Block 3 . . . Here I Come!

Cold Kitchen is done and I am on to Block 3: Baking & Desserts 1 and Breakfast Services. During this month, the class will be baking a variety of meat pies, muffins, and desserts and running the school's hot breakfast service. My group is starting with meat pies. I can't wait to start measuring and weighing. My group is pretty great too. It consists of our sous chef, Andrea (the next oldest lady in class), Brie and Ashley (the friends from Surrey), young David (from East Van), and Me! I think we are going to have an absolute blast this term.

I'll keep you posted.

There is a thief at VCC. Hold onto your Pants.

(Note: Some names have been omitted to protect the innocent and facts have been embellished for general entertainment value.)

Last week, there was a fourth floor locker-break-in-crime spree. On Wednesday at noon, I arrived at my locker to find the lock missing. Fortunately, nothing had been stolen. I suppose the thief was interrupted. Two other lockers were broken into and the next day, there were three more. I consider this one of the luckiest weeks I've had, because my wallet was sitting in plain sight, just waiting to be snatched.

Unfortunately, one of my classmates (who has asked to remain anonymous) was not so blessed. On Monday, he did not have his locker broken into. Rather, he had his pants stolen!
Here is how the event unfolded:

It was a normal day in the Garde Manger kitchen: Sophiey was whistling, Zach was singing, and Seamus was considering the enormity of the universe. At around 10 a.m., our innocent peer noticed that there was a difference in classroom temperature. Had the extractor fans been turned on? Had someone finally managed to open a window to our hermetically sealed classroom. Whatever it was, he did not let it deter him from his task of creating six beautifully garnished, meat salads. However, when our hapless victim entered the walk-in fridge for some frisee, he couldn't help but notice that his nether regions felt like they were freezing. He shivered for a moment in thoughtful contemplation and it was then that he noticed, he had NO PANTS! In only a hat, chef's jacket, necktie, apron, and tighty-whities our classmate whisked up to the fourth floor and found a pair of black sport pants to wear. As harrowing as the experience was he did manage to complete his daily task and the students of VCC did have their meat salad. On Friday, he had to purchase a new pair of Chef's pants for $30.

So this is a warning to all the VCC students: Beware, there is a thief in a midst. So, watch your locker and definitely hold on to your pants.

Who likes Cake?

My dear teacher, Elizabeth Carefoot, celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary this weekend with her husband Thomas Carefoot. Elizabeth is one of the founding members of the Middle Eastern Dance Association in British Columbia. She is also an extraordinary artist and an all round fascinating woman. Her husband Thomas is a well respected and widely published marine biologist. Google him if you want to know more about nudibranchs.

This Sunday, I was privileged to attend their anniversary party. It was an honour to make the cake for the event. I made an old-fashioned chocolate cake with orange ganache frosting. All of the gumpaste decorations were inspired by Elizabeth's art and Thomas' work in marine biology. Everything on the cake is edible.

Newsflash!!!

This just in . . . on Thursday in the early afternoon, our fearless, yet somewhat clumsy, classmate Andrea Cunningham managed to cut off the very tip of her middle finger. Although the pain was severe, Andrea made nary a sound as she applied pressure to her finger and made a beeline for the first aid office on the main floor. Upon returning to class, brave Ms. Cunningham donned a fashionable, blue latex glove and valiantly (and sanitarily) continued in her sandwich making duties. By 12:30 the throbbing wound had bled through its gauze dressing, thus forcing Ms. Cunningham back to the first aid lounge for further attention. Upon arrival, she was told to go immediately to the hospital for proper medical attention. Ever defiant, Andrea refused and insisted that she would head straight home to North Van for bed rest and Tylenol, after a short, shopping foray at Holt Renfrew.

Ms. Cunningham has stated on facebook that she "is saddened by the loss of her fingertip." We all wish her a speedy recovery.

(Note: the hand in the photo is not Ms. Cunningham's. It is a man's hand I found on google images. The bandaging, however, is very similar to the fine bandaging she received while in the care of VCC first aid.)

A Great Day

Today was a great day at school. Chef Bingley had us make special platters for the Friday buffet at JJ's. Tyson and I were assigned to the cheese platter. However, our first duty when we got in the class was to make our daily entree salads. I was on the seafood pasta salad today and Tyson made the greek. We both had our salads done by 8:30 and then it was upstairs for our cold sauces and salad dressings test.

After break, it was on to our cheese platter. How I wish we had taken pictures because it was ever so beautiful. All I can do now is describe it. The platter itself was a large round mirror. At the back of the platter we built up a pile of cascading grapes, plums, nectarines, and gooseberries. In front of that, at the centre back, there was a small bowl of garnet coloured cranberry orange relish to pair with the cheese. Along the left side of the of the platter were curved rows of gruyere, marbled cheddar, and provolone. At the right back side there was a pyramid of blue cheese, cranberry balls that had been rolled in toasted walnuts. In the centre was some beautiful panko-crusted fried brie. Along the front we had two rows of alternating sesame crusted and poppy seed crusted cheese coins. And in the very front we made some lovely canapes with red pepper studded chevre on toasted lavash with little tomato triangles on top.

It looked very decadent and quite fantastic. When Chef Bingley saw our work he was well chuffed and he said we had done a "top job".

After class, Kris, Andrea, Tyson, and I went to Nuba for some very tasty Middle Eastern Food. We also picked up some off sales from the 340 bar. We took it all to Victory Park and had a relaxing after class celebration.

