Week 5, Day 4. A pretty cool day. In lecture, we went over the homework as usual. But then Chef Warden assigned us a mini-menu planning activity. In the kitchen, we were going to cook a tournedo of beef and roast either pork or beef. Chef wanted us to create an entree using the tournedo with a sauce, a starch, a vegetable, and garnish. For the roast, we had to lard or bard it, and shoot for certain internal temperatures: 132 F-142 F for beef or 150 F-158 F for pork. We had to use the following items: onion, carrot, celery, shallot, garlic, fresh herbs, leek, cooking wine, liqueur, mustard or egg yolk, citrus, stock, tomato, peppers, mushrooms, raw butter, and cream or milk.

Joe joined our group because he doesn't have a partner. I didn't understand why he didn't pair up with Zac, whose partner Rodney left home early because he was sick. Zac joined Bjorn and Kinsey. I was glad to have Joe's help. He did all the chopping for the group. We would have been a lot more rushed if he didn't help us. Brainstorming menu items was fun. We rifled through the book for recipes and found one called Roast Pork Tenderloin with Leeks and Whole Grain Mustard Sauce. We decided that if we got the beef roast we'd substitute leeks with tomatoes and use red wine instead of white wine.

For the starch, we chose to do rissoto, so that Eve could practice for her practical. For the vegetable, we chose to do Glazed Carrots. We didn't have any use for citrus or tomato, so our garnish was a tomato crown with lemon zest. I am really not a big fan of garnish for garnish sake. Ideally I'd like it to be a mini side dish. I think we lucked out with the pork roast. I was picturing that in my head instead of a beef roast. I was in charge of the glazed carrots and pork roast, Eve handled the rissoto, the tournedo, and the garnish, and Joe did all the chopping. This was our final menu:
Tournedo of Beef with Mushroom Duxelle and Roasted Garlic Rissoto
Garlic Studded Roast Loin of Pork with Mustard Sauce

We had ten minutes to gather all the ingredients and then one hour to cook everything. For the pork, I poked holes in it with a paring knife and stuffed it with garlic cloves. Then I patted the outside with brown sugar and wrapped it in 4 pieces of bacon(this is known as barding). I seared it in a mixture of oil and clarfied butter and put it into the oven. Then I zoned out for a bit, but Eve got me back on track. I sweated onions, shallots, minced garlic, leeks, and celery in the oil-butter-bacon fat left over from the searing. Next, I placed this mixture in the roasting pan underneath the pork roast. Then I caramelized a diced green apple with some sage. I added this to the roasting pan as well. Then I made the glazed carrots. The roast reached 150 F and I took it out to rest with ten minutes remaining. I deglazed the roasting pan with white wine and added a mixture of cream and mustard. After straining the sauce, I added some more mustard for flavor and body. Eve really liked the resulting sauce. I was surprised it turned out so well.

During this time, Eve was making the rissoto and the compound butter to go on top of the tournedo. In the final ten minutes, she made duxelles, pan-roasted the tournedo, and made the garnish. Things went pretty well. Although I didn't hear the feedback from the Chefs. I was busy cleaning, when I heard him yell at us to get our food if we wanted to take it home.

After this experience, I am trully in awe of the Iron Chefs. It took me an hour to make roast pork and some glazed carrots. How in the world do they turn out four and five course meals? Experience and speed I guess.

Week 5, Day 3. We watched two American Culinary Federation videos on beef. It wasn't the scary "here's Bessie, now let us show you how we turn her into hamburger." It was just two guys examining and discussing different primal cuts. I think the scary videos are shown in Meat Fab. Eve gave an in depth report on the history of the chef's uniform. It was well researched and informative. Her report was interrupted by a presentation a polo shirt to Chef Warden by the President for being a Chef Instructor of the Month or some other period of time. It was quite surreal.

