Exciting Week

Well, sort of an exciting week.

Let's see...I last blogged on Monday. Yes, exciting news there - no need to take my 2 core classes - excellent!

Since then, let's see. Tuesday was CPR. Boring, but I haven't taken it since my Bronze Cross days, so it was very good to get a refresher and get officially certified. There have been changes to both CPR and First Aid in the past few years, but nothing crazy. Wednesday was First Aid. Overall, these two I'd taken before, but I find them interesting, so they weren't too bad of days. I did learn that one of the symptoms of a stroke is an impending sense of DOOM!

Thursday morning we did WHMIS. For those who don't know, that's Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System. Not nearly as bad as I expected! It's something you need to learn, but once you've learned it, it's a lot of common sense. Read labels, don't pour stuff into an unlabeled container, don't use anything if you don't know what it is, etc., etc.

So, once the paperwork goes through, I will be officially certified for CPR, First Aid, and WHMIS!

Onto Thursday afternoon! FINALLY we got to meet as a group with our chef instructors. There are a few classmates we hadn't met yet. People who took the culinary previously didn't have to sit through the core classes again, so we haven't seen them the first two weeks. And we had never been officially with our instructors. So, this was exciting! Oh, Thursday I also came down with a cold...so while exciting, I was also sitting there quite miserable with a sore throat. And I'm still miserable as I type this.

We got our officially "bibles" for Pastry - a GIANT binder with recipes, notes, and definitions. Now, nothing is ordered or indexed or anything - so it's up to us to go through it and put some dividers in and figure everything out. So, I'll be doing that with a couple hundred pages of recipes this weekend. We aren't necessarily given the recipe for everything. So if we're told that we're making a particular thing and don't have a recipe, it's up to us to go find a recipe from somewhere. Perhaps our textbooks, perhaps the library from a book, or perhaps just go online and find something.

We also FINALLY got our schedules for the entire year. The first three weeks we're doing basics - so we're either am or pm. I, of course, am scheduled for the morning. After that we start bi-weekly rotations. We're on one of 6 stations for 2 weeks, then we go somewhere else. 3 of the stations are in the morning, 3 of them are in the afternoon. And if you're on one particular afternoon station, there are also Saturday night shifts that you may have to come in for. Not cool. Chef Richard, teaches the AM class and Chef Pam teaches the PM class. Chef Pam is definitely more strict, but you can tell that you'll be able to learn a lot with her. Chef Richard has a lot of knowledge and sometimes it's a bit overwhelming as I'm definitely a beginner when it comes to professional pastry arts.

So, there are 12 bi-weekly rotations. I'm on mornings for 7 of them and afternoon for only 5 of them. And I only get one afternoon rotation this term and the other 4 are next term. Which I guess is ok since next term will be the colder/snowier one. So, for those of you who are texting me at 8pm Saskatchewan time, I can assure you I will have been in bed for at least 3 hours by the time you text/phone me.

Last thing on Thursday...UNIFORMS! Yay! How exciting! I am now wearing sweat pants to school every day - I just change when I get there anyway. So, our uniform consists of:

• Checkered Pants - they're hard to see in the following picture, I had my apron too long. Suffice it to say, it's very small checkers. The pants are very poofy around the hips. And mine need at least 4-5 inches hemmed off them, which I'm hoping to accomplish this weekend. We get 3 pairs of pants and we're in charge of washing them.
  
• Chef's Jacket - this is embroidered with our first and last name. Just a white jacket. There is a tiny white pocket in the upper left sleeve for pens/pencils. Other than that, no pockets. Just some in the pants.
  
• Necktie - You think tying a regular tie is hard? Try a chef's knot. It's craziness. But I think I've got it down.
  
• Black Steel Toed Shoes - these we had to supply ourselves. I found a pair that are like runners - paid about $75 at Mark's.
  
• Chef's Hat - this is just made of paper. My understanding is that the taller it is, the more senior you are. Your hair has to be completely underneath it.
  
• Apron and Side Towel - those are fairly basic. They're white and go around your waist. My apron in this picture is tied much too long. I think I'll shorten it a bit next time I tie it.
  

So, that's it! We get a new hat every Friday. For the jacket, necktie, apron, and side towel, we just go to laundry and we hand one in and they give us a clean one. Simple. (unless you lose something...then watch out!)

Anyway, here's the picture! I texted some of you. If you didn't get a text...well your phone doesn't do pics or I don't have your cell number. :P


Today was our first Theory class in the demo kitchen. You know those kitchens you see on TV with a chef behind them showing you how to make something? Exactly the same thing. In about 2 hours Chef Richard made 2 batches of bread, blueberry filling, hazelnut filling, and pastry creme. So, I'm assuming that's what we'll be making on Tuesday when we get in the kitchen. Theory class is cool, but it's obvious I've never done this professionally as I had no idea what he was talking about half the time. I definitely have to do a lot of reading. After theory was done, they took us on a really quick tour of the kitchens. And that was it! So, now I'm off until Tuesday! Hopefully I can kick this cold by Sunday. :)

Anyway, I have more to say, but I've talked enough for one post. I'll save the rest for another post.