Crazy Saturday Nights...

It would appear that when you work in hospitality, you’re Saturdays are ALWAYS CRAZY!!! This was especially true this past Saturday (the 8th of October). We had a legitimately full house. Every table was taken and we were worked off our feet!!

I worked the conservatory which is normally seven tables of two, but owing to large parties it was moved around a bit. Instead there was a table of five, two tables of four and three tables of two. And to cap it all off.... the table of five was a group (the Flints) who frequent L’enclume was having an 18 course menu with cheese and coffee. What a night!!!

I have mentioned before that I was being a runner. But for the last 2 weeks(ish) I’ve actually been a Chef du Rang!!! This means that I’ve been seating tables, pouring waters (and the occasional wine... but I mostly leave that to the sommelier), putting cutlery on the table... and the most important part: serving and explaining dishes!! When a runner brings me a tray, they will discreetly tell me which table it is for (although for the most part I should and do know who’s waiting for which course) and I’ll take the plates, place it on that table (serve the lady first and always place the plate from the right when possible!!) then I’ll explain to them what they have before them.

For the most part I just list the ingredients and through words like “beautiful”, “lovely” and “nice” when describing the different items on the plate, but sometimes I take the time to explain (briefly!) the actual preparation of the main elements (ie. cooked over embers, pan seared, slow roasted, etc.). As of right now I know all of the eight course menu, all of the 12 course menu and most of the 12 course vegetarian menu. Fortunately, because the kitchen uses lots of local and ‘in-season’ ingredients, I can usually tell you what’s on a vegetarian dish that I’m not familiar with because I recognize some of the main elements.

I have to say, I’m having a lot of fun working the floor. It’s very tiring and a long night of work... but the atmosphere is something I’ve never seen working anywhere else before and the people (both the chefs, the other chef du rongs and the customers) are all so great!!!

As I mentioned, I had a table with an 18 course menu (basically it was the 12 course menu with the main dish from the eight course added, as well as a couple of vegetarian dishes thrown in there). I haven’t had the chance to take photos of any of the dishes yet. Still not sure how I’ll be able to manage that, but I will describe the 18 courses to you that I served, just so you can know what an awesome chef du rong I am!!! (Oh, and also what kind of dishes we’re talking about here)


Not on the menu is the first dish, the amuse-bouche. This is a bite sized hors d'oeuvre, like a little ‘gift from the chef’. Right now we’re having a montgomery cheddar biscuit (nice and sharp flavour) which has a little mound of broccoli puree on top and finished with dried crushed raspberries and pea shoots.

The first official course is presented in a small ceramic sack, it looks like a little pillow that fits in the palm of your hand. The actual vessel is made by the art students at Preston University. The dish starts off with a base of celery dill gel, some beetroot meringue and beetroot mousse and polished off with some buffalo mozzarella granita and some fresh baby pak choi shoots.


The second dish was of heirloom tomatoes stewed in mead and presented with crisp baby bell (pepper) and alexander seed mayo (Alexander being a flower who’s seeds have a distinctly herby taste similar to rosemary or sage). 


Third is the purple graffiti cauliflower which is proposed on a base of fresh cheese and garnished with a thin rye crisp.


The fourth dish is a very classic Rogan dish. A cod mousse is formed into a spherical shape resembling a yolk and dipped in a turmeric gel then served on a base of puffed rice seasoned with vinegar and salt. Finishing off this dish is a warm garlic mayo and some fresh watercress.


At this point some individual rolls are brought from the pastry section of the kitchen. 3 rolls per person, a dark pumpernickel roll, a spelt and barley and finally an organic unbleached flour with potato starch added. Fresh unsalted butter from the kitchen is finished off with some salt which is locally harvested.

The fifth dish is the English truffle pudding. A crisp slice of croissant is served with baby white onion skins, fresh fennel, crisp puffed pearl barley, very thinly sliced black English truffles (from Kent) and the works is finished off with a rich truffle broth poured onto your dish in front of you by yours truly!


Sixth is the catch of the day. A base of oyster emulsion is topped with smoke trout, cockles, salmon caviar, smoked and pan seared scallops and finished off with pickled celeriac, squid ink pebbles (a meringue made with squid ink) and a crisp potato net that resembles a fishing net.


Seventh is the smoked yolk hidden under the Verna Leek which as been cooked in and served with a horseradish sauces and finished with coastal herbs.


The eighth dish is a base of St. Tola cheese, a sharp and creamy irish goat cheese which is covered in a light dusting of malt. Jerusalem artichokes are standing upright in this base and garnished with crisp artichoke skin, tarragon herbs as well as tarragon oil.


