"BACKA!"

So Chef Adrain might be my favorite Chef ever. She's lots of fun yet all business at the same time. I already feel like I've learned a lot in this class. Last night we made Gateau St. Honore, random I know. And we were supposed to make eclairs as well but didn't have time. This week were finishing out the week with pies for thanksgiving and then next week we jump into cakes. (I'm nervous). Not because I suck at making cakes, but because I'm like a Nazi when it comes to frosting. I'm like the most OCD froster ever. So I might have lots of issues with that. Tonight were making some sort of almond cream puffs. I'm really glad that I decided to go to Le Cordon Bleu, the program is amazing, the Chefs are inspiring and the food is superb. Possibly one of the best life decisions I've made so far. If your into cooking, and you want to build a career on that, then I recommend Le Cordon Bleu :).

Butter Makes It Better

I have the feeling that I will gain like 10 pounds in this class. The amount of carbs and bread I'm consuming is ridiculous. On the first day we made coffee cake and cranberry muffins. And then last night we made jalapeno chedder biscuits and apricot scones. Yum. But since you can't just make one biscuit or one muffin you have to make an entire dozen, or two dozen. So that's a lot to bring home (my mom's gonna kill me for "making her fat" this next month). Baking and Pastries a lot easier than I expected, but it's also impossible to tell if you failed the dish until it comes out of the oven. And then you have no time to fix it. So I check and double check my mise just to make sure I have everything (last night I almost forgot the baking powder in my biscuits, which would have been bad). So if any of you five readers want some fresh baked goods, let me know! Haha :)

Been Crazy Busy

With everything going on in my life. Trying to get a job at Dancing Fox and studying for finals. It looks like I did pretty good on the finals, on the written I got 70.5 out of 75 and on the practical I got 65 out of 70. So it looks like I'll get an A in the class after all (which I totally deserve because I've worked my butt off in this class). Turns out Chef Cory's not so bad after all, he kind of softened up a bit after the first week and really tried to teach us important things we need to move up in the field. Like keeping our station clean. This class was the most difficult so far but I have to say I enjoyed the challenge. And tonight is all about fun! Tonight we get to shuck oysters (and eat them, but I don't know how I feel about that), we get to break down lobster (and eat that, YUM!), and we get to eat Reuben sandwiches with the pastrami we've been brining since week one. Plus we have all the leftover chicken from finals and lamb from not using it Monday. No one will go home hungry tonight! And I'm bringing containers :)

Hello Roger Rabbit

So we made rabbit! And it was delicious! It tastes kind of like a richer, gamey-er chicken. We also made lamb shanks and since Billy, Richard and Chef didn't want theirs I came home with four lol. So the rabbit was with fresh pasta and a dijon sauce. The lamb shank was with risotto and roasted vegetables. And we also made veal blanquette (bleh, disgusting). Veal blanquette is disgusting because it's basically boiled veal with a white sauce. It's just so bland. And hopefully I'll put some pictures up soon!

Here Comes The Weekend!

So this week was slightly fantastic, we made filet mignons, new york steaks and pork carnitas! The pork was my favorite :). My filet mignon was really rare according to Chef (a.k.a. delicious). Were supposed to cook our steaks to medium rare. My new york steak turned out perfectly. I didn't try it though, I was too busy eating my carnitas. Also, I worked on no sleep monday, was sick tuesday, and was sick and had pink eye wednesday, so it was an exhausting week to say the least. Still dealing with the pink eye. Yuck. And I might be driving back up to Sac tomorrow to help Chef with a holiday cooking class he has. Sounds fun eh?

"SLOW!" "My Boys A Genius!" "Say It Again!" "SLOW"

So as the title implies, tonight was fairly slow. And I get the feeling that Chef gave us off times because all my dishes were like ten minutes off. So let's see, I made Potato Pancakes with a Pecan Butter Stuffed Chicken Leg, an Airline Chicken Breast with Fruit Salsa and Dal, and Vegetable Curry. My potato pancakes weren't fried in enough oil so they got kind of crispy. The chicken leg turned out perfectly though. Then the airline chicken breast was grilled perfectly but my dal was oversalted O.o (which never happens). And my vegetable curry was magnifico! Voila!

Back At It Again

So it's Monday. And I'm back to cooking. Woooooooooooooooooo. Nah, it's not so bad. Tonight was just a slow night. And Chef got pissy once or twice. Which is never fun to deal with. And I had like a really great day today, I was all optimistic and stuff. And then as soon as I was on my way to school it went from happy to bleh. I just feel like I never get enough sleep because my back hurts so I wake up alot at night. Anywho, enough about the personal life. Tonight we prepped our airline breasts and tunneled leg and thigh pieces (of chicken, in case you were lost). And I thought I did very well. the first time I broke down a chicken I did a crap job but this time when Chef Cory broke it down as a demo I took very detailed notes. HA! And then we made fruit salsa. Which was a pain in my butt because we had to small dice everything. Do you realize how long it takes to small dice an entire cantaloupe?!! A very very long time.

"Stupid Is As Stupid Does, And Stupid Does It Twice."

So last night marked the end of week one. I have five weeks to go! Last night we made spaghetti squash with tomate confrit, sole mueniere, and mussels. The squash was interesting because there's actually a squash that when you roast it and cut it open, it falls apart like spaghetti. The sole mueniere was a fish dish with a farro risotto. yum yum, love sole. And then mussels. Random? I've never had or cooked mussels before. They have always reminded me of a loogie in a shell. But I tried it! I figure, it's culinary school, were supposed to be broadening our horizons, trying new things, and I'm not paying for it! So I tried it, they had a weird flavor. They cook really quickly though. Not something I'd pay $30 bucks for. Anywho, all my dishes turned out pretty well, just some minor detail mistakes.

Exhausted. ..

