garde manger (and pausing before I post)

It's important to me to be real and authentic in this blog.  I want to capture this experience of culinary school and my feelings as clearly as possible.  But I must also remember that this thing is living out in the world wide web, so grace and discretion are equally important.  Once I put something out there...it's out there and irrevocable.  That's a bit intimidating.  At the same time, I appreciate that the permanence of a blog makes me pause and think before I push "publish".  It's like my parents told me when I was younger, "think before you speak."  I spend a lot of time deciding what I want to capture in this blog for myself and what I want to share with others.

That's why I didn't post after last week's class.  I've been negotiating with myself all week on what to write and how to write it with grace and discretion.  I'm glad I paused.  I'm glad I took some time to let my feelings settle a bit before writing.  I don't mean to be alarming - basically, last week's class was disappointing.  The subject was Garde Manger (which basically means the cold part of the kitchen).  We focused on salads and sandwiches...not a tough subject matter.  But for various reasons, the class was a disappointment...I left class questioning everything...it was a tough week.

But thank goodness for new days.  I worked Sunday Brunch over the weekend and fell in love with the experience all over again.  As a CP2 student, I was given more responsibility during prep.  Instead of just prepping ingredients for other people to cook with, I was actually making things (red pepper coulis, yellow pepper coulis, salsa verde and confetti orzo).  I was able to offer assistance to the CP1 students - not really cooking help (I'm not there yet), but I could tell them where things were located.  It was a nice feeling not to be the new kid in the kitchen.  During brunch, I worked the omelet station solo.  We usually have two people on omelets, but we were extremely short staffed as this was the first brunch of the semester.

The Omelet Station Mise En Place

Last night's class was a continuation of Garde Manger, but this time we focused on hors d'oeuvre and canapés.  And for various reasons, last night's class was much better than last week's.  I learned a ton last night and that is what I expect from every class...the learning is what makes this crazy adventure worth the time, stress and sacrifice.  And I also believe the learning is what makes it fun.  Sometimes we will learn the most from our mistakes (I learned a ton from sauce class last semester and I was riddled with mistakes that night) and other times we will learn from our cooking successes.  Last night wasn't mistake-free, but we enjoyed lots of little successes (thanks to good instruction and awesome teamwork) and we had a blast!

Below are some photos of Table 3's creations:

Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Deviled Ham Tea Sandwiches
 (yes, the ham salad sort of looks like cat food, but unfortunately, it's supposed to - bleh!).

Chorizo Puffs

Cocktail Corn Cakes with Spicy Mango Salsa

Table 3's Appetizer Creation: Mexican Chicken Wontons with a Lemon Cream Drizzle