Life After Connecticut College

So last Thursday was my cousins birthday. She lives about 10 blocks from me but I never get to see her cause when she's not at school, I'm at work. Anyways so she went out with a bunch of her friends Thursday night and I was supposed to join them when I got off of work but I got done around 2am and was beat so I just called her and told her we'd do something the next day.

I ended up taking her out to Pure on Friday and let me just say I was ready to spend over 100 bucks on her because she's very special and I figured what the hell, I've been working really hard, I can spend some $$$ for an amazing dinner on someone I love as a birthday present.

Continue reading "The $$$$$$$ Birthday Present.." »

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In my money crazy days, a friend of mine told me to look into Turkish restaurants since I'm fluent in both English and Turkish that they might want to hire me.

Anyways, this was around the same time I was running and bussing tables at Pure and for those of you who don't remember how small I am.. Im about 5'2'' and weight around 100-110 pounds. So a small woman but I'm quite strong.

So I go to my interview and the Turkish dude interviewing me goes..
'So... you want to work here?'
'Yes sir I do'
'Your previous restaurant experience is this place?' pointing at Pure on my resume, knowing nothing about it
'Yes'
'So you buss huh?'
'Yes I do'
'Well we don't hire female runners or bussers because they aren't as strong as the men and our plates are very heavy. The trash we take out at the end of the night is also very heavy, its not a job for a woman. But I'll train you as a server'

Let me just say that not all Turkish men are like this but some are idiots. I carried a 47 pound bag on my back in Alaska for a month, bussed upto 7 plates at a fast pace restaurant, I could probably do more push ups than this asshole and he's telling me that I cant carry a single plate with a big piece of dead animal on it?

Anyways, I never went back to train. I already have problems with male authority figures, having a new boss who is Turkish and has a penis probably wouldn't have been the best thing for me.

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow, its been a long time. I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do that I guess I've been on another dimension these past couple of months. Here's a quick update..

I was working at a vegan, raw, organic juice bar (Pure Juice and Take-Away) and was slowly moving into the restaurant (Pure Food and Wine). I started working a couple of shifts as a runner/busser every week and loved it cause lets be honest, no matter how ridiculous some of our customers may be, on a good day in the juicebar we made about 25 bucks in tips, on a slow night in the restaurant its more like 80. So once I started working at the restaurant I, for some reason I went money crazy, started freaking out, and decided I needed 8 jobs. Don't ask why. So I ended up spending every day on craigs list e mailing all sorts of restaurants and green companies my resume and picture, going to interviews and basically losing my mind. I was so focused on money that I started losing money or my deposits wouldn't go through. It was bizzarre. I stopped eating, not on purpose but because I simply didn't have the time and kinda forgot about it. I was quite unhappy basically.

Finally.. after a million interviews and a couple of jobs I realized I wasn't living a healthy life style so I quit everything and decided only to work at Pure. Now I work on the line as a pastry chef and let me say, it is one of the best jobs I've ever had. I'm also interning for an organic, green beauty product company and I LOVE IT!

Sorry I haven't written in ages but now that my life is in more of an order I am slowly going back to having time for myself.

By the way, pastry hours go from 3pm till 1am or whenever you get done. They are usually 10 hr shifts and to be honest with you I never thought about this before I had this job but some info for every one.. when you go to a restaurant, and they tell you 'the kitchen is closing in 10 minutes. Please order now if you'd like any food...' its true, the kitchen does close but the pastry doesnt. Until every single table orders desert or gets the check the pastry person has to wait.

The other night the kitchen closed at 11, and all the line cooks were out of the kitchen by 11 30. However, I, the little pastry woman, was stuck there until 1 30 am because a table of 4 decided they wanted to order desert past 12 30am. Luckily everyone who got off at 11 was still by the bar waiting for me to get off so we could all go out but basically know that the pastry staff doesnt get out until you pay.

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay so I know I just posted an entry but I had to write this one..

This weekend I was in Miami. My cousin called me thursday night and told me she had and extra free ticket and a place to stay for the weekend.. I told her I had to work but she told me I was being silly and that I should have someone cover for me and go down to miami with the girls and walk around art basel and see the exhibitions and lie on the beach. she convincing..

Continue reading "Welcome to Miami.." »

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This entry is to give everyone a heads up on dating.. and who NOT to be

(and just to clarify I am writing this as a woman who has been hit on by men. I don't know how it is to be hit on by a woman or what it is to be a man and hit on by a man or a woman..)

