Restaurant Simulation ♥☺♥

Restaurant simulation occurs after a student finished all the levels in a course he enrolled in at Global Academy. I'm not gonna explain every aspect of our simulation, instead I'm just gonna tell my experiences through the photos if possible. For a brief explanation, it's like running a real restaurant for 3 days that consists of 21 students and a Chef instructor. The students are group into 3 so everyday there would be the group who will be the guest, another would be the servers and the last would be the one who'll cook. We're gonna be serving 6-course meal with an amuse bouche. ☺ 

I haven't brought a camera during the whole week so all of the photos here are grabbed from my batchmates/classmates and that is also the reason why some of my experiences weren't captured. ☺

It all started when we had our orientation on monday July 18, we talked about everything that we're gonna do and that we're gonna need. From the tasks to the music, uniform, etc. We even thought of the name of our 'restaurant' that day and some bought the thingamabobs needed for the decoration.

On the 19th, we started doing the prep work for the food but we didn't finish it because the food shall be finished on the day it's gonna be served. ☺

On the 20th, my group was the server and I'm the bartender. ☺ Sorry because I don't have a photo that day. I realized after being the bartender that it's no easy work. Really. 

On the 21st, I along with my mother and Tita Phola had been the guests. Every student when it's their turn to be the guest is entitled to bring 2 other guests. 30 pax each night because there are 9 VIPs. ☺

On the 22nd, we were the group scheduled for the kitchen. We started preparing at 9am and we finished service at 10pm. It was exhausting and fulfilling at the same time. You know the feeling that you're so tired yet you're so happy? That's what I really felt afterwards! 

The staircase with candles and rose petals. ☺

We named our restaurant Mangiare because it's an Italian themed and when translated, Mangiare means to eat in Italian. ☺

This is the bar. Where I stayed on our first night of service. I served brewed iced tea that I made, orange juice, brewed coffee and of course water. ☺

This is the VIP table. ☺ We were also the ones who ironed and put the tablecloth and the table napkins on! That's the hardest part of being the servers. 

The design of the 'hallway' to the wash room. ☺

Regular guest's table for 3. ☺

Closer look of the table with the menu and the green lamp. ☺

Capillini, the amuse bouche. ☺

Foccacia Bread, Balsamic Vinegar, Rosemary-Infused Olive Oil ☺

Cappucino of Home-Smoked, Vine Ripened Tomatoes, Prosciutto Crisp ☺

Pan-Seared Fillet of Fish, Sauteed Prawn, Olive-Caper Salsa Cruda, Insalata di Caponata ☺

Balsamico Grape Granita ☺

Stracotto di Manzo alla Millanese, Saffron Rissoto ☺

Tiramisu ☺

Chef Nino said I was the Executive Chef and he's just a mentor assisting us. I really was so nervous then!

Pressured to the nth power, before the service I repeatedly utter "I can do this" and "focus". ☺

The executive chef in our restaurant is the one responsible for all the plating needed. Though my team mates help me when they don't have something to do, I still had a lot to do. Team work is everything in the hot kitchen! Thank God I had a great team! ☺

I noticed that all of my pictures are serious, and they are all really candid! When you're so busy doing something important, you really don't care about how you look or if anyone is taking a photo of you. ☺

Presenting... my team! (L-R) Belle, Jarl, Em, Myself, Dennis, Chris and Rita ☺

Belle's Garde Manger, Jarl's the Sous Chef, Em's responsible for the soup, Dennis & Chris are the saute guys and Rita is the patissier. I'm at the middle and I'm the executive chef! ☺ They said our service was good job! *blush* It isn't perfect yet we're so happy that we did well. ☺

'

The incomplete batch with Chef Nino. ☺

I learned a lot with this wonderful experience and I will be forever grateful that I had a chance to be with the people I worked with. Kudos to Chef Nino too for being a kind and at the same time great Chef instructor during the simulation! ☺ 

I don't know if I'm weird but I kind a love the pressure in the kitchen! I felt so nervous before the experience then I felt so relieved and dancing on air happy afterwards! It's so fulfilling to make a lot of people happy with the food they ate and I can actually see myself doing this in my entire life! ♥

I mentioned before that I love Baking and Pastry more than Culinary but after the experience, I'm sort of undecided again. I'm sure as hell that I belong in the kitchen but the question is, on the cold or hot section? We'll soon find out. ☺

"Experience is the best teacher though being in a good school is a great foundation."