So exhausted from tonight. Wondering if the next six weeks are going to be exactly like this O.O

"Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease"

GOODNESS GRACIOUS. I may or may not die within the next six weeks. My new Chef is very OCD and VERY confusing. Half the time he's all buddy buddy and cracking jokes. And the other half the time he's strictly serious. So I'm like "haha that's a funny joke Chef- oh crap, yes sir, I am doing my stuff." And then he's all yelling at us that we should be "cleaning not leaning" and everything was clean, so I'm not sure what I was supposed to do, clean stuff that's already been cleaned? To be fair, I have to give him a full week before I completely write him off because I didn't really like Chef Robert at first, I thought he was all disorganized and flighty. But then he turned out to be super cool and laid back. And now I'm being trained by this strict OCD dude and I don't know how to handle it haha. And I'm pretty unhappy that 2 + 2 doesn't always equal four in the cooking world. In Chef Ted's class he told us a hot stock has to go with a cold rue and vice versa, and in Chef Robert's class he said it didn't matter, that he had done hot roux and hot stock for twenty years and didn't see a difference. And now, back in Chef Cory's class, he said it HAD to be a HOT stock and a COLD roux and vice versa. And I'm like, can't all Chef's agree on the basic principles?

FINALly

So finals are done and monday I'm starting my new class. Nervous and excited at the same time. Oh and yes, I got an A :)

Been Busy

So I haven't blogged yet this week and it's already Wednesday. I've been real busy because it's finals week and so I'm making sure everything is in order and that all my homework is ready to be turned in. Plus a three page paper on an exotic fruit, grain or vegetable. Fun right? Also, we haven't really made much this week because we've been taking our written final and practicing for our practicals. And on top of all that, I've been working like a maniac to get a job at the airport as a prep cook, (and the agency I'm applying through is run by idiots). So we'll see how that goes. If I get I get it, if I don't I don't. I'm leaving it up to God at this point. I feel the need to take a nap and it's ten a.m. It's gonna be a long day, wish me luck :/.
p.s. I'll probably open up a new album on facebook and start posting all my pictures there. www.facebook.com/onlyhisforeverandalways

Workin' 9 To 5

So I totally forgot to post wednesday night and so I'm just going to do wednesday and thursday together! So, wednesday was pollo night! Yum yum. (Pollo is spanish for chicken :P). We made an entire roast chicken. That was delicious (I ate the skin off of all of it! Hah!). And then we fabricated a chicken, (it was my first time so I didn't do so good on that), and we took an airline breast and a leg and thigh piece and stuffed them. The breast was stuffed with a mushroom duxelle saute. And the leg and thigh was stuffed with a toasted pecan and panko mixture. Then on thursday we made a Poele Canard and Sole Meuniere. Poele Canard is a roast duck leg (which was weirdish). And the Sole Meuniere is a sauted flat fish (sole). The fish was soooooo goood. I brought some home to make it for lunch!

How I Managed To Cut My Finger Doing Dishes? I Have No Idea

TONIGHT WAS EPIC! I made the most delicious pork chops ever! I also pounded out some veal and made some weird veal dish with a cream mushroom sauce. My mashed potatoes were also pretty epic. And then I had some weird panko breaded potato cake. Also a lettuce, bacon, pea mixture. That was delicious! So all in all a pretty good night, Chef said my pork was a little undercooked but everything else was good. YUM! Anybody want me to come over and make them pork chops?

Fish And Chips

Had a lovely night full of fried foods. Fattening yet delicious. We made pan-fried fish fillets, fresh french fries, fresh tartar sauce (to go with our fish), deep fried shrimp, and lamb stew. Yeah the lamb stew was kind of a throw off, don't know why we did that on the night we were frying everything else. So my fish, shrimp and fries all turned out pretty good. I didn't get a chance to try my stew because we had to hurry and start on clean up. But I brought it home with me. So that's pretty much all we did last night. And I almost cut my pinky off with my boning knife! O_o Horrible. Ouchies.

Salad, Salad, Salad

So if you want to know what my Chef looks like: Chef Robert. And anyways, tonight was slow so not much to write. We just made three salads. A mixed greens one. One with potatoes and vinaigrette. And one with tuna, kalamata olives, hard boiled eggs, potatoes, anchovy fillets, tomatoes, green beans and vinaigrette. Sounds disgusting, I know (I didn't eat it lol). So yupp! Nighty night.

Wow. I'm uber retarded.

Totally forgot to blog last night and now I'm doing it at the school in the library haha. So last night was pasta night. Which was delicious! We hand-cranked out our own pasta (which took forever). Because I think we had about a pound or so of dough. Which you have to crank through at level 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8. And since every time you crank it through it gets longer you usually have to cut it and then do both slices separately. Took a VERY long time. Luckily I had the help of my superhero suite mate Billy! Woo! So our pasta dough turned out good, and it cut good, but something went wrong in the cooking process part of it because both of our fettuccine and ravioli turned out sucky. And because the dough took so long by the time we started cooking it was already time for clean up! Ridiculous. Anywho, now I know how to make pasta from scratch! So if you want to be super special, you can buy me a pasta roller thingy for Christmas and I'll make all the fresh pasta you want! :)

"You Wanna See My Syrup?" "I Bet You Say That To All The Cooks."

Tonight was sooooo easy. A practical on rice pilaf, green bean saute, duchesse potatoes and glazed carrots. I got 29.5 out of 30. My glaze wasn't quite thick enough and I totally burnt my beans cause I left them on the stove without watching them, still taste good though. Then we had a demo on pasta dough, which were doing when we get back on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday). And then we had so much time left over we played some culinary hangman. All in all a good night. Four day weekend here I come!

I Say Po-tay-toe You Say Po-tot-toe

So tonight was better, I was still a bit frazzled from my usual lack of caffeine. We made a total of five dishes tonight. Polenta, Wheatbeans with Pecans and Poblano, Duchesse Potatoes, Anna Potato and Potato Gratin D. (some fancy french word I can't remember). Basically, Polenta=yellow grits. Wheatbeans=I'm not really sure because I've never eaten anything quite like it. The original recipe was really bland though so Chef had us add some chili powder and cumin. The Duchesse potatoes were basically mashed potatoes we added egg yolk and clarified butter and piped them through pastry bags to look like this: Duchesse Potatoes. And then toasted them in the oven so they crisped up a little on the outside. The Anna Potatoes were like a complete waste of time because it was honestly just potatoes toasted in butter. The Potato Gratin was good though, I brought some home :) yum. Anywho, if any of you guys are reading these thinking these things I'm describing sound delicious, hit me up and I can hook you up with a recipe. Most of them are pretty easy to follow!

