In the beginning....

It's now Friday night, and I've made it through a whole week of the grueling work that is my patissserie education. I meant to blog every night, but I just was so tired from learning and going so many places that I very nearly collapsed after doing my homework every day. So here's the rundown of my first week of school.

Monday I got up at 4 and dragged myself out of bed to get dressed and catch the "T" by 5:30ish. I wanted to get into town early so I could figure out the whole commuting thing in the wee hours of the morning. So at 6:30 we met our chef, Chef Maureen Garfolo, who we just call "Chef," All of our instructors are referred to as "Chef," out of respect for the hard work that they have done to get that training and accomplishment. So chef told us essentially what we would be learning this mod (module) in our culinary foundations class. We will be learning all of the knife cuts and different techniques associated with the basics of the kitchen. After kitchens, which is obviously my favorite class because its active, we have Strategies (for lifelong learning). This will be teaching us how to assess people, what we should look for in employees, different learning styles and effective told in memorization. The most gross class is sanitation, which is going to earn us a "serv-safe" certification, this is what you must have to manage a restaurant in the US and its good for 5 years. After sanitation, in which half of the class tells our instructor, Ms. Clukey, that they will never eat again, we go to....lunch. :) The food is absolutely fantastic, and I'll probably tell you all what I eat at the cafe every day.  After I left school I got myself a lock to secure a good locker before they were all taken and hiked around Downtown Pitt so find a job. I came back with a lot of applications and very sore legs.

Tuesday I got up yet again, and started the wheels moving. Slowly. Once I got to class, Chef took us on a tour of the kitchens. So we went to the storeroom, all the floors and respective kitchens, and the back alley. We also got to know our classmates a bit better. I found out I'm the youngest one in my class, and one of only 2 pastry students, the other being a 50 something woman named Leslie. I really should have written this on Tuesday so that this was all still fresh in my mind, but now it seems like that was years ago. In Strategies, we learned about some of the psychology big name people, and why they are relevant to our lives. In Sanitation we learned about food contamination and Ms, Clukey's personal favorite: bloody diarrhea. We talk about this nearly every day in sanitation. Its not for the faint of heart. After lunch I again hit the town and went to the MarketPlace and applied as well as buying some groceries. Then I slept.

Wednesday I woke up looking like death, because I had been sick all the night before. So Wednesday didn't start all that great, but I made it to class, somehow, and dragged myself through the day. In kitchens we walked around the kitchen and had a bit of a scavenger hunt to find the equipment that we had read about in the previous nights homework. After kitchens, Chef let us out early so we could get our shoes between classes. I got a pair of very  manly, sturdy-looking shoes that are slip resistant. One is steel-toed and one is "regular". Needless to say, I wouldn't be wearing them on a date. In Strategies we went to the computer lab and learned how to use the student portal, which was interesting to see how many people were worse at computers than I am!!! Sanitation pretty much was more diseases or FBIs (Food Borne Illnesses) and their rather disgusting symptoms. At lunch with my morning kitchen class, or at least those who stayed, I met the only deaf student in our class, who agreed to teach me sign so we could communicate. Until then, texting and notes work fairly well. She also lip reads which is convenient. I also talked to Chef Robenko, who runs the cafe, who said he would give me a job in a week and a half, because Chef Garfolo (from my kitchen class) recommended me. I smiled, and shook his hand and did a little happy dance after he walked away. Since Wednesday work was concluded, I went home and slept, after falling asleep on the T and missing my stop, so I waited for about 6 minutes for the next one, feeling appropriately chastised.

Thursday I woke up feeling much better, I had slept from about 5pm to 4 am, after all. And Thursday was a very exciting day. We got our knife kits. And I danced for joy. I won't label everything in my kit just yet, I might get to that on Sunday, because there are LOTS of things to label. So after we got our knife kits we learned to julienne, batonet and brunoise zucchini. I'll just point out here that the knife kit weighs about 30 lbs and I will be carrying it for the next 84 weeks for 5 days a week. Maybe I'll get muscles. Strategies again was in the computer lab and our instructor was sick so we got s sub who flew us through the assignments and we got done ahead of schedule. It is very nice to sit. Sanitation we learned about fish toxins and parasites that cannot be killed by cooking. Yet another reason I eat few fish. After lunch I went to the grocery store (yes, again) and bought the supplies to make oatmeal cookies.

Friday was finally here. Almost the weekend, when I no longer am required to wake up before the crack of dawn. In kitchens today we learned how to cut mushrooms, fine dice an onion, and set up and tear down our stations. Today Chef also began appointing people as designated chef positions for the day, for example, I was chef de partie  (does not mean that I am in charge of the celebration of cooking) but the "head of station" or in this case, my table. In Strategies today, we had a guest speaker, the Dean of Academics, who told us about himself and his background and how our time here at LCB would be scheduled for the next 21 months. In Sanitation, before class started Ashley taught me how to say good morning in ASL, so I felt pretty accomplished. The class today was just prep for our quiz on Monday, so we played Ms. Clukey's version of Jeopardy! Lunch came and went,so I was eager to get home and finish my school for the week.

So that concludes, in short believe it or not, my week. I am now going to bed because to me it feels like what 3am feels like to a normal person--that you are up far too late.