I have been on the run, constantly. Everyday I been at school for many many hours, but it has all been worth it. Monday school began at noon, lasting until about 10. I had a practical and then a workshop. The workshop was interesting. We used fish and quail for a main and appetizer with only a few vegetables. I did a seared fish with leeks fondue and a balsamic reduction. Them a stuffed quail with peas, carrots and shallots with a julienne ginger fruit salad and roasted pepper with a sauce. It was an ok workshop. I just wasn't into it. Oh well, no one really was.

The next day was a slow day, with only a practical. I made a yummy pumpkin soup inside of a pumpkin. And then veal sweetbreads with puff pastry, an assortment of autumn vegetables and a nice sauce. It was good, minus the sweetbreads!

Wednesday, I woke up early to go to the superior patisserie class at 8:15 to see chocolate! The chef showed the class the assembly of a show piece. It was pretty cool to watch. I enjoyed it.
Then I had a demo and a few hours later a practical. I made two dishes with fish and vegetables. One dish had roasted fish with vegetables skewers. The other dish had roasted fish with layers of vegetables. It was great! It even tasted pretty good.

Thursday was the first day of Club Des Amis. We were at school by 7:15AM!! That part was not fun, but the day was great. Prep work began by 8 and we were off. The chef had picked my appetizer of butternut squash ravioli with a sauce and pistachios. I was so excited! The chef picked Andre's main dish of Florentine quail with sweet potatoes and a mix of mushrooms with onions. It was a great meal. For dessert, on Thursday there was an apple meringue with apple ice cream and hazelnuts. It was fantastic. For Friday, the dessert was a spicy chocolate molten cake with pumpkin ice cream. Everything was good.
Service went so fast. It began at 12:30 and lasted only for about an hour. We only served 6 people, two tables of 3. My dish got great reviews. I served it in a huge bowl dish. For Thursday I reduced chicken stock in sage butter then added cream and reduced it even more, whisking in butter at the last minute. The ravioli was huge, with sauce around it, then crushed pistachios, a drizzle of pistachio oil, micro greens and a sprig of chervil to decorate. It was gorgeous. Hopefully I will have a picture soon.
After service we went upstairs to meet our guests and say thank you. The head of the school was eating lunch with two other people. She could only say good things about the appetizer. She loved our meal. Everything was perfect! She loved the ravioli! I was so happy!!! Then we stayed around for a bit longer to eat and to devour the ice cream! We were out of there by about 3:30. It was a good, long day!

Little did I know that Friday was going to be even longer! We were at school by 7:30AM! Things were great! Prep work was easy, since most of the work was done yesterday. We all did our work and had time to do nothing. Service began by about 12:30 and we were done by about 1:30 or so. We went to meet out guests again and we were out by 2. I changed my dish alittle. It was still a huge ravioli, but it had a beurre blanc sauce and all the decorations were the same. Except I added a black pepper foam to the top - SO COOL!!! Service was great!
I had an hour and a half to waste before the next class at 3:30 - workshop. So I went to get food with a friend. Then we all hung around with people in the lounge and waited for class to begin. The workshop went well. I made half a chicken - seared and then braised in the oven - served with vegetables and a potato gratin on the side. For the app, I made seared scallops with wild rice and beet slices with a beurre blanc sauce. It looked great!
The chef is hard for me too read. It's hard for me to take what he gives me and improve on it. I like to cook simply and keep it simple. I don't want to change the food by being so intricate. I think simplicity is perfect, just make sure it tastes great, which it always does! I think the chef wants me to be more intricate on my dishes, almost over the top. So I checked out some books and I am doing research this week - hopefully it will improve my dishes. Right now, no one is failing, but no one has great grades. It is extremely hard to get a good grade - a 4/5. So hard. I want to pass, I want to do good. I guess I will have to study. We will see.
This weekend I am just lounging and doing some work. Next week is alittle easy going. All classes begin at 12 or after!!! WOO-HOO

This past week has been easy. It’s been great. Only three days of actually going to school and two days off, PLUS the weekend! Pure bliss.

The seminar on Monday was boring, but I got through it.

Tuesday was spent in demo and then a practical a few hours later. The practical was turkey roulade – filled with eggplant, tomato and basil. It was pretty good. I got a good review from the chef. The sauce however…not so good. I have to work on the sauces – jus (natural juice) and a real sauce. The consistencies, I never really get them right. Oh well, I still have the chance to improve on them.

