swings

Monday was the first day in my new shift. I've moved to swing shifts 1-11pm. Today was my 2nd day. It's a bit different with a bunch more people and I'm cooking now instead of baking. I'm really looking forward to this change of pace. The course I'll be assigned is the vegeterian entree. I've not much experience in that field so it should be fun playing with the menu and trying out various protein substitutes that some I've never heard of before.

Yesterday was my first day on swings so I basically assisted and helped with the veggie dish - seafood portofino. That entree went faster than the meat entree. Anyway, today I made an eggplant dish with a jalapeno pinto bean-tomato sauce. I think I liked the sauce better as a soup skipping out on the fried eggplant altogether.

And I'll be working with a new set of co-workers. Will is the dinner sous chef and Stephanie, who also had high altitude sickness the same time I did. It's interesting working with different people because we're all from different parts of the US and have different specialties. Will has been in the cooking industry for 30+ years and his specialty is Italian. Stephanie is from Minnesota and lived in Chicago for a bit so she brings in I guess you would call them hearty classics - cooking is just a hobby for her although she's worked in a few restaurants.

Tonight was Will's day off so it was just Steph and I. Her experiment tonight was fried pickles. Yes, that doesn't sound too appetizing and I've only tried them once before because I lost a bet. I think it's a southern thing - at least that was loosely tonight's theme. It's kinda popular in Texas, since it's on the menu at the fast food chain Sonic. Surprisingly, people loved it. I think it was because everyone here loves fried food. I do have to say though, it was better than Sonic.