Paperwork/Update

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." --C.S. Lewis

Cherished Readers.

How good it is to come to you and share my stories. It's so very therapeutic, I wonder why I don't do it more often.

Today was a long day. Not necessarily bad way, just very demanding in the mental energy arena.

As some of you may know, my dear cohort Lydia, who I drive with every morning, has made the decision to drop Culinary Arts from her academic load. She is hoping to graduate this spring, and she didn't have the time or energy required of her to be able to accomplish that.

So, as a result of this situation, my dear mum is going to have to drive me to school for the next week until I can get my license. Because of some other previous engagements, I had to be dropped off early at school today. I arrived at about 8:00, and was assigned to Chef Tony, who had me doing plenty of paperwork by the time I got dressed. I did a lot of paper work for the rest of the day, as well as taking a break here and there to make a grilled cheese, or get a refill on my Diet Coke.

I stayed at school until about 3:30, and during that time, Chef Dave took the opportunity to show me some things that are going to be important in competition.

I know that this isn't really the most thrilling of posts, but I just wanted to say hey, and give you a quick update.

Thanks for your reading. :] Love you!

FINALS...

"The best thing one can do while it's raining is to let it rain." --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Hi, my dear readers.

The past week has been full of preparation for finals that started on Friday (explain the logic behind that one if you can...).

The state requires for all students to have a written final, so instead of taking a 200 question test, Chef Tony has a different approach to finals.

Our assignment was to pick a country, and write a research paper on what it would take to travel there, and spend a few days there as well. And for our cooking final, we were to make a dish from that country.

After much deliberation, I chose Poland. The paper was relatively easy, and I cranked it out in a couple hours. The part that I had trouble with was choosing what to cook. I know that the first thing that I think of when it comes to Polish food is Pierogie, but I knew that there was another girl in my class that was already making them.

I combed through the Saint Stan's cookbook, hoping to find some old polish grandma's recipe for some delicious ethnic concoction, but to no avail, except pierogies!!!

Haunting...

So, I finally decided to make them. A little against my better judgment.

I came to school the next day, and word got around that I was making the same thing as Sam. She finally came up to me at the end of class to confirm the rumors, and I had to tell her that they were true, much to my own chagrin. :O

On Friday, we all turned in our written finals, and A-shift started cooking.

THE KITCHEN WAS A FREAKING MADHOUSE.

I felt a little like Nurse Rachett in the middle of the ward, trying to find some sort of order, while helping who I could.

There was no chance that I was going to try to start my own cooking final until A-shift was gone.

I still ended up in the kitchen anyway, though. Chef Tony had me slice about 20 pounds of turkey for sandwiches. It would've been a solitary job, but some other B-shifters were around, and came to keep me company.

By the time I had finished that, I had two 6 inch pans full of sliced meat. It was kind of a tremendous thing to behold. Slightly overwhelming.

A-shift left, and there was a lull in the storm, so I decided to start on my filling. Sam had already gotten her's finished, and asked if I wanted to taste it. It was delicious. Her recipe is more of the traditional, Polish Grandma type. Mine is actually a Pittsburg Pierogie recipe, which is a little unsettling, but I'm pretty sure that it will be ok.

Let me tell you what people, that was the shortest hour of my life. On Iron Chef they say the same thing, but it's true. I goes really fast.

But I as able to get all of my chopping done, and when I started to gather all the rest of my ingredients together, it was time to go.

So that was Friday... but I also have to tell you about Monday and Tuesday. Sorry this is so long. Hopefully I'm not boring you. :]

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we had the opportunity to do ice carving. It was really cool. I had a great group, and it was a lot of fun.

On Monday, we all tried to decide on what we wanted to carve, and agreed(finally) on a shooting star. We worked on the actual carving on Tuesday and Wednesday. It turned out really good. Probably the best out of all of the carvings, if I do say so myself ( I actually didn't do a whole lot of the work, but I did do some :)).

So that was the past fun-filled week. I hope you all enjoyed hearing about it.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you feel like it. I'm all about feedback. ;]