Ouchies

So tonight I got my first "serious" injury at LCB. I mean, I've cut myself, but it was a tiny cut. Today I burned the entire inside of my index finger (ON MY CUTTING HAND O.o). So that was fun. Other than that I burned my refried beans (the second cooking not the first), my cranberry beans, I overcooked my lentils, etc etc. the only thing I didn't ruin was the hummus. So I got one out of five dishes correct. Luckily they weren't graded :). And hummus is the only dish not cooked, har har. So we made a wierd cranberry bean/asparagus dish, and no it's not cranberries and beans, there are actually beans called cranberry beans, weird right? Then we had refried beans, which was awesome because now I can make fresh refried beans for taco night! And we made tabbouleh, which is like a cold salad with a riceish grain in it. Pretty good. And last but not least we made lentil salad. Which was epically weird.

And Then You Have A Bunch Of Ecoli Dancing Around On Your Carrot

Anyone who reads this should give a nice round of applause to the D-Shift Foundations II class. Tonight was ridiculous. We had four dishes to make: (now I could give you the fancy French names for these but I'm so tired from the gym I'm not going to go all the way back out to my car to get names that you won't understand anyways) green bean saute, glazed carrots, risotto, and leek salad with vinaigrette. So the green bean saute was delicious. Very easy to prepare, just green beans, bacon and red bell pepper. The glazed carrots were a pain in the butt because the carrots had to be tourned (ugh, awful). The risotto was really good, it was flavored with saffron (yum!), which is ridiculously expensive. And the leek salad was surprisingly good. The leeks were cooked, with the vinaigrette on top. Nice little tangy kick in there. So while all these dishes seem relatively easy, they take time, especially prep time. And today, due to a long quiz, a long lecture and a long demo, time was something we were definitely short on. We started cooking at 10. And were supposed to have all our cooking done by 10:45 so we have time for clean up. So we have forty five minutes to perfectly cook four dishes. But we actually went over the time and no one checked the time until Chef was like "oh goodness it's 11!" So everyone shut off the thing they were cooking and we cleaned the entire kitchen, dishes and all in thirty minutes! It was crazy! D-Shift, I applaud you. I am glad to be called one of your own.

I Actuially Had Some Funny Title. ..But I Threw It Away. ..

Ahhhhh today. ..today was. ..unexplainable. I got to school early super stressed out to ask Chef if he had seen my notes and my recipe cards because they had gone missing. He said no, I freaked out even more and checked with the front desk, who also hadn't seen them. So I rushed back to class to check my Mise en Plase with someone else because I was sure most of mine were wrong due to the fact that I didn't have my notes and BAM! my bff Billy had picked up my stuff the night before and brought it for me. So I hugged him thankfully and got to work correcting my Mise. Then, I struggled to pay attention to demo because I hadn't had anything to eat because I had been job hunting before school. So I made myself a cup of coffee during practicals so I would stay awake. Turns out, I stressed for no reason. I had a ridiculous amount of leftover time after I finished my three soups (Dubarry, French Onion, and Consomme). And then I made my steamed rice and rice pilaf in no time at all. Both which I made with Consomme instead of water (for the steamed rice) and stock (for the pilaf) and it added tons more flavor. Yum. So I was stressed out for nothing because it all worked out in the end :). Thank you Jesus :).

"Chef, How Do You Spell Scouch?" "DO I LOOK LIKE WEBSTER?!"

So first, fun facts. AP Flour is actually just 50% cake flour and 50% bread flour. So if you ever run out of AP flour (and randomly, for no good reason, have cake flour and bread flour) you can mix some cake and bread flour together and BAM! AP Flour. Next fun fact, have you ever wondered the difference between mayonnaise and Miracle Whip? Mayonnaise is made with egg yolks and Miracle Whip is made with egg whites. That's why mayonnaise is much richer (and Miracle Whip tastes like crap :P). EGADS! So tonight was a busyish night? I'm not actually sure, I pretty much missed the entire thing, (I had too much coffee before hand, plus another cup when I got there AND a cup of sweet tea {yum!}). So I was like working at such a high speed I can't remember anything!! Anywho, we made four soups tonight. Clam Chowder, Cream of Cauliflower, Caldo Verde and Shrimp Bisque. The Shrimp Bisque is very very shrimpy. It needs to be cut with some sort of bread or mixed with pasta or something. I didn't really try any of the Caldo Verde cause I made it last minute and put it in a container so I could clean up. It's like a broth kind of thing flavored with sausage and kale, I brought it home for my dad cause he likes greens. And I brought the Clam Chowder home for my brother cause he likes Clam Chowder. My friend said my Clam Chowder was pretty good (I didn't taste it because I'm not a fan of Clam Chowder). And now to get some sleep! (Gotta study for a soup practical tomorrow, yay).

Voila!

Soooooo the practical. Bleh. First, I made a perfect Mornay. Second, I spilled half my Beurre Blanc reduction on my cutting board and I used an aluminum skillet to make it. So it turned out a little too thin and slightly gray. Hmmm let's see, what else. Then I made my Robert all wrong because I didn't make the reduction, I just added the white wine to the demi-glace. But that turned out fine I suppose. Then my hollandaise totally crapped out all together and so Chef said I could try again (I think he likes me :D) so I did but then it was still too thin. I'm hoping I at least got a 25/30. Ans then we made Consomme and French Onion Soup. DELICIOUS! Well the Consomme is basically like a broth but the French Onion was soooo good. I put two little toasted baguette pieces in it and then spread gruyere cheese all over to the top and melted it in the oven. Yum. Well, sorry this is so late but now I gotta head to school again! WOOOoooooo. ..