Love,

A ♥

I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman! ♥

 Last July 17, I met up with my former housemates. We planned the meet up the day everyone's available so no one's gonna miss it out. ☺ It's hard to find the people who you can talk to about anything and everything, that even sometimes you have different opinions yet they still understand you. That's just too precious to lose. ♥

When we already stayed in our different houses, we don't meet as often as it was like before yet the closeness is still intact. Even though we haven't seen each other for months, when we get together we just all click and catch up. ☺ 

We originally planned to at Pepper Lunch but apparently PL isn't in Trinoma anymore.  So we settled and ate at Krocodile Grille instead. KG used to be my favorite restaurant when it still has a branch in Eastwood. I can remember that their Kare-Kare(my fave viand of all time) is so delicious! 

Baked Mussels. This one's my favorite! I love it! I can finish all of it! Haha.

Beef Salpicao. This one's just okay, I would go for Kare-Kare next time! :p

Grilled Squid. I cannot forget that the menu said BIG SQUID, but it wasn't really big! Oh well, advertisement!

 (L-R) Myself, Nikka, Arianne, Chenee

I'm off to internship as a Culinary student. N's still studying Accountancy but off to finish soon. Ae's already working and will soon be an official Engineer. C's gonna take her Accounting boards on October. ☺

We were supposed to watch Temptation Island but it's showing time is late so we skipped it. ☺ After eating and chatting at KG, we went to window shop to help Ae dress up for work. Then when we got tired of endless walking, we decided to eat dessert at Conti's but it was overflowing with people so we end up buying Crazy Crepes and stayed at Trinoma's food court.

I bought Caramel Mango Vanilla. ☺ I super duper love it! ♥ 

Thanks N for all of the pictures taken from your itouch. ☺ The crepes were all taken from my storm. ☺

While we're buying Crazy Crepes, N was out of nowhere. I thought she went to the ladies' and just asked C to buy her crepe but to my surprise she came back with a cake! They gave me a cake because it's my 20th on the 20th. :D I so appreciate simple things like that. It's really the thought that counts. ♥ 

I wasn't able to celebrate my birthday this year, it's my first time not to but when I saw our pictures I realized that somehow this has been my celebration and I'm already happy with that! There's always a next year! ☺ Though I will only turn 20 once. :p I'm ending this post with my favorite tv/movie character, Carrie Bradshaw:

"So just love, make mistakes, and have wonderful times, but never second guess who you are, where you have been, and most importantly, where it is you are going."

Love,

A ♥

525, 600 minutes. How do you measure, measure a year?

Last July 16, 2011, I attended my cousin's simple deb dinner in their house. She turned 18 last July 12 and she celebrated it with a dinner then a not so few drinks with her family and friends. ☺

I was checking my cousin, Drix's camera while I'm with Apols, another cousin of mine and Drix's sister.☺

(L-R) Epi, Jhillin, Apols, Moi, & Tintin. ☺

Some of us are 1st cousins while some are 2nd cousins but it doesn't really show. We are all super close. Love them! And beware, our bonds are unbreakable. ♥ 

I just had to have a photo taken with my co-July celebrants. :p July 2. 20. 12 ♥

I'm with my other cousins, Leslie and Jaja. ☺

I insisted a photo with the birthday celebrant, Tintin in a shirt and pants. Yes, she's simple like that! ☺ And shout out to Drix for taking and uploading all of the photos using his camera. Thank you cousin! ♥

Tee: F&H, Dress: PRP, Necklace: HK thrift shop, Slippers/Sandals: Havaianas, Bag: Mango ☺ 

Sorry about the background, I don't know how to edit photos. Hopefully, I get to learn soon. :p

I always, as in always always end my posts with a quote. Whether I searched for it or it was just stuck on my mind or it just flickered while I'm doing my posts. While thinking of what title and quote to put with this post, I remembered what Dom said in Fast Five...

