July 15, 2011

This morning started off a little slow. I woke up and turned on the shower, only to notice there was no hot water. Apparently, Oky has some electrical issues, and at times the fuse for the hot water heater kicks off. This has happened several times before, and a cold shower was quite refreshing but for the past couple of days, the temperature has been cooler so I had to wait for 30 minutes for the water to heat up. This threw me late for my one hour walk to work, so I had to call a taxi. It is quite disconserting to me that even though I use the same taxi service, the amount of money I pay for a ride varies from driver to driver. There is a meter in the taxi that starts at 550 colones ($1.50) for the first mile and then it climbs by 10 colones. Depending on the taxi, the advancement of 10 colones might be any where from 5 seconds to 20 seconds, so a ride to work or from work may cost any where from $4.00 to $6.00.

When I arrived at work, I was asked to help the Cold Kitchen get set up for lunch, as there would be a student from the local University helping today in the Hot Kitchen. I made a quadruple batch of Pear Shallot Mignonette. Since shallots are horribly expensive in Costa Rica, the recipe calls for minced red onion instead of shallots. I haven't hand made an emulsion since my first term at school, but it turned out well. The secret to this sauce is a Pear Infused Vinegar. YUM.

As I was starting to make a Miso dressing, the manager, Manuel called a staff meeting. It was so kind of him to acknowledge that I wouldn't understand what was being discussed, but Fernando agreed to interprete for me. Manuel told all of us that Demian has resigned as the General Manager of Product C. Manuel has now been named as the new General Manager. It would appear that this change will free Demian up to do more as an owner.

The student that was supposed to work in the Hot Kitchen didn't show up for work, so I was asked to switch over. It was very busy today for lunch. The special today was Roasted Mini Potatoes with Salmon and Tomato Sauce and Pesto. As I watched these specials going out of the kitchen, I decided that this would be my dinner, however; I switched out the Salmon for Corvina (Sea Bass). What a wonderful, tasty meal.

After arriving home, I went in to my room to change clothes and get cleaned up, and a horrible smell smacked me in the face. I forgot to mention that it has been raining hard, like sheets of rain, all day long, and it appears that there was so much rain today at Oky's house that the sewage tank in the back yard, has backed up. So everything smells like, well..... sewage. Oky gave me two candles to burn in the room and the bathroom, but all I smell is sewage and girly candles. I pray that I am able to sleep with the smell.