More chicken cookery in the kitchen. We made Chicken Cordon Blue, Chicken Fricassee, and Naravin, a brown lamb stew. Today was not a good day in the kitchen. It started out well with a snack of scrambled eggs and hashed browns from the meat fab kids. But once I stepped into the kitchen, nothing seemed to go right. I guess just the Chicken Fricassee turned out bad. My liaison, a mixture of egg and cream used to thicken, broke and the fricassee was ruined. I also melted my instant thermometer by leaving it inside the Chicken Cordon Blue in the oven.
By the way, the chili competition was cancelled due to lack of entrants. There were only five entrants, three from our class though. Momma said there'd be days like this.

Week 5 Day 2. It was all meat, all day long. Chef Warden admitted that the meat test is a bear. I don't think he intended the pun. He informed us that our next class is Saucier, so it's even more important for us to get the meat stuff drilled into our heads now so that we'll be ready for Meat Fabrication after Saucier.

We were going to watch two videos about separating veal into the foresaddle and hindsaddle, but a lot of people asked questions about meat. I'm a little scared about watching graphic videos depicting the slaughter of calves. The vision that's in my head is that of Lisa Simpson being transformed into a vegetarian after watching a similar video in her class.

We also talked about Kobe beef and fetal veal. According to Chef Warden, the cattle are nailed in place after a day of being able to walk so that they don't develop muscles. They are massaged and fed a diet of grain and beer. The meat has excellent marbling. I couldn't find any sources to validate the nailing in place bit, but I did find this informative site. Fetal veal is an unborn calf. Chef Warden has had this and assures us that "It's goood." I can't seem to find any information from the web on this though. (If anyone can find info about this please let me know, thanks.)

Debra gave her report on Jello. She read us her paper because she doesn't like speaking in front of the class. She went pretty fast, but the paper sounded pretty good. There was once chocolate flavored jello. It doesn't sound that bad, I wish it was still around.

In the kitchen, we made Schnitzel a la Holstein, which is part of one of the practical menus, and Stuffed Frenched Leg. For the schnitzel, we pounded a piece of pork tenderloin thin and breaded it with panko using the Standard Breading Procedure(flour, egg wash, and bread crumbs). This was browned in clarified butter, topped with a poached egg, and a lemon wheel garnish with capers and an anchovy. We made a beurre blanc to go with it. I didn't care for the lemon wheel, but lemon juice would have flavored the sauce nicely. The customer is supposed to break the egg yolk and combine it with the beurre blanc to create a richer sauce. The original dish calls for a fried egg, but I think poached is just as nice. It it good stuff. For the stuffed frenched leg, we used a leg that we fabricated yesterday. We stuffed it with duxelles (sauteed mushrooms with shallots and garlic) and wrapped it in caul fat. Then we seared all sides in clarified butter and finished it in the oven. Another quality dish. It even got the parental seal of approval.

Week 5, Day 1. No tricks in the test. Though we did have to write out the steps to making mayonnaise from memory instead of just having the steps there and ordering them. Only two more tests left in this block. A lot of people did well on this one. Maybe the topics of salads and fish are easier for for people to grasp. They probably studied harder.

The extra credit reports started today. Only three students did them: Tara, Eve, and Debra. Tara presented hers after the test on organic foods. Lots of good info various ogranic foods. She also brought in some apple juice for everyone. Visual aids are key. Actually its more like a total sensory aid. I wanted to do a report on dim sum, but I just couldn't write the six pages for the report. I even took pictures of dim sum dishes a couple of weekends ago for the poster. I think I can save it for another class.

The kitchen was fun. Each of us got to take apart two whole chickens. I've always thought that one of life's greater joys was deboning a chicken. I think I will enjoy that even more with what I learned today. I've always felt very comfortable handling raw carcasses of chicken, not as comfortable as that guy in Iowa but that's a differnt story. We broke the chicken down into boneless, skinless, double lobe breast, Frenched leg, and boneless leg. All the other parts went into a stock pot. I'm cringing at all the bacteria that may have been left behind despite our best cleaning efforts. Eve and I were kitchen managers for like the tenth time. I think Chef Warden just likes to put Eve in charge because she gets things done. She's quite good at it too.

