Mega summary:

I have what I thought would be my dream job -- working in the kitchen of Vegie Bar, a vegetarian restaurant. Not just any restaurant, but one of the city's most popular vegetarian restaurants. Thing is, now that I know how the food on the menu is prepared, it's not so exciting. It's not even what I consider great cooking. Once I learn how to do everything at the pizza station then I can move on to 1st larder, which is making wraps, plating up curries and deep frying the hell out of way too many things on the menu. Funny thing is, one of my resolutions or goals for 2007 was to get a job in a vegetarian restaurant. The menu claims to be international, but it's really just centred around Asia and India. The burritos, nachos and pizzas don't make it international. Sorry. The best thing is the environment, everyone is SOOOO nice and friendly during the dinner service (as well as before and after). It's going to take a while to get used to working with all guys and getting over the feeling that deep down inside they probably think I can't do the job. Vegie bar just doesn't serve good food. They value speed over presentation; not so good in my books.

I'm in the works of developing a 5-year plan for my life now that Peace Corps is no longer occupying 2 years of the next 5:

2007 (25): Complete cookery course; continue working at Vegie Bar
2008 (26): Focus on obtaining work experience that actually involves proper cooking; obtain 900 hours work experience as a cook to become officially trade qualified
2009 (27): Officially get married; obtain permanent residency in Australia; Obtain employment at Shakahari Vegetarian Restaurant if not done
during previous year
2010 (28): Buy apartment; work towards becoming a qualified chef
2011 (29): ?
2012 (30): Become qualified chef; period

Today I had some serious doubts about my chosen career path, which is discussed at my other blog. I was having some rather strong desires to drop out and run back to uni to do a postgraduate degree in linguistics, possibly start a career in academia. I talk to Will a bit about it, but mostly thought about the issue in my head. I figured out why I feel the way I feel. I simply don't see any reason to try and get work in any of Melbourne's top restaurants when a) I have no desire to mass-produce meat dishes for customers and b) the restaurant I want to own will not be modeled after any of Melbourne's top restaurants. What I need to do is figure out how a restaurant is run, how to cook in a commercial kitchen when it gets busy and how to manage every aspect of one. I'm vegetarian and plan on opening a vegetarian restaurant some years from now...Melbourne could really use one that isn't focused on Asian or Indian food. Ideally I should get a job at a vegetarian restaurant -- one of Melbourne's 3 of them.

The idea of toiling away in a hot kitchen washing dishes and eventually preparing food I will never eat sounds rediculous. I need to come up with a 5 year plan and be on my way to something by the time I'm 30 -- in about 5 years from now.

I quit my job at the pancake joint and start a new one next week doing the same kind of work, preparing better food -- but mostly preparing sandwiches, wraps and the thing that go in them. Oh the joy! This year I'm really just focusing on getting my 900 hours of work experience so I can get my trade qualification once I graduate at the end of the year. The owner of the company is actually a renowned chef who for some reason or another is not a working chef anymore. He's probably burnt out.

I've been giving some serious thought to becoming a personal chef again. It really all I'm looking for: good hours, good pay, use of creativity, direct contact with customers and cooking (!). Plus, I get to be the owner of my own business. It sounds great. My goal in life is not to become an exective chef at some 3 hat restaurant or in any restaurant at all, I just want to be a chef in my own restaurant, serve good food, make people happy. I don't want to have some place where people are sending the food back because the basil sauce "isn't as bright green as it usually is".

The goal for my restaurant: to get featured in Melbourne's Cheap Eats Guide.

Off I go to become a personal chef and become famous!