Overdue

Although hectic, I can't seem to find a reason for the delay in this post. Maybe partially linked to a lack of inspiration and thoughts to inscribe..who knows! But here I am now, two weeks since the last post. One month ago today, I began this journey. Seems so many days ago, ! But only one month, and one month until I will be boarding a plane back to the U.S. Oh my, how time goes. Time, Tiempo, Zeit, (my Spanish has gotten increasingly better) I have realized that I must enjoy and take in everything whilst I am here. Life moves far too quick...I hate that. I enjoy so much thinking about past memories spent with friends and family from various occasions. My life has been so incredible and continuous to amaze me, what a path.

Flavor is memory, the best food/tastes/dishes are ones that evoke a memory from before, from an event/past time that was ethereal. Example: last summer, I had the chance to travel to Chicago with my good friend Emma. We (from my persistence) went to a very expensive dinner at my dream restaurant, Alinea. Currently I believe it stands at fourth best restaurant in the world? We had the smaller set menu, of 12 courses. The best course and one that I will never forget was Blue Crab "Salad" frozen pea puree, cinnamon, ginger, rice milk, and clove. Many times before, I have eaten blue crab close to the Potomac river with my good friends, a feast, good weather, great place, not a happier place to be found. Immediately this dish brought those thoughts forward, with a taste more refined and so so decadent. 

I have off today, and have spent it eating a cheap and delicious meal in the local town, wandering the town, buying a few groceries, and relaxing. Spain and this life has now become very natural, seems I don't even remember what the days are like in Richmond, VA! But do not think I have forgotten any of it, it is far from that. Life is very enjoyable here now, and the kitchen is challenging and rewarding. I have not eaten as much food as I am here ever in my life. Two and a half full meals each day, and still hungry. I think and hope I am on a growth spurt! But not too much, I need to fit my tux that I got suited in before I left for the wedding five days after I arrive home! 

One of the more recent updates and most exciting for me personally is that soon I will acquire a borrowed bike from Sous Chef Damian! I am quite excited about the soon possibilities of seeing the local areas via bike! Who would have thought, ! 

Soccer on Wednesdays is as fun as ever, and finally I have begun to get comfortable again like the old days on the field. In shape, also! Chef Felix is in Germany currently, he was suppose to come back 4 days or so ago, but because of the volcano is stuck there. But, he is not working again until the end of the month. In Europe I have discovered after discussions that holiday time is much more common. Two months, for the chefs. That is quite unheard of in the U.S, and is almost a deal breaker for me to settle down in Europe. Only future will tell, however I do think cooking in Europe gives a more comfortable lifestyle than that in the U.S. 

Two weekends ago, my good friend Mona from Germany was on the island. I got Saturday and Sunday morning off and got to go spend the night and day with her and her german schoolmate, Carina. We spent the time in the German part of the island, seriously. All of the signs were German, Schnitzel and Sausages served everywhere, German spoken everywhere. Almost thought I was in Germany! It was extremely rewarding seeing someone I knew outside of the hotel and to being able to spend sometime with them. Last weekend, Marco, Markus, and I went to one of the biggest "Disko-Teks" as they call them, or clubs on the island. House(my kind of music) was played all night long! It was an incredible experience, and I think we will venture there tomorrow. 

Because Chef is gone, Markus has been taking care of Chef's dogs, sleeping at his house, and using his car. Because he has a car, I have seen and done much more on breaks when normally I was in the room or walking to and from Santa Maria. One day, due to a need of more dog food, we went to Alcampo, or Spain's answer to Walmart. It was huge, bigger than walmart, with a filled food section. One whole aisle dedicated to Spanish Jamon(Ham, like prosciutto but better) and sausages. 

One sad update is that Marco will be leaving at the end of the month. The English owner of the hotel does not like seeing so many paid cooks in the kitchen, whilst so little business is being done. Sad and a stupid mistake by him for making Chef let Marco go, he is talented and has become my closest friend here. Stupid order from the owner, seeing as I will be leaving in one month, and business is surely going to rapidly increase in the coming weeks. Without any reservations I am sure the kitchen will need to pick up at least one more cook for the summer. In the past summers, I have been told that there were at least 7 cooks in the kitchen during the height of the season. When I leave, it will be two cooks and the chefs. 