Chicken offals make up the ninth dish. The heart, liver and gizzard of chicken are pan seared and served with white lady runner beans, golden cap mushrooms and finished off with chicken jus and mugwort gravy.


Tenth is the Royal Kidney variety of heritage potatoes served on a base of shredded crab meat with horse radish sauce, crisp chicken skin, chicken jus and finished off with baby garlic chives.


Millet pudding with local favourite Stichelton, an un-pasteurized version of Stilton cheese makes up the eleventh dish.


Twelfth was the fillet from the monkfish tail served with a variety of radishes, costal herbs and finished with an elderberry caper sauce.


A fillet of plaice is the thirteenth dish. Served with white vienna, a type of kohlrabi which was baked in salt, kale greens, razor clams and finished with a seafood sauce.


The fourteenth dish, and the first of the two main dishes is the suckling pig, a cut from the loin. Served with a grilled parsnip, apple gel, ground ivy, wild chervil and finished off with a puffed pig crackling.


Fifteenth is a very slowly cooked (72 hours cooked!) short-rib of the shorthorn cow. Presented with smoked marrow, butternut squash that is presented in two forms thin slices as well as a puree and all finished off with a sherry sauce and celery leaves.


At this point, as per French tradition, a course of cheese is offered. A variety of locally made cheese can be sampled.


The desserts start with a chestnut ice cream which is served on a base of apple gel with some granny smith apple cubes. Honey oat crumble, grated chestnut and anise hyssop flowers finish off the sixteenth course.


Seventeenth is the stout icecream made with a stout beer from Coniston and licorice powder. A curd of sea buckthorn makes up the base of this dish.


The final official course, eighteenth is the sweet cheese, a goat cheese served with gooseberry compote, walnut crumble and finished off with a douglas fir wafer.

There is another little course that isn’t listed on the menu the guests are shown and this is the anise hyssop milk shake, a small shot of this very refreshing flavour which is served with a light raspberry meringue that is dusted with white chocolate powder.


And after all that, if coffees are chose (which in this case... they were!) a petit four of Kendal Mint Cake ice cream with Tuscan chocolate is given to each guest with their coffee.


Are you hungry now?

Work keeps going on and on...

Outside l'enclume

It’s been a little over a weeks since my last post. I haven’t really had much to talk about because I’ve been working the whole time!

My days (for the most part) have been very busy! Usually work from 9am to around 3pm then a short break (usually for a quick nap) then back to the restaurant for the dinner service (6pm until close which is usually around midnight).

I haven’t really had a chance to introduce you to l’enclume.

L’enclume is french for ‘The Anvil’ because about 800 years ago (same era as the priory in town) the building was the site of the black smith. When you’re inside the restaurant you can see the old nails, pegs and spikes in the old timbers of the ceiling. Of course the place has been updated and it’s now a very beautiful space for enjoying the meal service. There are 4 main areas that the guests see; the lounge when you first enter (with access to the washrooms), the main restaurant area, the conservatory and the salon.

The restaurant features breakfast and lunch 5 days per week and dinner 7 nights per week. Breakfasts range from a fresh fruit salad to a full english style breakfast. Lunch and dinner menus are very similar. They’re not your typical menu, you get menu 1, 2 or 3. You will get either an 8 or a 12 course meal (depending on the menu you choose) and they’re called a tasting menu because you’re essentially getting a taste of dishes. They’re not exceptionally big but honestly, when you’re sitting down to a 12 course meal, do you really want each one to be a quarter pound steak? There’s also wine, champagne and water to be had with the meal, bread as well as a supplementary cheese course offered (a cheese trolly is wheeled over to your table and you get to choose from a number of locally made cheese to try) and of course coffee or tea.

Although the dishes are quite small, this sit down affair can take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours!

So far my job during all this has been as a ‘runner’ this means that I’m there to take the dishes from the chef to the chef du rang (server) and polish the dishes after the kitchen porter (dishwasher) has finished with them. I’ve also done a few drinks (as when the guests arrive they are offered an aperitif in the lounge while they choose their menu and wines for the meal) and delivered them with the canapés (a light tapioca based cheese biscuit and duck scratchings.... they’re exactly as they sound, duck skin fried and salted. Yep.) to the lounge . Then when the guest is finished with the menu and their aperitif I have taken a few to their tables. Nothing too strenuous but good practice.

I have also cleaned rooms a few times, good way to find out where all the rooms are. There are 6 in the same building as the restaurant. Rooms 1 & 2 are by the linen closet which is just above the restaurant (entrance through a door outside beside the restaurant's main door and up a very old flight of stone stairs), both rooms are smallish but also kind of an average size for hotels.

