Life update!~
I haven't posted in a long time. I have a good bit that I could write about, but I really just want to write about my recent employment. I always think it's interesting after being at a job for an extended period of time to look back on your initial thoughts on everything. So that's what I want to do, for future me! We have been in St Paul for 8 months.. 8 months. I have had a very emotionally taxing time putting out countless applications and not hearing anything back. Very very discouraging and stressful, but I won’t get into the details of that right now. Anyway.. I FINALLY get an interview/stage opportunity! I got a call from the head chef on Friday the 22nd, calling me in for Wednesday the 27th at 12 PM. I got there at 11:37 AM. I sat in my car for a couple minutes.. nervous as hell. Got out of my car at 11:41 AM and headed inside with my knife roll. There was a tall lady that asked me if I had a reservation. I told her that I had a stage and my name is Brooke. She went back to the kitchen for a short amount of time, came back, and told me Chef Leonard would be with me shortly. I sat at the bar and a dude named Daniel asked me if I wanted water. Leonard came out and led me to the basement to show me where I could put my coat. He was moderately intimidating. He didn't act like a cocky asshole or anything, but the way he spoke made me immediately feel like he deserved my respect. Made me a little shy and timid. I tried not to let my insecurity show. He had sleeves of badass tattoos on each arm. Loved them. Anyway, back upstairs he brought me around to a prep area and asked me to start thinly slicing radishes, then taking half of those radishes and shredding them into chiffonade. I stayed in my spot, doing my prep work, people circulating around me. Nearly everyone introduced themselves to me, but I was so nervous, their names went in one ear and out the other. There was a guy with red hair and a mohawk. He told me he is originally from Temple, Texas (I'm 90% positive that's where he said) and he's very proud to be from Texas. Another guy who is a sous chef who had very attractive, kind eyes. I liked him. He went to Le Cordon Bleu, MN and graduated in 2014 (which is the same year I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu, TX). He did some prep work beside me for a bit and we made nice conversation. He cut the fuck out of that cauliflower. He's been working there for 5-6 years. Another guy instructed me on some of my prep work. He seemed very outgoing and goofy. But not too much goofy in an annoying way. I liked his humor. Later on a very tall guy came in. Longish hair. I never talked to him. There was another guy who spoke to me a little, not much, mostly to the dishwasher guy. He and the dishwasher dude spoke spanish in their conversations with each other. They seemed to have a good relationship. Oh, dishwasher dude was nice, btw. He spoke to me a bit and was very polite. I think there was two or three other people that came in? But they went straight to the front and didn't speak to me After I finished my radishes, scallions, green onions, rosemary, dill, and parsley prep, I went to the line to work with teasers. I met with a super cool dude who loves his pantry station. He slowly showed me how to do 4 teasers. Then I had to replicate all 4 by myself. You can tell he has experience with training people; I like the way he spoke to me. East Fried Pride, Bubba's Gump, Blues, Bacon and Eggs. I think I did well except I mixed up the order of the avo puree and hot jam on the bacon and eggs teaser. And I feel like I maybe undercooked the shrimp a bit for the Bubba's Gump. I brought my teasers to chef Leonard. He looked over my plating and asked me to sit up front, try the teasers to understand the flavors, and we'd talk. I tried the teasers (Blues was my favorite) then I went to pee (Omg first time I've been alone. I'm literally shaking. Holy shit. I've been watched for hours. *soak my nervous sweat with toilet paper*) I came back out to sit at the same booth, Chef came out and we had a short interview. He asked me about my 5-year plans, my experience, etc. Normal interview stuff. He offered me a job and I excitedly accepted. Full time, 35-42 hours a week. Paid bi-weekly. ALSO health benefits available after 6 months, wtf?! That's amazing. I have never worked a job in the culinary industry with health benefits. There are so many interesting foods and unique ingredients that I worked with that I have absolutely NO experience with. That's super intimidating. But also exciting how much I have to learn. I love playing with new foods, trying new things, and learning new techniques. Gosh, I am really hoping this job is a good fit for me. Greg and I have our wonderful relationship, cute little house in a city that we love.. everything is coming together. The icing on the cake would be to have a rewarding, enriching job cooking in a wonderful restaurant I'm genuinely excited and passionate about.. I feel so motivated to succeed. And I really hope that I can develop good relationships with my co-workers. Hopefully they'll benefit from a little estrogen to break up the stink of their sausage party lol
