In Skills, garnish is really the only creativity you are afforded.
With very few exceptions, we are learning recipes straight from the book. The idea is to turn out a skills class that is rooted in the basics, no renegades with a special take on pommes duchesse or a twist on risotto. Creativity is not frowned upon, exactly, but you must first produce from the book. Then, if time allows, you can bring Chef something that you experimented with and he'll give you his $.02 on it.
Garnish is the one category where you are allowed complete freedom, and most of us do what we can to present something different, appealing, interesting, etc. There are those that subscribe to the minced parsley technique on everything they produce. Parsley is great, sure, but do something other than mince it, please. Take a big leaf and fry it, lay it carefully in the middle of your potato leek soup. Take a few thin slivers of blanched carrot and lay those around it randomly. It's much nicer to look at than a speckling of minced parsley.
As with turning my gazpacho into a bloody mary with a small, leafy celery stralk and a wedge of lemon, I try to get creative when possible. Last night it was a bed of basil leaves for my pommes anna (which is a bitch to flip) and a drizzle of olive oil around the plate. Parlsey is for the lazy.
Garde Manger, the class that set out the buffett of odds and ends at 9:30 each night, has moved on to the North Campus and butchery, meaning we are left to our own devices. Not good. While the spread that Garde Manger offered up was hit or miss, there was always something safe to eat. Now and then they would put out something really good. Not to mention the pastries and cakes they laid out, which disappeared quickly.
I've have no almost no interest in learning how to bake a nice cake, but the cakes that the baking and pastry program puts out are really, really good.
These days dinner consists of whatever we make in class. Here's a menu selcetion from last night. I had a half cup of steamed jasmine rice, a half cup of pilaf, a half pan of pommes anna (thinly sliced potato, layered, pan fried and finished in the oven) and half a dozen golf ball sized piles of pommes duchesse (piped and baked mashed potatoes). Not a very round meal. Next week and for the remainder of skills we will be plating complete entrees of protein, veg and starch, so I should be fine.
It's no wonder that CCA students are said to gain 10-15 pounds. So far, I don't feel any thicker around the middle.
Well, the job search has been fruitless. I have my name on a list at school for work, but there appears to be more students than positions available, so I am on a waiting list. It looks like I'm heading back to office jobs for the time being. Considering the number of resumes I have sent out in comparison to the number of calls I have received, you'd think the first line of my cover letter read something like "I am a recently parolled serial killer looking for a new start." I haven't had a single call. The temp agency says they'll have something short term for me next week, which is a huge relief, since my bank account is in single digits.
I don't know what side of the family I got my financial sense from, but whoever passed on the genetic code, thanks a bunch.
Money aside, I'm not sure how I am going to fare working during the day. As it is, I am exhausted in the morning. Absolutely exhausted. This school schedule may be the thing that forces me to truly ease back on smoking, start running again, taking better care of myself. A steady diet of cigarettes and coffee doesn't seem to be giving me the boost I'd like.
Until then, smoke 'em if you got 'em.
With very few exceptions, we are learning recipes straight from the book. The idea is to turn out a skills class that is rooted in the basics, no renegades with a special take on pommes duchesse or a twist on risotto. Creativity is not frowned upon, exactly, but you must first produce from the book. Then, if time allows, you can bring Chef something that you experimented with and he'll give you his $.02 on it.
Garnish is the one category where you are allowed complete freedom, and most of us do what we can to present something different, appealing, interesting, etc. There are those that subscribe to the minced parsley technique on everything they produce. Parsley is great, sure, but do something other than mince it, please. Take a big leaf and fry it, lay it carefully in the middle of your potato leek soup. Take a few thin slivers of blanched carrot and lay those around it randomly. It's much nicer to look at than a speckling of minced parsley.
As with turning my gazpacho into a bloody mary with a small, leafy celery stralk and a wedge of lemon, I try to get creative when possible. Last night it was a bed of basil leaves for my pommes anna (which is a bitch to flip) and a drizzle of olive oil around the plate. Parlsey is for the lazy.
Garde Manger, the class that set out the buffett of odds and ends at 9:30 each night, has moved on to the North Campus and butchery, meaning we are left to our own devices. Not good. While the spread that Garde Manger offered up was hit or miss, there was always something safe to eat. Now and then they would put out something really good. Not to mention the pastries and cakes they laid out, which disappeared quickly.
I've have no almost no interest in learning how to bake a nice cake, but the cakes that the baking and pastry program puts out are really, really good.
These days dinner consists of whatever we make in class. Here's a menu selcetion from last night. I had a half cup of steamed jasmine rice, a half cup of pilaf, a half pan of pommes anna (thinly sliced potato, layered, pan fried and finished in the oven) and half a dozen golf ball sized piles of pommes duchesse (piped and baked mashed potatoes). Not a very round meal. Next week and for the remainder of skills we will be plating complete entrees of protein, veg and starch, so I should be fine.
It's no wonder that CCA students are said to gain 10-15 pounds. So far, I don't feel any thicker around the middle.
Well, the job search has been fruitless. I have my name on a list at school for work, but there appears to be more students than positions available, so I am on a waiting list. It looks like I'm heading back to office jobs for the time being. Considering the number of resumes I have sent out in comparison to the number of calls I have received, you'd think the first line of my cover letter read something like "I am a recently parolled serial killer looking for a new start." I haven't had a single call. The temp agency says they'll have something short term for me next week, which is a huge relief, since my bank account is in single digits.
I don't know what side of the family I got my financial sense from, but whoever passed on the genetic code, thanks a bunch.
Money aside, I'm not sure how I am going to fare working during the day. As it is, I am exhausted in the morning. Absolutely exhausted. This school schedule may be the thing that forces me to truly ease back on smoking, start running again, taking better care of myself. A steady diet of cigarettes and coffee doesn't seem to be giving me the boost I'd like.
Until then, smoke 'em if you got 'em.
