Not so homesick now

This week we officially opened up the full restaurant because the renovations got finished. So now we serve about 500-700 people for breakfast and the same for lunch and at least 1000 for dinner. I have been working breakfast and lunch most of the week, and they put me on a new station, domo which is a large puff pastry with cabernet sauce and a scoop of mash potatoes and then a scoop of roast beef and sauteed vegetables on top then an aoli sauce drizzled on top. I also got to work saute for one day. Then the past two days I have worked nights and got to work fryer one day and saute the other. There where so many orders of fish since it's getting closer to Easter and people are on lent or fasting they only eat fish or vegetarian, which is the two dishes that saute does. So the day I worked saute we were slammed! This whole week me and my amazing roommate had the same schedule so I was nice and took her to work everyday and picked her up so she didn't have to ride the bus. We are getting along really well and I am so glad I have her as my roommate and not any of the other girls in my apartment. They are all really nice but we don't always get along with each other, but I guess that's what you expect from a room full of 6 girls. This week I have been talking to my chef about shadowing at other places around Disney, and he got me a day to shadow at the Grand Floridian next week! One of my suite mates works at one of the cafes in the Grand so she met me there after work and showed me where to park and where to go in. That place is huge! and it's gorgeous they had a jazz band playing in the lobby and then when they got done a piano player came out and played on a huge grand piano(I really wanted to play that piano when he wasn't there, I miss playing). So I am really excited about going over there to see their kitchen and I am supposed to meet Chef Amy, who will be the first female chef I have met since I have been here. But my chef told me he would introduce me to a few other really great female chefs around Disney!
Two days ago I got to go meet up with my aunt and cousin and ma maw in St. Petersburg, which I found out is only an hour and twenty minutes away. I got to see my cousin's house, which is beautiful I really want to live there! and I got to meet all her dogs and see her town where she lives. It was such a cute little artsy downtown with lots of restaurants and bakeries and a peer. If I can't find a job anywhere I can just go there and I will be happy. But it was so good to see them and spend time with them we went and ate at a really good french restaurant! Now I know where I can go and visit if I get homesick again or if I need anything.
Today Mom, Melissa, and Nolan got here, but I was at work. I get to go see them in the morning and spend my two days off with them. I'm so excited :) I have missed them so much and they just came up to see me for a few days, yay! So I can't wait till tomorrow morning! I will update on what all we end up doing soon.

Lobster Fun

Sorry I haven't  updated in a while I have been super busy. So I told you about my promotion to saute station well the next day they put me on grill, which is the station that changed alot when the menu changed so I had to be refreshed on what to do, but after the first couple of tickets I got the hang of it. I cooked the rack of lamb for the lamb dish which has Israel cous cous with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes and sauteed zucchini topped with 4 slices of rack of lamb with an apricot sauce and a mint oil drizzled on the side.Then the pork edtufe  dish is built with a round mold and I put two scoops of corn spoon bread and pulled pork then press that down and put braised swiss chard on top and surround the mold with edtufe sauce, then pull the mold off and top with bacon. Both dishes are very tasty but have alot of work in plating them. I also grill the kids mahi mahi and the asparagus for the tenderloin station. I did well on grill so now when I work nights I have been working saute and grill. Yay. The renovations in the dining room are almost done, so lately we have been really slow, but sometime next week we will be back up to speed. Last night we were super slow and chef ordered in some lobster so we had fun with them posing them for pictures and having lobster battles and then we cooked them just for us and ate them for supper with some melted butter, they were SO yummy.

A few days this week I worked mornings too and usually they just put me on salads or dessert station but one day they put me on saute to see how I would do, and I did good the morning chef told me that I was one of the best college program students he has ever had, he said most of the students that come in don't work hard and don't know what they are doing and don't use common sense! I talked with some people that have stayed working here since their college program and asked them how they liked it and what they thought. One guy told me he finished the college program and went to seasonal status to stay on the pay roll and just worked over the summer while he finished school and then came back and got a job offer and has been here ever since. He said it's great cause there are so many places to work and if you get bored or want to work somewhere else you can transfer and don't have to worry about quiting and finding a new job like in the real world. Then I also talked with some people that have worked here for 25 years and asked for their wisdom and their advice on what to do for my career, it was neat to hear what different people said but basically they said do everything, learn it all and move around! So that is my plan while I am here I already asked several places about shadowing other restaurants and resorts.

