Wow, I haven't updated in a few weeks. I'm so sorry!
I've been pretty busy trying to find my balance again. It seems like I spend a lot of time doing just that, but then the past three years have been admittedly crazy. Although I'm more stable now (emotionally at least) than I ever have been before, there have been sea changes in my life since 2007 and the advent of Matteo. One major one was when I quit City Park and got laid off from the shop, and began my eleven-month run as a stay-home mom (and more or less a miserable failure at it). And then, finally, I went back to work.
I'm cooking. Again. Finally. I had my first day of work at the Sage (part of the Odawa Casino Resort) on July 14'th. I'm full-time, but seasonal, which means there's a strong chance I'll be laid off in September, unless they decide to figure out a way to keep me. However, with any luck, I can either transfer to a different job within the company, and return to the Sage next spring, or else accept the lay-off and return next spring.
I love my job. It's been a while since I could say that whole-heartedly. I'm the gar-mo (garde-manger), which basically means I do salads, some apps, and desserts when I have the time. Here's our menu. The grilled pizza is my personal favorite, sans olives.
I can't say enough good things about working there. It's just as much pressure as working the line at City Park, but pressure of a different sort. City Park is great at what they do, don't get me wrong, but the Sage is a whole different thing. City Park is far more casual than the Sage, for one thing. Sage is gourmet. Sage is fancy plating, frisee with charred tomato vinaigrette, beef so tender that you can literally fork-cut it, supremed oranges to accompany the sauteed crab cakes...anyway..... So there's more pressure to make the plates look good. There's the pressure of being the new kid, of course. And the fact that there's a security camera blatantly jutting from the ceiling right in front of my station. Whether it's focused on me or not, I have no way of knowing (it's in a dark glass dome). Not that I'm camera-shy, lol, I just pretend I'm doing a demo on Food TV half the time. The other half of the time, I forget it's there.
My co-workers are pretty cool too.
I've already dropped a few pounds - to get to the employee doors for the kitchen, I have to basically walk across the entire casino, then up three flights of stairs. The employee bathroom is at the foot of those stairs. So, lots of exercise there. That's a good thing though, I was getting pudgy again.
I've learned so much already too in the two weeks I've been there. Like, how to supreme an orange, how to clean a head of frisee, the fact that pumpkin seeds are a far superior add-in to brittle than peanuts or almonds, what a banana financier is, and a new technique for slicing tomatoes. The fact that I'm getting to fill in some of the gaps in my culinary knowledge is priceless to me. And the Sage will look great on my resume.
In other news....
I had to get a new phone and number the other day. AT&T is a company comprised of brigands and douchebags. So I switched over to Boost Mobile. My phone's a little odd, but I'm so glad Jeremy got it for me. I was really hating not being able to text anyone. It's a Motorola Clutch. My only problem with it is the early '90's style graphics and display, and the fact that it doesn't deliver about 25% of my incoming text messages. But, now that I'm with Boost, I'll be able to get either the Motorola i1 (Android phone) or a Blackberry Curve once we're caught up on bills. I'm torn between the two. I'd love to try out the Android technology, but I've heard some great things about Crackberries too, so we'll see.
The kids are finally starting to adjust to Mommy working again. Matthew gets a big kick out of going to pick up Diddy on the days he babysits. He'll get himself 3/4 dressed (I have to help him get his shirt over his head sometimes, and occasionally his pull-up will get snagged in his waistband), then grab my wrist, lead me to the door, and say "Trip? Go? Car? Dribing? Get Diddys?" I love it. I also am so happy that Diddy's been babysitting for me. For one thing, day care is prohibitively expensive. For another, I don't really trust daycares. I trust Diddy. He's good with the boys, and they love him. Plus he isn't going to freak out if they decide to strip down to their pull-ups, or if I haven't had a chance to run the vacuum. I'm so lucky to have him.
I still have to try to figure out a balance between work and housework. Hopefully, now that I'm used to going to work again, I'll be able to do that this week. I do the majority of the cleaning around here, and as much of a wimp as it makes me sound, the 40+ hours a week at the Sage, plus all those damn stairs, has had me fairly wiped out. I think I'm going to try to draw myself up a chore chart - a few things a day - and try to do that. I miss how clean my place on Clarion was. Of course, that was before I had two kids under the age of 4, but still. Fingers crossed I can find that balance, lol.
Man, it feels so good to be making money again!
That's all I've got for tonight. I'll try to get a picture of myself in my work uniform tomorrow, and I'll post it.
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