Fifth Week At Pathways

September 18, 2013 -
I learned front of the house service tips. The basics were how to set up a table including where the silverware and plate are supposed to be. The salad fork and regular fork always belong on the left, wine glass or cup always go above the plate in the right-hand corner, plate in middle, napkin on the left, knife closest to plate on the right and the spoon to the right of the knife. When serving, you always approach the guest from the left and when cleaning up, you always approach from the right. If the guest wants dessert, you would place the fork or spoon above the plate and have both of the utensils facing different ways. Besides learning how to set up a table, there was a banquet for all of the staff for Homeward Bound of Marin and yesterday we prepped some Puerto Rican food with Chef Luis and Chef Jacques. One of the main dishes consists of plantains and there were many more dishes such as Mofongo and Arroz con Condules. After we finished with the cooking, I got to taste Tembleque; it's a coconut dessert pudding from Puerto Rico. In Tembleque, you can use spices such as cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. In our recipe, we used Orange Blossom and cinnamon, along with coconut to sprinkle on the top. It was my first time trying plantains and I thought they were really good. I was inspired to want to cook some plantains served with rice or anything else that goes well with it.