Hey look at this another post and it’s only been a week. Well lots of things happening here at the CIA. I finished Cuisines of the Americas and started Cuisines of Asia. We are making Chinese food the first three days I have been making Moo-Shoo vegetables the last two days. Tomorrow I will be Souse Chef with the responsibility for the entire kitchen. That means lots of stuff to do. First I have to be at class extra early to pick up the food from the store room and the meat form the meat room and have it in the kitchen and all check in for the start of class at 6:45.
I want to thank all of you that keep checking back to see what I have been up to and a big thank you to everyone that leaves a comment as it’s nice to hear from everyone. In fact there are a couple questions I need to answer for the people that have left comments.
Poly Unsaturated asked about a chilled Cranberry Soup for Thanksgiving and I would serve it as a course of the meal. I don’t know what else you server as an appetizer but the soup could be a appetizer course. Also I would love to have the recipe for it so I could try it as it sounds good.
And Fan of Flan asked about what regional cuisine I enjoyed the best. As I had talked about making all that Chicken Fricassee a couple weeks ago and Fan of Flan thought I was more a BBQ person the a Chicken Fricassee person. I would have to say that is probably true. I very much enjoyed all the different cuisines we did in the Cuisines of Americas and I am having fun is Asia’s but so far the food is not so much to my liking.
The best thing for me now is that I no longer have any afternoon classes. Once I am finished in the kitchen I am done for the day.

Hi there
Things have been very busy since the last post as I said at the end of it. Diane was here for a Boot Camp and I stopped and visited with her a couple times and even took her a sample of the food I cooked one day. Also my birthday dinner in the E-Room was great and several of my classmates were dinning in the restaurant that night. My cooking class, Cuisines of the Americas is great the chef does a ton of demonstrations each day and every two days we make food from a different part of the Americas. Next week we start a three week block on the cuisines of Asia. These classes have so many different foods I have never seen or eaten before so I am getting a chance to sample and make some really cool stuff. I can’t wait to have some time to try some of these recipes at home.
Don’t forget if you’re ever in the area or want to come to one of the restaurants to eat let me know and we can hook up and I will show you around the place. This part of New York is starting to get very colorful as fall is fast approaching so it’s a great time to see it and the campus is in a lovely spot overlooking the Hudson River.
So long for now and thanks for stop by to check my progress.

Yes it’s been some time (over a month) since I did a posting but things have been crazy busy here at the CIA. Skills 3 class was way more work than expected Chef McCue work us very hard with extra class work and lots of home work. So far it was my hardest class and the one I have earned the worse grade so far. We were doing production and Chef had us doing way more than is normal. One day I made 63 orders of Chicken Fricassee and sold 50 orders most of my friends made only 20 orders and one of them only sold 2 orders.
One day me and 4 other members of the class helped the Chef make a video he needed to make showing his teaching skills as he is attempting to become a Certified Hospitality Educator. He instructed us on how to make risotto and I was one of the students that were to make it incorrectly so he could show us what we did incorrect. It was lots of fun because there was no pressure to get it done for service and it was just one portion. Then one day about 5 of us helped the chef with preparing the food for a banquet in the Escoffier Room (the premier French restaurant on campus) and I was cooking the mushrooms and green beans for the entire dinner. The Escoffier Room chef was very complimentary to us and it’s a great thing for us in Skills 3 to have been asked to do that as it’s the last kitchen the students cook in before they graduate and we have only been cooking here at school for 12 weeks.
I am now in the Cuisines of the Americas with Chef Keif and we are making cuisine from the north eastern and mid western parts of United Stated this week and next week we move to the south and south west. The class we scheduled to have 16 students in it and we started on Tuesday with only 12. With the 12 we were able to get the food cooked and served on time Monday and Tuesday saw two students out sick so we were only 10 but we still coked all the food required and opened on time but we had to hustle to get it done.
I am still at school this Friday catching up on some stuff and enjoying a glass of wine with some friends. I don’t stay here that often but I feel I am missing out part of the experience by not being here on weekends so every once and a while I stay on Friday night and hang out with some friends. Yesterday I was back in Connecticut at Fine Cooking Magazine for an interview for an internship. We need to find a job for our internship that lasts 18 weeks starting in December so I am working on finding a job for the first time in very many years.
Lots going on here at the CIA next week. First my friend Diane Corcoran from Easton will be here taking a boot camp so it will be nice to see her. Second on Wednesday Heidi is coming up to visit and we are going to eat at the Escoffier Room for my Birthday I am looking forward to that as the evening chef is a friend and I know he will take very good care of us. Also I almost forgot the other day I received a card in my mailbox (I don’t get much snail mail) from the Dean Congratulating me for making the Dean’s list first semester, pretty cool.
So long for now and I will try to post news a little more regular in the upcoming weeks.