The true beginning

Not a whole lot to report on the first day. I was issued my very own pair of ugly old-man steel toed shoes, I got to wear my uniform for the first time, including the cravat (which you tie in a Windsor, that I now know how to do), and it looks like I'll have to wear a hairnet once we start cooking, unless I go butch and shave my head like a Marine (not happening). Oh well, what's a Leo with a long curly mane to do, but have to tame it once in awhile? ;-) In other unfabulous news, we have to tone down pretty much any adornment, so no jewelry, watches, no dangly earrings, no nail polish (even clear is a no-no). Guess I'll be doing the "plain Jane" thing mid-day for awhile...not something this red head is terribly looking forward to (or good at), but c'est la vie, and not too much of a sacrifice for a fantastic new career. My extremely fashionable elastic waistband black and white checked pants (as in hurts your eyes if you look at them for too long) are waaayyy too long, and when I put them on this morning, I have to say that I had that commercial for toddler's pull-ups in my head, the jingle going something like, "I'm a big kid now!" If April ever reads this, she will understand this well. ;-)

Mostly today we received our syllabi for the first two classes, which are culinary basics, and saftey & sanitation. Lots of reading, lots of quizzes, a final and an optional proctored exam at the end to be nationally certified for something called SafeServ or ServSafe...you get the point. It's optional, but will help me get a job in the end, and is basically the same material as the Le Cordon Bleu final, so why not?

The three chef instructors that will be taking us through the first portion of culinary education are pretty cool, and each have their own distinct personalites. The same goes for the students around me; there were 26 in total (I think only about 7 were women, including myself), and there are already a couple that will be entertaining (the one that reminds me a bit of Anthony Bordain) and probably a little on the annoying side (the one who thinks he's auditioning for Hell's Kitchen and is trying waaay too hard to kiss up, yelling "YES, CHEF!" at any prompt)...but I digress. More to come on that I'm sure...but in short, they come from all walks of life, many years of life experience, and only one recent highschool grad who was sitting right next to me, who is a total sweetheart and seemed more mature than others twice his age. :-) Altogether, a pretty good group, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them and work along side them in the kitchen, once we get to that.

Our textbooks will come tomorrow, and hopefully the knife and tool kit will come soon after (not to mention the other two sets of uniforms they owe me). I ran to Target afterwards to get the rest of my supplies, a three-ring binder, notepads, Sharpies, pens, a mini calculator, etc. It was really fun to be in the school supply isle again; I actually got butterflies! To most of you who know me, I can be kind of a cheesy dork sometimes, so I snapped a couple pictures of the outside of the building for you (can't take the inside for safety reasons, sorry folks!) and of course, moi! Here's to the happy and budding new chef...a resounding CHEERS! everone! :-D


p.s. I only cried twice today, once in the shower while getting ready...kind of a "WTF am I doing?!" minor panic attack...then a happy little cry later in the car after school, more of a "Wow, I'm really, finally in the right place!" kind of affirmation cry, if you will. So that's not too bad, huh?

p.p.s. There is no guarantee or plan I will be blogging EVERY day (Christopher Parker, this means you :-P), so I apologize in advance if you're so riveted with my posting that you can't wait for the next installment. You're just gonna have to...well, wait. :-)