BYE-BYE CIA.....Done with my first year

IM DONE!! I have officially finished my first year of school here at CIA. It went sooo quickly. But the amount of stuff I have learned is overwhelming. I regret not taking pictures of what I did in class, but I guess I was just too busy having fun! I am excited to go home so I can practice what I have learned and maybe do some more experimentation. I am home until march 30th, then I go down to Newport, RI for my externship at the Mooring Restaurant and Seafood Bar.

PASSING the PRACTICAL!!!

I PASSED!. Not only did I pass, I got a HIGH PASS!!! I got a 95!!!!!!!!! THE FIRST TIME!!! Chef said he was pissed cuz I am one of the few, very few, who get a high pass on their first time. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! The second I sat down with my food, he asked how I feel I did. I said good, and he looked over at my station, which was in clear view for him the WHOLE time, and he saw my three pieces of paper with the recipes, timelines, etc, hanging up, and he said, "yea, I can tell you feel good, your timelines and preparation is exceptional!!"

I started cooking at 2:50, but I had from 2:10 until that time to gather everything including pots, pans, utensils, food. I could start measuring, but I could not cut anything. By the time 2:50 rolled around, I was ready to go. I had to present no later than 5:20, but I could give the chef food as early as 5:05.

The menu was this:
Grilled Swordfish with Sauce Bearnaise
Rice Pilaf
Tomato Duxelle
Buttered Green Beans
SOUP: Chicken Consomme

I drew this menu and I was very excited, because I had not heard much hype, so I was not worried. I was very comfortable with this choice. I got rolling on gathering everything.

As for how my station was set up, I was right next to where the Chef sat to grade, so everything I did, he saw. I made sure my station stayed clean and organize, that I washed my hands, did not cross contaminate anything. I washed my cutting board at least 5 times. I knew that he was watching my every move.

The first thing I started on was my consomme. I knew that would take at least an hour, if not longer, to develop both flavor and color. Once that was simmering, I spent a good 10 minutes on my garnish for the consomme because it had to be julienne, and I wanted it perfect. I blanched them off and had them ready to re-heat.

I then made my duxelle, making sure to season the tomatoes. Ahh waht I am talking about, I don't need to go through everything I did.

Anyways, I had my soup ready easily by 4:15, I just had to keep it hot, so by 5:05, I plated it up in hot soup cups and brought it to chef. I then went back to my station to plate everything else, so by 5:15, I was done.

I was very happy with my fish especially because the marks were flawless. I did not have the heat too high on the grill pan and there was not too much oil. I cross hatched it and flipped it, so that there were cross hatches on both sides. This did not cook the fish, I finished it in the oven. I knew that the marks would get too dark if I tried to cook it on the grill, even though it was not that thick of fillets. Around 4:10, everything started to come together. I had my tomatoes stuffed and ready to go in the oven, my consomme was strained and staying hot, my fish was marked, my rice was cooking, and my green beans were blanched off. The timing worked perfectly. Everything was piping hot, pefectly cooked, perfectly seasoned (but the duxelle had a bit too much roasted garlic and the consomme had one too many cloves (the spice, not garlic). Other than that, everytihng was perfect!! The plate looked really nice too, damn, I should have taken a picture. Chef loved everything and I just couldnt wipe the smile off my face! I knew I did well, but did not know how well because I would not know my grade till later that night.

After he sat down with me and my food, I went to wash dishes until everyone else was finished. After the kitchen was clean, we did the oral, which was where he asks us questions about cooking, all of which we learned during Skills 1 and 2. I was the third to go. The way he asks the questions was weird. He would ask a quesiton, then ask a question inside of the question. Example: tell me about stocks....(answer)...okay, now, what's the cooking time for that stock?. It just kept going. But I was getting everything right. The only question I was flustered on was the question about puree vs cream soups. He talked me through it and I surprisingly got it right. I got alll 10 of my questions right!!!! The whole time I could tell he was looking for a way to nail me and take points off. He wrote some numbers down after that, and asked me how I did on my costing practical. I said, I passed. He said, well, with what? I said, i got three wrong, so an 85? and He goes, thats too bad, cuz this is what you got tonight for your cooking practical and he had circled HIGH PASS!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH. Before I started to cry, I asked if I could leave, and he goes yea, just dont scream. Then he says, "oh, by the way, I'm pretty pissed because very very few people do as well as you do their first time"

I am still in shock about tonight. I feel so good though that I did so well. I never freaked out, there were never any big mistakes, I worked efficiently, stayed calm, knew what I was going. I'm just, I don't know how to react. Maybe a glass of wine to celebrate will calm me down!

The Dreaded Cooking Practical, Pass or Fail

Before we leave on externship, we have to take a cooking practical. We are given 6 different menus that we have to prepare for because we draw a menu that day of the practical. We have 2 1/2 hours to prepare a soup and an entree. We have cooked all of these items during Skills 1, 2, 3, so nothing is unfamiliar. I saved most of my recipes from those classes, so prepping the recipes was not hard. The hard part was the week leading up to my practical

As each day went by before my practical, more and more of my classmates were failing, and those that passed were just barely passing. I started to get worried. The chef was picking out the little things, according to the students. I listened to the tips and hints they could give me about how to not mess up, which was hard for this chef because he had specific ways of doing things that we are not taught in school. I mentally prepared myself to pick out every single detail and avoid failing. I made sure I understood my recipes, made detailed game plans and read over everything.

The thing that is occuring with most classmates is that they are failing the first time, and when they take it the second, they get a very high grade, which apparently is common with this chef. I don't want to go into the practical with the "second chance" mentality. I want to pass it my first time. I am mentally prepared and I know what I am doing, I just cannot get flustered.

