Thursday, January 7, 2010

Day 4: 3 Soups and Stock

Opened today with a cup of the ecologically sound "Saltspring" coffee they serve at school and chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies given to us by the pastry class. Each day we begin with the first on many demos of the day. Have I mentioned I love our 3 chefs? If not, I love them.

On to veal stock and 3 soups, cream of broccoli, puréed leek and potato, and then an old fashioned chicken soup. Among many things, I learned...

1. That not all cream soups actually have cream in them.
2. Tarragon is an herb I simply don't use enough.
3. If I put chicken in my mouth, roll it around, chew on it and spit it out, and rinse, I won't get sick!

Today was a good day, yes - I'm still slow with my knife cuts, (we all are), but I'm getting better. I'm figuring out where things are, and I'm remembering to yell "Yes Chef!" When one of the chefs announces something to the class while we're cooking.

The homework load is still huge though, there's tons of reading, chapters and chapters every night plus recipe conversions and videos to watch. I fell asleep last night with my 10 kilo book on my lap.

On that note... I must finish chapter 11 tonight, (more on soup), and make up some flashcards for myself. Tomorrow I'm told we're going to make a super clear consommé! Woohoo!

PS: What is with Vancouver and all the crazies?? Really, this city has more wackos per capita than any other place I've lived. Yesterday an old woman stopped me and asked me to tie her shoes, her laces were trailing behind her. I made her move over to a bus stop and I tied them (gosh I'm nice!), then I glanced up and saw her WWJD? bracelet, I made a break for it before she "rewarded" me with a little watchtower reading. A bum asked me if I spoke english at the bus stop tonight, when I replied, "sometimes" he yelled, "Where have you been all my life!?"

I ran away from him too.

4 comments:

  1. reminds me of the time I was stopped by a grubbby homeless guy in Victoria's Chinatown and he said, "Hey, you're pretty. Can I come home and share your bed tonight?" and I said, "umm no." and he said, "Okay, I gotta level with you. The homeless shelter is full tonight and I don't want to sleep in the alley again. I just want a warm place to sleep. Did that make you change your mind?"

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  2. It sounds like great fun and so interesting. Whereabouts are you taking the course Rene? It seems you are in Vancouver, no? Keep posting about your days, it's great reading!

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  3. Thanks Renai, yes, I'm in Vancouver now. I miss Istanbul a lot, but this is not a bad place to be. I hope I can return to Turkey to learn some "fine Turkish dining" in the future!

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  4. Victoria is probably just behind Vancouver in the wacko department.
    The squash with pear and curry soup we make is super thick and creamy but has no cream in it. By the way, I wasn't even a fan of squash soup until we went to the Saint Antoine in Quebec City last year.
    I'd love to use herbs more. Don't think we even have tarragon in the house.

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