not so Umami

Did you know that aside from bitter, salty, sweet, sour there is also another sense on your taste buds called Umami which just means overall savory.
Anyways, this blog is twofold, or bittersweet in terms of sensory glands.

This week I had one last final which I got a A on. The same class (Food Prep 1) lab part of the class I ended up getting an A as well. Now this is the class final lab that I thought I absolutely failed miserably. I ended up getting a B on that! A miracle, I know. He said the only problems with my products was that my biscuits were tough and my cheese rarebit was too thin. Oh and I got 50 points deducted for being late in turning in my product. I am so happy right now because I seriously thought I had failed.

*I never did tell the story about the final exam, did I? Well I had two hours to complete the following products:
-broccoli with cheese rarebit sauce
-biscuits
-chicken a la king
-baked custard
I was so elated not to have the godforsaken Orange Charlotte on my list, I can't even explain.
So I started cutting up all my vegetables and putting stuff in bowls so I could just dump them in when needbe. I ended up cooking my baked custard first and then it got to cool off in the fridge the rest of the time so that was no problem. Then I fabricated my chicken (woot woot) and started simmering it while I made my biscuits. I cooked my biscuits and took them out after about 15 minutes and so those were complete now too. I then made my rarebit sauce and let it sit on the double boiler as I worked on my chicken a la king now. Somehow the 30 minutes til service called turned into the "you have five minutes before I take what you have" call. Yeah-NOT a good sign. I threw everything together, not even measuring anymore since Chef was out of the room. I threw a few sprigs of herbs on for a garnish and presented my products. Seriously, I don't know why I have the inability to complete tasks in time! And it only seems to be for the important days like midterms and finals. Every other day I'm fine- but not on the most important ones. So needless to say, I thought I had failed because he said four people were okay and three were not. And I was the third to last person to turn my products in. WHEW! but I made it!

Then this week I've had two certification exams. One was for ServSafe (or Sanitation and Safety) and one was for ManageFirst (or Nutrition). Both were actually pretty decent so I think I find out in a week how I did.
Today I went in to school at 12:15 and just had to clean for an hour to get an easy 100 points for lecture and I am officially done with spring semester!!!!! I have finished my first semester of culinary school! And now I have 21 days until it all starts again.

So that's my good news.

On the other hand, my dad had some tests done last week because they found a suspicious spot. Today we found out that his cancer has returned. After battling it for the past year and then being cancer free for a few short months, it has returned...worse than before. He was in stage 3 last year and now it's in stage 4. My mom says its sovereign timing because she no longer has a job so now she can take care of him and take him to his chemo treatments once a week. What happened before was that he had cancer in his appendix and it burst. So technically he doesn't have an appendix to have cancer, but all the yummy juices of it are still floating around in what the doctors call like a balloon.
Last time he was taking chemo he ended up having bleeding in his brain and had to have a really serious brain surgery. So there are all these questions of if it will have the same negative effects it did last time or if they would have completed the chemos the first time around- would it have come back? I try not to think about it, but to just accept it. It's hard. Harder then I make it out to be at times.
So that's my update as of now. I know it wasn't public knowledge to all my friends before about my dad's situation, but this time I'm realizing it helps to have people know and not keep all these feelings to myself.

jen žít

The long awaited fabricating story

The four pictures you see above are the last ones ever from food prep 1 lab. Since I am about a month overdue in my blogging, I'm cramming them all into one blog. I apologize, but as my old boss always said "it is what it is". Oh, speaking of my old boss- I went to a new restaurant the other night with my friend and it turns out it's in the exact same place where I used to work (Kin Noodles Pasta Shoppe). It was weird at first, but it's a really fancy Thai place now and I hope they do well, unlike us.
So since I last posted we've been diving into the meat section of the course with full force. After the dry heat section (kabobs in my previous post), we moved onto moist heat, poultry, and seafood. In the moist heat lab I prepared the last picture (bottom right) of stuffed yams that I made a pecan streusel for and leg of lamb. This was my first time tasting lamb, let alone cooking it- so it was an interesting experience and I actually liked it. Oh and my yams were bomb!
The next section of lab was the start of poultry and in this lab I made chicken kiev (bottom left picture). Got to use the frier for the second time after breading up the stuffed chicken. It was really good! The next poultry section I made chicken a la king (top left picture). Boy! Talk about a lot of work. It took the whole time in lab to produce and honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of it. It just tasted like biscuits and gravy with chicken and pimentos in it. ALMOST FORGOT! This was the lab that I fabricated my first chicken! What is fabricating you may ask? Well you see- it's the not-so-gory way of saying cutting up a chicken. Had to hold the chicken under running water to rinse it off, picking off any pinfeathers. Then carry it over to your cutting board and hold it by the neck, cut down along the backbone on one side, then along the other. Throw that junk away. Then turn the chicken over and pull it open, cut along the breastbone in the middle and then pull out with your hand. Cut chicken in half. Then karate chop it into fourths. Use your finger to guide along the joints and cut into eighths. It was scary at first but now I'm a chicken fabricating pro!! lol.
The last section of lab was seafood. I was slightly disappointed to only have one day to work with seafood but oh well. I signed up for shrimp creole (top right picture) and it was pretty easy to make. That day once everyone was done I got to try the following for the first time ever : shrimp (sad, I know), tuna steaks, lobster tail, and cod I believe. It's funny because all the items I tried didn't really have the fishy flavor that I am always so scared of. What have I been running from?!
I think this will have to suffice for now. I am going to hold off on talking about my final lab disaster until I have my individual conference with Chef Easter tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

