Crazy work hrs again!!

So...I went to work at 6 am today like normal. And I looked at my schedule for next week. Well on monday it said I had the 20 hr shift again (meaning come in at 8 pm on that sunday night) However, I was finishing at 4 pm that same day! I thought it was crazy...so I asked Birke about it. Well...I don't know if that was a good thing (because i like night shifts) or a bad thing (cause now i have too many) but she changed my schedule for the weekend completely!! SO today I was supposed to work from 6 am to 4pm and the same for sat and sunday. NOW...This is my new schedule:

Friday: 6 am to 12pm (noon)
Sat: 1 am to 10:30 am
Sunday: 1am to 10:30 am
(Sun night) Monday (the 30th to the 31st) : 8 pm to 6 am
That means the 31st I have all day and night off!!!
Tues (the 1st): OFF (meaning...i can go out for new years!!!)
Wed: off
Thur-Sun: back to normal 6 am to 3:30 pm

So...I like working nights. I get to work with boy B. Which, by the way, has found my blog. SO...we can call him by his name now since he knows who he is. His name is Teddy. We've gotten close over the last few days! He's really fun to be with. Although he knows to cut back on the calling. It was cute though :) Anyway...i'm excited I have a new french friend who speaks english!!!! Always could use more friends!

So...today I slept 6 hrs. I'm kinda mad. I wanted to sleep more like 8...so hopefully at work I won't be tired. But I hadn't eaten ALL day...so I woke up STARVING! I couldn't sleep anymore because my stomach was growling! So i woke up. I feel fine now, but we'll see what happens at work. Now I'm going to get ready for work and maybe start watching a movie. It's so early I don't know what to do to keep myself busy....

days off!

So i had a LOVELY two days off! On Wednesday I went to the gym and then stayed in all day to do some thesis work and to write my resume! If anyone has resume tips for a chef...send them my way! I need the help! But I got some work done for my paper which was good. Then in the evening I left the house for a bit to go to the grocery store. I went to bed rather early to get back on track. Then on Thursday I had my trainer in the morning and Seb kicked my butt...literally! We worked the lower half of my body this time since my elevator is working and it kills now!!! Anyway...the cute guy at the gym was there...and he talked to Seb and said something to me...but I was SOOO fixated on him I had no clue what he said :) Oh...and guess what...he IS jewish! I KNEW IT!!!! Seb was laughing at me because after he came I was working out so much harder and then I even started to speak french to show off! He's so cute though!!!! Anyway I came home and Liz had left (to Canada) so cleaned ALLLLLLL day :) (liz-if you read this...it wasn't because I didn't trust u...it's because I don't trust the cleaning lady!!!) So i cleaned her room, my room and the kitchen. Eventually i finished and then at 4:30 I walked to the Champs and did some shopping. Ok...mainly a big spree at Sephora. At 7 pm I met Dzintra for Sushi at a place called Kaiten. It's one of those places where you pick off of the assembly line. LOVE IT! I was dying for sushi and it was great to catch up with Dzintra! Came home and went to bed. Great two days off!!

Joyeux Noel!

Well...i waited to post this til my two overnight shifts were done! So here goes. (plus there is a GREAT slideshow at the end!!!!)

