Week 2: Feeling the pressure and loving it!

Ok, first things first, I cut myself again!!! This time in was the palm of my hand, I was taking out the core of a tomato with a paring knife, and I guessed I pushed too hard and out came the knife through the other side right into my hand, of course there was lots of blood, but I pulled through, washed it, put on a few Band-Aids and a latex glove and moved on.

Saturday started a bit stressful, my Mom had come to visit so I ended up going to bed late. I had a written test that day and had to name 20 herbs. The test went ok, the herbs I knew perfectly. However I started to realize that I was falling really behind on the reading and the workbook. Then it was chop, chop, chop, chop, ouch my hand! chop. Again no food, but to be honest I was getting used to it – or the pain on my hand had me distracted- take your pick. I was so concentrated on my chopping that time flew by. One hour before the class ended, the chef says:  “ok gather around it’s time to take you through the types of cheese and to try them”. I was so hungry that that I was very happy with that plan. Little did I know, imagine nothing in your stomach and going from simple Ricotta to Stilton (Strong like blue cheese). I kept thinking the whole time I should steal the squeeze bottle with red wine, drink it and call it a day, but after cheese #18 my stomach started to protest….and although they were delicious I was done with cheese for the next week. We also did tomato water (yellow water that tastes just like tomatoes, great for sauces and risottos) and put chilies and tomatoes in the oven to dry overnight so we could turn them into powder the next day.

Although it was a good day I had cut my hand, got reprimanded for putting electrical tape to mark my knives (thanks G!),  found out at the end of the class that a paper on spices was due the next day  and had to peel and medium dice 5 potatoes and peel 10 heads of garlic for homework. So I got home saw my Mom and started crying (like a baby!) I was so so tired, I had no idea how I was going to do the homework, my hand hurt like hell, I had to chop and peel aaaaaaahhhhhhh! But a good cry and wine fixes everything! So I breathed, my mom helped me and I was done – well sort of to be honest I didn’t peel all the garlics, just half.-

Sunday was great, we did stocks: vegetable, mushroom and parmesan (we had chopped a ton of vegetables on Saturday), we did mayonnaise, classic vinaigrette and mashed potatoes (I will be tested on that later), we did 3 different kinds of oils, and blanched broccolis and green beans. We also took the chilies and tomatoes out of the oven and made powder – delicious. We made an onion compote and tomato relish.  I loved every second of it! I didn’t cut myself, and enjoyed finally getting to cook something. I took tons of food home (everything we cook we can take if we want) and felt great, I wasn’t tired I was energized. I can’t wait for next Saturday.

Week 1: Sweat, blood and tears

I survived my first week. Here is how it went down. I arrived bright and early on Saturday, with my super heavy kit, my uniform in my bag, notebook and pen. Registration was fast and easy, they took my picture for my ID (at 8 am!-not good) and was given my tote bag with my books. People: if I thought the kit was heavy the book bag surpassed it 10 times! I honestly could barely carry it to class. I was assigned a locker, I got changed into my chef whites – of course I had to ask another girl how to tie my apron – but embarrassment aside, I looked good. I checked myself one last time in the mirror, and couldn’t believe I was actually dressed like a real chef – I smiled, wiped my teary eyes and was ready to go.

We gathered in what would be our kitchen for the next 9 months. There we were 8 of us, ages ranging from 50 to 18, scared and excited. They took us through orientation and gave us a short tour of the school (I spotted one of the guys who had been on Top Chef). The only thing that was drilled into our heads during orientation was: DO NOT MISS CLASS…EVER! I swear the woman repeated it like 20 times.

The big moment arrived: we got our knives. They are beautiful, shinny and sharp as hell! Again, another bag to carry.

I had one concern from the night before, according to the welcome sheet we had to plan for our own lunch but: you could not leave the building; there was no fridge or microwave available. What??? So I packed a banana and some nuts… I had to ask the question during orientation: “when do we have lunch?” – Judge away! Yes! I am a pig, I’m obsessed with food- answer: “there is no break, weekend program is the most intense of all, although the good thing about cooking school is that you will be tasting food all the time, so it’s ok”- needless to say we didn’t taste anything during the 8 hours of class.

