End of the Semester!

So I finished the semester last week and with the exception of work (and some yard work for the parents), I've spent the past 5 days doing nothing. I'm really at a loss at what to write right now. Pretty much it came down to copying and pasting the Facebook note I wrote about the Blind Basket or my obsevation on Flay and Bourdain. I figured that I would re-post the Blind Baskte on to shed some closure on all the posts I'd made about school.

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for those of you who don't know I had my practical exam last night. It was hectic and kinda stressful and exhilarating and exciting all at the same time.

It was like an episode of Chopped (kinda). We go in, Cheff Dunn gives us our items that we have no idea of what they are ahead of time and then are let loose. It went great. I probably could've worked cleaner and been more organized. But thats me. My whole life is perpetually slightly untidy so yeah.

Our items were 1 chicken breast, 1 duck breast, a fillet of fish (I totally forgot what kind it was), 2 grains from the grain cart and half a tomato (they were left over from the graduation dinner and chef wanted to get rid of them I guess). And at least an ounce of cheese.

For my soup I ended up doing the Vegan Miso soup like I did last time. I didn't see any leeks in the walk in when I first ran in (my original idea was to do vicyssoise), so I figured why mess with a good thing. IT wasn't until I had gotten well underway with it that I went in the walk in looking for cucumbers for the original plan for my salad that I saw leeks and got kind of mad at myself for missing them. But it happens. Regardless, I knocked out the soup but didn't really do a garnish other than chopped chives (most which splashed out en route to chef :(.

My salad I ended up doing a duck salad. I chopped up the tomato to serve as the base. then put mixed greens in a red wine vinagerette. I origininally was going to smoke the duck breast but I kinda lit the smoker on fire. No seriously, I opened it up and there was a small little fire down by the wood chips. Luckily for me, one of the adujunct staff members was in the kitchen putting together a hoers douveres menu and she helped me put it out (so to my knowledge chef never found out). In stead I ended up slicing the duck meat and sauteeing it then putting it on the salad and grated the cheese on top.

My appetizer I wasn't happy with. I grilled the chicken, sliced it and then cooked the polenta and put it in a small cup. Not very inspiring. bleh.

My entree I was real happy with. I cooked rice for my starch. Sauteed the fish, then made a veloute sauce and put it over the fish. Then I sauteed (and slightly burnt) asparagus.

For my soup he said that the miso soups are normally garnished with black soy beans, or seaweed, but otherwise the soup itself was MUCH better than the practice. My salad he said he liked and that I redeemed myself with my dressing. The chicken and polenta tasted good. He agreeed with me to do a different presentation, to which I pointed out that if I were to do it again I'd probably incorperate the tomatoes in there somehow. The entree he liked. My fish was slightly over cooked, and he liked the veloute. But went on to point out that one of the faults that they as teachers made was that they taught us how to make it, but didn't teach us how to use it. And that most chefs would use it to make another sauce. So yeah, that wasn't my fault.

Oh and then we were supposed to tourne two potatoes but I totally forgot. Oops heh.

All in all I was happy with things (except the appetizer). Chef thought they tasted good and said that since the practice Blind Basket I improved the most!

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Overall I was happy with how I did, and how much I improved. Also afterwards I think I bonded a little more with some of my classmates. After he tasted our food we were able to go into the dining room and eat it. And seriously, the 10 or so minutes I was in there eating just shooting the shit with my classmates was probably one of the more entertaining 10 minutes of the quarter. Seriously if this is what my future holds as far as the socializing aspects are concerned (eating and conversing with other cooks/chefs) then I'm totally pumped for this business.

Life continues on

Where to begin, where to begin?

Well, its the end of the third week of service and things are alright. I'm feelng slightly more confident about myself when it come to cooking so I suppose thats a good thing. Now all that needs to be done is to find a job. ha.

This week Devers and I were on the prep station. Like the name pretty much implies, we prepped stuff for other stations when needed. ALSO, we made an amuse bouche. We havn't been ambtious as people have been some weeks (I.E. the last two groups made a new one every day. We ran the same one Tuesday and Wednesday, and then switched last night), but we knocked out some good ones. Hell, anything that gets me to eat a cucumber has got to be good.

Last night I was on my own, Devers had a hot date, and it went great. Granted Devers had tasked a few other people in class to make sure I didn't totaly crash and burn, but I was pretty independent all night. And I make a pretty damn good amuse bouche. ha. It was also a pretty interesing night due to the absence of Chef Dunn (as well as Miss Heckwell, the Advanced Table Service instructor). I can't remember where either of them were, BUT to subsitute for them we had Chef Angus and Mr. Schultz, the morning Heritage instructors.