"There's always room for family."

Love,

A ♥

Inhale, exhale!

Beware: This is a catch up post! I haven't been posting anything due to my busy schedule. And I meant it! Last week has been the busiest week of my life! No exaggeration. You'll soon see why..

My scheduled week started last last Friday, July 15, 2011. I got a call from school two days beforehand that I was supposed to go to school to observe the batch that's taking their restaurant simulation. I got giddy and all about it because it would be my first time to be in school during restaurant week, as we, students, call it. While talking on the phone I asked some details and the representative from school mentioned that I was one of our batch's Sous Chef. *insert big smile here*

So this is how it goes.. there would be 3 Sous Chef in our batch because there would be 3 groups. In each group, the Sous Chef will lead it. If ever you don't know, the Sous Chef is the one next in line after the Executive Chef in any kitchen establishment. And in our case, with our restaurant simulation, the Executive Chef is the Chef Instructor. ☺

Are you tired yet with all the reading? Haha! So here's what happened during my observation..   

    

I jotted down a lot of notes of what to improve, what to avoid and what not's. I just stayed in a corner where I would not be a hindrance in their work. ☺ See how busy they are? The photo actually didn't do the justice. They were so busy I wasn't able to talk to any of them! Actually, they weren't even chatting at all! All of them are serious. 

And honestly, I got so terrified of the responsibility I had on my shoulders. I saw right then and there what I have to do and I realized that it's no joke to be the Sous Chef. It's a privileged and a big responsibility at the same time. ☺

I only got to take these two photos. I was so focused in observing because I don't wanna mess up when it's our time of service and I didn't actually finished their service because I don't wanna go home so late. And during that night, I contemplated about what Peter Parker aka Spiderman once said..

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Love,

A ♥

Busy as a Bee.

This week has been really crazy free that I have updated all my sites and have actually rested really well. I even got bored because I've got nothing to do. But apparently, I'm quite sure of this, next week is gonna be hell busy. 

If nothing will change, this is my schedule for the coming days.. Tomorrow, July 16, is my cousin Katrin's debut celebration. Then on sunday, July17, there's a scheduled meet up with my friends that I've lived with in Manila. And the whole coming week, July 18-22, is our batch's restaurant simulation then my birthday falls in the middle of that week so I really don't know how can I celebrate my birthday because on the 23rd I have to attend my cousin's debut party. I wish and hope to still have a little celebration of my birthday on the 24th. 

So the week after that blessed week, I'm so gonna watch Friends With Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. I can't miss that one! I'm super in love JT! By the way, it's showing nationwide on July 21 and I'm gonna be late in watching but I believe in the saying it's better late than never. lol.

I hope I can be able to update this blog next week or if not, I'm gonna update it the week after. Now, I should start preparing for school.. I have to observe tonight the people who are having their restaurant simulation this week. I'll try to capture some photos later so I will be able to share it here. ☺

"It's not enough to be busy. The question is, what are you busy about?"

-Thoreau

Love,

A ♥

Sex and the City ♥

I have this Sex and the City obsession that requires myself to have a post about it. I first watched the SATC 1 the movie when my sister bought a DVD and I really love it! So when the SATC 2 movie was shown, I watched it at the cinema. And I have watched both movies for the nth time because I really love those four fabulous girls. That's why I decided to get a copy of the SATC series and watched it every night until I finished. I recently bought a copy of The Carrie Diaries book but I haven't read it yet. :)

As I have always say and tweeted, I can never get tired watching SATC because it's really a wonderful show and I do think that girls should watch it. It's an older version of Gossip Girl. I fell in love with SATC because it's like the real deal. They show what really happens. A part of me will always believe that somewhere in New York or Manhattan there lives or lived four great gals... :)

Note: I'm really not good in editing photos or html or anything meticulously done but I know the basics so I merely screen cap some of the scenes and here they are... 

