I survived!

The holiday weekend, that is! Everything went without a hitch for my first holiday weekend in the restaurant. We ended up with 38 reservations on Friday and 51 on Saturday! It was a just about a full house!

51 may not seem like many to you, but we only seat 60 and do not typically turn tables. What this means is -- you have the table for the night, there is no rush for our customers. I think this is wonderful and wished there were more restaurants were like this. If I am going out for a special meal, I like to be pampered and take my time. Ok, maybe I am a little spoiled....

Our specialty dessert now is our rhubarb & strawberry cobbler. It is made to order and takes about 10 minutes to serve from time prepped to bake time. It is worth every minute. The best part about it is I am learning how to cook fruits for desserts and learning all kinds of tricks and tips. I hope that all this baking will give me a little edge when it comes to my baking class this fall. I never knew that I would like it so much since I was not a real big dessert person. My how things have changed!!

We also are serving sides of sauteed morels, which smell divine. They are too expensive for me to be tasting, but I am ok with this. We've been cleaning and cutting morels for days now -- my fingers were starting to smell like mushrooms. Thankfully, the last box was finished on Tuesday and I won't have to touch another morel for another year. If you ever complain about your job, just remember you are not scrubbing sinkfulls of mushrooms with a toothbrush and move on. Thankfully, I am doing this work on purpose and kind of enjoy it. Spoiled, yet sadistic -- what a combo.

Tonight I have to make our "house" dessert, called Quatro de Leche, which I love making. They are made in special antique pans that lady chef inherited from a relatives bakery. I can't tell you what is in them exactly, but if you know enough about Spanish you can figure part of it out. If you ever come to visit, make sure you order one of these -- you won't regret it.

Well, it's about that time. Time to play with food, time for fun. Have a wonderful day.

Here come the fudgies!!

The season officially begins this weekend. The season that some locals hate, but others love. I live in a tourist/seasonal living area. Memorial Weekend brings them in and Labor Day takes them home. We all have our fun nick names for them, but "fudgies" is by far the oldest term I know. Did you know that in the Upper Penninsula they call us "trolls"? Trolls: People under the bridge. I thought that was aweseme.

Anyhow, I have been busy at the restaurant preparing for this very weekend. I've made hummus, tuscan bean dip, quatro de leche cake, chocolate capri cakes, strawberry rhubarb cobbler, brandy truffles, house dressing, and of course chopping and prepping whatever else comes my way. Yesterday I had to prep and clean 2 pounds of kale -- not the most fun job in the world, but at least I am not sorting peas!

It's going to be a zoo this weekend, but I am really excited for the rush of it all! In exchange for the 2 busiest nights I will have so far in my short career as a cook -- I am getting 2 days off!! Sunday and Monday I am going to hang out with friends, family, and my BF. I am really looking forward to the next several days. It's going to be great!

Welcome to summer in northern Michigan -- enjoy your stay!

It's just a virus

But it's so disabling! My laptop has 5 to 6 viruses on it and has been at the "doctor" for a few days now. I really hope it's ok, I miss it so!

In the mean time, I've been reading my email and such on my phone -- but not replying. It's so cumbersome to pull out the mini keyboard and type a long sentance. Nothing like hen pecking an entire paragraph.

I've finally resolved to use the pc we have hooked to our TV. I honestly don't like working on this darn thing since I have to sit one foot from the screen. The "wireless" keyboard and mouse are so sensitive they don't work right more than a foot from the computer. It's completely annoying. BUT, if I didn't start replying to emails -- my friends would start to wonder what happened to me!

Yes, I am here -- just a little slow to respond these days. I hope to have her back by Friday!

A little rusty

I am so grateful to be back to work for the season! The past few weeks have flown by, the first week back at work and then on a mini vacation to Raleigh, NC. Now it's time to get back to it and I feel so refreshed -- even though it was just for the weekend!

My first few days back I spent cleaning and organizing. They bought a new work station for the bakery area (my domain these days) that has a refridgerated unit in the bottom of the unit. What I had before was just a stainless steel countertop, which was ok, but this new work station -- well, it's the bomb. I also now have my own microwave and plenty of plating counter space. We did pretty well for our first weekend open and I was able to get out of there by 9:45 both Friday and Saturday. I am so excited that I am not scheduled to close!

