First Day of School
Wow! The first day was such a whirlwind of information, learning new techniques, meeting new people, and eating! We started this morning at 8:45 a.m. in our seats with our chef's uniform on and our ears ready to hear from our teachers. We had 2 three inch thick binders in front of us, 2 bar towels, a water class, water carafes nearby, and a big black briefcase-looking thing. We learned quickly that the big black case was our new set of knives and other kitchen tools that we would need along our journey. Yeah!
We met our Executive Chef and Teaching Chefs as well as some administrative personnel and of course, our fellow classmates. They loaded us up with what to do and what not to do while in the kitchen and in class. Finally, around 11:00 we took a picture for our class ID and then got to work on honing our knife skills. Our teacher instructed us to set up our spot for chopping, dicing, and mincing and then proceeded to show us the proper way to hold a knife and use a knife. Some terms I learned today in the realm of how things are prepared, veggies and such, are: Julienne, mire poix, chiffonade, e mince, concasse, and brunoise. All of these terms are specific to how fruits and veggies are prepared. Wow! And it will all be on our quiz this Friday!
For the next three weeks I am a part of the garde manger, a group of 6 who work the kitchen. The other groups are the hot line and the pastry kitchen. I am still a little fuzzy on what my role is in the garde manger, but I bet I will learn fast!
Check out what we had for lunch today: Prosecco (an Italian sparkling white wine), onion, leak, and persillade soup with creamy goat cheese in the middle, and then the main course was a slice of egg and bacon quiche with a side of spicy arugula salad drenched in vinaigrette, for dessert we had a gianduia or chocolate and hazelnut mousse. :) Who has sparkling white wine with their three course lunch? ME!
To say the least, today was a GREAT first day! I had a smile plastered to my face nearly half the time and couldn't stop myself from using the word, "fun" every time I thought something was. One of my classmates declared that I had a low threshold for fun! A great compliment I think!
Tomorrow starts bright and early, once again, and I cannot wait!
We met our Executive Chef and Teaching Chefs as well as some administrative personnel and of course, our fellow classmates. They loaded us up with what to do and what not to do while in the kitchen and in class. Finally, around 11:00 we took a picture for our class ID and then got to work on honing our knife skills. Our teacher instructed us to set up our spot for chopping, dicing, and mincing and then proceeded to show us the proper way to hold a knife and use a knife. Some terms I learned today in the realm of how things are prepared, veggies and such, are: Julienne, mire poix, chiffonade, e mince, concasse, and brunoise. All of these terms are specific to how fruits and veggies are prepared. Wow! And it will all be on our quiz this Friday!
For the next three weeks I am a part of the garde manger, a group of 6 who work the kitchen. The other groups are the hot line and the pastry kitchen. I am still a little fuzzy on what my role is in the garde manger, but I bet I will learn fast!
Check out what we had for lunch today: Prosecco (an Italian sparkling white wine), onion, leak, and persillade soup with creamy goat cheese in the middle, and then the main course was a slice of egg and bacon quiche with a side of spicy arugula salad drenched in vinaigrette, for dessert we had a gianduia or chocolate and hazelnut mousse. :) Who has sparkling white wine with their three course lunch? ME!
To say the least, today was a GREAT first day! I had a smile plastered to my face nearly half the time and couldn't stop myself from using the word, "fun" every time I thought something was. One of my classmates declared that I had a low threshold for fun! A great compliment I think!
Tomorrow starts bright and early, once again, and I cannot wait!
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