Saturday, December 11, 2010

My first trip to the island Kmart! Janee picked me up at 10:30am and drove me around the island. There Stengel Kmarts here, one downtown and the other one "in the country", which is what they call the interior of the island. Other that the type of restaurant inside the store (Island Tropic restaurant), it looks the same as back in the States. I bought a couple of things. They don't pay any type of salesntax and no state tax (of course they are a territory, not a state). They island is beautiful, lush and green. The iguana rules here-they are everywhere.

I was at work by 2pm. It said prep by my name on the schedule. Little did I know what that meant! The Rotary Christmas party is Sunday afternoon. They are having a Thanksgiving type dinner at 4pm. So I spent most of the shift prepping for that. I must have peeled 50 pounds of potatoes (I know I did, I emptied the 50 pound bag)!!! The potatoes were for mashed potatoes both for the party and for Sunday service. I also peeled and cubes sweet potatoes, about 5 pounds of those. I roasted two 20 pound turkeys, cut the meat off of two spiral cut hams, made two pans of stuffing (using two large bags of seasoned pre-made croutons, made two large platters of salad (6 heads of romaine, 6 tomatoes, 2 each of red and green peppers, 2 red onions, 2 cucumbers, 1 carrot shredded). The mashed potatoes will be made the day of the party as will a fresh vegetable of Janee's choice. When I finished the prep for the party, she had me doing "odds and ends". I took all the romaine out of the walk-in (1 and 1/2 cases) and go through them taking off the rotted bits ( food goes bad quickly here in the Caribbean even refrigerated). Then I took lobsters out of a large container, rinsed them off and placed them in a bus tub. There is a reason they are called spiny lobsters! I ended up having several puncture wounds in my fingers because there is no way to pick them up without being poked in some way. And I cleaned and cleaned some more. I guess youmreally DO have to pay your dues starting new in any profession.... I think even Janee felt bad cause she let me go a little early.

I went back to my room and showered. I wasn't even hungry by that time (sometimes I don't eat until after my shift is over). The lobsters give off some of black stuff (I'm notnsure exactly what it is) and I ended up with black fingertips that did not come off entirely in the shower, which is why you rinse off the lobsters periodically because the black will stain the lobster meat. Ugh!