All in all . . . it was a GREAT day.

I've been away making salad . . .MEAT salad!

I have to admit, I have not been diligent about blogging these last 11 days. After working the short order for a week, my group moved to compound salads and dressings. During that week, I made a lifetime's worth of mayonnaise. It was gross and awesome all at once. As part of our duty, we made six dressings (raspberry vinaigrette, balsamic, blue cheese, green goddess, french, and 1000 islands) for the salad bar and a number of compound salads for the bakery sales. But the best part was truly the gallons of mayonnaise we made on a daily basis.

This week, I'm working on appetizer salads. These are pre-packaged and everyday we make six different salads: tossed green salad, waldorf salad, julienne of vegetables, seafood pasta salad, greek, and MEAT SALAD.

You may be wondering what meat salad is. Is it a joke? An oxymoron? No, it is very serious and it sells out every day. Meat salad is a julienne of deli meats (roast beef, salami, summer sausage, and ham) mixed with julienned cheese, peppers, and onions. All of this is dressed with a vinaigrette and tossed with capers and then served up in 200 gram portions. It is a cafeteria hit. I really do not understand this salad.

I didn't know I could sweat so much.

Yesterday, I worked the grill and the flattop. It was hot. By the time we were done, we had put out 65 orders, and I had sweat clean through my undershirt (Why was I wearing an undershirt?. . . I don't know!!!). Apparently, I looked really rosy. Today, I'm taking orders. That should be a little less sweaty. I took another 2 hour nap when I got home. It would have been longer if I hadn't forced myself up. If I have to nap after today's job, then my wimpiness is fully confirmed.

Once again, our team worked well together. With 65 orders, we were serving a customer every minute and nine seconds. Our special was a grilled pepper and chicken quesadilla with corn and black bean salsa and a side of fries. It didn't sell as well as I thought it would. Initially that surprised me, but then I thought about it. We serve a lot of 18 and 19 year olds. I remember how at that age all I wanted to eat was a burger with fries. And, if I could get it with bacon, mushrooms, or cheese. . .even better. Heck, I don't think I even knew what a quesadilla was when I was 18.

The girl in the picture is not as tough as she looks.

Today was my first day on the hot sandwich line. As part of our Block 2 rotation, our class is in charge of making the salad bar, all of the dressings and mayo, special pre-packaged fancy salads, cold specialty sandwiches, and we run the short order grill. Our class has been separated into four teams of 4 or 5 and my team is working the line.

Within the team we each have an assigned job: taking orders, prepping bread, grilling meat, deep frying onion rings and french fries, and adding the garnish to each plate. I was on garnish today and boy did I learn a lot about me. I definitely need to work on my ability to listen and work. I focussed solely on the people in front of me. It was hard to listen to the orders being called and then understand what they had to do with my station at the end of the service line. As a team, we served 53 customers between 11:30 and 12:45. That's an average of 1 customer every minute and twenty-six seconds. Every plate got a small salad (coleslaw or ambrosia), a pickle, and whatever condiments the customer wanted (lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, mayo, relish, fruit salsa).

All of the customers were very friendly and patient. One of them was even a former student. As I was serving a customer, I could hear a voice from the back of the line calling "Ng! Ng!" It was a pretty discrepant moment for me and I stopped what I was doing to ask, "Is someone calling my name?" My team didn't know what I was talking about since they all know me as Sarah. Finally I saw that it was Edward, a student from about 6 years ago. It was really nice to see a familiar face on the line. And I think that Eddy thought it was pretty funny that his grade 8 teacher was dressing his hamburger for him.

By the time we were finished and cleaned up, I felt pretty good about the job we had done. Tons of credit for the smooth service goes to Tyson and Matt who were stuck in front of the grill, flat top, and salamander. It was stinking hot where they were, but they just kept everything coming out in a timely fashion. And both of them, but especially Tyson, are extremely calm and rock solid under pressure. Like I said, when it was all done I felt pretty good. After school, I picked up some treats from the bakery and I headed to the bus stop with my pal and team mate, Marianne. Once home, that's when I found out what a wuss I was. Almost immediately, I had to climb into bed for a 2 hour nap. I think it's because I'm the oldest . . . and a big sissy.

Missing the Kids and the Colleagues.

Today is the big day. First day of school. Normally, I would be waking up all night and checking to see if my alarm clock was actually set. Well last night, I had a great sleep. So now I am waiting for the "missing the first day of school" ache to set in.

My parents, both of whom are elementary school teachers, were full of energy last night. They kept talking about going to bed early, seeing their school friends, and seeing the kids. I admit, I feel a bit of a pang. School opening is an exciting day for any teacher. A strange mixture of dread, mixed with freshmen euphoria, builds until that first homeroom. On the first day of school 99% of the kids and staff are excited to be in the building. And there are so many changes. The kids are all taller. The new grade 8's are full of wonder. Colleagues show up with great stories. Some spent the Summer travelling the globe, some come back married or pregnant, and others come back single and living in the city. There is always a ton of news and energy. And the office . . . the office is always a madhouse full of new registrants and kids complaining about schedules. It is all very FUN.

So I think I am going to miss it. While I'm making sandwiches on the line today, I'll be thinking about the new grade 8's I won't be meeting. I'll be thinking about all my workmates and friends.



I hope the day goes off as smoothly as possible.