"I Like That Stringy Gooey Kinda Cheese Thaaang"

Ahhh it's so nice to be home. Tonight was slowish. We had a written quiz and then we had time to practice our sauces for tomorrow's practical. Yaaaaay. (Not). We have to make four sauces and two of those are derivatives of other sauces so we have to make the mother sauce first. So a four sauce test turned into a six sauce test. And we only have two hours to finish all six and season them perfectly and clean our station. AGH! I'm just concerned about the fact that if I try to rush and mess something up I'm screwed. Because before the test were going to mise everything out and that's all we get so if we mess up, that's it, were done. My station buddy made me laugh so hard I cried though lol. I can't even remember what I was laughing at. Silly Billy. So wish me luck America! I'm going into a two hour panic attack tomorrow night. Or well, tonight actually. Same difference.

WHAT?! No Way!

Got out on time on the last night of the week! That was about the only good thing that happened last night. My parents dropped me off at school because we were already in Sacramento so I forgot my lanyard. Luckily, someone in my class had a spare they lent me. Then, my back was really messed up so I had to sit down during lecture so I didn't get very good notes. Then we had to make hollandaise, mayonnaise, and beurre blanc. My mayonnaise turned out great cause I've made it before. Then with the beurre blanc I burned my reduction the first time so I had to start over. Then the second time I thought I ruined it again so I went up to taste Chef's beurre blanc and had to spit it out it was so gross. So then I had to taste mine four or five times to get the seasoning right and was spitting it out after each taste. Yuck. Then on the hollandaise I made it wrong the first time and the second time I made it the pan was too hot and I cooked the eggs!! AGH! So I asked my suite partner if I could have half of his and the seasoned it and turned it in. It was just an all around hectically, horrible night. I'm ready for the weekend though :)

We Almost. ..Didn't Make It

I'm honestly beginning to wonder if we'll ever get out on time. Most likely not. But at least we got assigned clean up duties last night instead of scrambling around not knowing what to do. So last night we took our espagnole sauce and turned it into a demi-glace. We then took that and made Sauce Chassuer, Sauce Robert and Merchand de Vin. Then we made a classic tomato sauce and turned that into a Spanish sauce. My station partner Billy and I did pretty well again. I did most of the prep work and he did most of the cooking. And then we separated and seasoned our own sauces. Chef said we both did well except we strained out two of the sauces that weren't supposed to be so we got in trouble for not paying attention to the demo. Oh well. I'm definately going to need something for my back because it was really sore and then standing up all of class made it worse :(. So one last night this week! Weekend here I come! Monday we have our first quiz and Tuesday is our first practical. No recipes. Wish me luck!

Whoa Whoa Whoa, Say What?

So tonight wasn't as bad. Chef Robert is just someone you have to get used to. And he hands out criticism in a very positive way which helps me learn better than just yelling at me because it's wrong. So tonight we made three mother sauces and two small sauces. And your thinking "okay, cool you got to see Chef make some sauces." Wrong. Well technically right because we did see him make it BUT we also made it. All 24 of us. And I know what your thinking, "that's cool that everyone got to make their own sauce." But I was thinking, "dang this is a lot of dishes." :/ So no more royal "we"! Everything Chef demos we make! Pretty cool eh? The only thing I hate about this class is that Chef has a hard time keeping track of the time. So were supposed to get out 11:25 every night. Tonight he was closer, I think we got out about 11:40. But anyways, we made Bechamel, Veloute and Espagnole. And from those mother sauces we made Mornay and Allemand. Allemand is delicious by the way, I brought mine home :). So Chef tried mine and said they were all very well seasoned and that I did a good job except my Allemand wasn't exactly nappe (thick enough). But yay me! I got three of the five mother sauces down! Woo! Now I'm gonna have to beg my parents to buy me some good Tupperware cause I'm gonna be bringing all kinds of food home. ..

"If It Ain't Sizzlin' It Ain't Sauteing"

So last night was. ..ridiculous to say the least. Our new Chef, Chef Robert, is very scatterbrained. He spent half the night running around shouting things that no one understood. And everyone in my class spent half the night asking each other what he said. Because of this scatterbrainness, we got out late and will probably get out late every night of the next month and a half. Sound great right? Last night was really hard because I didn't have any coffee and it was soooooo long. We only had one break at 8 instead of two and our class is longer. So now instead of getting out at 10:45 we get out 11:25 which is generally pushed to 11:45 O.o So now I'm getting home even later, and getting less sleep. Yay me. Last night was supposed to be our "slow night" and we had a review, a quiz, made two stocks and cleaned up. It makes me worry about what the next month and a half is gonna be like.

I'm Gonna Miss Him, When I Get Home

Yes, that was a country song reference. Just in case, you know, you didn't get it. So it was our last night with Chef Ted! *sadface* I'm definitely gonna miss him. At least everyone passed the class and so they'll move on with us. I'd hate to leave anyone behind. So tonight was fantasmagorical. We had a delicious buffet of all kinds of food that everyone brought in. I took ribs and La Bete Noire of course (my two most prized dishes). And everyone loved them! Didn't bring any of the ribs home and only brought a third of the cake (but it's super rich, so I don't blame them for not being able to eat it all. Then we had to degrease the worst of the pans which meant we couldn't use the sinks for anything else. So we had to rinse all the dishes and run them through the other class' dishwasher. We also watched this weird movie, I think it's called the god of cookery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzdlxOVTV2Y. Here's like a sneak peek. But it's all in Chinese with English subtitles. So it was a little difficult to keep up with. Still funny though. So we ate delicious food, watched a funny movie, and did dishes. Yupp, that's basically the extent of my night. Oh! And I got two A's in both my classes :)

BA BAM! *Mind Blown*

My mind was totally blown tonight by an epic deliciousness. Apparently someone had this great idea to shape mashed potatoes like french fries and deep fry them. Uh hello! Delicious! It's like totally weird and mind blowing because you don't expect it all. Anywho, Cuisine Foundations final was crap. I totally should have brushed up on my conversion chart cause I totally blanked on it all together. So I'm not feeling too confident on that test. But we had a knife skills test that was worth more that I think I totally aced. At the end of class we were discussing our "guilty pleasures" which is like a weird food or food combination that you like. So everyone started naming weird stuff and Chef was like, "yeah okay." And then I was like, "I eat pickles and ice cream." And everyone was like, "eww that's hecka weird." And so I try to explain myself and I'm like, "it's a crunchy-creamy combination and sweet-salty combination, it's not that weird." And they're like, "yeah, it's not weird if your a pregnant woman." -_- Ridiculous, I know. So finals are done! Tomorrow we watch a movie and have a potluck. YUM.