I was pretty hungry after class because it was the first time we haven't cooked something to eat in a while. We arrived at the banquet room while they were still setting up; it wasn't until an hour later that they let people in to eat. The main takers for the banquet are the Basics kids. Mostly from our sister class, since the Chef gives them a break from lecture to get dinner. The theme was Southwestern cuisine. There was the usual fruit plate but with a watermelon fruit sculpture. You could tell it wasn't carved by Rodan but one of the things did look like a cactus. There were fajitas with choice of steak, chicken, and pork. Taquitos and quesadillas. Not too bad, but maybe not worth waiting an hour for. I wonder what will be among the themes for our banquets.

Week 4, Day 5. Yet another futile review session. I don't know why I subject myself to this hour of pain. I guess I'm secretly planning for the day when I'll contribute to the session. They really need to teach the kids how to study for the tests. Stuff that the Chef instructors don't give them. Techniques to memorize certain things, focusing on ways to study, and maybe even give them a practice test.

Chef Warden was back today. He found out he has an ulcer and did not feel well after some treatment. He hates missing a day of class. He seemed really concerned that we understood fish cookery. It was as if someone else painted on his masterpiece and he was making sure that the integrity of his work was still in place. I have never had a teacher in my entire life who earnestly cared about their students as much as Chef Warden does. If you ever find yourself at SCI, make sure you get Chef Warden for Basics, he'll make you a chef.

We went over the test as usual. It seems pretty comparable to the others. We didn't get to play Jeopardy because we got into an involved discussion about our final practical exam in week 6. We have to make a soup, salad, and entree with protein, vegetable, and starch in a very doable hour and fifteen minutes. One person from each group cooks on either Tuesday or Wednesday. The partner can only do prep work; they cannot start or finish a dish.

We also discussed the meaning of the dish Poached Fish Bonne Femme. This dish is usually sole rolled up and poached in white wine and mushrooms. The mushrooms is the ingredient that makes it Bonne Femme, otherwise it would simply by Sole Vin Blanc. Bonne Femme in French translates to good wife. So does that mean a good wife adds mushrooms? Not any wife of mine I hope. I am not overly fond of mushrooms. I did a little more reasearch in the Bible aka Larousse Gastronomique and the entry for Bonne Femme said "dishes that are prepared in a simple, family or rustic manner." So I guess there's still hope.

Tomorrow is graduation day. I think there are two graduation days a year: one in May and one in October. Students graduate at different times times so they all gather in May or October and walk the walk. Chef said they would be preparing one thousand crepes with creme fraiche and duck confit tomorrow in the Basics kitchen for the event and that any volunteers would be welcome. I'm thinking about it. The bad thing is that they start cooking at 730am.

It was shellfish day in the kitchen. Chef Warden demonstrated cooking lobster in three different ways: boiled, grilled, and stuffed with casino mixture and baked. The boiled lobsters were boiled whole. The grilled lobster were split in half, topped with a herb butter before grilling. We didn't get to cook lobsters, but we got to eat them. Instead we got to shuck oysters and clams, prepare Oysters/Clams Casino, and make Scampi Shrimp. My sauce for Scampi Shrimp, or Butter with Shrimp as I like to call it, didn't turn out as creamy as it was supposed to be. I think I overbuttered it, who knew that was even possible.

Week 4, Day 4. I went to school early today to take advantage of the jacket and pants sale at the other campus. There was no one in line when I got there, but according to Chef Karen's talley a lot had been sold already. I got five jackets and five pairs of checkered pants for $35. Not too bad. The jackets have Gabrielle and Millie embroidered on them. Minor details. I had loads of time when I got to campus, so I decided to do some homework in the library. I bumped into Rick, Shelby, and Rodney who told me about the banquet that the AM students put out from 1-2pm. That seems like a more realistic target for food than the night banquet.

