20 Days

Today was the 20th day that I've worked in a row... and this will continue for another 10 days until I get Thanksgiving Day off. While I should be totally exhausted, I actually turned down the offer of having today off--although that was mostly because I knew I'd fall behind if I didn't get all the breads finished over this weekend. I have a shit-load of pies next week that have to be done for all the orders on Thanksgiving, as well as my normal workload.

Where did all this work come from? A few weeks ago I got a call from Mac Daddy saying that the head cook at our local cafe hangout was looking for someone to take over the baking duties and would I be interested. Within one day of that call I had a new job. Of course I kinda felt bad about giving my in-store bakery only a weeks notice so close to the holidays, so I told them that I'd still work one day a week until Christmas (and also because I had FINALLY gotten my insurance through them and need to get a few things taken care of before I lose it). My new job is six days a week, so that ties me up with work every single day.

Every Monday I go back to my old bakery and work on whatever cakes need to be done to prepare them for the week. Then Tuesday through Sunday are spent keeping a cafe and catering company supplied with cookies, breads, croissants, and danishes; as well as creating new recipes to replace all the pastries that were coming in from other shops. Hopefully by Christmas, most our pastries will be made in-house. And on top of that, the owner has decided that we'll now provide seasonal pies, cakes, and other desserts that can be ordered in time for the holidays. I only had a few days notice about this, so for Thanksgiving we're only going to have Pumpkin Pies, Pecan Pies, Sweet Potato Pies, and Apple Pies available. However, for Christmas we'll have all that and Italian Creme Cakes, Tiramisu, Carrot Cakes, Rhubarb/Apple Pie, and a variety of gourmet Cheesecakes (seriously, I make a fabulous cheese cake... come on out after next week and check it out for yourself!).

So the upshot is that I'm busy, stressed, challenged, and wiped out at the end of every day... and damn it, I LOVE IT! This is why I gave up my technical writing career and went to culinary school, and I can't quite believe that I've made it to this point so quickly. Things are going to get interesting now and I hope that I not only can keep up, but that I'll also kick some major pastry ass.