Dear Blog....

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry I've been neglecting you for over a month. I haven't been seeing other blogs, but I just haven't had time for you. Between my family and my course-load, you unfortunately are the one that has to suffer. Although I'd like to say I'll pay more attention to you in the future, we both know that might be an empty promise.

Now that I have that apology out of the way, now I have to sum up the last month:

The final two weeks of Food Production & Service went well.....really well.....final mark of 97% well. The class average for the course was 77%, and I'm pretty sure I had the highest mark in the class. I hope I didn't peak too soon....too many courses remaining.

I just finished week #2 of my final rotation for this term. I am currently in Entremetier/Cold Cuisine I. It is two courses in one, taught by the same instructor, so they are taken concurrently....not exactly sure how that works, but by the end of April, I'll have two more courses under my belt. In this course I rotate through four stations:
Entremetier, 2 stations, vegetable prep and starch prep
Cold Cuisine, 2 stations, sandwich and salad

I still have 7am class, so that part hasn't changed. Benefit: traffic is very light at 6:30am. Drawback: I'm up at 5am everyday, even on weekends when I don't need to be.

My instructor for this course is Chef Linda Hellingman. She is a very interesting instructor; very sarcastic, very knowledgeable, and wants us to taste as many different things as possible. We have tasting sessions during class time. In the past two weeks, (on various days), this is what I've eaten at 7am:

Dragon fruit, passion fruit, key limes, regular limes, pineapple, starfruit, cape gooseberries, tamarillos, asian pear, medjool dates, lychees, papaya, plantains, pomelo, jerusalem artichoke, shittake mushrooms, chantrelle mushrooms, morel mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, button mushrooms, portabella mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, waxy potatoes, mealy potatoes, dill, cilantro, basil, tarragon, oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary.

During kitchen time, I've tasted many more things...way too many to list. In addition, we work out of one of the second year kitchens, so the Charcuturie class often has things for us to try, such as:

Elk, rabbit, horse, pheasant, quail, beaver, moose, duck, fois gras, various pates/terrines/forcemeats, and other mammals and birds that I didn't identify before having a taste.

More about Entremetier/Cold Cuisine I some other time (maybe).

This week has been interesting. I was asked by my instructor from Food Production & Service (Chef Jeff McCourt) if I would help him out for an event Saturday night.

The event? The 2011 PEI Chefs Association Gala Dinner.

This is a seven course meal where the 2011 PEI Chef of the Year award will be announced. Chef Jeff is responsible for the soup course (Parsnip-Apple-Vanilla cream soup with a walnut bread pudding) , so I helped him prep today and will be helping him at the Gala. I was pretty flattered to have been asked. Tickets to this event are $150 each and needless to say, there will be lots of chefs present. This will be quite an experience. With any luck, I may even write about it in the next few days.