Work

The new kitchen helper - a young lad - shy but a good worker.
As we talk I get to know him a little - he is a night owl - and does not eat breakfast he told me the first day. Interesting- on day three he ate breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon - and today he ate a stack of pancakes and a waffle or two. He came in a little late this morning - however he still got his work done in time. Then he told me that last night after work he went straight to bed and slept all night. He didn't even go hang out with the other staff during their fun night they have once a week. I was teasing him about this as this is what happens to people who get jobs. He was telling me about how hard it is to get a job - he has no work experience and so no  employers would give him a chance. Well I told him he will gain experience here if he stays until the end of summer and then he can create  his resume with a list of duties that he will be doing. Camp will be good for him - interaction with others - and having to deal with so many kitchen responsibilities - hands on training. Talk about on the job training - baptism by fire as some of you know kitchen work is hard - heavy - fast pace and long long hours
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Reflecting back about a conversation I once had with my son...
My son is a good cook - he has worked in many restaurants over the years -- one day he came to another camp I was working at for a visit and decided he would he would be my helper for the day. By the end of the day he was exhausted. He could not believe how hard camp kitchen work was even though he put 's long hours in at the restaurant that he worked at.

Working in a camp kitchen is not easy - it is not like a restaurant. 

Pain and soreness in the back

Sunday, June 16, 2013

The new mattress arrived - it is making our backs more sore than the mattress we just bought in April.
OK I will begin from the start. I had bought a mattress from a co worker two years ago to use in the cabin before my wife arrived from Indonesia. The first year we used it she complained it was not so good - so this winter in January I went to Sleep country to purchase a mattress for home - another problem mattress. I bought a condo and then a bed room set at the Brick the day she was to arrive in Canada. That mattress is also causing our backs to hurt. So in January when all the sales were on I bought a mattress for home use and another for the cabin at work. In April they delivered the one to the cabin - it was the wrong size a double when we have a queen box spring. We have been to busy to deal with it - but the last couple of weeks we noticed it was sagging so we called up and asked for a replacement and an upgrade.
Wow my back has been in so much pain since they delivered this new mattress that is larger and cost three hundred dollars more -- I must call them today (Sleep country) to see what we can do about this - I think I will put on the original mattress which I have kept until we can find a mattress that will not hurt our backs - this winter another person moves into the cabin to live for the winter months so this is why I kept the original mattress - I am not providing a new mattress to the person moving in when I move out the owner of the camp should be doing this since I live here six months and then leave, for six months.
HOW CAN I CHOOSE A MATTRESS THAT WILL BE GOOD AND NOT CAUSE PAIN IN THE BACK?

A time to relax

Monday, May 27, 2013

people are dressing strange even away from camp!













Do you ever wake up just plain irritable - grumpy? Well this last week I had one of those days. Snapping at my wife - sharp with my pouch Dalhouise - and very short with camp staff. I was fit to be tied and stressed and angry. Happy to say it only lasted a day - but still.. it was a long day.
The break is now over I am soon heading to the kitchen it is 6;30AM Monday morning. As you can see by the pictures I had a good day off yesterday - packed with relaxing moments.
I slept in till 7:15 - went to church and talked with friends and my mother - then went out for lunch with my wife taking a drive to Whistler for KFC. We have no KFC in Squamish - it closed about a year ago and my wife was craving KFC ( me too) so off to Whistler we went. Well if I am going some place outside of Squamish I grab my GPS. I was able to find three caches yesterday. That is a good happy feeling when I find them and sign that log book. We eat our KFC and then walk around Whistler with Dalhouise - I owe him too since I yelled at him this week also...
Met these people in costumes and was able to get a picture of my wife with them - well done.
I like flowers - the tulips are still in bloom so that made me happy
Stopped at Brandywine Falls Provincial Park - yes to seek out a cache - but also because I have never been there and I hear it is wonderful scenic spot - Yes it sure is. And I found two more caches here.
I love driving - traffic was good - the roads were clear - the scenery is awesome.
Arrived back at camp - one of the staff who went away for a week vacation to a wedding in Hawaii has returned - she has just began Geo caching - I think I got her motivated to do so - she bought a GPS just before her trip ( she found five in Hawaii) and so tonight I help her go find four of my caches that are nearby the camp, but first she went with a bike ride with my wife so my wife is also happy. The four of us head to the beach where we met two of my ex camp kitchen crew who are camping out with their boyfriends on the beach. Of course seeing them just made me happy in it self.
So that was my day off....

More Ranting

Friday, May 24, 2013

Well here it is Friday and I am still working and tomorrow is a work day also. We are having camp open house between 9 and 3. How many days now have I worked in a row? That will be 13 days. Sunday I am off and I hear there are NO more scheduled days after that for a very long time. Overall camp staff are getting tired - but they have been getting time off as program has more staff and are able to rotate to give people time off. However camp is short staffed overall but this week I do see we are up two staff since Monday - but NO replacement for my kitchen as of yet.
There is a good thing if you want to look for an encouraging thought in all this madness. I have always believed that program staff should spend some time doing dishes - they often take the kitchen workers for granted - leaving messes - not helping the kitchen - spending too much time lingering at the table after a meal before they clear it. (I keeping pushing the directors to get tables cleared - talk all you want once the tables are cleared - Kitchen staff including me can not get a break until food is put back into proper storage and for the dish girls they can finish up and get a break after the dishes are washed. If we have to wait for them to be sent to the dish pit that eats time and they are just finishing when it is time to reset for the next meal. -- Just get your tables cleared and talk once that is done... I am not telling you not to talk nor telling you to leave the dinning room - just clear the tables.

