7-11.... well, not the convinent store, but still catchy =)

Wow, I can't believe i look back at the last post date and it says May 31st! That's pathetic!

Well, i'm back now, and determined to keep the updates coming as often as I can. Now, most of you have NO idea what i'm reffering to in the title of this blog entry, so i'll simply say 7-11 has become the new catch phrase of the pastry department. Essentially it refers to two things, 1) The Pastry Department in every restaurant / hotel / eatery seems to always be the snack station where all the kitchen employees cruise by for a quick nibble. At first this can be fun, providing goodies to everyone, and ensuring at least a few good feelings as all your work is gobbled up in front of your face. However, most of the time, it gets a bit out of control and situations like coming into work to find all your Ice Creams eaten become increasingly more common. Anywho, the second, and more accurate reference is the fact that our hours have unofficially become 7am - 11pm.

Yep, you read that right.... Today I started with a Galley (ship word for "kitchen") Inspection at 7 am, and ended my day entering the order list at 11:30pm. Whew, what a long one...

Well, i should say, there's a good reason for all of this. Since July 4th, my boss has been on vacation and so yours truly has been acting as the ship's Pastry Chef. I'll hold this position until his vacation is over (and I sign off) in mid-September. Until then, as the Exec Chef has assured me, the pastry department is my new baby.

Honestly, it's a pretty cool concept. I'm the Pastry Chef of the World. Yeah, it's got a pretty bad-ass ring to it, but it comes with a hell of a price. The work load's definitely intense, and the buck now falls on me. In related news, we got a "new" guy in the Pastry Team to beef up the numbers back to a whopping 3 of us. Fortunately, he's been in the Pastry Department before (about a year ago) and really knows his stuff. He's an incredibly fast worker, a bit unrefined, but i'll tell you what, the guy can get things done! Now that he's on board, i'm a little less stressed and VERY happy to have him back on the team.

Since taking over, my social life's been on pause, so hopefully soon I can get out again and have a glass of wine with the other 20-somethings on the boat soon. Since I have essentially no living costs (free housing, free food.... etc) I decided to buy a $100 sushi boat for a few friends and I to enjoy after work tomorrow night. My closest friend on the ship is a bartender upstairs so hopefully he'll hook us up with another $80 bottle of Sake to pair with it. mmmmm, sushi. Can't wait!

Oh, and in related news, I've been cranking out a bunch of new menus that look pretty cool. I even made my first sugar showpeice since culinary school a few days ago! It stood about 18" tall on top of one of our buffets. Kinda cool eh? I'll post pics of food / the showpeice soon. It's no "World Pastry Championship," but considering how long it's been since i've attempted something like that i'd say it's pretty good! =)


... and finally, one last thing, since most of you have no idea where I am / where we're headed I'll try and post a little one liner every day or so to keep you up on the itinerary. Right now we're off the west coast of canada heading to Victoria. Tomorrow we'll be entirely at sea, but we should dock early the day after.

Ciao for now! .

-me