Today I had  a day off and went to the doctor and then went searching for hotels for mom and then went to Epcot. I walked around the whole park and found some restaurants that I want to eat at when I have money. I got to sit down and eat at the Mexico area and it was the perfect spot to watch the Reflections of the Earth light show so I stayed and watched that. When I was sitting there an elder couple came up and asked if they could share the other half of the table since there were no more seats, and of course I said yes. So they started talking about how they live in the area and they brought their grandchildren here when they came down and had one more day left on the ticket so they came and walked in all the shops and looked around by themselves. They asked me about what I do and how I liked it. Then they found out I worked at Cinderella's and they said on one of the days their family was here their grandchildren went and ate breakfast there. So then they called their daughter and told her that they just met one of the cooks that made their breakfast in the castle. It was neat to see how excited they were and to hear about how much they enjoyed the food and the restaurant. I don't really get to interact with the guests that much but I do get to have an impact on them. When I got back from Epcot I had a letter from a friend waiting on my bed for me. It really made me smile and the two penguins (Waldo and Rubert) are now beside my snow globe to keep my room nice a cool :)

A visitor and a package all in one week!

After a long day of work, where everything seemed to go wrong, on Thursday night the 31st I had a surprise visitor that made it all better, my wonderful boyfriend drove down to visit me from Charlotte since he didn't have to work. :) It was so good to see him and to take him around to meet everyone and to show him where I live and what I do. He is so good to me he had another surprise, he gave me a promise ring when he got here, and he told me he was promising to always be here for me even if we are far away and that he is going to wait for me as long as we need to, and wait to do anything until we were married. He said he wanted to show me how serious he was about our relationship and that we wasn't going to let something good get away just because we had to work at it. Isn't that sweet! And the ring is gorgeous. On Friday we got to go to the parks because I got my guest pass in the mail. We went to animal kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood studios and back to Epcot to watch the light show, it was a good ending of a wonderful day. Then Saturday we just hung out and took it easy, I took him to my little paradise and it was a nice day to rest, then he had to drive back so he could work Sunday. Then my work week started back on Sunday working in the mornings and I got to work downstairs in the prep kitchen cutting kiwi, strawberries, apples, making the shrimp cocktail appetizer, making some sauces for upstairs and lots of other stuff. It was fun to see all the prep work of the things that I use upstairs, and I was happy to actually use a knife, since I haven't used one since I have been here (other than at my apartment). When I was cutting  the tops off of strawberries I found one that looked like a smiley face, and another lady found one that had a flower shape and one with a heart shape! I worked breakfast and lunch on the line the next day. Then I had two days off and I got to hang out with my roommates and watch a movie and make cookies! My first day off I took my roommate to the dentist she had to get a root canal :( and it rained but then it cleared up and we went to the movie theater in downtown Disney cause on Tuesday there is a special and the price is cheap, that theater was huge they had their own food court inside and they had cool drink machines that had every flavor of coke products you just tap the screen and pick a drink and then pick any flavor, it was neat! We watched Hop, it was a cute movie. Then my other day off I went to the doctor in the morning and got back and cooked some delicious french toast, that I had been craving for a while. Then me and my other roommate went to Hollywood studios for the rest of the day since it was so nice outside. Now we are up to today I worked the night shift and  this time I got promoted to a new station, saute yay! Over the whole night I bet I made over 70 cobia fish dishes and maybe 30 casolette bean dishes. I did good at keeping up with the orders and making sure I had enough fish cooked, even though my oven was not staying at the right temperature so it was taking longer to cook all the way through. My chef said I did good, so hopefully that means I get to work that station again tomorrow. When I got home from work I had a HUGE package on my bed from mom!!!! It had lots of food :) like trail mix, hamburger helper, brownies, macaroni, and Easter candy- sour patch jelly beans(I didn't know they made those), Peeps (already ate half the box :/ and I got a letter and most important, my soccer shoes! I was so happy to get a package, and my mommy knows me so well she had everything that I like in there. I love her! Oh and as of today I have officially been here at Disney for one month.