Ordering and Sanitation

We've finally gotten into our first real complete day of lectures. We had a couple of breaks, as usual, and went through a couple of chapters in the safety book, and also watched a couple of videos. Well, at least I like washing my hands before and after cooking. But I'll have to remember not to order wheels of cheese before asking about the size of the wheel...
KING KONG!
Had to read two chapters in the cooking book today - menus and mise en place. We're getting closer to the kitchen everyday... We're going to do duck!

Of sanitation and introductions.

Maybe I should have taken notes today when everyone introduced himself/herself. Spent half the class today doing that, but it doesn't mean that I'm very good at attaching faces to names. On the other hand, we did learn that several people in the class do not like raw tomatoes. (What's gotten into them??? :-)) And our new thing is that we don't say we hate/dislike certain foods. We merely 'find them challenging'. There was another person who didn't like vinegar and lemon. Oops. Fortunately in my case, the only thing I can really say that I don't care for is coconuts. I wasn't about to say why though.
The cooking world appears to be rather small too. But then again, who would not have heard of a chef who has his own show, right? Anyhow, I've been on the fan site for Alton Brown, and through that I wrote a bit to someone who went to the Blue Ginger, a restaurant run by Ming Tsai, another one of my favourite chefs. Since I have to do an externship to graduate, I'd really love to work there. This afternoon I talked to a graduate of WCI who says BG might be on the list. If that's the case, yay! Will have to check that out. That would be so sweet. Incidentally, a college pal that I talked to last night also dined there. And she got a book with his autograph. Wimper, wimper! Talk about being jealous.
I'll take it as a good thing that the first thing we're covering is sanitation. Mainly talked about the danger zone today. It's funny what that term might mean to different people... (Not funny ha ha, funny odd.) It had not occured to me to think about how some of the stuff culinarians do actually violate the health recommendations for safety. But I don't think I'd want to give up sushi, for example!
I also collected a few phone numbers today so that we could do a study group later on. Went to the library for the first time too, and did my homework there. Bumped into someone there in the pastry program that I'd met while getting uniforms. Got her number too. (Free pastries??? :-))
Oh, and I forgot to mention yesterday that there was an Elisa (sp?) who came to have a birthday dance with Chef Ron. Too bad my birthday won't be in this 6 weeks.

Day one

First day of classes. I thought I was going to be early, and I was, in the sense that I was there before classes started. However, most of the rest of the class was there already. Yikes. Had to sit in the back to start with, but during the break I was able to move to the front of the room, where I could see better.
We actually didn't talk much about cooking today. Various people came to meet with us, and almost all of them stressed how important it was for us to be in class. At $190 or so a day, you bet! Got some textbooks, and also our shoes. We're told they are totally non-skid. Good. There's already homework to be done. The book is HEAVY! Also have to bring lock tomorrow.
On a really cool note, there'll be a picnic on Saturday, which our class will set up. We'll stay after class on Friday to prep.
Later on in the day I went back to the main campus and handed in some paperwork. Chef Bennett, the VP, remembered my name... Wow.
Also picked up some note paper and folders at Office Depot. (I feel like a kid on the first day of school again. :-))

Countdown!

On Monday, I'm going to start as a student at WCI (Western Culinary Institute) in Portland, Oregon What a trip!
It was almost on a whim that I stopped by its office 3 weeks ago or so, and I had no idea that things would happen so fast. I'd been interested in cooking for a long time, and have tossed around the idea of cooking school for a number of years. and I'm finally about to start. In my case, the whole process of getting enrolled has been great. The people took me through the process of filing the loan papers and housing gave me some leads on places to live in Portland. About a week and half or so after that I went for my uniform fitting, and had a great dinner at the student run restaurant. The pants we'll have to wear are chekered black and white - the better to hide stains with.
I also asked and was allowed to sit in on a class one day. Everyone says I'm going to love the chefs that teach my class, and I can see why. Chef Costa is a riot. I wasn't able to cook in the kitchen with them, since I didn't have a uniform yet, but I was able to observe and chat with some students. I can see that I'm going to have to put in a lot of work on my knife skills. Here's to hoping that I get out of school with all my digits intact. :-) I'm told that the tourne cut will probably be the bane of my existence. OK- not exactly in those words, but just watching them do it ... I actually saw the students take their rulers and measure the size of the cubes. On their exams they won't be able to use the rulers. How in the world am I going to be able to estimate an eigth of an inch! Yup - practice, practice, practice.
I got to try the food they cooked that day. Clam chowder, veal, prime rib, and grilled shrimp, among other things. Yum! If I don't watch it, I'm going to gain so much weight in school! Time to join a gym!
Then when I went for orientation last Saturday, we had lunch afterwards. OOOOh, yummy truffle for dessert.
By my count, I haven't even started school yet, and I've already eaten there 3 times. Yikes!
Tuition is awfully expensive, but I guess at least I'll save on my grocery bills, huh. They go through $8000 worth of groceries a DAY! Wow. No wonder tuition is expensive. Chef Wilke mentioned that numerous times at orientation. At least he has a sense of humor about it. (Glad somebody does......) Will have to do my best to get as much out of that place as they can teach me!