First week of classes

I have survived the first week of culinary school.  It was a bit rough, and it took a hearty amount of coffee, but I did it.  And despite the fast that I get up for class before the sun, I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester.  All three of my classes look like they're going to be really cool (or at least really interesting).

Professional Cookery is the big introductory class. It's where you learn what a kitchen looks like, how not to kill yourself while you're in there, and how to cook most types of foods. Also, we learn how to use knives. Even though I consider myself rather adept with a chef's knife or paring knife, I cannot wait to start chopping things in the kitchen. Chopping food makes me happy.  The only downside to the class it that it starts at 8:00AM, which is not cool. However, the early start time is balanced by the fact that we will basically get free lunch every day in class, because we get to eat what we've prepared that day in class.

Intro to Baking is, for now, my favorite class. I may be slightly biased in that opinion because it's the only class that I've actually prepared food in so far.  Professional Cookery will probably be a pretty cool class, but so far all we've covered is safety procedures and class organization.  We did that in Baking, too, but on Thursday we also got our hands dirty making muffins.  Specifically, we made big batches of pumpkin muffins.  And then we got to take them home and eat them.  They were delicious.  We're going to be making more quick breads over the next two weeks, and I can't wait to bring classwork home to share with everyone.

Safety and Sanitation doesn't sound like it would be that interesting of a class, but it actually looks like it'll be cool.  It's only once a week, and it starts at 1:00PM, so I get to sleep in on Fridays.  The geeky part of me is excited to learn the science side of food contamination and how it's prevented, and the practical side of me is happy to know that I get both CPR/First Aid and SafeServe certification by the end of the semester.

So, this semester looks like it'll be a fun couple of classes.  Also, I have a uniform that I have to wear for Intro to Baking and Professional Cookery. I'll post pictures of it later.