Haven't been in the kitchen for a while...

Flavors of the World class ended well, and I think most of us had a great time. We still occasionally visit Chef Watson, especially now that we're once again in a class where we're not in the kitchen. Right after Flavors we had a nutrition class, which was lots of fun, at least for me, but it was all lectures, so we didn't get any food at all. I thought that was rather ironic, considering that Mr. Monti was always saying breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and considering that classes started at 6:30 a.m. (Well, OK, it is...) For that class we had to do a menu project that had to conform to certain nutritional criteria. We also learned about the macro and micro nutrients. I am considering pursuing a degree in nutrition later on, or at least getting some sort of certification. Where the money is going to come from, however, I do not know. I should probably pay off most of the loan for cooking school first.
I was really pleased to see that we have this class in the curriculum, because I think chefs should know about such things. It would be nice to have another more advanced class later on, but I don't think we do.
While we were talking about fats in nutrition class, Chef Dean, the one who heads the ice-carving club, had a heart attack. It's good to know that he's back and in decent health again, but the timing was eerie. He's eating much better foods for him now, a lesson we should all keep in mind.
We got back into cooking with butchershop and charcuterie. Charcuterie is the art of making sausages, pates and so on. It developed through the need for utilizing left overs. We had interesting stuff to eat in the class, and I definitely cut up more chicken than I ever wanted to. but it was a good learning experience. I am most likely not going to be butchering my own meat, but knowing where the different cuts come from certainly will help in the preparation of the meal. (Still don't want to take apart the hind quarter of a cow, however!)
My class had the privilege of being Chef Spina's very last class before his retirement. Me, being the photo hound, (or shutterbug) got a group picture of the class. It's a special one. I can't say that was my favourite class, but I did have a good time. A unique experience indeed. I made a venison terrine towards the end that I brought to some friends, and it was very gratifying to hear her describe it as "a party in your mouth". I discovered that sausage making can be fun, and it's good to be able to control what you want to put in your sausage. The process isn't that hard. Just remember to keep the equipment cold. Oh, yeah, cold was the operative word for that Butchershop. After 6 cases of chicken, my fingers felt frozen. Nathan, Nicki and I were a team, and we definitely have Henry Ford to thank for. Butchershop is responsible for cutting up the meat required by other classes. We would have had a much harder time with the chicken if it weren't for the assembly line. I need to take apart more chickens for the practise. Somehow, I just have trouble cracking the backbone.
On the other hand, I did a good job fileting the sole, I thought. My yield on the salmon wasn't very good, but considering that thing was a 14 pound monster... (Hadn't crossed my mind that salmon were that huge.)
I'm so jealous that Chef Kruse can eat whatever he wants and remain thin. Not fair!
Somewhere along the way in the last month I also discovered Honeycrisp apples. Yum! This is the part I really like about being back in the Northwest. We have some really good food here. I love the trend I see in the Portland area. I also learned during one of my assignments for English class that the street I live on is known for restaurants.
Right now we're two weeks into kitchen math and computer class. Who would have thought that it would take culinary school for me to learn Powerpoint? The math really isn't too bad if one concentrates, but I must say that if we'd just use the metric system, a lot of our problems would be solved. Oh, well. Our project in this class is to do a presentation on a country, or a region of a country, and design a menu around it. My happens to be Burgundy, France. Smart choice, in the sense that I've always wanted an excuse to study more about France. I had no idea that Burgundy was so interesting. What a bonus. My menu has snails as appetizers. Oh excusez moi, escargots. I did not know that there were over 100 variety of edible snails, and that the wild Burgundian ones were the most prized. I suppose it shouldn't have surprised me that one could buy snails in cans over the internet. I was mildly surprised that Sysco had them available. Did not know that escargot were popular enough in the US to come in cases. I have never had one myself, and don't know if I ever will.
We have a field trip on Monday.