Finals!

Finals start tonight with the baking of pâte à choux and mousseline pastry cream...better known as eclairs. It's the group portion of our final and should, fingers crossed, go better than last quarter's group final. As long as we guard our oven (we've taken to taping it shut with masking tape so that idiotic people don't keep opening it thereby lowering the temperature and doing other things that damage our end product) and pay attention to our measurements, we should be aces. Our eclairs always turn out well - I'll have to make sure I pipe them though I think...

Tomorrow night is our final involving knife cuts (the standards, julienne, dice, etc. as well as four tournées which are going to be a pain in the ass) and piping (shell, reverse shell, star, and rosette) - hopefully all will go smoothly. Saturday is deep cleaning and then I'm free for three weeks!

Leek Out!

What I am not burned out on is leeks. I went to the store the other day to get some chives to garnish a potato soup I was going to make and saw some gorgeous leeks that just called my name. I've never really cooked with them before, but love them whenever I have eaten them so I decided to try my hand at potato leek soup. Couldn't be that hard, right? It wasn't and the soup turned out so delicious that I doubt I'll ever make plain potato soup again. Unless, of course, someone dear to me requests it as such, but even then I might orate the niceties that leeks add to the soup.

So now, everywhere I look, there are recipes that include or highlight leeks. Granted, this could be due to them being in season, but seriously, they're everywhere right now. So you'll probably be hearing me wax poetic on the deliciousness of leeks in the coming weeks. I'm already planning on doctoring up a recipe for leek and white bean soup I came across...should morph nicely into a fantastic white chili...

Burned Out On Baking

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm getting pretty bored in Baking/Pastry. It's not Chef F, he's awesome and so smart and funny. I think it's just that because I've been baking for so long, I'm not learning a whole lot of new stuff. Thankfully there are only a few more weeks left to get through, then winter break. I think also that I'm burned out on having class Thurs-Sat nights. Hopefully next quarter with classes Mon-Wed I'll be able to focus on working more and being a bit more social...

While I Love Being Correct..

...I would rather be sleeping considering I'm now working 6am-5pm Thurs and Fri before class. Although being awake right now works out well since it's the time I need to leave tomorrow and Friday...moving on to update. This is going to be long and gloss over a bunch of stuff, which is really unfortunate. I don't like not documenting things, you know, since I'm getting all old and stuff and the memory fades.

I was about to start listing out all the stuff we've done over the past 9 weeks and then realized I just don't have the motivation to live it all again, plus I'm really not that exciting. Honest. So I'm just going to post some pics that I've taken over the last two months and that will be the catch up. And I promise to try to get better. History proves that I usually don't blog when I'm not at my happiest and since recent changes have made me realize I haven't been happy, posting should be on the uptick. Okay, here we go!

Class started with biscuits and muffins and then we moved on to breads. To the left are baguettes, sourdough (yum!), and challah (which we maturely kept pronouncing HOLLA!). They all turned out delicious, even if the challah looks a bit dark. Chef F loves the darker color on the crusts as we've found out.

This is my first attempt at a danish. For some perspective, it was about a foot long, chocolate filled with an apricot glaze and fondant icing...never let it be said I do things half-assed. The danish dough is amazingly easy to work with once you learn how to get the hundreds of layers of dough and butter to work. We also made croissants that week and I'll tell you this, if I had disposable income, I would purchase this just because it's so much fun to use. Quickly, danish and croissant dough are very similar in that you start with a dough rolled out to a certain size, roll out butter to about 1/3 of that size, put it on the dough, fold it, roll it out to the original dough size, fold, and repeat that about four times, refrigerating in between each "turn" - all in all, takes about 4 hours to complete. Lots of steps, but they get easier as you go, which generally is the case.

Around that time, we also worked on custards and cremes (eclairs, creme brulee, flan) and pies. All the pies we made turned out especially delicious. It was around this time my teammates decided that there is nothing I don't do well. While I would have loved to have kept them in the dark, that belief is far from the truth as any of you who have met me know all too well. I just, wisely I feel, choose to do those things I do well and not do those I do not do well. I'm also incredibly lucky in that I can watch or read about how to do something and recreate it (at least in the kitchen) with little difficulty. Enough about how great I am, it's getting boring. On to the bad.

I ended up missing about 5 classes due to being incredibly sick. I'm on the mend, at about 95% now, but it's been a pretty long, difficult road and has impacted my grade negatively, unfortunately. Thankfully, the classes I missed covered things like lemon curd and cookies - things I've made successfully in the past. More pictures!

Here are our perfect eclairs, per Chef F. So nice to hear since the first attempt, weeks ago with my first team, did not have such a lovely ending. We filled them with a vanilla pastry creme and then dipped them in a glaze made of equal parts chocolate and butter. What's that? Okay, I can wait while you recover from your heart attack. Let me say again, I am the only one in baking/pastry who has lost weight. Thankfully I don't like super rich foods.

