Pumpkin and Spice

I realized I have some random little tidbits  that I keep forgetting to tack onto other blog posts.

I'm very excited to tell you that I have finished up my externship hours (as far as the school is concerned), all my paperwork is turned in, and I am officially graduated (and with a 4.0 at that!) The ceremony is in June- since it's a rolling admission schedule, they do two graduation ceremonies per year. I doubt I'm going to go... I'll probably just pick up my diploma and accessories (we get a new chef's coat, a tall chef's hat, and a Le Cordon Bleu medal upon graduation) at the school and forgo the ceremony.

I love my job, I really do. I like getting to make cakes, cookies and goodies and getting paid for it. However, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't homesick. I miss Kyle, and my friends, and our hangouts. I think that if I wasn't married or if Kyle was here, I wouldn't be yearning for the comfortable and familiar quite so much. Another thing that makes it difficult here (aside from not having a kitchen) is that Park City is a pretty upscale town- dining out here on a budget is tricky... There are lots of really great restaurants, but very few that cater to a gal who has to watch her pennies.

One of my favorite local places is Squatter's Brew Pub. Based out of Salt Lake City, Squatter's is bar-and-grill style restaurant that serves their own, locally brewed beers on tap. They place a strong emphasis on sustainability and the environment, and proudly use locally raised, free-range, beef, chicken and bison.

I know there's been a bit of a post drought lately, but my defense is-
a.) I spend most of my time sleeping, at work or at the gym and
b.) Work has been sorta uneventful.

In a way, uneventful is good, because there's been no drama and things are going smoothly, but it sure makes for boring blogging. I'm still at the top-of-the-mountain lodge, though last week I was on a different shift. My first week, I was on days, working a pretty standard 8-4:30 shift. (Kinda a rarity in the culinary/hospitality industry!) Last week, I was working at the restaurant, which is a buffet-style Alps/moutain inspired restaurant.

Today was my ski day. I'd been feeling like I was wasting a tremndous oppertunity- free lift tickets. I'm not much of a skier, so I'd been reluctant to go out with the girls at work, since most of them are great skiers, and like to do the moguls, bowls and double black diamond runs. I'm strictly a green runs kinda girl, so I didn't want to keep them from having fun. However, Katya, one of my friends at work, is also new to skiing, so we decided to plan a ski day, where we could go out, ski green slopes, fall on our butts, and no one would care!

Her boyfriend, Chris, came too. He's a ski instructor, so he's very patient with whiney newbies like me!

I'm at the new lodge, now- it's much smaller than the old one. The old lodge was the "base" lodge- where skiers park for the day, where you pick up your ski rentals for the day, and where you buy lift tickets, so it's quite a large lodge. The new one is the highest one up the mountain, and can only be reached (during the day) by skiing in, so there's not the same amount of traffic as the other two lodges.

In the morning, we bake muffins and other breakfast items for the day. There's a little cabin at the top of the mountain that sells hot cocoa, muffins, cookies and other snackie foods. We bake their treats for them, and then have to send them up the mountain to the cabin. How do we get them up the mountain? We pack them in a box, put them on the ski lift, and send them on their way. It's so funny watching that little box full of muffins and cookies riding up on the lift all by themselves. It makes me laugh every morning.