Street fair & the Dentist

This was a fun event that came together pretty quickly. I had no idea other than we were serving hamburgers, hot dogs and some nachos. Laura, Pat and I went to church and headed to the street fair that was celebrating 20 years of renewed friendship between the peoples of the United States and Albania. Things were already in full gear when we got there and I was just planning on putting on an apron and helping out. It was crazy busy, constant hungry people from about 12:30 to 4:00.

This was the first time The Stephen Center crew has done anything like this, the constant flow of customers for fast food was new for them and I think a good learning experience too. I had a great time, just trying to stay on top of replenishing the buns, cheese, mayo, and lettuce. At one point we ran out of relish for the hot dogs while there were about 15 hot dogs left on the grill. The younger chef told me not to cut any more buns since we are out of relish. 

Laura, US Ambassador Alex & Chris

A conclusion he came to that no relish= no hot dogs ordered. I glanced at the grill saw the dogs and said the grill dictates what we prep, if you see hot dogs cooking, we prep what we have, if you see hamburgers cooking, you prep the buns. It was also one of the longest times I was working along side them in the mix of things. A lot of my work recently has been in front of my computer. Oh and I almost forgot, U.S Ambassador to Albania Alexander Arvizu made an appearance and got a hotdog! Who would have thought I would see a "famous" person in Albania.

Me, Agustine, Kao (Dentist)

At the Dentist

I first learned about Agustine (Albanian teenager)in February when Chris and Laura visited. I have been praying for him ever since, for his procedure approval at the Shriner’s Hospital in Springfield, Massachusetts (straightening his back), and then for his surgery once he was approved and then his healing. Such an testimony to God’s work! Been looking forward to meeting this 15 year old boy for 7 months now and what a sweetheart he is. Speaks excellent English, is very good with computers, has a great sense of humor and loves the Lord. His testimony has already been shared to so many people. Another missionary friend of Chris and Laura's came to Tirana for a week with his whole mobile dentist office set up. He set up shop in the downstairs of The Stephen Center and worked on the employees, local school kids  and Agustine. I happen to come down during Agustin’s visit, his first visit dentist ever.  The set up was quite impressive, from the sterilizing machine to the dentist chair made of cardboard. All to provide dental care to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have their teeth worked on. Kao (Dentist), asked if I wanted to be a dental assistant and had me use the suction wand while he was working on Agustine. That’s a hat I’ve never worn but I felt for Agustine and wanted to help speed up his first dental experience (shots, drilling and fillings).

New menu look

The menu update: We've been through 3 rounds of drafts with the menu. Applied some menu strategy as far as where the placement of certain cost items should go etc. I don’t know how many hours I spent in front of my computer but at one point I had to take a breather and walk down the road, pick up a treat for later, walk back to the restaurant, order a banana split, watch part of a football (soccer) game and that seemed to do the trick. I was able to get back to work and meet the goal I set for myself that night. It’s about 90% complete at this point, just a little tweaking here and there. Can’t wait to see the finished product, and hope my work on it blesses The Stephen Center. The staff has been so kind and helpful in working with me on this project, making it an enjoyable experience all around!
PS-In Norway now! :)

God Bless,

Menu & Food Safety

Drafts of new menu

In the past week things have really been picking up here. The data collecting, analyzing and meetings of the previous weeks have set us up to design and create the new menu. I’ve never done something quite like this before so it’s a great learning experience for me and something that has been on the back burner for over a year now for them. Needless to say, my laptop has become my best friend, we are inseparable, many hours in front of it typing, designing and revising.

Me styling food for menu pictures

Laura has been working with me on this project, making the long hours fun and filled with laughter. We seem to get a little silly towards the end of the night from the intense time and focus we’ve been giving to this project. When I first met Chris and Laura in February, we “clicked” right away and now working alongside them, God is confirming that I was to serve in Albania, though the enjoyment and progress of the projects I’m working on. Praise God!! He is Good! I love Chris and Laura’s heart for God and there have been some good teaching moments too. I’m learning a lot from them and my eyes are being opened to new things.

Toni & I facilitating the Food Safety Class

                       In addition to the creating a new physical menu and critiquing the flavor of the food, I have been focused on food safety. It’s pretty funny because back home one of the phrases I get teased about saying a lot in the kitchen is, “Did you wash your hands?” and one of the first things I do here, is take the servers and cooks through a food safety class. Using a projector, the online presentation I had to complete to renew my food handlers card and Toni, the restaurant manager translate it in Albanian. The class lasted less than 2 hours, covered basic food safety information and brought up some good conversations between the employees.

Alesund, Norway

I’m really trying to make a good push to get some big things done before my little stint in Norway, in a week. I’m extremely excited about that opportunity. Among several reasons, for one, I’ll be putting on the chef hat more so than the business hat and have a change in scenery, boats, water, snow topped mountains, ahhhhh… It will be the third language I hopefully get to learn too!

Ok back to Albania, lots of stuff to do, God give me the wisdom, knowledge, energy and waking hours to complete the work I’ve started, may it be of high quality and bless The Stephen Center for years to come. Amen!

And thank you to those who took my little survey :)

God Bless,

Research

Check out the little survey I put to the right of the screen. Just curious what you think and I'll use the info to help improve The Stephen Center! Thanks.

God Bless,

The Albanian Kitchen

The Stephen Center

This particular opportunity is the most multifaceted of my travels so far. Cognitively pulling on knowledge from all of my previous schooling, from culinary, business and I guess a little bit of my fashion school as well. I had to laugh at myself about getting excited over the idea of doing a market survey, to get feedback from the local missionaries that The Stephen Center gets most of its’ business from. There is an art and strategy to putting together a survey- something I learned at UW and it excites me that I might get to do it in "real life" now and not just for a grade.

