At your service

Tonight we had the service side of our kitchen practical. My friend Nicole and I were thinking..."I never thought I would have to do this again!" After getting over the initial shock, we got together as a team, made a floor plan, dressed the tables and we were ready to go. I played the role of hostess as my classmates and friends came in to dine with us. It was actually really nice to be moving around again and visiting with guests instead of sitting in class for eight hours a day. It reminded us all of why we are here. We truly have a passion for hospitality. At the end of the night I was exhausted but it was the good kind of tired where I know I put in a good nights work. Now for tomorrow to work in the kitchen.

I'm like a Dyson

I am getting tired so easily these days. I used to be on my feet 15 hours a day when I was serving. Now, it has only taken 5 months of sitting in a class room and I have lost my touch. Today we were in the Kitchen again learning how to vacuum pack food. It was actually pretty interesting to see how you can prep food for a commercial kitchen. The coolest part was after we prepped all the food we got to use this giant vacuum to suck all of the air out of the bags. It was super sci fi. The teacher even said this is basically how they prepare all of the food for the Astronauts of NASA. We made rack of lamb, homemade ice cream, steamed carrots and about 6 other dishes. After we were done we got to enjoy the fruits of our labor. It was a nice experience, other than the minor nervous breakdown I had. Long story, basically I am ready for Christmas break. So now I have developed a new set of vacuuming skills. Should I put that on my resume?

Sweet Dreams

There is something about this week. I am extremely tired. Maybe it is all the standing and running around I know I am about to do in the kitchen. We had our Foie Gras and Pastry workshops today to prepare for our La Ferme nights this week. It was pretty fun but I find myself considering a nap way too often. Maybe it is the gloomy weather and I am just due for some sunshine. I am going to try and workout tonight to get my energy levels up. Or maybe just a long nap ;) Take me away Stevie Nicks

I wish I could be Benjamin Button

"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A death. What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months warm, happy, and floating…you finish off as an orgasm."

>Jack Handey

An American Thanksgiving in Switzerland

Tonight all of the American's in my class got together to host a good old fashioned American Thanksgiving for our classmates. We were lucky enough to have it in the old farm house on campus that has been converted to a restaurant. It was truly beautiful and I'm not just saying this because I have had close to 2 bottles of wine. The wonderful thing about this holiday is that it gives you pause to remember how much you have in life and blessed we all are. It also allows me the pleasure to bake! I made homemade pecan pie, pumpkin quick bread and rice crispie treats. The only thing that was missing tonight was my family, but that's okay because I have made my own little family here. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Blackbird

There is a part in all of us, no matter how big or small, that feels broken. As happy as I am and as motivated as I appear there is a part of me that still needs to heal. Failed relationships, failed career paths, failed plans. Things rarely work out in life how you thought and learning to release myself from those plans has been so freeing. Moving across the world has given me the chance to take a moment and reflect on who I am and what I really want. I think I have learned to see and I know that the journey of life is exciting and full of possibilities, so I am just going to fly where the wind takes me and be free from it all.

"All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free"

There's more upstairs!

So after five months in Switzerland I have only now discovered the American Market in Geneva. This is probably not a good thing. On the way to pick up my friend Kathleen from the airport, I had to make a stop to look for pumpkin pie filling. Note: If you are making pumpkin pie in Switzerland, good luck because they don't sell pumpkin pie filling. Anyhow, I get there and I should have just handed them my wallet. I was like a kid in a candy store: Pop tarts, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter captain crunch, Kraft macaroni and cheese, ranch dressing, salsa, brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal, the list goes on. I kept piling up stuff on the counter and then my eye spotted the staircase and I look at the clerk and said "OMG, there's more upstairs". Needless to say 150 CFH later I had more the enough to carry back. When I picked up my friend at the airport it was like she had never left the states. Anyhow, fantastic store but I am not allowed to go back there during my remaining time in Switzerland, it's just too dangerous ;)

Leave

Wednesdays are usually the days I lock myself in my room with chocolate, listen to sad love songs and cry myself to sleep. Do you feel like crying with me? Here is a really depressing break up song to get you started ;)

Look at me....I'm making carrots!