Here is the last picture I have from my adventures in baking and pastry thus far. As you've most likely surmised dear, intelligent reader, it is a carrot cake. Mary came over while we were icing it and joked about how we'd better make it pretty since she was going to steal it and take it home for her birthday cake. Since none of us like carrot cake, we decided to gift it to her and did, indeed, make it pretty. I was put in charge of finishing it up, so Tyler chopped and roasted some walnuts while I colored some of the cream cheese frosting orange and green. I easily pressed the walnuts to the side of the cake (GREAT way to hide any flaws btw) and then went to work piping on the carrots and leaves. Yes. I piped those. I know it seems like an easy thing, and ultimately it was, but it's really the first piping I've done other than words, so let me be excited please. I piped carrots! Okay, I'm done.

Somewhere in there, my mom came to class with me and basically did all my work since I was infected with what they think was ecoli (so gross and unenjoyable - I shall leave it at that). She had a great attitude and seemed to really enjoy herself. I'm just bummed I wasn't feeling up to class all three nights, nor healthy enough for her to see me in action. Her happiness and pride in me doing this has been a great source of inspiration and support when I get run down or question what the hell I'm doing not making as much money as I used to. I've started really wrestling with feeling guilty and selfish for doing this and she's really come through on keeping me on track and supporting me pursuing my passion. I'm a lucky woman to have such an amazing woman as my mother. Enough sap!

This week we'll be baking up a Black Forest Cake, souffles (I predict there will be lots of taping ovens shut - I'll explain later), ice creams, sorbets, and truffles.

I hope the three of you who actually read this have enjoyed the update and are inspired to create something in your own ovens. I'm off to clean out my pantry since this awakeness seems to have no end in sight.

Hey Everybody! Remember Me?

Since I slept this afternoon, I have no doubt I will be awake until an ungodly hour, which will leave me with time to update this for the last quarter. Baking and Pastry has been full of ups (turns out I'm a good baker) and downs (illness and difficult team member) but overall has been an amazingly great class in which I've learned a tremendous amount. It has made me regret not taking chemistry for the first time ever.

In the Words of Fiona Apple

I've been a bad, bad girl. The last month has been pretty crazy between work and school and this and that and I've been quite remiss in posting my adventures in Baking/Pastry here as well as all the "fun" I've been having working, when they have the hours and I'm available...two variables that don't seem to have too much overlap.

I promise, promise to get this updated by cob Sunday. Right now I'm off to do my reading for class tonight while I bask in the glow of getting 17 out of 18 on my SUPER hard quiz. Yay!

Paella Madness

So, one of the amazingly cool things I've gotten to do in the first three days of my new, awesome job is work with chefs and staff from Jaleo at Taste of Bethesda making paella in a 7 foot pan. Yes, you read that correctly. I could have rolled around easily in the thing if it weren't so darn unsanitary and hot.

Here's a couple pics of the ginormous thing. To put it in perspective, those paddles are 3-4' long. This is the second step - the chicken is pushed to the sides (where the burner is turned off - there are three total) and the squash and other veggies are in the middle getting caramelized.

Here we are cooking the sofrito and tomato paste, right before adding the stock and rice.

This is us using doubled up spoons to mix up and scoop the paella onto plates. It served about 600 portions each time (we made three rounds). The guys from Jaleo were awesome. So friendly and nice and patient when I had 7,000 questions. I have been dubbed "La Reina de la Paella" and I love it. I'm waiting for my sash and tiara.

Plan B is Once Again Employed

For those of you who I haven't squealed with delight to...I recently was hired to work for a new venture which has the potential to not only be an incredible learning experience, but also an amazing first entry on my culinary resume. Jose Andres is starting up a catering business and I've been hired on as one of a small number of lucky chefs who get to learn how to make his food. I'm still somewhat in a state of disbelief to be honest. I've been putting in really long hours, all on my feet, am in a considerable amount of pain (thanks ankle and knees!), exhausted but completely exhilarated by what I've had the opportunity to do and see the last couple days.

Things I've learned so far:

• Slicing ham for four and a half straight hours did not change the fact that ham is one of the few things that makes me nauseated on sight.
• I can peel roughly 30 lbs of onions in 25 minutes.
• I really really need to become fluent in Spanish ASAP.
• I can still smile through anything, even four hours of back spasms while working.
• I'm able to make about 400 potato pancakes in 3 hours.
• Using the palm of your hand to cut off the ends of shredded potatoes against a metal scoop will leave scoop shaped welts on said palms for at least two days.
• Handling dry ice with bare hands will burn your skin.
• Working with food and chemicals and fancy schmancy equipment is ridiculously fun.
• Saying "I personally prepared food for Jose Andres, Placido Domingo, and their wives" does not get old. Ever.

In all honesty, I am so totally geeked out about what I'm getting to do. It's such a tremendous opportunity for me, having absolutely no industry experience, I wake up each day (sometimes as early as 3:30 am) looking forward to going to work. It's, thus far, been a blessing and a great reminder that this is what I want to do. This is the industry I want to be working in, these are the people I want to be surrounded by and learning from. It's such a great feeling I almost don't mind the fact I'm making less than half of what I was before. I will somehow find a way to make it work so that I can continue pursing my passion. After spending the last 20 years searching for it, I'm not letting it go. It feels too good.

