Sorry it’s been some time since a posting but things have been crazy busy here at the CIA. I have just finished two days of final exams; I had my Food Safely and my Gastronomy finals yesterday and my Math and Product knowledge final exams today. I feel good about how I did and I should get an A in Math and get no worse than B in the other three classes and if I did very well on the finals any one of those could be a B+ or an A-. Next Tuesday we start the Meat ID and fabrication class. Meat class runs for 7 days from 7:00 am to 1:15 pm each day. In this class we will learn about how to identify the different parts of the different animals and how to butcher them to make servable portions. This class fabricates all the meat used by the other students in the kitchens to make all the meals served on campus. Sorry I need to run I promised a young student I would help him in the stockroom studying the various products and it’s time to go.

Hi
I posted a couple of pictures today and I know no picture of me, to be honest I forgot to take one but it really does not matter as most of you know what I look like, but I will get one taken and post it soon. I will also try to answer the comments that fan of flan asked about how living in the dorm and fitting in with the other students is working out.

Sorry for the long delay between postings but things here at the Culinary are very busy, with the class schedule here we complete a complete semester of class work in 6 weeks. I have 5 classes I am taking and each one has a large project to be done for it. I just presented my gastronomy project today so that one is done and out of the way, I have completed the project for product knowledge that is due tomorrow and in fact completed the math one that’s due on next Monday last night. Now all I need to do is keep up with the daily class, home work and reading. Boy doing this college thing is harder now then it was 30+ years ago. It’s all starting to come together in my mind I know am starting to understand the reason we study gastronomy and why it’s important and the impact that chefs like Crème, Escoffier and Point had on the food of their time and how what they did influences what is happening in the kitchens of the great chefs all around the world today. Well that’s all I have time for today need to get to work on my writing homework and the writing project.

Just finished up my work for the day, it was a long day. My school work day started at 6:45 am with a visit to the food stock/storeroom for my Product Knowledge home work. Then it was off to Food Safety class then to Gastronomy class both last 2 hours. Unfortunately I am in class from 9:15 to 1:30 with no break to get lunch. After class I spent the afternoon working on home work until dinner then back to my room for more home work. I will visit the stock room again each morning this week as it’s a great way to see all the food products that are available to the kitchens here and what is available to a chef in today’s market. Tomorrow after my visit to the stock room I have Math class then a meeting with two other students about our gastronomy project then Product Knowledge class until 1:30. After that I have time to do home work or go to the gym before my 4:00 writing class. Until next time.

Ok things are starting to get serious here at the Culinary. This is what I have to look forward to for the next 9 weeks the first 6 weeks is class work Food Safety, Math, Product Knowledge, Gastronomy and Writing for 15 weeks then its 3 weeks of fish and meat fabrication (learning how to butcher a whole fish and large pieces of meat down to the portion size you would get served in a restaurant) after that I get to go into the kitchen and make stocks and sauces for 3 weeks. I have spent all evening printing out class assignments, class syllabus, and power point slide presentations used in class as well as assorted other paper work related to all my classes. I have been meeting lots of interesting people and visiting with some old friends here at the Culinary and am ready to get done to some serious work.

The dorm room is pretty nice, lots of room for 2 people some of the rooms have 3 people in the same space and that gets crowded. Our room is on the top floor of the 3 story dorm so it’s pretty quite so far and the floor has mostly rooms with girls living in them there are only 3 or 4 rooms with guys. Went to Bed, Bath and Beyond today to get a couple things we needed for the room and although the drive is not so bad the hike to the car in the student parking lots is about ½ mile if you parked in the back of the lot like I was. Not so bad going out but coming back and carrying all the stuff it was a long walk. One good thing is with living on campus in the dorm with a room on the third floor is I have been doing a great deal of walking up and down the stairs and all around campus. With any luck that will help me get into a little better shape. Well I need to run as I have some homework to get finished before I go to sleep.

Well the big day finally arrived and I have moved into my dorm room and I am working on getting settled in. My roommate Michael is the same age as me and he is from Waco Texas. Yesterday and today we have orientation stuff and the first day of class is tomorrow. It has been a hectic couple of days with moving in and setting up all my stuff in the room as well as yesterday we had to complete an online alcohol education course for freshmen and it took about 3 hours and did not really apply to a 54 year old student. Michael and I thought it was a waste of time but if we did not do it and pass the test we would get 2 demerits and we did not want that. Well I need to run time for breakfast and then off to the first event of the day.

Well just over two weeks to go until the start or my adventure at the Culinary. Lots to report about today. I received the contact information about my roommate and called him. His name is Michael and he is from Waco Texas and is the same age as me so like he said to me and I quote “I guess it's never too late--even for old farts like us. I think the CIA pairing process is indicative of their concern for the welfare of the students, and that's a good thing. I was worried about getting stuck with a bunch of 20-something’s” my sentiments exactly.
I have been doing the shopping thing getting all the supplies I should need to outfit a college dorm room plus getting new dress shoes, kitchen clogs and other required clothing. The dress code at the Culinary is not like you’re typical college they have a “Professionalism, Uniform and Hygiene Policy” booklet that is sent to each student and it’s 20 pages long covering everything a student needs to know about how to dress and act at the Culinary. No jeans and tee shirts to class or meals, one has to dress professionally when going to and from class as well as in the student dining rooms.
Well I need to run I have lots to get done in the next two weeks, check back often after the 14th to see what’s happening at the CIA