shoot. bang. dead.

Today was the day I intended to inform you of all (or most) of my happenings.

But NO.

Instead, I must race to get ready and eat before going into work. I guess it's "crazy busy" today and they need me in three hours early to help.
Shoot. This was supposed to be my studying for finals time. Now I won't have any time before I actually have my final. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot.

I'll leave you with a picture though. Of this crazy alien-looking house at the top of my street.

That went by fast

So I meant to do part 2 of the whole California trip the day after that first post....BUT that didn't happen (obviously). Really I don't have a good excuse as to why I haven't been blogging. I've had the last 2 week off work because they "haven't had hours" for me besides weekends. To anyone else this would be cherished, but me...I hate it. It makes me feel lazy. Sure my feet aren't in pain like usual and my legs don't feel like giving in at any second- BUT that's the sign of a good day for me. Work is my social outlet and I haven't had it for 2 weeks practically.
I HAVE been looking forward to one day the last few weeks and that's Wednesday. I have one class from 8-9:30 and then the rest of the day off work and school. So I always drive out to Altoona to get a treatment and then spend the rest of the day with my grandma. It's great. Not only to get away from homework, school, and work but also technology for the most part. Her computer is ancient and I usually turn my cell phone on silent so it's just the two of us (and oftentimes the tv). We take walks, nap, go out to eat, watch Wheel of Fortune, and lately have been cooking supper together. Two weeks ago was probably the best. We went grocery shopping that day and picked up a pork loin, asparagus, red potatoes, and apples. So so soooooo GOOD! I took a picture of it all on my plate before I devoured it.

The next picture is of the steak kabobs I made about a week ago in lab. I was a little wary about them since they were supposed to be to the raw stage inside but either way it was good. The last lab class (Thursday), I made bbq pork ribs and jackstraw eggplant and it was delicious. Everyone devoured it which is surprising because I was the last one to bring my product in and it was enough to feed a large family (if not small village). Everyone's a BIG fan of the meat section that we are in. Next week is poultry and then we have seafood and I think we're on to finals after that! Scary right!? You're telling me. I have to get ready to make any 4 combinations of the 18 things we've done!

Rewind<<<<<<<<

The picture on the top left is a piece of chocolate flourless cake that I decorated special for one of the employees at our store. The picture on the right is a cream puff that we made in class right before we left for spring break. They turned out perfect and were absolutely delicious! I'm definitely going to be making them again!
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In OTHER news, I just got back from 8 glorious days in Cali-forn-I-A! I've been planning this nonsensical trip since the fall actually. Started looking at driving back then too and have been having a hard time trying to convince my parents I was capable of doing it on my own. After asking....hm, at least 3 different friends (and being rejected each time due to various excuses), I was giving up on the idea altogether. I began looking into plane tickets seriously again the week before I was planning to leave (genius, right?). I almost bought a ticket on Sunday night, the week I was planning to leave. I held off, and asked one last friend, and she said she'd get back to me by the next day. Sure enough, the next day she texts me saying she can come!!! I start figuring out all the details, checking weather in the states we'll be going through, and am absolutely elated. Unfortunately there was also a bunch of stuff due for culinary school that week so I was having to focus most of my attention there and wasn't able to pack until the very day I left. About 2 hours before, to be exact. So then I shove a grilled cheese down my throat, throw my stuff in my car, and drive to my friends to pick her up. We get on the road around 4:30 and drive straight through (what can I say- I was excited to surprise my friends)! Drove through boring ol' Nebraska and then got into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the wee hours on the morning (not a great idea), drove through beautiful Utah during the sunrise, Vegas during lunch, and finally sunny California for the remainder of the trip. We arrive the next day (albeit after about 30 stops just for me to pee), at 3:30pm California time.....