Never Fear, I *am* Alive!

So, I decided to wait a bit after the practical final because I didn't want to relive the absolute anger and frustration I felt that night. Now that I'm completely (read: mostly) over it, I can gloss over it so I can get to the excitement that has been the last couple days.

That Friday night, we turned in our 200 questions of ridiculousness and each graded someone else's test. It was a really long, frustrating process. I ended up missing 10 of the 200 possible questions, which was only 5 points, but still. I strive for perfection, so when I don't reach it, I get irritated. Especially when it's due mostly to the absolute crappiness of the wording of the questions. Anyhoodle, we were all fired up and in surly moods heading into the practical portion of our final...which might explain why both teams failed it. Yeah. FAILED. It was horrible. Just a mess. Sigh.

Chef split us up into two teams and off we went. Our plan from the beginning was to have one person working on each dish and time them so we could serve him an entire meal, not piece by piece. About ten minutes in, Chef came over and asked me why the chicken wasn't on ice. Since I wasn't working on the chicken, I didn't have an answer for him. He got on me pretty hard about how I needed to be leading my team, watching over everything. So we adjusted and I became the head chef and periodically checked in with each person, pulling the team together every 15 minutes so that each of us knew where everyone was on their dish and ensuring that we were on schedule. Well, while our communication and planning was top notch, the execution was...well...obviously lacking. I'm not going to go into particulars because I'll just get annoyed again. Instead, I'll let you know I earned an A in both classes (lecture and practical).

Saturday we went through our presentations for the Safety and Sanitation class. Some were fantastic and some were...not. Mine was just fine thanks almost entirely to my friend Blaise. He's a rockstar for helping me out! I ended up getting a 93 on my Serve Safe test (equals missing about 4 questions out of 80) which isn't bad given that I really didn't study or go over anything after the mid-term. Unfortunately, I missed one class so that dropped my final grade to a B. Grrrr.

Saturday night we did a deep clean of the kitchen. I got to work on the spice rack cleanup with the young nice guy from my second group and Air Force. I'm really thankful we had those three hours cleaning the kitchen because most of us managed to make it a fun experience and that's what we left the class with - a final reminder of how much fun we had over the previous 10 weeks.

So that's the first quarter of school wrap up. I start my second quarter Thursday. Well, technically my classes have begun because my online nutrition class (which, thankfully, is only 5 1/2 weeks) has already begun posting assignments. In class classes start for me Thursday though. I'll once again be spending my Thurs, Fri, and Sat nights from 6-10:30 in Rosslyn. This time I'll be regaling you with tales of Baking and Pastry.

Week Ten - The End is in Sight!

Yesterday it occurred to me that I've never made a Hollandaise sauce from scratch. And that doing so is part of the practical final. And that I would probably end up being the person assigned to do it for my group. So, I decided it would be a good idea to see if I can do it. The answer, for your enquiring minds, is yes, yes I can! I busted out my double boiler, which I hardly ever get to use (excitement in the Plan B household let me tell you) and got to work on Hollandaiseing. Above is a not very good picture of a very good sauce. Near perfection on Try 1 (more excitement in the PBh), just a tad too vinegary, but otherwise great. Perfect silken texture, ribbony, bright and crisp. Yay!

Tonight we were tested on our knife cuts, the seven I've mentioned (julienne, batonnet, brunoise, small dice, med dice, large dice, and paysanne) and two new ones thrown in for fun - the fine julienne (which is near paperthin - 1/16 x 1/16 x 2") and the formidable TOURNER. A tourner "is a cutting technique that results in a football-shaped finished product with seven equal sides and flat ends." Yeah. It's exactly as difficult as it sounds. Thankfully, I once again had near perfection on my first try (double yay!) and he let me pass. Phew! I think it helped I was first done with all the cuts and my other 8 were spot on...other than my paysanne which was just a smidge too thick.

After we completed our knife cuts, we were allowed to take a copy of the final and head home with it. Thank God, because it is a beast. A BEAST I SAY. 200 questions, some multiple choice, some T/F, some fill-in, some essay, a lot of matching. To give you an idea of the level of difficulty of the questions:

Ideally, the (fill in the blank) should serve as the chef's guide in choosing what vegetables to purchase in any given season.

(My favorite question): Please describe at what point a chef knows everything. When he can stop opening his eyes and see what is going on around him, and what else he can learn to make his job easier and be a better chef. (I KNOW.)

Place the steps in order of preparation when Braising:

• Sauce Preparation
• Seasoning
• Caramelize the Mirepoix
• Meat Preparation
• Braising
• Serving
• Trussing
• Remove Meat
• Searing
• Deglazing
• Pince tomato paste

There were four of those place in order questions.

There were also 20 "define this term" questions. I'm exhausted just talking about it. I'm glad it's work though. If I'm having to put this much effort into it, the slackers are really going to struggle, which will show in their grades. I don't wish them ill, I just think people who don't do a lot in class shouldn't get the same grades.

Okay, off to go through my test for a second go (while watching the antics of Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote) before I try to sleep some.