As many of my friends know, I totally look up to Chef Angus, ALOT. So it was a big thrill to have him teaching. Things went pretty well. The fun part of the night was when we got the inevitable quickfire. People were certain we wouldn't get one this week due to Chef Dunn being gone. But we got one. Angus did his a little different. With the help of the sous chefs he gathered enough tomatos for each person to have one, then gathered avacados for each person to get a half. Then measured out a half a cup of olive oil for everyone. Then he explained that that was all we'd get along with ONE citrus fruit and one type of herb. Only in the initial rush for the items all the oil got knocked off the table. So in the midst of cleaning it up, Angus seperated all the items and then section by section told us to get our avacado's and tomatos and herbs. And then someone randomly passed out the fruits. I got a lime. Overall I did okay. He liked my presntation, but I didn't win. Oh well. It happens.

With the exception of Advanced Food Production, I'm just ready for school to be done with for the semester. I'm seriously getting mentally worn out and kind of just need a breather. bleh.
Thats life. I've officially decided that once I graduate in Decemeber regardless of what I do, I'm seriously taking like a week long break, sleeping in every day, watching movies, reading, whatever.

Noteable Quotes:

"Chef Dunn said you were a great class. It really means alot if a second year advanced cooking lab says you're a great class."
~Chef Angus, shortly before the quickfire

"So much for being a great class"
~Amber after the oil got knocked over

"Wow, you can sure tell pasta was on sale?"
~me on my food cupboard

"Hey, want to see some chef porn?
~me to Jake on the article in Bon Appetit about the outdoor kitchens

"Good job tonight"
"I don't think we did well"
"Didn't you win?"
"No we got beat....by alot"
"oh yeah, oops wrong team. Sorry"
~My semi drunk ass to a member of the Bleeding Heartland rollergirls

"For what its worth, I never actually pay atention to the score. Especially when I'm scorekeeping multiple games"
~My semi legitimate defense at kinda being a dick

"This is good if I can make myself forget I'm eating a cucumber"
~Me on our amuse

The new term

So like I've explained before, the culinary classes only run half the semester so shortly before Spring Break (or the Thursday before) I started Advanced Food Production. For those who don't know, Advanced Food Production runs the the kitchen for the Heritage (the on campus restaurant) at night. The Thurs and Fri before break, and then Mon through Weds this week we did prep, but tonight (Thurs) was our first day of service.

To rewind for a bit, the class is really intense. Along with cooking for the restaurant, Chef Dunn does try to teach us stuff when possible. Chef is a vegan, but he doesn't have any alterior motives of trying to make us see his view. If anything he does try to get us to understand where our food comes from and how it gets there. Like wise our homework is to visit a bunch of informational links and write about them, and also to post thoughts (and responses to other peoples thoughts) . So yeah, its pretty nice

So tonight was our first night of service and it went alright. For the most part I let Devers (Adam my station partner) take lead and I just helped him. Due to the lack of actual restaurant experience I'm still kind of shakey and not too sure of myself. But I'm sure to pick it up. We really only messed up once and that was due to the expeditor mis calling something.

Anyway, at the end of the class Chef called a demo. Now let me rewind for a bit. The first day of class he mentioned everynow and then (or at least once a week) he calls something called a quickfire. Long story short, in a quickfire he'll have you make an appetizer of your choice. Most times if he has alot extra of something he'll have you use that as the main part of it. So when he called the demo we all started to suspect something. When I made it back to the table I noticed he was fiddling with something so right then and there I took a step towards the walk in. Then he called it. Luckily for us all we had to do was make any appetizer and then only thing we were limited by was that we couldn't use anything already prepped.

My proximity to the cooler made me one of the first people in. After I cleared my head for a few seconds (and the rest of the class caught up with the 4 of us who made it in first, I grabbed mushrooms, garlic and red pepper. I left the walk in to avoid the mad rush and realized I had NO CLUE what I wanted to do. I then grabbed some yukon potatoes and decided to make roasted potatoes only I was worried about time. I minced the garlic and took some oil and let it sweat in a sauce pan. Then chopped up the peppers and cut the potatoes into chunks and threw it all in an oven. The rest of the time is a blur, but I do remember the Advanced Table Service class AND the dishwashers AND a few of the banquets class getting a kick of watching us all run around like chickens with our heads cut off. Overall mine turned out okay. It didn't win, but chef thought it worked to an extent. Crazyness.

So yeah, now I'm home. HAvn't really done much I think Zigs is off playing basketball who knows. I should take a shower. blah.


