interesting observations and a somewhat good day

Today being my second day off for the week, I woke up early and took teh train a half hour north of Strasbourg to a city called Hageunau. Its a small town with nothing really to it. However it was a stop off on the way to another city I wanted to go to, call Souflenheim. Soufflenheim is one of two cities in france that specialize in clay pottery and have been doing it for hundreds of years. The pottery is made from the limestone clay that is natural in Alsace.

Its all handcrafted and beautifully made. Both the cities ahve their own colours one being blue the other maroon...however the artisans now make it with lots of clours. So I bought two terrines, for me and jessica...(Ithink im going to have to get another suitcase). I then came home and spent the day doing almost nothing.

So here is the observation: Yesterday I worked with the chef, the rest of the week being workign with the sous chef. Well the cheef gives me the recipe for stuff and I got so much work done. I realized why the sous chef doesnt do that...Because he likes the sound of his own voice!! He likes to talk and likes to be heard so I think thats why, he wants me to constantly ask for things so he can then talk and talk.

i think its funny. Anyways sitting having dinner and just relaxing...tomorrow is appearently going to be busy. Thats that.

yehuda

day off

I was supposed to go to Troyes today which is the city where Rashi lived or was born, either way, htere is alot in the city dedicated to him. However I stayed work until about 2 am talking with my Chef De Cuisine. He gave me some good pointers and some I felt might work in other places but not for me. SO I ended up sleeping in and walking around, went fora massage and wasnt as good as I hoped, oh well live and learn. My back still hurts lets just put it that way.

Otherwise I walked around alot, bought a new cook book with specialties from the north east regions of france. Nothing special I guess. However relaxing nonetheless.

yehuda

lessons learned

You know you'd think after an amazing Saturday things would turn out to be good...however that was not the case...which led me to learn a few very valuble lessons in life and a proffessional kitchen which I knew working before I would never do to future employees but I never fully understood it until now.

So lets talk about it.

lesson 1) Its very easy to be a person on the outside (be it authority or otherwise) to critisize another person and their work.

I know I may not be the most cleanest cooks in the world, however I have organized chaos. I clean as I go, but just because you walk in when there happens to be a little bit of a mess it doesnt give you the right to start critisizing and commenting. And reorganizing doesnt make it better. Let me do what I do..it works perfectly for me. If I may give an example from TV (I know thats bad), ona recent season of Hells Kitchen there was a very messy cook, he was however an amazing cook. And although his station was always helter scelter, his food was always the perfect tempurature, tasty, on time, and belive it or not organized adn clean plates. I am the same way. I may make a mess, use a lot fo dishes etc, however I do clean a bit as I go, and commenting pisses me off.

I work the busiest station in the kitchen, the most dishes and diverse from salad to dessert and literally everythign in between. One of the dishes I make is called Tarte Flambee, and yes its a very messy dish to produce adn after everyone I clean my table, and when I have to make 5 or 6 different appertizers at the same time I like to organzie my plates out so I can build them properly and quickly...my way works for me what can I say, and sometimes, other ways dont at all.

So here is where my lesson came to shine. After an amazing Saturday where I worked the way I like, adn everythign went out fine, yesterday came along , a busy sunday with two very big banquets. I did all the prep. however one of them was ordering off the menu. and they all ordered TArte Flambee. Now instead of directing me how to do it for 30 people (since we dont have 30 cutting board for tarte flambee) my sous chef who enjoys telling me i work very dirty if there is a spec of grated cheese on my tablekicked me off my station and went about making 30 tarte flamees. I can understand he's used to working alone and instinct kicked in, however a bit of communication would have been nice as to say we will go table by table you take care of a la carte ill do the party or something like that. and what a mess he made..it was like a nuclear bombs went off on my station. I didnt say anything, but learned the valuble lesson. Its so much easier to critisize and look at someone else than making yourself better. I hope I never forget that, and when I have staff of my own teach adn learn as opposed to critisize...that is such an important lesson. Help develope someones ways, since we are all different...(trust me there are alot of things i like about my sous chef, however there are just as many things I dislike and cant stand)