Week Nine - More Eggs, More Breakfast

Friday it was discovered that we, the evening class, had gotten the day class' cart by mistake, which is why we had so much product to work with (we have 11 students, they have 24).  Thankfully, that meant we only had to use up two loaves of bread...which was still somewhat of a challenge.  Air Force made a french toast casserole and Island Kid (who is transferring down to Atlanta after this quarter) and Old Gross Guy (as I'm now calling him) made normal french toast.  Uppity worked on making tortillas, which I teasingly pointed out turned out more like arepas.  Slightly oversalted, but tasty.  She, of course, finished like 40 minutes after we all were done with our stuff, so once again we were all waiting around for her to be done.

The Young Gentleman in my group and I took the ground pork and made a couple batches of "sausage" patties.  I put it in quotes because, while really good, they tasted more like seasoned pork than breakfast sausage.  We kinda just threw a bunch of stuff in and pan fried up the patties.  The pork ended up having minced fresh garlic, onion powder, marjoram, thyme, crushed red peppers, salt, and pepper in it.  Delicious!

For some reason, we had a bottle of banana liquer on our cart, so I brought in some bananas Friday and made a non-brandy containing version of Bananas Foster.  I always thought it was some intricate, fancy dessert until I figured out a couple years ago, it's really just melted sugar, butter and some booze with sauteed bananas.  We ended up using it as a topping for Air Force's casserole.  SO GOOD.  

At some point in the evening, GMC came in and pulled me over to him.  He handed me a sashimi knife that he's used for 25 years, telling me it was from the heart and that he wanted me to have it, as my birthday present.  I was pretty speechless.  Now I just need to learn how to use it...

Saturday was just the final for our Safety and Sanitation class, which was actually a certification test for Serve Safe.  It was 90 questions, and I know I missed one for sure, but feel really good about it overall.  And then I proceeded to be social two nights in a row.  I'm really not quite sure what to do with myself now...except crank out a PowerPoint presentation for Saturday and do some review for my finals this week.  Thursday is the written and I'm sure knife cuts, then Friday and Saturday we will be broken up into two groups to do the practical.  After that I get about two weeks off, which I plan to spend doing some pre-reading for Baking and Pastry since I discovered from Chef F (the instructor) that we cover the first 6 chapters in the first 3 weeks...it's a really front-loaded class.

Week Nine - Eggs and Breakfast

Last night we took on the ever delicious breakfast. We chatted about eggs for a bit, went over some variations on things, talked about what happens to people who die while on a submarine (they get zipped into a body bag and put on deep freeze until the next resurfacing). Then Chef broke us up into five groups of two (Cake Lady got put on fruit platter alone) and off we went. I got put on Team Frittata, which turned out to be the most delicious one Chef has ever had. I'm not going to fool myself into thinking this is one of 7,000 that he's eaten, but I also know it's not the only. Frittatas, to me, have always been the everything but the kitchen sink of brunch items, so that's the plan of attack we took. I had to run downstairs and turn in my four page questionnaire on why I think I am capable of taking an on-line class (which had to be signed by an instructor vouching for me) so that I could register for the nutrition class Fall Quarter. Yes, everything this school makes its students do is ridiculous to a certain degree. So while I did that my partner in frittata set about gathering what ingredients we had per the recipe. When I got back she let me know we didn't have cilantro (yay since I really can't stand it) or chicken. Since we *did* have about 17 lbs of bacon (only a slight exaggeration) we decided to go with that and added more vegetables. This is what I ended up putting together (with slicing and shredding done by my partner):

I diced up the bacon and put that on the stove. While that was rendering, she worked on chopping up garlic, jalapeno, slicing mushrooms, and grating cheddar. I julienned some red bell peppers and got the salt, pepper, and cumin ready. Using some of the bacon fat, I sauteed the vegetables, jalapeno, and garlic, oh! and some green onions and then scrambled in the seasoned eggs until they were just set. Topped it all with some shredded cheddar and put it in the salamander. I want one. Those things are really just amazing and so incredibly useful. So, we were done within an hour, including cleanup. That left us plenty of time to wander about from team to team helping as they needed.

I ended up helping Cake Lady with the fruit. She was staring at the pineapple wondering how to core it. I suggested we slice it and then use the ring sets that came with the baking and pastry peoples' kits to core the slices and then use a larger one to make rings. She didn't have hers with her, so we got someone else's. About 45 minutes later, I was over at the stoves working with Team Crepe when she called over to me asking who I had gotten the rings from. Assuming she was asking so that she could give them back, I let her know and didn't think anything more of it. Turns out Uppity had asked CL earlier in the evening for her ring set and CL had let her know she didn't have hers with her. (Uppity wanted to use the large one to form her pancakes. I know...just...sigh.) So when Uppity saw that CL had rings, she walked over and said "You didn't have to lie to me about the ring sets. You could have just told me you didn't want me using them." That's when CL yelled out to me asking from whom I had gotten the rings. I just. Wow. But Uppity was in rare form people. She did not stop talking all night, except when I would catch her just staring at me, which I must say was a bit disconcerting. She went to every single student, except yours truly, to comment on how they were doing whatever it was they were doing wrong. She was like a drill instructor from hell. Absolutely out of line and ridiculous. At one point, Chef asked me to make him a shrimp and avocado omelette. I started prepping for it, but after literally one minute at the stoves listening to her, I had to walk away. Which is exactly what I told him when he asked about his omelette twenty minutes later. I also pointed out that I really didn't want to have to deal with her bitching about being in a room with shrimp yet again (she's allergic). He agreed.

