Skills 2 day 1 & 2

Skills 2 started after we got back from our Christmas break, I have to say getting up at 5 am the Tuesday we got back was not so thrilling. It was really hard especially after sleeping till about 12 pm everyday over break, and finally catching up on my sleep. I was not ready for the lack of sleep yet. Going up to Roth Hall and seeing all my friends again was great but what we all seemed to have in common was that we just wanted to be back in bed and were not ready for it all yet. We finally got into class and things got rolling, it was not that bad we just had to get to class and get the day started. On day 1 we made glazed beets, braised red cabbage, cocotte potatoes, and duchess potatoes. The glazed beets were fun to make and they tasted really good. The cocotte potatoes are tourned potatoes that are cooked in clarified butter till light brown, with a crispy outside and soft inside like a tater tot. These took a while to cook for little one inch long seven sided football shape potatoes, well at least longer than I thought. I started it with 15 minutes left before we had to turn everything in for the day, I thought they would be done in time. It was getting down to the wire and it was crunch time, so when chef was not looking I put the potatoes into the oven and cooked them in there for a good 6 minutes. Chef checked it and they were the perfect color and texture. I realize it is not the way chef wanted it prepared, but sometimes you have to be creative in the kitchen and that is what mastering the kitchen is all about, being able to bounce back from a mistake or handling the curve ball that is thrown at you. Over all it was a great day in the kitchen and everything turned out well. Day 2 we had to make rice pilaf, risotto, sauce robert, sauce merchand devin and jardiniere vegetable. I was very excited about day 2 because risotto is one of my favorite things to eat and I was finally going to learn how to make it! The day went smoothly and the risotto was successful along with my rice pilaf. The others were a bit more challenging but I managed to pull them off. I did end up with a nice burn on my arm because my partner at my station asked me to grab something for him that was across the cook top. I reached for the spatula that he wanted because he had just pulled his rice pilaf out of the oven (so it was in a pot with a lid) and my arm hit the very end of the handle on the pot, it hurt but I had to keep going the clock was not going to stop for me. That night our homework was to write a 2 page paper on the history of rice... this would only be your homework at a culinary school! It was kind of funny and the class was not to thrilled about because we all thought what more do you need to know about rice other than it is delicious and filling, also how could you write 2 pages on it. At the end of lecture we finished last minute clean up like taking out the garbage and straighting up the kitchen for the next class.

Taking out the trash in the Snow!