Chef Warden was absent from class today. Chef Blakemore was his substitute. She teaches one of the AM classes. It felt kind of awkward. She lectures differently. Her notes are just outlines of the material in the book. She did tell us the story behind "a la meuniere" or "in the style of the miller's wife." It's a classic method of sauteing fish dredged in flour with clarified butter or oil. The idea behind the name comes from the fact that millers lived in apartments above their mills. At the end of the day, everything in the apartment would be coated with a light layer of flour, including the miller's wife.

The kitchen portion dealt with fish cookery. Earlier in class, Eve mentioned to me that her mother's way of overcooking things has scarred her fish cooking skills. I think she was exaggerating, her preparation of Trout and Flounder en Papillote was excellent. She let me have half of her grilled salmon, her Poached Salmon in Court Bouillon, and her Trout a la Meuniere. She just doesn't like to eat fish a lot, that's all. I ended the day with gigantic plate of salmon and buttery trout and flounder. Shelby gave me his grilled salmon too. My dishes came out pretty good for some reason. Everything was cooked to the right degree of doneness according to the Chefs. I didn't really plan it that way, it just kind of happened. Maybe it's a sign that I should go to Le Bernardin, or maybe not. I would have liked to have had pictures of my dishes but I usually take them after showing the Chef. Chef Blakemore tore at the fish to check for the right texture and doneness, so I just snapped a shot of the camera-shy Zac sauteing trout and salmon in clarified butter. Don't tell him, but I don't think we were supposed to make Salmon a la Menuiere.

Week 4, Day 3. Lecture was kind of weird. We went over the homework which was about fish and shellfish. I learned that geoducks (gooey-ducks, huge clams) come from the West Coast, not the East Coast. Then Chef Warden gave us some time to work on the next chapter in class. After that we watched A&E's Biography on Julia Child. I really enjoyed it. It is hard for me to really appreciate all that she has done for the industry because I really don't have a good idea of what it was like before, I only see the fruits of her labor. I think she is a great role model as a person and as a cook.

Jamie reported that there hasn't been a lot of interest in the Chili Competition and it's in danger of being postponed or cancelled. I'll try to get my entry in on Friday. He also mentioned something about the school newspaper. I think I go to the next meeting to see if there's anything interesting to do. There's a big sale tomorrow and Friday for jacket and pants. These were made for students who have dropped out, so things are priced to move. Anyone one there want anything?

Today was an easy day in the kitchen. Two dressings Basic French Vinaigrette and Emulsified French Dressing and a bound chicken salad. Eve made the Vinaigrette, while I tackled the French Dressing. It's not the sweet and tomato-based French Dressing you see in supermarkets. This is unknown in France or at least not known as French Dressing. The French Dressing we made was oil and vinegar emulsified with egg yolk and seasoned. The orange tint comes from paprika. We were given the basic bound chicken salad recipe and allowed to modify it however we wanted. I found a red bell pepper in the reach-in, so I added that and some red curry paste. Chef Warden didn't like the pepper garnish, but he liked the color of the salad. It looked nice but I didn't think it was that great either. However the sweet crunchy red peppers were a perfect match for slightly spicy chicken salad. Maybe julienne strips would have been better or something more time consuming like red pepper powder (a la Thomas Keller).

Week 4, Day 2. I got my Maricopa County Food Handler's Card today. The test was pretty easy because we went over sanitation in chapter 2. There were people there who didn't pass the test. I felt sorry for them because they probably need the card to get a job. The test consists of 25 multiple choice questions. You pass if you get 5 wrong or less. After the proctor grades the test, he tells you your result right away. You only pay the $12 fee if you pass. Then you sit in a chair to get your picture taken, and then you get your card. It's a pretty quick process or maybe I just got lucky and went at the right time.

