COMPETITION 

This day we had the privilege to watch a few competitors compete in a cooking competition.  I was lucky to be there long enough to watch Chef Todd compete.  After doing my own competition I realize how unorganized and unprepared I actually was.  Chef Todd had everything he needed mise en placed and ready to go.  

This was after he had finished cooking and was getting his food plated.  He was really focused and had everything that he needed to plate a beautiful and tasty dish.

This was Chef Todd's finished plate.  It was so pretty.  A few of my classmates and I were able to taste what he had prepared and it was delicious!

Sometimes driving to school can be a little treacherous.  This was my view a lot of days on my way too and from school each day.  

On my way early in the morning with snow packed roads.  Really grateful for 4-wheel drive!

This is a Pacific Sole...He was REALLY ugly and REALLY stinky!  Ewww... I seriously can't even think about him with out getting a little queasy.  I was lucky to not have a female full of roe...I don't think I could've handled it.

  I was surprised to find that the flat fish has 4 fillets instead of two like the round fish does.  When Chef John was showing us how to fillet the fist he reminded us that we need to be comfortable when cooking…we don’t have to be a contortionist. 

 Trout fillets.  This was my second time doing the fillets.  I think that they turned out okay.  I felt like it was harder today to get the skin off than it was the fist day...

One of the things that I learned today is to immediately remove the fish from whatever pan you are cooking it on so that it doesn’t continue to cook, and then be over cooked by the time it is served.

Breakfast!! 

Who doesn't love a good breakfast?  Today was a day full of new things!! It was my first time making a poached egg, Chef John walked me through the process and I think that it was successful.  I had also never really made a “real” omelet.  It was more difficult than I originally thought it would be, it is a delicate process and can be easily be overcooked and ruined.

Hollandaise Sauce

I have never actually had a Hollandaise before (Gasp!) but I thought it was pretty good…super rich but good.

 On the top are my crepes, then my American omelette and my French omelette. .  It was also difficult to get them to flip over correctly in the small sauté pans we used, so instead of flipping all the way over one of my just flipped in half, which effected the over all look of my omelet.

 Below is my french toast and country fried potatoes.   I  added too much oil to my potatoes and just ended up making them greasy.   Overall I thought everything was pretty tasty.

 This was my first time making this type of buttermilk syrup.  I thought it was strange that it called for baking powder...but, it was really yummy.

Chef John telling us all about a trout and how to tell if it is fresh or not. 

                           

         Chef John meticulously pulling out all of those annoying little pin bones.

                         

   This is my finished trout.

This was the WORST part of butchering the trout.  We had to remove the eye balls so that we could use the head in our seafood fumet...so gross.

My first attempt at filleting a fish.  I think I did okay for my first go around. :) 

                        

Elder Quest

Working hard!

 This is what Chef John wanted our plates to look like when they went out.  I think we did a great job.  Everything went smoothly!

 These are the amazing people in class with me.  We were getting ready to cater our second elder quest event.  

     Pesto Ratatouille 

Today I learned that you need to be prepared for when something doesn’t go as planned.  

  Always have a plan B.

       Sauteeing veggies!!

              Chicken for elder quest...lots, and lots of chicken!

 I think Chef John died a little bit inside when I asked him if I could make chocolate chip cookies.  He said he would "prefer" if I made something savory.  In the end I won out with my excuse that it was Valentines Day!  Haha! 

MASTER CHEFS!

Today we had a few guest speakers a couple of them were actually Master Chefs.  Chef John Coletta (the man pictured below), gave us a couple of demonstrations.  One was on soaking and frying Fava beans and this one was on how to make mozzarella out of cheese curd.  It was yummy!!!

Today was a really interesting day and I learned a lot from each speaker.  The last speaker talked A LOT about fundamentals and how important it is to learn them.  It was also fun to hear the different stories of where they came from, and how they got to where they are now.  It made me realize that everyone has a different backstory but that anyone can be successful.

  For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to do a competition.  This is how my at home practice went....

      This is what my final dish looked like.  (After it had been sitting there for a while.) Looking back I would have done things a little differently, I guess that is all part of the learning process.  

I was shocked to find out that I actually took 3rd place in the competition with my roasted chicken dish.  I was so terrified!