A whopping summary!

Yes, I know, I know, it's been ages...but I've been busy! I may have to skip a bit and hit the highlights, so I hope y'all won't be too disappointed. ;-)

Let's see, where to start. How about with fantastic grades on my first term?! A solid A in Culinary Foundations 1, and an A- in Food & Sanitation. Dear MaryAnn, you commented earlier about the "minus" part, and wanted to know if it's because I didn't wash my hands. :-P No, you goofball, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the final, which was unexpectedly difficult, as many of my classmates agreed. Much more difficult than the national ServSafe certification test (should have the results, and hopefully my 5 year certification back this week), which made that particular Chef Instructor grin from ear to ear when we told him that. I actually really like him, and I'm hoping we have him as an instructor for one of our cooking courses. He's worked at many four and five star hotels in Hawaii, as well as winning awards as an Instructor at University of Hawaii, and I know we could learn a TON from him...plus he's got that fantastic Hawaiian laid back sense of humor, mixed with being really serious about food and santitation rules. A very cool guy.

Our next Chef Instructor is a woman, and I'm so loving her. She not quite as structured with her classes, and often changes the recipie we're working on midstream, and almost never goes by our textbook recipies that we're required to write down on notecards, but I think it's going to give us some great experience with working in real kitchens. If the Chef changes their mind, you gotta go with the flow, and know how to adjust on the fly. She used to be the Executive Chef at The Painted Table, among many others restaurants and being published in Sunset magazine (I Googled her, and she comes up all over the place!) and it she is a fantastic Chef! Her sauces have been amazing, even though it looks as though we're doing the same thing she is during her demo, many times they pale a bit in comparison to hers. She's a tough grader, I've only heard of one perfect score so far (10/10), most of mine have been 9's. Woot woot! Tomorrow's our first practical test, we've got to produce three sauces on our own: buerre blanc, hollandaise and marchand, let's hope I can keep up the high scores.

Other notable happenings, volunteering at a new butcher shop in West Seattle, The Swinery! Mol, one of my good friends from dance class (which has turned out to be such a wealth of connections to the culinary world, who knew?), hooked me up with her friends there, and I went a few weeks ago to check out a whole pig breakdown. Yes, sorry to the squemish ones, but I had to include the pic from the "post pig processing." I was sad to have missed the whole cow they brought in, which was done by the time I got there from class, but it was incredibly interesting to see where our food really comes from, where the cuts are on the animal, and what it's used for. There was a Chef Instructor from Seattle Central there also volunteering, who worked as an Instructor at LCB just four months ago, who'd invited several of her students to learn as well. On top of all that, there was an amazing Chef there from I'm not sure where, but he's obviously been top of his game for years, had such a thick accent I could barely understand what he was saying, but was a wealth of knowledge for everyone there, including the head butcher. This just reminds me that with cooking, there's always so much to learn, no matter how long you've been in the business! This is one of the things that I love about the culinary field!!! I can honestly say I feel inspired every day, which is lending itself a lot to daily hapiness!

I went to Napa to see David & Christina on my birthday weekend, which was cool because I we went to Greystone for dinner, at the Culinary Institute of America, which I went back to the next day for a tour. Fun to see the differences in school set up, and it's kind of like seeing an Ivy League university compared to a really awesome state school. At LCB, we're getting a good education, and certainly have most everything we need equipment-wise, but some of that equpment is well worn, and there are moments when we have to run to borrow something from another kitchen. CIA in St. Helena, however, has giant corporate sponsors, which means their lecture halls are like the high-end corporate office meeting spaces I'm used to at Microsoft, the demo areas look like they're ready to shoot a TV spot, complete with special lighting, HD flatscreen TVs and put up high on some stairs like the Chef is on some sort of altar. Their student kitchens are completely outfitted, so much so that our guide told us that when the cupboard covers came in Hunter Green, instead of the desired Cherry Red (like mine at home!), they were all redone to the proper color. Their main kitchen that we saw was completely open floor plan, so the culinary and baking students are all together within sight of each other, and the student "cafeteria" where they partake in each other's creations is in the middle. A beautiful space, and I'll bet crazy busy when they're in session! We got a tour of the student garden, another quick tour of the restaurant and took a peek at the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies, which unfortunately was closed Sundays.

I'll finish with saying this...I love my new apprenticeship! For anyone who hasn't followed my Facebook postings, please some see me at Peppercorn Bar & Bistro in Federal Way (I will mostly be there on weekends, Thursday-Friday, for awhile). I have already learned so much, and Chef Blanca and her Sous Chef Antonio are fantastic. All the front house people under Hector are great too. I'm enjoying the "family" feeling of the place, as all the staff are close friends and family, it's a great place to start out, to be sure. I'm excited that everyone's loving my chocolate torte...it gives me a sense of pride and let's me know I'm definitely headed in the right direction. :-)