School's in!

Yesterday was the official start of school. I don't have to be on campus until Wed, but my online classes opened yesterday. I have a real love/hate relationship with the first few days of the semester. I love getting the new school supplies and getting organized but I hate the cluster fuck that comes with setting priorities, and getting a feel for what can be last minute and what can't wait. Some classes are very casual and require only common sense, while others demand attention ASAP. I actually have already turned in 4 assignments, primarily start up stuff. I am as ready as possible for tomorrow on campus, having packed my knives, and cleaned my uniforms after 6 months of non use. I had to drop all in person classes last Jan after a car accident.I will be taking Quantity this semester which basically translates to working in the school's restaurant until December. I am excited about the pace, and the menu, according to the syllabus, looks great. We will be briefed this week on Fall's menu selections, and I will share it with you as soon as I can. I will also be keeping everyone up to date on what we learn in my classes and post recipes with technique notes and observations as they are discussed at school. Now I feel like I am getting closer to the mission of my blog...an outlet for school and life from an older student's perspective. Beware! Until I catch my groove and less serious students are weeded out due to natural selection, there will likely be lots of ranting. However as a crumb, I offer this... Public speaking online. Yeah, I found it humorous and sort of an oxymoron, too. That is until I signed up for my in person presentation. Now it makes a little more sense.
Okay, y'all..... it's go time!

First solo gig

I am very excited today. Tomorrow I have my first solo gig. I have always been focused on being a caterer, for that is why I chose to go to school. I am only halfway through my formal culinary education so I made the choice a long time ago to NOT tell people I am going into catering so I could learn the business through experience and classroom time. Of course those close to me, my cheerleaders, have all known my ultimate goal and subsequently requested a favorite dish from me from time to time. That has been a great practice ground, and I have honed techniques and strategies during these "dry runs." Now I have entered a new dimension. I got a call last week from my stepmother asking if I would like to try my hand at the "real thing" that is, cooking for people I don't know, and attaching my name to said efforts. Assured that this would be easy and really nothing I haven't done before, she made a simple request and I said yes. So now, I am really looking forward to making a favorite southern treat. The ubiquitous ham biscuit. Actually I am looking forward to making a hundred of those bad boys. Easy? Yes. Probably a little boring and redundant? Yes. But I cannot wait! They are due tomorrow for consumption on Wed. morning. I will be making them tomorrow so they will be ultra fresh when I deliver them. I am excited for the opportunity to make a little money for myself doing something I love. It's like my own Olympics. I have been training and dreaming about the day I finally started making money for myself not someone else. Cocky? No. Nervous? Yes. But I am sure the staff will enjoy my offerings, and hopefully call me for more. I still am not looking to go full fledged yet, as catering management is actually a class I start next week. I do hope though that I will field a random call here and there for an order. I feel like I can do this if it is only word of mouth, as the big caterers will always be a first option for most of these folks. Plan B is exactly what I want to be right now. I accept that really this should be my current station in life. I am not yet ready to run with the "big dogs" I know this. A hundred ham biscuits is not exactly a foray into the wide world of catering but a good start. I will finally get feedback from strangers, not afraid of hurting my feelings. I am thrilled! I have made my shopping list, and found cute boxes at the paper store, and am ready for the challenge. I have printed an invoice as required by stepmother's employers. (yeah, I felt like I was "playing office" when I designed and printed it, just like a little girl!) and competitively priced my product. I will take pictures and post them tomorrow. If the oven craps out, we'll have a rant, otherwise this happy chef in training will be back tomorrow.

Save me from myself

I was just checking out Bob DelGrosso's Hunger Artist blog (check it out under my links) and he has posted something that has set me off. No, I am not mad at Bob in the least. His news is unsettling to me. Hasbro has recalled Easy Bake ovens due to the fact that they could burn someone. Duh? Doesn't the word oven imply heat? Doesn't the word bake imply the use of heat? Good God! What is next? No pool because of the risk if drowning? If "they" (whoever 'they' are) ruled my world, according to "them" I should be dead.


