I'm so glad this is the last of my weekly reflections. These are getting a bit tiring to write.
This last week has sort of been my evaluation week. On Wednesday and Thursday (Monday I was doing pots and Tuesday I wasn't here) I had to make my own dishes completely from scratch using the ingredients from the walk-in (fridge). I had to multiply the quantity of ingredients from the original recipe by at least 10 if not 20 times to ensure that I would be able to feed over 300 starving people! I can assure you that I used a lot of ingredients.
As I said in my blog for Thursday, the challenge of cooking for 300 people is much more difficult and demanding than I first thought. Not only did it require me to use a lot more ingredients, I also had to occasionally modify the method of the recipe. If it said I had to stir the sauce at step 3 and cook and put the meat in at step 4, I might have needed to cook and put the meat into the sauce at step 3 and then stir it at step 4 or 5 due to time restraints. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy cooking for the entire school. On the contrary, I do enjoy cooking for the whole school so that they can enjoy my dish and say how wonderful it was. (Haha just kidding. That's not the reason). But really, I enjoy cooking for the school because I want people to try different things and to say "That was great!" or "That didn't really sit well with me." I was glad that people actually liked my lemon chicken w/broccoli on Wednesday and my lemon pasta on Thursday. I thought people would say the chicken was too spicy (I added chili flakes) or that the sauce of the lemon pasta was to lumpy (from Parmesan cheese). If people had those comments, they didn't share them with me. I hope that if people do have something to say about the food that they will say it to me. Not because I like to hear criticism (no one does), but because if I don't hear any negatives, I won't know how to improve.
I think the cookout lunch on Friday was a good way to end my stint as a "chef" in the kitchen at Proctor. By doing this lunch, I've experienced all the facets of the kitchen. From washing pots and chopping ingredients to cooking the actual food, cleaning the dinning hall after lunch and grilling burgers on the grill, I've had an incredible three week journey. Even though my time in the kitchen is over, I still have an exhibition on Wednesday to think about. Even then as they say, it's not the final destination but the actual journey that counts. I must say, for this journey, that statement couldn't be any more correct.
P.S: I'm cooking something if you were wondering what I was doing (and no I won't say what I'll be making). You'll have to come on Wednesday and find out for yourself. For those of you who aren't at school and are reading my blog, I guess you'll have to miss out! Sorry!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Week 3: May 23rd-27th, 2011
Friday May 27th, 2011
Formally the last day of Senior Project!! It's been an amazing three weeks, full of fun and labor. Today happens to be carnival day. This means that lunch would be a cook out. Since this was the case, I didn't have to do much at all. I just diced up some onions and helped prep the condiments for the hot dogs and burgers for lunch. After that I basically waited until 11:45 which was when Nate and I started to grill some burgers on the burners. After lunch I helped Deb and Nancy clean up and then I was done for the day!... and for senior project!!... Well, almost. I still have to cook for the senior project exhibit.
Formally the last day of Senior Project!! It's been an amazing three weeks, full of fun and labor. Today happens to be carnival day. This means that lunch would be a cook out. Since this was the case, I didn't have to do much at all. I just diced up some onions and helped prep the condiments for the hot dogs and burgers for lunch. After that I basically waited until 11:45 which was when Nate and I started to grill some burgers on the burners. After lunch I helped Deb and Nancy clean up and then I was done for the day!... and for senior project!!... Well, almost. I still have to cook for the senior project exhibit.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Week 3: May 23rd-27th, 2011
Thursday May 26th, 2011
Today, I had another opportunity to make another dish of my own. This time, a pasta dish. I didn't have to think long before I knew what pasta dish I wanted to do. My lemon pasta dish was a pretty big hit when I cooked it last Thursday for the dinner at Mike's place. The only difference about the dish that I made was there was a lot more sauce than last Thursday's dish. Just like yesterday, I read the recipe then grabbed all the ingredients after multiplying it by the necessary amount. This happened to be 24. 24 times more than what the original recipe asked for!! That's crazy! However, another lesson that I learned from this project is that when you make a recipe for a big crowd, you can't multiply everything by a certain number and expect the dish to turn out just fine. You have to taste the dish for yourself and add what you need as you go along. For example, I was suppose to use five pounds of butter. I ended up using only one pound because I felt the sauce didn't need to be any more buttery. The same principle applies to the method. Just because the recipe says to cook something a certain way in a certain order doesn't mean it will work if you make the dish for a bigger crowd. You have to adjust and see what equipment you are using and the amount of time you have to cook the dish. The lunch itself was exactly like yesterday. People liked my pasta dish so much that I had to literally keep making batches of pasta because once I was done with one batch, another batch will be required by the time I got another batch done.
Also during lunch, my advisor Mike Koenig dragged me out to the main dinning hall and made an announcement to everyone in the dinning hall about congratulating me and my efforts in the kitchen during senior project. To top it off, the kitchen crew got me my very own (with my name on it) a chef's top complete with a chef hat and.... a potato peeler!!....... fond memories. So thanks a lot guys! I really appreciate it!
Tomorrow is sort of my last day in the kitchen during senior project (I still have to cook for the wise show). It's crazy... I've done so much in three weeks. The weeks really flew by. Tomorrow is also carnival day. I think everyone will love lunch. Bring on the meats!!
Today, I had another opportunity to make another dish of my own. This time, a pasta dish. I didn't have to think long before I knew what pasta dish I wanted to do. My lemon pasta dish was a pretty big hit when I cooked it last Thursday for the dinner at Mike's place. The only difference about the dish that I made was there was a lot more sauce than last Thursday's dish. Just like yesterday, I read the recipe then grabbed all the ingredients after multiplying it by the necessary amount. This happened to be 24. 24 times more than what the original recipe asked for!! That's crazy! However, another lesson that I learned from this project is that when you make a recipe for a big crowd, you can't multiply everything by a certain number and expect the dish to turn out just fine. You have to taste the dish for yourself and add what you need as you go along. For example, I was suppose to use five pounds of butter. I ended up using only one pound because I felt the sauce didn't need to be any more buttery. The same principle applies to the method. Just because the recipe says to cook something a certain way in a certain order doesn't mean it will work if you make the dish for a bigger crowd. You have to adjust and see what equipment you are using and the amount of time you have to cook the dish. The lunch itself was exactly like yesterday. People liked my pasta dish so much that I had to literally keep making batches of pasta because once I was done with one batch, another batch will be required by the time I got another batch done.
Also during lunch, my advisor Mike Koenig dragged me out to the main dinning hall and made an announcement to everyone in the dinning hall about congratulating me and my efforts in the kitchen during senior project. To top it off, the kitchen crew got me my very own (with my name on it) a chef's top complete with a chef hat and.... a potato peeler!!....... fond memories. So thanks a lot guys! I really appreciate it!
Tomorrow is sort of my last day in the kitchen during senior project (I still have to cook for the wise show). It's crazy... I've done so much in three weeks. The weeks really flew by. Tomorrow is also carnival day. I think everyone will love lunch. Bring on the meats!!
