4, 3, 2, 1.

Four reasons why I am excited about this week:
1. In four days, I am coming home to Georgia. Home= family, friends, Chickfila, Zaxby's, yogurt, Peking, Athens, my queen bed, Cabbit play time, etc. Also, my friend, Meghan Harris, is getting married, and I am so excited to be there for her special day.
2. In three days, it is Labor Day weekend, what I consider the start to fall. (I mean, if you cannot wear white, then it definitely is not summer anymore.) I am excited about fall for many reasons, including the leaves changing here in the Hudson Valley.
3. In two days, football season starts, aka the most wonderful time of the year. You thought the most wonderful time of the year was the holiday season. Well, I just like to extend it; football season still includes the holidays.
4. In one day, Katy Capers moves to Boston, a short three hour drive from Hyde Park. I am so excited to have one of my bffs in the North with me!

Yesterday, I woke up at 5:30am, and I did not go to bed until 2:00am this morning, I guess. With the one exception being when I traveled to Europe, I have never stayed awake for almost twenty four hours. Needless to say, blogging was not high on my to-do list last night. I have been skipping days recently, but I want to capture in writing everything I have been doing and learning. So, I understand if you get bored before you finish reading.

As a part of Culinary Skills, I have to work three mornings prepping for the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe. They offer many savory options for all three meals, and they need help preparing each day. Because of our extern meeting, three other girls in my class and I had to report to work at 6, instead of the usual 7. In only our third block really, the sous chef in charge of the savory portion of APBC only really gives us jobs she knows we can handle: cutting greens, washing greens, cutting bread, and making sandwiches. Well, for an hour and a half, we stood there and picked watercress leaves from fibrous stems. It was definitely not my idea of a fun time and what I wanted to be doing at that exact moment so early in the morning. But, I did enjoy making the turkey sandwiches and Reubens. Erin, the sous chef, even let us take some bread home.

The extern meeting was helpful in some ways, but I could not focus on being there really. All I got out of it is that I need to have Career Services look at my resume, I need to write a cover letter, and I need to contact the places where I am interested in working. January 22 will be here before I know it, and I need to be prepared, as my externship is the most heavily weighted class here at the CIA.

Day Six of Culinary Skills was a whirlwind of a day. Knife skills to start and I think I scored an 8.5. Ben (NC) actually cut his finger during knife skills, and I almost fainted. From there, it is a good thing that we had to make six dishes per team, or I really might have fallen asleep. I felt my eyes getting heavy when Chef Klug was demonstrating everything he wanted us to make. We cooked the beets first (I hate beets) and made a reduction glaze to make the beets shiny for serving. Next was the rice pilaf. Who knew there were so many different types of rice? Short-grain, long-grain, and converted rice (aka Uncle Ben's). We then made elbow pasta. Basically, we did what everybody in America does. We opened the box of dry pasta and cooked it the amount of time specified on the box. I did learn, however, not to use oil ever when cooking pasta, because it is a waste. The oil prevents the sauce from coating the pasta, and if you put the cooked pasta in a single layer on a tray, then it will not stick (versus relying on the oil to prevent sticking in a collander).

Acid effects vegetables, green, white, and red. For example, green beans have chlorophyll, the green pigment, and when green vegetables are cooked, the chlorophyll breaks down to produce acid. This acid causes the green vegetables to turn colors, a dark, olive green, which is unappealing. Therefore, green vegetables should be blanched, or cooked for a short period of time, and then shocked, or put in ice cold water to stop the cooking. Upon serving the green beans, they should be steamed, and all of this collectively helps to preserve the color. With potatoes, russet, called Idaho or baking, potatoes are used most often when making mashed potatoes. Baking potatoes are high starch, low moisture potatoes and should be placed in the oven, a form of dry heat, after boiling, a wet heat, for the best results. A food mill was used to combine the potatoes with the milk and butter, which were simmered together first. The color of cauliflower is actually preserved with acid, and we used milk for this application. Another important thing to keep in mind when cooking vegetables is to cook pieces that are evenly sized.

I did not have to stay after dinner (which I did not eat outside of class because I was full of the above) and help clean the kitchen or go over my homework; people who work in APBC get to leave early. I was exhausted by this time, and I came back to my room and watched TV on my computer. I was surprised with a homemade eclair and some company to help with homework, before going to sleep watching TV.

This morning, I planned on sleeping until whatever time I wanted, but the maintenance guys knocked on my door around 9. I was so mad. I do not care if you want to paint my ceiling in the bathroom. As long as it is not falling on me, we are good. No worries though, because I went back to sleep as soon as they left. (They are painting tomorrow at 1.)

Today's class was awesome. It began with me scoring a 9 (my goal) on my knife tray! Yippee! Chef Klug demoed a demi glace, which is equal parts brown sauce (Espagnole sauce) and brown roux, reduced by half. In our teams, we were not required to make this. As a means of testing us (without really testing us), the chef asked us to make cream of mushroom soup, the same way we made broccoli cream soup the other day. After we properly seasoned our soup, we called the chef to taste it. He made a face I have never seen, shook his head, and told us it was good. I would say that is positive.

There are five "mother" sauces, or grand sauces, in the culinary world, for which all other sauces, mostly, are derived from, with the "mother" sauce serving as a base. We learned today how to make two of the five (we learned Espagnole the other day), the Hollandaise and the Bechamel. When I think of Hollandaise, I think of two things: eggs Benedict and Louisiana Lagniappe. Everyone has heard of or tried eggs Benedict on the Sunday buffet. Louisiana Lagniappe, one of my fav restaurants, serves my signature dish of Seafood Lagniappe with grouper, lobster, and Hollandaise sauce. Man, I am craving that and a Frangelica Freeze from there right now. Needless to say, my mom is excited that I know the proper technique to making this buttery masterpiece of a sauce, for these two reasons. Hollandaise is a permanent emulsion using egg yolks, a vinegar reduction, and butter. Our emulsion did not "break" or separate into layers, but the chef did think it was a little cold. The Bechamel sauce, basically, is a white "mother" sauce, using scalded milk (whole) and white roux. Emily and I made the Hollandaise, and Jon and Pete made the Bechamel. Ours were made properly, with the chef's only comment being about the temperature of the Hollandaise.

After we finished making our sauces, we were free to leave for dinner. I was actually hungry for dinner today, and I waited in line for a few minutes at the Asia kitchen. I ordered sushi, and though it was not the best sushi I have ever had, it was fairly good, considering a culinary student made it. We reported back to the kitchen at 6:45 to clean (I was an extra again today, as far as jobs) and take our quiz. The quiz was five questions, worth five percent of our grade. I know I missed one; you must use FOUR egg yolks to make a quart of mayonnaise (there is a yolk for every eight ounces, and my answer was three).

I came back to the room, cleaned up, and began to relax when the fire alarm went off. It was so loud that my ears were ringing for a bit. I passed the time waiting outside by talking to Katie and Katy. I have been hanging out since then. I really should stop socializing so much; I would get more sleep.

WHISK, WHISK, WHISK

Haley

*Yay for Skyping with Katie yesterday! I can always count on you bff!

*Whitney, no matter what happens in the coming month, I am so proud of you for going to Mercer for your MPH, for being published in a scientific journal, and for being one of the strongest people I know.

*Happy 23rd Birthday to one of my best friends in the entire world, Bailey! I heart you and miss you, Bay. I hope the new school year in Atlanta is treating you well!