Last day of level 3 was today. Can you believe I am entering into my fourth month of culinary school!? This is crazy scary… and no dad I still don’t know what I want to do come February. Being the day after Halloween, I was exhausted to say the least and very dehydrated. So, this morning, getting into the swing of things was pretty rough. I did warn My-Tree though ahead of time. Today I made a potage cultivateur (vegetable soup), as well as pot au feu (short ribs with vegetables in a broth).
My vegetable soup came out nicely with full flavor. However, there are some corrections I need to make. For instance, I need to allow the potatoes to break down and bound the soup more before adding the green garnish in. The green garnish looses it’s color the more it sits in the broth cooking. Also, my baguette croutons (which I cut extra just to eat on the side with a mount of grated cheese- sorry, but this was a must) were cut a little thick. All and all though, I did a nice job.
The pot au feu was brilliant ,I tell you! Oh how the broth shimmered in the bowl with the tenderest piece of short rib ever. We cooked the stew low and slow for a good two hours, so that the meat would become tender. When chef dug into the meat, she made a cooing sound at how beautifully cooked my short ribs were- falling off the bone status. She told us all that we were NOT allowed to throw our leftovers out- we MUST bring them home because it would be criminal to throw it out after how bomb.com/fuego-fire burning on the dance floor it was.
Today, Chef told the whole class I was going to sing for everyone. Then she said that she wants to put me on the voice and is having me sing for her on Monday. I didn’t end up singing today though. Oh Chef V! She has only heard ONE gospel note of mine- just one. Oh lord- wait I forgot to mention that Monday is our MIDTERM! No not a MOCK Midterm, but the real deal! We have to cook two dishes perfectly. I hope I pass because I will NOT be retaking level 3- most annoying/hardest level in the whole school. Intense is putting it lightly!
Hopefully when you read my next email- I’ll of passed and be moving onto level 4!
Love and happy weekend!
Eliana