Week 3: May 23rd-27th, 2011
Wednesday May 25th, 2011
Today I decided to get to the kitchen earlier than usual. As I got to the dinning hall at 7:20, I saw my advisor Mike Koenig and remembered we had dish duty for the day. The kitchen crew were pretty surprised to see me so early in the morning. Anyway, today I got to make my own chicken dish. I looked through my handy Chinese cook book and saw a pretty decent looking dish: Lemon Chicken. As I looked at the preparation method required for this particular recipe, I knew it wouldn't be difficult to pull this dish off. The thing that never ceased to amaze me though, was the amount of ingredients required for making such a simple dish for the entire school. I used around three and a half cups of lemon juice, 13tbs of sugar and a lot of other ingredients with big quantities. For this dish, the preparation time took much longer than the actual cooking time. In the end though it was well worth it. I was shocked by the popularity of the dish. Lunch started at 11:15 today. By 11:30 I've sent four batches of lemon chicken (with broccoli, since we had a lot of it) out to the hot line. I basically had to constantly keep making batches of lemon chicken right after I put a batch out on the line because by the time I finished making that batch, the lemon chicken on the line would have been done already. Although I spent a lot of time preparing, cooking and serving the dish, everyone congratulated me on the fantastic dish.
I left around 12 to go with my woods team buddies for a special trip (surfing at Rye Beach- I think that was the name of it) and our team dinner (seafood at some place). I had an extremely fun time and I am so grateful that Mike let me go instead of making me stay and do dish duty. So thanks a lot Mike!
Tomorrow I think I will be preparing a pasta dish. I think I know just the right dish to prepare...
Today I decided to get to the kitchen earlier than usual. As I got to the dinning hall at 7:20, I saw my advisor Mike Koenig and remembered we had dish duty for the day. The kitchen crew were pretty surprised to see me so early in the morning. Anyway, today I got to make my own chicken dish. I looked through my handy Chinese cook book and saw a pretty decent looking dish: Lemon Chicken. As I looked at the preparation method required for this particular recipe, I knew it wouldn't be difficult to pull this dish off. The thing that never ceased to amaze me though, was the amount of ingredients required for making such a simple dish for the entire school. I used around three and a half cups of lemon juice, 13tbs of sugar and a lot of other ingredients with big quantities. For this dish, the preparation time took much longer than the actual cooking time. In the end though it was well worth it. I was shocked by the popularity of the dish. Lunch started at 11:15 today. By 11:30 I've sent four batches of lemon chicken (with broccoli, since we had a lot of it) out to the hot line. I basically had to constantly keep making batches of lemon chicken right after I put a batch out on the line because by the time I finished making that batch, the lemon chicken on the line would have been done already. Although I spent a lot of time preparing, cooking and serving the dish, everyone congratulated me on the fantastic dish.
I left around 12 to go with my woods team buddies for a special trip (surfing at Rye Beach- I think that was the name of it) and our team dinner (seafood at some place). I had an extremely fun time and I am so grateful that Mike let me go instead of making me stay and do dish duty. So thanks a lot Mike!
Tomorrow I think I will be preparing a pasta dish. I think I know just the right dish to prepare...
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Week 2: May 16th-May 20th, 2011
Friday May 20th, 2011
As I was looking through all my blog entries, I realized I didn't publish a blog for Friday. So here it is.
Today proved to be an uneventful day- at least in the kitchen. When I arrived, I helped Kevin dice some onions and tomatoes for the taco bar which was the major item for lunch. At around 9:45, I left the kitchen to get my mac and headed over to the assembly hall. I then showed my safari slideshow (the one that Joan Saunders was begging me to show since the beginning of the year). Afterwards I got plenty of praise for the pictures in the slideshow. A couple of students went so far as to asking me if they could have one of the pictures from the slideshow! After assembly I trudged back to the dinning hall (after picking up my copy of the Green Lantern) and finished helping the kitchen staff with the taco bar.
There wasn't much to do after lunch, so Art said I could leave for the day- and the weekend.
Next activity on the agenda- Colby Sawyer jazz performance!
As I was looking through all my blog entries, I realized I didn't publish a blog for Friday. So here it is.
Today proved to be an uneventful day- at least in the kitchen. When I arrived, I helped Kevin dice some onions and tomatoes for the taco bar which was the major item for lunch. At around 9:45, I left the kitchen to get my mac and headed over to the assembly hall. I then showed my safari slideshow (the one that Joan Saunders was begging me to show since the beginning of the year). Afterwards I got plenty of praise for the pictures in the slideshow. A couple of students went so far as to asking me if they could have one of the pictures from the slideshow! After assembly I trudged back to the dinning hall (after picking up my copy of the Green Lantern) and finished helping the kitchen staff with the taco bar.
There wasn't much to do after lunch, so Art said I could leave for the day- and the weekend.
Next activity on the agenda- Colby Sawyer jazz performance!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Week 3: May 23rd-27th, 2011
Monday May 23rd, 2011
Start of my last week of Senior Project! The past three weeks flew by so quickly.
Today I got a taste of what Brandon's life as a pot sinker was like. I must say, this job was definitely not the best job in the kitchen but it definitely was not terrible either. It was a fun learning experience nonetheless.
So when I arrived in the morning, Brandon taught me the procedure of washing dishes. First you have to scrub the grease and grime off of the pots, pans or whatever you're washing in the first sink. Then you transfer that item to the second sink and wash it with soapy water. After that you put the soapy item into the third sink of sanitized water which sanitizes the item. Finally, after taking the item out of the sanitized water, you let the item dry for a bit before placing it in the correct location.
Some time before lunch, I also assisted Art in making bread for tomorrow. That was pretty fun. I never realized he uses the amount of flour that he did. I think it was around 17lbs!!!
After lunch I continued helping Brandon wash pots and pans. Usually that is when the amount of items that need to be washed escalates. However since this was a Monday, the pile of items wasn't so high. Lucky me!!
That was pretty much it.
Start of my last week of Senior Project! The past three weeks flew by so quickly.
Today I got a taste of what Brandon's life as a pot sinker was like. I must say, this job was definitely not the best job in the kitchen but it definitely was not terrible either. It was a fun learning experience nonetheless.
So when I arrived in the morning, Brandon taught me the procedure of washing dishes. First you have to scrub the grease and grime off of the pots, pans or whatever you're washing in the first sink. Then you transfer that item to the second sink and wash it with soapy water. After that you put the soapy item into the third sink of sanitized water which sanitizes the item. Finally, after taking the item out of the sanitized water, you let the item dry for a bit before placing it in the correct location.
Some time before lunch, I also assisted Art in making bread for tomorrow. That was pretty fun. I never realized he uses the amount of flour that he did. I think it was around 17lbs!!!
After lunch I continued helping Brandon wash pots and pans. Usually that is when the amount of items that need to be washed escalates. However since this was a Monday, the pile of items wasn't so high. Lucky me!!
That was pretty much it.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Week 2: May 16th-20th Weekly Reflection
Another week has gone by and I’ve been pretty busy doing some new things.
