Greetings! I am blogging today for two days as I was too tired to blog last night. The restaurant is closed today so I have the day off. I am sitting on the beach under a huge palm tree as I write this. I am slowly working on a tan as I can't afford to work with a sunburn. The kitchen is already hot enough! Yesterday I slept in (I wake up earlier but am trying to make sure I get at least 8 hours of sleep a night). It's hard to get off work at 10, then go to my room, shower and go to bed right away-too wound up, lol.
After breakfast Monday morning, I got a call from Lori Dezendorf, the HR director. I had to fill out some paperwork (employee type paperwork) and they also gave me two uniforms to wear while I am here. I spent about 1 and 1/2 hours there so did not have much time to eat and get dressed for work. Janee was going to put me in charge of making dinner for the employees, but then changed her mind and asked me to make appetizers for the Manager's Cocktail party. Every Monday, the managers have a little get together for the guests so they can meet the managers and share any complements or complaints they might have. Janee told me to make whatever I wanted, which while sounding nice, is complicated by a certain lack of equipment and supplies, not to mention it takes some imagination! So I went "shopping" in the walk-in and the reach-in storage. I had to come up with appetizers for 50. I took cherry tomatoes, scored them with an "X", then piped them full of goat cheese (chevre) mixed with an Italian herb mix, then topped off with a sprinkle of chopped parsley. The second appetizer (I only made two) was crostini toasts topped with shaved roast beef, a roasted red pepper and garlic coulis that Ryan had made a couple of nights ago for Janee's birthday dinner, and a sliver of avocado. Apparently they were much enjoyed from what I heard, but then again, they have been getting a lot of pre-made spring rolls, etc so maybe it was the fact that they were getting something new, lol. There was one downside though, I burned my forearm taking the toasts out of the oven. This made me realize, that although I had packed well, I did NOT bring anything for burns. Last night I iced the burn and this morning bought some aloe in the gift shop (as well as an Iggy's t-shirt and a Bolongo Bay coverup) and started using it this morning. I guess it just goes to show that no matter how hard you try, you can't always remember everything!
Janee has a bunch of bananas sitting in her office, so took me up on my offer to bake. I made four loaves of Banana Walnut Bread. They turned out well. The restaurant does not have much in the way of bake wear so if I am going to make anything but cookies, they will need some muffin tins and some better loaf pans (they are reusing the disposable tin loaf pans). Then I was assigned to Judy, who works the same station as Willie-salads and desserts. Judy works here two days a week when Willie is off and the rest of the time at the Westin Resort. She is originally from Tortola. All the natives down here have that singsong lilt to their voices. Judy says, "I work two job so I kin buy myself watteva I want. No one gonna tell me no, you can't have dat.". She's a hoot! I learned how to plate a Grille salad (a medium sized mound of romaine lettuce in the middle of the bowl, 4-5 slices of hearts of palm, 3 tomato chunks equally spread on the sides, a small spoonful of pickled onions on top, then two scoops of ranch dressing) and a lettuce wedge (a half a head of lettuce if the head is very small, 1/4 if the head of lettuce is large. Flatten the wedge out a bit, slice two cherry tomatoes in half, put three halves at the bottom of the bowl-kind of a smiley face, one half at the top of the bowl, top with blue cheese dressing, thinly sliced red onions and a sprinkle of crispy bacon pieces). Pretty much all of the desserts are ordered frozen from a company called "Sweet Treats". I've tasted all but the Key Lime Pie (all in the name of education, mind you) and found them to be pretty good! The Lobster Grille offers a Banana Chocolate Chip Cake (a banana cake with chocolate chips, banana filling and chocolate icing), Mango Cheesecake (I shared a piece of that last night with Judy-sinfully good actually), Key Lime Pie, Melted Chocolate (which is their version of a Molten Lava Cake) and various ice creams (they do make their own ice cream in small batches). When Judy was not busy, I watched Ryan and Drew work the hotline and appetizer lines. Both these young guys are amazing, so quick, even Drew who just started last week!
If anyone out there is thinking about a Christmas present for me, I would love a book on the art of plating food.
Judy told me to plate the desserts however I wanted, but I seem to be slow at coming up with decorative little "who hahs" to put on the plate. I think I am over-thinking things, but I was taught not to just fill the plate with "garnish", it should have a purpose of some kind or reflect the flavors of the dish you are serving. The Grille has about 8 squeeze bottles filled with things like kiwi puree, raspberry puree, chocolate, and lord knows what else! She puts the dessert on the plate, then goes back and forth over the plate and dessert with first one squeeze bottle, then the other direction back and forth with a second squeeze bottle. She wants it to look pretty. I think I'm a little slow for her, lol. Oh, well, I guess I'll learn soon enough!
After cleaning up the kitchen, I sat at the bar with Janee, Ryan and Drew and had the complimentary drink you get after you finish your shift (just food and beverage people). If course, you have to change your clothes first, because they don't want the guests to think employees are drinking on the job! I get that part. I am expected to adhere to all the employee rules, even as an intern. We sat and talked for about half an hour then went our separate ways. I talked with Jordan, then went to bed. Between the glass of wine and standing on my feet (concrete floors) for 8 hours, I was a tired girl.
This morning I opted for Mango pancakes with sausage for for breakfast. I got bacon instead but didn't send it back. They make their pancakes from a mix they keep in the cooler (you have to take care as there is a rodent/bug problem down here but I have yet to see anything other than flies, knats and iguana). There was some disagreement about how much money I was allowed to spend for meals, so after breakfast I went back to see Lori and Paul to get it straightened out. They want to give me back the $2.50 I spent on breakfast but all I want to know is what are the rules and then to have everyone else know the rules so eating will be more of a pleasure than a dread.
So, there you have it, my life so far. Today I am going to take it easy. I've moved up to the pool area since starting to type, where there is more shade. Don't know if I've mentioned that the beaches are sandy but the bottom of the bay seems covered in rocks, so a dip in the pool is more refreshing (and colder) than swimming in the sea. I'll save my free sail to St John's for another week or two. I found out from sitting at breakfast yesterday, that it is St Croix I am seeing off the coast. Bolongo Bay looks south and St Croix is the long island that we see. All the dining tables in the Lobster Grille have old fashioned maps on them. It's amazing what you can learn even while eating! There is another, small island to the left of St Croix but I am not sure yet which island that is. I'll have to find out!
The picture I added was a view of the sunset outside the Lobster Grill kitchen. Just beautiful!