Not Going Well So Far. ..

Today we had the servesafe certification test, which I didn't think was too hard. I probably passed no problem. But then we had a mayonnaise demo and I (apparently under the weight of all the stress) forgot my knife kit again, so I had to wait until someone else was done so I could use theirs. And we only had 30 minutes. Luckily, Zach finished in like 15 so then I had 15 to do mine. It turned out okay, it wasn't really thick enough so I lost a point. I think I added too much vinegar. Then we had an out of the blue equipment test that was supposed to be tomorrow so I had no time to study for it, so I think I failed that too (and there goes my A in the class. ..). So it was a hustlin' and bustlin' night that I was completely unprepared for. And then tomorrow we have the Cuisine Foundations final plus a knife skills test so I'll be spending all day tomorrow studying for that and job hunting. And maybe swinging by AT&T since my phone seems to be broken. ..All in all a bad night, praying for a better tomorrow. ..

"I Want Some Choc"

Finals week is here! Woo! Not. Tonight we made Gazpacho, which is a basic cold tomato soup. It's pretty much like a mild red salsa made from red bell peppers, green bell peppers, red onion, basil, olive oil, tomato, and sherry vinegar. So tomorrow we have a servesafe certification test, a knife skills test and an equipment test. Then on wednesday we each have to make a perfect batch of mayonnaise, which should be loads of fun (i.e. horrible wrist cramping). And then Thursday we have a wonderful class potluck in which I'm making La Bete Noire and possibly some delicious Jack Daniels ribs, yum. So nothing really interesting, most of the time was spent making Gazpacho, well bye!

"Don't Treat Your Employee's Like Mushrooms"/"Butterflies Are Seen, Not Heard"

I couldn't decide on one title so I put them both! Ha! Let's see, I had a paper due on this book I read, a servesafe practice exam, a chapter four exam, and a weird French salad. As for the paper, I turned it in. The servesafe test, I missed 11 out of 80, so I did pretty well. The chapter four exam I did really good on the first part of it but when I got to the end I was confused on a few things so I'm a little worried about that. Especially since it's worth double points. The French salad was just dumb. It was made out of a bunch of different ingredients that made no sense, so we did the prep work and then Chef put it together and it wasn't even that good. But another class brought in pasta putenesca (epic spelling fail I'm sure). Which I've never had but was actually really good. Interesting name origination too, if you ever want to look that up lol. So I'm off to Monterey! Woo! Swc here I come!

Don't Boil It; Just Chop It's Head Off

So tonight went by really quickly. Probably because we actually helped with the prep work instead of watching Chef do it all. The night started out with servesafe jeopardy which turned into a very competitive violent sort of sport haha. It was actually very helpful and educational. Competition will do that to you lol. Then after that we started the prep work for potato and leek soup (that's one soup) and lobster bisque. So we got to watch Chef and two other classmates kill and part up a lobster. Then we cooked up the potato and leek soup, which was DELICIOUS! I plan to remake it. Lots and lots of times. Then we made the lobster bisque. Which was okay, I mean, I wasn't really impressed by it. I liked the potato and leek soup better. I would've filmed some of it and taken pictures but my phone was super dead :(. Which sucks because the lobster legs move for a long time after the lobster is already dead, it's kind of weird. Totally wanted to film that shenanigans. Anywho, off to sleep, got a busy weekend and a book report that's due tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Too Much To Do

Woohoo! Done with servesafe. Which means we have a practice test tomorrow and a final test next week. The end of this class came out of nowhere. I'd be more sad if I had to leave all my new friends but luckily I get to take them all to the next class! (unless they don't pass of course). I will miss Chef Elsner though :(. So I have a book to finish and two papers to write, plus I have uniforms to wash, (plus all the chores my mother left me): it's going to be a busy busy day! Next class two people get to kill lobsters. Which should be pretty cool. Also, Chef showed us this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzj95jHuPiw which people actually use as a decoration on food. And yes, as much as it looks alive, it is very dead. But honestly, after I saw it moving like that, I would not want to eat it. So in class we got to practice plating and my team did pretty well. Woo! I'm not gonna take all the credit but uh, it was mostly my design. Lol. I'm really good at plating surprisingly. Can't wait for the next adventure!

"The Eyes Eat First"

So tonight was slow, and gross. We watched a movie called Food Inc which kind of shows how corrupt the food industry is. It's kind of ridiculous how in America you can get away with anything as long as you have money or a corporation to back you. This movie just added to the many reasons I hate America, especially California. Everything is so backwards. I've found the fundamental reason that America is in the craphole. People nowadays lack integrity. Anyone, in any part of the government can be bought off. Slaughterhouses and dairy farms get away with anything and everything because they have political advocates. It's ridiculous. Were compromising the safety of individuals to produce things cheaper and faster and one day it's going to come back to bite us in the ass. So watch out America.

Best Night So Far

Tonight was fantastic! We had a really short servesafe chapter, and then we got to do all the prep work since Chef's finger is still hurt. So we learned about grilling and frying tonight. For the frying portion we all cleaned and deveined five shrimp, dipped them in batter and dropped them into the deep fryer. DELICIOUS! Also, for the grilling part, we each got to grill our own five ounce piece of salmon. So we practiced making the diamond grill marks on both sides of the salmon. Then, one of my table buddies (Eric), asked Chef if his was cooked properly and Chef told him it was a little overdone. And then Chef looked at mine and said it was perfect! Voila! So I perfectly grilled a salmon, it's all about the guesswork lol. As a bonus, the baking and pastry class brought in these orange glazed crossaint type things and eclairs! The eclairs were sooooo good. Another bonus, I was on dishes tonight but everyone basically did their own, so I didn't have to do any. AND I got a 25/25 on the last quiz AND a 72/75 on my knife skills! BAM! I must be a natural :). So I got to eat deep fried shrimp, perfectly cooked salmon, eclairs and pastries, didn't have to do dishes and am getting an A in a class where the curriculum is written so that the average person gets a C? Sounds like a perfect night to me :).

