Culinary School visit

I've had a busy week! Isaac has had a bad cough that he can't seem to shake. Analise woke up with a mild one this AM. I've had to pray for extra patience with two cranky sick kiddos. I'm also sooo ready to get out of the house. I was really sad to miss my beloved MOPS group this morning.

I did however still get to go observe the Culinary School of the Rockies Chef Track class on Tuesday night! (Thank you hubby) Wow, that was an adventure! It was fun, interesting, busy, intense, and eye-opening. I really felt like I was in a Chef's kitchen for the night. There were two Chef's teaching the class, and I didn't count, but I think about 16 students. The class is 15 weeks long and meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays from 5-10pm (really more like 11pm). There was maybe 45-60 minutes of teaching in the classroom and in the kitchen. Then they are broken up into two teams, given the menu for the night and a time to have it done by. It felt a little bit like Iron Chef America (is that the right show? I saw it in on a hotel TV once....two teams competing to get a menu done at a certain time) At first it was awkward because I wanted to ask questions, or ask them about the process, but everyone was racing and juggling so many things, I also didn't want to get in their way. Eventually people starting to grab me to help with things, and I had a blast. I was able to talk with people about why they chose the class, and what they hoped to do with their knowledge when they get out. I opened about 10 West Coast Oysters (I think my hand still hurts:) chopped, peeled, helped with presentation. Then about 10pm we sat down and ate!

I had NO idea Lobster bisque was so labor intensive. My guess is you'd want about 5 hours to do this right. We had about 3 1/2. Neither teams bisque was perfect, but nobody was complaining much when we ate it either :). Here is the menu for the evening.....

Menu

Lobster Bisque

Pan Seared Striped Bass with Lemon Beurre Blanc

Sauteed Spinich

Rice Pilaf

Chocolate Mousse

Poach and pears and make Pate Sucree for next nights class

Baguette

Make Fish Stock for next nights class

I am so glad I went. I think it's hard on paper to really know what something is going to be like. I think if I did decide to enroll in the Chef Track program I would go into it with my eyes open, knowing what to both expect within the class, and how tired I would be outside of the class, and how that will affect me as a mom. It did make me realize that though I am passionate about food in general, I'm not just only passionate about getting a meal on the table. I am very interested in where the food came from, how it was grown, and how healthy it is for the people I am serving it to. That makes me think it's worth me at least checking out the Colorado Farm to Table school next Fall when it starts up again, to see if that might be a better fit. When I start thinking about Farm to Table stuff, I get crazy passionate about the food, the farmers, and people I am serving it to. So maybe my heart lies there....we shall see. :)