Friday Blowout!

My first friday working and it was SO BUSY!
Again, I'm tired...so a list of highlights...

• Met a family from NH today (after serving them their lemonade and coffee).
• Had another wonderful Moscone (I really should stop eating all this grilled cheese, it can't be good for me...)
• Drank my first Bubble Up ever. (Kinda like Sprite... except it came first and is more like Mountain Dew)
• Went to a very nice restaurant called Absinthe

And now I'm sleepy :)

Love,

Henna

Lazy Thursday

I had an... interesting day today. Nate and Heidi told me to take the day off because they were overstaffed but suggested that if I really wanted to, I could come in around 2-3 to make more sandwiches. I thought this was a fine idea.

I slept in this morning, watched a couple of movies, basically vegged out. It was nice, let me tell you. Then I decided, around 1, that it would be a good idea if I headed to the bus stop to get to THE AMERICAN around 2.

Ha. Ha. Ha. In my dreams. I walked over half the city looking for the stupid bus stop. Six. Miles.
However, I saw some pretty interesting things, including a movie theatre advertising a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show on July 31st. (I so wanna go.)
But 4 hours later, I finally made it to Market Street and treated my success with a Trix ice cream bar. It was yummy.

I finally got to the restaurant and helped make the Moscone and Poppers and ate some fruit salad. Totally "delish".

I'm tired. That is all. Nothing witty to say.

Love,
Henna

Murmph

Today was cold. Cold. Cold. I shall say it one more time. COLD.

I slept through my alarm this morning, grabbing an extra 20 minutes of sleep (which doesn't seem like a lot, but it really, truly is.) When we got into work this morning, we found that the refrigerator had broken. Which = DELAYS.

(I'm very tired right now...soooo....)
Henna's Highlights:

• I learned how to use the cash register and rang up orders.
• I successfully had very nice conversations (Nate Style) with several customers.
• Tried the Sunday Brunch (french toast, honey chevre, fig-ginger jam, bourbon sauce)!
• Tried the Mushroom Gruyere (mushrooms, golden potatoes, fontina, gruyere, melted leeks, thyme butter)
• Anita visited, even though I was a boring, exhausted lump. (We went to Haight...)
• I took a nap and watched "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"!

Hm. Also one more thing...

My tattoo friend, Todd... has this lovely business....

Stunner of the Month

Basically, for 9 bucks a month you get a new pair of stunners or... "stunnas" as my accent designates... (sunglasses)

Check it out. Totally worth it.

Good night!

Love,

Henna

Front of House, Thy Name is Junior

Today was my second official day working at THE AMERICAN. And it started like this:

It was suggested last night that I shouldn't necessarily go in at 6:00 this morning and Nate and I should ride bikes to the restaurant. I've never been that comfortable riding bikes. Ever.... So, put into your mind the image of a cartoon.
Imagine me, as a cartoon, riding down a steep hill in traffic. In this cartoon, my arms would be up and I would be screaming my bloody lungs out. I wasn't actually screaming... but if I had been a cartoon, I would have been. Nothing like a good, "Hello humongous, titanic, iso, gigantic BIG hill! Thanks for that wake up, you work better than coffee!"

*Sigh*. I'm scarred, I truly am. Now, can we ride the bikes in tomorrow too? :)

Nate and I get to the restaurant around 7:30, just enough time to start setting up the patio and other things for opening. While the doors were open, a business man wandered in, looking for some breakfast and decided to wait around when he discovered that we weren't open for business yet.

I met the Tuesday crew and was lovingly introduced as "Junior"... I think this may be a nickname that's gonna stick. (They also came up with the ridiculous name of "Happy Meal"... I think Junior's gonna be the one that stays.) Now, to give you a picture, my staff shirt is a blue baseball tee of this lovely logo:

Awesome, no? Todd, one of the expediters and runners up front, has the same color shirt. About an hour into the work day, we start stamping some take out bags with the spatula logo. And today, I got my first tattoo.
Yes. My "tattoo" is a spatula stamp. However, Todd got one too... And instead of Nate and Junior running around, it was Todd and "Mini (Almost, But Not Quite) Me"

I'm planning on going to Haight street and buying some henna. First tattoo? A spatula. I'm just that cool.
I was unadventurous for breakfast, going with the delicious breakfast piglet a second time. However, I went outside to the South Park... park... and ate my sandwich with one of the delicious house sodas (the "Tart Black Cherry" flavor to be exact.) It was chilly out today, but when I came back in, it was all the warmer for freezing during breakfast.
I helped make the savory break pudding today during a lull in business up front. It smelled so good...no wonder why it sells out! (I'm always saying that... everything is so yummy... I'm a walking advertisement...)

