30 may - 5 june 2011 venison and deep cleaning

30 may - today i went to work waiting to find out by chef what he wanted me to do and he took me to the back to fetch a whole rooibok carcass, that he let me cut up and 2 nyala hips, this i cut up everything to make a pot roast and the bones and the rest of the offcuts were used to make a stock, which was turned into a soup, our pot roast was half cooked, the nyala finished quick and was fully cooked, but the rooibok was only half cooked because of the toughness of the meats, and Adrian (proficiency) helped me throughout the whole process.

31 may - we finished cooking the venison for the pick and pay conference and we started cooking the fond blanc(brown stock) which was later made into a soup by kieron, today was quiet again, but the conference made the whole day busier, so i enjoyed it.

1 June - we prepared for vleisvreters, i made rice, boiled chicken for the chicken mayonnaise, made roasted chicken and a venison stew, which was all meats that were left over from the function.

2 June -the whole day we did a few orders and consisted mostly of deep cleaning the rest of the day, we also packed and cleaned the back fridge, freezer, dry store and i did the inside fridge by myself from top to bottom, it was a hectic cleaning day, but i did do a few things like blanching mixed vegetables etc

3 - 5 June - off weekend

27 - 29 may 2011 uithoe ritte at caravan park

27 may - i worked in the main kitchen at vleisvreters again, i made mixed vegetables, butternut and did temperature checks for the kitchen, there wasn't much to do and their wasnt much guests the weekend again, it was very fun, even though i went home a bit later than usual, but such is life

28 may - i woke up and went to caravan park at 4:30 in the morning, i was tired and extremely cold, but after 2 cups pf coffees and a rusk i was ready to start the day, we served, breakfast rolls, boerewors rolls, vetkoek and mince, potjie and pap and we had the whole caravan parks field full of people, it got a bit hectic at sometimes, but it was very fun and all of us liked it, it was me, Alon and Zamiane working there with chef Errol, we only went home after 5 and we were all exhausted, but satisfied with our work done.

29 may - today was quiet and i asked chef if we can do anything, but he said i must just clean and do standard recipes, so i kept on doing that because he wanted to keep the special stuff for monday, so it was very quiet, and having a quiet day slows you down dramatically, but i kept working and the day went past very fast.

the weekend was very fun and we experienced changes in our daily schedules, which made  it all more fun to work, this is why Sondela suits me, peace out !!!

23 - 26 may 2011 bonus function, guest house and caravan park setup

23 may - today chef Errol wanted to make something different, so i asked to help with his idea, we made mini cheese loaves, which was a made up bread recipe with a lot of cheese and paprika, i also got to use pommes(potatoes) today and i made pomme croquettes, pomme dutchess and they were all shown and explained briefly to me

24 may - this was the day of the bonus function and i had to make 3, 30 litre pots of mielie pap, we served the staff after their singing expedition and i made some of the student lunch which consisted of deep fried samosas and chips, the rest of the day was small orders and cleaning

25 may - i set up the caravan park with Alon today, we set it up so that we don't forget anything and there were a lot of people in the kitchen, so we took all the big equipment there, put up the dividers, the net and the seil over the roof so that no dirt and debris will come in from the roof or the sides when the horses start their races, we took all the grillers, flat top, tables and gas burners, that was the end of our day. we also took all our stock to the guest house for the next day

26 may - me and Alon started work at 5:30 in the morning, it was really cold and just for interest, we didn't want to get out of a warm car, but it was the first time working at the guest house and we were very excited, we got there and Alon chose to be in the hot kitchen the previous day, so i did all the cold foods, which consisted of freshly made juices, fruit platters, and pastry platters, with a selection of butter, whipped creams and mozzarella cheese. I was finished first, so I decided to help Alon, i helped with his poached eggs wrapped in smoked ham and his plating, it was really fun and we enjoyed working with chef Errol and chef Steve.

16 may - 22 may 2011 offal and lemon week for me

16 may - I packed the fridge and freezer today, this day also consisted of a test that i recieved 85 % for, it was a 3 hour test and I thought I did very well, the rest of the day we were off.

17 may - we worked outside making offal, which is all the

 internal organs and edible meat inside the cow, 

we all needed to make something different with our parts, me,

Francois and Bianca worked together and i got a heart and

Bianca got kidneys, she made devil kidneys, which is shallow

frying the kidneys with a lot of chilli, i made a heart stew, 

which consists of cubed and cleaned heart, origanum , red wine 

and many different sautèd vegetables, many of the students liked 

the heart and even Mel complimented my dish, it was very fun, we

all had different parts and after that we cleaned up and went home

18 may -everyone was off because of elections

19 may - I was sent to the academy kitchen today to work with lemons, we never had a chance to make different lemon dishes or products, so chef gave us a chance to make different products consisting of lemons, I made lemon, caramel and vanilla syrup, which was bottled, i also made lemon curd as well as a lemon marmalade, all these products were bottled for future use.

20-22 may - I was on my off weekend and returned home

13 may - 15 may 2011 weekend working schedule

13 may - i worked at vleisevreters this weekend and i did carving again, it was a typical Friday and it wasn't very busy, everything was very quiet, but i did talk more to the guests, because we didn't have much to rush about, it was enjoyed by all and we didn't work so late this weekend

14 may- i made Coldert today, which is butterflied fish fillets, pannèd and deep fried in hot fat,

thereafter you boil snails in a bèchemel sauce, or a basic cheese sauce and you add this into the butterflied deep fried fish and gratinate, serve with 2 garlic clove stalks and capers.

15 may- very quiet day, nothing much happened, only a few orders of burgers, beef stroganoff and some small dishes, so the whole day consisted of cleaning and packing the fridge. 

9-12 may 2011 week back at sondela tambuki function

9 may 2011- theory day

 10 may 2011- starting preparation for Adriano's Tambuki function where all the senior management will be served by our student chefs to see what we have learn't and how we are doing at Sondela with our studies, we took all the big equipment there, like the grills, tables, gas bottles, and the grids

11 may 2011- this is when we packed and prepared all dishes for the Tambuki function, here is a picture of how I prepared the fillets, me, Alon and Armand were in charge of the main course which was fillet stuffed with bacon, scalloped potatoes, lamb shank, lamb neck and mixed vegetables. Which was prepared on this day


12 may 2011- we finally started with the Tambuki function for Adriano, were we made the main course for him and management, here are photos of how Tambuki looked when we finished setting it up and us making the foods in our white chef jackets

2 may - 5 may 2011

2 may-on this day me and kieron did mise on place for the hot kitchens ingredients and we made pancakes for the rest of the day, now and then there was a delivery and I went out with chef to re-pack and store the foods

3 may- theory day

4 may-we went on a road trip with chef today. we went to the Chinese market, Binun's and Makro for equipment, ingredients and to show students different types of cultures






5 may - 8 may 2011 was an off weekend for me, that day all I did was theory