Today I decided to go straight to Nopi after my shower. I got there exactly on time. 

When I came in I felt the chefs were somehow a bit more stressed than I was used to. The reason was that since it’s Easter weekend, ingredients were delivered for the coming 3 days. So there was much prep extra to do.

I assisted Marco in the fish section, preparing the radishes, cutting some greens and making side dishes. (strangely enough I felt the effect of the 2 cocktails I had yesterday. Alcohol is no good :0I 
But then I had some breakfast with the staff: some scrambled eggs, salad and bread gave me energy and yepla, from then on I could handle the world again ;0)

Today there were two parties in Nopi, meaning there were two groups celebrating a birthday in Nopi. This also required some extra prepping. So after I finished my cutting work for Marco, I helped Adam and Francis with the entrees and salads. As you can see, I enjoyed working with them :0)

Then I went from here to there, and helped chefs who could need some help. I’m now feeling more comfortable in the kitchen, so I’m not afraid to ask what to do. During service I helped Marco a bit in the fish section, made some salads, helped Jan, etc… In short: I was everywhere in that kitchen.

Oh, and I also cleaned and cut tons and tons of blood oranges. This requires a certain cutting technique. Since I like cutting, I didn’t mind doing that (should someone had told me I had to peel that amount of pomegranates, I would have run away as fast and far away as I could – did I already mention I do-not-like doing that? Ok, smacking the pomegranates until the seeds come out is one thing. But searching and picking the piths out of this pile of seeds is so enervating!)

The service was quite intense today. Bam bam, this that, go go. But I think the chefs did quite well. Again, like an oiled machine.
And although there are stressy moments, and chefs can get on each other’s nerves, afterwards, chefs can laugh and have fun again. That’s what I’d like to call professionalism :0)

Today I also got to know the secret of that delicious beetroot salad. While before I just plated it, today I prepared it myself. I brought the beetroots to taste with all those secret ingredients (for me to know, for you to find out ;0) But there is one secret I can share: season it to taste. There is not 1 recipe: just add the ingredients and taste until it’s perfect four you. Easy, right?

Yesterday I had a good late lunch and a real dinner for the first time in one week (I had a pasta in a restaurant with a waiter who sang all the time, with such an annoying voice. He really really really got on my nerves!). And this morning I had a good hearty breakfast. Amazing what that did to me. It’s like I was reborn. I didn’t feel that tired again and got more energy. Now I don’t know what I was complaining about yesterday. I really experienced the importance of eating well. Crazy..

After my shift, I had lunch/dinner with Kjell (my boyfriend) his uncle, nephew and aunt. I was supposed to have the evening shift today, so they could watch me doing my thing in that kitchen. But my shift changed, so I could eat together with them. I really enjoyed this. I had a great time with these lovely people and the food was delicious. And my Nopi-collegues – can I call them like that? :0) – took really good care of us. The service was amazing, so friendly, funny, kind and professional, and the chefs gave us some extra dishes to taste. That’s really so sweet?! And they already knew I am allergic to mushrooms, so I didn’t have to worry about that neither :0)

Speaking of… Allergies and intolerances are so ‘popular’ (that’s not the right word, but I’m not sure how to call this in English). These make services extra complicated: while shouting the orders, they also shout the intolerances at once. So the chefs need to remember what they have to prepare, and on top of that which ingredient they have to leave out, what they have to serve separately, etc… Again, amazing how they do this, in the heat of the moment.

Tonight Kjell is coming to London. I don’t have to work tomorrow, so we can spend the whole day together. Yay :0)