This week wasn’t as exciting as last week, but I guess that’s normal. When you start you get to do all the new things that you’ve never done before, but by the time the second or third week comes around, it’s all old news. I did all the normal things like helping Nate, Kevin, Barb or Erin with things they needed me to do and then helping Deb, Nancy and Steve after lunch. The first exciting thing of that week was on Wednesday when Nate told me I had to create a soup dish for lunch. That was pretty scary as I didn’t know that I was doing that until that very moment. Oh well, I was glad it went really well and people actually liked my soup.
The highlight of the week definitely had to be cooking for Mike’s family, advisory and the Annex girl’s. Even though I’ve cooked for big occasions before, I’ve always had some sort of help. Whether it’s cooking the rice or slicing the beef, those are some of the things that people have helped me do beforehand. Therefore, cooking this meal has made me realize how many things are involved with making a larger meal. I can’t imagine what it must be like preparing a six or eight course meal! I only had to do four and I struggled real bad! They were easy dishes too! You don’t realize the complexity of doing easy dishes if you have a couple of dishes to do at once. It was definitely a good lesson to learn. As I mentioned in the blog, I was extremely pleased that my efforts in cooking the meal was rewarded by everyone having a fantastic meal. Even though the meal was labor intensive, it was also really fun sitting down and having a meal with a group of people that don’t eat together often.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Week 2: May 16th-20th, 2011
Thursday May 19th, 2011
Today I got to the kitchen at 8 and was pretty excited yet nervous about what was yet to come: serving dinner at Mike Henriques's house for his family, his advisory as well as the Annex girls. I started by looking at the recipes and then gathering the ingredients for them. I kept coordinating with Betsy to see what ingredients I needed from the kitchen and what she helped me buy. For the dinner, I did beef stroganoff for an entree and my grandmother's angel food "crunch" cake for dessert. That was what I originally planned at least. However, I found out that one of the members in Mike's advisory was a vegetarian and one member of the Annex girls had a gluten intolerance. Therefore, I had to make two extra dishes. A lemon pasta dish for the vegetarian (and Betsy who also told me she didn't eat beef as I was cooking the stroganoff) and a chocolate pudding (it should've been but due to time restraints it turned out to be more of a chocolate drink) for the gluten intolerant girl. After I gathered the ingredients, I baked the cake so I wouldn't have to do it later (I'm so glad I did that in the morning). That took a couple of hours. After I did that I looked at the other recipes and prepared most of the ingredients. For example, for the stroganoff I had to have a dozen diced shallots (I used onions instead). So I took some onions and diced them up and put them in a container. I did this for most of the other ingredients. The things that had to do with measuring creams and butters, I left for later. As I was doing this, I couldn't do anything for today's lunch. The kitchen managed to get lunch out in good time. It was really good as well!
By the time 3:30 rolled around, I was at the Henriques's place preparing the sauce for the stroganoff. That didn't take very long, but by the time 5:30 came about, I was panicing like there was no tomorrow as dinner was suppose to start at 6. I finished the sauce for the stroganoff, started cooking the rice about a half hour ago and was doing the "crunch" topping for the cake. I still haven't cut the beef or started either the lemon pasta or the chocolate pudding!! Luckily, Mike and Betsy were around the kitchen and they saw that I was struggling. They immediately came to my aid and were extremely helpful in making sure the other tasks that I had to do were done. I only said three things but making the lemon pasta and the chocolate pudding requires many smaller steps such as boiling water and then the pasta for the lemon pasta or heating the cream for the pudding. It was kind of crazy at the end as we rushed to get everything done. In the end, dinner started around 6:30 (probably later.... sorry guys!!) but everyone said the stroganoff (or the pasta for some people) was really delicious. While everyone was having their entree though, I was in the kitchen finishing up the cake by whipping up some whipping cream and lavishing it on the cake topped with the crunch "dressing". That took a while too. By the time I was done with that, it was around 7:15. Everyone also said the cake (and the pudding for the person that had it) was delicious. I was extremely happy with the repetitive positive comments that people said to me as I sat down with them at the dinner table and ate my dinner. By the time I cleaned up, packed up and got back to my dorm, it was around 8:00 and I was extremely exhausted by the amount of work done this morning prepping and this afternoon/evening cooking. Who knew that my work day would last for around 12 hours!!
Today I got to the kitchen at 8 and was pretty excited yet nervous about what was yet to come: serving dinner at Mike Henriques's house for his family, his advisory as well as the Annex girls. I started by looking at the recipes and then gathering the ingredients for them. I kept coordinating with Betsy to see what ingredients I needed from the kitchen and what she helped me buy. For the dinner, I did beef stroganoff for an entree and my grandmother's angel food "crunch" cake for dessert. That was what I originally planned at least. However, I found out that one of the members in Mike's advisory was a vegetarian and one member of the Annex girls had a gluten intolerance. Therefore, I had to make two extra dishes. A lemon pasta dish for the vegetarian (and Betsy who also told me she didn't eat beef as I was cooking the stroganoff) and a chocolate pudding (it should've been but due to time restraints it turned out to be more of a chocolate drink) for the gluten intolerant girl. After I gathered the ingredients, I baked the cake so I wouldn't have to do it later (I'm so glad I did that in the morning). That took a couple of hours. After I did that I looked at the other recipes and prepared most of the ingredients. For example, for the stroganoff I had to have a dozen diced shallots (I used onions instead). So I took some onions and diced them up and put them in a container. I did this for most of the other ingredients. The things that had to do with measuring creams and butters, I left for later. As I was doing this, I couldn't do anything for today's lunch. The kitchen managed to get lunch out in good time. It was really good as well!
By the time 3:30 rolled around, I was at the Henriques's place preparing the sauce for the stroganoff. That didn't take very long, but by the time 5:30 came about, I was panicing like there was no tomorrow as dinner was suppose to start at 6. I finished the sauce for the stroganoff, started cooking the rice about a half hour ago and was doing the "crunch" topping for the cake. I still haven't cut the beef or started either the lemon pasta or the chocolate pudding!! Luckily, Mike and Betsy were around the kitchen and they saw that I was struggling. They immediately came to my aid and were extremely helpful in making sure the other tasks that I had to do were done. I only said three things but making the lemon pasta and the chocolate pudding requires many smaller steps such as boiling water and then the pasta for the lemon pasta or heating the cream for the pudding. It was kind of crazy at the end as we rushed to get everything done. In the end, dinner started around 6:30 (probably later.... sorry guys!!) but everyone said the stroganoff (or the pasta for some people) was really delicious. While everyone was having their entree though, I was in the kitchen finishing up the cake by whipping up some whipping cream and lavishing it on the cake topped with the crunch "dressing". That took a while too. By the time I was done with that, it was around 7:15. Everyone also said the cake (and the pudding for the person that had it) was delicious. I was extremely happy with the repetitive positive comments that people said to me as I sat down with them at the dinner table and ate my dinner. By the time I cleaned up, packed up and got back to my dorm, it was around 8:00 and I was extremely exhausted by the amount of work done this morning prepping and this afternoon/evening cooking. Who knew that my work day would last for around 12 hours!!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Week 2: May 16th-20th, 2011
Wednesday May 18th, 2011
When I got to the kitchen at 8 today, I was surprised to hear that Nate wanted to talk to me. So he pulls me aside and tells me to make a soup for lunch today. In my head I was like, "Is he crazy?! I've never made soup before." Not to mention the fact that I was also freaking out just because I had to make something for the school based on my own decision. Luckily I found a recipe in my Chinese cookbook that I had with me. It was called, "Cantonese Egg Flower Soup". I knew this was a classic Chinese soup that many Chinese people and foreigners enjoy. I went about getting and preparing the ingredients which didn't take that long. After that I began making my first ever soup! Before I knew it, I had a pot of decent looking liquid. When I went to try some of the soup, I discovered it was really salty. I tried to mix it with more water but to no avail. The soup just wouldn't be any less salty. I asked Nate and Kevin to try some and they said it was fine. I reluctantly went along with their judgement. I mean, they do have many more years of cooking experience than I do.