Ok...so sunday night I woke up at 6 pm and walked to work to get there at 8 pm! almost NO one was there! It looked like it was going to be pretty tranquil! Well...NO ONE was working who spoke english and me and Maki (u will see the pics) were the only girls!!! Otherwise the rest were boys! But my french and I managed! It was actually a ton of fun! I started out putting a TON of frozen salty petits fours on baking sheets and then we baked them and then I had to rearrange them onto plaques. (like i said...you can see PLENTY of pictures) When we had downtime or I got bored...I made coffee as usual or took pictures of the bakery so you could see where I work! Chef wasn't there and neither were too many people so I didn't feel bad about snapping shots! At around 1 am a few more people came in. Then at 4 a few more came in. It was around then when I first started to get hungry...but tired...NO WAY! At 6 am when I was supposed to be done (i was working on buchettes at this time) they asked if I could stay! And you know how I can't say no! hahaha. So I stayed til around 7:20ish. So...i worked from 8pm-7:20 am and not ONCE did i stop and take a break! WOW...first experience for me...and i love EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Then I came home and at 8 am I went to bed and slept til around 6ish! I woke up and then did a whole bunch of crap. I did some laundry, read a magazine, talked to some folks online/on the phone, sent emails...blah blah blah. Then at 12ish I went to work. I met up with boy # B and we chatted for a while before work started at 1 am! Then I went into work and because it was xmas- boy B brought Champagne...so he poured us a glass and we toasted...too sweet! There wasn't much work for me so I walked around for a while, learned how to make bread, then eventually I made some prune tarts. Then eventually at 4 am I got to do some work. I made a few pots of coffee and then at 4ish I did apples again as usual and then buchettes :) Then at 6:30 I was done (overtime again!) But chef came over and looked at my stuff and kinda shook his head. I knew there was NO way I could stay today. Even when I first walked in, chef said to me I wasn't smiling...I was..just not at that moment. And at work...I am known as the girl who NEVER stops smiling...YES YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! i can't help it...i love my job :) anyway...so i went home. I was supposed to end at 6 and i stayed 30 min later but i still felt bad leaving when everyone else was staying on xmas working their asses off. But i went home and at 7:30 I went to bed til 2:30ish. I forced myself to wake up because I wanted to get back on a normal schedule! So I went to see My Blueberry Nights. GREAT movie. I've been doing good with the movies recently! I had no clue what this was about...but i loved it so much! It was a thinker...but it was good for me! Then after that I went to dinner for Pizza (the chinese places were closed! and I am supposed to have sushi on thur...so I opted for pizza). I met two really nice Australian girls so I wasn't lonely at dinner :) Then I went to starbucks for a decaf creme brulee soy latte while I read my Gourmet Magazine. And then I walked home listening to xmas music. It wasn't the most eventful of christmas' but it was a good day. And i LOVE working in a pastry shop ;) And to think a year ago i was singer...hahaha. Sweet dreams and enjoy the pictures!

No way!

Ok...so before i get to my NO WAY...i'm gonn post some things I forgot to say :) well...my elevator is up and running, BUT for only a week or so. Til the 2nd of Jan. But that's good enough for me since my work schedule is so crazy! Yesterday at work I got to work in the petit gateaux section! It was thrilling! However most of the time i made buches (logs) which you saw a couple of photos of. I'm going to post all of my xmas photos on wed though! And...i don't remember which guy...oh uni brown guy who is the jerk...was incharge of me yesterday and he was actually nice! I'm not sure if it's because he is sick...but i think it's because he knows i actually have talent and I'm not just some girl! He told me something i did was perfect. I knew it wasn't perfect so I questioned him and I actually got a smile out of him! It was funny. Then at lunch time he told me to go eat but I wasn't done...and he insisted i eat and I said NO...i will finish my work and THEN eat. He was like...suite yourself. So 35 min later I ate a cold meal...but I felt good about finishing! AND i went to see the movie about Bob Dylan "Im not there" BRILLIANT! AMAZING! GO SEE IT! It was worth my evening! Manuel and i went sat nite. I'm not the BIGGEST dylan fan but i like his music and the way the movie was put together was GREAT and the music and everything...spectacular! I loved it. We also swapped xmas gifts! Well I gave him his (a new man bag) and he gave me half of mine...this GREAT sliver drop necklace. He said it was for my boobs :) hahaha. WHICH he is totally right about...it will fit perfectly with them! I LOVE IT and i can't wait to wear it!!!!

