:)

The new desserts are AWESOME!! The transistion has been smoother than I expected and frustrating all at the same time.

We had some staff changes the end of last month. Moved one baker who wasn't working out to the pantry and brought in a new girl. New girl is a dream come true. Quick, precise and can & will follow instructions. She told me the other day she is working harder than she has in years but is glad to not be in charge anymore. 4 of her first 5 days training the exec chef was out and I had to deal with food orders, call outs and problems. She kept laughing when we got interupted. We are prepping for BQTS right now 4 days out, something that hasn't happened since the summer of '08.

To facilitate the ease of plating desserts to order we took over a small corner of the pantry and turned it into a plating station. Everything we need to do plate-ups are stored in a small sandwich drop now. It's a bit crowded and we only had room for half pans of some of the desserts and stacked 2 others. I LOVE IT!! We have a place where everything you need for plate-ups is together, accessable and it doesn't use ice pans to keep it cold. Plus I can have a project spread from one end of the bakeshop table to the other (all 24 sq feet of it) and I can step out to plate then come back to it. This has also opened up 2 shelves in the regular reach-in so we have more storage space that is close to the work area.

Unfortunately it is not a unanamous love affair. I have to listen to the older baker gripe every single day about how it's not working and she needs more (space, time, shelves.......etc). I am having such a hard time dealing with the complaining. I have asked her repeatedly to give it a month before we assess and make changes but she just can't accept that. I want the old cooler where we stored pre-plated desserts to dissappear and she has convinced the f&b director that we still need it. I have grand plans for that space that can't come to fruition til it's gone. GRRR! Patience isn't my strong suite on the best of days and I'm still not feelin' 100% so i have NONE.