It's all about GBD

So tonight was an interesting sort of night. It started out weird 'cause we started with production since the lamb and veal would take so long to cook. Also, we actually did all the prep work because Chef sliced his finger pretty bad the other night. Then we had the knife skills test (which I think I did awful on), that included paysanned carrots, tourned potatoes, brunoised potatoes and medium diced onions. Now tournes I'm fairly good at, and my carrots turned out fine. But my brunnoise potatoes were terrible. A brunoise is an 1/8 inch by 1/8 inch cube. Teeeeeny tiny. Then, during cleanup, we watched some youtube videos about AFL. AFL is Australian Football League. And no, it's not like the NFL sissy crap. Oh those poor NFL players who get to wear pads and helmets and take a break every 5 seconds. AFL is like a hardcore version of rugby. Now for those of you who have seen or played rugby, it's intense. AFL is more savage than rugby. It's ridiculous! Lol. But very entertaining. So if you want to see an AFL game, Chef says it comes on ESPN3 and that if you need a team to root for root for the Hawthorne Hawks. So we had a nice little end of the night bonus because one of the other classes brought in cassoulet. Which is like a french casserole of deliciousness! It was so good. Anywho, tomorrow I'm going to try to make Poulet Rote, Pommes Mignonettes. Sounds good right?

Cooking In Culinary School? Unheard Of.

So tonight we actually got to cook! And when I say we I mean the royal "we," which means Chef cooks and we all watch. Haha. I got to try Duck Confrit for the first time and it is sooooo delicious! "Confrit" means cooked in its own fat. So I had duck that was cooked in its own fat and it was yummy to my tummy. Anywho, tonight we roasted chicken and pan roasted game hen. Both were super fantastically delicious! Although I will admit I was partial to the game hen. It could be because it was accompanied by a amazing sauce and medley of mushrooms, pearl onions and tourned potatoes. Or maybe I'm just racist against chickens, who knows. Facebook is very distracting -_-. I'll get like halfway through a sentence and it'll be like, new message! new message! And I'm like, DANG IT! STOP INTERRUPTING! So yes, I finally cooked in cooking school lol. It only took 3 and a half weeks. And tomorrow I have a knife skills test O.o Wish me luck!

Heyo My Mayo

So I must've been so tired last night that when I got home I completely spaced on writing my blog. So here it is. Last night we made mayo, from scratch, without mixers (i.e. horrible wrist cramping). And mine turned out pretty good! I brought it home with me :). So last night we learned about HACCP plans, which are put in place to prevent foodborne illnesses and if an outbreak occurs, clean them up. HACCP plans were invented by NASA because they didn't want astronauts to get sick up in space and astro-puke all over the place. It'd be like puke floating in their helmets. ..ew. And word of advice, if you ever go to Australia don't assume that you can take your leftovers home. They won't let you lol. The reason why? Some idiot got pizza at a restaurant, left it in the trunk of his car for a few days and then ate it and got sick. He then sued the restaurant for making him sick and won! So now they don't let you take leftovers home because they are afraid that you'll sue them for storing your pizza in a trunk. Things like this are the reason why you can't rely on the government for anything. ..

"It Sucks To Be A Male Cow Born On A Dairy Farm"

So I totally thought today would suck because we weren't doing production but it actually turned out hella  fun because we had more lecture time that allowed Chef Ted to go off on random tangents. So today we learned that you "don't make stocks out of things that smell like farts when you cook them." We also learned that while there are stupid questions, there aren't stupid RELEVANT questions. So didn't do much in the way of work today, just learned about kitchen equipment, stocks and sauces. So if your wondering what my Chef looks like there's a video on youtube of him and a "little indiscriminate lobster murder." www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPNxXw71JxA So it's late, and I'm tired. I know I didn't really write much, sorry. It's not like people are really reading this lol.

A Night In The Life

Tonight started out slow, same old serve safe shenanigans, blah blah. But then we got into an interesting discussion about how to leave a tip for waiters that you hate. You know sometimes there's those waiters that are like total jerks, they mess up your order, then bring it to you cold, they're continuously rude, etc. And your thinking, "I'm not leaving this guy a tip." Don't think that! You should, in fact, leave this lovely waiter or waitress a tip. But what you do is this: You take a glass of water, put the tip inside, then use a laminated menu as a cover and out it on top, flip it over and then slide the glass onto the table. What you end up with (if you had a hard time following that) is a full cup, face down, with a tip inside. This means that the waiter or waitress will eventually have to remove the cup from the table which will result in getting water all over the place. Genius! Or horrible. Whichever stance you view that from. Another interesting tidbit for you curious kittens is that you can actually get high off of nutmeg. The slight problem with this is that although you get the nice high from it, you get a horrible hangover that follows. So in the words of my Chef, "there are plenty of other things to get high off of in California." Anywho, today we made bechamel and veloute, which are two of the mother sauces. There are five total. Mother sauces are like a basic sauce that alot of temporary sauces are derived from. Fortunately for me, bechamel can conveniently be used to make mac and cheese as well. Which is what I'm about to go do. ..

OH! And a p.s. I totally found an awesome way to make tourne's easier and so now I love doing them! Woo!

Nom Nom Nom

So nothing too interesting today, just the usual serve safe bit and then we had a quiz on conversions. Yikes! I thought I did horribly on it but during clean up Chef said I did pretty well, yay! So I scored well on the hardest test of the course, the math one lol. So because we had a quiz we had less time on demos so all we really worked with today were lemons. We learned how to crown them and make nifty little baskets out of them. I also learned something interesting, the white yucky part of citrus fruits is called pith. And pith is what creates that bitter taste, so if you remove it completely it tastes ten times better! So we also segmented the lemons, which is cutting out little slivers without the pith, which I think are called supremes. And we learned the art of zesting. Tomorrow we begin actual cooking! Not. Well, unless you consider watching water boil as cooking (were starting stocks tomorrow). So no funny stories, class went by really fast, either that or I totally zoned out the entire time. Well, it's off to bed for me!

