Discipline and Class Statistics

I survived week number one and am midway through week two. Our instructor Chef Krentz is very straightforward. Even though he seems strict, I think that by chef standards, he is quite easygoing. Today he talked to the class about being too chatty. When we are working, there should be very little, to no, peripheral conversation. A few people in the class are learning to grasp the concept of discipline the hard way. What, may you ask, is the hard way? Well it happens to be burning your roux, adding ingredients in the wrong order, asking questions that have already been answered, forgetting to bring paper and pencil, or failing to wear your hat and then having the chef very publicly point out your error. You don't want to be the teachable moment for the whole class.

About the class. Here is the class make up. There are 8 girls and 11 boys. I think 7 people are between 17 and 19 years old. There are 4 students in their early twenties. At least three students are in their late twenties. There are two Chris's in the class. Chris is 30 and Kris with a K is 33. And that officially makes me the class senior citizen. Also, four of us are from the East Side, one person is from Saskatoon, two students are international (Panama and Korea), one girl is from Vancouver Island, one young man is from North Van, the other old guy is from Vancouver, and the rest of the class is from the burbs (PoCo, Richmond, Tsawassen and Surrey). It's a good mix.

So far we have cooked fish stock, vegetable stock, and brown stock. We have also made vegetable paysanne (a soup), cream of mushroom soup, chicken veloute, fish veloute, and bechamel sauce. Everyday we practice our knife skills. So far I have not cut myself. However, 5 of my classmates have been nicked or sliced by the business end of their chef knives.

I'm still having fun. I hope I don't get cut. I hope I stay off of Chef Krentz's radar.