Thursday was spent in another workshop. This time I was more prepared! I rocked it, well almost. Escargot salad. It kind of freaks me out looking at a snail and knowing what it is and I am about to eat it. I just couldn’t bring myself to eat it. I remember my first time eating escargot. It was with my father at Chez Fon Fon. He and I went out to dinner and he wanted me to try them. So I said ok. I’m willing to try anything, well almost, at least once. So he ordered them and I ate one. It was covered in a garlicky, parsley butter with some buttered toast. I ate it and it burst with butter in my mouth. All you can taste is butter, which is not a bad taste. It helps mask the escargot and the thought that you are eating snails, an animal you find in your garden.
You probably should know that snails or escargot can be from the garden. Before you eat them, the people preparing them take weeks cleaning them before actually giving them to consumers. It’s sort of like eating mussels or clams. People feed mussels cornmeal and salted water to clean them before consumption.
My second dish was all vegetables. I was in the process of plating, when I messed it all up! I forgot to grease the ramekin so the eggplant would not come out! It made a huge mess and I did not try to fix it.

The weekend was spent doing errands and just hanging out. I went to the park and read and wrote to enjoy the sun. It’s been extremely sunny here with light breezes. It’s been perfect weather. The cool temperatures I was experiencing earlier have now vanished. It is definitely not as hot as in Alabama, but you can work up a sweat and it will still be there. Hopefully the fall temperatures will be coming soon…I do miss the cold weather from the north. But I don’t know if I miss the constant pouring of snow. We will wait and see.

Wednesday was my day off. I was actually busy. I got ahead on my school work - cost out my menu. I went into the school to get a few item prices and do a bit of calculations. I was just about done. Now all I had to do was draw a few pictures and assemble my recipes and everything else together! I AM NOT A SLACKER...well anymore. I was ahead of the game.

Thursday was my first workshop. I had no idea what a workshop was, until after the class. Let me explain. Workshop is a time for the students to "play" with unusual ingredients. This is the time for us to "make mistakes" and to learn from the. I was told to make mistakes. That way I would learn. Well it makes sense. There is also an ingredients list in the back of the binder! No idea.
We had 5 hours to make an appetizer and a main dish. I had no idea what to do. So I began to turn some vegetables - giving a vegetable a barrel like shape, with 5 to 8 sides. My appetizer dish was a cold endive salad with sauteed calamari. My entree was a piece of pork seared and finish in the oven with turned carrots and potatoes and sauteed broccoli rabe with squash and onion. It was ok. It definitely was not my finest dish, but yeah.
So now I know. The next workshop I will look at the ingredient list and come prepared. I will think ahead of time and be prepared. I welcome the next workshop with open arms...which is this thursday, the 20th!

Friday was about salad, lobster salad. It went ok. We had a new chef. He first few words were "Welcome to Superior". Did he ever mean it! I need to be more prepared and actually think alittle more about plating. I am really going to try. I want to do well. The lobster was great though!

The weekend was spent in bed. I didn't feel so good, so I just tried to sleep and eat lots of saltines.

Today is my sister's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZY-Q!!!!
Today was easy. We had class at noon. It was a seminar. It felt like it lasted for hours, but it was only 2 and 1/2 hours. The chef was given items from the pantry and his task was to make something out of it. A few items he had: peanut butter, cheese whiz, coconut milk, ranch dressing, fresh vegetables, Duncan Hines cake mix, curry paste, canned pears, canned chick peas and a few others things. He made about three dishes. I tried a few, but I don't like coconut or curry paste. Yeah. I did try them, but not so good.

This week is easy going. Only two days of work, two classes each day. It's gonna be easy. I hope. I'll keep ya'll updated!