(Whilst writing this before, on Friday night, I was interrupted and went out for the night, and now am finishing the post. Time has been flying by this weekend, it is now Monday at 4:45!) 

I am getting extremely comfortable in the kitchen...my skills have increased visibly in the past few weeks. Today I worked a station by myself, and exceeded proficiency. Exciting stuff! 

Saturday night we went again to the disko-tek, and had a extremely enjoyable, and late(got home at 5:30ish, woke for the morning shift at 10:45) night. Highlight was meeting a large group of Americans who go to Bucknell (all but one were girls) studying in southern Spain in Granada. They were here for the weekend to see the island. Funny to see/and talk to them. 

Also interesting and fun to see has been two 18 year old students who are doing externships at the restaurant. They are attending a culinary school on the island and will be at the restaurant for two months. Slow, but good workers. About the skill-level I was at a while ago. 

I am getting excited for a promised dinner next week, with one of the front of house managers named Dmitri, from the Ukraine, and Jozef, a server from Slovakia. They are both hilarious and nice, really funny when together. They promise to take me to their favorite spot, a Chinese food place, and then out for drinks afterward. I think to this point in my travels, I classify eastern Europeans as the nicest and most fun. They don't come from much, and are happy it seems to be where they are. Funny lifestyles and characters, I truly excited to go to dinner with them. 

I am also excited to bike around the island, all over the internet is information and recommended routes to travel on the island for bikers. That will be a great way to see the island and good thing to do on a day off. Tomorrow, I have off, and tentatively plan to bike around Palma, we will see! 

That is all I have for now, not much. I need to regain some concentration and organize my thoughts. Another blog post should come later this week. Also, more pictures! I am on a "Police-listening-to" streak at the moment, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" is a great song! The weather is really really great right now, almost too hot already though! I am getting tan! Hope you all enjoyed or will enjoy the postcards, I think I've sent around 20! Let me know if you want one and I'll send you one! 

Buenas Dias from Spain, talk soon! 

Mah and I parting ways at the airport, she cried

The "Yellow Ferrari" range. Hotel reads inscribed on the front. Tour/pictures/more details about the kitchen coming soon.

Local town Alaro

An array of thoughts

It's been a week; lo siento. This post will most likely be quite random with thoughts scattered across the spectrum.

It is Thursday, at 12:30 for me. The past few days and the next few days the weather is suppose to be rainy, and has been cloudy/extremely windy the past two days. Although today there were patches of very bright skies and nice weather. The island seems to crave good weather, and somehow makes it happen to my point of view most of the time. My window view (seen here) will be changed tomorrow, as the owners of the hotel, an old British couple, are putting all three cooks who live in the hotel in one room as to make more rooms available for guests(the hotel has in all 23 rooms). In some ways, bad, as we already spend 5 days a week/10 hours a day together more time isn't quite needed. Also, a bit of privacy/space to be away is always good. But then in some ways it'll be better, get to know them better, become closer friends with them, have something to do/talk to. We will see. The new room I think is going to be nice, maybe I will give another tour soon. (still due, a tour of the kitchen and hotel, coming soon)

Tuesday was my second day off, and I spent it sleeping in and then went to Palma. Palma is a bit of a small city, and the parts that are interesting to a foreigner/traveler to my knowledge are able to be seen in one day, as I did last time. So with little of must do's during the day, I spent it walking around, eating, seeing, sleeping on a bench, and enjoying being in a different environment. When I first arrived, it as lunch time, and per Lars Johansson's suggestion I went to "Cellar Sa Premsa." Great recommendation! Lars is the Swedish exchange teacher, through whom I got in touch with the Chef here and got here. As said in the past, I will never be able to repay him! I owe him much. Bon Voyage, also, on your upcoming trip to Richmond with the students. Sorry I won't be able to be there! En route to the restaurant, which I figured I could make by walking but was sadly mistaken as there are little to no road signs here on the island, I eventually took a cab a mere 500 yards to the restaurant. It has begun to get very frustrating when I have an address and can't seem to see where I am, because of no road signs and the people not speaking english or not knowing where they are either. On to lunch, a big, wooden/brick building, nice interior. Sat around 300 people I'd say, big and bustling restaurant. After a little wait, I was seated. Popular and abounding in Spain, the restaurants all offer a "Menu del Dia?" I believe is how it is spelled, menu of the day, for lunch. They give you options for 3 courses, and it is usually very reasonably priced. As was this lunch, although the menu was in Spanish, and my waiter only spanish speaking, it turned out quite a meal and enjoyable experience. First course I had a tomato, beef/offal/rice dish. (Although in that definition it says waste, in culinary terms it means more organ meats, that most of the time turn out much more tasty than other part. Also, it is kind of a hip thing in the culinary scene nowadays to turn these use-to-be throw-away parts into a art. ) Very tasty, and generous portion. Also with the menu is the option of a cerveza, small bottle of wine, or any other drink offered with the meal. I opted with the local red wine, which came out very chilled, and tasted as if a sangria, very delicious. Second course was a fish that I could not understand the name of, served simply with olive oil, lemons, and potatoes. Texture like a halibut, but with more flavor of the sea, not as bland as you would expect with a halibut. And for postre, or dessert, Creama Catalan, a popular and local dessert found in Spain. Much like but less set then a Creme Brulee, and with lemon and cinnamon, this was spoon lickin' good. This three course lunch amounted to 13 Euros, so very affordable, and becoming more and more everyday thanks to Greece bringing down the euro. I would like to thank Greece at this time personally for helping me financially whilst in Europe. !

