Hi A quick update as I had my cooking practical test on Friday I just want to post the results. I had to make Chicken Consommé, Grilled Salmon with Béarnaise Sauce, Duxcelle stuffed Tomatoes, Green Beans and rice pilaf all in 2 and a half hours start to finish. I had no problem getting the work done and my test score was 95 out of 100.

Hey all sorry it’s been some time since my last post but the three weeks of quantity food production was the most busy I have been here at school. We started out in lunch and this is the busiest kitchen on campus they sell between 500 and 600 meals at lunch time and they are only open from 12:30 to 1:30 yes that’s 500-600 meals served in one hour. Class stares at 5:30 am with picking up the food from the store room. By 6:00 we have the food stored away in the kitchen, this is done around the students cooking and serving breakfast. After we finish that it’s off to lecture until 8:15 when we can get into the kitchen and start preparing lunch we have from 8:15 to 12:30 to get everything ready for service. Our class had 12 students and we made six different entrées each day. Once service starts it’s a mad rush to plate the food and get it out. To give you an idea of how much food that might be one day I cut 110 pounds of boneless chicken breasts into chicken strips for spicy chicken strips. The next day I breaded and fried all 110 pounds and we served 160 portions of the chicken in one hour. After service we clean the kitchen until 2:15 when the dinner students come in and start to prep for dinner. At this point we still are not done for the day. We have to have our wrap up meeting with the chef and discuss the plan for tomorrow; we typically finished between 3:30 and 4:00 each day. I did this for 7 days then switched to breakfast and that class started at 1:30 am but finished between 9:00 and 9:30 each day and did that for 7 days. Breakfast does not serve and many meals but everything is made to order so it’s a pretty busy day.

Now I am in a class called Garde Manger, it’s a class about making hors d’ oeuvres, forcemeats, sausage, cured and smoked foods. We did a reception today for about 100 people and it came out really cool looking. We will be making sausage and terrines for the next three days.

I have my cooking practical test this Friday so I have been bust getting all the recipes and game plans I will need to take that ready

Well that’s about all for now and just so you know the Wednesday before thanksgiving is my last day here at the Culinary as it’s the end of my first year. I need to go out and do and internship working for 18 weeks. My plan is to work at the Patterson Club in Fairfield CT and they are building a brand new building that will not be ready until March so I will be taking a short vacation from my training and starting to work in March and it looks like I will return to the Culinary some time August.

Well Asia’s is keeping me very busy. We are making all kinds of food I have never heard of before and have no idea how to make. The chef is a very cool guy and he shows us lots of neat stuff. For the next three days we will be making cuisine of India. And Friday is the final exam for this block and next week we start in the quantity food production kitchen K16. This is the kitchen that produces the largest number of student meals each day around 1200 or so. They typically do 500-600 lunches a day and we start with lunch on Tuesday. We do lunch for seven days the class starts at 6:45 am with a lecture but we have to get the food and have it all put away before the start of lecture so that means we will be starting closer to 6:00 am. After those seven days are over we move to breakfast service and that class starts at like 1:30 am the good news is we are done by about 8:00am so we have all day free but need to get to bead very early. I have lots of work to do over the next couple weeks as we have to a cooking practical test in November before we can go on extern and I need to get all my recipes and game plans set up for that. Thanks for stopping by and visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

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.

It’s been a couple days since the last posting and I am sitting out in the gazebo in front of Roth hall working on my foie gras project and thought it’s time for me to post some news on my blog.
Well it’s been a good week as we started Monday with cooking our fist complete meal. Monday was submerged (deep) poach of salmon with béarnaise sauce. Tuesday was shallow poach of trout with a blance sauce? Wednesday was roasted chicken with pan gravy. Thursday was braised beef short ribs. Friday was stewed chicken. I thought all the dishes came out great but I still don’t like pan gravy. Also this week I received my grade for the Skills 1 class and I earned an A as far as I know the only one in the class to do so. I also found out to day that my chef for the next bloc will be Chef Mc Cue and he is an outstanding instructor. I am very excited to have him and I am looking forward to getting into that kitchen as we will be producing food that is feed to students as their lunch so the pressure is on to have the food ready on time.
The writing class foie gras project is fast coming to a close. I should have the booklet to the printer this week and we do our presentations on Wednesday in the Echo Lab at 4:30. So lot’s has been happening and I have lots to look forward to over the next couple weeks.
I started this posting on Thursday afternoon sitting out in front of Roth hall but did not get to finish it and post it until Sunday afternoon.