Where I’m At – An Attempt to Jumpstart

So it has been months since my last post. Admittedly, I’ve been preoccupied by the in-and-outs of culinary school and haven’t had much time to write. I, however, promised myself to begin writing again -- much to the happiness of some friends who think my posts rather amusing. I’m not promising anything though.

Now where to start?

Last week Friday sealed the fate of some award hopefuls (well hopefully not) -- myself included. Mid-terms was a mean mother… most especially the identification part. Imagine going through 120 numbered items with the task of identifying each and every one. Might not seem daunting to some, but to us mortals, it is more than confusing. Sure there are a couple of unmistakable items in the mix, like vanilla extract, salted and unsalted butter, rosemary, etc. but its all downhill from there. It gets really difficult to tell the subtle differences of various vinegars, more so, after smelling and tasting one after the other in succession. Not to mention telling the difference and identifying the various mysterious white powders which are also situated next to one another. Would probably be able to sort everything out given enough time, sadly, we were only given an hour to tell our Port wine from our Madeira. So that roughly translates to having to identify 2 items per minute minus the seconds I spent ‘oooooh-ing’ and ‘ahhhhhh-ing’ to the items I DO know. It was so bad that I had to milk each moment of satisfaction from each item I’m sure I’m getting right. I mean, I had to pat myself on the back for knowing something to stop my confidence from completely fizzling out on me mid test. But man was it tough.

There was of course, a silver lining. The identification part of the test made the essay part seem like *ding ding ding* bonus round. Heck yeah!! Ok fine, it was open notes, but then again, if you didn’t bother studying or actually doing something during kitchen hours then no amount of notes nor Larousse or Gisslen can save your ass. In the end, no self-respecting person in my class turned in their papers without making sure those essay answers would gleam under the sunlight and bring tears of joy to Chef Gene’s eyes as he combs through them later. This was redemption damn it! God knows the mess of a test I left in part one, so it was make or break time.

There was another part to this culinary triathlon which frankly, I didn’t feel like I went through after the endorphin high I got from finishing the former. It did however entail another gauntlet of taste tests, one of which was distinguishing from real (2 days worth of work) demi-glace and the Knorr (demi in pixie dust form +water) demi-glace. I think I did ‘fairly well’ on this one though as compared to the identification part. But as all things, everything is up in the air until it lands -- in this case, hopefully, not in a thud of disappointing failure.

Aside from last week’s dismal ending, I can honestly say, my enthusiasm has not waned nor faltered. I still arrive an hour and a half to two hours too early for class, I still take pride in my reflection in the mirror donning full kitchen battle garb and I still wake up hoping that there’s class everyday. Some things ARE getting to me though. I find myself more and more critical of the things that I would order when I eat out. I would catch myself taking jabs at the dishes that seem to me, mediocre. I sometimes feel like inflicting bodily and emotional harm to kitchen teammates who habitually make newbie mistakes. I noticed that I would sometimes get irritated for not having done my best at something. I’m not sure yet if these developments are positives or negatives, but I know something is changing. And it’s exciting. I just hope I don’t turn into one of those overly critical perfectionist gastronomes that must have a huge gourd stuck up their pooper.





FoodieGoesCulinary,
JC Dayo

foodiegoesculinary.blogspot.com