And so the wine do me in. The plan was after lunch to go back to the Vodofone store to get the Sim card that I purchased for my phone whilst here to work. I had bought a prepaid plan/card to slip in my phone so that I could have a local number while here, don't know if it'll get much use but good to have. When purchased I asked the associate if I only had to slip it in and it would work, and of course he said yes. But when doing so, admittingly careless in doing it after leaving the city that night, it asked for numbers and codes that I did not have and didn't know where to get. So when I tried to go back, they, as all other Spaniards living the great laid back life, had gone on siesta break. With nothing to do, I wandered and became increasingly tired from said wine, around the time I reached the old part of the city near the cathedral, laid down on a cement bench and slept for two hours. There were many people bustling around, so I was in no harm. Until some punk came and screamed close to me as to wake me up, and be cool in front of his friends.

By that time I figured the store would be back open, and so I went back, go it sorted out, and texted cook Marco who also had the day off, whom was roaming around the city trying to get his recently broken 3-kilometer-pushed to mechanic moped fixed. Just after texting him, I look up and there he was. And so we took a coffee, he got a music tattoo on his wrist whilst I sat and cringed at the needles, and we headed off to a pub in old town to watch the Champions league soccer game that was on that night. (There are more details to this part of the day, but at this time I feel as if I am rambling too much and providing too many useless, boring thoughts.)

FC Barcelona vs. Arsenal

Cultural epiphany of the week. Soccer(I get yelled at here when I say soccer, its "Fuutball!") is embedded in their culture. It is organic for the European men and (most)women to like it. But not just like, but know the teams, when the games are on, who is playing, and the players. More mainstream and embedded than football, basketball, or baseball in the US. Everyone knows and watches here. If you like soccer, as I do, it is awesome to be around. The news of the game the night before is not in a sports section, no, it is on the front page. The news of the fuutball games is the news. Awesome. I knew I would be in for something special seeing Barcelona play, as the Barcelona fans would be predominant in Palma also. The star of the Barcelona team, and one of the best players playing in the game today from Argentina, Lionel Messi, scored 4 goals in the game. One big fan of Barcelona, after every goal, fist pumped to the window screaming. It was a good sight and awesome experience.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we played soccer against another hotel. However, I was pushed onto the other team, disappointed at first but it turned out better. They were much better then my hotel's team who is all talk and extremely competitive. They knew how to play, the structure, the shapes and runs and how to show for the ball. Brought me back to my days of playing, it is nice playing again. Although I am in terrible condition, it was tough at times, I hope to start running here during breaks soon.

Now onto thoughts about cooking. One technique that has piqued my interest is the kitchen's use of Parmentiers. A french word, pronounced as one would expect in french, pronounce the "tier" as tee-ay, and you have it. Because starch is heavy and boring plated as is, such as potatoes, parsnips, or salsify, we puree a well cooked mix of potatoes and said flavoring veg(parsnip, salsify) to create a nice potent puree for the dish. Interesting, and fulfilling. Next thought is rudiments. As I have come to learn, success/praise for a cook cooking in a restaurant kitchen comes from precision and the ability to work extremely quickly. Thats about it. The faster you are, the better and more praise you get. Quickness comes from years and the rudiments that come so naturally after hours and hours laboring over those vegetables. And slowly, I am getting them in. I have in my opinion so much knowledge about the craft, but lack the rudiments and hands on. But it is coming along.

