God Help Me.

"Action is the foundational key to all success." --Pablo Picasso

Well, I've officially made the decision to participate in Skills USA.

I'll be doing hot foods.

There's only one thing that I'm legitimately nervous about at this point.

My fear of taking action and/or messing up. This particular facet of my personality will not serve me well in the kitchen [or life, for that matter], so I'm going to need to shake it off sooner or later.

I guess that I've chosen sooner.

I'd ask you all to be in prayer with me about this. The actual training only lasts 2 weeks, so I'm a little nervous about that as well.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all had a great holiday!

*kisses*

Change of Face

Hey Everyone.

I'm sure that most of you have realized the changes that I've been making on my blog.

Some of them subtle, some not.

This is one of those not subtle ones, but I have hopes of keeping it this way.

And about the name, it's a joke between my uncle and I, and if I was going to change the title, I figured that the background needed to be a little more dramatic as well.

So just so you all know, it's still me! Don't worry. :]

MORE PUMPKIN.

"Monday's are the potholes of life." --Tom Wilson

Seeing as it's been a week since the "Day of Defeat", I have sufficiently recovered, and throughly embraced this Monday.

My day in itself was fine, but I observed other people who looked like me last week.

I was assigned to make more--yes, more--pumpkin rolls.

Seriously.

I've seen, smelled, and eaten enough pumpkin to last me till next year. Thanks, though.

I gathered all of my ingredients, and then realized that the kitchen was in a mad frenzy over the 20-quart mixer bowls. Apparently every last culinary student was after one, and I found myself at the end of a very long line.

"Well, screw that."

I went to Chef Tony to tell him of my dilemma, and to explain why I couldn't start for a while.

On Friday, he gave me this long lecture about how even though he wasn't always watching me, he was always tracking my "time on task". I wanted to let him know, so I wasn't accused of dawdling.

When I went to tell him, he immediately assigned me to help Kim make pumpkin cheesecake. She then reported that Chef Tony had been yelling at her all day, and she was glad that I had come to help her.

When A-shift left, there was a sudden clearing in the air. I looked at the pot sink, and there, shining, was a whole mess of 20 quart mixing bowls!!!

HALLELUJAH!

I picked back up where I had left off with the pumpkin rolls. I threw it all into my freshly washed bowl (IN THE RIGHT ORDER, might I add.), buzzed it around, and before I knew it, I had a lovely, silky batter.

I went to go and prepare my pans for the batter, and left my batter in the mixer. I didn't really think much of it.

I finished up with my pans, and made my way back to the mixer. But when I got there, I was confused.

Standing in front of the mixer that I had been using, was Kyle.

I will describe Kyle to you as the "class clown, sixteen-year-old, doesn't-really-know-when-to-shut-up" type.

Anyway, he was standing in front of my mixer... with a bowl of cake mix in his hand.

He was pouring HIS cake mix into MY batter.

I looked at him, and he looked at me... a pause, and then, the moment of dreadful realization.

After shock had set in, he asked:

"Oh, my Gosh. Is this your's?"

"Yup."

Now, I have to let you all know that I was NOT mad. At all. Merely surprised. I just really didn't know what to say, until I looked at Chef Tony.

"I'm not gonna tell him." I said.

Seriously, I don't think that I've ever seen a more anxiously distraught expression in my life than what was on his face at that moment. He was frantically muttering to himself, unable to process what he was going to do in the next few moments of his life. For all we knew, they could be his last.

I felt so bad for him, that I almost said "Never mind, I will tell him." but I didn't.

Well, he did tell Chef Tony, and then he (Chef) called me over.

"Are you ready to kick someone's *censored*?" He asked.

"No." I answered.

"You realize that he just ruined your batter, right?"

"Yup."

"OK, go make another."

Kyle made a mistake today.

Just like I did last week.

Anise Biscotti

"When a man's stomach is full, it makes no difference whether he is rich or poor." --Euripides

I know that you all are sitting on the edge of your seats, wondering if I did go through with the lethal injection or not.

Well, fear not.

I have resolved to press on, and have emerged, enlightened.

Good cooks have bad days.

Thank you all for you kind comments, I appreciate them all.

The past couple days have been a little bumpy, but mere nothings in comparison.

And also, I have witnessed others having difficulty as well. Not that I enjoyed their struggles, but they helped me to realise that I'm not the only one.

I'll give you the last week (since Monday, at least) in a nutshell.

I've probably made enough sweets to give a full-grown man a heart attack, or two.

Hey, it's the Holidays, whaddya want?

I made about two doubled recipes of sugar cookie dough, which equals out to an UNGODLY amount of cookies. Also several large pumpkin rolls with a luscious cream cheese icing inside, and dusted with powdered sugar. Sublime

On Wednesday, Chef Tony asked Lydia and I if we would stay with C-shift, and help out with a fundraiser at the school. When we had finished with our own B-shift obligations, Chef Dave asked us to work the Front Line.

Dumb question.

"Actually, Chef Dave, I think that I'd rather sit in dish tank, and wash dishes until 2:00."

I think not.

I did work the front line, and throughly enjoyed it.

It was nice to see all of the "fruits of my labor", if you will. A and B-shifts do all of the food prep, and we were able to serve it.

Kind of awesome.

Thank you, everyone who has taken time to read. It really does make my day to see all of your supportive comments. :]

The Day of Defeat

"If you live on doughnuts, rest assured, you will not do well."-- C. Din

Well, just so everyone knows, the culinary honeymoon is officially over.

I still love it, of course, but yesterday was probably the worst day that I've had for a very long time.

Yesterday was the day that I started with Chef Tony.

The day began with taking a cookie inventory.

If I had to decide the worst job ever, it would be inventory. Any inventory. It is the single most torturous job that anyone one person can endure. Within Culinary, I suppose.

