teeming with work

Oh how long it has been, and oh how much has happened. I have been here for about four months, except it feels like four years...but to be honest, I would not have it any other way. When I first started my fundamentals class I was extremely nervous, and while I still find myself getting worked up and anxious for class I am much more comfortable than when I first started. In fundamentals we went from making simple soups to plated dishes; my first plating was not the  best but as we worked more, I got more confident in my skills and attempted to have a 'sense of urgency'-- this is one of the schools favorite sayings. Here is a picture of one of my final dishes that I made in that class, it is:

 pan-seared rainbow trout, roasted asparagus, glazed golden beats and a roasted stuffed tomato

Fundamentals class got progressively more difficult, but the more obstacles I was faced with, the more I seemed to fall in love. Some days I faltered and forgot to season or overcooked my veg, but my Chef always told me I was progressing and even though I hardly ever admit that is true, I did see myself progressing and still do everyday. This past month has been the prime time to apply for Internships. While I thought I wanted to go to California, and still have that open as an option, my advisor suggested looking into an opportunity in Rome. Originally, I ruled out applying for any internships abroad because I was afraid my Italian wouldn't be strong enough to keep up in the fast paced kitchens, but at this site it is not required that you speak fluently! Once I decided to apply, I asked my fundamentals chef for a letter of recommendation  and the letter he wrote was one of my proudest moments yet. It was after receiving his letter that I knew I had made the right decision in coming to this school, and that I was definitely becoming a prospectively great chef. I am still awaiting an answer from the Internship site and check my email just about every breath I take because I am so eager and excited and nervous!

Recently, I did something with my two closest friends here that has made me more proud of myself than I have ever been...we 'catered' my dads 50th birthday party! The whole thing was a surprise and we had been working on the menu for weeks. Nervous and excited at the same time, the entire experience was amazing; and I really think we shocked people with the dishes we served. Here are a few:

 This is a cubed heirloom tomato and basil terrine with a taleggio grilled cheese

 This is a pickled ginger and avocado tuna tartar with crispy wonton chips

 This is a layered avocado mousse, flaked crab, mango salsa and lime cilantro sour cream

 

 Lastly, a grilled lollipop lamb chop with mint basil tzatziki 

And here we are toasting to our success! 

I thought I was going to be more focused on peoples reactions when they actually tasted the food, but seeing how proud my family and friends were--especially my father--was a thousand times more gratifying than their praise for the tastes and finesse of the menu items. I really have come to find that the mistakes, successes, learning and discovering are all important but the most important thing is to be satisfied with yourself and satisfying others. On Monday, we had Thomas Keller Day; Chef Keller and many other renowned chefs and purveyors came to school to give us a glimpse of our future and inspire us to keep up with our work. While the entire day was very enlightening, one part stuck out most and was engraved into my mind; after doing a mock service at the French Laundry, Chef Keller ended the day with this quote:   

There were times when I made mistakes in class, but my chef would recognize other successes and tell me I should still be proud of myself, and while I still did beat myself up for a short time, I would eventually realize that I should be proud of myself no matter what. I am doing so much more than I have ever done, and working harder than I ever have at the same time. While I am not the best yet, I am confident that one day I will exceed even my own expectations and truly be proud of myself and stay proud of myself. I am in the business of making people happy, through my food...and while I never really put myself on the forefront of that, I am now not only dedicated to making other people happy, but making myself happy. 

I am so excited for my future. I am so ready to make moves and do big things. Every bit of this is because of my family and their insane support. Hearing my grandmothers voice on the phone and seeing her in person and knowing that she is happy with me is more than I can ask for. Having my uncle tell me how good I did catering my dads party after he went through this same curriculum as I did was so satisfying. And having my father say that he finally sees a passion in my life and that he knows this has all been worth it is the most insanely gratifying comment, because I too finally feel a passion burning inside of me. 

I would not want to be doing anything else, this is my life now and I would not have it any other way. 

(and yes, that is me with a giant subprimal of beef)

time flies when you're having fun

Coming in, I was so nervous about finding a lot of friends, but I have honestly met some amazing people already and it's almost frightening how comfortable we've all become with each other in such a short period of time. My friends Carlie and Angela have slept in my room for three straight nights and we're literally all attached at the hip. Even the boys. This past weekend was crazy, way crazier than I thought it was going to be...so much fun. 

