June 23, 2005 (IJ)

I don't have much to write about today, but a lot of pictures to share. Alan and I worked in the Grille Room together today. It was pretty busy. Alan made up the panini of the day: turkey, bacon, smoked gouda and a balsamic reduction on sourdough. It was quite good.

After we closed the Grille Room, Chad showed me how to cut an enormous piece of aged meat. The pictures above include shots of the carcass before it was cut up and the process of trimming and frenching the portioned meat. They will sell those steaks for $45-$50 and that's "a steal", Chad said. They are 24 ounces of meat! (I can just image: Christian and Stephanie, after reading this paragraph, pull out their "not"dogs and give each other looks of approval as they drink their soymilk and throw the containers on their neighbor's lawns. HA HA!)

Tomorrow . . . (oooo, I'm so nervous) we are serving stuffed lobsters. Chad wants me to help kill them again and I'm a little freaked out after the crab incident. Let me tell ya, if I've forgotten to say my morning prayers before work -- that will NOT happen tomorrow. I will be praying every second that I will not freak out and lose face in front of my boss. I like the experience, I find it interesting and it's really good for me to have the opportunity to do this. I'm grateful that my internship has these kinds of learning opportunities. My culinary friend's aren't this awesome! So, I need to just suck it up!

Debbie and Clint are getting here this weekend and will be in Boston Sunday through Tuesday. Hopefully, my day off will still be on Monday so we can go do some things together. They're staying at The Fairmont and I'm really excited to go swimming. I feel like a little kid! Kids never care about anything else regarding the hotel if there's a pool. It'll be fun to see Carol, Major, Lucy and Juliette too!