It’s 1:45 a.m. and I’m sitting in my bathroom, feet soaking in an ice water tub. I just opened up a bottle of “biologico” rioja. That’s organic, here. It goes without saying that I’m exhausted, but I’m too hyped up and sore to go to bed at the moment. I’m super nervous about tomorrow, when I essentially take over pastry. Apparently, Day 4 is when you have to make all the food yourself, serve it all, and explain it all. Seriously? It’s only Day 4. Sorry, Chef Raurich, there goes your Michelin star. Haha. Actually, I think Vicente is exhausted. He’s one of the first ones to get there in the a.m. and the last one to leave. He told me he sleeps like 2-3 hours per night. Yikes. Hopefully, I won’t screw things up too badly.
I’m equally excited because my love comes into town tomorrow night! He’s in Barca for 2 1/2 days before going on another month long journey all over the place. I hope he’s ready for some serious sleeping, as I am 🙂
Oh, I made two new friends today at work. One is the dishwasher and is from Pakistan. The other one is from India and does all the dumpling and spring roll fillings AND works behind the scenes at the steaming and frying stations. I asked questions about their homes. They each have a family and kids back in their respective places, but they can make a lot more money working in Spain than at home.
But, it wasn’t my stunning conversation in poor Spanish that won them over. I think it was the fact that when I’ve had enough of the front of the house and the frenetic pace of trying to do and see a million things at once all the while trying not get yelled at, I go back and ask to help them out. I do the dishes, sweep their station, just do whatever they let me. It’s more about my self-preservation. Haha. The one from India made me a spring roll at the end of the night. Yeah! It was delicious. It’s good to have friends in the kitchen 🙂
Takeshi, the chef de cuisine, was also very gracious to me today. He said, “mira” a lot and explained to me how to make dishes several dishes (wow, that is a very Spanish way of saying that last sentence). Mira is “look.” He is the head honcho when el jefe (the boss, or the chef) Albert is not around. I have affectionately dubbed him, “Iron Chef, Dos Palillos.”
Okay, I’m not going to brush my teeth and I’m going to finish my wine and go to bed. Less than 6 hours from now, I’ll be up, showering, and making my way to the secret blue pastry book to run through all the recipes I’ll be making tomorrow. By the way, I can make mochi, but when it comes to stuffing it and making it look pretty, wow, I’m terrible. But, tomorrow is another day!
Oh, one last shout out to Karina, my roommate for the next few weeks. Thanks so much for buying me treats, hanging and ironing my laundry (yep, she ironed my chef jacket and pants because we don’t have a dryer and I needed them dry by the next day), and for being sweet to me! It has really helped.
Salty Apron 
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