Random quotes heard lately:

"Olives are like sex, if you don't like them you havn't tried enough kinds"
~ Chef Dunn

"Pretty much I grabbed the first three things I could think of, ran out of the walk in, grabbed my knives and thought 'now what the fuck am I supposed to do?"
~me on the quickfire

"You're single right?"
"yup"
"ah, you must enjoy it right here getting to check out all the girls"
~Kim and me on what I allegedly will enjoy about being on the front line

"So you never put two and two together as to why I spent so much of my free time in Banquets down by table 1 and 2. All the girls were down there"
~Me on Kim's realization

"Front line, can you hear me? Its me God!"
"Please have mercy on me for not giving any money to the homeles dude!
~Chef testing out the microphone and my response

"I'm fine with having no toliet paper if it means you don't get to take any 30 minute craps"
~Zigs on wether or not we need toilet paper

The Next Stage

I. R.I.P.

So I did it, I finally killed my Ipod. Anyone who has hung out with me for any amount of time knows I probably don't take the best care of my electronics. I mean, I bought an almost $200 camera and then the first time I took it out dropped it. And likewise I havn't been too keen on not dropping my Ipod. Actually it still works just fine, but the screen is all fucked up. So who knows, I'll stop by the apple store tomorrow to see how much it will cost. Unfortunately I reall can't afford much more than 50 or so bucks for repair (and THAT was actually supposed to be my beer money for the weekend

II. School

Classes are going well. This seven weeks I have the Intro to Hospitality course, a course that you're supposed to take first (which I didn't), Spanish for the Hospitality Industry (Which is something that may help me in the long run) and then English (which lasts all semester). In the grand scheme of things they aren't too exciting BUT, I am learning interesting stuff.

On an even more interesting note I had 3 interviews about possible summer internships. The first place is Bay Harbor Yacht Club, the second was Walloon Lake Contry Club and the third is Glendevon's restaurant. The first two are up by Petosky and the third is here in GR. I thought I did good at expressing myself, and my history and my strengths and weakness'. So who knows, I sent each of the chefs a quick email saying I enjoyed talking to them and thanking them for the interview. So we'll see.

I really like Walloon Lake. I thought the area was someplace I could fit well, and the job sounded like something I could enjoy. Likewise, Glendevon's is a place that would seem preferable. Not only is it in GR which would mean I wouldn't have to move. But it could possibly evolve into an actuall job. And the had a similar veiwpoint that I do about serving simple food that tastes good.

III. Work

Well....not much new on this front. I've become lazy about job hunting. I think part of it may be that once the second 7 weeks comes around that my schedule will be WAY more crazy.

Regardless, things at the Square are going good. I'm mostly just working mornings. Which kind of sucks cause I can't really sleep in. But oh well. It happens.

I.V. Social life

My social life is kind of FUBAR. I WANT to go out. But I can't afford to alot. And I have 10 million people wanting to do things. I am attempting to go on a psudeo date with a friend of a friend. I have Nicoles birthday, The Derby Awards banquet, and a few other things going on. Luckily if the girl I'm trying to hang out with and I work something out it will be Friday. I'm probably going to become public enemy #1 if I say this, but I'm almost tempted to skip the awards banquet. In the grand scheme of things I think I'd have more fun sledding. Theres a part of me that would enjoy the simple pleasure that sledding would provide. On the flip side I have already comitted to going to the GRRG banquet. And there are a bunch of the derby folk I want to see. I don't know. I kind of feel myself being dragged from both ends.

I'm at this point socialy and mentally where I almost have to do what is best for me. Being the nice guy and all is fun, but sometimes you have to draw a line in the sand. I admit I'm not the most out going guy and that sometimes I bring the lack of communication on myself. But I can't just sit here spendng every waking hour trying to fix it. I have to do what I can and move on (thus another reason for wanting to go hang out with Nicole and the TSM/Beat-Ups/Dynaflo crew). Cause god knows once summer hits, regardless of if I get an internship or not, I'm gonna have to bust a move on my education. IF I don't get an internship my goal for being done is Dec 2009. But regardless of when I graduate, my goal is to get the hell away from Michigan.

Decisions, Decisions.

The New Normal

So the new semester begins tomorrow. I am fresh off the high of a succesful first semester back as well as the joy of all umpteen million books I got for Christmas. With a ton of Christmas money (and the last of my lingering b-day money) horded I'm slowly making a "shopping list" so to say of things for our kitchen. Granted I have yet to use the new toy I got for my b-day (my new cast iron pan!) but hell, I can't let that money burn a hole in my pocket too long.

If anything though I'm not looking forward to seven week classes. By the time I get used to things they change. Bleh. But oh well. I have a class with a few of my co-compatriarts from my Banquets class so that should be fun.