As I watched people pile food onto their plate during lunch I saw a couple of people try my soup. I was pretty nervous as to what people would say. To my surprise and delight, everyone said they liked the soup. I was extremely relieved when I heard that. My first ever soup was a success!! Yes!!
After lunch it was the usual routine. Helped Nancy and Deb clean the outside then helped Steve do some work. This time it was putting two pans of chickens onto bigger sheet pans. I also learned some interesting terminology from Erin and Steve. Though I think it would be inappropriate to write it up so yeah.... I guess what happens in the kitchen stays in the kitchen.
When I got to the kitchen at 8 today, I was surprised to hear that Nate wanted to talk to me. So he pulls me aside and tells me to make a soup for lunch today. In my head I was like, "Is he crazy?! I've never made soup before." Not to mention the fact that I was also freaking out just because I had to make something for the school based on my own decision. Luckily I found a recipe in my Chinese cookbook that I had with me. It was called, "Cantonese Egg Flower Soup". I knew this was a classic Chinese soup that many Chinese people and foreigners enjoy. I went about getting and preparing the ingredients which didn't take that long. After that I began making my first ever soup! Before I knew it, I had a pot of decent looking liquid. When I went to try some of the soup, I discovered it was really salty. I tried to mix it with more water but to no avail. The soup just wouldn't be any less salty. I asked Nate and Kevin to try some and they said it was fine. I reluctantly went along with their judgement. I mean, they do have many more years of cooking experience than I do.
As I watched people pile food onto their plate during lunch I saw a couple of people try my soup. I was pretty nervous as to what people would say. To my surprise and delight, everyone said they liked the soup. I was extremely relieved when I heard that. My first ever soup was a success!! Yes!!
After lunch it was the usual routine. Helped Nancy and Deb clean the outside then helped Steve do some work. This time it was putting two pans of chickens onto bigger sheet pans. I also learned some interesting terminology from Erin and Steve. Though I think it would be inappropriate to write it up so yeah.... I guess what happens in the kitchen stays in the kitchen.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Week 2: May 16th-20th, 2011
Tuesday May 17th, 2011
As I said in my previous blog, I was pretty tired at the end of the day. This caused me to inadvertently sleep through my original 8am start time. I instead got to the kitchen at 9am to start my day. The first thing I got to do was prepare the salsa for the fish- specifically haddock. The salsa had: chopped tomatoes, diced spring onions, ginger and onion. These ingredients were topped off with some garlic, salt and pepper. Shortly after I finished the salsa, I placed the haddock on a couple of trays and left it on the side for a while. As I was waiting for the time to past by, I learned how to clean the grill and then helped Nancy peel a large bowl of beets for the salad bar. Around 11:30, I put the haddock into the oven and cooked it for about ten minutes at around 300 degrees! As it was cooking I had a little taste of my salsa. I decided I wasn't happy with the taste as I thought it lacked something. When the fish was done, I also discovered that it was dry as well. So I figured I had to add something that would make the fish less dry and the salsa somehow tastier. I decided to add some lemon juice to the fish. This was a bold move as I could have potentially ruined the entire dish. I was confident with my decision though and proceeded to squeeze some lemon juice onto each piece of haddock. It was then topped off with the salsa. However just because a dish looks good doesn't mean that people will like it or eat it. I initially had fears that the fish wouldn't be eaten, as it wasn't one of the more popular dishes in the dinning hall. As lunch progressed though, the number of pieces of haddock grew smaller and smaller until by the time lunch was over, there were only a couple of pieces left. I was pretty satisfied with my efforts in trying to enhance the dish.
The afternoon was pretty much similar to my previous afternoons. I helped Nancy and Deb clean the main dinning room (I cleaned the hot line) then I helped Steve do a bit of prep work. I chopped some zucchini for veggie dish during dinner and diced some red onions. By the time I was finished with that it was 3:10. A pretty good day of work.
Last note: Due to my tiredness, I wasn't in the best of moods today. Barbara wanted me to write in my blog that I didn't smile today (not that I smile any other day). There you go Barb!! I hope you're satisfied with that... enough said.
As I said in my previous blog, I was pretty tired at the end of the day. This caused me to inadvertently sleep through my original 8am start time. I instead got to the kitchen at 9am to start my day. The first thing I got to do was prepare the salsa for the fish- specifically haddock. The salsa had: chopped tomatoes, diced spring onions, ginger and onion. These ingredients were topped off with some garlic, salt and pepper. Shortly after I finished the salsa, I placed the haddock on a couple of trays and left it on the side for a while. As I was waiting for the time to past by, I learned how to clean the grill and then helped Nancy peel a large bowl of beets for the salad bar. Around 11:30, I put the haddock into the oven and cooked it for about ten minutes at around 300 degrees! As it was cooking I had a little taste of my salsa. I decided I wasn't happy with the taste as I thought it lacked something. When the fish was done, I also discovered that it was dry as well. So I figured I had to add something that would make the fish less dry and the salsa somehow tastier. I decided to add some lemon juice to the fish. This was a bold move as I could have potentially ruined the entire dish. I was confident with my decision though and proceeded to squeeze some lemon juice onto each piece of haddock. It was then topped off with the salsa. However just because a dish looks good doesn't mean that people will like it or eat it. I initially had fears that the fish wouldn't be eaten, as it wasn't one of the more popular dishes in the dinning hall. As lunch progressed though, the number of pieces of haddock grew smaller and smaller until by the time lunch was over, there were only a couple of pieces left. I was pretty satisfied with my efforts in trying to enhance the dish.
The afternoon was pretty much similar to my previous afternoons. I helped Nancy and Deb clean the main dinning room (I cleaned the hot line) then I helped Steve do a bit of prep work. I chopped some zucchini for veggie dish during dinner and diced some red onions. By the time I was finished with that it was 3:10. A pretty good day of work.
Last note: Due to my tiredness, I wasn't in the best of moods today. Barbara wanted me to write in my blog that I didn't smile today (not that I smile any other day). There you go Barb!! I hope you're satisfied with that... enough said.