Room 3 is beside the restaurant on the other side of the main door with 4 & 5 being behind the same door but up stairs (above room 3 and the restaurant’s rest rooms and lounge). These are larger rooms some with nice sitting areas. Room 7 is also known as the garden suite and it’s further down the building from the entrance to rooms 3, 4 & 5. This is a quite large room with a sitting area separate from the bedroom as well as 2 different access points to the garden (which is visible from the restaurant’s conservatory).

Rooms 8 & 9 are above the new coffee shop in town, Cartmel Coffee. They are HUGE rooms with king size beds, large seating areas with couches and HUGE bathrooms. with a price tag of £199 per night... they’d have to be! The view from the windows shows the town square with easy and immediate access to any and all shops in town as well as a number of pubs and coffee or tea shops.

Common area in L'enclume house

Rooms 10, 11, 12 and “The Bradshaw” are just a bit further from the restaurant than 8 & 9, they’re in the same building as our sister restaurant, the owner’s namesake, Rogan’s.  10 is quite small, cosy but beautiful with original timber floors, 11 and 12 are of good sizes with some sitting space and views of the courtyard and the garden (respectively). The Bradshaw is on the main level of this building (also known as the L’enclume House). It has heated stone floors and a fire place (though I don’t think that’s had a fire in it for quite some time). In addition to these rooms there’s a common area in this building with a large dining table (though no kitchen) and a huge seating area with couches and chairs.


I think that about covers it! It’s just a lot of information that the website doesn’t quite cover. I hope to have photos to share of each room eventually, the photos on the site (though nice) don’t really do the rooms justice. They help me remember which room is which but they miss some great features of the rooms as well as the actual size and atmosphere of the rooms.

Settling in?

Pretty nice looking country!

Well I’m landed and as it sits right now I have a roof over my head. Yesterday was a kind of difficult day towards the end, but it ended well.

There isn’t really all that much to tell right now about where I’m staying. There’s a field with some cows an sheep in it in the middle of town and there’s a pretty big (horse) racetrack at the other end of town.

I learned a bit more about the restaurant (L’enclume) where I’ll be working. It dates back to the 12th century (from the same time of the priory in the town). L’enclume meaning ‘anvil’ in french because where the restaurant is now used to be the blacksmith. In fact, the original anvil is in the restaurant. Hopefully I’ll be able to get more photos of that for you later on.

I am right now staying in the ‘staff house’ which is actually a house in the more residential part of town, but I should be moving into a flat with two of the other girls who work at l’enclume. It’s not that I don’t like the people I’m living with right now, it’s actually the opposite, they’re all really nice! There’s currently myself, a chef (I forgot his name), Vincent (he’s a server and he’s very french), his girlfriend Lindsey and Olla, a polish girl. Like I said, it’s not like I don’t like the people here, but I’m sharing a room (bunk bed, no less) with Olla at the moment and the bathroom with all the previously mentioned people. If you know me, you know my standard when it comes to clean... I think it’ll be easier to keep up with those living in the flat with the other 2 girls as opposed to this group (too many people means too many people not wanting to “clean up other people’s mess”).

But I think the thing that makes the move more final is that there is a shower at the new place. There’s only a bath tub here and I don’t know if I can handle living in a place with only a bath tub for more than a couple of days, forget a whole year.

I should be moving into the new place tomorrow but as far as I know there isn’t an internet connection there yet. I hope we get one soon as it is pretty hard living here without one (the one at the staff house sucks royally, working very occasionally and for short periods of time).

Work starts at 8:30 on Wednesday so hopefully I’ll have something more interesting to say then!

Far toooo early in the morning...

I’ve finally made it to England. London to be precise. I have a bit of a layover before my flight to Manchester so I figured now would be an appropriate time for an update!

As you know, I spent the last week in Ottawa. Lots of hanging out with friends, lots of shopping... LOTS of shopping. I had a really great time, honestly I almost didn’t want it to end.

I left for my flight at around 5pm (that’s about 3 hours before I was set to take off). Made it with about 40 minutes of sitting time because security was really quick and there were only maybe between 20 and 30 people on the Dash 8. Did you know that those things are NOISEY?!

Immediately when we landed in Montreal there was a woman at the door (because we weren’t a big enough plane to actually dock, we got to do the tarmac) looking for me. I had VERY LITTLE time to get to my next flight. To make matters worse, I had to go through arrivals and get a boarding pass at the British Airways counter and go back through security before actually finding my gate. Ugh. I RAN through the airport to and from the BA counter.