Today was kind of the opposite of yesterday. The topic was math, so I was very animated during lecture. I'm pretty good at simple math. Understanding formulas, using and manipulating simple equations, and stuff like that. The homework was all about units of measure, food cost percentages, portion costing, and recipe conversions. Sometimes, focusing on the math gets in the way. Simple math is a tool (as opposed to hard math which is more like an art form or full-contact sport) and you need to know how to use it properly. I like to think of the context of a problem. If it's a conversion, start out by thinking "Which number should be bigger?" Then go from there. If they taught the students to think about what they're trying to figure out instead of just telling them to plug numbers into a formula, it might make more sense to them. Maybe I can spread my gospel if I join the Escoffier Society and become a tutor. I just want to say "math rocks" and "food related math rocks even harder."

We got an unexpected treat in class today. No, I don't mean our grades for the first three weeks which we also got. Our class has perfect attendance so far! That translates into Vanilla Almond Crunch Haagen Dazs bars for everyone, that is, everyone who eats ice cream and likes nuts. Jim declined for dietary reasons and Bjorn doesn't like nuts. It just doesn't seem fair that they don't get to join in the celebration for our collective achievement.

After all the math madness, we watched videos that actually dealt with something we are going to learn. The first one was a safety video on fish and shellfish and the second one was about selecting and storing seafood. I appreciate the information contained in these videos, but their production values are dated and I'm sure there have been some equally educational videos made in the past couple of years dealing with the same topic. I just feel that if they really cared, more thought would go into choosing videos that are entertaining as well as educational. Soapbox time is over, on to the cooking.

The kitchen dealt with a category of foods that I often skip when browsing a cookbook. Salads. We made the classic Caesar salad and Wilted Spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. I burned my hot bacon dressing on the first try, so I was behind the whole class. Another result of this was that by the time I presented my salad to the chefs they were all salad-ed out. We were also supposed to make mayonnaise, but Eve and I ran out of time and forearm strength. It takes a lot of whisking to make mayonnaise which is very similar to Caesar salad dressing. I guess salads are okay and I may experiment with them in the future, but I prefer to leave them to the garde manger.

Week 4, Day 1. Another test in the books. The tests are pretty easy if you spent a little time studying the sudy guide, but on the previous two tests there's alway one section that you can't study for. Actually you can but you'd have to memorize the chapters themselves which is not a good thing to try. I got pretty lucky today. My educated guesses in "the section" were mostly correct. I'm especially proud of my shot-in-the-dark spaetzle answer to a dumpling question. Tests really take a lot out of me. Or maybe I was tired because I was up until 2am baking bread. (By the way, I'm getting there, but I still can't get the rise or the elastic dough.) I vow to get more sleep.

In other news, I hope to enter the Chili Competion on November 9th. My good friend Tushar has provided me with a recipe that will ensure a delicious bowl of chili for the spectators and who knows? It might just win over the judges. I got an email from Anozira, a staffing company that handles staffing for the catering events associated with the school as well as temporary positions at hotel, resorts, and country clubs. It'll be a great opportunity to get a taste of the food service industry. I'm sure they'll be plenty to learn from those opportunities.

I spent the breaks conserving energy for the kitchen. And it worked. I don't know what came over me, but I think I got a second wind. The theme for today was flavored pasta. We made pesto and puttanesca as well. Since I flubbed the pasta on Friday, I told Eve that I wanted to try making it today. She agreed to make the sauces. Eve owns a pasta maker and makes a mean noodle. I chose to use the "Eve method" and threw out the whole "weighing thing" that led to failure on Friday and just got equal amounts of flour and semolina. In addition to the two eggs, I added an extra egg yolk just because I think it's similar proportions to Barbara Lynch's pasta dough recipie I saw in the New York Times a while back. We decided to flavor our pasta with lemon juice. I couldn't taste it, but Eve said there was a hint. I had visited Cost Plus over the weekend to buy bannetons and I happened to browse through a book on pasta making. They said to roll the dough through the widest setting, then fold it in half and run it through until it is smooth. This technique worked out incredibly well, I wish we learned it in class. The pasta came out great and Chef Morrison liked it. Rodney, who will probably open his own Italian restaurant after graduating, made a cool looking tomato flavored pasta.

