it's november eleventh. i last blogged september fifteenth. i've been in culinary school for nine and a half weeks now and, amazingly enough, i'm not that bad.
my grades in Culinary Skills thus far:
| Vegetable preparation: | 60.00 (out of 100.00) |  | |
| Thickening Agent: | 60.00 (out of 100.00) | | |
| Salads Pantry: | 80.00 (out of 100.00) | | |
| Potato Cookery: | 78.00 (out of 100.00) | | |
| Egg Cookery: | 88.00 (out of 100.00) | | |
| Sandwiches: | 83.00 (out of 100.00) |
funny that this is what i do all day. pretty obvious improvement since i first battled vegetables... i forgot to season my duchesse potatoes and i can remember that lab being especially frantic, but man i really nailed them eggs. want me to make you a sandwich? i got an 83 per cent in sandwiches at one of the best cooking schools in north america. i should make a t-shirt that says that.
i've gotten used to wearing the chef uniform, i seem to be able to wake up at an "a.m." hour fairly consistently and i'm slightly less antisocially hostile to my classmates. caleb's my partner in the culinary skills class and probably my only true "friend" in the school. at lunch we'll sit next to each other on a bench in the hallway, him on his computer, me reading a book. he's pretty young, plays drums in a hardcore band, has lots of tattoos and is even more scornful of the people around us than i am. we're a good team; sharing duties, helping each other out. we present our final plating to chef z at the same time and in turn he basically evaluates us as a single chef. caleb's the only one who gets to hear all of my muttered exclamations and inane observations and i'm glad i no longer have to just write them all down in a notebook.
today we did poultry, y'know-- deboning, stuffing breasts, frenching bones, stuffing cavities, tenderizing meat, etc.
(cooking is hilariously vulgar, there're almost too many jokes to make.)
i'm currently sick (H1N1!) and had an especially trying time in what proved to be a confusing and thoroughly frustrating lab. my demi glace was facing difficulties from the start due to a faulty oven and deboning the chicken took much longer than anticipated. i cut myself at one point but cauterized it through sheer will power. somehow, chef z ended up praising our plating so i'm slightly hopeful i'll break the "ninety" mark (especially since i told him how sick i was and he nodded so understandingly).
tomorrow is banquet/large scale cooking -- if my body hasn't fallen apart by then.