Lesson 2) dont cut corners when the restaurant gets busy. This afternoon it wasnt so busy and I wanted to make a dessert, since I will need it for a banquet on thursday (when I will be working alone). So he kept pushing it off etc, adn making excuses (I know he'll probably do it tomorrow alone, but whatever). And so he says to me i have the kitchen to myself..then orders start coming in and I have everything under control, and then he comes in adn tells me I can leave certain things in the oven longer when its quieter...or his line was....when its not too busy we can do things the right way when its busy cut corners...and I thought that was the stupidest thing I have ever heard...that is somethign I will never forget and why I want a small restaurant...doing big numbers sounds nice, but I think you should work on quality instead of quantity.

I read an interesting article about a chef in spain Adrian ferera I thinks his name, Hes the executive chef of the top restaurant in the world voted two years in a row. He is closing the restaurant for two years to travel teh world to discover new flavours and learn new pairing that will work with his restaurant. That says so much...the name fo the restaurant is called El Bulli, and the article was written by a chef who opened a restauarant in a small city I think in PEI with 350 people in the whole town...

I know I have a certain unique personality, my thoughts and opinions clash with lots of people..ok most people, however its who I am. I like the way I work, I work better that way. HAving said that I will always be learning, however as in in every place I have worked, I continue to take the things I learned, and the thigns I feel will better me as a chef and person, i take with me everything else I throw in the garbage.

However the plus to this all is I am learning some VERY valuble lessons on management and how to run a kitchen. I hope it all works out.

On a good note: another former employer of mine (restaurant owner of Le Select) has agreed to give me pointers and tips.

Yehuda

now thats what I call an amazing day

ok so lets start with this....

Its white asparagus season in alsace...and it officially goes on for 6 weeks and it started on thursday...so now we have a full asparagus menu in adition to the regular menu....they are all great dishes, taste really good, its so interesting how the season for a certain vegetable get celebrated by being the star of an entire menu....its beautifull..thats all I can say ..ok before I get carried away with my new infatuation with asparagus...

the day started out great, I was ahead on my prep and that was good because we had a killer lunch, very fast, food was flying out and thigns were going well...we had a banquet durign lunch and everythign wen toff without a hitch...it was like a well oiled machine, if everythign was comign off of my station the other guy jumped in to help clear the board and vice versa...keep in mind most of the menu comes from my side...all appetizers, dessert, as well as half teh main courses...so its a tough act to juggle, but we were havign clear calls and everythign went well..then after lunch I did some prep, and relaxed it was about 4 and had two hours to spare...the weather was beautifull and in front of the restaurant the chef and sous chef tried bringing down a metal stork that was hangin in front of the restaurant as an ornament..for two hours they tried to break the metal but couldnt and the whole time we were laughing and joking in french italian and english so many tourists, I started charging to watch the show..no one paid fo course but we had some really amazing laughs.

Anyways dinner started, and about 45 minutes after we opened we had a full heavy rush in the restaurant...everythign went flying out, communication was amazing, after all teh food went out adn everyone was eating, we got about 10 minutes to clean and reorganize before the second wave hit, another full chit board, and again everythign went so smoothly...it was really nice to see...and there was a full rush of adrenalin, keeping us going..im now exausted, showered and happy to be ready for bed, but I wanted to share this relaly good experienc and I hope it continues...Also my sous chef who I was at his house for lunch the other day, says to me hes offering me an open invitation to come to his house whenever id like or feel I need to be around family. I thought that was really nice..and I think hes really enjoying having me in the kitchen.

yehuda

back to work

First day of my work week, and it went very well..although I dont know if its a good thing.

heres why..I was working with the chef today and since the sous chef wasnt there, I did my prep based on what I felt needed to get done, not accordign to what he always tell me needs to get done, so I did my prep for today and for tomorrow, instead of leaving things for the last second..which tends to happen with the sous chef, although hes a great guy.

So I got a lot fo work done, cooked, baked and the chef let me write everything down when he told me the recipes.

