Let's Cheat Again...Like We Did Last Summer

Last week was my first week back to culinary school.

Sigh.

For reasons I can't quite explain, I'm wasn't all that excited about going back. I think in part it's just that I'm sick of school - pastry was only meant to be 18 months (which it was) and then commercial cookery was meant to be another year. In late January I was told it would be another 2 (!) years. I don't think I have it in me to keep that up - but I wouldn't be happy with just abandoning it, so I've decided to stick it out to June. In June I can graduate with the lowest level certification for a (general) chef. I'll have already graduated with the highest level certification for a pastry chef, and frankly, that's where I want to be anyway. Anyway - so I go back to school, and was warmly greeted with hugs and kisses and "we missed you!" and the other banter that goes with a bunch of 20-something, Israeli/Singaporean/Japanese/Mauritian wanna-be cheffies.

Those who have followed this blog for a while would know of my exploits with The Cheffie. Fact is, he is both a nice person and an excellent (if somewhat frustrating) chef to work with. Last Friday we got this introduction-slash-lecture all about the second stage of our degree. Basically, all the hand-holding is over now, this is the real deal. So included in the lecture were all the things we are not allowed to do - share work (eg plagarism), share mise en place (eg your bench partner can't chop enough onion for the two of you) and so on and so forth. Also included in the lecture was all the things we are supposed to be able to do now - source recipes on our own, run various restaurant kitchen sections, etc. It was a somewhat daunting lecture, and in all honesty somewhat intimidating.

Needless to say Cheffie (who at the time was sitting across the aisle from me) - was listening to this and smiling a very smug smile. He looked at me, winked a very deliberate wink and said (in Hebrew), "Azz mah ha bayah?" which translated me, "SO? What's the problem?" Clearly, HE wasn't intimidated in the slightest.

This term's lessons include cooking for paying customers in a real restaurant and the various forms of protein (beef, lamb, pork, offal...). It even includes an all-day lesson in the butchery department where we butcher entire cow, pig and lamb.

Me thinks good blog fodder cometh.