The Difference is Night and Day

I started Foundations Two class tonight with Chef Wook Kang.

Whoa. Talk about a night and day difference.

Chef Kang is much more organized, calm, cool, collected, and easier to get along with than my former instructor. And he’s a bear for discipline (which our group certainly needs!). The more straightforward and disciplined approach is a welcome change. I was frustrated in my last class by things feeling too chaotic for me to concentrate and learn. Tonight we did a knife cut quiz, made veal stock, then ended with a written quiz. Everything seemed to flow smoothly from one part of the class to the next, and while we certainly got a lot done, it never felt rushed or chaotic.

Many of the folks from my prior class are in this one, so I already know everyone. Some went to a different class, and some I found were held back! They just didn’t get the grades they needed and so they have to repeat Foundations One (with a different instructor). Campus IT seems to have finally fixed the problem with my grades, though the instructor from my last class filled in a couple as estimates. I barely got by with a B- in Sanitation and a flat C in Culinary.

Oof.

I dunno, though. I had a nice long weekend to think about it, and things certainly feel different this time. My whole attitude and approach is different. I’ve made a lot of progress towards changing my patterns (the ones that got in the way, at least!), and I’m feeling better about what I’m doing overall. My focus is sharper, and I feel more confident in what I’m doing. I think the six-week blocks are a perfect way to segment the classes, as they give you enough time to get immersed in what you’re doing, but not enough time to feel too comfortable or get into a rut. They keep you on your toes at CHIC, that’s for sure!

So here’s to the new class. We’ll see what lies ahead.

A Moment of Zen

Wow, this past week has been – hellacious.

This whole 'working-full-time/school-full-time' thing has really taken some getting used to. I try to use the weekends to get caught up and read ahead so I’m prepared, but then I end up working tons of overtime! This is the super-busy season at my job now, so there’s not much choice in that.

But I think I’ve finally reached a ‘balance point’ with things. At one point I had hit bottom, thinking that I’d definitely bitten off more than I could chew and made a big mistake. Then I realized that I’m putting too much energy into all of this, which only raises my frustration level to the point where I want to give up. Especially when things don’t go well.

And things certainly didn’t go well this week.

I missed Monday’s classes for a stupid reason, which I later realized was my ‘burn-out’ point. The rest of the week saw ever-increasing pressures in class and at work. Not only was I working overtime every day (by getting in extra-early), but we had exams and heavy-duty cooking practicals at school. I’d come home burnt out, hit the sack and get up the next day to start it all over again.

And a funny thing happened – I learned to relax. ☺ It seemed as if the more over-worked I was, the less energy I had left to worry and stress about things. That doesn’t mean I slacked off, ‘cause I certainly couldn’t. But it means that when things didn’t go well, I didn’t stress, I just rolled with it and moved ahead, doing what I could and letting go of the mistakes.

‘Twas a good thing, too, ‘cause man, Chef can get ornery when things don’t go well!

He called Thursday night’s class a big ‘cluster you-know-what!’ and shouted at the whole class. We were running around trying to make a Béarnaise sauce with a vinegar reduction for our grilled and marinated chicken. Sure, some people got it done, and done well. But some of us… well, we take a little more time to learn than others.

I first screwed up the reduction by not straining it, then screwed it up by not using enough vinegar. I couldn’t crack an egg without screwing that up, too! I know I was getting more and more frustrated, and that was sapping my concentration. But by then we had to pack it up and start cleaning, so I essentially didn’t get anything done at all.

Fact is, I’m a slow learner. It’s always taken me longer to get things, and I have to make lots of mistakes to eventually get what I’m doing. Problem is, the classes just aren’t structured that way. You either get it right away or you don’t, and there’s not enough time for slowly-but-surely figuring it out.

But I’ve learned to let go and stop stressing about that fact. That doesn’t mean I’ve given up, it just means that I accept I won’t get as far as some people in my class. Some of these folks have been cooking in restaurants since their teens! This is all brand new to me. ☺

So I’ll focus that energy on what I’m doing instead of stressing about what I’m not, and if it doesn’t turn out as well as it should have, oh well. I’ll keep moving forward. I found out I have Chef Wook Kang for my next Foundations class, which is awesome. The CHIC Podcast is part of why I got into this in the first place, so it’ll be great to learn from him. Here’s hoping I have Chef Beckman for one of my baking/pastry classes!

Now it’s back to work (!), and hopefully I’ll get some studying in, too. Peace out, and Namaste.

Tourné This!

Or, “Will I EVER learn to cut a potato?!?”


It was back to potatoes tonight, this time a tourné (to turn). I swear, I am gonna get these knife skills down even if it kills me.

I almost tourné’d my thumb off. ☺

We used small, new potatoes, started at one end with a bird’s beak knife, then turned the potato away from us while holding the blade along the end, cutting a curve across the surface. We then followed that along, making curved slices along the length of the potato, all the way around, until we (supposedly) had a football shape.

Mine looked like sawed-off lumps of, well, you know.

I barely even had the basic instructions down, and I think Chef was rather frustrated when he saw I’d tourné’d about a dozen of these things wrong by lopping off the ends as well. Sheesh, I gotta take better notes…

In all, it was quite a learning experience. I found a really good video on this technique on YouTube, though the guy does it real differently than we were taught in class (his way looks easier!).

There’s also some decent discussion on it over at Chef2Chef. I love one poster’s little tagline: “If you don't talk to your cat about catnip, who will?” Heh heh! Stoned cats…

A’ight, it’s gettin’ late. I’m hittin’ the sack. Namaste.

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.