So that is why I dont know if its a good thing that everythign went well, because that could mean that I dotn get along ro agree with the sous chef, which I dont sometimes, but oh well..either way it all went well..

So I am getting closer to completing my business proposal, as I got a lot more qoutes this week fro goods and services, and I have a clearer picture and I am more informed on how much it will cost to open the restaurant. Which is a good thing...although you probably wont believe how many people I have contacted, articles read, spreadsheets looked over, and much much more...I also spoke with a former employer who is a restaurant investor, and he said he would help me with talkign to investors, looking for investors etc...which is good as well..otherwise 68 days left until jessica comes to europe, adn i think 96 until I come home...so start the countown!! haha

enjoy your weekend

ps the spring weather here is hotter than the hottest day in the summer in Toronto. how wierd is that? we are well into the 20's over here and its just expected to keep climbing

off

I am off today, and went to my sous chefs house for lunch. I brought him and his wife a nice bottle of Gewertrameiner wine.

So him and his wife do foster parenting as well, and they also have a daughter of their own. They live ina very nice apartment just outside the city center, its pretty nice actually. The food was nice, the atmosphere was nice,a nd I really enjoyed myself. Then I went to upload my pictures, and now just relaxing at home, i am a bit tired though.

maybe ill take a small nap..
otherwise things are going well and im jsut enjoyign the nice weather today.

learning, and getting quicker

well, I am learning new stuff and enjoying mself so far. Things went very well today, and went very smoothly. I now have two days off and I'll see if im still going to my sosu chefs house for lunch tomorrow, but I am ok if not, I want to bike ride, and will try to rent a bike and bike some more of the wine route, however ill see what happens and play it by ear. Either way, I am enjoying myself and hopefully it continues this way...and to put everyones minds at rest, Jessica and I are NOT moving to France...anytime soon...lol...just kidding we are staying put in Toronto when we get back from Spain.
thats that...not much to write about.
yehuda

interesting work stuff

So work is going wellI know the menu now, and now I just have to speed stuff up which is coming as well to me, so hopefully that continues.
So I raised a point when talking to gary before, but i thought I would say it here as well...its the teaching style of the sous chef.
for example. I needed to make Mousse au Chocolat today. So instead of giving me the recipe and telling me his directions, he told me one ingrediant at a time, which meant I spent more time running back and forth up and down stairs and accross the way to the dry storage and fridges to get stuff then making the chocolate mousse..and then what bothered me was, after I was done he says to me you need to work quicker when making chocolate mousse...and i said yes...in my head im thinking...give me the recipe let me write it down in my book so I dont have to ask you a million questions sometimes when your busy with somethign else I have to wait for you and it ends up being pointless because so much time gets wasted.

oh well..as gary said, im getting paid...but the consolation for it is, the rest of the time the guy is fun to work with and he likes having me in the kitchen, we laugh and joke and he calls me names...you dont want to know what they are...but all in all we have a good time.its just somethign that happens over and over again witht he recipes that bothers me...and when i go to write stuff down he says to me the chef isnt paying you to write hes paying you to work...i said he aint paying me that much so let me write the stuff down...he said in two months before you leave ill sit down with you and write down as many recipes as youd like

first weekend of work

IT was very busy and a bit hectic because I was not prepared, since I have to do almos the whole menu adn not allt eh dishes have been ordered, so I didnt know the entire menu , and instead of wirting stuff down the sous chef says watch , adn when certain things are ordered once in a blue moon I forget it.

so it was a big of a mix up because the sous chef was saying dont make stuff until I say to make it, so I had chits lined up and wasnt makign anything and then hes like where is this ... im like i didnt make it yet...whatever the chef came online and helped me clear the board and just said put stuff out dont worry...so thats what happened.. I just put stuff otu and today ended up being a bit more organized but its still getting there..plus its a large menu and its not really spli up in the kitchen properly as three of the four stations fall on my lap...which doesnt make sense since its about 85% of the menu on one person...oh well...but there is also the language barrier in the kitchen, but its getting better as well...