Thursday once again we had too meal times as one school left early and one remains until this afternoon. Feeding 65 first sitting and 80 second sitting . It takes time to make grilled cheese sandwiches and today I had to do all my self - taking up a large portion of my morning. Noni was busy baking - salad bar was about ten items less - but that is what happens when you are missing two members of your team -- in the past I would had been more driven to make it all work the same - just because that is my personality - but I notice some passion - some drive is missing this season so far lately....... Yes I am still putting heart and soul in the food I do make - but some something is missing..

Thankfully I have Noni.








Well it is time to go back to the kitchen - another day to earn my keep. Preparation for tomorrow must begin also as I am told to expect 250 to350 people to come for lunch during our camp open house .
The owner wants a full salad bar and his wife wants us to serve mac and cheese along with the Deli Bar of Cold cuts and Soup for the little kids. Well I know from experience the parents will eat both so I need to be prepared... I have been told I will get help - but usually the help form the other staff - well lets just say they created more work for me - I will use their help to clean up the mess I create - and washing pots and there will be lots of pots since we will be cooking many salad bar items like pasta - potato - barley salads.
I will blog more on that tomorrow,,,

Slam that door on the way out

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Jealousy - anger -stress. The drama has not fully ended yet - there was a spark of hope that one if not two of my kitchen helpers would had a chance to being brought back. |That door was slammed shut last night. The owner had a staff meeting with the "program" people to discuss their thoughts and feelings - I hate that feelings part of camp life - I am not a feeling kind of guy. My life is in black and white - not democratic - owner - boss - manger decides what to do and does it regardless of "feelings" of others. Yes you can listen to others ---ah!!
Well I was not part of that meeting but I did hear enough - he is bringing back one of the program staff to give a second chance too ( he was involved in a minor way of breaking THEE camp rule) but as far as my kitchen girls - no way - I heard a couple of the girls become upset when they talked about a return.
My wife and I had talked about this before - we believe it is because my two kitchen girls ware so pretty - actually the prettiest on site - and tout of jealousy and had to keep them away. The person who was the most angry about their return and vocal is a girl who I know is very jealous and whom I have a major problem dealing with - she pushes all my buttons the wrong way - I have even told the owner to tell his director to keep her away from me as much as possible. Well hearing her talk has put me in a very angry mood now and after the meeting I had a conversation with the owner... Stressful. But a lot of this is flowing still from last years kitchen nightmares. If I have a repeat of last year with kitchen help and issues - I will walk away - it could not get worse and well it was living HELL. I will not go through that again... and that is one reason why I wanted my two girls back. I do not care about the program staff's feelings - we really do not have much involvement with them we work in our own bubble in a hot - walled - area with - dealing with all the dirty dishes and mess left behind after each meal - while they go play with the children in the great open spaces. Yes I know that can be hard too but it is different - kitchen people must get along and work well with each other as there is little room to have your own space. I am dealing with deadlines that must be met - my meals must be on time - but more importantly - I must be aware of FOOD Safe practices at all times - including what the girls are doing in the dish pit- dining tent - and restocking of condiments.
I have walked in and noticed that the dish machine soap is empty or even the wrong chemical was being used ( just because it was red ) we have two red chemicals and they didn't bother to read the label just looked at the color. We are nut free here at camp - I do not order foods with nuts - Sysco pickers either subsidize or just pick wrong items and sent us nut items. Example - we buy bulk cereal that we put into our own containers - and they mix a nut type of cereal in our orders and my girls just use it even though it was different looking - they do not question why - I must be aware of all these things ---
I was just getting the girls trained - now I must train people again - and once again if they are people like last years - useless bumps on a log - not to mention no rapour between me and them that was good.
And besides that they were so pretty - always easier to work with cuties - hey I am a guy............

Well here is another day - more stress

Afternoon Off

Monday, May 20, 2013

The long weekend is finally mine. Fed the group Scrambled eggs and sausage and toast - hot and cold cereals - yogurts and fruit salad for their breakfast. Prepared bag lunch ingredients - turkey, beef, salami, ham - humus - egg salad, cheese slices for their sandwich making. Cookies, fresh fruit and juice for their water bottles. The bus arrived and they boarded leaving the camp peaceful and quiet leaving the staff behind to clean and reset for tomorrows arrivals.
I cleaned the kitchen went to the cabin - laid down and fell asleep right away. A couple of hours later woke up from a deep sleep nap. Well that was not planned but Needed.
Ok - I still want to go find a geo cache so off to town we go..
What should had been a very peaceful relaxing time ended up in a little tiff - and not so joyful afternoon -- but all is good now - but !!!!!!!!!

Just another day same old same old

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Another day and another dollar - Well from feeding 120 people down to 42 feels like a holiday. I even managed to drive into town and did some banking - visit my mother and stop and buy coffees and go to the drug store. My left knee has been causing extreme pain and I was out of medicine.
Six years ago was the last time this group that is here now was at camp. It was the year before I was hired. I understand the kitchen did not run so smoothly and the food was not so good. The owner actually had to fire the kitchen people of that time. But that was then and today is now. I have talked with the leaders of this group - asking about the food of the camps they have been visiting - lots of process food and definitely not my salad bar option at lunch. They are so pleased and are giving lots of praise so far. So I have placed my self under this stress/ anxiety to make sure that the food is so good they will want to keep coming back to my camp.
I have fed them roast beef -scallop potatoes - cheese omelets - BLT - Lasagna so far not to mention potato soup - French Pea Soup - cookies - haystacks - red velvet cake and tonight nacho's for a snack



So on my way back to the kitchen to cook the evening snack -