Ok...so my NO WAY! I get to work this morning (sunday) at 6 am. The girl incharge asks what time i'm done. I say 3:30...the normal. Because I knew monday nite I had to come in at 8 pm. Which is kinda like a day off. Anyway...she was like...u better check the schedule again...cause it's 8pm tonite! I was like..uh ok. SO i looked...I got off at 11:30 in the morn so I could go home to sleep and come back at 8 pm (sunday nite) and work til 6 am (monday morn) HOW CRAZY! So i came home...took a nap from 12-6 and now...i'm about to go to work! So...i'll post more tomorrow when I get up...because tomorrow when i get home at 6, i'll go to bed and then i have to be at work at 1 am in the morn(tue)! hahaha. Oh well..have a good nite...off to work for the second time today! toodles

Fun Blog!!!

Yes...that's true! This is going to be a mish mosh of tons of stuff...matzoh balls included ;)

So, I will start off by saying...i forgot to mention that yesterday at work I made almost 10 cups of coffee. Chef was so pleased with me. He smiled at me and thanked me a lot for that. He really likes when I make coffee...and I think he likes the way I make it too ;) Duh...i worked at starbucks long enough...i should know what i'm doing! We don't use a conventional coffee maker....i brew it with boiling water and pour it over the grounds. Fun times!

What else. Oh...today I got off of work early because Liz graduated from LCB! I took some pictures. I will only post a few ;) the chef at the end is who got me my internship (well approved it and said I was good enough in both my pastries and my french to work there! so i thank him a lot! MERCI CHEF!!!)




Then I also have a picture that I recieved online from a friend in my Gastronomy program! We took a picture at the end of the course which I never go to post because I recieved it too late. He turned it into a holiday card so I thought i would share it all with you!

And the last picture I am going to post is of my famous dog, Tarzan! He is so cute i don't even know what to say!!! Just look for yourself ;) (i have 8 more of these if you wanna see them...too cute!!!)

Ok...now is the fun part! I got my schedule for next week! EEKS!!! As you all know it's Xmas week. Well...for me...it's workaholic week! I have NEVER been so excited in all of my life! Here goes:
Monday: 8 pm to 6 am (1 pm to 11 pm Chicago time)
Tues (xmas day): 1 am to 6 am (6 pm to 11 pm Chicago time)
Wed: off
Thur: off
Friday, Sat, Sun: my normal work hours (extra 30 min added because of the holiday) 6 am to 4 pm (11 pm to 9 am Chicago time)

So...as you can see...I'll be sleeping during the days at the beginning of the week. THIS is what a real chef does. And i am SOOO excited to experience it :) It's going to be new for me...but i think it's going to be exactly what I need to get my new career started! OOOOH....I'm SOOO excited...if you can't tell!!!

Hanging in there!

So...it's been a few days and I'm almost at the end of week 3 of my stage. Let's see...I forgot to mention that I saw the Bee Movie on Sunday with Manuel. ADORABLE! It was not what I thought it was going to be(e) but it was SOOO cute and i loved it. I recommend it to anyone who wants to see a cute movie! I can't wait to see Sweeney Todd and Fred Claus!!! YAH! What else...I got to talk to my best friend Jon on the phone. It's been a good while...but it was nice. I also rekindled a friendship that has been long lost! Speaking of...i am due for some talks with some peeps...so email me so you can tell me when the best time to call is :) THANK YOU! Oh...I had two days off this week. Tue and Wed! They were great. Manuel and I got to see eachother more. We went for coffee, went shopping and overall had a nice time together. He works at night and I work the morning...so its hard to see eachother. I went to the gym both days and Seb kicked my butt as usual :) But I loved it. He even has me running at 12 KMH...uh...in the US...not sure...but for me...that's high! I'm pretty shocked :) And i ALSO got a membership at the American Library in Paris where i have checked out 4 books for my thesis paper and started to do some research on it :) YAH FOR ME! OH...i haven't told you all my approved topic yet....drum roll please:

"why do we lose our innate ability to be satiated?"

