Monday September 23, 2019

Rotation Position: Sandwich line

This week started off a lot better than how last week ended. The weekend truly can make
miracles happen. Everyone came in with a better mood. I think part of the mood swings has to do
with the bad weather. Anyway today was an easy day in the kitchen. As I come into work I jump
in and help wherever is needed. Because the manager is still not used to me coming in early to
have me start on anything. Because what I found out is that each of the ladies that come in early
go through a mini rotation of fruit, veggies, and main courses. So right now I have been paired
up with the lady over fruit. Which coincidentally is her first time doing fruit, since she is new to
the kitchen. We had a sub today and I had to switch places because the person she was covering
for she couldn't take her rotation. A sub is not allowed to be at the end due to having to carefully
watching to see if the students have enough fruit or veggies on their tray. Each student needs at
least a half a cup of either. As an update for my goal on making the kitchen work more efficient I
have 2 of the checklist for 2 of the rotations finished.

Tuesday September 24, 2019

Rotation Position: Main line

Breakfast day again! Today I beat the lady in charge of breakfast to work. So seeing that it was
an easy day I started up the ovens and started to prepare the food for breakfast. After I had
breakfast prepared it was time for the students to come and eat. Half way through breakfast I
was sent to the back to help make the rolls for the day. Since breakfast was going to be too
easy of a clean up it didn't take two people to clean. This time when doing the rolls I didn't roll
them into to balls. I weighed each one to make them 2 oz each because according to the
production sheet that is the portion size. After rolls I went to my fruit rotation and started on
getting the canned fruit out. When fruit was done I moved on to help finish up the veggies so I
pitched in on making the mashed potatoes. I have seen different kitchens make them different
ways. It all depends on how much time they have to make. Thee middle school naturally has
really hot water where we don't have to boil the water to get the potatoes up to temp. Serving
time went smoothly and clean up was a breeze so when I was done I came to the prep area to
help count the leftover food. I noticed that since the manager is the one who counts the food
puts it away the production sheet is a lot more accurate that the veggies sheet on the units of
measurement to know how much is left. Also I had her show me where each if the numbers for
different parts of the production sheet goes.

Wednesday September 25, 2019

Rotation Position: Sandwich line

Our delivery of food still hasn't come in and we are running low on some much need fresh
veggies so today the students won't have much to choose from. Today was a quick day on fruit
so I started to help the main food cook do the taco meet and chili. We were on a time crunch
because of early release and we had a fire drill to do. Preparing anything with hamburger takes
longer than what it used to be. Due to a new policy that was put in place that you HAVE to
weigh out the exact amount of cooked meat for each meal. Which is generally for about each
meal with ground hamburger is about 31.5 lbs. We quickly weighed out the meat then
prepared the taco meat first then put it in the containers for the serving area. After that we made
up the chili and got it mixed in the nic of time because the fire drill started so we went outside
and just let it simmer while the fire drill was done. Wednesdays are usually a hard day but today
was really hard due to having two brand new subs in the kitchen. One of then just happened to
be my best friend. That was a serious test for me. Because I have worked as a sub before in a
kitchen where my mom works and we are so professional while working together that it took a
solid week before they realized we were mother/ daughter. Working with my best friend was
hard because as I remained professional she was trying to rely on me for help and I kept telling
here to go ask the manager or assistant manager of what she need to do. I didn't see it my
place to step in and tell the subs what to do unless it was a small tip here or there. Today my
biggest lesson was to always remain professional in case you work with someone really close to
you. You also need to keep yourself distant from them mentally and in your work habits because
if they mess up you don't want to go down with them if you had nothing to do with what they
messed up on or how they work just because you got them this job.

Thursday September 26, 2019

Rotation Position: washroom

Delivery came today and I really wasn't need during serving time for breakfast after I prepped it,
so I started on getting the fries ready because my help wasn't need with delivery. After I did
fries, they ( manager and assistant manager) were still putting away delivery so I started on fruit
all by myself. I had half of the fruit finished before the assistant manager came to help me finish
up the trays since she is in fruit duty this week. After the fruit was done I started on the dishes
that were in the washroom to keep ahead of those before I had to deal with trays.

Today I got thinking, it's the little things that get you more than the big things sometimes when it
food safety and sanitation. It can be simply forgetting to change or take off your gloves after you
have been in the fridge. Or washing your hands after picking up a piece of fallen food from the
floor. I have never seen the kitchen be so strict about the small things till this year. Comes to
find out the kitchens are all being audited. Also we never know when there is going to be a
surprise visit from the health inspector. Rumor had it she is a lot more picky this year than
normal and that she is literally looking for anything that could fail us.
So we all have to be on our toes to remember the little things because that is what is usually
looked at because we do do good at the big items.

Friday September 26, 2019

Rotation Position: stacker

Today we made cheese zombies. They are basically grilled ham and cheese but baked.
Making those are so hard for me. All I did was roll out the dough but that was hard because it
wouldn't roll out very well and I had to roll it out in the shape of the large cutting board in order
to make it fit on the large cookie sheet. Today was an easy day for food prep because we didn't
cup the fruit this time. We just set it in a pan and let the students serve themselves. Also I
ended up making most of the tomato soup and getting it heated up. I am honestly proud of
myself for not scalding it because of all the milk in the soup. I ordered the book "The Fred
Factor" today I am super excited for it to come in so I can start to read it. I also finished another
one of the rotation checklist posters today.

Time log

Date Time Hours

September 23, 2019 8am- 2 pm 6

September 24,2019 7:30am-2pm 6.5

September 25,2019 8am-1pm 5

September 26, 2019 7:30am-2pm 6.5

September 27, 2019 8am- 2 pm 6

Total Hours 30