If culinary school is anything like the real world, then the odds to men and women chefs are not good for women and we still have a LONG way to go. In my practical there are only 2 girls and I am one of them. The other 6 people are boys. Crazy. I hope I prove myself in the kitchen.
Tuesday was about fish. There was a demonstration at noon, a perfect time! It was long and kind of boring, but we got good food after the two and half hours of watching the chef cook. Then there was a break of three hours. I went home to eat lunch and chill out for a bit, taking a little nap. Then back to school by 6:40 to change out and gt ready for my practical...my time to cook.
I was not in the mood to cook fish, much less monkfish! I really just don't like monkfish. When I was in Paris, we had to cook monkfish and it was just gross. The fish it self is not nice looking, pretty ugly and slimy and just not good. You can't do anything to make it taste better, at least, I haven't had anything yet to make me like it! While in Paris, we made a lot of fish dishes. Or maybe, scaling, skinning and filleting fish a few times makes it seem like we did it a lot of times. Regardless, I think I only want to cook fish at home that has been made ready for me or wait until I am with my uncle Randall at his house to go the whole nine yards! But yesterday was about fish. Monkfish.
The practical was long. I served a great pot au feu. The chef said "bon". I hope that means good in his eyes. The other dish of sauteed monkfish was not good. Oh well. In my restaurant I won't be serving monkfish in ANY form. The dish on monday was fish and with the same fish and he said I did great, well "bon". I take that as great.
Today is my day off. I've done work for my Club De Amis. My menu is looking good. I went to talk to a chef today, but he gave me some other ideas. I might rethink my menu, but as now, here it is:
App - pumpkin ravioli with sage butter and roasted pumpkin seeds
Main - Venison accented with gremolata butter with side salad, sauteed green beans and sesame seed tuile.
I think I might need a little more to the dish, but I don't really care. I think the chef wants me to add a sauce, but the gremolata butter I think will do just so. I might rethink it, but I think I am just gonna take a chance. I won't be horribly upset if the chef does not pick my menu....but it would be cool!
Well I better get going and do some work. Lots of costing out to do. By the way, Chef kim, if you are reading this....THANK YOU FOR SHOWING ME HOW TO COST THINGS OUT! I actually know what I am doing! It's amazing.

Hello faithful readers,
The week has finally come to an end. I got my first taste in the kitchens and it was interesting. Friday I had my first practical, at 7pm. It lasted about two and a half hours. There are 7 of us, including me. There is supposed to be 8, but the girl never showed up. So I am the only girl my group, B, out of the 7 students. This could be good and this could be bad. I don't know yet.
I was early to class and walked into the kitchen. In the other schools the students got there atleast 15 minutes early to set up their stations. Things work differently here then the other schools. You wait for the chefs to allow you to come in. So you sit and wait for the practicals and for the demos. Good thing to know.
We were in the production kitchen....where the chefs come to assemble their mise en place for demos. So the 7 of us went into the kitchen and began to unload. I felt so weird and actually alittle nervous. I of course picked the smallest space to work on, only a cutting board could fit! But I made it work.
I felt alittle lost. I had no idea where anything was or what to do. Do we use garbage bowls? Do we unpack our knives and utensils and just leave them on the table? So I light my stove or will the chef do it? What the hell am I doing here and why are there no girls?! So I freaked out for a half second, or maybe a little longer, and then pulled myself together. I bugged the guy beside me to ask all the questions, like where are the cutting boards, where are the plates, and where is the fridge? I felt so stupid for asking him these questions, but I never got a tour of the kitchen, so I couldn't feel that bad.
The practical was all about cold dishes- salmon tartar, cucumber with cream cheese and crab, shrimp tempera, stuffed cherry tomatoes, chicken sate, and beef carpaccio (which we ran out of). It took me while to find my groove. The whole idea of mise en place (gathering all your ingredients for the dish together) completely slipped my mind. I did the best I could, so I worked one recipe at a time. And it worked! I was not the first nor the last to present my dish to the chef! That has to say something about me, right? The chef I did good. My sauce was good and my presentation was good too. He was very nice and told me if I needed anything, help with recipes or presentation to come find him. He was very nice and very helpful!
Then it was time for clean up and soon we could go after it. The kitchen is very quite when we were working. No one was really talking except for the occasional questions, which would have been asking something. People are very focused on their tasks, cutting a brunoise (very find dice of vegs) or assembling their plate. It was very different from what I was used to. In Paris, my group was very talkative and we sang alot - Oh Happy Day....In Australia, there was just so much noise from the chefs talking to one another or dishes being dropped for some smart ass joking around. Maybe it all has to do with what cycle I was in at the time. In Australia I did basic so people were just getting to know one another. There were three classes and the classes were all together, in one large kitchen. In Paris, I was in intermediate. People were tired of cooking and the constant repetition of filleting fish and making concasse! We needed something to break up the silence. And in Ottawa, you have to be focused. This is the last step. This is what the chefs really look at when making recommendations. Or maybe, it was just the first day of cooking in a group. Give it time and I am sure the kitchen will become loud and crazy!
I think this school is going to be the best. Definitely more challenging and it will test me, I LOVE THAT! Welcome to superior cuisine 2007. Stay tuned.

CANADA ROCKS!

Orientation was on Tuesday, the 4th. It was long and very informative. It began at 10am and it lasted until about 2:30pm. It was talk after talk, and then a tour of the school, pictures and the basic students got their uniforms and knife kits. I had to run home to get dressed in uniform and rush back to school in time for my superior orientation at 3:30pm. This orientation was short, only 30 minutes, short and sweet!