Me helping with catering job

Some of my time has been spent in the kitchen watching the crew; servers and chefs complete tickets. There, I’m mainly looking at accuracy, timing, communication and cleanliness. I’ve helped with a few of their catering jobs which is a lot of fun too, since God gave me the passion for organization :) 

This has also been a good time to build relationships with the Albanian staff (really the only Albanians I’m in contact with). One of the women in the kitchen is helping me learn Albanian, which is a lot of fun and beginning to become a passion for me (learning languages). Inevitably I’m also learning about the Albanian culture, their food culture in particular. There is one Albanian item on the menu which the 21 year old Albanian chef said he had for breakfast growing up, an egg and pepper sandwich. Picture an omelet with thinly sliced green peppers placed in between two pieces of white bread with a slice of cheese, then placed in a panini press. Haven’t tried it yet but doesn’t sound too bad? The other Albanian dishes I’ve had in restaurants nearby are hard to describe (don't ask me the names) but I would classify them as comfort food meals, warm, hearty and simple.

Albanian lunch (also served with rice)

Ok, back to The Stephen Center- they are blessed to have a good size kitchen to work in but I keep getting the feeling that they need some new equipment and possibly a different layout to really make the kitchen run efficiently.  I’ve taken pictures and created a diagram of the current kitchen and emailed them to some seasoned chefs I know in the industry to get their opinion. Another part of my time has been with the awesome accounting lady who is very helpful, patient and takes the time to explain the printouts I’ve asked for. That has been one huge eye opener, how different the accounting is, not wrong but presented differently than I was taught. Honestly, it took a lot of brain power to understand what numbers meant what as she was breaking it down for me. I’ve also spent a good amount of time analyzing the menu as far as taste and popularity.  

I was joking just the other day, saying it’s hard being a food critic, I had to try the strawberry waffles today :) what is funny, all the staff watches for my reaction when I go to take a bite. In culinary school I encountered this a lot, constantly sampling food I made, other students made, or the chef instructors made.  It’s a humbling feeling because I don’t feel like some expert whose word is law but more so my heart is to help/serve The Stephen Center wherever they need it. And since they ask for my opinion I give it to them.  I’ll share one critique I had, it was with the pancakes. 

Chris doing side by side taste test

Flavor was slightly different and texture was heavier as well. Go to find out they had been using semolina flour (traditionally used for pasta dough) instead of all-purpose flour. We did a side by side comparison and sure enough everyone agreed the all-purpose tasted better and more like home for the Americans and as far as texture was concerned, we changed the consistency of the batter. So there you go. 

Still a good amount of work to do but it's exciting and I pray I'm doing it in God's strength and not my own. Praise God for this serving/learning opportunity for me! He is just simply amazing and filling my heart with love, in more ways than one:) 

God Bless,

Tirana

Albanian Flag

My first week in Tirana was getting to see some of what Chris and Laura are involved in. Chris is quite the visionary and Laura is an extremely hard worker, the two seem to complement each other very well. Their network of ministries spans 3 countries here in the Balkan region of Europe so we only saw a portion of it all. Bob, Pat and I had the pleasure of visiting one of Chris’ visions in progress, the rehabilitation center for handicapped kids. 

Inside the restaurant

God’s grace has been on this project from its inception with the physical building being donated and constructed by one group of generous people, the interior walls completed with the quality volunteering hands of another group. Still needs electrical, equipment, staff etc. but as you know, our Lord is our one provider. Can’t wait to see the impact this place will have once it gets up and running. The second place we visited was the terminally ill children’s wing of the local hospital here in Tirana. 

John 3:16 on sugar packet

 Laura organizes catered cinema days for the kids with pizza and gifts and lots of fun. My heart really responded to that idea. As we were walking through the halls I was getting ideas of a fun craft day I could organize for them. We spoke with the woman who oversees this area of the hospital and asked what the needs are. She was very humble and sweet and thanked us for visiting and our interest to help. Not the easiest of days, reminds me to praise God for the healthy kids in my life.

Outdoor seating at restaurant

The Stephen Center Restaurant and Bed & Breakfast are rather nice. I love the outdoor seating, perfect in the cool mornings before the heat and traffic has set in. My mission in Albania is to kind of act like Gordon Ramsey on Kitchen Nightmares. Without the swearing, loud outbursts and violent behavior. Essentially, I’m here to critique, for lack of a better word, the restaurant. Everything from the wait staff, timing, catering, service, menu, taste, organization, costs and income. 

Chinese Chicken Salad

It’s more of a consulting role I’m in right now. What makes it pretty interesting is that I’m alone in the kitchen with 3-7 Albanian speaking staff with only 2 somewhat speaking English. I’m also working closely with the accountant to pull up records to analyze cash flows, which I enjoy as well. Praise be to God, with the college I’ve done, business administration and culinary arts, I’m pulling from both those backgrounds to hopefully help improve The Stephen Center and keep it running well!

International Protestant Assembly

Sunday the six of us Bob, Chris, Pat, Ken, Linda (vacationing missionaries from Czech Republic) and I went to the International Protestant Assembly where Bob gave the message. After being in Greece for 3 weeks it was nice having an English speaking pastor as well as English worship music. There were about 100 or so people in attendance and quite a lively bunch at that.

Pastor Bob Forseth Preaching

Two older gentlemen were dancing in the aisle and I heard several whistles during worship as well. Many of the songs were upbeat with the sound slowly building in intensity. Just so much fun! Creating music is such an awesome art and I'm gaining more and more respect for those very talented people who do that :) Visiting churches around the world has been an amazing part of my adventure. I love that I can go to a church and be welcomed by God's children and instantly feel at home. We are all part of one huge family in Christ. That's the way I felt visiting this church for the first time, like family.

God Bless,