I should've known then that the rest of the day wasn't going to get much better.

After I had counted 1,519 thumb-print, jam-filled, cookies, Chef Tony told me to find a recipe for Raspberry Swirl Brownies. I then searched his clandestine-labeled index, and combed through the entire folder, twice, I told him I couldn't find it.

Of course.

Five minutes later, he came out into the kitchen, and hands me a recipe, and told me to get started.

I took the recipe, and looked down at it.

There wasn't a word of direction.

So I started by gathering my ingredients, which took way longer than expected. I guess you can't really ask much of a kitchen full of students, who half the time don't even know what they're doing.

Whatever.

Finally got started, and Chef Tony came over to see where I was at.

So we were talking, and I went to grab the flour, and poured it into my mixer... before I finished with my liquid ingredients.

The product was the stickiest, chocolatiest, gooiest, lumpiest, mess that I had ever seen.

Aubry Gross was not a happy cook.

Chef Tony told me to still use it, and that it would be ok.

I finished making them, and set the pans aside to be baked. I then realized what a mess I had made. My uniform was trashed, my station was in complete tumult, and the bell was ringing.

What the heck.

I cleaned up my station, and got dressed, and left in a foul mood.

It didn't help that that ridiculous Christmas song "Feliz Navidad" was on the radio when I got into the car. For the second time that day.

Really?

When I got home, I attempted to write a quick blog to all of you, but I was in such emotional duress, that I didn't get much done before I had to go and get a ROOT CANAL.

By the time that we finally got to the doctor's office, I was asking for the lethal injection.

Ugh, it pains me to even think about it...

Thanks for reading.

Rolling...

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." --J. R. R. Tolkien

On the whole, a good day.

It started out with putting chicken on a stick, which is harder than it sounds.

What I had to do was to take pieces of sliced chicken breast and thread them through a long bamboo skewer. Now if they had been chicken tenders, it would've been easier, because they're thicker. But hey, you work with what you've got.

After I did a couple, though, I got the hang of it, and just started banging 'em out.

Between four of us, we did about 200.

When we finished, I put them in the cooler, and did some other odd jobs, and cleaned up. Chef Dave then had me help another student bag sliced ham.

After I finished ( the other kid had to leave), I kind of just stood around until one of my buddies needed some help on a recipe. He needed me to strain some sauce, and while I was doing this, Chef Dave came over to talk to me.

He asked if Chef Tony was talking to me about Skills USA, and he told me a little more about the competition, and told me about when he had done it in high school. He said that he thought I did really good work. He also said that he wanted to teach me how to cut up a whole chicken (a second year student assignment), and sort of "see whatcha got," type of deal.

"Sounds great!" I said.

I finished straining the sauce, and Chef Dave came over and gave Josh and I some concentrated actual teaching with the recipe we were doing. It was really cool and fun.

Yeah, It was a really great day.

Thanks for reading.

"Like a G"

"Man is born to eat." -- Craig Claiborne

Sorry it's been a while. Most of what I have to write about happened on Friday, but I neglected to blog.

What the heck kind of logic is that?!

Anyway. Not much happened on Friday until about 20 minutes before I left school. Chef Tony approached me and asked if I would like to join a team that he was organizing to work directly under his direction. He said that we would be doing a lot of baking for Thanksgiving and other holidays.

He also wanted me to compete in a nationwide competition called Skills USA, which is kind of a big deal.

On Monday, I told him that I would like to accept.

I thought he would've wanted me to start immediately, but he told me that he wanted to wait for a little bit. "Maybe next week,"

"Great," I thought. I was pretty sure that I had blown my chances. Maybe if I had accepted right away, I would've had better luck.

I can pretty much only trust that he really does want me to join him, and that he'll come for me when the time is right.

Until then, I'm with Chef Dave. Today I made mushroom pilaf, and helped with making the twice-baked potatoes. I also washed pots and pans as well.

Maybe hoping for a little extra credit?

Maybe?

Please?

For anyone who hasn't had twice-baked potatoes, you have no idea what you are missing.

DEE-LISH.

So now, there's just the wait....

I don't exactly know when it is that I'll be starting with Chef Tony, but you guys will certainly get an earful when I do.

Thanks for reading. :]

For the Love of Coconut.

"...cassoulette, like life itself, is not so easy as it seems." --Paula Wolfert.

Day one in Hot Foods.
Hooraayyy!!!
What I've been waiting for the ENTIRE TIMMEE!!!

I came into the kitchen, and practically skipped to Chef Dave, and asked what he wanted me to do.
He then assigned me to collect 25 carrots. To peel, and slice. Most of you are probably like "Wow, this girl is nuts." or "What a fruitcake." but I love it.

After I had taken care of the carrots, I helped one of the other students assemble Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches.
GOOD STUFF.

After I had done this, A-shift was gone.
Nothing against A-shift.
Heck I think they're great, but after they leave, there's much more room in the kitchen, and it's easier to figure out from the teachers what they need.

SPEAKING OF WHICH... Chef Dave is officially the absolute hardest person to get directions from. Granted, he does run more than one station, but yeah. That was probably the thing that was the hardest to adapt to today.

ANYWAY, after A-shift left, I was assigned to fry the coconut chicken.

To be completely honest, I ruled the fryer today. Chef Dave told me what they were supposed to look like, and I made them.
Sublime.

Also, I have to tell you all. On Monday night, for Michelle-My-Belle's birthday, we went to Michael Symon's restaurant, Roast, in Detroit. I would highly recommend. I had the Beef Cheek Pierogi and the Roast Chop Salad. Very, Very, Good.

Sorry that I seem kind of like a kid in a candy store, but I pretty much am. XD

Thanks for reading everyone. <3