Life as a student is progressing nicely. I'm over the uniform. It doesn't feel so bad when I'm in class with 30 other people dressed like me, and it's pretty cool to have students from "smart people" majors ask me how cooking is going.
Yesterday was an interesting day. We've learned the basic knife cuts (julienne, brunoise, chiffonade, etc.). Time to learn to tourner. Why do I hate tourner? First and foremost, it's a veggie cut into the shape of a football. Please explain to me how football has taken over not only my husband, but also my schoolwork. The irony is too much to handle. Beyond that, it's a pain in the arse. Take a potato, give it seven even sides, and make it look like a football. It sucks. And I suck at it. Everyone sucks at it. I went to the grocery store this morning and bought 2 pounds of potatoes for practice, in addition to the Red Bliss potatoes I already had. The later I used for practice/dinner tonight. I did 13 of them. One was maybe close to being correct. I will get this right if it takes me 20 years.
We also made clarified butter. (Which I hate because I work in a seafood restaurant with an all-you-can-eat crab leg night.) I burnt mine. Yay me. It was quite disheartening to have Chef Maxwell take my pan off the burner and show other groups as "what not to do." Awesome. Give me some potatoes to tourner and butter to burn and I'm good to go!
And I still love it. I love that class gets me thinking about food in a completely different way. Instead of asking if something tastes good or bad, we speak in terms of spice, seasoning, specific flavors, texture. It's really, really cool. Chef has relaxed a little. He's still difficult, but in a good way. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. It feels......right.
Wine of the moment....Kluge Estates Cru. Unfortunately for most of you, this is a Virginia wine. It's a Chardonnay, fortified with VA brandy, and aged in Jack Daniels barrels. It's beyond sweet. It's fantastic. Who needs dessert when you can have wine? Very fruity, vanilla, almond, creme brule. My sister would love it. And so do I.
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