Today is my first day back to school and first day of the Chef de Cuisine course ~ Part 1, Cooking Basics. The school likes us to get to class 15 minutes before start time. This means that I need to get there by 7:45 a.m. The first day is always a bit slow because I needed to find the cheap parking that I was told about ~ $4.00 per day if in before 9:00 a.m. Today Chef told us about an even cheaper parking place at $2.00 per day with a five minute walk to class. Chef also mentioned that we should save our receipts for our 2011 tax return along with any receipts from purchases of cook books while attending school.
The day started out with an introduction given by the director who I think is a wonderful and engaging speaker. The director did the typical administration talk. Next up we all introduced ourselves and talked a little about ourselves ~ where we grew up and where we worked and/or what brought us to chef school.
Then Chef laid out the ground work for the rest of the semester. Lots of emphasis is put on passing and making sure that we attend all classes, hand in all projects and pass all exams.
In Cooking Basics 1, we have two projects to complete over the 15 week course. The first project on a country of interest (of which we are not too too familiar with) and how food is tied to the people, history and it's culture. Not only do we have to provide a 10 page report, we also have to have a 30 minute presentation prepared. Hmmm public speaking is not my forte. Chef advises that we should start this project right away. Our second project due towards the end of our semester is of a themed restaurant of our choice that includes items to start and keep the business going ~ i.e. fixtures, menu, recipes and costs. This I think will require a bit more work as it seems similar to a business plan for opening a restaurant/business.
The last part of our day included watching a video on a Bocuse competition. This is a very labour intensive competition by international chefs to showcase their skills in presentation and cooking. I don't think this is my cup of tea.
Unfortunately it looks like we won't be in the kitchen this week. I think the main work for this week is studying for our food handling exam which is required before we can even work in a kitchen. As with all schools, we get homework. Tonights homework is to read chapter one of Professional Cooking for Canadian Chef and to complete the questions in the study guide. Chef has advised that all information from the study guide will be on our test/exams.
I grew up in Toronto and moved to Burlington after I married. I'm now single with two children and recently lost my job of 20 years with a financial institution located in downtown Toronto. I've always had a love for food and enjoy cooking for others and myself. I'm slow in getting a meal on the table. I've always wanted to work on my knife skills. Chopping, cutting has always been a slow process for me. I think after so many years in a job that wasn't fulfilling that if I was to go back to work, I should at least do something I'm going to enjoy. So here I am at Chef school, the start of a new begining, the start of a new career!
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