Week 1: May 9th-13th, 2011 Weekly Reflection
During my first week in the kitchen, I experienced a wide variety of jobs that were a part of kitchen life at Proctor. Although I was often involved in the making of many dishes (mostly preparation work) such as the pizza on Friday or the rice pilaf on Thursday’s Earth Day, I still did non-cooking related jobs such as cleaning the main dinning hall after lunch and cleaning utensils in the dish room. Those jobs as small as they are, are just as important (well not quite, but still pretty important) as cooking the food itself. If we didn’t clean the dinning hall, students and staff would be eating in a dirty dinning hall with leftover meats and other garbage strewn all over the tables or at the deli bar. For me at least, I would like to eat in a clean dinning hall as I’m sure most everyone would. From doing these jobs, I’ve learned the importance of teamwork. In a place such as a kitchen where everyone is trying to get things done to get meals out on time, teamwork is absolutely essential in getting everything done successfully. If you do your part, people are more than happy to help you when you are struggling.
I think the biggest eye opener for me this week was that the amount of work you put into preparing a dish is five times more than the time it takes for the dish to disappear in the dinning hall (most of the time). For example on Friday, I started work at 6:30 to make the dough for the pizza and took the last tray of pizzas out of the oven at 12:30. By 1:30, most of the 800 pieces of pizza were eaten. Watching all your hard work disappear in a flash really was a shock for me. As a student I probably would’ve never realized it took that long to make the pizzas. I would just come in, grab a couple of slices and eat. When people come and eat in the dinning hall, I hope they think about the amount of effort it takes for the kitchen staff to make all the food that they do before they complain that the food is terrible. Working in the kitchen has definitely made me more conscientious about not wasting food (not that I do waste food to begin with).
I think one of the benefits of being a student at Proctor and now an employee of the kitchen allows me to have a clear understanding of what the dinning hall food is like from the student’s point of view and the kitchen’s point of view. I know from sitting around kids in the dinning hall that many of them don’t like the food. Everyone has their own reasons, but it’s usually because the food looks disgusting. Whenever I hear someone say that I ask them, “Why do you judge the food based on what it looks like? You haven’t even tasted or smelled it yet!” The usual answer to this is, “Well, it still looks gross so I won’t try it.” Ever since I came to Proctor, I couldn’t understand why students are so narrow minded with the food in the dinning hall. I know it’s not five star cuisine, but for a small boarding school in New Hampshire I think the food is pretty good. Whenever people from home ask me what the food is like here, as an example I tell them we get eggs, pancakes, potatoes of some sort and other breakfast things, for lunch we get Sloppy Joe’s, pasta, pizza and for dinner we have fish (sometimes salmon), sometimes roast beef and sometimes Seafood Newberg. I also tell them we have a salad bar for lunch and dinner. By the time I’m done, they’re all usually shell shocked. How many boarding schools serve Seafood Newberg? Not many.
One of the frustrations I have experienced since starting senior project is that since I told the whole school in assembly I would be working in the kitchen, many people often come up and ask me “What’s for dinner?” or “When are they going to have___?” or “You should have____ more often.” This gets pretty annoying after awhile because although I work in the kitchen, I have no say in what the kitchen buys or extremely little say in what they make. I just do what I’m told to do and that’s that. People also have to remind themselves that there is a budget for food and that limits the kitchen to what they can prepare and serve.
For my first week in the kitchen, I would say I have a pretty good idea what it’s like working in a place like Proctor’s kitchen. Being able to do a variety of things certainly helps that. Next week, Nate and Kevin are allowing me to prepare a few dishes of my own for some of the meals. I still however have yet to decide what they will be, but it should be good nonetheless. Although I’m nervous about preparing my own food for the school, I think everyone will support me. I just hope the dishes live up to the students and the faculty/staffs’ expectation.
Overall, I liked what I’ve accomplished during my first week. From scooping cookies and peeling potatoes on Monday to chopping vegetables for the quiche and almost completely preparing the pizzas by myself by Friday, I’ve learned something new each day. As I begin my second week of senior project, I hope it will be as exciting as this first week.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Week 2: May 16th-20th, 2011
Monday 16th, 2011
Today would prove to be a pretty easy day. Since Nate has his day off today, I got to come in a bit later. When I came in at 9, I was assigned to Erin who was in charge of the cold foods such as salads and deli meats. She asked me to help her peel a panful of carrots and then peel and slice up another panful of cucumbers for the salad bar. By the time I was finished with that, it was around 11. Erin then asked me to help her cut about seven cantaloupes into small chunks for the fruit salad. This was a new experience for me and I enjoyed learning how to peel and chop a melon effectively. By the time I was done with this, it was already time for lunch.
After lunch I helped clean up the main dinning hall by cleaning the soda station. After this, I helped Steve peel 20 sweet potatoes and de-bone probably around 100 chicken drumsticks. This took an incredibly long time, but after about two hours I was finally finished with the drumsticks and for the day. Even though I didn't do much today, I was still really tired. I hope I have enough energy to continue tomorrow.
Today would prove to be a pretty easy day. Since Nate has his day off today, I got to come in a bit later. When I came in at 9, I was assigned to Erin who was in charge of the cold foods such as salads and deli meats. She asked me to help her peel a panful of carrots and then peel and slice up another panful of cucumbers for the salad bar. By the time I was finished with that, it was around 11. Erin then asked me to help her cut about seven cantaloupes into small chunks for the fruit salad. This was a new experience for me and I enjoyed learning how to peel and chop a melon effectively. By the time I was done with this, it was already time for lunch.
After lunch I helped clean up the main dinning hall by cleaning the soda station. After this, I helped Steve peel 20 sweet potatoes and de-bone probably around 100 chicken drumsticks. This took an incredibly long time, but after about two hours I was finally finished with the drumsticks and for the day. Even though I didn't do much today, I was still really tired. I hope I have enough energy to continue tomorrow.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Week 1: May 9th-13th, 2011
Thursday May 12th, 2011
I just realized that due to the website problems, I didn't post my blog for Thursday yet. Anyway here it is.
Earth Day!!! The day when everyone does something environmentally friendly! In the kitchen, we were busy preparing all vegetarian dishes (on the hot line that is). The first thing I did when I came in (after washing my hands) was to dice the onion, carrot and celery for the brown rice pilaf. After that I proceeded to cook the veggies and finished making the rice pilaf. The amazing thing about this dish was that it was entirely made by me. I followed Nate's instructions but he told me to add however many handfuls of different herbs I wanted. That was pretty amazing. I got to customize a dish for the whole school! The better thing about it was latter on during and after meal time, many people came up to me and told me the rice pilaf was very very good. I was very happy and proud of myself. Upon finishing the rice pilaf, I started to make a cheese polenta. Nate normally uses (I forgot what) cheese(s) but I decided to go with a plain parmesan polenta. I also got to make this dish by myself and people said this dish was really good. Those two things were my main events for the morning. For the rest of the morning, I just helped Kevin cut some tomatoes and shred some lettuce for the re-fried beans and chop spring onions and tofu for the miso soup. Even though they're were people who were disappointed that there wasn't any meat out (on the hot line), the majority of the people really liked what we served for lunch.
After lunch I helped Deb and Nancy clean the main dinning hall and then helped set up the area for the stir fry section. I know everyone will love it! After that, Barb told me to take the rest of the afternoon off but to be back in the kitchen by 4:45.