work

Work is going well, and I am enjoying myself, its a lot of fun adn I hope it continues that way..today though my sous chef adn I were talking and he asked me if I knew anyone in strasbourg adn I said no, so about 10 minutes later he says to me, next wednesday you come eat with my family. I was like ok! I couldnt believe he invited me over..so next wednesday since the restaurant is closed wednesday im going to have lunch with his family..shoudl be interesting, the guy ahs so much passion for food and keeping things simple its amazing, he taught me how to make foie gras, something that previous chefs wouldnt let anoen touch unlesss they were the chef or sous chef, because its an expensive product...but they guy says you'll never know if you dont try it and work hands on...so that is what I do, he teaches me hands on how to do some stuff. things that until now I only saw, but now have prectical experience..and he he is a great teacher as well, taking the time to show me and lets me ask questions and he has patience in his explanations in both english and french...so all in all so far so good...its exaclt 2.5 months left now...
anyways are you guys looking forward to me coming home as well?? because if I can convince jessica we are movign to strasbourg...just kidding, but this is so far my top retirement spot...this city is just such a romantic setting...well at least in mymind..the buildings made from wood..anyways im definitelly looking forward to coming home soon im sick of living out of a suitcase..haha but i have to for anothe r3.5 months so poop to that...but then im home for good...back to the great Toronto....well im off to bed now though

day of doing absolutely nothing

I did play scrabble though so I guess it counts for something and tried getting better internet but see that is futile, because its either going to be too expensive to have for the same kind of internet I have now...or pay a bit less...high cancellation fee to have internet for two months...eitherway its expensive so I am just using what I have now to make due...
interesting thing though, the french telecom companies, have a deal with skype that skype wont work besides for chat in france so that way they three big companies can have a monopoly on their long distance fees...now thats messed up im sorry...well im going to have dinner which will be lamb and two different kinds of lamb sausage as well as pomme sautee..im bored out of my mind but there isnt really anything to do here.
yehuda

first day of work

So I am one day in to work well now one and a half days, and it seems like it will be a good palce, the chef is very nice, and he talks very quietly, and there is a nice ambiance in the kitchen. I learned a much quicker way to clean foie gras last night, and although they joke that I am a spy for canada...I am learning the french secrets and recies then running off with them..the chef is happy im writing everything down...Right now its the end of the quiet season adn it will soon pick up so I am training at a good time. I got a contract as well as more net pay then in Lyon adn I didnt even tell him how much I wanted, especially since I originally was going to stage at different restaurants and work part time...but he was like is this amount ok for you adn I said yeah..it covers my bills for the month, and puts enough away for Spain when jessica gets here...thats about it..I learned somethign very interesting today...The chef gave me a recipe for Tarte Ognion and he tells me to sautee the onions in butter...I said to him some olive oil as well?? we did that combination in Lyon..so he says to me no olive oil here...because olive trees dont grow in the north of france, its too cold...but there is an abundance of cows and milk and butter, so real alsacian cooking is only with butter because that is what was and still is used for generation..

nada

I spent the day in my apartment working on my business plan, and reading marketign material, as well as the Canada govenment website for business plans and grants,loans and such fromt eh government. Found out some really cool information. Anyways tonight ill go out for drink meet some people here and hopefully make some new friends.
thats about it...cant think of much since I didnt do anything other than that.

yehuda

lots to talk about

Well as you all know I got a job and I start monday, however I was also offered to work for one week cooking at the European Parliment here in Strasbourg. I don't think I will take it because I will be working.

Ok so about my job. I will be working as a tournant in a restaurant 4 doors down the street of where I live. I went there on Thursday, and the chef wasnt there, but I met with him on Friday, and he said I can work there for 2.5 months...and its all alsacian food like bistro fair only two guys int he kitchen adn its a fair sized restaurant, so it would be interesting to learn how to do lots of covers with very few people in the kitchen...but then again I saw how they do it and its exactly how I wrote I wanted my restaurant to be, a few months ago.,..basically things are cooked in portions in bags (sous Vide) and then reheated when a customer orders it. It goes quickly, you have less staff on hand which cuts down considerably the amount of people needed on salary.

