Here's the deal...

I realized that there's an awful lot going on during my first few days in culinary school and I don't want to forget any of it. Also, there are quite a few people that have been asking what, exactly, I've been doing in class. It's pretty interesting, I have to say. It moves REALLY fast. I'm basically earning a 2-year degree in 1 year, so everything has to move twice as fast as normal.

I've been in school for 3 weeks, just started my 4th week. The last 3 weeks were spent in a classroom setting going over sanitation/safety/nutrition/first aid.... you know... things I'm not really interested in :) We learned about botulism, salmonella, e. coli, staph, listeriosis, etc. By the end of class, you're basically scared to death to eat anything. It was too much science for me - and anyone that knows me, knows that science is NOT my strong subject.

The second Monday after class, they brought us to the fine dining restaurant that the school runs, for lunch. The school has a fine dining restaurant and a quick-service cafe. Students do all the cooking. I'll be in there towards the end of my term. Well.... lunch was AWESOME! We had 4 courses, and I enjoyed each one.

First Course: Amuse Bouche (French term, one-bite appetizer, to get your mouth ready for the meal, just a 'teaser' bite). It was shrimp ceviche on a cucumber round. FYI - ceviche consists of raw fish/shrimp marinated in lime or lemon juice, which is supposed to "cook" it. Mmm hmm - right. But, I ate it, and it was good. I thought the cucumber overpowered it a little, but it was good.

Second Course: Greek salad with grilled shrimp. It looked so good, I started eating it as soon as it was placed in front of me. I didn't even remember to take a picture :(

Third Course: Grilled venison (deer), with herbed mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. One word: YUM. This was wonderful!!!

Fourth Course: Dessert. Pumpkin cheesecake, with vanilla bean ice cream, and some sort of crumble. It was beautiful! BUT... I don't eat cinnamon, and this was FULL of it. Oh, and the ice cream - please. Don't eat that either. But, there were 5 other people at my table that fought over that plate that I gladly gave up as soon as I took my picture. I just love how they drew a pumpkin on the plate out of chocolate, and filled it in with caramel. Genious!