St. Louis Club

I started my "industry" job last Saturday. I am basically working on call part-time for the banquet department. I am hoping to get a ton of knowledge through this experience since this is supposed to be one of the best kitchens in town and their product is really amazing.

I was scheduled to work Saturday evening, so I drove home to Springfield on Friday and got Rhys we headed back to the Lou Saturday morning. We went to the Zoo with my brother and his two daughters. They had a lot of fun! I then took Rhys to my mom's where he spent part of the afternoon and then headed back over to my brothers where the kids had a night of pizza and movies.

Meanwhile, I was at work. I met the head sou-chef Christoph. He was very nice but seems to enjoy giving me a hard time about my career choices and the fact that I smile all the time. Which he did seem to like much more than the alternative demeanor that some people in the kitchen displayed. Give me time he says...

I started off right away with pressing roasted eggplant through a large wire sieve. I then added tomato paste and cooked it off. I put the mixture in the blast chiller (which apparently most kitchens don't have, more about that later). Once cool I scooped out a tablespoon of the mixture, placed it on a tomato petal and wrapped the whole thing in cellophane to form a tight crescent shape. Repeat 192 times....

I then made several dozen spicy meatballs. I even had to grind the meat. I got lots of help along the way from "Slav" one of the other prep cooks. We all joked together about how "green" I was. I said as green as a green bean fresh from the garden, Christoph said more like a sprout...But I learned a ton.

I received a tour of the facility. It is really cool! All of the meeting space is of the Victorian French era. Reminded me much of Versailles, which I guess was the point. It was beautiful, hand painted wall paper, delicate seating, statues, antique sideboards, and a few columns (which I could have done without).

After about 6 hours I was done and headed to my brothers to collect Rhys and drive back to Springfield. What a day!