Reflection 1

Amarfy Marte
Journal # 1
02/01/2009
Journal # 1

Today was my first day at my internship site. The site is at a Fusion cuisine restaurant called BLAZE. Yes, today is Sunday and not Wednesday even though internship days are always on Wednesdays. That is because the owner, Phyllis, wanted me to come in today to see how experienced I was in the kitchen. She didn’t want to put me on a day that would be extremely busy without knowing how skillful I was first. Since Sundays are not as busy, I came in today.
I woke up at around 7:15 a.m. to be at the restaurant by 8:00 a.m. Once I got there I was pretty nervous, I didn’t want to mess up on my first day. As I walked in I met the chef Ash and this other girl, Ebony, who is interning there as well. They both seem pretty nice and humane. Well, Sundays at BLAZE are now only for Brunch, so when I got there, they were already preparing for it. I first started off by watching Ebony and watching everything she did because I was nervous and didn’t know what to do. Then after about 20 minutes, Ash told me that actually doing something is better learning than just watching. His advice was good and by him telling me that, it made me realize that I should stop being nervous and do something. Even though I was still a little panicky, I started cutting up oranges, strawberries, and melon and getting the fruit bowl ready. Then I placed sausages and bacon onto sheet pans and into the oven. After I arranged all of that, I looked over to my left and seen a lot of dirty dishes. Ash said that we had to put the dishes into the machine every time there was some because if we didn’t, it would build up too much. So while I put dishes into the machine, Ebony washed pots in the sink. I was already pretty familiar with the machine because at Brown University where I worked before, we have the same thing except bigger. Every time I finished one round, I would look back and see more dishes, then more, and more. It was as if it was never going to stop. Then, Ash walked over and looked at both Ebony and I. he asked me “What is the most important job in the kitchen?” I hate being put on the spot like that and I wasn’t sure if it was a trick question or not. So I said “All of the jobs are equally important.” “No,” Ash said, “The job you are doing is.” At that point I was putting dishes into the machine so I couldn’t figure out what was so important about this specific job. Ash said that without a dishwasher, the restaurant cannot run properly. He said that a chef can make the most amazing foods ever, but without any new and clean dishes coming, there is no food. Once he said that I comprehended what he had said but I still didn’t like being the dishwasher. After seeing and doing what a dishwasher has to go through, I went over to the cutting board. There, Ash asked me to change my gloves and get some catfish. I came back with a bag of it and from there he told me what to do. First I placed a couple of pieces on the board and covered them, back and front, with cayenne dust. From there I dipped them in corn flour and then into the fryer. I did this a few times and it was actually pretty fun. As soon as I knew it, my dad was calling me saying it was time to go. At around 3:00 p.m., Ash signed my log sheet and I headed out the door. Overall, my first day didn’t go the way I wish it had gone. I wish it had gone better but then again it was only day 1.