Those Darn French And Their Bâtonnet!

Finally we got to cook something! After a scintillating video on parasites, bacteria and fungi, we finally got to break out our kits and demonstrate our knife skills!

Mine suck.

Seriously, I had no idea it’d be so hard to cut a frickin’ potato! In nice straight lines, we had to make a perfect small dice, then make French fries. For cryin’ out loud, if I can’t even cut a potato straight…!

But mmmm, the French fries were good! I’m glad at least some of the folks in our class were better at it than me. ☺

It’s a pretty fun class, too. On just the second day people are relaxing and getting to know each other, and we’re a pretty friendly group. In all honesty, I’ve had that whole ‘am I gonna fit in’-nervousness thing goin’ on since I signed up, but I can ditch that as this is a real easy group of people to get along with.

But hey, in that French fry frame of mind, I found a list of the best-voted fries in Chicago. It’s from ’07, but a quick search ‘round the ‘net shows most of these places are still in business:

http://chicago.citysearch.com/bestof/winners/2007/french_fries

So there it is. Now I’m hungry.

Peace.

First Day!!!

Back to school!

I really wasn’t sure what to expect, and found myself pretty unprepared as well! You mean I need a… a pen? And a… a notebook?? Now why didn’t I think of that?? Can’t I just play with my knife kit? :)

I guess the prospect of sitting for long stretches of time and taking notes just didn’t enter into my concept of culinary school. But there I was, learning about food safety and sanitation, and about famous French chefs, and having to take notes! I guess it has been a long time since I’ve been in school…

But the hour is late and my mind is weary, so I’ll leave it there for now. I’ve got to get up early and (gasp!) read!! Peace.