In college we had all these events that brought people together and if you'd meet someone you thought was attractive in someway you had the opportunity to perhaps ask around a little to make sure you liked what you heard before you jumped into something.

Well in the city, things are a bit different...

Continue reading "Stay Away from Pick-up Lines!!!" »

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this story, which is a true story, Lani is the girl I had a shift with at the juicebar on Monday... She was taking orders at the time while I was back juicing stuff and bringing people their orders.

it's a sad sad story but I had to tell it. so here it goes..

A woman orders a salad, eats some but doesnt finish it. Comes to the counter and says 'I would like to take this home', Lani says 'sure' and grabs a box for her to put her salad in and hands it to her. The customer responds with 'No, I would like to take it TO-GO". Lani, confused, says 'So you're saying you'd like ME to put it in a box for you?' and the customer says 'Well I AM going to take it home..@!#?' So Lani brings the salad over to me and says 'when you're done juicing, do you mind boxing this salad for me?' and I say 'sure.' and go back to juicing and the customer says 'She's not boxing my salad!' Lani responds with 'Yes I know, she will when she finishes doing what she's doing right now, can I help the next person?'
Once I finish juicing, I box the salad and bring it over to the counter. There were a bunch of people standing around and I had no idea who's salad it was so I put the boxed salad on the counter and yelled out 'salad to go?' and the customer said 'yes' and pointed at her bag so I would pick up the salad and put it in her bag for her. And so I did.. Had I known the whole story, from when she had arrived to the point where she told me to put the boxed salad in her bag, I would have asked if she'd like me to carry her bags home, open the box, put some salad in my mouth, chew it and puke it in her mouth so she didn't have to bother doing anything...

I think both Lani and I were both confused at first serving this woman who clearly did not want to step 'down' to our level as servers but then later we wondered if she maybe truly had no idea how to box a salad because all her life other people have been doing everything for her. Can you imagine living a life where you are so rich that you are incredibly helpless and dependent on others because you never got to learn how to take care of yourself and actually live?

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So I started working at an organic vegan raw restaurant's juicebar which has seriously delicious food and is quite expensive. Our smoothies range from 7.50 to 20 bucks, which is why every time someone messes up or drops any kind of food on the ground, all the employees gather round like ants :) can't let it go to waste!
Also I'm sure you all know, but the greatness of being turkish comes with a slight vertical challange. I am the shortest juice person at the bar and most of the cups and containers we use are on high shelves. The first week I was working, I struggled a lot so they got me a litte stand. We later taped 'little turks magic height booster' on it and one of the guys I work with drew a picture of me with a tight shirt that had a 'T' on it for 'turk'. So now everyone knows who's magic height booster they keep tripping over.
If you're into good vegan food stop by pure food and wine on irving pl between 17th and 18th or better yet stop by the juice bar on 17th between irving pl and 3rd ave

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After graduation I moved to NYC but couldn’t start working because my work visa wasn’t valid till mid July. Since I had some time off, I decided to take a NOLS course. Having applied so late, I didn’t have much to choose from, so I went for the only open course, Alaska Mountaineering. I am not a big fan of the cold, and I'm terrified of heights, but I figured since this was the only course that had an opening, it was meant to be.

I'm a clean freak -- most of my friends think I have OCD, even though I don't -- but we did not shower for a month and somehow I was okay with it. We ice climbed, dug out ice/snow caves, practiced self-arrest and crevasse rescue and traveled about 80 miles all together. We cooked amazingly delicious food and I somehow survived eating only vegan food on the glacier. Our backpacks weighed about 55-60 pounds and even though the trip as a whole seemed impossible to me at first; being out in the wilderness with over half my weight on my back, and on the freezing glacier where I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes, it was actually the most refreshing and motivating experience I've ever had.

Apart from all the dangerous stuff we did, my biggest accomplishment was probably learning how to wipe my butt with snow without falling into a crevasse and learning not to be bothered by not showering and wearing the same clothes for a month. I no longer have a face book account but do have pictures up on www.denizalaska.blogspot.com If you have the time and have saved up money, whether you’re an outdoorsy person or not, you should definitely check out some of the courses they offer (www.nols.edu).

Posted by Deniz Dinler at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)