Continued Chaos

Albeit the weather is better (no snow), March has really been kicking my butt.
Lots of injuries in the kitchen.
Lots and lots of driving (and reaching new speeds).
Lots of stress.
And very little time for much else.
Honestly, I don't even remember when it all began but I've had at least three really bad days in the last week. One was over the weekend at work where I had an emotional meltdown. I can't even remember what day it was but I just broke down. It was awful and I felt like going home, not talking to anybody, and going to bed. Oh and last Monday I slept through my first class. Great for my weary body but not great for my grade!
Then today....it started out pretty well actually. I went to school and went to my first class where we calibrated our thermometers and drank ice water (or at least I did). We learned about receiving shipments and using the different kind of thermometers out there. After class I realized that I forgot to bring the cheese I signed up for to class by 2:30. So I went home and had about two hours of downtime. I watched Heroes, did my mise en place, and study guide questions...then it was time to go. I started driving until I got on the interstate and realized I had forgotten to grab my cheese (yet AGAIN)! So I sped up trying to figure out what I should do. Passing a cop who had someone pulled over, I got to about 70 mph and decided to try to make it back home to grab my cheese. After I took the exit I realized it was a bad move and I didn't have enough time to go home AND make it to class on time. So then I started planning how to get back on track. Yeah, I ended up wasting about 10 minutes trying to get headed in the right direction and then everyone was going sooo slow (take in account I was also going WELL above the speed limit)! Oh and of course I got every single red light once I got to my exit. All the student parking was full so I parked in the forbidden faculty lot and literally sprinted to my lab. I got there and the door was locked so I knocked. A Chef standing out in the hall told me to go around so I did and right as I got to the door our instructor was shutting it so I squeezed in real quick. WHEW! Made it! Five minutes late, but I made it. She had me write down "late" on my paper so the Chef would know (we had a sub for the day). Anyways so today we made biscuits and muffins. I did my blueberry muffins first and they were real easy to make and then I stuck them in the oven. I've never made biscuits before but it was equally as easy. My muffins didn't set up quite right and I have two theories:
1. The substitute chef told me to grease and SUGAR the pan before putting in the muffin batter. This may have been okay (I've never tried it before) but I'm not sure I used enough, plus I think she sabotaged me.
2. The door of the oven was opened too much and the product didn't brown enough.
Anyways, it turns out that "according to her sheet", I overmixed my muffin batter and in return got the pale tops and "soggy bottoms". They tasted good at least and she only took off 5 points out of 35.
My biscuits were perfect, though I critiqued them more than she did (haha) and I got 35/35.
BUT as I was cleaning up and messing with my muffins in the oven to see if they'd cook more, I got burnt (again). I swear, all the scars I will acquire in the program will be permanent reminders. We got done in lab around 2 and then I had to speed home, grab my cheese, and then speed back. I technically got there 2 mintues past the deadline but Chef wasn't there so hopefully he won't know. haha so that is the stress of my life right now!

Since the biscuits and muffin are pretty standard looking I do have a picture from last Thursday's lab where I made Rice with Chicken. It includes a converted rice that is browned in the pan, diced tomatoes, green peppers, and some spices.

March Madness

March has not been treating me well, to say the least.
Monday I woke two hours late and missed my first class of the day. As I was racing my way to my second class I spilled pomegranate juice on my white chef's jacket and so I had to turn around immediately in order to treat it and change. Then at work that night I burnt two of my fingers pretty badly when I had to retrieve a ladle out of the soup for a customer. Later as I ate some of the soup, I burnt my tongue (more so than usual).
Then yesterday in lab when we were preparing our rice and pasta dishes, I reached into the sink to start rinsing the pots and I burnt my finger like none other. Seriously, ridiculous pain and it wrinkled the skin on my finger and blistered.

In other GOOD news, I'm getting an A in both my lab and lecture class for Food Prep I. Registration for summer school starts next week. Four 8-hr classes sounds fun, right? I've never been in school during the summer so it is going to be quite interesting to say the least. But it's required so what can you do- ya know?

Here is a picture of one of my projects at work this last weekend. We had a sponge cake that had been sitting in the freezer since the summer so instead of throwing it away I made a two-layer tres leches cake and divided it into just enough pieces for everyone on staff to enjoy.