Confessions of a Food Lover: Monday's Plate- Fill It Up!!

A full day's work in the World Cuisine class kitchen with lots of dishes to test and try

There is literally no "white space" left on the plate that represents my life. This is truly nothing new for me. I find the majority of my best work manifests from the times when my daily calender has no room left at the inn. I really like the faster pace and once again in school the pace had been kicked up another notch. We successfully completed our mission for the Tasters Guild and spent almost an hour of this mornings World Cuisine class recapping the event. We discussed the overall pros and cons and had an opportunity to tell our stories. It was a great way to start the morning, everything felt so easy going.

I couldn't help but feel like I didn't stretch out enough though when we jumped into the kitchen by 9:30. It was full speed ahead into our mandatory kitchen testing of the 6 courses we will be serving at our Class dinner on March 19th- this is a little under 3 weeks away. Once I caught my breathe and found my pace the class time went fine- just like it always does. Staying focused and watching the clock, my partner Ryan and I went to work on some really fun and flashy dishes that all fit within the dinner theme "Italy". Ryan had brought the majority of the recipes for us to work on and so we split them up and went to work.

Everything was going smoothly. Even during the final 20 minute push we continued to work through the production with determination. The only thing that may have suffered a little was the work station which got a little bit more cluttered that I usually like. Our food went out for observation and taste testing on time with everyone else's stuff. The products of our crafting were all very nice. Everyone actually did a pretty nice job today. The hard part was trying to pick out which dishes were the best fit for our class dinner. I am not sure if we really made the right choices today, and so I plan to lobby for a specific dish during the next class time that I don't think got enough attention. This is our chance to shine, and once again and I think it is really important as a class that we give our guests an experience that is unparalleled. This food should be something that they can't get enough of. We have the opportunity to implant a food memory, a chance to really show up and show off what we can do!

So I am really excited about our new shift in focus. I am excited to work with my classmates once again on an event that will bring us that much closer to our goals on this culinary school journey. Yes, in metaphorically speaking terms I have added another heaping scoop to my plate. My waistband may be feeling a little tight- Oh wait that is not so much a metaphor, but I am back to the gym working that one out. :) I have never turned down an opportunity to try something new, and I am just so excited to be apart of all of this. I know we will serve up a really great evening on March 19th's Italian dinner- I can't wait for it to be here!!

Here are only a few of the plates- i didn't have enough time to get all the pictures before people started eating and judging:

This pic doesn't do this salad any justice- It is called a Panzanella and the recipe comes from the CIA. I seriously could have eaten the whole huge bowl of it I made.