In today's world, so many things are hazardous we really need to stay inside and watch tv and eat well done food stuffs.Seriously. Let's take a look at the risky behaviors I have risked my life with just recently. Big Brother forgive me, for I have sinned. I used the oven. I now know I can be burned so next time, I will eat the cookie dough raw. Oh, I can't do that either. Noone has ever eaten raw cookie dough and lived to tell about it. Hmmm, maybe I will eat a healthy spinach salad and oh wait, some cow crap made people sick and now folks not affected by the scare are not trusted to purchase and wash the greens and consume. I will just drink some water and ponder this. Damn! the water is from a tap and I live in an old city. Lead abounds. The fact I grew up visiting my grandmother's 1820's era home and drank water, tea whatever means I should have never seen 5th grade. Maybe I should just go on a bike ride. Shoot! I don't have a helmet and after surviving all these years without one, I must wear one because it sets a good example for children. I'd hate to be the poor example that utimately caused little Timmy a scraped chin because he copied me. screw the bike. How bout a jaunt to the beach? Maybe I'll go to my regular place. Oh yeah, it is overrun by tourists who really believe my tax dollars need to pay for lifeguards on every block so they get out of actually being responsible for their own kids. Isn't that why I pay for county parks manned by lifeguards? I guess I will just read on my couch. Damn! I can't concentrate because I am so upset over the number of trees sacrificed to publish this tome. I guess I could watch the news. Oh! which news to watch? Every group has named a different channel "the man" and I don't want to offend anyone or spend money on causes I would never entertain. I begin to think about dinner. (At least that's easy, but if I lived somewhere with more socially active residents, my choices would be limited because harassing people is okay as long as you don't eat foie gras and I hate confrontation.) Wait, not so easy. I visit my favorite hamburger joint (joint, not chain!) and am informed that due to a state law, my meat must be overcooked. (even though the law was actually repealed, the cooks don't want to learn how to cook a variety of temps even if I am the only table) On the way home I remember I need to feed the cat. The declawed cat. Oh yes! My true ticket to hell, even though I have no idea who had this done, and adopted him from my sister who had rescued him from the SPCA. Not our fault but I suppose it would have been easier to have him put to sleep than take him in, love him like only a childless mother could, and put up with the judgements attached to something my sister and I had nothing to do with. Yes, America, I should be on the most wanted list.

Writing this rant, I am trying to figure out when "they" took over. Why isn't it a world where the philosophy of Wings rings true. Live and Let Die. Quit telling me all the reasons what I do is killing me. Mind your own damn business. "They" have never had raw cookie dough, ridden a bike with no helmet, or known the sweet sweet pleasure of a juicy burger! "They" know so much better than me, what's good for me. Wait, actually, "they" don't. Have you ever seen a list of "Do's?" Me, neither. Everytime they look out for me, the edict starts with "Do Not" Maybe it is that the public is more likely to react to negative commands. Hmmm, are we really that stupid that well into adulthood, we need someone to tell us all the don'ts? I think not.

I am the anti"them" I say eat raw cookie dough before putting it into your preheated oven. Drink tap water, hell get crazy and drink it from the spigot outside. Ride without a helmet, and laugh when you fall! Eat whatever you like because it tastes good. Spend your family vacation with your kids, not pawning them off on lifeguards.Rescue an animal from an allergic kid's mom without knowing his history. And spend more time loving him than debating the choice of his previous master. I challenge you to do what you like to do. Sure, be responsible, but quit listening to them. In fact, I should tell you don't listen to me, either. Listen to yourself. Do what YOU like to do. Eat what you like to eat. In the end, are the foie fascists going to attend your funeral after you fall off your bike on the way to the place that makes the best medium burgers in town? If so, will they throw paint on the fur coat your grandmother bought in 1945? Will they drink the iced tea made with tap water at the home that has been in your family for generations? Will they understand the cat has not always been yours? Probably not. And that's the way I want it.