Anyways when I come in on Monday at 10 to start work we'll discuss salary.

So then once I got that down I went around touring a bit of the city takign lots fo pictures and such...strasbourg is a absolutely beautiful city. I found out that these homes here are actually moveable...its a long story but its cool to know people packed up their houses and moved...their house as well..

Today Iw oke up early and took the train to the south of Alsace to a quaint little town called Colmar. Its Centre Ville is beautiful as well. Shops line the crowded streets with the magnificant houses...if I could choose a place to live in this world it woudl definitely be alsace...I love the house and the scenery and all..its just so breathtaking..the food is amazing..the wine is mine nad jessicas favourite...its got it all...I truly love this area of france. I dont knwo fi I can say it enough but its really nice...highly reccomend it..

ok so as you all know Jessica and I for the past two years have driven half the wine route in Niagara falls and loved it. The wine is so delicious and its the same Terroir as here in Alsace, we grow the same grapes in Niagara falls and they do here in Alsace. So the wine is very good. Jessica isnt here but she encouraged me to go and tour the wine region. So what a better way to see the cities, the wine and the ever breath taking views? BY BICYCLE!!. Yup I rented a bike and rode for 4 hours visiting four towns, each one beautifull in its own way. And since over here they have bike routes and bike paths to tour the Route de Vin D'Alsace, its a good thing to do. So I biked through vineyards along the mountain side lined with vines startign to bud already, and going through these small towns it made my day. I stopped at a few wineries and did the free wine tasting. If I could describe the feeling I had drinking my favourite wines straight from the source..lets just say I cant. IT was that good. not all the wine makers did I like but some were so good. I got to try very exclusive wines called Grand Cru...there are only 50 of about 3000 wineries in Alsace that have that label. It was so good and had I bought a bottle it would have been worth every penny. But I didnt too expensive for me...so I instead drank it for free at the winery and enjoyed every sip.

The part of Alsace I was on is just on the french side of the Rhine River which borders Germany, which means to say that I was abotu 20 minutes from Germany. The point is as I was riding through the vinyards I stumbled upon a bunker..yup it looked like a WW2 bunker a small door, thick cement walls, lookout and shooting windows, as well as it had many many bullet holes. It was cool to see. I went inside. Dont forget though that Alsace has been fought over by the French and Germans for hundred of years. It has gone back and forth between the two countries.

I returned the bike, then came back to the city of Colmar and walked around for a while taking in the city before heading back to Strasbourg. On my way home from the train station...I got hit by acar...Im ok not hurt at all...but I was crossing the street and some douche bag backed up to let a another car park but didnt look before backing up..basically im crossing and suddenly I feel a car hit my back everyone stops to see nad i tried movign away but the guy kept backing pushing me along behind him...I punched the window and screamed some profanity in english and suddenly the car stops. the driver got otu and was appologizing, and I didnt even want to speak french i just cursed the basterd out in english people ont he sidewalk laughed...they guy basically said he didnt look in the rear view mirror before he backed up..I gavehima piece of my mind, but since I was ok not hurt in the slightest of ways, I ripped his head off with my words then walked away.. some people asked me if i was ok, I said im built with broad shoulders...it will take more than a car backing up into me to hurt me..they laughed I walked away and went to buy some chicken for dinner.

I stood at the window drinking a beer looking down at the city as the sun set, tourists admiring the area I live in called Petite France. And its a nice way to end the day. Not sure what tomorrow holds but I will see.

ciao good night

day 2

Oh well what a day. I went out and right off the bat got rejected from all the places I was trying to contact for a shared apartment. But I knew I should at least go looking for a job because I could always stay at the hostel if need be. So that is what I did. I walked around with a list of restaurants I was targeting, and started handing out resumes. Most of the chefs were off today so I didnt meet many but I was told to come back tomorrow, as well as I got a 2 week stage at least in the begining of may.