"You Can Be Mad As A Hatter Before You Die"

So nothing too interesting today, just wrapping up other things we didn't finish throughout the week. Practicing knife cuts, learning about kitchen tools and equipment. When we were discussing safety and equipment Chef told us that some of the old mixers don't have safety bars to create a barrier between you and the mixer in which the mixer will "happily take your arm off and beat you with it." Right then and there I realized I never wanted to be beaten with my own arm. It was a life-changing moment. That was practically dripping with sarcasm, and if you missed it, you don't know me at all. So we had our first quiz on Monday I think. And I got a 21/25. Which might get bumped to a 22/25 because Chef mislead 23 out of 24 of the students in my class to picking the wrong answer. And my next quiz is on Monday and it's a math quiz about conversions and such. So I'm going to spend the whole weekend studying. NOT! It's my birthday, I gotta party it up lol. So hopefully Monday I won't be too worn out to study. Also, something I've forgotten to put in my blog so far, whenever something is done a certain way that makes no sense or has any culinary relevance, it's usually because it's made to be pretty. So when we ask, "Chef why are we doing this?" Chef Ted responds with, "Because it's pretty!" Because as we all know, half of how food tastes is how it looks. And everything has to be "pretty." It'd be much funnier if you heard it in person because he says it in a slightly gay voice. Also, I learned how to make butterflies out of carrots, in case you wanted a carrot butterfly. If you do, let me know lol. I feel like I'm leaving something out, I was totally going to write something and then forgot. Hmmm *thinking face* Nope! Can't think of it. Oh well, have a great weekend! I'm off to the kitchen to find a snack!

And Now You Know Why I Don't Eat At Quizno's

I actually don't like Quizno's because their food is overpriced and not very good. But now I have another reason not to eat there. Chef Ted went there and the lady that made his sandwich had gloves on. She made his sandwich and wrapped it and then took his cash and gave him his change. She then went back to the beginning of the line and started a new sandwich. Uhhhh hello?? Do you even know how nasty money is? And touching all that money and continuing to make sandwiches without washing your hands or changing gloves? Ew. So today we did more of the "tourne," I stand corrected. And technically there's supposed to be a little accent mark over the e. And I'm getting better at it, it just takes practice. Then we got into a lecture about menus. We looked at the menu of a restaurant called The French Laundry that's in the Napa area. Now get this, they change the menu everyday, and no ingredients are repeated twice on their menu. Also, there's a pre fee of about $275 dollars. Which means, at the beginning of the meal you pay $275 (per person) and you get a really really good five course meal. That's a ridiculous amount of money to pay for food I know. So due to our conversation on menu's we discussed secret menu's of restaurants such as In n Out. For those of you that didn't know that In n Out had a secret menu, your missing out on life. Because it's delicious! And last but not least, accident safety videos. Haha. Soooo this was one of those times when you watch something and then you bust up laughing and then you realize no one else is laughing. ..awkwaaaaard. So I watched this video www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cjy4ooOqQQ and laughed so hard I cried. It was that funny. And I have no idea why. Everyone else in my class just gasped really loud haha. Good times. ..

"The Cut That Was Made To Make Culinary Students Hate Life"

Ahhh the tournet. The most awful cut in the history of cooking. And the least used, unless of course, you live in France. It's basically this tiny little football with seven sides that's the most awful thing to try and cut with a paring knife. It really makes you want to kill yourself. Which is a bad feeling to have when your holding a knife. ..So today in food safety and sanitation that we must take certain precautions in the restaurant industry to protect our food from terrorists. Yes, terrorists. Because apparently they want to sneak in our kitchens and deliberately contaminate our food. ridiculous. So Chef Ted is excited that my birthday is Saturday so that next week he can say "were all adults here" without excluding me lol. So we had some extra time at the end of our lesson and someone asked Chef Ted to tell us some funny stories. WARNING: These stories will make you never want to eat at a buffet again. So if you enjoy buffets, please do not read this. Chef Ted was working at a buffet once and they had fried oysters out. He saw a woman walk up, pick up an oyster and try it, make a disgusted face (because yes, they are disgusting) and then put it back in the pile. But she didn't just leave it on top, she looked to make sure no one was looking and then buried it at the bottom of the pile of oysters! Sick, I know. Another guy was refilling his soda and as he walked back to his table he noticed there wasn't enough ice in his glass, so he stopped, looked back at the soda machine (which was only about 25 feet away), looked back at his glass, and then spotted some shrimp on ice. He then proceeded to scrape some of the ice into his cup. Shrimp flavored Dr. Pepper, yum.

"Such Is Life"

So today in the wonderful world of culinary arts, we learned the art of conversion. Oh yay. First of all, I hate math. Second of all, I suck at math. So converting teaspoons to tablespoons to ounces to cups to pints to quarts to gallons isn't really all that fun. And for those of you who were like, " Oh Karly, your so lucky your going to a culinary arts school you just get to cook all day." WRONG. I don't get to cook, I get to listen to lectures, and take notes and do homework just like the rest of you college people. The bonus to my college experience is, in six weeks, I will be cooking. In six weeks you'll still be listening to lectures and taking notes. I also get out in nine months. While you have 4+ years. Yeah, life sucks for you. Maybe I'll bring you some food to cheer you up. So I love my Chef Instructor, Chef Ted, but today he kept giving me these weird looks, so I'm assuming most people don't doodle on their notes. It's not like we turn them in. At least I don't think we do. If we do he's going to give me a really weird look for drawing a Gir dropping his cupcake and crying with the words "EPIC FAIL" in bold next to him lol. So now to the fun things that Chef Ted spewed in class today: "Who was the sorry SOB who cracked open a shellfish and ate it, he had to be starving to crack open a rock looking thing and drink the snot out of it." And since were going through all the bacteria and viruses you can get from lack of personal hygiene and undercooked food, some of the side effects can include "vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, oh and yeah MAYBE DEATH." But he says it all cheerfully like I actually want to die from eating shellfish, yuck. Oh, and his favorite foodborne illness is Anisakiasis. Which, if you get it, you have a tingling in the back of your throat, and then your coughing up worms. Super fun right? And last but not least we discussed the dangers of eating wild mushrooms which lead to a discussion on truffles, which in turn lead to Chef Ted discussing truffle salt. In my class we will get a chance to try truffle salt, which we will either hate or we will say "oh my god I want to rub this on my body." (That's a direct quote, I don't make this stuff up). We only get to try truffle salt because black truffles run about $200/pound and white truffles run about $1000/pound. So you see the difficulty in attaining those items. Anywho, Goodnight!

