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!