Let me say, I get that people have food allergies and I fully understand that they can be very serious, to the point of life threatening. I am incredibly careful when working with shellfish in the class because we have three people who are allergic. However, two of those people choose to work in another kitchen when we're working with shellfish. She does not. She stays and then complains and bitches and wheezes the entire time. Look - we get that you're allergic. STOP BEING SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN. Either it's a bad allergy and you shouldn't be around it, or it's a manageable one and you can. You can't have it both ways. Okay. Sorry for the rant but man she was Out. Of. Control. last night. Sigh.

I was really hoping she wouldn't be in Baking and Pastry next quarter, but she is. I continue to hold out hope that Chef F will not stand for her tomfoolery. I need to track him down tomorrow and see if he's putting a team together for a competition that was just announced by the Research Chefs Association. He's the only faculty member, that I know of, who is a member and I am the only student I'm aware of who is a member, so I'm really hoping to get in early with him on this. Keep your fingers crossed!

Tonight we do more of the same. Cook bacon. Use up the four loaves of white bread and 10 tons of fruit and 8 dozen eggs on the cart. It's going to be a madhouse.

Week Eight - Les Poissons

Thursday we spent a bit of time reading aloud from the chapter again. LOUD SIGH. Air Force and I voiced our displeasure to Chef and hopefully we will not be doing this again. We spent time identifying different types of oysters and clams, talking about the difference in opening them (oysters through the hinge, clams through the front), going over the recipes, etc. The usual Thursday night activities. We went down to GMC's class where they were working on pates, which...ew.

Friday we had GMC in our class most of the evening because he sent his class home within five minutes due to them not being prepared. Mark my words people. If that happens when I'm there I will be VERY angry and every one of my classmates will know it. So their lack of preparation was our gain as we went through making crab cakes, baking red snapper, and sauteing halibut. I love Chef, he's awesome, but there is a marked difference between him, who is teaching his first class, and GMC, who knows everything. Seriously everything.

At the end of class Friday, after we'd cleaned up everything, we busted out five huge salmon and broke them down into 3-5 ounce portions. I do believe my years of handing the fish over to my dad for cleaning after catching them is now catching up to me. I managed to get it done, but it was not the prettiest filet of salmon ever seen, that's for sure. It did, however, taste delicious (see above. Note: that is an omelette pan, so those are two 3 oz pieces of salmon. Also, I didn't take the time to clarify the butter, which is why it's puffed up like that. Please don't think I have my salmon swimming in butter.) Since there was no way we were going to be able to use all the salmon on Saturday, whoever wanted to took some home. I came home with a bunch and have been feasting on Omega-3s all week.

Saturday we grilled some salmon, boiled some lobsters (we ended up with 9), but spent the majority of class (which was short) shucking oysters and clams. Do you shuck clams? Well, doing whatever the proper term is for opening clams. Oysters are much more difficult, at least the Blue Point ones we were working with, than the Littleneck clams we had. I was the master of the clams. Hold on. The Master of The Clams. I'd love to let you think it was a feat to obtain that title, but it's really not that hard once you get the hang of it. That said, I still don't enjoy clams or oysters. We prepared Clams Casino and Oysters Rockefeller. Very similar, both something you would serve if you were Joan Holloway having your husband's Chief of Staff and his wife over for dinner. The oysters used fennel and Pernod, both of which have a distinct anise flavor. Being a non-fan of black licorice you can guess my opinion of the dish. The clams were much more popular - I'm basing this on the fact that bacon was one of the ingredients. I

am still not loving oysters and clams, well really bi-valves of any sort. I'm now finding this odd since I generally have an issue with eating anything that still looks like it did when it had eyes...and since bi-valves don't I would think I'd be all over them. Hrm. I will disclose that I had nothing to do with the lobsters. Once I saw them move I just couldn't.

We were out of class and on the road by 9:15 (yay!) which was great because Cake Lady and the Moroccan and I had made plans to go to dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant by my house. Yay ride home!

This coming week we have Eggs and Breakfast - Lecture and lab Thursday and lab Friday, no class Saturday (Chef was told he's being thrown a surprise retirement party that night). Saturday day is my final for Sanitation, so I have pretty much a free weekend. Which is a bit ridiculous to say since I have free weeks as well, but it will be nice to actually socialize outside of school people.

Week Seven - Lab Nights

Friday night we collectively decided we didn't need to do the fried or mashed potatoes because all of us have made them in class at some point, not to mention all the Thanksgivings at home.  We were able to bust through all the recipes that night so we could then just work with our pasta dough Saturday.  My group went three of four for best of Friday night.  Island Kid put too much nutmeg in our Gratin Dauphinois, but our risotto, rice pilaf, and Potatoes Lyonaise were excellent.  Yay!  

