Sick!

I have been sicker than I've been in a very long time since Saturday. I still don't feel great, but I'm going to go into work tomorrow, even if they have to send me home. It seems to be just a bad cold but for someone who never gets sick it's pretty rough. The other half has it too (as do several of our friends), so they can vouch for me that it hasn't been fun.

I've never known the actual guilt of calling in sick to work. It sucks. I'm still wondering what they did for staff on my station from 3-4 today.

So there it is. I'm looking forward to a nice long sleep tonight, fueled by NyQuil, and hopefully some speedy non-coughing/sneezing/nose-running work tomorrow, fueled by Advil Cold & Sinus.

Lunch Rush

Today I had a lunch rush while working alone on my station. One of the pastry cooks came to help but really didn't know what to do (not like I know what to do on her station, so I don't blame her at all!), so I had to deal with it myself. It was pretty wild for about an hour, until my backups showed up.

We were supposed to have another kid (that kid who was gone for three weeks) show up at 3PM today. He didn't. My chefs had no idea that I was working the station alone and was left with little to no prep and an AM staff who couldn't communicate to me what needed to be done.

There's a big event we're hosting on Monday. Luckily that's my day off, but tomorrow will involve a lot of prep for the event. I'm betting on being slammed between 3-4, my "alone" hours on my station, again.

Also, who orders a Caesar salad at a restaurant that serves Mexican and Chinese food? Apparently a lot of people, but isn't that strange?

Grand Opening

Tonight, New Year's Eve, was our grand opening for the Cosmopolitan casino. I guess the 15th was the "soft" opening. It was packed both in the casino and in my restaurant, but my station wasn't too busy. I actually got out before midnight, so in my book it turned out to be a great New Year's Eve.

Jay-Z and Coldplay headlined tonight at the casino. I'm not a fan of either, but apparently a few of my coworkers saw Jay-Z and Beyonce around, and Coldplay had lunch at my restaurant. That's somewhat cool. What's really cool is that all the cooks got to take a picture with Jose Andres and Ferran Adria today. Those are the celebrities that we as cooks care about! Look them up if you don't know. Jose Andres even patted me on the back and thanked me. I would have shaken his hand but I was peeling shrimp at the time! Anyway, I'll post the picture once I get it emailed to me.

So happy new year! 2011 should be interesting.