It has become to seem as though I am the outsider in the kitchen, with the jokes on me and I being the..."bitch." Although somewhat expected as I am the youngest and lowliest person. But also being not from Europe and not understanding or speaking Spanish, I am kind of an outsider. Could almost say I'm getting bullied at times. Sucks, but alas.

Can I say that I love it or hate it here, no. There are good and bad aspects that I have seen thus far. It is a great experience and I am surely learning a lot, and it will be good to have done. But this past week I have missed having someone to talk to to that I know, having someone to do stuff with, and kind of being around things that I am familiar and comfortable with. I miss all my friends and family, all the people that are so amazing and kind! It is kind of lonely and boring here at times, as working leaves little time to meet other people/get further away than the little town of Santa Maria. I like the people I work with, but would be nice to meet some other people also, and be around other people since I am around them so frequently. I truly believe things will only get better though.

I hope Easter treated you all well, for me it was a normal day here. Thank you for reading, hope you could follow and understand. Let me know if you want any information, descriptions, or posts on anything in particular and I will try to deliver! I am working on postcards now, but don't quite know where to find stamps...I am doing my best. It's late now, much love, see you all soon. Enjoy the below pictures from the last week.

The restaurant I had lunch at, Celler Sa Premsa, thanks again for the recommendation Lars!
Nice view of the mountains with the Reads vineyard in the forefront, taken after a walk from Santa Maria
Meadows/groves
Forgot to mention, Saturday night we went out to "Factoria De Sol?" A music school who in the nights puts on jam/concert/parties. Pictured from left to right: Marco(Venezuela), Me, Chef Felix(Bremen, Germany), Damian(Argentina, Sous Chef), Marcus(Dortmund, Germany). (Not pictured: Martin, who I work next to, speaker of no english, Uruguayan)
Woman in picture, Damian's wife, Mallorcan

Also forgot to mention in post, on the return trip from Santa Maria one day, a group of 5 or so 16ish year old girls on bikes figured out/talked to Marcus who was with me and found out I was American. They took a picture with me. Alas

Peace!

A day in the life

So, a week now! Wow. Feels as if it has been much longer! Everything is good here, today was a long day in the kitchen, everything is picking up a bit, because of Easter and the weather. I am a bit tired, so lets see how good my writing goes tonight. PS if you didn't know, as I didn't, Spain is crazy religious. Super religious, they are (apparently? I have not seen) having parades/marches? through many of the major cities right now because of Easter. Lets see if I can catch you all up on some of the occurrences from the past few days.

I'll start tonight with a daily "schedule" in the day and life of cooking at Reads Hotel Mallorca, for me.

Wake up at 10:00

Hang around, get awake, take a shower,

Head downstairs to the kitchen around 10:45-11:00

Cook, cook, cook, drink espresso,(oh boy, oh boy, do I truly miss a good cup of coffee. There is none here. Only espresso. So sad.) eat croissants,

12:45ish, eat lunch, prepared by us everyday. It is very good usually, much better than other family meals from other restaurants that I have experienced

1:15ish Come back for lunch service

3:45ish-4:30 Depending on how busy lunch was/how late the last table ordered in, break time from time we get out to 7:15

BREAK...for me, this has been really weird, luxurious. So much free time in between working. Some days its good, I do things during it, other days its bad because I get tired. I am not use to this. It's a hefty amount of free time. I almost wish we worked straight through..

Although,

7:15-10:30-12ish Finish prepping and dinner service. Spaniards eat LATE. Our first order doesn't usually arrive until atleast 8, if not later. And we some dinner get orders in close to 11

So one week ago, I had my first day of work. Was tired, we got out late, and was still settling in. Did nothing over siesta(nap) break.

