12-16-08 At Home In the Kitchen

Yesterday at the Marriott I was back in the kitchen. When I arrived, Misty was preparing plates of toppings to be wrapped in plastic and placed in the freezer for a dessert being served tomorrow. There were 3 plates of M&Ms, 3 plates of Oreo bits, 5 plates of cherries, 3 plates of strawberries, 3 plates of rainbow sprinkles, and 5 heaping plates of whipped cream. It was difficult to make the whipped cream look presentable because it was still pretty frozen, and wasn't coming out of the bag with ease. After I finished the whipped cream, two of the other girls in my class wrapped them up. While this was going on, Matt was chopping up cantaloupes, pineapples, mangoes, and honeydew melon. We also got to organize cookies and pastries for the concierge department. Moral of the Marriott today: Whipped Cream is best Served at Room Temperature.

Marriott 12-2-08

Today I worked with Joel in Room Service. When I first met up with Joel he was setting up a rather large cart with Lemons, limes, bottled water, glasses(with lids), Mini bottles of ketchup and mustard, ice, rolls, silverware, sodas, straws, and plates. He had a huge order that he needed to bring to a conference in the Board room. Before heading out, we stopped in the kitchen to pick up the actual meals which consisted of Cesar salads, chicken, and wraps. Dan, the restaurant manager carried the meals while Joel pushed the cart, and I opened and closed the doors. After that Joel explained how room service gets the orders. Guests can either write out a door hanging menu, or call down and place the order verbally. After the order is placed, Joel sets up the cart and brings the guest their meal. When the guests are done, he goes back up to the room and gathers up their trays. Joel buses his own carts and makes sure that he has a fully stocked office so the guests can get their orders on time. I think this was my favorite day at the Marriott because I finally got to see the hotel. I got to see what the rooms looked like, and even got to see the bar. I like room service, and Joel had some crazy stories of people he's met, rooms that had been trashed, and even mistakes he's made on the job. At the very end when we were bringing a cart down with dirty dishes Joel dropped an Ashley Glass and had to clean it up quick that was someone didn't step on it an get hurt.

Marriott 11-25-08

Today I worked in the kitchen with Misty on prep. Learned the "proper" way to cut pineapples and melons. You cut off each butt-end, peel the skin (or eyes if your working with a pineapple) off, cut the whole fruit in half, then carve out either the hard center piece of the pineapple or the seeds of the melon. Cut the fruit in half again, and then cut into small cubes. After we were done cutting fruit, Misty and I talked about how empty the kitchen was. She was the only one in there. I was so shocked. I'm so used to there being about 50 people running around plates in hand, but not today. Misty explained that because it was so close to thanksgiving that most people don't stay at a hotel they stay with their family. So there were little to no customers. We then organized some dessert trays and scrubbed down the table. All in all it was a slow, but fun day.