We were done pretty early, and I launched into cleaning machine mode. We rotated to the mop and sweep station which meant that I would be among the last in the kitchen. No matter. I helped out where I could until it was time to sweep and mop. Lara commented on my thorough sweeping job. I just try to do whatever I do as best as I can. It might not always be that good, but something like sweeping isn't a terribly hard thing to do very well. It's good to know I have something to fall back on. Now I'm tired again, but there's homework to do and studying for the Food Handler's Test. Sleep will come easy tonight.

Week 3 Day 5. Another week in the books. We get grades next week for the past three weeks. I wonder how that'll turn out. Chef Warden mentioned something interesting today when I told him that I brought in my starter for pasta making. He told me that we would be making different variations on Monday and that today we were going to make normal pasta first. I just said that I'd bring it back Monday which provoked him to say, "You don't get very excited do you?" I am often curious how people see me and I know that calm is used very often to descibe me, but I don't realize that I often appear unemotional. I feel emotions, but I guess they express themselves in ways invisible to the naked eye. By the way, I am tremendously curious what sourdough pasta will be like.

We went over what was going to be on the test as usual. This is where I feel a little awkward. Chef Warden pretty much tells us exactly what's going to be on the test. This feeling is reminiscent of math classes at Caltech, specifically AMA 95(Applied Mathematics) and Math 1(Calculus). Sean and Professor Ashbacher would go over what to expect on the test the day or night before. When we took the test it was no surprise. While this is very helpful, it reduces the material to a couple of problems. Pardon the digression, I know that these tests mean well, but I question their ability to invoke lasting knowledge. Will I still know everything six months from now? Maybe. Anyway, our Jeopardy win streak is up to three. Two more free points on the test.

The kitchen was an utter failure. Chef Morrison did the demo today for pasta and Alfredo sauce. I believe that I am cursed when working with dough. My breads haven't really developed and now my pasta was just horrible. Chef Morrison said he would work with me on Monday. I was still measuring out the flour and semolina while people were already rolling out their pasta. My dough never seemed to come together. Chef Morrison tried to work in some water, but by that time the dough was overworked. When I finally got a batch cooked, Chef had already eaten too much pasta to try mine and our Alfredo sauce turned a bit grayish due to over mixing with a whisk in a aluminum saute pan. At least we got out early. But is that really a good thing? In other news, I've decided to do my project for Week 5 on dim sum. I'm doing some "research" tomorrow.

Week 3 Day 4.Today's lesson was all about rice. Richie asked why rice was so cheap if it took so many machines to process it. Zack came up with the explanation, "Rice is cheap because it's made in sweatshops." But when you really think about it, a lot of things are cheap that go through a lengthy process like gasoline, gumballs, and anything you find in a vending machine or a 99 cent store. We were also talking about how to tell if rice has gone bad. Chef mentioned odor and weevils. Luckily(or unluckily) there were little containers of rice left over from some previous extra credit project. We got to see first hand little creatures roaming amongst the grains of rice. What was really distubing were the bugs crawling around inside a small jar of dried beans. I may have nightmares about that.