Chef and I went down to GMC's kitchen to get some arborio rice (the guy who does our cart only gave us enough for one group, not three).  Almost immediately after the door shut behind us he turned to me and said "Man, Uppity just gets on my very last nerve.  She drives me crazy."  So we had a nice conversation about her.  I should say now, she's really a lovely person conversationally, very intelligent.  But, as is the case with a number of highly intelligent people, she has issues with anyone who doesn't agree with her or who knows something she doesn't.  She really likes knowing something no one else does and unfortunately for her, I'm pretty well versed in international cuisines and products.  She actually glared at me when I knew what tostones were.  Sigh.  I can't wait until she gives her attitude to the baking and pastry chef.  He does not stand for any disrespect.

Speaking of Baking Chef, I ran into him Saturday before my early class and was able to talk to him a bit about what it is I want to do after graduation.  He's a member of the Research Chefs Association (I'm a student member) and is very much into melding baking & pastry and culinary fields, whereas a lot of chefs just do one or the other.  I am really looking forward to his classes next quarter.  I think he's going to be a great resource.  He's also reading the same book I am right now, which is Ratio by Michael Ruhlman.  Basically, it's a book that details out culinary ratios.  Once you know the ratio, it's like having thousands of recipes.  Very interesting and yes, just as geeky as it sounds.  But this is coming from the girl who really enjoyed reading The Secret Life of Lobsters so...

Saturday was pasta day.  My team only had three people that night so we each took a portion of the pasta dough we'd made and made our own dishes.  Most everyone made some sort of ravioli since we had ground chicken and pork on the cart.  I kept mine simple, as I tend to do.  I sauteed some garlic and onions in a bit of olive oil, deglazed with white wine, wilted in some fresh spinach and then seared up some shrimp and added in some crushed red pepper flakes.  Once my pasta was done cooking (about a minute) I added that to the pan and served it up.  Chef loved it and kept coming back for more.  He actually used some of it to top his fried polenta cake.  Yay!  I recreated it the next night (Sunday) at home and added in some halved grape tomatoes, which is the picture above.  You all can thank Tony for that - he's requested more pictures, so more pictures you will get!  Oh, and that isn't a fancy table setting...I had just laundered my apron and it was on the table.  

Off to re-read about the 90 different kinds of fish we need to be able to identify.  

Week Seven - Potatoes, Grains, and Pasta (aka, Starch Week) Lecture Night

Last night was lecture for this week and quite possibly the longest feeling class ever. I'm pretty sure Chef is tired of half the class not reading the chapters and just focusing on whatever recipes we're making for the week (if that), so he had us read the chapter aloud. Sigh. I'm fearful for our future if the kids in my class are a true representation of the current education system. Words they had trouble pronouncing:

• oblong
• mealy
• hull
• originating
• nuttier
• groat

I could go on, but I think you all get the point. Air Force and I were cringing most of the two hours it took us to get through the chapter. Sigh. We also watched a couple videos on how to fillet different types of fish (round and flat), the difference between opening clams and oysters (which, if any of you watched Top Chef last week, you know there is one), etc. in preparation for next week, which is Seafood. We went over how different produce is harvested and grown, what methods can be used for which grains (risotto is a cooking method, not a dish). We also got talking about where we live. Here comes the fun.

Uppity said something about my neighborhood, which as some of you know I lovingly refer to as "the hood." She got all up on me about how I don't live in the hood and the way she did it really rubbed me the wrong way. Now, I realize that my neighborhood is not the worst in DC. By far. However. I hear gunfire on the regular, either in the alley behind my house or near enough to hear. My house has been broken into. Cops have had to search in front of my home for a ditched gun used in an armed robbery three blocks away. There was a shooting within a block of the grocery store I frequent about three hours after I'd been there Tuesday. There are drug dealers and prostitutes and homeless people in the neighborhood who are around enough that we know each other to say hello in passing. All of which I pointed out to her. She continued to tell me I don't live in the hood. Air Force touched my leg and told me to let it go. I then told Uppity "You know what? You're right. You know my neighborhood that I've lived in for over five years much better than I do." Chef then said that he wouldn't walk through my neighborhood at dark. That shut her up. For the rest of class. It was vaguely awesome. Anytime after that she was asked to read she did so so quietly no one could hear her. Including Chef who was right next to her. I admit to giggling along with Cake Lady (who won the cupcake challenge!) when that happened...

So then we took a break and went down to GMC's class. They're making sausages this week so we got to observe the process. Quite interesting. And very...obscene. I'll leave it at that and let your 12 year old minds run with it.

Tonight and tomorrow we're doing the following:

• Lyonaise Potatoes
• Deep Fried Potatoes
• Gratin Dauphinois Potatoes
• Mashed Potatoes
• Risotto Milanese
• Rice Pilaf
• Basic Pasta Dough

On a side note, my four years of French in high school are finally becoming useful. Thank God. I don't know what I was thinking taking French in Southern California...maybe I knew 20 years later it would help me in culinary school...let's go with that, shall we?