Something to look forward to

Now that my financial aid has been approved, I can get excited about my fall classes. I registered a couple weeks ago, but until the deal is sealed, I try not to get too excited. I cannot wait for school to start. This semester is different. I have a new profound appreciation for the physical act of attending classes. Last semester I could not physically attend school. I was involved in an extremely bad car wreck in January, about 3 weeks into Spring semester. It was a very stupid crash, and I won't bore you with the details, but after coming home from a week's hospital stay and titanium in my face as a souvenir, I had to make choices about school. Percocet does not make me decisive but I still knew what I had to do. Obviously facial inuries have lots of fallout... including drooling which is highly frowned upon at school. I had to drop my 2 lab classes from the giddy up. I had already missed several deadlines (by this time) but after speaking to my extremely understanding profs, I stayed in my online courses. I was able to tweak my nutrition class and do all work online as well. Oddly enough, we had a presentation to do in that class but I was one of the last to get the signup sheet so I was forced (luckily) to do mine during the last class before the wreck. Lucky me! Last semester my entire learning experience was hands on keyboard, not hands on ingredients, which is what I like. I'll stop here and say that I try to balance my schedule with some lab, and some textbook classes so I can do a little of everything. I also have the luxury of classes passed in my previous college experience; these classes also allow for more play in my schedule. Getting back on track, I am very satisfied with Fall semester's lineup.

I will have 2 long lab days for 5 credit hour Quantity class that will sandwich a 3 hour management class. Then I will take the required psych, interpersonal communications, and hos marketing online. I wish I could take marketing in person, but the timing was off. I also was unable to line up another lab class this semester. Alot of my scheduling has to do with a certain chef instructor I had and really identified with. This person's style of teaching really jibed with my learning style, and I wanted to have that repoire if convenient. I don't even think I will be his student past this semester as he doesn't seem to teach many other topics. Anyhow I got him for my 2 on campus classes, and feel fortunate to already know the general expectations. The guy is no pushover, I found/find him very intimidating yet very fair. The fact thet he encourages his students based on their level of dediaction, interest, and participation thrills me. I hate being in classes where the slow/inept/disinterested get the most attention. I am there to work, I want to spend every second learning or trying something. If I am waiting for chef, I often eavesdrop incase he tells you something I don't know. But if you are asking him how to zero out the scales on the 10th class meeting, I will avoid partnering up with you like the plague. I had a partner last fall who was afraid of cleaning fish, and on the day we had to simply 6 way a chicken, she gave her chicken a name and made several sympathetic comments to the extremely dead "henry" the chicken. Needless to say it would seem like a problem. No, my chef began assigning my the more technical aspects of the preparation and addressing me on the progress of our assisnments. He was able to keep me engaged and challenged while occupying the girl who was required to take the class. That is fair. I also think we both walked away from that class with an equal trade for what we put into it. In other words, it was not all lost on her, but I probably learned more because I wanted to. This will bode well for me. The other plus of course is the familiarity factor since I probably will not know anyone else in the room. The people I started with most likely passed these classes during the spring and have moved on.
Being twice some students age can be intimidating, I know I am not very "cool." I have the same insecurities we all do when joining a new group of people, will they like me? what if they are all a million times better than me? what if ? what if? Yeah it is all childish, but we all do it to some extent. It's how you deal with it. I usually just try to get along with everybody, and do my best work without complaint. It seems to work, and I count "henry the chicken" girl, and a few other 20 year olds as new friends. It is really only when chef asks pop culture questions that I seem to show much age. For example, once he asked for names of famous or influential chefs. The mainly 20something student body replied by pretty much naming the food network's lineup. When he pointed to me, I replied with Trotter, Child, and Pepin. Hmmm, lots of ground covered between Paula and Pepin. Yes my answers came from the heart, not from what the tv told me to say. But really other than that, the real business of school is learning and that's what most of the people are there to do. And I can't wait to get started learning again!