(L-R) Samantha Jones(Public Relations officer), Miranda Hobbes(lawyer), Carrie Bradshaw(writer), Charlotte York(Art distributor). I simply love this four girls! I really do! ☺

And here is Aidan Shaw, I call him Carrie's great love. I think if Mr. Big is not in the picture or if Carrie knew Aidan before Big, they'll end up together. They're so close in ending up together, they got engaged! But John James Preston is alive so it didn't happen. 

This is Trey and Charlotte, they got married and got a divorce! Bunny(Trey's mom) is a bitch! I swear! I hated her! She's one of the reasons why they separated. 

I got so happy when Samantha fell in love with Richard but it did end up. In this relationship Samantha used my most favorite line, "I love you Richard, but I love me more." 

Walker and Miranda. Out of all the men Miranda dated, Walker was my bet. Maybe because I will always wonder if Miranda wasn't pregnant that time, if they will have a shot of a good relationship.

I find this cute! :) Okay, they are not the perfect of friends. They also have misunderstandings and wrongdoings but they always overcome those. ♥

This is Miranda and husband Steve. They have a kid named Brady. :)

This is Samantha and her latest man in life, Rikard. She's not really into relationships, just hook ups and you-know-what. :) 

This is Charlotte and husband Harry. They got 2 kids, Lily and Rose. :)

And last but most definitely not the least, Carrie and husband Mr. Big. They have the craziest love story ever! They don't have kids and to quote them: "You and Me. Just the two of us." :)

This was my favorite scene in SATC 2 the movie when they were in Abu Dhabi and they sang I am Woman. :)

"The most important thing in life is your family. There are days you love them and others you don't. But in the end, they're the people you always come home to. Sometimes it's the family you're born into and sometimes it's the one you make for yourself." 

-Carrie Bradshaw

Love,

A ♥

Sugar rush!

My cousin, a friend and I had a baking day here in my place earlier. We decided to make brownies, so I searched over the net for a recipe and arranged all the ingredients we needed. I'm just gonna continue telling what happened along with the photos..

Weighed out all the ingredients accurately using a weighing scale.

Sifted the ingredients to avoid lumps.

Mixed it following the recipe procedure.

Pour over the batter unto a pan lined with parchment paper. Boo hoo, my pan and the recipe was not proportion with each other. Tss. I still doesn't have tons of equipment and tools that's why we got no choice but to use the pan I have here.

 I find this silly yet I still managed to pose. Yes, we're crazy fun people. lol.

Baking time baby. ♥ At this point in time, we were practically wishing to have a bearable finish product. :)

After 20-ish minutes, it was cooked and it looks so perfect. :p

Portioning time to achieve the brownies look, we intentionally didn't put chopped peanuts because my cousin doesn't eat peanuts. :)

Presenting... our brownies with toppings! Very appealing right? :)

VERDICT: Aaaand it tasted awful! Haha! I swear! It was bitter and it's falling apart and I merely didn't like it! But at least I get the chance to bond with my cousin Iris and our friend Dianne. I was free anyway. Optimism. :p

Before they arrive, I decided to make Chocolate Mousse using my school's recipe but I omitted the strawberry and replaced it with kiwi due to availability. :)

VERDICT: Aaaand it's a success! It tasted just like how it tasted when I made it in school for one of our laboratory. I'm happy that at least one of my product today was great. ☺

I actually never thought of reading the reviews about the recipe, when I found one I just chose it and took over the ingredients to be used. Okay, you can call me pathetic there. Anyhow, I now learned my lesson and next time I'm gonna search for a recipe, I'll religiously read every review it has. :)

"I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert."

-Jason Love 

Love,


A ♥