In the kitchen, we made rice using the pilaf method and the rissoto method. Everybody in class got to make their own pilaf. Eve chose to go simply with mushrooms and parsley garnish. When Chef Warden told us in class, I decided to make the Spanish Rice recipe in the book. But when I got downstairs, there was no paprika and I didn't feel like using green bell pepper. So I winged it. I rendered some bacon fat reserving the bacon for garnish. To this, I added chopped onion and garlic. I also added cayenne pepper, tumeric, salt, and white pepper. Next, I tossed in the rice to coat it with the flavored bacon fat. This is called necray for all French folks in the house. I then added some chicken stock, brought it to a boil, lowered it to a simmer, and let it cook. For the final presentation, I mixed about half of the bacon bits into the rice, spooned it into a bowl, and made a small indent in the middle of the rice with a ladle. Into the indentation, I cracked a raw egg and sprinkled the rest of the bacon bits and some parsley on top. The tumeric gave the rice a nice golden color and the cayenne pepper added a little kick. Chef Morrison was a little unnerved by the raw egg. He mentioned that guests might freak out if they saw that. I had remembered seeing this combination somewhere before but I couldn't think of it at that moment. Later on I realized that in Japan it is very common to mix raw egg into rice during breakfast time. I have also seen pictures of steak tartar garnished with a raw egg yolk. Back to the drawing board I guess. When I told Rodney about my dish, it blew him away. He was very supportive of my use of raw egg as garnish. Maybe I'm cooking for a different crowd.

The catering kids had their grand banquet today. The good thing was that we were definitely getting food. The bad thing was that we had to wait until after the public got first dibs. It was open to friends and families of the catering students. Luckily, we finished early and were first in line for the second dibs. There was plenty of stuff left for us: fresh fruit, canapes, cherry tomatos with fresh mozzarella, rissoto(which I couldn't touch), breaded mussels, chicken leg quarters, lamb chops, spaghetti carbonara, lots of cool looking breads that no one seemed to have the heart to tear into, and a dessert made with rasberries. I wonder if this means we've seen the last of banquets for a while. I don't thnk the new batch of kids will prepare banquets immediately.

Week 3 Day 3. We watched a couple more videos in class today. After lecturing about potatoes, Chef Warden decided it was too hot to concentrate. He said that the videos are to give us ideas about presentation and food pairing. We watched video #6 from the Great Chefs of Chicago series. The first part was a four course meal prepared by Yoshi Katsumura. The second part featured Jackie Ectheber aka Jackie Shen. In the video, the restaurant Jackie's was still operational, but a little research reveals that it closed in 1999. Jackie Shen is now executive chef at Lawry's The Prime Rib. I've actually eaten there. It's where Michael Jordan signed his first contract with the Bulls. In the video, for dessert, Jackie prepares a Chocolate Bag. It's chocolate in the shape of a luch bag filled with white chocolate mousse topped with fresh berries and served with a rasberry sauce. I must admit that I polished one of these off after finishing a mighty slab of prime rib and thier famous Spinning Bowl salad. I knew it couldn't have been a coincidence. That's not a common dessert to see on menus.

It was potato day in the kitchen. We made Anna Potatoes, Rissole, and Duchesse potatoes. I messed up the Anna potatoes because I didn't slice them thin enough. Chef Warden said that along with consomme, Anna Potatoes frustrates students the most. It certainly got me. Rissole are those football shaped potatoes browned in clarified butter. I'm getting used to cutting potatos into seven-sided shapes. Duchesse potatoes are a mixture of pureed potatoes, egg yolks, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. We then put it into a pastry bag and pipe out different shapes with a star tip. It takes a while to bake in the oven. The taste or lack there of was disappointing. I guess we should taste and season before we put it in the piping bag. It might go well with a sauce though or the jus of an accompanying meat dish...

Week 3, Day 2. My First Picture. As per a request from a good friend, I will attempt to provide pictures. At the beginning of class, Jamie gives us more details about the chili competition on November 9th. There a $10 entry fee, sign up is tomorrow, three categories: Red, Green, and non-traditional, contest is to make 1.5 gallons of chili, cooking starts at 9am, tasting starts at 12:30pm, and tasting tickets are 5 for a buck. I've been thinking a little about entering, but I've never made chili before. I'm thinking about a non-traditional entry using soybeans(edamame), dashi, thinly sliced beef, wasabi, daikon, and some other stuff. Sounds intriguing, but I'm not sure what the consistency should be or what taste I'm looking for.