So heres the best part of my day. Im walking in a part of Strasbourg called Petite France. There were a bunch of restaurants that I wanted to apply to. As I walk down the street I see a small sign in the window that advertised a room for rent. I called the number and the guy says he'll be there in 30 minutes to show me the room. So Im waiting and I see a restaurant down the street. I walk towards it and a old man comes out of one of the buildings and asks me what I am loooking for. I tell him im looking for a job. He says to me the place is closed. I told him I am also looking for a aprtment for a few months. So he says to wait here he's going to get some keys and show me an apartment. Turns out hes a property owner and owns a few buildings in the city. He shows me the room and its ok pretty small for 350 euro a month. I haggled a bit and got him down to 320. we agreed to meet tomorrow. So I go back towards the other apartment that I am supposed to meet at and I get there and I realize the restaurant on the corner is one on my list. So I am standing there I go into the kitchen to talk to the chef. We have ashort conversation and as we are talking the landlord walks up. We introduce each other and he takes me up to the apartment and he shows me it..its quaint, nice view though...bed, washer, fridge, stove and bathroom.

I accept it and he asked me to come back at 6:30 to write up an informal contract (when his son gets back he'll type up a formal contract). So this place costs 300 euro a month. I met him at 6:30 and this is the best part of it all. My landlord is the owner of the restaurant on the main floor...and its also the best restaurant in Strasbourg...and what I mean by best is when it comes to authentic alsacian cuisine (what I am looking for) this is the place to be. They do a few hundred covers a day...AND THEY ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR COOKS. I gave him my resume, and my recommendation letters from my chef in lyon as well as the one from germany...and he asks me how much i want a month and he said that was fair...and that he'll talk to his chef de cuisine in the morning. Then he gave me a tour of the restaurant, introduced me to the staff as a canadian chef. I couldnt believe it.

Well so tomorrow I am going to bring my stuff in the morning to my apartment and I also have a few meetings in th emorning to discuss stages and possible work. I am keeping all options open but I hope it all works out for the best.

So to celebrate I went to a little restuarant that I was told I can stage at in May for dinner. and I had Choucroute which is a staple here in Alsace. It was good but the Spatzle that it came with was cold...but i didnt say anything. I still want to stage and possibly get paid work.

Tomorrow after my meetings, if I dont stay somewhere for work I will tour strasbourg. This is a beautifull city. And it really doesnt take long to go from one end to the other...but they still have a tramway adn buses...oh well...but yey...and of course yey for jessica coming soon to be with me..
yehuda

welcome back to france

I am back in this country. Hopefully I will have a good time. The city of strasbourg, from walking around at least, is beautiful, both at night and during the day. I made lots and lots of phone calls today looking for an appartment, and a bunch of then wouldnt do for 3 months while others said they only want girls living with them..(ironically they were all guys that picked up those phone calls) and others said they would see. and of course I left lots of messages. Tomorrow I plan on going to the university and checking stuff out, as well as calling more places, adn hopefully seeing some appartments as well. I will also during lunch hour and dinner hours be handing out resumes. I got a list of the restaurants I want to apply to..so we'll see how that goes.

So yes I got paid today, in full and in cash. I also met teh rabbi from offenbach that I stayed at his family for pesach with and in appreciation for my work, they gave me a 160 gb ipod...im like wow...that was totally unexpected. And they also wrote me a nice thank you note adn all teh kids drew me pictures adn wrote me thank you cards...I was so touched, I almost cried. It trully felt like it was my best refference letter I could have ever asked for. It was so cute. I really will miss them.

All in all I am startign to get nervous, but I guess that is expected of me since I am a stressed out guy...but I am feeling a bit more confident than when I first arrived in Lyon. However if anyone wants to give me a confidence boosting speech I will gladly take it.