I thought it was good for me because I tend to overeat...and not because i am hungry...but because I just dont know when I am full. However I learned in my class, that you are born with knowing the ability to be full...so i want to research how we lose that! Cool huh? more like HARD!!!!

So needless to say, I had some good days off. I also have some more pictures for you of work. Just some things I haven't posted yet :)




These are some cookies I made. I made SOOOO many plaques of them, I can't even remember. I had to pipe them out, then put this nougat stuff in the middle and then bake them. Quite the fun time i must say ;)




These are from a plum tart I had to make. Well MANY i had to make. (i had to cut all of those plums into 6!) See that large one....well i finished it...and Yoko came over and redid the ENTIRE thing for me. That was my version. She took hers away too quickly for me to take a picture of it. I suck :( hahaha. The way I did it was took the tart shell (that i made!!!) and put some almond cream on it, then some breadcrumbs (which are made out of left over cake-which I also made) and then put on the plums! voila!


These are more pictures of the logs that I made. They are the coffee flavor. I got to try them today at work...they are SOOOO good! I think I'm gonna be buying one of those for xmas :) hahaha. But it was a lot of fun to decorate! And i did it all by myself. Notice my lines are much straighter than last time :)

Anyway...update on the boy situation. I gave letter B (the one who speaks english who worked at Trotter's) my email today because he is sending me some pictures of chocolate work he did. He is the bread baker as I said. I asked him what time he goes to bed. 12pm in the afternoon because he has to be at work at 12:30. I asked him his age too...23. He's been baking bread for almost 10 years he said! EEEKS...makes me feel like I started work to late! hahaha. That's that! I also had a guy confess his love for me today at work...but that's a whole other story that i dont wanna delve into and it's not even worth my time. Well..I am off to continue reading my book for my thesis. This book is actually good. It's called "The emotional eater's book of inspiration" by debbie danowski (she actually emailed me back too which was so nice!) I'm almost done and I've only had it two days! The holidays are just around the corner...but I'll write another post on that...but happy holidays!!!! toodles

Boys will be...

yes. this blog is about boys. I know you all want to know about my love life. well...it's non existant...so get ready for a great blog :) However first I have to mention a few things. Because I work all day...the boys i am talking about are from work...duh :) Second...i have to tell you about this girl (NOT like that) at work who rocks! Her name is Liza (not Liza with a Z...she pronounces it Leeza). Anyway...she lived in Philly for a little so she speaks english...but she LOVES swear words...so this is our morning convo.
Her: "hey Bi$%h. How are you?"
Me: "fine and u?"
Her: "Good, Slut. C u later Muthafu%^er"
Me: "ok"
Ok...so that's a sample...but yesterday we got talking about how i was a slut...and she said because I slept with all the guys at work because i call them by the short versions of their names...Alexandre= Alex, Christophe= Chris...etc! I was like...DUH! So now this is an ongoing joke! So...it only adds to my men situation. She is by far my fav person at work...HILARIOUS!!!!! 3) this has nothing to do with boys...but I have to thank Jaimee Gilford for keeping me busy this past week on AIM. Without her...I may have lost my mind from boredness :) However...this week I am starting my thesis...so i should hopefully be a little busier!!!!

Ok...first off...this blog is dedicated to my good friend Nellz...who has taken a break from blogging...but if you care to read her FABULOUS blog...it's on the right hand side of my page :) LOTS of boy stuff...which I love! So...Nellz...this is for you :)

Ok...so...work and boys. There are a TON of them. I have written down everyone's name (i think...new people keep poppin up!) But there are approx 25+ boys to about 9 girls or so! that's a HUGE difference. Mind you...some of the guys are dishwashers and some of them are 16...but there are a handful which are good enough for me. I'd say...atleast 10. Ok...won't name names...I don't wanna jinx anything...but here goes.