Here following are activities done on break:

Friday; walked (uncertainly, unaware, and scared about getting lost) to the local town, or the outskirts of, and found a small convenience store. However, the problem is, is when I am free, so is everyone else. And so most stores, restaurants, and cafes are closed. But I found a open convenience store and bought a fanta and that apricot cake. On the way to the store, as I had just entered town and was wondering if there was anything. I saw an old man walking very slowly with a cane, past a school. And so I first asked him "Con permiso, hablar ingles?!"(excuse me, speak english?) He chuckled, and shook his head, saying he was from the island. Next I asked if he spoke any german, again a chuckle and a no. Finally I asked in my very weak spanish, where I could find a cafe or something. And he pointed me in the right direction. This right direction put me walking right down a school with a playground, with kids playing in it. And, I guess due to my clothes, they could tell I wasn't from there. I was in disbelief, they were all pointing, laughing, and looking at me. A group even took a picture of me. However, It is a beautiful walk, it is nice to get out and see things, and later in the week I found more interesting things.

Saturday, with the Germans (Chef Felix and MarKus, fellow cook, who I was misspelling the name of earlier on) went to Felix's house and watched Fuutball matches. As they described to me, Saturday in Germany is the Fuutball holiday, with the German League teams playing. Felix's team is Bremen(who's jersey's I think are cool, they say "So gut. Bank Heute." So good, bank today They are sponsored by some bank.) and Markus's team who is Dortmund. Both of them are from said team's towns. This coming Saturday they play against eachother, and in the standing one or the other is winning by 1 point. Should be funny watching with them.

Sunday during break: Walked to Santa Maria. Overview of walk: past grove, after grove, after grove, of Almond Trees, Olive, Lemon, Orange, and Clementine trees. Past dogs barking (everyone has livestock/dogs here, they are loud in the nights/mornings, and wake me up), past a few houses/ranches here and there, and then finally to the small town of Santa Maria. Through my perspective, Santa Maria is profitable because of the foreign bikers that bike the island and need a place to stop. On Sunday, the 7 or so cafes located on the main street in town had tables and chairs scattered all about, and everyone was sitting outside, enjoying tapas, drinking espresso, beer, or a wine. And so I followed suit, ordering from a non-speaking english/german restaurant crew a potato/olive/chicken salad, local wine, and some croquettes.

Monday I had free! The following is what I did on this day. Palma is accessible via train, which comes every 20 minutes to Santa Maria, where I had been just the day before. And so, although weary and with so very little information, I headed to Palma for the day. I wandered the city, looking in the shops, walking along the Mediterranean, seeing the magnificent and huge cathedral, seeing the old palace, royal gardens, and generally feeling the vibe of Spanish culture. The highlight of the day was lunch, which was truly spectacular. Also, the girls are BEAUTIFUL here. agaaast. I found the city to be very interesting, small and walkable, but very nice. It didn't quite feel like Spain however, with for the most part a majority of German and other people.

For dinner, I ate and relaxed at a place in Santa Maria. It was an Italian place, and because I didn't want to be in or coming home too late, I decided to head back kind of earlier. The restaurant in Santa Maria was enjoyable, I talked a lot to the waiters and bartenders.

Tuesday during break, I decided to relax as I had done something every waking moment since arriving.

Wednesday: Fuutball, although we we're suppose to play against a different hotel, they didn't show. And so we played 3 vs. 3. It was fun running and playing once again, as I haven't done in a while. I believe everyone was making fun of me or something, because I am new? American? or something, I don't know. That got a little annoying, but it's o k. I have blisters now from my shoes/we played on fake turf, with the black pellets, and they got in my shoes and clustered under one area, making my feet blister.

And now we arrive at today. A week, it feels much longer. Some side notes that I have been wanting to mention in previous blog posts but have yet to. Every time I step outside of the hotel I get a big wift of straight olive. It is so refreshing, and walking every few hundred yards I get it again. Its amazing. Also, dotting the island every which way are windmills, as seen here , they make a nice scenery. Driving through the island is nice, the scenery is beautiful, with groves every which way, mountains abounding, and sometimes the sea in sight.

The past few days I have begun to miss my people, it is different being somewhere where most of the time you can't understand anything anyone is saying, and you don't have anyone too close to talk to. I have also been craving a heavy, American meal, as most food here is light with bright bright flavors. Not bad, quite the opposite, but every once in a while you crave that hearty meal.

I hope soon that we will go out and I will get the chance to be around a common place for some Spanish people, talk and meet to some other people.

This wasn't the best post yet, hopefully next time will be better! Soon, a blog with pictures and stories from the kitchen. Also due, a tour of the kitchen and hotel. Hope all is well! Happy Easter, miss and love you all!