Just popping by with a brief update for my blog readers out there to let yall know what is going on!

The restaurant I’m at is great! I’m about to start my second week of dinner service. The first week was relatively light (only open two nights, served 34 customers) but since I’m the only chef in the kitchen with some minor help from the dishwasher, it kept things interesting. My multitasking was tested, as I frequently had 3-5 burners going at the same time but in the end there were no major screw-ups and no complaints, which is always a relief.

One thing I’m noticing is that the language barrier is QUITE significant up here. Everybody speaks French, and unlike in a bigger city such as Montreal, French is pretty much the ONLY language you will see/hear spoken in public areas. I took 3 courses of French in high school and did pretty well, but you all know how well those courses stick -_-. Nonetheless, my reading is actually not bad (can understand/infer about 90% of everything that I come across), but in terms of listening and speaking I know only the basics. I usually don’t have the confidence to speak even if I know what to say for fear of mispronouncing it and making myself look like a fool. I spent 5 minutes debating whether to tell the dishwasher “Vous devez couper les oignons completement!” before finally caving and just cutting them myself.

Besides that, soon I’m going to be putting specials on the menu! This week it’s going to be a brined pork rib roast with pineapple caramelized in fish sauce. Our taste test is tomorrow, so hopefully it turns out delicious .

Till next time,

MC