Our Dishwasher ...

Monday is usually the slowest day of the week for us at Hot Pot Heaven (so if you ever want to beat the crowd Monday would be the best day to visit us :) That, or you can also call in to make a reservation). My nephew, who is working in the front, is on vacation today so the HPH team had to work extra hard today to keep the customers happy.
 Because it was a little slow, the kitchen staff didn't have much to do so we decided to shine everything in the kitchen. From the fridges to the legs of our working tables - all shined. That's what we do when we are a little slow - we clean and I am just super happy that everyone in our kitchen like to clean. One of the person who like to clean is our dishwasher, Mrs. Tuyết. Although we have a dish washing machine, Mrs. Tuyết always rinses and inspects each dishes before putting it in the washer. Our machine maintenance person claimed, "This is the cleanest dishwasher I have ever seen" .
  Our HPH team calls Mrs. Tuyết - "Cô Tuyết" which means, Aunt Tuyết. Aunt Tuyết  just came from Vietnam about 11 months ago.  Her first job is here, at Hot Pot Heaven and she is still with us. I am so glad I found her because she is a CLEAN FREAK :) and has a great memory. She cleans everything in sight and remembers what items we need to order. The only thing Aunt Tuyet feels uncomfortable about is her English skill. She can’t speak at all. Thus, she is happy in the back working with other Vietnamese-speaking people. I happy that she is comfortable and her lack of English skill actually bring a lot of entertainment and creativity to our staff.

We made up names of a few vegetables that Cô Tuyết doesn't know the Vietnamese names for them (we don't have them in Vietnam) to help her remember them better and these names are sometimes just simply hilarious. For example, we call bok choi - "cải đít mập" which means "fat butt veggie" :)

What do you think of our name? "cải đít mập" :)

Another vegetable that we made up name for is spinach - we called it "cải dập" = "easily bruised veggie".

Cô Tuyết has now learned almost all our items in English but we still use the names we have created for these  items as it always makes us laugh. She also now knows how to say "rice" and all the names of our broths. I am very proud of her and very glad to have her on the team. Cám ơn cô Tuyết :)

Oh, another thing that made me super happy today is that I just discovered that I can take the stove range apart and clean them! yay!  My uncle, chú Tình, who used to own a restaurant, showed me today. We only cleaned it a bit as I learned about it a little late. I am looking forward to the weekend to clean this fire range! Cám ơn Chú Tình :)

Monday . . .

Monday is my day being a filler. My job is to keep the two fridges in front well stocked at all time. Well, I try but this has never been the case. The fridges often look empty and the popular items such as shrimps, Chinese cabbage, choi sum are often not seen. In addition, I have to cut meats for customers.   I used to dread Mondays so much but now I love it. My slowness really pulls everyone at Hot Pot Heaven together – hahaha so there is my excuse for being slow.

There are only three people in the kitchen – a cook, a filler, and a dishwasher. We have title for each just so we know what we are mainly responsible for but we do really work together. On Mondays, knowing that I am slow (the other fillers are supper fast), the dishwasher would washed all the vegetables ahead of time for me. My sister, who helps me during the daytime, would help me stock up the fridges before she leaves for the day. The cook would help me with cutting mushroom and other items. Then, if I slow on cutting meat, one of the server in front would come in and cut meat for me! Hahahahaha – I know I don’t carry my weight and make everyone work harder but in return for their help they can tease me and boss me around (just a little bit). Also, it makes me so happy because I feel so loved.  I am getting better and Mondays are just another happy days at Hot Pot Heaven.  Like today, I was able to keep up with all the customers’ needs. I was a little slow on the meat but they all came out eventually and I hope Jimmy (he was working in front today) didn’t get any complaint.

At this moment, I am very proud to say that I can do anything at Hot Pot Heaven – maybe not as good as everyone but I can do EVERYTHING.  Jimmy’s mom taught me how to make the soups. I can rinse and put the dishes in the dishwasher (the machine). I can fill the fridges and of course, I can serve and buss tables.  Serving and bussing tables are my strongest! Kids like me and so parents like me. Grandmas and grandpas like me so their children like me  à  everyone likes me! Hehehe I would like to think so. (But yeah, I heard that kids like people who have fat face = me! I got it from my Daddy – I have a really big face and when I smile I got to eggs sitting on my cheeks. This probably looks hilarious to the kids so they smiles back at me.) I love talking to customers. The past 9 months in business, I have met many many cool customers who offer their advices, support, encouragement, and compliments. I learned so much from talking to them from running a restaurant to raising kids.

 Another Monday is over and a new day has just started and I thoughts are all over the places and I am super duper tired but one thing I know for sure - I am thankful for everyone around me. The people who work with me – thanks for all your hard work, support, and love. My dear customers – thanks for coming and supporting our business and for all the honest suggestions and recommendations. Friends and family who are always supportive. And to my fiancé, Jimmy Tran, for being patience with me.  Good night to all!