Coop Work Term 1

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Co-op Work Term 1

• Winnipeg Squash Racquet Club
• Brandy Nicholson

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About the Squash Club

• The Winnipeg Squash Racquet Club is located at
  275 Stradbrook Avenue cornering at Donald Street.
• They have 7 different meeting rooms and can
  accommodate anywhere from a small function of 5
  to 160 people. The Squash Club caters to
  weddings, showers, stags, bar mitzvahs, cocktail
  parties, retirement dinners, luncheons, and
  various types of business meetings and you do not
  have to be member to reserve with the Squash
  Club.

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Dining Rooms

• These are the main dining rooms upstairs.

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The Staff

• The kitchen staff at the Squash Club included
  Executive Chef Scott Grant (very talented, and
  excellent teacher) Sous Chef Ron Syrnyk (very
  good with meats, has his own aging system and
  cuts all the meats for the Squash Club) Rachael
  Gerbandt (previous Red River student and Graduate
  and knows the Squash Club well) Mike Wroblewsky
  (Evening cook, very outgoing and can make large
  amounts of soup in 15 minutes) Lindsey
  (Breakfast cook, recently started, came over from
  Glendale and was also a previous student of Red
  River). I got along with everyone really well
  and even consider them family now. We generally
  eat staff meals together and well even invite
  each other out to various functions.

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Responsibilities

• During my time at the Squash Club I was mainly
  responsible for the cold line. I had to prep
  various sandwich and salad ingredients, make sure
  frozen items were pulled to thaw, make express
  sandwiches and pickle plate daily, prep sandwich
  special and complete orders as they came in for
  lunch off the menu. We had orders come in from
  the Hopwood Lounge downstairs and the various
  dining rooms upstairs.
• We also prepped a lot of cheese, fruit and relish
  platters of different size proportions for events
  throughout the week.

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A View of the Kitchen
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What I Did

• Sometimes during the lunch hours I helped plate
  meals with both the Chef and Sous chef for
  different events going on in the dining rooms.
• I was also given many different prepping tasks
  during lunch and after lunch for various events
  and banquets coming up that evening or within the
  next few days.
• During night shifts I was able to go on line and
  learn a little about the evening menu. I was also
  in the assembly line to plate meals for dinner
  events. Before and after dinner we were sent to
  assemble salads and desserts in a separate room
  as well.

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On the Side

• When opportunity arose, Ron would let me get more
  experience with meat cutting. If you want to get
  into meats, this is the man to go see.

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• When you needed something to do you were asked to
  take on the very tiny fridges and freezer on as a
  cleaning task. The freezer was always the worst!
  Can you imagine having to do inventory for that?
  Luckily I never did. I got the spice shelves
  and fridge by the line. (Chef must have taken
  pity on me.)
• The odd time we would do a deep clean and start
  scrubbing down the lines and shelves and even the
  inside of the fridge by the line. Deep cleans
  were easy because the kitchen is kept
  exceptionally clean all the time.

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Events and Opportunities

• In November there was a dinner event in the large
  dining room for Red River Alumni. Both Rachael
  and I were introduced to the main event planners
  for the evening. We both received an ovation
  during the dinner ceremony. Unfortunately we
  were detained in the dessert room preparing it to
  be brought out. It was still overwhelming to
  hear from the servers the wonderful compliment we
  received from the dinner guests.
• This was the salad and dessert we presented that
  evening.

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• During my work term Chef Grant gave me a few
  opportunities to broaden my experience which I
  thoroughly enjoyed.
• My first opportunity was a night at the Fairmont
  hotel with Rachael. I was there helping with the
  dinner for the new Govenor General of Canada. I
  was able to work alongside Executive Chef Jeff
  Morden and Executive Sous Chef Nick Beaumont. I
  was treated very well by the entire staff and I
  was amazed at the quality of team work I saw and
  was apart of. We were asked at the end of the
  night if all of us were willing to return if
  called upon. I answered yes and certainly will
  keep in mind a hotel for my next work term.

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• My second opportunity was a night at Bergmans on
  Lombard. Chef took me alongside with him to give
  our own time to help out with a fundraiser for
  the Hurricane Katrina Relief. I was able to meet
  David Bergman and all his staff, Craig Gunther
  from Market 520 and Cameron Tate from Glendale.
• Mainly I worked with the Red River students that
  were under Mr. Appleton. I assisted with salad
  and dessert prep and was able to watch Bergmans
  staff at work. After the entire meal was served,
  all kitchen staff was asked to come out to be
  introduced to the party and all received a
  standing ovation. We also all had dinner
  together in one of the preparation rooms. What a
  night. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

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Professional and Personal Gain

• I certainly consider myself lucky to have taken
  my work term with Chef Grant. He is an excellent
  teacher and was very patient with me. (Im also
  sure he was banging his head on the wall a few
  times after I left the kitchen) It was a lot like
  being at the college, you did have some room for
  mistakes and I was told that we all make a
  mistake as a team and everyone helps correct it
  and carries on. I also received constant
  encouragement to have a professional attitude
  with everyone that crosses my path. I was even
  encouraged to go out of my way to say hello and
  goodbye to everyone in the building and to give
  courtesy calls afterwards to those who invited me
  into there kitchens. These are nice professional
  touches that people remember you for. These are
  also Scotts life lessons.
• Chef Grant would also at the beginning of my work
  term, quiz me on anything and everything I was
  doing. If I could not come up with sufficient
  answers, I was given homework to bring back to
  him the following shift. Note to all (KNOW
  YOUR STUFF IF YOU TAKE UP A WORK TERM WITH HIM!)
  I was also given other homework of bringing in
  recipes for soups, daily sandwich and lunch
  specials. These were kept in a folder in his
  office that I could refer back to at anytime.

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• I was recognized for my talent with sweets. I
  had to make a dessert for my check up visit with
  Mr. Thornton. Chef helped with the idea for
  presentation for the dessert and it went over
  well. I also brought in my own homemade fudge
  and spice cake for the staff and it disappeared
  quickly. (Chef likes chocolate hint, hint, for
  future students)
• They had rotten bananas in the fridge and I was
  asked for a banana bread recipe. It was nice to
  know that they could rely on me. Just dont ask
  the Chef or go near him with anything that has
  bananas in it, hell turn green.

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Brandys Oops

• I should never be allowed to touch triffle. Twice
  I had to make this delicious dessert and had
  problems. The first time, I prepped the glasses
  and topped them with whipped cream and put them
  in the fridge on a serving tray. When I was
  asked to go retrieve them I was a little groggy.
  I picked up the tray, turned around and nearly
  dropped them all over the Chef! Luckily he
  grabbed the other part of the tray. I was given
  a funny look and was told to go re-top what I
  had destroyed.
• The second time was much worse. I was asked to
  make triffle with a time limit. This time I had
  to put mango coolie in between the layers of cake
  and berries, put them in a glass rack, wrap it
  and put it in the fridge. Well, I finished in
  record time for myself, clean up and all. I was
  proud. I was just about to grab the mango coolie
  bottle when Chef, looking down and shaking his
  head, yelled my name. He asked me if I had
  looked at the top of the bottle lid. When I
  looked there was a piece of tape across it that
  said HONEY MUSTARD. Someone the night before
  had made honey mustard in the mango coolie bottle
  and I had rushed myself and not looked. Needless
  to say all my work was for nothing. I was never
  asked to make triffle again. And still to this
  day they joke about what I did.

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Conclusion

• I had a blast at the Squash Club and recommend it
  as a great place for students to learn.
• I would like to give a special thanks to Mrs. Rew
  for helping me with my placement. I could not
  have imagined a better place to be!