Yesterday I Was A Quitter

Saturday night I was working the bar with another server.  She’s been with the Chef for a long time, and I knew once I was splitting the bar with her, she would decide what section of the bar I got.  She told me that she had a special request party that night in the bar, so she would take the front half of the bar, and I could have the back half of the bar.  No problem, I would make the best of the situation.  I had a 2 top at 5:15 and they ate and left the restaurant by 6:00.  Her party started coming in around 6:30 and she handled all the people that came in – drinks, taking food orders, etc.  The only problem was the way the party was sitting/standing, anyone who took a look in the bar upon first walking in would think that the bar was completely crowded, when in fact my half of the bar was completely empty.

By 8:00 – with two hours since my last table and three hours since I arrived with no tables, I went to the host stand and told them that I was leaving.  The GM said “the bar is hopping – how can you leave?”  When I explained that all the people were part of the other servers private party, he shook his head and said “wow, sorry about that – that doesn’t seem to be fair.”   And it isn’t.   This server seems to get all the parties, the big tables, etc., and I just can’t compete with that.

The Saturday before that I had two 2-tops, and then had an 8 top coming in that ended up being a party that was booked by two separate people, so my 8 top didn’t exist.  The weekend before that I was in the back dining room, and watched the hostess seat a section in the front room 5 times before I even got a table, while I walked around for an hour and a half filling water and clearing plates off of tables that were not my own.  It has no longer become profitable for my time to work there, so I quit yesterday.

With seconds the GM that I talked to on Saturday replied and said that he is sorry for my decision, but gave me his personal email and phone number if I needed a reference.  A few hours later I got an email from the Chef asking to talk to him personally on my last shift which is Saturday before I make any decisions.   But my mind has been made up – it’s been a downward run for the last couple months, and Saturday was just the straw that broke the camels back.   I’ve decided that after we get back from the Mayo Clinic I’ll look for another second job.

So I was home by 8:45 with $14 in my pocket on Saturday night.  Tony made me a delicious pepperoni and hot giardiniera pizza bread, and we watched Django Unchained – great Quentin Tarantino movie!

Sunday I met up my Mom for lunch and a bit of shopping.  She’s going out of town for a few weeks, then we are gone so it was either see her Sunday or not see her for over a month!  We all know I am her favorite!  And that is a poster outside of a Marshall’s – it’s like the blonde is doing a photo bomb!

I made a grilled chicken on Sunday night – so good!  The secret to that awesome mahogany skin?  Butter!  I just take about a tablespoon of soft butter and rub it all over the bird – you just have to make sure that after you rinse your chicken (I always do) and that you pat it completely dry.  This just had salt and pepper and butter.  I added BBQ sauce later.

One of the things my Mom gave me when I saw her on Sunday was a microwave egg McMuffin maker.  She said that she first used it at my Aunt’s Lake house and loved it.  She came home and it was hard to find, but she just found them at Bed Bath & Beyond –

While you know I do love my McMuffins, I usually just cook my eggs on the stove at home and put it together on a toasted English muffin when I get to work.  I decided to give it a try – I brought a container of egg whites, a handful of baby spinach, bacon bits and cheese.  I put the spinach, egg whites and bacon bits in the container, nuked that for 1.5 minutes, then added the cheese and cooked for 30 more seconds.  Done!  I have to say, this worked really well – the eggs were nice and fluffy, almost as if they steamed in the container?

Yesterday began Week 3 of my Strength Training!  We were back to chest – two new exercises to me?  The high and low chest fly on a machine.   I watched a video on how to use the machine so I had it in the right spots for the chest fly – I only did 10 pounds but I felt it!  Then finished off with a 1.5 mile run.

I’ve been dying to share my lunch recipe with you since I made it over the weekend.  But I have to tell you, I am calling this a hot/cold salad.  It was meant to be a cold salad, but I didn’t like the texture of the noodles for some reason cold, so I picked the noodles out, heated them up for a minute, then added the cold chicken and cucumbers back in – topped with a little crushed peanuts – delish!  I also originally thought this would be two servings, but it turned out to be a lot, so I made this three servings.

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I love Daikon radish – it doesn’t have that same bite as a regular radish – and it blended in so well with the pasta it felt like I was eating a lot more pasta than I really was – that’s why the carbs aren’t too bad on this pasta dish.

Warmed up for lunch withy my klassy plastic fork:

Last night for dinner was another his/hers seafood dinner – salmon for Tony and shrimp for me!   Since I didn’t use all the coconut milk in the dish above, I decided to make a Thai coconut milk shrimp marinade.

Spicy Thai Coconut Shrimp Marinade

• 1/2 pound shrimp
• 1/4 cup light coconut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sriracha
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon mushroom soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons grated jalapeno pepper
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• juice of half a lime, zest of whole lime

That marinated overnight.   Tony took charge of his salmon and I grilled my shrimp.

I served mine over 1/2 a cup of cooked white rice, with Parmesan zucchini chips.  And if inquiring minds want to know, the fryer is back on the kitchen counter.   The secret to my zucchini chips?  After I bread them, I stick them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes – that way the breading stays on, they are crispy on the outside, yet soft and creamy on the inside.  No dipping sauce required!

I got all my steps in yesterday too!

And I am happy to report that I drank water last night – not wine. #winning!

Alright, time to get this show on the road – I made salsa and a dried guajillo pepper sauce over the weekend that is amazeballs – you’ll just have to come back tomorrow to see how they turned out!  Make it a great day!