I also made baked wonton wrappers, helped "design" a plating for a new dessert, and made mignardise for the weekend. We sold 8 of the new desserts our first night! I was so proud that I helped design it! YAY!

Monday (May 2nd) was my first major bake day. I tested 3 organic mixes that we are going to sell in the store. First I made cranberry bran muffins with "no sugar added". I am guessing that means besides the cranberries. I thought they were very tasty, while others thought they needed more sweetness. Secondly, I made corn muffins. I did not like these at all. The texture was all wrong and didn't taste like corn meal at all. Last, but not least, I made the chocolate cake. Besides the fact that I didn't butter the pans enough and they stuck to the pan -- the chocolate cake was SO divine and chocolatey!! I don't even like cake that much and I still thought it was excellent!

Later that day I attempted to make the mignardise, that week it was dark chocolate with a roasted almond inside. Well, I am not sure what my deal was, but I could not get the chocolate to temper correctly and they ended up turning color. I was so frustrated and felt bad for wasting all the chocolate -- and almonds! Not to mention I already was frustrated from the cake sticking incident. Lucky for me, Lady Chef is really cool and said -- "that's ok, you will go on vacation and come back all refreshed and everything will be back to normal."

Fast forward to this past Monday. I did more cleaning and organizing, mainly our freezers which totally needed it. We ended up pulling out some pasta, dumplings, and mini quiches to make for our employee meal. This is one of the awesome benefits I get working there -- she feeds us every night!

Tuesday night I ended up being the only one working besides Lady Chef. There were only 7 reservations, so you'd think it would not be that bad. However, when you have to prep and work 2 stations plus wash dishes, it becomes a bit of a challenge. I didn't get out until 10:20 and I was exhausted! It was a good night though, we make a great team. She was right -- I am getting right back into it.

Back to baking

In two days, I will begin my summer adventure in baking along with my beloved mixer friends. At the restaurant I have two of these side by side. They are both commercial grade, of course.


Sometimes I use just one, other times I use them both at once. Either way, the sound they make together is music to my ears. Sugary sweetness, buttery smooth, or chocolate covered -- it's all yummy dessert goodness!


I am really excited to start the season fresh. The few months I have had off were a help to my schoolwork, but did nothing for my pocketbook. Even though my pay is meager now, I am going to work my hardest so that someday I can make a decent living from my cooking skills. I hope to someday teach cooking classes so I can share my knowledge too!


Speaking of sharing knowledge, I made crepes yesterday for dinner. You can read all about it on my food blog. I have no shame in admitting we ate dessert for dinner. We loved every minute of it.

Doing the happy dance!

I scored 100% on my restaurant project!! WAHOO!!


I was genuinely shocked when I saw the score! I knew I had put a lot of effort into it, but I certainly could not have predicted 100!

My instructor told us (my project partner and I) that she normally does not give out 100s, so that made me feel awesome. Even better, she requested a copy of it to use as a sample for her class.

If this is a sign of things to come, which I am sure it is, then I am really excited about my future as a culinarian. What a great way to start off my weekend!

Homework is...inspiring?

Today it certainly is! I was doing some research for the oral part of my exam this Thursday in my hospitality class. One of our topic choices is to find a franchise we had not heard of and find 10 facts about the business. Before our written part of the exam, we talk to the class about what we learned about our chosen topic.

I ran across this website called The Franchise Mall and was clicking around trying to find something interesting to talk about and clicked on a company called Sofi's Crepes . I really only clicked on the link because I just happen to LOVE crepes. Since going to Tunisia in the fall and eating the best crepe I've ever had, it's been in the back of my mind to eat one again. Soon.

The best part about this company, and the most inspiring, is how it was started. The owner, Ann Costlow, was a former stock broker and decided to leave her 16 year career and found herself cooking on a boat called The Baltimore Pride. Check out the short video on this page to see the rest of her story.

I am sure you can see why I was so inspired! Just another sign that I have made the right choice to leave my career and start something new! I totally agree with what she says in the video about work -- and feel the exact same way about working at the restaurant.

So next time you are in Baltimore, check out Sofi's Crepes -- and have one for me too!