A) The cute one. He is my top choice...well WAS until today. He is french. Don't know his age. and his english SUX. I mean can't understand the word hi...although he knows hello. So it's great when I'm mad at him and I can rant and he has no clue :) Anyway...He's adorable. He works in entrements (cakes). I've worked with him a few times. He calls me his "amie" (friend). He also winks at me however Kaili used to just wink at people and not know...so I wasn't sure. Well anyway...I thought that was a cute thing...now, i noticed him doing it to others. Oh well. Yesterday I told him it was adorable when he smiles...so he smiled more. Good start. Until today! He was a jerk to me (normal for these french men who have power over american woman in the kitchen---i was worned by liza and yuki!) He was telling me what to do...but I was already 20 min over work...and when I told him i needed to go home to write my thesis...he laughed at me. So i just left. Still adorable...but needs an attitude change.

B) The one that speaks english. Second choice...but TOTALLY in the lead!!! He's the bread guy. Speaks (i think) perfect english. YET...still speaks to me in french (meaning he doesnt treat me like a baby). He worked at Charlie Trotter's in chicago and said he can hook me up (that's just a bonus!haha). We had a convo yesterday (not to be put on my blog-email me for info) and he offered to give me his number today. Well today...he kept coming into the room I work in (two rooms away) for NO reason at all...never has done that before, and when I walked into his room (i go in there often to serve coffee) he told me i was sweet. He tried to keep asking me questions so I would stay in there longer. He tells me I always smell good and that I'm hot (uh...ok). Issue...he has A LOT of tattoos...(visible ones) and i THINK he smokes...not sure though. But overall...he's so cute...and SO nice and yah.

C) The asshole. I also go for one of them u know?!? However...he has a unibrow (hahahah) and a mini mustache (is he growing it/trying/or not shaving). But he's tall, dark and handsome. BUT...he has the asshole thing going. Which, day one, i found out. He told me my french sucked...but he's another one...can't speak a lick of english...so i told him back (in french) that my french is better than your english...so shut up :) he liked that one! hahhaa. In anycase...he's gotten better. I think he's noticed that I actually CAN do things (as far as pastry) so he's letting me work more. So maybe at first he was intimidated by me!?! i don't know!

D) The quiet one. Cute...very cute...but SMELLS BAD! typical french. I don't have much to say about him. We work far from each other...but he is really nice to me. He speaks a little english...but when we speak french...he takes the time to explain to me. Even when giving me directions when i work with him. But can I get over the smelly thing?! UH!!!!

E) The friend of the cute one who LOVES the fact that I make him coffee. Ok...he's pretty adorable as well. Today he called me beautiful because I made him coffee twice. It was cute. But then he was being a dick with his friend. Oh well. Yesterday was funny as well because I was making a joke about changing and i started to unsnap two buttons and he was like all wide eyed and goes "Yah...go for it". I just laughed and go..."you wish!" I don't know his age. But....if I keep making him coffee...i'm in :) hahhaha

F) The YOUNG one. He's not cute. But we chat the most out of everyone. He works next to me and he wants to get better at english because he plans on moving to FL or CA in 2 years. He is 20. He is SUPER nice. We actually got yelled at yesterday for talking to much. But he also helps me learn what I'm doing wrong. He also showed me where the office was one day after work. Just a nice guy!

G) The long haired dude. He has hair as long as mine (down to his shoulders). He wears a headband,is a breadbaker, wears all white (including a white thong) and he is SO quiet that he eats his lunch alone. Sad. I've been there two weeks and i finally asked him what his name was. I feel bad for the guy...especially cause is really cute. Oh well.

And then there are a few others...but those are the main ones!!! So...now you know my dilemnas...I will keep you posted. Feel free to email me/comment/ or do whatever you want regarding my boys blog! I had to do one sooner or later. I mean...i waited almost 12 months to write one! hahaha. Ok...i have two days off...i am going to enjoy them...and take a trip to the american library i think! Toodles.