Entry level

I started my new job last week. I am cooking at a catering company.I worked on 5 projects in as many days. Lots of repetive drivel.I scooped out red potatoes, played with phyllo, and resisted all urges to make any of the dishes "my own" I worked Sat night outside in the hot, humid Carolina air. I smelled like goat and was sweaty and filthy with crab - garbage juice . I had no energy for anything after the function ended. I f'ing loved it!!! It was the first time in a while I felt like I actually was doing something productive. I think alot of new grads would have hated it. I made close to 4 digits an hour (both sides of decimal point) I was required to contribute to a team led by someone with less education and about the same amt of experience as me. I had to perform boring, repetitive tasks any monkey could do. I had to keep up with what I put in the oven. I had to focus and was going to be very nicely held accountable for my actions. I already told you this is not a get rich quick sheme, right? I expected worse.
My rant is ready to be served.
It seems that recently I am hearing more and more about new grads who are extremely disillusioned about where a chef's career really begins. For some reason entry level is not where they are supposed to enter. Why? I am not sure. When I returned to school, I was there to get an education, not a damn thing made me believe I was ever going to start in any better a role most great chef start in...that of dish dawg. (insert affection here...love you guys!) A diploma does not ensure a track record...got it? Are you loyal to your employer? Do you show up on time ready to roll in any weather? Cool start, now can you peel vegetables? Great and no complaint so now let's move on. Here is another responsibility for you and another test and on and on. See how easy that was. Yeah, another aspect of your new career, it actually takes work. At the end of the night no rank is excused from helping clean up. Every place I have orked, chef and dish washer had whatever equipment was at hand actually using it for a common goal...going home. Yeah..that thing about teamwork. You will be working with folks who did not have the benefit of an education like yours. Guess what, after 8 years, Mr/Miss Less-educated is the sous chef. She is reliable, humble, eager to learn, has an endless supply of elbow grease, volunteers to stay late, and can kick your ass in a skills contest anyday. Sous C. is who you should emulate. This person has worked their way up and can show you how they did it. Calm down...Of course one day you want to be Exec, correct. But for God's sake, you don't honestly believe your diploma gives you the right to even circle one of help wanted ads looking for an executive chef? Oh, I see! You are here cooking until your agent gets the final offer from Food tv.You don't need to invest any part of yourself in your job because its just a job until soething better comes along. Yeah, I didn't go to culinary school to be famous, I actually went there to learn how to cook. I guess Julia Child and Jacques Pepin just trotted in and got to show our moms how to cook in their own homes. Yeah, neither really had experience, or much practical knowledge just degrees.
Fools! Please quit your endless whine fest. I am disappointed that you are disappointed. What other 2 or 4 year course of study guarantees a top post? None that I have heard of. Think of your time doing the work you think is beneath you as a sort of grad school. You are honing your skills. You are finding out the best way to work with all sorts of people kind of like a masters in human resources. You suggest a way to cut costs to your chef. Sounds a little like accounting. Your constant repetition of cuts has you that much closer to surgical precision. You get the idea. Everyone has to start somewhere. You just don't start at the top!!! Please quit crying about doing what people have always done. Work your way up! Earned successes are the reality. This is not an industry where you can fake it. Take time to listen and learn. I love my job. When I leave I will know that place inside and out. Why? Because that's what I am there to do. Work. It is a job. Go out there and prove yourself. Earn accolades, don't demand them. No role in the kitchen is below the greats that inspire us. They all did it too. What makes you so damn special?

Just my rant on the starry eyed work-phobic babies that went to school for all the wrong reasons and then bawl that the brochure lied.The only lying going on here is between you and yourself. Do your homework before you sign the check. Entry level is where you end up with your fancy diploma. If you can't stomach that, I don't trust your fish.