I also went to see a appartment today in cronenberg a suberb of strasbourg, and when I got there I knew I need to leave. It looked like I was in a mixture of algeria, turkey and the gaza strip. WIth gangs walking around, giving me the dirty look...im not sure why I wasnt even scared...but I definitely knew the place wasnt for me especially if I had to come home at 1 am..so no thank you.

oh I just thought of something funny. When I booked my train ticket..the woman only gave me a reservation on the train from the border of germany to strasbourg not an actual train ticket. and the conductor says wheres your ticket though? I said this is what they gave me how am I supposed to know it isnt the actualy ticket seh said it was a ticket so I believed her. the guy looks at his watch..we were about 20 minutes from strasbourg and he's like whatever..guess he figured teh train ride was so short anyways and there wasnt much time left in it just to let it go...haha amazing.

anyways off to shower..
yehuda

done in Germany..off to France

I'm officially done my jobs here in Germany and I am happy with the results in all teh communities I cooked for. I got a standing oation for my food today adn even got awarded 5 Wiesbaden stars (better than michelin stars appearently..lol) for for my work here, and have been invited back to cook for sukkot as well as pesach next year. Although I told them, if I can come back they would have to pay for mine and jessicas flights, as well as the regular conditions and also more money. They agreed to it.

After The community thanked me, I stood up and in Yiddish I thanked everyone who helped me and as well as the community for inviting me and having me a part of their Pesach this year. It was a good feeling knowing I made everyone happy. Also this year they had a higher turnout for all their meals...and all the food is gone...

All in all I am happy with the way everything went. I am going to get paid in the morning as well as being off to France.

I havereally missed everyone immensly and I am really starting to picture me coming home to toronto...even though that is 4 months away.

Oh well gotta get some new shirts since I got oil on some of my t-shirts and need new ones. Sale time so ill pick up some new stuff.

one more day left

Today was fun...I knew all that had to get done was makea few salads and reheat the chicken, so I went an hour an a half before the start of lunch to do the preperation. Well when I got there I saw a funny site....the people that were going to help me were so scared and nervous about whether or not I was coming and htey didnt know what to do..It was quite funny might I add. I told them we have time, and lots of time we had...we were finished in an hour and it was only two people working the other three were walking around talking..and they all enjoyed the food, we all had a good time, and now I am home bored for the rest of the day, with terrible internet..no phone (i used the time up last night)..and bored out of my mind. I would go to a movie but dont appearently there are only german movies here not hollywood film...ugh oh well maybe ill play scrabble and beat myself again...haha...at least I always win...otherwise I am doing nothing

back in Wiesbaden

So onto the last days of Passover...The rabbi from Offenbache drove me to Wiesbaden last night, so I wouldnt have to take the train.

And thi smornign I went to cook. So before everythign started we sat down for a meeting and we agreed that I would cook for 40 -50 people for the lunches...well now I get here today and I see that the rom is set up for 100 people!! And I didnt order food for 100 but fr 40-50...oh well now I have to deal with it and suck it up I guess. So I cooked and marinaded some salads and Ill tell them tomorrow its not a good thing to not tell em you are changing the numbers. and there wasnt even all teh food they told me they had had left over....oh well...gotta do with what we have.

anyhoo...cant wait to go back to france already but gotta spend the next two days here...and of course get paid...

hopefully everyone had a great pesach so far and enjoyed some very good food.

yehuda

meals

SO results are in and the food went over well in all communities, so I am happy that everything worked out. YEY!! I will go back to Wiesbaden on Saturday night though to roast some chickens and bake some biscotti and make some salads for the last days.
However all the food got eaten, everyone enjoyed it and im happy that it all worked out well.
Today I have been relaxing and working on my business plan, rewriting, coming up with ideas and re-evaluating the old ones and see how I can make them better from a business standpoint so everything makes sense and can make it a money making business not just a restaurant. So thought processes are happening in my head...which I hope is a good thing..lol

However all in all I was able to do some pricing on equipment and it wone be as high as I thought it would be. So that is a good thing.

Otherwise, things are going along...ready for the next leg of my trip, cant wait and would go back to France today, but I promised I would go back to the other community and didnt get paid yet..so I gotta go back.

However I have a plan for when I get to Alsace. Of course I am going to be looking for a job, however if I can not I will spend the next 3 months going to other regions to stage in top restaurants even if for a a week at a time. in the different regions of france and try to learn as much about food in france as I can.

One thing is forsure is the next 3 months are th ehome stretch for me and I want to pack as much in as I can.

yehuda