Heart Shaped Grilled Cheese

Another week has gone by at the CIA for me and it has been a blast. I am working with the Special Events department. We cater weddings and other activities on campus. Just yesterday I put in a ten hour day working on a catering job for a 150 person wedding on campus. Just to give you a heads up on how much that would run you, we charge a minimum of $100 a person for catering. Depending on what you want and any special services like more apps, a raw oyster bar or sliders after the ceremony, it will cost more. So, lets just say that you would be spending a pretty penny to have your wedding ceremony or reception at my school.

I've also started a job at the campus store. We run a flavor bar where people from the public can come in and watch a video guided presentation on different types of olive oil, chocolate or tips on how to calibrate their palates. I do a little bit of everything from the flavor bar, to general help in the store to shipping and receiving. I am excited about it because it pays just as much as Special Events does, yet is much more laid back.

This week I will be finishing up Product Knowledge and Food Safety. Both of which have been fantastic. Product Knowledge has guided us through how to look for the best type of produce. We've also been able to taste ingredients in their raw state so we can know how to alter the flavor from there. In Food Safety, we are going through the ever-so-popular ServSafe program, which seems like it is dragging. And how it is! This course is designed for one day certification and we are stretching it into three weeks worth.

Starting a week from tomorrow is Meat Fabrication and Identification. There I will learn all the different cuts of meat and how to trim, cut and butcher them according to what I will be using it for. It should be a little more intense than what I have had so far, which is exactly what I want.

Professional sets this school apart from any other culinary school in the country. We are required to be in a full, traditional chef's uniform now that we have outgrown our business casual. I have received my chef whites with my name on them. The air about the school could be seen as snotty, uptight, but I beg to differ. If you ever get that feeling, sit in on one of my classes and I will introduce you to some of the most passionate people I have ever met. Ron loves his Zinfandel almost more than his wife. Steve, although he cuts himself at work regularly, knows how to run a restaurant in the industry with great knowledge. A.J. may be a brown-noser, but he sure does never give up. Anil is a good friend and a great listener, willing to learn all that he can. These are the people I get to spend my schooling with. We laugh and share some awesome memories while keeping a light heart about everything all the time. It's people like this that I cannot wait to work with in the near future.

Since it is the weekend, I will leave you with a descriptive menu of what I helped prepare last night for the wedding.

Appetizers:
-Grilled cheese cut into hearts
-Grilled lamb chops with red wine reduction sauce
-Tuna tar-tar in a fried filo dough cone

1st Course:
Fresh Mozzarella and butternut squash tortellini atop a pool of heirloom tomato sauce and tomato concasse. Finished with a fried green tomato, basil oil, parmesan cheese and micro basil.

Main Course:
Sauteed spinach with white corn risotto. Beef tournadoes (filet) with carmelized onions accompanied with herb crusted halibut with a red wine reduction sauce.

Daily Bite:
There are certain fruits that do NOT ripen once picked. No matter how long you leave them out, in a paper bag or in the fridge, these fruits will only change color, but never get any sweeter than they once were on the vine. Examples include pineapple, citrus (except lime), grapes, watermelon, berries and cherries. These types of fruit are best when purchased from a local farmer, where they are picked more ripe than their supermarket counterparts.

Day 18: Chair Jacker

Despite having my chair stolen from me in the middle of lunch today, things have been going very well. Gastronomy ended last week on a high note. We discussed the history of restaurants and how it has related to what we see today when we go out to eat. It's interesting to see the evolution of how we've spent our money regarding food. We now spend more money eating out than we do on food we purchase to cook at home.

As of this week, I have now started Food Safety and Product Knowledge, both of which are extremely interesting. In Food Safety we are learning the Serv Safe program and how to avoid food-borne illnesses. After listening to my professor for an hour and a half, I hesitate to eat out at any sort of restaurant and I feel compelled to sanitize everything that I touch everywhere. Despite the uneasiness of my stomach during the class, I am eager to learn more about how to keep my food safe. (I'm a nerd, you don't have to remind me.)

Product Knowledge is our first hands on course here at the CIA. Not only do we learn about how to identify produce, but we also are tasting and experiencing the first aspect of cooking. Today we dived into leafy greens and cabbage. We tasted various pieces of lettuce and cabbage including cheddar cauliflower (orange colored cauliflower), graffiti cauliflower (purple colored cauliflower), and rainbow chard. We have this book call the Professional Chef and it is essentially a bible for culinary education. This book guides us through all of products that we will encounter in this course.

I cannot wait until I further my knowledge in this subject so I can update a little better. As of now I will leave you with today's menu.

Breakfast
-Fruit
-Banana Blueberry Muffin

Lunch
-Roasted Chicken with fine herb gravy
-Roasted baby carrots
-Spicy Eggplant
-Shrimp and Pine nut fried rice
-Broccolini

Weekly Desert Count: 3