Work is work. Thanks to classes switching my work schedule switched. Unfortunately I'm not getting to many night shifts. Which on the one hand is good because night shifts are bussing/dishwashwer shifts), but the night servers are much more fun to work with. But work is work. I'm kinda sorta looking for a second part time job, but I may hold off til the class schedule changes so any work schedule I get can be semi-permanent till the end of the summer. But we'll see.

NYE was a blast.....I think. I drank too much (surprise, surprise) so I don't remember much. ha. But I did get a chance to party at the Amway Grand. I'm sure I got numerous people annoyed with me. But oh well. Thats me.

The only down side was that I now have to get work done on my car. It seems that the wheel of my car broke. I don't know how, all I know is that I was parking my car in front of my apartment, hit a patch of ice, slid half a foot, heard a crack and then the drivers side of my car dropped half an inch. And I got out of my car to check it out and saw that my front drivers side wheel is more or less perpendicular to my car. bleh. My parents thought that it might be the axel or something. So now thats one more thing to stress me out that I don't need....damn

Thats life for you

Life

Damn....its been almost 2 weeks since I've posted. Ironically I don't think many people know about this blog yet, so I guess it works out. ha.

Anyway time to get you all up to speed.

My practical ended up going okay. I was nervous as hell, it was kind of chaotic. But with a few pointers and suggestions (and a slight bit of inspiration) from my table partner I ended up hanging in there and getting an 86 out of 100, which I think works out to be somewhere in the B range. So yeah, I'm happy. Pictures of it will hopefully be around soon.

School in general is going good. Its almost done for the semester and I'm happy with how I did. I seem to be more genuinely interested and enthusiastic than I was the first time around. I am kind of bummed that theres a portion of what I learned before that I havn't retained. But I'm still learning things and and making a forward motion in knowledge and confidence. So I'm hoping I can keep that up. I still have two more big assignments due next week, so once those are past I can relax a bit.

Work is work. Although its been kind of hectic. It seems that two of the guys I was working with both had fake green cards. And so yeah, they both got fired. So things were crazy for a few weeks why they were trying to get everything covered. But now they have one new guy hired and maybe another so things are almost back to normal. I'm kind of hoping that with some of the minor shuffling going on that I can start cooking. But the one thing working against me is my speed so I'm not really sure yet. Maybe I should talk to my boss about that.

Thanksgiving kind of sucked. Due to the afforementioned problems with losing two people, I ended up having to work. Which was SUPER crazy. Yeah, it sucked.

My birthday was okay. I never did end up going out. But I got enough new cookbooks to leave me busy for a few months. Yeah, thats that.

So yeah, thats my last two weeks in a nutshell

Wish me luck!!

So here we finally come to one of the big humps in this stint of Culinary School. The practical exam. Practicals pretty much consist of combining alot of the skills we've learned into class and using them in a dish. Back when I was in the Skills class this involved doing all the vegtable cuts on a carrot (and then using the said cuts in a salad), make a salad, make a stock, use the stock to make velute. Bone a chicken, use the breasts from said chicken to make a breaded Chicken Cordon Bleu and then combine them all to make a meal on the plate. Its actually alot easier than it sounds although at the time I was scared shitless.

For Banquets and Caterering its a bit more complicated. We have to make two forcemeats (a gallantine and a ballantine), tournet our selected veggies, pick a starch to "mold" as a platform. And then Aspic it all. Aspic'ing is the practice of putting a geletin on it to hold it together. Its used for display purposes and to give it a shine. In other words, a skill we won't be using much in the real world. I'm not too confident in my abilities of making the forcemeats, I suck at tournet'ing and suck at aspicing. On the bright side, I'm good at everything else. So who knows.

My big concern (aka this is where I get contemplative) is that I can sometimes get overwhelmed which sometimes leads to a lack of confidence. Which is ultimately what led to me dropping out the first time. I tend to compare myself to others in class as opposed to just focusing on my own. I've been getting better at asking for help when needed which actually led to a bit of a closer friendship/mentorship from one of my teachers. As well as becoming somewhat good friends with a guy in my class. I need to keep telling myself "I know I can" and as long as I try my best and am not half ass'ing it, then thats what should make me happy.

Work is going good. I'm getting about 22 hrs a week which comes out to about 360 or so dollars every two weeks that I somehow make last. Damn it sucks living pay check to paycheck again. But thats life.

On the brightside, my birthday is in two weeks. Not only (in theory) do I get to get plastered for free. But hopefully I'll be getting a few new cooking related books. Despite being a big Bourdain fan, the Les Halles Cookbook DID NOT make it on the list. Only cause I know that if my mom puts two and two together that thats the "unofficial" cook book of one of my favorite chefs, I won't be getting it till Christmas (thus why I probably won't be getting Mario Batali's Italian Grill until then). So I'm totally using the inevitable b-day money I get to get it. heh