Today we worked in the hot kitchen for the food court. I made the biggest pot of carrots ever. The pot was so big I could fit into it. I was shouting to my friends like a big dork "look at me, I'm making carrots!" If you know anything about me then you know I am fascinated by scale. I love really tiny things (have you heard my plans for a mini farm) and really over-sized things. Maybe it was those hours of watching The Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka as a child or my love of the book Gulliver's Travels. If I try to analyze some of the quarks of my mind too much I would probably end up in a really dark place. I guess it just boils down to the fact that I am easily amused and I like to simple things in life. Tell your friends, especially the cute tall ones with dark hair, light eyes and a PhD. ;)

It's the social networking revolution

Tonight I saw a guest speaker talk about how social networking is taking over our lives. Scary, exciting or just reality. Apparently, you can look up information about anyone on this website called Spokeo. I looked up myself and they had my income tax return from last year. Crazy. Oh well, good thing I am an open book and I don't have any secrets.....or do I? ;)

The password is Eggplant

Tonight things got a little crazy. I went out with a few girlfriends and things ended in a frenzy. I was on an impossible spy mission and I had to deliver my message before it was too late. We came back in a taxi and I called one of my classmates and told him the secret. The password is eggplant, if you want to know the story I will have to kill you first ;)

Sliding Doors

"The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live"

- Flora Whittemore

Sometimes I think about what might be if I turned left instead of right.

I'm looking for....

Somebody

Being in Switzerland away from the hustle and bustle of life allows a lot of self-reflection...maybe too much. I find myself actually thinking about being in love and feeling connected to someone again. It is easy to distract yourself when you have work and family to keep you busy. Now that I have been here for a few months and gotten into a routine I find myself pondering life's great questions in the wee hours of the morning between sleeping and dreaming. I suppose it boils down to one simple thing...everyone wants to be loved. Hopefully there is someone out there in the universe waiting for me.

Bonnie McKee - Somebody von eury10

Fix you

You can spend all of your life trying to make things right, giving every part of yourself to correct the past and create a future but you can not change people. The only thing you can do is be the most authentic version of yourself and control how you behave in the world. I can't fix everything in this world, I can only fix myself.

Alien like you

This is a fantastic song that reflects on how we all feel sometimes. Wouldn't it be nice to meet someone who actually understood you and made you feel just a little less alone. I think I daydream too much.

It was a race against time...

So when I booked my flight to go see my cousin for her birthday I neglected to realize I would be cutting it extremely close to making it to my marketing mid-term. I literally was running into through the doors minutes before it started. It was really crazy, once I landed at the airport I still had to take a 45 minute train ride to town and then i had to find the fastest cab driver in Lausanne. It was kind of like the scene in the Italian Job where the Mini Coopers were driving like crazy, except it was the much cooler 1969 version!

...and the break dancers were adorable

Tonight we went out to our favorite hotspot "The Lido". We did our usual consumption of wine and dancing but then a circle formed and all of the sudden there was a battle! Well sort of...I saw my French friend getting excited and I was ready for it to get going and then all of sudden the cute Swiss people started break dancing. Apparently there was some sort of break dancing competition in town but no one gave them the memo that their moves were from Run DMC circa 1984. It was fun to watch and even better with 4 glasses of wine. Oh,the break dancers...they were so adorable.

The Prince of Luxembourg

Today was a great honor as the Prince of Luxembourg visited EHL. We had an exclusive wine tasting where I was able to enjoy a glass from 600 euro bottle of wine. It was amazing. I have never thought of myself as much of a wine connoisseur but you can definitely taste the difference. It was like an explosion of flavors in my mouth. I can't wait to visit the Chateau Haut Brion when we go to Bordeaux in March. It is going to be quite a treat. This tasting is just one of the many perks of going to EHL and I am looking forward to see what the rest of the year brings.