken and chips. That was very nice of him, but later in the evening he was not in a great mood. Little things set him off, like the chef at the castle refusing to send the afternoon tea treats over, etc. He was very upset with the condition of the starter section, as it had been the new cook handling it all week, and he was not organized at all. The cook was staying late to sort things out, and of course I stayed as well because I felt guilty leaving him. The others had already left, and he told me I should be going too, but I stayed and we got the job done faster.