I made it.

With just enough time to ascertain that my flight was still there (they were doing pre-boarding) I went to use the washroom and get a couple of drinks and some salty snacks for the ride.

The Boeing 777 is slightly bigger than a Dash 8... slightly... ha. It’s one of those planes divided into cabins and (for use cheap seats) with 9 seats across (3 seats - aisle - 3 seats - aisle - 3 seats) I was originally suppose to to sit on the edge of the middle set of 3 seats but WHAT LUCK! there was a girl (another passenger) who wanted to be closer to her friend so she asked if I would swap with her for her WINDOW SEAT... uh, heck yes! So I got to cuddle up to a window, watch The Young Victoria (LOVE that movie) and snooze for about 2 - 3 hours before... LONDON!!!!

My connection for Manchester isn’t for a few hours so I have signed up with boingo so I may use the inter-webs at the airport (because there is no way I could keep sane in an airport for this long without it) after this, it’s a flight then I get to try my hand at the trains around here!! Should be fun!

Hellooooo from the road!!!

Hellooo!!!! I just landed at the “Toronto City” Airport! That’s the one downtown and I have to say... HOLY SHORT RUNWAY!!!!! Seriously, I thought we were going to get wet (the runway juts out into Lake Ontario)!

I figure now would be a good time to do that post I wanted to about what exactly I needed to get done before I started this little trip. This may or may not interest you, but I got to say, I wish someone would have given me a list the second I thought about doing this. I might have changed my mind!! There’s SO much to get done! Fortunately for me , I have been planning this for over a year and a half, so I’ve had plenty of time to get things done. And thankful as I ever am for the ‘last-minute’, I got everything done!!

1. Passport
   Seems like a no-brainer, but hey, you gotta do it!
    
2. Visa
   I chuckled a bit to myself when I told some people about this visa thing and they thought it was a credit card. I feel justified in laughing at them because I thought the same thing when I first started wanting to travel (some time in grade 11). I thought it was perfectly reasonable to need a credit card to travel to some countries, not everyone uses the same currency!! Now I know better!
   Interesting thing about getting the visa (which I got no less than 10 months ago!) You have to go to a designated location to get your visa processed. I figured that I could go get it done in Winnipeg, where I had to go for my passport. WRONG! You have the option of St. John’s, Ottawa (possibly Toronto too, I don’t remember), Edmonton or Vancouver. Seriously, that’s it. Do they not realize that I live 1860km from Ottawa and 1663km from Edmonton? It’s not exactly a day trip! Ah well, I got it done.
   **ALSO** Did you know you need to have money to get a Visa? I mean $$MONEY$$ Somewhere around $2600 as far as I recall. Not really much when you start tapping into it to pay for Travel Insurance, power adapters... But I don’t think that’s what it’s for.

    
3. Health Check
   I assume that if you were to go work internationally without the aid of a company like Scotia Personnel, you might not need to get the letter from your doctor saying you’re “To the best of my knowledge, in good health”... But I would also assume that a person hiring you, sight-unseen would want this piece of mind. I got mine ages ago. Lets hope I haven’t gotten cancer in the last 9 months!!
    
4. Criminal Record Check
   Same applies to the criminal record check as the health check, not everyone will necessarily necessarily want this, but they might! No murders or parking tickets on mine! :)
    
5. Travel Insurance.
   This wasn’t “required” to have to leave the country but, like I’ve been saying “If I don’t get it, knowing my luck, I’ll end up falling in front of a train as soon as I get off the plane.”
   Better safe than sorry!!
   Make sure you put a bit of money aside for this, it can be pricy!!(I mean a whole paycheck for me this summer)!! (But trust me, your health is worth it!!)
   
   Big thanks to Debbie Lang (http://www.debbielang.com/) for helping me out with this!! True to form, I left one of the most important things to the end (insurance) and Debbie helped me figure it out the day before my flight and in about one hour too!!! Can you say LIFE SAVER?!
    
6. A sense of adventure and some super supportive friends and family!!
   Yeah... sounds cheesy, but seriously, I don’t think I could be doing this if it weren’t for my family and friends. Everyone is really supportive and it helps! It’s kinda daunting thinking about a whole year (and a half?) without the comforts of home!
    
7. A camera!!
   Ok... now we’re branching out from what you NEED to what you SHOULD have! I can’t even begin to imagine what sort of photos I’m going to be putting up here!! Going to be good!

Well I think that about sums up what I’ve had to do for the trip. I left out things like “Plane Ticket” Because unless you have feathers, I think that’s implied.