Okay, off to get ready for class. More on starches later!

Oh, just for the record. My neighborhood is for the most part safe as long as you're smart about what you do where and when.

Week Six - Meat Cookery

Quick post for a non-exciting week. We covered Beef, Lamb, Pork, & Veal. Recipes we made:

• Grilled Lamb Chops with herb butter
• Brown Beef Stew
• Aunt Ruthie's Pot Roast
• Roast Prime Rib with Au Jus
• Sauteed Veal Scallops with Citrus Wine Sauce
• Chateau Potatoes
• Peas with Fennel and Bacon
• Julienne Carrots and Crookneck Squash

It was all very straightforward and simple and calm. The new groups worked just fine thankfully and there weren't any blowups or problems. Hopefully it will last through the next four weeks!

Cupcakes!

I tried a new lemon cupcake recipe and it's delicious. I added a brush of lemon juice to the tops after baking for an extra kick (because I love lemon and the zest and juice in the batter just wasn't enough) and it also has kept the cupcake *shudder* moist *shudder*. Gah I hate that word. I also tried, for the first time, a buttercream meringue icing. I'm going to need to work on that one. It tastes good, but is nowhere near as smooth as I'd like it to be. Practice practice.

Week Five - Vegetables

Well, as you can guess by the title, this week was rather dull. Other than the two mid-terms and birthday of course. Thursday before lecture, we were given our written mid-term which was 75 questions, about 40 multiple choice, 20 true/false, 13 match term to definition and two essay (describe the process for making brown stock and consomme). It was open book, but I really wanted to do as much of it as possible without looking, which I managed to do. I looked up maybe four or five to be certain I was correct. And I was! I finished in about 30 minutes...turned it in, he went through and graded it with me and after some... discussion over what the correct answers were, I had a perfect score. I went to work on my knife cuts and finished the seven of them, with a perfect score, before anyone else was done with their tests. I'm that jerk. So I set to reading for this week's topic, Meat Cookery. After everyone finished their tests, slow woman in our Group ended up taking like 3 hours, we had a bit of lecture and q&a for the next two days of cooking.

Friday and Saturday we made the following: Grilled Vegetable Skewers, Braised Celery with Basil, Baked Butternut Squash, Stir Fried Asparagus with Shiitake Mushrooms, Beer Battered Onion Rings (all on Friday), Parsnip Puree, Broccoli Almondine, and White Bean Salad (on Saturday). Quick rundown: Basic and delicious, disgusting in theory and practice, tasty, delicious (even the mushrooms!), delicious and easy, a nice variation on the standard mashed potatoes, boring, and surprisingly refreshing and good.

We got read a bit of the riot act on Friday night. There was yet another meltdown by Uppity. Sigh. The woman just needs to accept that not everything she knows is correct. And that she isn't the instructor. And that if Chef tells us to do something a certain way? DO IT THAT WAY. She kills me. We also were made aware that the highest grade we could get at mid-term is a B+. GMC told Chef to start us at a C, but Chef was nicer than that. So frustrating. I got a B+ with perfect test and quiz scores. Grrr. Saturday we were assigned new groups. He chose the three strongest and then split up the rest based on skill level. I'm now the leader of a group that is made up of three people who I could have given birth to. If I started having sex when I was 14. Which I didn't mom. Start breathing again. You okay? Okay. So I've got the good, cool 18 year old guy - we'll call him Alton because he and I always talk about Good Eats; one of the young girls - the giggly baking one who is super sweet but Ditzy; and Island Boy who is going to be our group's problem. I like the kid, he's pleasant most of the time, but I won't stand for any crap he tries to pull. Expect issues.

Saturday was our Serve Safe mid-term. The one we've all been stressed about since we need to know the receiving, holding, storing, cooking, reheating, etc. temps for all foods; about 15 foodborne illnesses and their symptoms and whether an employee exhibiting such symptoms should be excluded or removed. And a whole bunch of other information that is overwhelming in scope. The mid-term was to be a practice test similar to the final, which is a 90 question certification test. It was 40 questions and took me about 5 minutes. I got 100% and an A in the class so far. Yay!

All in all, it was a good, but stressful week. Now I'm off to make cupcakes as a test run to see if I want to enter the cupcake challenge at school next week. Lemon with buttercream meringue icing. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Week Four - Poultry Lab

We had five chicken dishes and one marinade this week. Most of the time was spent on trussing the birds and then fabricating them, which is cutting them into the eight pieces - 2 each of legs, wings, thighs, breasts. As some of you know, I'm not a big fan of meat on the bone, so this week was challenging for me. But that's good, right? School *should* be challenging. So we cut up two birds Friday and two Saturday. Focus was on cutting out cross-contamination, staying aware of what had touched the raw poultry, etc. All went well in that regard Friday, but Saturday there was a hubbub. Island Kid left his cutting board all covered with chicken bits by the sink, covering the part...hold on.