Most of the kitchens aren't open to us on the weekend, so on saturday night we made a big feast! It was absolutely delicious, bacon fried rice, chicken and sautéed vegetables and Angela and I made crab rangoons! Today we had our first "theory lecture"; since there are no classes on monday, five mondays will be designated theory days. Today's was on heat transfer and basic introductions to culinary science. It was really quite interesting, and our two chefs gave demonstrations. While some of it did catch my attention, it's still exceptionally clear that I am not so fond of, or good at, the science stuff. I am most definitely going to have to find my way to the tutoring center more often then not. Since there is no way I am going into detail about my weekend on this family-viewable blog, I will just show off some yummmmy stuff ;)

 Today, we stopped into Apple Pie Bakery after lunch (which was a deeelicious Rice, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Stuffed Chili & Seafood Chowder...sorry no picture!) because 'ya know, all that food wasn't enough and we needed snacks (or snaeycks, hi dad). And, lucky for us it was buy one get one free! On top is a Stuffed Pretzel, it was stuffed with some kind of cheese and mushrooms; on the bottom is a Almond Financier and on the left is obviously a Macaron, it was pistachio and passion fruit I believe. When Angela went to order something, the girl behind the counter--who keep in mind is another student--noticed she didn't have her neckerchief on told us she couldn't serve us because of it. Thats just a little insight on how seriously strict it is here.

This was served at an event in my dorm hall! For $5 you could get three Carnitas or Shrimp Tacos with Hand Pressed Tortillas and a Mexican Coke. We obviously had to get three of each, duh. Other than that, I got my knife kit! It's so nice; not only did I get all of those knives but I got a bunch of other little stuff too. Every Chef or instructor or anyone I come across tells you to go to the store (my Chef even said the dollar store!) and pick up on of the plastic peelers because while the one we got is fancy, it doesn't work as well as the cheapys do! I found that so funny-- that's something else we do here, make the cheesiest food/culinary jokes and then laugh even more when we realize no one else would sit around and laugh about them.

Last but not least....it snowed today! It was beautiful. Not only does my campus look like Hogwarts, but now it looks like Hogwarts in the winter...and there's basically nothing better. I am so scared to go to my first in-kitchen class tomorrow, but I just know this feeling won't go away easily.  

I feel on top of the world.

everything is happenin' so fast

It for real feels as though I have been here for weeks, while in reality it has only been about three days-- craziness! Yesterday was the same old, same old...just a whole lot of orientation stuff that I already went through at Pace (and that anyone with common sense should know). But todaaaaaay, we all wore our chef whites! 

The outfit is definitely going to take some getting used to-- I kind of look like a lump of laundry in it because I'm so short...but, hey at least the pants are comfortable. During yesterdays orientation meetings we got our schedules and needless to say I was not too happy about the one I received. I really wanted AM classes so I could be finished early in the day, but of course received a PM schedule (first blah), THEN of course my roommate and my other friend got put into the same AM class schedule together (second blah), THEN I realized that my classes completely interfered with any crazy fun 21st birthday festivities that I thought I could have (third and final blah). I have class the morning after my birthday from 8:45am-5:05 pm, with one hour break. Time to check into real life, cause its getting way real...and I'm getting way scared.

On the brighter side, I'm still eating FABULOUSLY. Here is a two-day, Wednesday/ Thursday meal run through:

Yesterday for breakfast I had many insaaaane choices for breakfast; some including: Poached Egg "McGridlle"--which was on real pancakes with a maple hollandaise--PB&J Pancakes, Gruyere & Egg Scramble with Sautéed Onions, Eggs & Biscuits with Red Eye Gravy or, what I got, Eggs Benedict--my favorite:

It was super delicious and filling but since my stomach is stretching as fast as the days are going, when it came to lunch-time a full meal was perfectly fine with me. For this, we went to our first production kitchen in Roth Hall and chose the Cuisine of Asia. While waiting on line the Chef (which is what every 'professor' is called, no exceptions or you'll get ripped a new one) told me that my outfit was "spiffy" and I looked very nice...it was no doubt the highlight of my day since I've been totally stressing about finding appropriate business-casual attire. Okay, LUNCH! 

