Serious Foodie: Day 1

I feel like I just got home from a date! Tonight was sooo much fun! I arrived, got my new apron and sat down. We listened to the chef dude (he started the school with the intention of teaching amateur classes - that's what he is most interested in) who talked about what we would be doing for the day: chicken stock, then soup using the stock. Now I'm sure you all know how much I love soup. I've made a lot of it, many different kinds, but my methods are going to change now! I learned so much! So many tips and techniques, advice on ingredient selection, knife techniques and tips on how not to cut yourself and increase efficiency. It was so great! I'm already super excited for next week.

So the chef (I never did catch his name) demonstrated how to do the stock, we split into groups of 4 and went and made it. As it was simmering (and being tended to by the full time chef students - who also did ALL the cleaning) he demonstrated how to do the soup, which we then went and did. When it was all done, we served our bowls, garnished them and sat back down as he handed out glasses of wine. I initiated a "cheers" at our table and we ate. It was delicious. A gypsy soup he called it, with a southwestern flair. Basically carrots, onion, celery, roasted red pepper, jalapeno, garlic, tomato, cumin, oregano and red pepper flakes, chicken from making the stock and garnished with avocado, gruyere cheese, tortilla chips and lime juice. Fantastic! I'll be making that again - and so easy to modify!

Not sure what we're making next week, but apparently it'll be a 3-course meal... eating each course as it is finished. Very fun. Seems like a good group too. I'm the youngest, but it seems like I'm the youngest in most of the things I do. I was sitting next to 2 guys whose wives bought them the course as Christmas presents. What a good way to get your men to cook! I think they really enjoyed it though... you can't be good at it unless you love it! And I do!

The more I think about it the more I see the association between what I do at work - following protocols in the lab - and cooking where you follow recipes. Except cooking is so much more rewarding! I doubt DNA preps taste very good. I enjoy what I do at work, I really like working in the lab doing "experiments". I don't really know how I ended up doing what I'm doing now, I liked biology in high school and just kind of kept following that along. I never took a cooking class in high school - they conflicted with my more serious academic classes.

I'm not saying I regret the path I chose, quite the contrary, I learned a lot, not only in the areas I was studying, but also about myself. But the more I learn about myself and the more I realize what my hobbies and interests are, the more I realize I'm not really interested in going further my chosen field of work.

But I'm getting away from the reason for this post - my class was great! I'm thrilled I got in at the last minute. I'm super excited for the remaining 7 classes and just as excited for the Serious Foodie Pastry course that I start when this one is finished.

And it was sunny today - I took advantage of that as much as I could by walking to and home from work today! Woohoo! I think I'm out of my slump... for now. :) Stupid rain... brings you down so much you forget that the little things really don't matter. Just be happy! I was a little frustrated leaving work today but I fell back on my yoga and took some deep breaths - the cold air woke me up and the sky felt so big and blue. A very good day. And now, goodnight, sweet dreams.