Here's a description of the sink area. On the left is a disposal area, circular, with one of those hanging down, high-power rinsers, then to the right there are three compartments filled with water. The first is for washing and has soap, the middle is for rinsing and is just plain water, the third is for sanitizing and has a chemical in it. At the end is a drying area with a rack. Our cutting boards are about 2x3 feet and fairly heavy. Island Kid left his on top of the disposal area, completely blocking it, which caused a back up for everyone else. So Air Force called out to the class asking whoever put it there to come clean it. He answered back that he was doing other things and that he'd get to it when he got to it. She responded, calmly, pointing out that no one else could do their dishes until he did his or moved it and he shouted back "Then do it yourself and leave me alone. You aren't my mom." It devolved from there to the point where he was yelling at her in the middle of the kitchen 30 minutes later. Chef pulled them out into the hall and gave them a talking to and by the end of the class, she had resolved things with IK. It's a shame because she's a lovely woman and the kid overreacted and made her feel guilty for saying anything. Sigh. This is why I don't talk to people...

On to the deliciousness then. Friday we prepared the white wine marinade and two chicken dishes - Grilled Chicken with Red Pepper Butter and Chicken Saute with Garlic and Basil. The red pepper butter was delicious and super easy to make. You basically just roast the heck out of the red pepper, puree it up and whip it into softened butter. The saute was one of the easiest, tastiest things I've ever made, and all three chefs who tried it said it was the tenderest chicken they'd had from a first quarter student. YAY!! Saturday was Pan Fried Chicken with Pan Gravy, Poached Chicken with Tarragon Sauce, and Chicken Fricassee. All of which were ridiculously easy and good. Other than the drama, it was a pretty boring week.

In our Sanitation class, the head of our department came in to advise us on next quarter. I'll be taking Intro to Baking and Pastry, two classes, three nights a week, all lab. Two nights for Baking, one for Pastry. I think I'll also be taking Nutrition, but online. That will all total up to 12 units again so yay! I asked about doubling up on Culinary and Baking/Pastry and she didn't know the answer, so I'll need to check with the Registrar's office, which I'll do Wednesday when I'm at school for the Culinary Club meeting.

What else...Oh, mid-terms this coming week. Blech. The one for Skills is going to be anywhere from 40-100 questions, depending on the day Chef tells us about it. At least it's open book, but I'd like to be able to finish it without using the book. Our Sanitation exam is going to be a bear. It's basically a practice test for Serve Safe certification, which we'll get at the end of class if we pass our final, which is the actual, proctored Serve Safe exam. This means our mid-term is 90 questions and covers all 15 chapters of our book, even though we've only gone over 10. Should be interesting. It's a lot of memorization of times and temps, food handling, cooking, holding procedures, etc. Just a lot of information in a little time. For cooking lab, we're doing Vegetable Cookery...so another boring week for you guys. Grilled skewers, braised celery with basil, baked butternut squash, etc.

Week Three - Chicken *is* First

As I packed up for class last night, I noticed the quiz I'd completely forgotten about...ooops. So I rushed to get that done in 15 minutes and then had a friend do a google for me to double check two answers while I was on my way to class. Yay friends!

Air Force, Cake Girl and I discussed the quiz while we got changed for class (even on lecture days we must be in chef coat, checked pants, hat, neckerchief, hat, two towels, apron, etc.) and there were two questions we agreed were written poorly. When we got to class, Uppity brought up one of the questions and was unable to understand the actual point. The question was "Why is it necessary to make a roux when thickening a soup with flour?". She could not get past asking why a roux needs to be made with flour. Long story short is you can use alternate starches, but the book explicitly states a roux is made of flour and fat. However, that was not the answer to the actual quiz question, which is you make a roux to 1) cook the flour before adding it to the liquid and 2) the fat coats the starch granules and keeps them from sticking together.

So after a half hour going over that (my fellow students are not known for their brevity), we moved on to how the two syllabi (one for lecture, one for lab) are different. We're now all straightened out and tonight will be making a white wine marinade, grilled chicken with red pepper butter, and chicken with onion, basil, and tomato. Depending on how those go, we will either finish early (please please) or move on to one of tomorrow's three recipes.

A number of the recipes call for chicken stock. We've been using a base, which is ridiculously salty, to make "stock" the last couple classes. None of us are happy about this, but if you don't have bones, you can't make stock. We went over to GMC's class to observe them deboning pheasants, ducks, and chickens. Not looking forward to that class..... I asked GMC if we could steal some of the bones they weren't using for stock so that we could make some and of course he said yes. yay good products for our cooking this week! We all headed back to class and made the stock, which has now been simmering and developing overnight. Island Boy cut his finger pretty deep chopping up the celery...we've managed one cut a week so far. Not too bad, right? I mean, everyone still has 10 fingers, so success!

During our lecture, we also discussed the difference between a duck and a goose. Which led to us discussing the plurals of animals. An entertaining conversation to say the least. At the end of class, Chef once again brought up being professional and warned us that if there were any problems, he would be breaking up the groups. Grrrrr.

Off to do errands, reading and lunch with Jim.
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