As always for that time of the year, Adele
had to out on her best clothes when working. It wasn’t really well seen if the
hostess of a very prestigious restaurant dressed in any kind of clothing. She
had to have some nice dresses for every single type of occasion, as she was the
face of the hotel on the evening people had chosen to come. She represented
everything for them and was the go to person if anything were to happen during
one of the many dinners the hotel hosted all along the year. It was always vey
busy, a successful business.
Christmas time was especially hard on the
hotel workers. For example, Adele had to wake up very early in the morning
every single day leading to Christmas. For a week or so, she would have to put
on her best coat to resist the fierceness of the weather and also because she
really needed to get warm as soon as she arrived at the hotel as many things
had to be checked. And in Christmas this was done in the most exact way, as
everything had to be in line with perfection that night, as they always
promised their guests the most lavish dinner ever.
The kitchen staff consisted of several men and
only a few women. There weren’t many women trying to breakout in the business
and she was only closely related to everything they did on the actual
restaurant. Adele was only a hostess and she would never be able to grow much
more than that in her line of work. It all depended on very well paid jobs in
certain events and parties, which he had hosted occasionally but not as
prolifically as the events held on the hotel. There, she knew she was prepared
to resist anything and everything.
In the days leading to the Christmas dinner,
the menu was checked several times and many testing lines were done. It was
Adele’s job to taste everything and determine if she needed to change something
in order to have some more time or make it a more successful menu. Two days
before, she even thought it was going to be necessary to change the dessert
because it wasn’t very well achieved but the person in charge of confectionery
convinced her that he could make it more attractive with some superficial
design.
The day before Christmas he presented his
corrections and he was lucky enough to be congratulated by Adele. The rest of
the dishes were done and they only needed to cook them early on Christmas Eve
in order for everything to be on point for the dinner. Many cases of wine were
ordered from around the world, as well as many other alcoholic beverages. They
also bought lots of cheese for after dinner and had to go to the market to buy
the best and most fresh products in order to cook everything they needed for
the menu.
The night before the party, Adele was not able
to sleep properly. She had gone to bed intentionally early but it didn’t work
out at all. Not only was she worried about the dinner and the results the hotel
was going to get with it but she also doubted her personal capacity to resist
everything she was going to be held against. After all, the dinner was
practically her show and if anything went wrong, it was her skill which had to
come to work in order to fix whatever that needed to be fixed. All those
thoughts did not let her sleep for a minute.
When she arrived in the hotel, she checked
every produce than had arrived and gathered the staff around her in order to
tell them a few things before beginning. Not only the kitchen staff was present
during the speech but also the rest of the hotel employees, as most guest were
going to stay the night after dinner. Adele asked for everyone to do their
best, to make it an experience that none of them could be able to replicate
anywhere else. They needed to make that night one of the most special nights
ever for every single guest.
Rooms began to be cleaned and final details
were being put on all over the hotel as flowers in every floor to make it smell
divine. The kitchen went into full gear from very early in the morning, as they
also had to cook for the rest of the guests in the hotel that were not going to
participate in the dinner. It seemed to be chaos in the kitchens but the chef,
and to a lesser extent Adele, knew how to make it all seem so peaceful, to
always have a certain order that may not be obvious but with which every single
person can work with to achieve the goals.
Adele also had to check every single bedroom
in order to personally see that the other workers had done a good job. She had
to check first the ones where people had the intention to arrive earlier and
then she moved on to the rest, checking for the bed to be perfectly done and
for the furniture not to have a spec of dust. She also checked the bathroom, as
that had always been very popular after dinner. People loved to have a bubble
bath at some point so it was better to be prepared. Anything people wanted
while staying had to become a reality.
As she was checking the top floor, Adele
received word that something had gone wrong with the dessert. Apparently the
ingredients had been on a refrigerator that wasn’t working very well and they
had become useless. Many melted and others were simply not the quality needed
for the dessert. Adele ordered for all of that to be stored away and demanded
the pastry chef and the confectionery guy to come up with something very fast
as her customers couldn’t go without desert.
Dinner was scheduled for nine o’clock at
night. At seven, some of the guests begun to arrive and the desserts were not
really done yet. Adele was very pleased to escort the first couple upstairs and
tell them everything about the dinner, the usage of the bathroom and of the
rest of the hotels features such as the swimming pool, the steam room and the
spa, among others. She was lucky enough to check that room beforehand because
she had discover dirty towels in the bathroom, so she changed that before
anyone noticed.
She didn’t join everyone to their room as, at
eight o’clock, many more people started to arrive and she certainly didn’t have
any time to waste. She used that moment to go back to the kitchen and see what
they had come up with for dessert. As expected, they weren’t having many ideas.
The people in charge were not as imaginative as they needed to be and they were
really relaying on clichés to make a proper dessert. But the same old pastries
and ice cream were not nearly goo enough for Christmas dinner. It would be an
insult to the guests!
Adele decided to come up herself with a new
dessert. She knew they didn’t have much time, so she decided to reuse some of
the ingredients they had from past parties. She decided to reuse the chocolate
balls that melted when hot chocolate was poured on top of them. She decided to
change the liquid chocolate for caramel and told the staff to come up with some
sort of truffle at the center of the ball, in order for people to have a nice
surprise when having their last dish. She put everyone to work and told them
they had minutes to come up with a tasting plate.
She decided to visit the lobby as they
prepared, in order to let in the first guests. It was decided they should wait
at the lounge bar, as she preferred to know first if the dessert was a go or
no. She returned to the kitchen briefly to taste her idea and approved it when
she realized it was good enough. Half of the kitchen staff had to help do all
the desert plates needed for the evening. Adele left them again in order to
open the restaurant and let everyone inside. The music had been carefully
chosen as well as the design of the menus.
The dinner started with applause when the
guests saw their first plate, which was absolutely gorgeous. Then came the
other dishes and finally the dessert. People didn’t say much about it but, when
coming out of the restaurant, they praised the idea for being “simple but
effective”. As some guests headed towards their beds and other towards the bar,
Adele went to the kitchens and declared the night a complete success. She wasn’t
going to sleep much that night either but at least she wasn’t going to be
worried.