I just realized that due to the website problems, I didn't post my blog for Thursday yet. Anyway here it is.
Earth Day!!! The day when everyone does something environmentally friendly! In the kitchen, we were busy preparing all vegetarian dishes (on the hot line that is). The first thing I did when I came in (after washing my hands) was to dice the onion, carrot and celery for the brown rice pilaf. After that I proceeded to cook the veggies and finished making the rice pilaf. The amazing thing about this dish was that it was entirely made by me. I followed Nate's instructions but he told me to add however many handfuls of different herbs I wanted. That was pretty amazing. I got to customize a dish for the whole school! The better thing about it was latter on during and after meal time, many people came up to me and told me the rice pilaf was very very good. I was very happy and proud of myself. Upon finishing the rice pilaf, I started to make a cheese polenta. Nate normally uses (I forgot what) cheese(s) but I decided to go with a plain parmesan polenta. I also got to make this dish by myself and people said this dish was really good. Those two things were my main events for the morning. For the rest of the morning, I just helped Kevin cut some tomatoes and shred some lettuce for the re-fried beans and chop spring onions and tofu for the miso soup. Even though they're were people who were disappointed that there wasn't any meat out (on the hot line), the majority of the people really liked what we served for lunch.
After lunch I helped Deb and Nancy clean the main dinning hall and then helped set up the area for the stir fry section. I know everyone will love it! After that, Barb told me to take the rest of the afternoon off but to be back in the kitchen by 4:45.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Week 1: May 9th-13th, 2011
Friday 13th May 2011
Today I woke up at 6:10 and got to the dining hall by 6:20 to start my day in the kitchen. We were going to have pizza for lunch and so Nate and I had the wonderful job of making the dough. The pizza making turned out to be the only thing I had to do for the day. We used three gallons of water and a lot 45lbs of flour. Three gallons!! That's enough water to wash my hair and rinse my body!! (I don't exactly know this, but I'm just guessing.) Anyway, we mixed the dough into a clumpy big ball of goo. Once that was done, we let it sit on the side for a while and Nate told me to start and grate the box of mozzarella and a tube of provolone (the provolone wasn't in a tube. It was just in a circular wrapper). After I finished this the yeast in the pizza dough had taken effect (we left the dough near the oven) and it had rose by quite a bit. As Nate folded the dough onto sheet pans, I sauced the dough, put the cheese and whatever other ingredients that we needed onto the pizza and set it aside. Once a group of around five trays were done, we put them in the oven and let them cook. We repeated this step a couple of times until we had seven trays of cheese and pepperoni pizza and three trays of tomato and basil and hawaiian pizzas. That gave us about 800 slices of pizzas. That's a lot of pizzas!! Except all of those pizzas were gone by the end of lunch. Bye-bye to six hours of work in about one hour. Soon after that, lunch started and Nate and I were busy once more, bringing food out of the kitchen and empty trays into it. After that, I had lunch and then left for the day.
Today I woke up at 6:10 and got to the dining hall by 6:20 to start my day in the kitchen. We were going to have pizza for lunch and so Nate and I had the wonderful job of making the dough. The pizza making turned out to be the only thing I had to do for the day. We used three gallons of water and a lot 45lbs of flour. Three gallons!! That's enough water to wash my hair and rinse my body!! (I don't exactly know this, but I'm just guessing.) Anyway, we mixed the dough into a clumpy big ball of goo. Once that was done, we let it sit on the side for a while and Nate told me to start and grate the box of mozzarella and a tube of provolone (the provolone wasn't in a tube. It was just in a circular wrapper). After I finished this the yeast in the pizza dough had taken effect (we left the dough near the oven) and it had rose by quite a bit. As Nate folded the dough onto sheet pans, I sauced the dough, put the cheese and whatever other ingredients that we needed onto the pizza and set it aside. Once a group of around five trays were done, we put them in the oven and let them cook. We repeated this step a couple of times until we had seven trays of cheese and pepperoni pizza and three trays of tomato and basil and hawaiian pizzas. That gave us about 800 slices of pizzas. That's a lot of pizzas!! Except all of those pizzas were gone by the end of lunch. Bye-bye to six hours of work in about one hour. Soon after that, lunch started and Nate and I were busy once more, bringing food out of the kitchen and empty trays into it. After that, I had lunch and then left for the day.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Week 1: May 9th-13th, 2011
Wednesday May 11th, 2011
I had a pretty long day today. Nate wanted me to come in earlier so I did. I got to the kitchen around 7:55 instead of 8:55. The extra hour to get ready really does make a difference. Anyway, I started of the day by learning how to make a roux (pronounced: rue) for the gumbo that will be served during lunch. This is a thickener that produces similar results to that of corn starch. Instead though, a roux is made from some sort of oil (any oil is fine- we used bacon oil) and flour. Nate said we will be making a brown roux. You just combine the two things together and then cook it over high heat. When I first started the cooking process, the roux was really thick- like a thick gravy and it was a light beige color. After 20 minutes or so, the roux started to darken in color and lighten in thickness. In the end, the color of the roux was sort of a napkin-in-the-dinning-hall-brown color and the thickness of the roux was not quite liquid, but much lighter than what it started off as. Between then and lunch, I peeled apples, cut sausages for the gumbo, made the gumbo itself, blackened the catfish (for lunch) and made the Sloppy Joe's as well (for lunch).
All in all, it was a pretty busy morning. By the time lunch time rolled around though, I got a taste of what Wednesday lunch is like for the kitchen crew every week. It got even busier! Students were entering the dinning hall at different stages of lunch, so I had to keep a watch out for what food was getting low. It seemed like a lot of people like the mac & cheese with bacon :). I had to frequently change that dish as well as the Sloppy Joe's. People know I'm working in the kitchen for Senior Project, so as I stand outside at the end of the hot-food line, people will ask me what I made and will generally try it. (They always say that it's good, so I'm doubtful if it's really good or if they're just saying it because I told them I made it since you expect some criticism along the way) Other than that the rest of service went pretty smoothly.
After lunch, I replaced Nancy and worked alongside Deb cleaning the different parts of the main dinning area. I cleaned the toaster/bread area as well as the panini and the deli (sandwich) bar. It wasn't that much work, but I knew I was lucky as those areas can get quite messy since they are popular spots for the students during meal times. After I was done with that, I spent another hour and a bit peeling almost a box of sweet potatoes! Lucky for me I could use a peeler, so it wasn't so bad as my first encounter with potatoes during Senior Project.
Tomorrow being Earth Day, I will get to have some fun with organic food that Art specifically ordered just for the occasion. Dinner will be a great treat for the whole school as well! I won't say what it is- SPOILERS AREN'T INCLUDED HERE!! However, this will mean that I will be working from 8am until 6:30pm. When I tell any faculty or staff about my long day tomorrow, they just say with a smile on their face, "Welcome to the adult world.".... and then pat me on the back. Oh well, tomorrow maybe long but I know the effort will be worth it. Plus... anything beats peeling a bag of 50lbs of potatoes.
