The Flowers Class Restaurant Grand Opening

June 27, 2019

Dear Mom and Dad,

           One day before our restaurant opening, and we’re excited! In the morning, we started to make our dessert for tomorrow. We made some ice cream using Ziploc bags. It was so interesting– we mixed the milk, vanilla extract, and sugar in a Ziploc bag. Then we put it inside another Ziploc bag which has ice cubes and rock salt in it. Then we shake, shake, shake! It’s like magic– it starts to turn creamy just like ice cream! We can’t wait to taste it tomorrow.

On the small table, some of our friends continued to taste– test herbs and spices that we can possibly use tomorrow. It was very interesting as we saw that we have really different likes and dislikes– some of our friends like the sweet ingredients, and we have some friends that don’t like it. Majority of us didn’t like number 11– the habanero powder. We were under strict instructions to take a very, very small amount. It looked like two tiny dots on our fingers! Yet, most of us made a face, or quickly slurped water from our bottles after trying it out. It was only Y who, after tasting it, nodded and said, “I like it!” with a big smile! Our jaws dropped in awe.

We had our snack after, and then we talked about what will happen tomorrow.

“Why don’t we call our restaurant Flowers Class Soba Restaurant?” B suggested.

Pauline said that it was great idea, but unfortunately, soba was not in our menu. We discussed what’s in it, and the different courses that were available. We didn’t know what appetizers, and entrée meant. Pauline explained that appetizers were meant to start off our “eating time”, and usually done in small servings.

“What does ‘servings’ mean?” N queried.

Pauline replied that servings meant how much food is on the plate. The entrée, she said, were done in servings bigger that the appetizers, and was the most important part of the “eating time” or the meal course. For tomorrow, we’ll have a salad for appetizers—

“In small servings,” M reminded us.

—yes, he was right. For entrees, we’ll have—

“Quesadilla,” S said. Then we’ll have our special ice cream for dessert (Shelley, whenever she came into the classroom, warned us jokingly that she will eat our ice cream, hahaha).

Kai said that in making the quesadilla, we’ll sprinkle cheese on the tortilla, then we cover it with another tortilla. We then flip it on  the pan.

“Can I use just my hands to flip it over?” Pauline asked.

“Nooo!” We all chorused.

“It’s too hot!” A said.

“And the cheese will fall out!” M worried. So Pauline said we need to use the spatula to flip it over.

“How about the ice cream? Can we use our hands to touch it?” Pauline asked.

“Hands is dirty,” K said.

“Only with a spoon!” M said. Our teachers said that we need to make sure we keep our food clean, and we keep our hands clean.

Next, we talked about the important people in the restaurant. Our teachers did a role play.

“Good Morning!” A said brightly to Pauline. “Is there a table available?” she asked.

“Oh, yes, good morning madam!” Pauline said. “We do have an available table, if you could please follow me,” she said, and led A to an empty table. She pulled the chair back for her, and A sat down.

“The waiter will be with you shortly to take your order,” Pauline said. “Is there anything else you need?”

“A glass of water, please,” A said. Pauline pretended to get a glass of water, and gave it to her.

Next, Kai arrived with some menus.

“Good morning, madam. My name is Kai, and I will be serving you today. Here’s our menu, and our specials for today are the tomato cucumber salad, and chocolate ice cream,” He said.

“Umm… I would like one salad, please,” A said. Kai wrote them down on a paper.

“Anything else?” He asked.

“Hmm… that’s all. Thank you!” A said. Kai rushed off to Chiaki, who was in our kitchen area. He said that the paper he is writing on is called a docket, and he stuck it on the kitchen counter.

“One salad, and one ice cream,” Chiaki read from the docket. Then she prepared them, and put them on the tray.

“Orders are ready!” she said, and Kai hurriedly took the tray. He then delivered it to A’s table. When she was done eating, she ordered a chocolate ice cream. After that, Kai took the empty dishes to the sink, where someone can wash them. Now, can you guess which roles they were all playing? A was the customer, Pauline was the host/ maître’ d, Kai was the waiter, and Chiaki was the chef. The dishwasher was another important person in a restaurant, and washes the dirty dishes.

We also talked about how we turn our classroom into a restaurant: the table near the teacher’s table turns into a waiting area with the maître’ d. The second table near our kitchen area becomes a dining area. The last table beside the cabinets is our kitchen area.

We didn’t have time to go to the park after, so we played the freeze dance. Pauline played our favorite “Come on baby, America!” and Kai played the drum. We just turned into a single singing and dancing machine!

That concludes our preparations for our restaurant opening. How about you? How was your day?

Love,

All the restaurateurs in Flowers Class