Back into learning mode. The topic for today was soup. I really need to take more advantage of lecture. It's a time to ask questions about anything. That's how most interesting tangents in class get started. For instance, Zack asked how he should make roasted bell peppers if he has an electric range. We learned that Zack tried a variety of methods on the electric heating coils to no avail. Then Chef Warden cryptically asked Zack, "How's your kitchen?" This leads to a story from Chef Warden about a friend who was drunk and decided to show his non-chef friends the flambeeing technique. In two minutes, the guy caused $600 worth of damage to his ventilation system and partially melted his microwave. In response Zack claimed, "I don't cook drunk. It's dangerous enough sober." How true.

It was our last day of soups in the kitchen. We made consomme and spicy black bean soup. (Note: The consomme was a much more visually appealing dish, but I threw it away before I remembered to take pictures. Don't worry, I'm not done cooking yet.) I've been looking forward to the consomme making ever since I read about the process in The Making of a Chef. The process involves a clarification in which a mixture of ground beef, egg whites, herbs and spices, and lemon juice(for chicken consomme, tomatoes for veal consomme) is used to create a clear finished product. This raft starts at the bottom of the saucepan and rises to the top collecting impurities on its way up. It's a really cool process and I think everyone should try it at least once in their lives. The spicy black bean soup was not too bad. Eve and I decided to keep the heat content moderate by using ony jalpenos. Shelby and Casey used three habaneros and two scotch bonnets. Those are two of most hottest peppers arounds. I actually tried a spoonful of their soup. While the heat was strong, I wasn't panting like a rabid dog running for milk to cool down the burn like I was expecting to. I kind of surprised myself that I could take that much heat, but I really it was only a spoonful and a couple more bites would've probably rendered my tastes buds useless for a while.

A tray of chocolates appeared and quickly disappeared while we were cooking. Let me recount the hunt for tonight's banquet. We all waited anxiously in the hallway for the last students to finish their kitchen chores and for Chef Warden to dismiss us. A quick reminder about Chapter 18 tomorrow and we're off. Up the stairs to ground level, then up another flight of stairs to the banquet room. At ground level, there are three staff workers happily enjoying plates of food. This is a good sign! I'm a straggler, so by the time I'm half way up the stairs to the banquet room the faster and hungrier students are returning from the closed banquet doors. Dejected and disappointed, they spread the word that they have closed for the night. The hunt for the banquet continues . . .

Week 3, Day 1. Test Monday as usual. This time we graded each other's test in class afterwards. It was a difficult test in that it required reading the text rather than just studying the study guide. I was a little disappointed because I spent all weekend studying small sauces (and baking bread, making French fries and aoili.) We were given the impression by Chef Warden that small sauces would be a big part of the test, but only the last eight questions were devoted to the subject. On top of that, those questions weren't counted towards the test. Chef said that they hadn't counted the last nine times they gave the test. Well, I got a pretty good score. And I'm glad that I spent the time studying the sauces because I feel that those sauces will come in handy someday. These are classic combinations and they taught in culinary schools and cookbooks alike because they taste good. It's not like History class where you spend the entire weekend memorizing dates, names, and places only to forget them after the test.

The kitchen served as our introduction to soup week. Potage Crecy or Pureed Carrot soup, cream of mushroom, and French onion au gratin. I dislike mushrooms. Needless to say my mushroom soup was not up to par. My French Onion was out of whack, too. Chef Warden said that I needed to cook out the sherry more. It's been that kind of day. Everything has been just a little out of whack. The weather was a bit hotter than usual. The air conditioning in the classroom kept the room at a warm 31 degrees Celsius (I leave the conversion as an exercise for the reader.) I even noticed an abnormally high number of cars pulled over in the shoulder lanes suffering from various ailments. Eve made the Potage Crecy because it was one per group. She did a great job.

No banquet again. We really need to find out their schedule and plan accordingly. Sure we all had a little soup, there was even a roasting pan of turkey from the meat fab kids, but there's something pretty special about sitting at a table with fellow classmates, chowing down on decent free food, and washing it down with powerfully sweet Kool Aid. Well, there's always tomorrow.