The Bacteria Made Me Do It!

So your body is made up of approximately 100 trillion cells. But it's also made up of ten times that many bacteria. So your basically like a walking petri dish, yum. Anywho, today we worked on a lot of cuts, pont nuef, batonnet, brunoise, ciseler, concasser, and of course, the famous julienne. Now I realize these mean nothing to you so I'll try to translate: steak fries, sliced bell pepper, minced, diced, minced tiny, and strips. That's a rough translation but basically that's kind of how things are. So, the worst thing about culinary arts school is working on cutting while smelling all the other classes cook amazing things and sitting there like staring. It's horrible. So now I'm going to tell you some weird interesting things you could live without knowing. First of all there is a dangerous infection called Listeriosis caused by eating the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. One of the symptoms of Listeriosis is miscarriage, THE SYMPTOM! WHAT?! HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?! Also, never eat food from swollen cans cause it could be a sign of botulism. How many different cows are in a hamburger that you eat? A hundred? A thousand? Who knows? At a slaughter house thousands of cows are ground together and a little piece of each one makes up that burger that you ate. Yum. So I'll end on a funny note, my instructor Chef Ted ate a habanero once, then later that day he went out drinking with friends. The problem with peppers is that the heat from them can stay attached to your fingers for awhile, even after you wash your hands. So he was drinking so much that he tried to take his contacts out, and you can imagine what that was like (if you can't it was basically like macing yourself). But that's not even the good part! Because he was so drunk that night, the next morning he totally forgot, and he put them back in! Ouch!

The Secret Behind The Coat

So the secret, I'm telling you all the secret. All what? Two of you? Haha. So a chefs coat is double buttoned like a pea coat, with two rows of buttons. But the secret behind that is that it also has two rows of button holes. Which means, you can button up your coat either way and if you spill something down the front you can switch sides so that the stain is hidden inside your coat. Why might this be helpful? In case your called into the dining area by a customer and you don't want to look like a sloth. Which brings me to my next point, if you see your chef walk out anytime during your meal and they look dirty and disgusting, stop eating lol. That is the person who just had their hands all over your food, the hands that looked like they haven't been washed in months? Yeah, those hands. If you don't see a chef the best way to check out a new restaurant is to look at the bathroom. If they don't take the time to clean a public restroom that they know everyone will see, then they certainly didn't take time to clean the kitchen that nobody sees. Anyways, enough with the serious stuff. How about a joke? How do you get a small fortune? You start with a large fortune and open your own restaurant. :P Horrible, I know. So here's a history lesson for the day, the history of the word "restaurant." Restaurant is derived from the French word "restaurer" which means to restore. Makes no sense right? But wait, there's more. In old France restaurants were rare, taverns however where plentiful. At some point a bartender at a tavern noticed that people could consume more alcohol if they had something to eat. So he started serving a "restorative soup" at his tavern. Some people didn't like this much and tried to sue him but he won, and so the birthplace of the restaurant. Restaurants were invented so people could spend more money on beer. Interesting right? So today we did some food safety, in which my chef referred to fungi as "creepy crawlers that live inside you." Which was a horrible metaphor, made me imagine spiders crawling around in my body. ..and ugggh *shudder* gross. So the main need for food safety and sanitation is CYA. Which stands for Cover Your Ass. In the food business this is something that you will always need to do or you will get shut down. And California? Strictest health laws in the U.S. So I've decided to get a job out of state. ..And now! Your Zombie Apocalypse advice for the day! In case of a zombie apocalypse, go directly to your nearest motorcycle shop and put on all the leather you can find plus a helmet, so that zombies can't take a bite out of you. And don't get ass less chaps, because that would be embarrassing if the zombies did find you. ..

Is it PEBCAK or PEBKAC?

I survived day number one! Woo! So today, on my excellent adventure (lol), I got a large stack of books and a case of knives lol. If you've stumbled upon this and are wondering what the heck is going on, I am Karly. And this is my excellent adventure. But seriously, I am chef in training. Today was my first day at Le Cordon Bleu of Sacramento, where my instructor Chef Ted did a very good job in keeping us entertained. There are 24 students in my class. And only about 8 of those are girls. I am the youngest but that doesn't seem to be a problem (unless you count constantly being made fun of by the head chef a problem). It turns out, mine is the only name he can remember so far because he likes to use the phrase "were all adults here. .." in which he uses his hand to shun me from that generalization. He also said the line, and I quote, "Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? I am." And I'm curious as to how exactly he's prepared. Chef Ted used to be a tech guy but got bored of doing the same thing over and over again and dealing with PEBKAC's which stands for "Problems Existing Between Keyboard And Chair (or Chair And Keyboard, I wasn't sure). If you didn't get what that meant it means that the computer wasn't the problem, the operator was. (You had to be there). So as Chef Ted was going through the syllabus he explained our fire exist strategy. He then continued to explain that if the doorway was the place on fire the two biggest guys in the class would be throwing a large mixer through the window haha. Speaking of fires, he also explained that if we needed to use the restroom to let him know because if that fire did happen he wouldn't know where we were. Except he decided to use the example, "if Karly went to the bathroom without telling me and there was a fire, she would just burn up in that stall." And I'm like, "gee, thanks." Interesting fact of the day, when forks were first invented people found them offensive. People thought that any food they had could be eaten with their hands and if you pierced it with a fork you offended God. Pretty random right? Anywho, had a good night, well now it's morning, I might post a few things tomorrow that my sleep lacking brain missed.