The next few hours we discussed sanitation – written exam next week- we identified fresh herbs – I got 9 of 10 right yes!- and started practicing our knife skills. Chop a potato medium dice, slice an onion, mince an onion, chop an onion, I think between mince and chop I cut my finger. Of course that was going to happen, it wasn’t too bad and I laughed the whole time ( I attribute it to starvation) I got it washed, and got one of those finger condoms I ‘ve seen in Chopped ( so cool!) I kept bleeding for a while but it was ok. After that, Chef asked us to grate parmesan cheese – you had to be kidding me- I almost ate the raw potato, now I had a big pile of fresh grated parmeggiano reggiano, I wanted to drown my self in it and die.  The first day came to an end, I was exhausted, excited, and so so happy. Then I realized I had to carry all the bags home, thank God a girl told me to leave my kit in the locker, she totally agreed that our ovaries would fall from carrying all that weight – at least that was my grandma says.

I came home full of adrenaline, and excitement, I couldn’t wait to see my books, see Penny, and talk to my friends …and do my homework. Yes homework: medium dice 2 potatoes, and bring them the next day. I sharpened my chef knife( I learned that – I look totally bad ass!)  and started dicing my potatoes, and couldn’t get the size right, so the majority of the potato ended up in the sink, but I did it, and guess what? I cut myself again!!! My personal goal is to loose only 2 fingers so we are right on track.

Day 2 started with a discussion with the career counselor, and it was intense. Externships, trailing, (I think that means you just show up in a restaurant, show your skills and work that day for free) resumes, job placement, volunteering, networking, this was no joke. More to come on that, I’m sure.

Then the dicing, and chopping started again, and again, then we blanched, peeled and chopped again. It was awesome! I got to eat some haricort verts we blanched -guess that was lunch.

So that’s it, no cutting my self this time, getting more comfortable with the knife and super super tired and super super happy…I can’ wait for next Saturday – allez cuisine!

 

Going to cooking school….feels like going to Hogwarts.

An owl brought me my letter. I’m going to cooking school! Ok, no. I decided after 5 long years to actually do it and stop talking about it. Like “magic” the stars aligned (basically money and time) and I will be starting the weekend program for 8 months and receiving a diploma on Culinary Arts.

I spoke to the admissions office, which had been waiting for me literally for 5 years, and got all my paperwork done, they gave me a folder with 3 receipts: one for my uniforms, another for my cooking kit and a final one for books and knives.  I did feel like going to camp for the first time, it makes me super excited to get all this new stuff that I have no clue how to use it.

So first things first I had to go pick up my cooking kit, which had at least 25 items, I recognized a few but half way through it I had no idea what the instruments were. Got to the store and gave the man the receipt, he said “wait here” and came back with a big bag and started counting and naming all the things so I could cross them off the list. Once he was done he passed the bag and wished me good luck.

My god was the bag heavy!!!!! but I had decided to go get the uniforms too. I swear I left my shoulder somewhere on my way to the store, proceeded to give my receipt and wait (secretly wishing no crocs please, no crocs please, no crocs please – the list was not specific it only said shoes). The shoes, they were not crocs, they were worse! They looked like they belonged to Frankenstein, but the lady from the store said: “believe me you will love them after being on your feet 7 straight hours”, that shut me up immediately, 7 hours!  Then they brought me the pants, innocent me asked for small, couldn’t get them up, medium where too big, so medium it was with the plan of having them tailored. Finally the jackets, the moment I was waiting for, my first chef’s jacket with my name on it…..and…..they did it wrong…nooooooooooooooooooooo! Yes. My name was not spelled correctly so I had to come back next week.

Went to pick them exactly one week after (I really wanted to have everything ready ahead of time), the lady at the store passed me the bag and offered me a chair so I could check each one (I get 3!). She suddenly said: “Chef Anabella” and I said “hopefully” she replied: “Hopefully? Not hopefully, you will do it, and you will be great! You can do whatever you want and you will succeed! So good luck!” I felt so touched, really inspired and excited, that sweet lady had made my day – she believed.

Everything is ready for this upcoming Saturday, I am ready to go and do it, so come with me and check my posts every week, I am looking forward to your comments and advice! I will be practicing with my knives the swish and flick!