Since I got in later than yesterday, I could legally work later today (I also rode the bike in and had no idea how to get home...). But when I got off, I realized that Mom had called several times, so I grabbed my delicious Moscone sandwich (made with fresh mozzarella, fontina, roasted tomatoes, basil-lavender pesto, and kalamata olive tapanade), house soda (grapefruit flavor) and blondie (from a slightly flawed batch) and headed off to the park.

I made a best friend. But he won't go anywhere with me. I mean.. I don't think stores will let him in. Him being a pigeon and all that. Sucks, I know. (I shared some of my blondie with him...)

However, it's time for the business class that's meeting for the first time this evening. Heidi's leading it...I'm excited!

Love,
Henna

First Day of Working!

I "woke up" this morning around 5:30 to get into work with Heidi to start the breakfast routine at THE AMERICAN. I think that the morning crowd thought I was older than I actually was because god forbid a teenager would be up before noon. :) We started off by making mixed berry muffins. (I had a leftover muffin from yesterday... it was so amazingly yummy!)
Afterwards, because I'm too young to use the slicer, I was set to work making roasted tomatoes. I really like the smell of roasted tomatoes. It felt like I sliced over 30 or 40 tomatoes, laying them flat before they were roasted. It smelled amazing (especially so early in the morning!)
Around 8 we opened up for the breakfast crowd and couldn't finish all the tomatoes, so we made some more french toast batter and put the bourbon sauce into a bottle for ease in serving.

I took my break before it got busy... so I got my first sandwich! A breakfast piglet, which was (according to the menu) a breakfast sandwich with sharp cheddar, ham, egg, and apple mustard.
Now, here's the thing... I don't like mustard. I have never liked mustard... but I think I just found the exception. The entire sandwich just worked so well, it was the perfect start to a day!

After breakfast, I was put in front of house and was put to making drinks! (It's a lot of fun making house sodas...) And sometimes running orders and scooping croutons. It was a fun, thankfully uneventful (knock on wood) first day...

And now I'm exhausted. Even though it's early... I'm gonna hit the sack soon... or at least take a nap.

Love,
Henna

(Did I mention I had a leftover blondie? Amazing? Yes? I now know why it's famous and sells out all the time. It was g-o-o-o-o-o-o-d!)

Yum.

After the multiple walks I took today with the doggies around the Panhandle, I went in to help with the makings of some of the final sandwiches for Monday's crowd.

First off, we stopped at Pinkie's Bakery to get some of the yummy bread that the grilled cheeses are made out of. (I have never seen so much bread in my life in one place. It smelled and tasted so good...and restored my belief in humanity.) Once we had the bread we needed, we drove down to THE AMERICAN. It was my first time there in day light and was super (yes, super) awesome.

We made veggie breakfast sandwiches, jalapeño poppers, sweet bread pudding (including the bourbon sauce...)

Did I mention...yum? Ok, I didn't think I did, so I'm just making sure.

I enjoy sandwiches. I truly do...

Love,

Henna

Walkies!

In the tradition of jet-lagged people, I woke up late today. Of course... late central time. Here, I was up at 7.

However, like a sane person, I told my inner self to knock itself out. So I slept until 8. 

And then, IT WAS TIME FOR WALKIES!

Both of these lovely dogs together would make such a task for lil' ol' me. So I took them one at a time to walk in the Panhandle (...Park...?) right outside. Stella made it to the door first, so she was the one who got to walk first. (Race down the stairs, I'm glad I wasn't in front of either.)

Both walks were pretty uneventful. Except. Oh my god. There are so many dogs here. I'm not kidding. NH...you have a few here and there... But not everyone walking them all around! Mind blowing. And then there was a shoe. A very nice shoe I might add. High heels, boots, brand new looking... It wasn't a pair lying around. I honestly think someone lost a shoe.

Or they just took it off and left it there for someone (like me) to blog about. 

Tilly's walk consisted of seeing even more dogs, plus a man doing yoga in the middle of the park. 

But the best part? I didn't get lost.

Love,

Henna