I had a pretty long day today. Nate wanted me to come in earlier so I did. I got to the kitchen around 7:55 instead of 8:55. The extra hour to get ready really does make a difference. Anyway, I started of the day by learning how to make a roux (pronounced: rue) for the gumbo that will be served during lunch. This is a thickener that produces similar results to that of corn starch. Instead though, a roux is made from some sort of oil (any oil is fine- we used bacon oil) and flour. Nate said we will be making a brown roux. You just combine the two things together and then cook it over high heat. When I first started the cooking process, the roux was really thick- like a thick gravy and it was a light beige color. After 20 minutes or so, the roux started to darken in color and lighten in thickness. In the end, the color of the roux was sort of a napkin-in-the-dinning-hall-brown color and the thickness of the roux was not quite liquid, but much lighter than what it started off as. Between then and lunch, I peeled apples, cut sausages for the gumbo, made the gumbo itself, blackened the catfish (for lunch) and made the Sloppy Joe's as well (for lunch).
All in all, it was a pretty busy morning. By the time lunch time rolled around though, I got a taste of what Wednesday lunch is like for the kitchen crew every week. It got even busier! Students were entering the dinning hall at different stages of lunch, so I had to keep a watch out for what food was getting low. It seemed like a lot of people like the mac & cheese with bacon :). I had to frequently change that dish as well as the Sloppy Joe's. People know I'm working in the kitchen for Senior Project, so as I stand outside at the end of the hot-food line, people will ask me what I made and will generally try it. (They always say that it's good, so I'm doubtful if it's really good or if they're just saying it because I told them I made it since you expect some criticism along the way) Other than that the rest of service went pretty smoothly.
After lunch, I replaced Nancy and worked alongside Deb cleaning the different parts of the main dinning area. I cleaned the toaster/bread area as well as the panini and the deli (sandwich) bar. It wasn't that much work, but I knew I was lucky as those areas can get quite messy since they are popular spots for the students during meal times. After I was done with that, I spent another hour and a bit peeling almost a box of sweet potatoes! Lucky for me I could use a peeler, so it wasn't so bad as my first encounter with potatoes during Senior Project.
Tomorrow being Earth Day, I will get to have some fun with organic food that Art specifically ordered just for the occasion. Dinner will be a great treat for the whole school as well! I won't say what it is- SPOILERS AREN'T INCLUDED HERE!! However, this will mean that I will be working from 8am until 6:30pm. When I tell any faculty or staff about my long day tomorrow, they just say with a smile on their face, "Welcome to the adult world.".... and then pat me on the back. Oh well, tomorrow maybe long but I know the effort will be worth it. Plus... anything beats peeling a bag of 50lbs of potatoes.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Week 1: May 9th-13th, 2011
Tuesday May 10th, 2011
Today I got to work with Nate for the first time. When I arrived at the kitchen at around 8:50, he pointed at the bag of potatoes sitting on the table and said, "I want you to peel all those for me." I just stood there gaping at him. I thought he was actually being serious. I later learned that Erin (lady who used to work at Jakes) told him about my "issue" with potatoes from yesterday and she told Nate to ask me to peel that bag of potatoes as a joke. Ah well, I took the whole thing in stride.
Throughout the morning, I was tasked with doing different jobs like cutting/cleaving vegetables for the vegetable quiche, cutting and steaming the potatoes for the potato salad and scooping the pasta out from a huge machine thing that was soaking the pasta in cold water. All three things were served at lunch today in some way. When I was cutting some of the vegetables in the morning, I also sliced my thumb open. For those of you who ate the quiche, I hope you don't get sick from blood poisoning!..... jokes... We threw away the blood-infested vegies. But this whole incident is a part of kitchen life. Accidents like this happens all the time. Now I have to be more aware when cutting things or when handling objects that could potentially lead to some injury. Lunch seemed to be extremely popular today! The potato salad was gone half an hour after the start of service and the sandwiches soon followed. A lot of students and teachers came up to me and repeatedly kept telling me the food was really good. As a person working in the kitchen, it is a true compliment when your "customers" say that especially if multiple people say it.
After lunch Nate left so I helped Deb and Nancy clean the main dinning hall area: the cereal bar, the hot food line, the salad bar among others. I also helped them wash and put away glasses, utensils and other cooking equipment. Deb told me that Nancy wouldn't be here tomorrow, so I have to do everything that Nancy's doing/did today. Since Barbara didn't need any help, she said I could leave early. Thanks Barbara! Before I left, Steve asked me if I wanted to help him peel another bag of potatoes. I politely refused and left the building. Today was another interesting day in the kitchen. Tomorrow being a Wednesday, should be even busier than the last two days. Hope I can measure up to the tasks at hand!
Today I got to work with Nate for the first time. When I arrived at the kitchen at around 8:50, he pointed at the bag of potatoes sitting on the table and said, "I want you to peel all those for me." I just stood there gaping at him. I thought he was actually being serious. I later learned that Erin (lady who used to work at Jakes) told him about my "issue" with potatoes from yesterday and she told Nate to ask me to peel that bag of potatoes as a joke. Ah well, I took the whole thing in stride.
Throughout the morning, I was tasked with doing different jobs like cutting/cleaving vegetables for the vegetable quiche, cutting and steaming the potatoes for the potato salad and scooping the pasta out from a huge machine thing that was soaking the pasta in cold water. All three things were served at lunch today in some way. When I was cutting some of the vegetables in the morning, I also sliced my thumb open. For those of you who ate the quiche, I hope you don't get sick from blood poisoning!..... jokes... We threw away the blood-infested vegies. But this whole incident is a part of kitchen life. Accidents like this happens all the time. Now I have to be more aware when cutting things or when handling objects that could potentially lead to some injury. Lunch seemed to be extremely popular today! The potato salad was gone half an hour after the start of service and the sandwiches soon followed. A lot of students and teachers came up to me and repeatedly kept telling me the food was really good. As a person working in the kitchen, it is a true compliment when your "customers" say that especially if multiple people say it.
After lunch Nate left so I helped Deb and Nancy clean the main dinning hall area: the cereal bar, the hot food line, the salad bar among others. I also helped them wash and put away glasses, utensils and other cooking equipment. Deb told me that Nancy wouldn't be here tomorrow, so I have to do everything that Nancy's doing/did today. Since Barbara didn't need any help, she said I could leave early. Thanks Barbara! Before I left, Steve asked me if I wanted to help him peel another bag of potatoes. I politely refused and left the building. Today was another interesting day in the kitchen. Tomorrow being a Wednesday, should be even busier than the last two days. Hope I can measure up to the tasks at hand!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Week 1: May 9th-13th, 2011
Monday May 9th
Worked from 9am to 3:45pm
Start writing at 7pm
Finished writing at 11:08pm
Today was the start of my senior project. I got to the kitchen at 8:55 and prepared to work. Since Nate (my mentor/go-to person) wasn't here today, I was assigned to Barbara. She assigned me an important job: cookie making! As a student at Proctor, I know that one of the highlights of lunch is eating a cookie. Since they are yummy, students usually take a lot of them. Therefore if I didn't do this job fast enough, the cookies will be gone by the time 1pm rolls around! (Lunch starts at 12:30) So with much enthusiasm and energy, I started (with help from Barbara and Alicia) to scoop the dough with a miniature ice-cream scoop from a huge pan (6 inches I think?) and placed it on a cookie sheet. I scooped 24 "cookie balls" in total for each pan: six columns and four rows. By the time I finished my third pan (that's 72 "cookie balls"!), my hands were already sore from squeezing the ice-cream scoop. I haven't even put the three trays in the oven yet!! Finally after I finished my fifth tray, Barbara told me to put the five trays into the oven. The oven was set at 325 degrees and the cookies would bake between 11- 13 minutes. (I eventually chose 12 min 30 sec) After I inserted the five trays into the oven, it was back to work on another five trays of "cookie balls". This job continued for the next three hours until I finally finished all the dough from the pan (yay!!!). My hands were so sore throughout this time that I had to stop in between scooping dough and inserting or taking out trays from the oven and massage my hand. I never realized that it takes this much time and effort to make 552 cookies!!! I can't begin to imagine what it is like doing this everyday. Soon it was time for my cookies to be sent out for lunch. Nooooo!! I spent three hours shaping and baking the cookies and they will be gone in an hour or so. Later, when I went to get a drink, a couple of students came up to me and told me the cookies were the best they ever had! I don't know if they were being truthful about that but eh... at least I know that my efforts weren't for nothing.
