April 5- April 9

This week we were on short order station, an actual station where you can interact with people rather than being stuck “behind the scenes” making soup or something (not saying that it isn’t bad). Over the past week my group and I run different specials that we sell from around 10AM to about 1PM or until we run out of a certain special (which only happened once towards the end of the week…boo). The week of the fifth to the ninth we ran specials like to order sautéed swordfish with a fruit salsa (made by ours truly) or a sweet and sour sauce, Loco Moco’s (A bed of rice topped with a hamburger patty topped with an egg of your choice and “drenched” in gravy… or would “drowned” be a better word?), Open face turkey sandwiches with homemade cranberries, and a ton of Teriyaki chicken plates. As the week progressed and we came along some bumps in the road; like the fish fillets were taking just way too long to cook and running out of the teriyaki chicken for the plates. It was a sort of a scramble but we got through it.
With all the people that have been short order no one has ever made a dessert or a sweet short order dish yet. It has all been just savory items. This week I wanted to try making fried ice cream or crepes to order and with the encouragement from our leading chef, Chef Eric, I was determined to get a least something out. (Which didn’t really happen….stumble and an EPIC FAIL). In the end it was way too late to make anything because the ice cream had to be ordered the week before since frozen items like that only come in on Mondays and if I were to make crepes I’d have to demonstrate how to many I could make in a short amount of time. Plus the idea I had for crepes was pretty out there and had a variety of different components to it. So in the end none of my dessert ideas were used this week.

Not only was this week the week where we could interact with people but it was also a super busy week for me. On top of cooking I had an oral presentation project that I needed to decide on a topic and start studying for an exam that we have next week (which is tomorrow); a volunteer opportunity presented itself. It was the annual crabfest that the Ala Moana Rotary club holds. So Friday (ours slow day) was used as just a day to prep (no real action going on). On that Saturday (the day of the event) we went in guns a blaze and banged everything we need to do that night. At the end of the event we were able to take home a few crabs (which were left over…YAY!!!). The next day I had work at my weekend job so it was a nonstop busy week. Then this upcoming weekend we have another event (granted it’s not a school function) it is a culinary event. We, some of the 818 Brigade, are helping Mark out with the catering for their Churches function. So I’m looking forward to this upcoming week and the experiences that I’m going to take from it. I guess things are looking up. I’m actually cooking more often and reinforcing my confidence in myself and skill set. So it’s time to quit my current job (which is at a movie theater) and find one out in the industry. Wish me Luck.