First Week in Vancouver

I've been in Vancouver for a week now and things are going smoothly. Landing my internship within a few days of arriving was definitely task #1....so I'm glad that worked out the way it did.

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.