While the students were having lunch, Barbara asked me to help her make the Sloppy Joe's for lunch. She taught me how to do it and pretty soon, I was making Sloppy Joe's as if I've been doing them for years. After the crowd in the dinning hall died down a bit, I took my lunch break. Nothing really exciting happened here so I won't talk about it.
After lunch, I was handed over to Steve, the cook for dinner time. It was about 1:30 and I had (supposedly) another one and a half hours until I was done for the day. I went in the kitchen and asked what he wanted me to do. He said, "I want you to peel the potatoes." I was like, "Where are they?" He said, "Over there" while pointing in a direction. I went over to where he was pointing and was looking for a box of potatoes. I told him I couldn't find it. I then saw a huge bag of potatoes. I asked him if that was what he wanted and he said yes. I didn't know if he was being serious or joking so I picked up the bag of potatoes and asked him again. "Are you sure these are the ones?" He said, "Yes!" So I trudge back to my prep (preparation) table and opened the bag of potatoes. I later found out that I peeled a 50lbs bag of potatoes!! That's a lot of potatoes!! These weren't your average small potatoes as well. These were like HUGE potatoes, the average size being bigger than a softball! I asked him if I had to peel all of these before I left and he said yes. So with great reluctance, I started to peel the potatoes. At first, I was peeling with precision. I was trying to peel the potatoes as close to the skin as possible. That took forever. I asked Art (my sponsor) how he would do it. He told me you just have to peel the potatoes and not worry about the precision of the peeling. So I followed his advice and boy! It sped things up quite a bit!
Anyway, I finally finished my last potato at around 3:40! I was so relieved. From making cookies for the entire school to peeling a 50lbs bag of potatoes, I definitely did a lot on my first day. My body can attest to that as well: Aching back, sore legs, sore thumb (constantly pressing on the ice-cream scoop) and calloused divots in between my thumb and index finger (from peeling the potatoes). Even though the first day was labor intensive (well for me and probably many other people at least), I can't wait to see what lies in store for me for the rest of the week.
Worked from 9am to 3:45pm
Start writing at 7pm
Finished writing at 11:08pm
Today was the start of my senior project. I got to the kitchen at 8:55 and prepared to work. Since Nate (my mentor/go-to person) wasn't here today, I was assigned to Barbara. She assigned me an important job: cookie making! As a student at Proctor, I know that one of the highlights of lunch is eating a cookie. Since they are yummy, students usually take a lot of them. Therefore if I didn't do this job fast enough, the cookies will be gone by the time 1pm rolls around! (Lunch starts at 12:30) So with much enthusiasm and energy, I started (with help from Barbara and Alicia) to scoop the dough with a miniature ice-cream scoop from a huge pan (6 inches I think?) and placed it on a cookie sheet. I scooped 24 "cookie balls" in total for each pan: six columns and four rows. By the time I finished my third pan (that's 72 "cookie balls"!), my hands were already sore from squeezing the ice-cream scoop. I haven't even put the three trays in the oven yet!! Finally after I finished my fifth tray, Barbara told me to put the five trays into the oven. The oven was set at 325 degrees and the cookies would bake between 11- 13 minutes. (I eventually chose 12 min 30 sec) After I inserted the five trays into the oven, it was back to work on another five trays of "cookie balls". This job continued for the next three hours until I finally finished all the dough from the pan (yay!!!). My hands were so sore throughout this time that I had to stop in between scooping dough and inserting or taking out trays from the oven and massage my hand. I never realized that it takes this much time and effort to make 552 cookies!!! I can't begin to imagine what it is like doing this everyday. Soon it was time for my cookies to be sent out for lunch. Nooooo!! I spent three hours shaping and baking the cookies and they will be gone in an hour or so. Later, when I went to get a drink, a couple of students came up to me and told me the cookies were the best they ever had! I don't know if they were being truthful about that but eh... at least I know that my efforts weren't for nothing.
While the students were having lunch, Barbara asked me to help her make the Sloppy Joe's for lunch. She taught me how to do it and pretty soon, I was making Sloppy Joe's as if I've been doing them for years. After the crowd in the dinning hall died down a bit, I took my lunch break. Nothing really exciting happened here so I won't talk about it.
After lunch, I was handed over to Steve, the cook for dinner time. It was about 1:30 and I had (supposedly) another one and a half hours until I was done for the day. I went in the kitchen and asked what he wanted me to do. He said, "I want you to peel the potatoes." I was like, "Where are they?" He said, "Over there" while pointing in a direction. I went over to where he was pointing and was looking for a box of potatoes. I told him I couldn't find it. I then saw a huge bag of potatoes. I asked him if that was what he wanted and he said yes. I didn't know if he was being serious or joking so I picked up the bag of potatoes and asked him again. "Are you sure these are the ones?" He said, "Yes!" So I trudge back to my prep (preparation) table and opened the bag of potatoes. I later found out that I peeled a 50lbs bag of potatoes!! That's a lot of potatoes!! These weren't your average small potatoes as well. These were like HUGE potatoes, the average size being bigger than a softball! I asked him if I had to peel all of these before I left and he said yes. So with great reluctance, I started to peel the potatoes. At first, I was peeling with precision. I was trying to peel the potatoes as close to the skin as possible. That took forever. I asked Art (my sponsor) how he would do it. He told me you just have to peel the potatoes and not worry about the precision of the peeling. So I followed his advice and boy! It sped things up quite a bit!
Anyway, I finally finished my last potato at around 3:40! I was so relieved. From making cookies for the entire school to peeling a 50lbs bag of potatoes, I definitely did a lot on my first day. My body can attest to that as well: Aching back, sore legs, sore thumb (constantly pressing on the ice-cream scoop) and calloused divots in between my thumb and index finger (from peeling the potatoes). Even though the first day was labor intensive (well for me and probably many other people at least), I can't wait to see what lies in store for me for the rest of the week.
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