Hello blogging world! Its been a long time since I blogged, mainly because I completely forgot and partly because I haven't had much Internet access lately. So, I will sum up my first few weeks of classes and life in the last few months.
After the main WYOBA camps came to an end I went back to Buffalo, in hopes of finding work and a place to live in Sheridan, where I am going to school. Talk about challenging! I turned in several applications and heard back from one! I interviewed and turned the job down because the hours would have interfered with my school schedule, and I had a bad vibe from the interview. Needless to say I called Super 8 and was put back on the schedule there, this week is the last week I am working there tho so the job search is on again!
Looking for a place to live was just as challenging, since its my sister and I we needed a 2 bedroom place that was affordable for us. After much searching, and plenty of gas, we finally found a place! We've been moved in for about 2 weeks now and its starting to feel like a home. My favorite part about this place is the hardwood floors, although they are pretty, they are also v. cold!
School is much more challenging than I anticipated and sometimes I feel like a complete idiot! Take last night's class for example; we had to make shallow poached chicken, deep poached salmon, mashed potatoes (who knew there was a right way and a wrong way to mash potatoes!), steamed broccoli, and spaghetti squash compote. I chose to plate the chicken, which meant that I had to make an extra sauce for it. I used a little too much roux (butter and flour cooked together to be used a a thickener) and my sauce was rather thick....ok it was more like wall paper paste, as Chef demonstrated by turning the pan upside down for a few minutes and it didn't even change shape! Luckily, it is an easily remedied mistake and my partner and I were commended for being only ones who plated the chicken instead of the salmon.
We have 3 instructors in the program, Monty, who teaches all the hospitality and management related classes, Chef RJ who teaches the morning sections, and Chef Tim who teaches the evening sections of the culinary classes. Currently I only have had class with RJ once, and that was a 4 day long sanitation class. Chef Tim is v. knowledgeable and sometimes intimidating, imagine the short French Chef from Ratatouille, add a mouth like a sailor and you've got the right idea.
The school caters different functions in both Sheridan and Johnson County, I have worked on the catering trolley once and this last weekend 20 of us catered a function in Buffalo for the Girl's and Boy's Club of the Big Horns. I worked the sushi station and the shrimp scampi station. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. I am so thankful that we get to do these kinds of functions because it gives us the opportunity to gain experience as chefs and in a public setting. Soon, I will be gaining more experience serving in the restaurant.
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