Wednesday, class began at noon. It was a seminar about Club Des Amis. This is a membership through the school. Superior students put on a lunch in the 3 star, 5 diamond Signature restaurant. We have about a week and a half to find recipes, cost them out for 25 people and then write out the procedure and such. It’s gonna be great!
Each group consists of three cuisine students and two patisserie students. We each assemble a package of the main and appetizer dish, while the patisserie students assemble a package with two desserts. The chef will then determine which recipes go together and thus our menu is born for the lunch date, on Thursday and Friday. It’s gonna be interesting. No Le Cordon Bleu school has a restaurant at their school. The restaurant is the most unique thing to the Ottawa school.

Thursday was our first demonstration. It went well. Our first lesson was about fish. It was about sushi! Fantastic! There are seven recipes that the chef made. For our practical we will be making five of the dishes. My practical, the time I get to make the dishes, will be tomorrow on Friday. I can’t wait to see who is in my practical. There aren’t many of us in superior. So it won’t be crowed in the kitchen for once!!!

I think this school is going to be great. I think I am going to actually learn something and walk away with something other than just the diploma. This whole experience is going to be different and great. Superior is all about creativeness. You have learned the basics and you have the knowledge to apply skills to the dishes. In superior, you get to play and show the chefs who you are. You get to come out of your shell and develop your own style of cooking. Hopefully I will not be disappointing and show great skill and depth of knowledge of all that is culinary! I will come into my own and begin to define who I am as a chef.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA
SUPERIOR CUISINE

ALMOST...THE WHITE HAT IS ALMOST IN MY HAND!

Well, the feat to get to the last step of my degree has proven to be a little difficult, almost more difficult than applying to college! The effort I have put forth to gain admission to Le Cordon Bleu Australia, Paris, London and Ottawa has proven Herculean. But without fail, I have conquered the admission process and I am now about to enter the final step in Le Grande Diploma at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa!

After spending 2 months trying to find housing in the picturesque town of Ottawa, I finally settled on a quaint B and B located less than ½ a mile from school. I am situated between two parks and the river is just a couple blocks from me. I can’t wait to get out and explore. The B and B, Avalon, is actually the cheapest place I could find. Shocking, isn’t it! Ottawa is a growing college and sight seeing town, not to mention the capital of Canada. There are three college/universities in this town alone. There are lots of places to lease, but no short term leasing. Thus, I settled on the B and B. Hopefully my experience here will be better than it was in London. I really hope so. If not, I look at it this way…it is only 10 weeks out of my life. What’s the worst that can happen?

I got into Ottawa around 7:30, a minor delay out of Chicago. I went through customs and immigration, the easiest yet! Got a taxi and got to my B and B, a quick easy ride from the airport. I meet the couple who own the B and B, very nice young couple. Marnie is a sweet woman who is nervous about having a guest staying so long – but she is going to do fine. My room is very nice and it is so much bigger than the London room! But than again, it’s not hard to beat that! The people here are very accommodating and so sweet. It’s gonna be great! I think this last cycle is going to the ONE that is the best!

I have walked a little around the neighborhood today and it seems like a real college town mixed with ethnicity. Like any other town the city is in a grid system. So it is easy to get around and not get lost. There are two main streets, Laurier and Rideau, (well what I think are the main streets) that run parallel. These are the main streets that everything is on. It’s fantastic. On Laurier there are bars and restaurants, the quintessential college town; it reminds me a lot of Auburn. On Rideau there are lots of ethnic restaurants, Indian, Thai, Lebanese, even Korean! I can’t wait to eat at each of these places. I ate Indian last night and it was good!

This is my first time to Canada….well if you don’t count Niagara Falls, which I don’t. So I am really excited and I can’t wait. Hopefully I will have time to exploring outside of Ottawa, if I’m lucky. I’ve heard of wonderful places all around the country, just beautiful places. I am coming at the best time of the year – just in time for fall. I will see the change of summer into fall. See the trees loose change colors and slowly loose their leaves. When I was little, I thought that if I picked all the leaves off all the trees then snow would come. So I would go out into my yard and pulled the leaves off the trees. Disappointed every morning, I would wake to no snow, with the exception of the snow blizzard in 1996 and again in 1998? I’ve had my share of the cold though; going to school to Syracuse, New York has awakened my perception of what a cold winter is. I have trudged through freshly snow laid tracks of those who walked before me at 8 am. I have worn scarves covering my nose, so my nose hairs would not freeze. I’ve experienced a harsh winter, two times too many. But I am excited to be in cooler weather and perhaps have the possibility of seeing a snowflake or two once again, anything would be better than the 100+F weather we Alabamians have experienced this summer!