next class

So this weeks class dealt with rice and eggplant. After having the recipes before class and kind of understanding what was going on, this weeks class seemed to go much better. I even mentioned to Chef that I was angry after I got home last week and he seemed to understand where I was coming from.
So after we started getting our recipes together(and I would gladly trade a person in my group), we started things off being much more organized. My group was responsible for the paella, and although one pan was not good, and one pan(mine) was close, the paellas was very good. This dish built upon some that we learned in foundations. There are people in this class that have had other classes that would help them with this lab. I have had nothing but foundations and I feel that I am a leader in my group. Whether I have had other classes or not, my take on this is to understand the recipees that we are given and then to kick some ass. I mean, when someone in my group doesn't know how to dice an onion, I think we have problems. I do that all day long at work. I think I can dice with the best of them!!
The dish that James and I cooked turned out well. We maybe didn't get the soccaret on the bottom, and I will need to practice that, but it was better than the burnt part on the other half of my group.
This is post number 2 for this class. Can't wait for post 3.

Angry

Yes, after this class(my first this quarter), I was angry. It was the beginning of the quarter and we didn't really know what was going on. We had no recipes before we showed up for class and most of us didn't know each other. There is one person in my class that I know and I will have to figure out who should be here and who shouldn't. Although we are all here, I believe that not eveyone should be. Hopefully, that will be fixed as we go through this class. So after going through class and starting our lab, I was very excited that things would go well, even though we weren't sure what was going on before we got there. However, I soon found out that this might not happen. We had made most of these recipes in our foundation class and things seemed like they would go smoothly once lab started. I'm not real sure if it was us not knowing what was going on, us being unorganized, or the recipes, but we all failed miserably. The pictures that you see were the finished products, but I'm still not sure we did a good job. Actually, I feel that we didn't. By the time I drove home, which is an hour trip, I was angry. I was angry that we didn't get things accomplished. I was angry that we didn't do well with the recipes. And, finally, I was angry with the fact that I didn't really want to eat anything that we had made(although that might have been due to the recipes). I think, more than anything, that I was angry about how things had gone. Obviously, being prepared is our best defense. Since this was the first class, we were anything but. Therefore, I will just post the pictures and be done with this lab. I will make sure that my group is better from here. Especially since Chef looked at our group and said, "This is the A group here!!)
By the time I got home, I was angry!! Angry at the unorganization and at us not delivering. I am expecting nothing but better things going forward.

My New Blog

Hello all!! Who is all? I'm not sure right now. I have no idea where this blog will lead, nor do I have any idea as to who will be reading this at any point down the line other than myself and my chef instructor. I really wanted to start this blog last quarter, my first, as a way to document my journey through culinary school and to keep track of my thoughts and progress. However, we were required to post one entry a week on our class blog, and I never really got past that process.
Although I would really like to go back and write about the progression through the first quarter, including the pictures from each week, I don't want to confuse myself or anyone else who reads this. If I can figure out how to lump them together or have someone teach me(hint, hint to my friends that already have blogs) I will definitely work my way through that.
This blog will begin as a blog about the class that I am currently in and my experience as a culinary student. I'm absolutely positive that it will include some other aspects of that experience as well. One of the other options for extra credit is to do any 8 dishes from a list of 16 and report on them via blog or written report which will also include pictures. I'm hoping that I will include that in this blog as well. It won't get me any extra points but it will keep me branching out and practicing.
The most important thing to remember about this blog is that I am not a professional nor even a novice writer. I think that I have a good understanding of the English language. However, I am sure that there will be some mistakes in here. I also tend to branch off of what I'm talking about and then come back to it. I am going to use this opportunity to try to stem that by writing, saving, and editing before posting. Hopefully that will keep things going smoothly.
With that in mind, I will be posting my entry for this week later in the week. After my class today(which I will go into in my next post) this is probably my best route for success.

Once again, welcome and good reading!! Feel free to post questions and/or comments.