I've had two "normal" shifts since my stage on Saturday night. For the next few weeks, I'll be working mostly day shifts because that will give me more one-on-one time with the chef while the restaurant is not as busy.
On day 1, I spent part of the morning doing what EVERY east-coaster is familiar with....shelling lobster. Every east-coaster except me, that is. I had to get a Venezuelan-born, Toronto-trained, Vancouver-based chef to teach me how to shell Atlantic lobster. Oh well....I am here to learn.
After the lobster, I was prepping live spot prawns (the biggest of the prawn/shrimp family). The process: Twist the head from body, put the head on a sheet pan going to the freezer, put the body in a container going to a pot to be quickly blanched, then shell. (When needed, the heads are taken from the freezer and deep fried during service, to be used as a garnish on one of the dishes.)
The rest of the shift was spent doing vegetable/herb prep work.
On day 2, I was in with the pastry chef. Turns out she is originally from Saint John, and has a BBA from UNB Fredericton, before deciding to become a pastry chef. She was at UNB while Kim was getting her MBA, so small world.
This day was interesting. We made milk buns and cheese-topped whole wheat buns for the bread baskets, and then larger hamburger-style buns. Later I chopped rhubarb for the rhubarb crumble, helped out with a few batches of ice cream using liquid nitrogen (she did, not me), and various other little jobs here and there. By mid-afternoon, I was bouncing back and forth between the pastry chef and the line chef, so I was also doing a bit of prep for the line, such as shelling a bunch of raw chickpeas....again, a new experience.
From what I understand, I'll be on day shifts until I get many more hours under my belt and eventually work my way into some evening shifts where the real-time action is.
So a few more shifts coming up this weekend, lots to learn.
By the way.....this has been sort of a pet-peeve of mine for the last 5 years. The grocery stores in Charlottetown use the terms "rutabaga" and "turnip" interchangeably. I mentioned it to an employee when I first moved to Charlottetown, but was met with a blank stare. My first stroll through Save on Foods upon arrival in Vancouver had both vegetables, so I had to buy one of each to demonstrate the differences. Rutabagas are longer compared to turnips which are rounder. Most distinctively, rutabagas are yellow-fleshed and turnips are white-fleshed. Their taste is even different, rutabagas having more of a cabbage taste and turnips are sort of radish-like.
Attached is a photo of my rutabaga and turnip side-by-side. I captioned the photo with the exchange I heard when they met for the first time.
I have today off, so time to get some fresh air.