If you’re following me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know that I’ve already started the trip. From now on I’ll be posting about the trip on here along with some ‘select’ photos. For the full spectrum of photos, refer to my facebook page where I’ll be putting up all the goods (and even some of the bads!)!!!!

Cheers!
-Shelly

Long time coming....

Well! This blog has been a long time coming. A VERY long time!!

Not everyone will appreciate exactly what I mean by that so I’m going so lay out exactly what led to this upcoming year in England. Many people know I’m moving there but as far as I can tell no one really knows exactly what’s going on. So here goes nothing!

For anyone out there who actually knows what has been going on, feel free to tune in next time and give this one a skip!

It Started in Ottawa
Almost 2 years ago (I honestly can’t believe it’s been that long!) I attended the Baking and Pastry Arts program at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario. Mid way through the fall semester, some people from a job placement company called Scotia Personnel (http://www.scotia-personnel-ltd.com/)came to talk to our class about the opportunities they offered with work abroad terms.

As anyone who has known me over the past half a decade can tell you, I have wanted to work in a different country for a long time. To experience different culture, work environment, not to mention the chance to travel once you get to a different country... I just wanted (and still want) to get out there!

The Perfect Opportunity
Along comes this company (Scotia Personnel) offering to find me a place to work, a place to stay, and to help me with the journey to those things. I was sold. I signed up and was contacted in December (2009) to set up an appointment in January when they were back in town. The interview went well and I decided that I wanted to wait a year before taking the plunge. January 2011 was when I wanted to leave.

Doesn’t life always have a way of messing with your plans?

I intended to spend the summer and the following fall waitressing at one of the few restaurants or hotels back home. Yeah... right. I couldn’t seem to land a job, they all wanted either their past employees or someone with more experience (how exactly do you expect me to get experience without a job?)...

A Series of (Fortunate and) Unfortunate Events
But fortunately I got a job at a place I had wanted to work at the previous summer (www.fortvermilion.ca).

But unfortunately they’re a seasonal business. By the September long weekend I was unemployed and looking ahead at four months of unemployment.

Fortunately(!) the owner of the only local restaurant that is (reliably) open all year round said she would hire me when her students went back to school and to come talk to her the Tuesday after the long weekend to talk about a schedule.

Unfortunately(!!!) the place burnt down on the Monday of the long weekend.

FORTUNATELY(!!!!!!) My old boss (old boss from before I even moved to Ottawa)called me up that Wednesday and offered me a job!

Whew! I was saved. I had a job that should last into January, at which point the 2 employees I would be covering for would be back and I’d be good to go to England.

Time to Go!
As January approached I was having the same trouble with finding a job through Scotia Personnel as I was in the summer at home. Everyone wants experience, specifically, they wanted me to have hotel experience. Did they think I had no customer service skills? I’ve been working with the public for 5 years! Just because I’ve never had a full time job waiting on tables, they wouldn’t look at me twice.

January came and went and things were getting a little stressful. I didn’t have a job in England so I didn’t want to leave my job (which my boss was so nice enough to keep me on). In the first week of February, out of the blue she (my boss) offered me what seemed like a really fun and different job at the second store location they’d acquired the previous spring. I weighed my options and went for it. I now had a job guaranteed at least until September again.

That pretty much brings us to now. I left that job at the beginning of August because I wanted to be completely available to leave at a moment’s notice for Scotia Personnel.

Now none of the above mentions what all Scotia Personnel has actually done for me. They put together “Hire Shelly” package, helped me get the necessary documents for working and working in England and they’ve been mostly enjoyable to work with.

Here’s how getting a job through Scotia Personnel works:
A hotel contacts them and they look through the applicants they’re trying to place and decide who would work well there.
They send me an email saying there’s a hotel, here’s the link, check it out and let us know what you think.
I tell them I like the look of the place (after some googling and wikipediaing).
They send the “Hire Shelly” package off to the hotel (resume, photos, references, etc.)
The hotel decides whether or not they want me.

About Bloody Time!!
This happened quite a number of times for me (see previous about experience) before they finally sent me this super-nice-looking-but-way-too-fancy-for-Shelly hotel... and they took!!!  www.lenclume.co.uk


Ok, I make it seem like I've been waiting the whole year and a half for them to get me this job since I first met up with Scotia Personnel in January 2010, but that's not true. They only started in December 2010 for about a month an a half and again this August for not quite a month. But honestly, when you're used to working all the time like I am, it's a bit stressful not knowing when your next job is going to be!

That’s basically where we’re sitting at right now. I’ll go into the details of what I’ve been doing since the hotel has hired me next time since this post is about 400 words over what I’d wanted it to be!