Top right was a Hot & Sour soup (even though we hate criticizing anything we taste, since we are no where near this level yet, Maggie and I found it was a tad salty), bottom left was a chilled Peanut Noodle Salad, and to the right was steamed White Rice & Bok Choy & Braised Pork Belly with Shiitake Mushrooms. It was all SOOOOO good, but of course there was room for us to share a chocolate chip cookie and piece of cake afterwards! And now, drum roll please...for the most nutritious and deeeelicious dinner of all time... a CIA delicacy that only the truly lucky get to enjoy:

I wasn't even mad, it will always be a guilty pleasure and tasty treat... this is college after all.

This morning, I got to sleep in a little bit (lol, 7:30) and skipped out on breakfast. But lunch was by far the most impressive yet. Not only was it sit down, and as formal as can be. But it was four scrum-diddly-umptious courses. I only have a picture of my main but, for an appetizer it was: a Romain Wedge salad with creamy Black-Peppercorn Dressing and a Crostini, we then moved on to a Senate Bean Soup topped with Bacon (they totally knew we were new because we kept giggling and calling it "Centipede" Soup), and then here is the main:

Seared Duck with Mixed Vegetables and a Wild Rice and Red Pepper Cake....the sauce was to die for and we all made the clean plate club.

Needless to say, I'm eating like a champion...but don't worry, last night we hit up Zumba and actually had a really good time. At first we looked, and felt, like complete fools but ended up getting a workout and plan on adding it to our weekly to-do's. Only one more day of this easy-going-yet-not-really-easy orientation schedule and then were thrown into the real craziness. I am scared, excited, anxious and a whole bunch of things all at the same time, but I honestly would not want to be anywhere else in the world.

Tell Everybody I'm On My Way

To whom it may concern: this blog will cover every twist and turn and little crevice on my CIA adventures. For those of y'all who don't know, I'm not in the Central Intelligence Agency I'm studying at the Culinary Institute of America--I think its way cooler. Chances are this first week will really be the only time I can sit down and write because from what I've heard, time to breath is rare (which is really scaring me a little bit, but hey I knew it was coming). So far, the only things I've really learned are:

• My socks have to be over my ankle and black or white (I own one pair that match that requirement).
• I can get denied food for not being dressed properly; this means either in chef whites or in business "casual"-- but it isn't very casual and is easily not proper enough.
• There is no such thing as an "excused" absence. 
• HYDE PARK IS FREAKING COLD.

And thats pretty much it. But really, I'm fine with it. I have never been more petrified to start classes in my life. Some people just seem so prepared and experienced, and I am feeling a little bit behind...or like I'll make a bit of a fool out of myself in my Fundamentals class. 

Now to the fun part!--the food :) Today, I had to be at breakfast at 6:45...which at that time I of course did not have an apetite. If I would have wanted anything other than fruit, I could have gotten Eggs Benedict, Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Pancakes or a Breakfast Burrito with Chorizo and Peppers. Or any type of omelet and a couple of other things I dont remember. Instead, after my first little group session I bought this:

This is a Savory Scone from the Apple Pie Bakery. It was chock full of pieces of bacon, chives and cheddar cheese; it was ridiculously delicious and I could have ate 50. After going to a couple more information sessions, my roommate and I aimlessly wandered around looking for the group of newcomers (I believe there is around 65 of us) until a student bribed us to come to their sit down buffet they were offering. It was given to us buffet style but everything else was extremely professional and restaurant-esque. The students filled our drinks, took away our dishes, and got us whatever else we needed. For lunch I had: 

Does that not look like the most perfect ideal meal, EVER??!! Lunch included a Mixed Green Salad with Walnuts, a cup of Clam Chowder, Beef Brisket with Carrots and Peas, Turkey with Gravy, Brussel Sprouts and Cauliflower, Stuffing with Chestnuts and Chorizo and fresh Cranberry Sauce. And then obviously dessert was a Vanilla Creme Brûlée topped with a Macaron. It was all so delicious, it was honestly hard to believe everything had been prepared by students. I'm not sure if this was a pre or post extern class, but from now on I am most definitely going to find out.  

My roommate and I (her name is Maggie, by the way) have decided to attend the 9:15 Zumba class tonight because this diet will be the death of our hawt bods if we don't! That seems to be all for now, but I'm sure I'll think of a ton more to write soon.

Stay tuned ;) !