I found an externship!!!

For so long I have been stressing out about finding a place to do my externship (internship). I had my resume out at too many places to count, but the reply I kept getting was that either they were fully staffed or that the economy was slowing business, so they could not take externs! As my time here as a freshman was winding down, I was really worrying that I would not find an externship before my deadline of Feb 18th.
When I found out that the Newport Restaurant Group was coming to our school to hold interviews, I scheduled an interview because I had held interest in two of five restaurants. They are located in Newport, RI, which is a massive tourist attraction, especially the timing of my externship (spring into summer). The interview was with the chef of the corporation and the chef of the Mooring Restaurant (a seafood restaurant right on the ocean). The interview went so well that I was offered a position at the Mooring Restaurant at the interview! I told them I would get back to them in a couple days (but I really just responded the next day). I am soo excited because they provide housing by taking a small amount of each paycheck, and the housing is with other interns working within the Newport Restaurant Group.
I am so happy to finally have a secured externship, especially with the NRG, because I have heard nothing but great things about all the chefs of that corporation! I am really looking forward to starting (Mid March or April-ish). I feel like a thousand pounds was lifted off my back knowing that I finally have a location!

VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOT WOOT!!! December 18th was my last day of classes. I have been on vacation for a little over 2 weeks, driving back to my home (CIA) tomorrow. While my first week of vacation was spent out in Lake Tahoe skiing the best snow of my life, I really started to miss school. All of my friends are at that school and I realized how much at home i feel there. It was nice to get away, ill admit, and to refresh my brain before I start my next class (continue reading for more info). It was also nice to be able to shower without having to wear flip flops (community bathrooms, which I can't complain about because they are constantly clean, since we dont have to clean them!) My bed at school is definitely more comfortable than the one here in New Hampsha. I miss my roommate too! She and I are pretty much best friends, so its been hard to not see her for this long (she's been pretty much out of contact because of where she is spending vacation). I get to see her tomorrow though, thankfully. AHH I'm so excited to finally be going back, which is funny, cuz most kids would dread going back to school after vacation.


As for this class I am talking about, its called Cuisines of Asias. The chef is Michael Pardus, who is pretty much a legend in the school cuz he knows so much. He has tons of books written about him and he is wicked smart. I don't wanna say too much, but I hear his class is wicked hard cuz of how he teaches. I am not THAT worried. You just have to be WICKED prepared, like, KNOW your recipes inside and out. I have been pretty good about being prepared, so this will be a good challenge. I am just lucky that I had these two weeks to prepare, compared to the 3 day weekends we usually get between classes! I have a good group for the first few days, so I'm not too worried, I'm looking forward to (excuse my language) getting my ASS KICKED!!!! I'll keep you updated on the drama

AHH I'm so sorry I haven't been writing!!

So its definitely been over a month since i posted something! My bad. Long story short: this last block I was in was called Cuisine of the Americas. Every two days, we studied a different region of America. (New England, Florida and Caribbean, Southwest, Deep South, Northwest, Mexico, South America). I really liked this class because of the different cuisines we studied and the new ingredients we worked with. I ate too much good food (the people in my class cook well, so the food constantly turns out good.

I am really enjoying my time at school. Learning sooo much!

"See Audrey, Sucking up to the Chef is a GOOD Thing"

My chef for Skills 3 is amazing! She yells a lot, but she says her bark is worse than her bite, which is true. She likes to push us to motivate us and keep us moving. Before the class started, I was told she was horrible, but I was also told that she likes girls and gay guys, haha. So true. She and I get along so well. It is important that in her class, you know what you are doing, because she will come to your station a lot and ask whats going on, and you better be able to give her a straight answer. I found out she worked in NH for a long time, so as a NH native, I figured I would use that to my advantage. She LOVES using Maple Syrup and is always telling stories about "when I worked in NH, we would do blahdeblah." I brought it up one day and since then, she has been so nice. She has been pretty nice to me since day one and I think its because my friend down the hall had her last block and she said that she put in a good word for me. She is never really breathing down my back. Today was actually really funny. Our group was running behind, but she was helping us. I opened the oven to check the beef stew and she comes over and starts yelling. "WHY ISN'T THIS SIMMERING! THIS SHOULD BE SIMMERING!" and I say, Chef, it WAS simmering, I just pulled it out of the oven. And she reaches into the oven and yells, "THIS OVEN ISNT EVEN ON!!!!! WHY ISNT YOUR OVEN ON!!!" And everyone is looking at me and I say, "CHEF, the oven IS ON! LOOK!" and she looks at me so only I can see her face and she goes, "im totally just playing around, just go with it" and starts laughing then stands up and starts yelling again. I yelled back to her, "YOU'RE KILLING ME CHEF!" (cuz she says that all the time, just as one of her catch phrases). It was so funny because everyone was like, OMG AUDREY, what did you DO!???!" hahahha. She's hilarious. Oh and yesterday, i made "SNACKS." She likes to make snacks for us during class and because we were ahead of schedule yesterday, she threw some flour tortillas on our station and told us to make quessadillas. I have made them many times, so I was happy to. I started buttering the outsides and she comes over and goes, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!??!" And I say, "well, buttering the outside chef, to make them crispy and delicious" and she goes, "AH YOU'RE KILLING ME!" haha. Its a good thing when she says that. After they were done, she ate one and thought they were absolutely incredible. I have learned that the secret to pleasing her is just to be confident in what you make. Give her a straight answer, and all will be good.