Author Archives: Marlana

What a Week

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I feel like I’ve been running a thousand miles an hour this week, it has flown. Today in school I made some Béchamel sauce that I turned into Alfredo sauce and served up with some fettuccini and pan fried chicken (my cooking partner made the chicken and I didn’t eat it). The Alfredo sauce was delicious and super easy to make. I actually felt a little like this:

noidea

the whole time I was cooking, but it came out okay. Today I learned that Béchamel sauce is totally not as hard to make as it looks when you read the directions.

Monday was a whole other story. Get me baking and I’m fine, in the savory part of the kitchen I’m lost even though I cook at home all the time.

Double Chocolate Bread Pudding

Case in fact: double chocolate bread pudding. This stuff is yummy. It’s like a super rich, moist chocolate cake. Actually, it started out as a dense fudgy cake that was broken into chunks and soaked in chocolate custard sauce, topped with cinnamon and sugar and chocolate chips and then baked. Holy crap this stuff is amazing. It’s a little crisp on top and then moist and soft inside. I could eat a huge pan of it every day.

I am still loving school. Everyday after class I come home and I’m so happy and so full of adrenaline that I just can’t sit down, so I’ve been cooking at home, too. Small things usually, heating up something quick for lunch Monday and then a big pot of soup yesterday. I finally have the feeling that I’m where I belong and I never would have dreamed it would be in a kitchen.

I’ve been knitting at night, too, and I’ll try to have some kind of update Friday. Have a great rest of the week!

First Day in the Kitchen

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Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

Today was our first day in the kitchen in my baking class. I had so much fun, it was just what I expected. We made a chocolate cake that we’re going to use to make bread pudding next week and then we made strawberry rhubarb cobblers with pâte brisée crust. Everything was made from scratch and it took a long time. Plus there were tons of dishes to wash (yes, we wash our own dishes) and a huge mess to clean up when we were done. Honestly, the dishes weren’t that bad, but there were a lot of of them. I had a blast cooking, I always do. I’m really starting think I found something that fits. I’ve been trying to find something I really love to do for a long and I never dreamed it would be any kind of cooking but here I am.

I’m out of school tomorrow and then I have my cooking class Wednesday and we’re starting stocks, sauces, and knife skills. I think we’re going to make soup, too. I’m really looking forward to it.

Busy Busy

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Got My Uniform Today!

This has been such a busy week. I’m only taking three classes but two of them are four hours long and the other is two hours and forty-five minutes and there is a ton of reading and homework to do. This was actually a really good week. I’m getting used to being back at school and all the nerves I had about my classes are (mostly) gone. I’m having a lot of fun so far and next week I get to start cooking. Yay!

A Little Knitting

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Shetland Shawl in Progress

This picture is really awful but here’s what I’m knitting. This is Granny Cheyne’s Shetland Shawl from Wrapped in Lace by Margaret Stove (mine’s on Ravelry here). Way back (ha!) in 1999 when I started knitting I would sit and drool over the few pictures of Shetland shawls that I would see online and I loved them. They always seemed like something to shoot for, to be able to knit with that super thin yarn on those long, little needles and have this gorgeous lace come out seemed almost unattainable. I’ve felt up to the task for a few years but never found a pattern that called out to me (except the Princess Shawl and I will knit it someday) until Wrapped in Lace came out. This pattern just looked perfect. It’s a big square traditional Shetland shawl with true knitted lace, with patterning on both sides of the fabric) knit in real lace yarn with tiny (US2) needles. It has a variety of patterns and it’s just difficult enough to be interesting but not so much that I’m ripping my hair out in frustration (I have had to rip back a few long rows and I completely frogged the border twice about halfway through it). This is the only thing on my needles right now and I’ve only had time to do a row or two before bed but it is enough. The shawl is slowly growing and I’m just a few rows from finishing the borders and then I have a lot of sewing to do.

More next week. Have a great weekend. I’m going to read about nutrition and menu planning.

Back to School

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Back to School

Today was my first day back at school after my winter break and it started nice and early, at 8AM, with my CUL101- Intro to Food Prep & Theory class. It was a little overwhelming, the amount of equipment, the things we have to learn, trying to remember how to use the ranges and ovens and the dishwashers. We took a tour of the kitchen and the one thing I took the most notice of is how tall everything is and how high off the floor everything is stored. I can barely reach the Salamanders (the big industrial broilers) and the light switches are about a foot higher than I can reach. Those are things I can deal with. The chef who is teaching the class says he’s had other vegetarians and they did good in the class, most of what we will be cooking is meat, I’ll even have to breakdown a chicken in a few weeks. Yuck. I was worried about the meat stuff but I think it’s going to be fine. I’m nervous about this class but still very excited.

Tomorrow I have my Purchasing and Product Identification class and then next Monday I start my Intro to Baking and Pastry class. That’s the one I’m most excited about. Sure, sauces and soups and hot cooking is fun but it’s the baking and pastries that I’m in school for and what I’m ready to start.

The biggest problem I’ve had so far is actually with my uniform. I had to have the basic student’s uniform, a white coat, checkered pants, baker’s cap, and four-way apron. I had to buy my uniforms from the school so I could have them deducted from my grant so they cost a little more and the sizing was crazy. My uniforms are three sizes bigger than my street clothes. And my pants were about six inches too long and the coat was huge in the arms and chest so I have to have it taken in. I found someone to alter it and they are both there now and I just hope they’re back on time, I called them today to ask if they can be rushed. It’s just crazy. I got my shoes over the weekend and ended up getting a pair on sale half off that fit great and they are really comfortable. I got these Dr. Scholl’s work shoes on sale for $25 and they are just perfect. I hope they hold up.

So, I’m really happy to finally be in my cooking classes. I feel like I’m actually starting school now and it’s a lot of fun. I know I haven’t written about crafty knitty things in a while and I promise I’m not going to turn this into a culinary school blog. I am knitting on my Shetland shawl at night before bed and it’s going very slow and just looks like a blob right now but I’ll try to write a little about it Friday.