July 4th

Well, made it through half of day one! Showed up a little early today and met Chef Daniele and his 2nd chef Gary. They are both very nice, and both speak a little English which is nice. The kitchen is on the top floor, very small but we made out ok with three of us working together. The restaurant is three levels, with different dinning areas on all three floors. There is a spiral staircase that runs down the middle of the place which I spent some time on today. The cooler is down in the basement, and like I said, the kitchen is on top floor. Doesn't really make sense, but there's not a lot of room in this town. Everything is small and built up, like NYC.

I prepped a lot today... Watermelon Gazpacho, sliced pineapple in Rum syrup, grated Parmesan, peeled and poached peaches, grilled veggies, confit tomatoes, rolled out and baked tart shells for desert tonight, made croutons for some tomato dish that tastes really good!

We work basically from 930-12, then sit down and eat. We had salmon and frisée salad today, delish! Then back to work lunch service til 3. I'm off now until 630, to eat again, and should be done for the day around 11 tonight. The kitchen is insanely hot! Again, not a lot of AC in this country, lol. But what a great experience... There is obviously a language barrier, but also a lot of things that all cooks know. I think I did well, and they are happy to have me there to help with their prep. Not at all rude, like most of the people here. They are a "small family" as they say.

Tonight, I came into 6 bottles of ketchup on my section. The Chef says, "you make BBQ sauce!". So he liked it so much, I think it will be on the menu tomorrow... Pretty cool! Also met the owner, Luc, and he is very happy to have me here. It is so cool to finally be working, and especially with these people. They are very friendly.

We had veal with fennel and tomato salad for family meal. Only took a few pics tonight, don't wanna piss off the chef. But he said he doesn't mind, so I will have more tomorrow. Learned how to make tiramisu and granita tonight. We made a mint and a pineapple. Sooo much cool food, very simple, but really good. They make me taste everything and they joke around all the time. Havin a blast, more to come!

Pics...

The black plate is Octopus on curry eggplant. I told him that it was Bad-ass! He like that