Life has been pretty darn good recently, busy, but I would much rather be busy than a couch potato. Although, there are couch potato days. School starts in approximately two weeks, and I could not anticipate it more. The Garde Manger class I'm signed up for is the most exciting thing I have coming up, though.. it doesn't start until eight weeks in the semester as it is only an eight week course. For the first eight weeks, I will be taking Basic Cooking. I heard it is a really boring class and a lot of time is spent standing around. But oh, garde manger, I am excited for you. In that class, I will learn how to make all sorts of hors d'oeurves and cold foods. I have also heard that the teacher is more strict and pays more attention to detail compared to the chef/professor from the Baking and Pastry and International Cuisines class which I took last semester. I love the little attention to detail kind of thing. My teammates from International called me anal because I wanted my orange peel to fall just so; but as I had cooked it in sugar syrup, it was sticky and would stick to my finger and fall the wrong way. I did eventually get the peel placed the way I wanted, but I think anyone else would have just thrown it haphazardly on and let it be.
There are, inevitably, several classes I am not anticipating, at all. One is Elementary Statistics, and the other Political Science. However, when I complete those two classes, I will be only one class away from an AA degree in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Human Behaviors. My counselor told me to just go for it, because it will mesh well with my eventual degree in Hospitality Management. So I will be taking his advice and completing that degree.
However, the beginning of a new school semester is not what excites me the most. What is the most exciting about my life right now is what is going on right now. A couple weeks ago, my cousin introduced me to L, a young chef who had gone to my dream school, CIA (kind of a back burner dream, as tuition is out-of-the-question expensive) and was currently holding a dinner series at his house somewhere in SP. Although this guy was a stranger, I texted him anyway (at the insistence of my cousin) and he invited me to come help. Man, I really just love watching him work. The first time I helped out, I was actually there to just observe more than anything. But I was in the way just standing there, and the dishes needed some help, so that's just what I did, and had fun doing it. The next time I went, two of the people who helped in the kitchen last time were not there, so it was just me and Luther in the kitchen. Although I am older, Luther has way more experience than me, so I just did the best I could to keep up and help him as much as he could. It's really an honor to get to even watch him work, and I enjoyed doing everything, just being there made me happy. To my knowledge, all the seats for the dinner are sold out up to April, but keep an eye out just in case new dates get released!
Tomorrow, I am going to make croissants from scratch. Two batches, one with Plugrá butter, and another with regular unsalted, just to see the taste difference. L wanted to try something with the croissants, and if they turn out well enough, maybe I'll actually get to see something of mine being served. Honestly, I'm slightly nervous, as I always am when new people try the food I've made. Although I have not ever gotten a horrified reaction to my food, I do not really have the highest self confidence. And when it comes to something I love doing so much, I hope it is up to the standards of whoever is eating it. Admittedly, I do have higher standards for my own food and always can see room for improvement. But if I have never served food to you, then I do not have any background as to how you would like my food. However, because this dinner is considered fine dining, and I know that the chef has high standards as well, I am more nervous than I would be if I were serving food to my best friend or family.
Right now, it is 2:08, and I do believe it is time to sleep. I really hope I can keep this blogging thing up. It is kind of like a faster way to journal, and it's always good to clear my head of all the thoughts that run through it. Good night!
