Day 3 at The Culinary: Day 2 of Orientation

Hello there, this post is about the last day of my orientation and all the meals that surrounded it.

In the morning I could've gotten up early like the day before to get breakfast from K16. However, I remembered that when I did get breakfast that day I wasn't too hungry yet, and I just forced myself to eat. So I figured I'd wake up a little later and grab some of the free stuff in Farq. instead of getting the full meal. And that's what I did. I got up a little later and went down to Farq. to see what extra foods were lying around for students to eat.

-- Orange Juice
-- Spiced Mexican Chocolate and Pumpkin Seed Muffin

I first went to get some juice and chose the O.J.. Without pulp, just as I like it. But forget the juice, let's talk about that muffin. Holy Dunbar, that muffin was and still is the best thing I've eaten at this school. Absolutely phenomenal. It wasn't a soft muffin that was almost like a sponge cake. The texture was like a mix between a scone and a muffin top. There were chunks of chocolate that tasted like decadent bunches of Autumn since it was coupled with the nutmeg, cinnamon and crunchy pumpkin seeds. There is just no better way to describe it than CIA Gold.

After that I went straight to orientation. It was a bunch of lectures and boring information sessions. Then there was lunch! Off to Banquet again.


-- Chicken Broth with Mushrooms, Rice and Parsley
-- Strip Loin (rare) with Haricot Verts and Parsnips
-- Tapioca with Berry Coulis

Haricot Verts: French for "green string bean". Hand-picked variety of green bean.

Coulis: A general term referring to a thick purée or sauce


Lunch was decent. Let me rephrase, it was decent compared to other things I've had here. In general it was really good. It was a basic clear chicken broth with a nice herbal and starchy balance with the rice and parsley. The meat was alright, but the only part I can say I liked a lot was the fat in the corner. The school pretty much always makes their haricot well, and this was no exception.

When it comes to parsnips, it gets fun. I'd only tried parsnips once before this meal, and it was by accident. I was at my Dad's house for dinner one day, and we had a bowl for each potatoes and parsnips. I was little and had an undeveloped taste for good food, so when I accidentally scooped myself some parsnips and tasted one I was grossed out and spit it out. It seemed like the most bitter thing ever. So I tried them this time and before I did I was wondering how I'd like them this time around. They were really good. They were truthfully my favorite thing on the plate.

Throughout these blog posts I'll be pointing out every time I try a new food, and the first one would have to be this: the parsnip. The first time didn't count.

After lunch we went to do our last set of orientation lectures. After that would be dinner. After dinner we'd unravel and prepare for our first day of classes. This was the most fun day of orientation though. We did a team building session in the gym, met people, got fitted for chef whites (chef uniforms), got our ID cards, wireless network information, our last bundle of school books, and lastly our knife kit and backpack. Once we got all that stuff and brought it back to our respective dorms, we went to Banquet for dinner. We were at first under the impression that going to Banquet was required during orientation (the only kitchen we were allowed to go to). However we learned this wasn't the case. For every other meal, the whiteboard outside the Banquet dining room would read "New Students Only", so we didn't have to worry about getting there too late and not getting seated. However, for this meal my roommate and I took our sweet time to get there and ended up getting there with only one seat available. The whiteboard didn't say it's previous message, and we decided to find a different kitchen.

So while our friends were eating at Banquet for the fourth time in a row, my roommate and I ventured off to see what else the school had to offer. It was exciting. We ended up going to K16 because it was right by Farq. and we didn't exactly know where we were going and didn't want to get lost.

-- Braised Duck Leg on Polenta Cake and Red Swiss Chard with Duck Jus

Polenta: A northern Italian staple of mush made from cornmeal

Swiss Chard: A member of the beet family prepared like spinach, known for its crinkly green leaves and silvery celery-like stalks

Jus: French for "juice". In this case refers to the natural juices exuded from the meat.

I love duck. I saw duck on the menu and was thrilled. It turns out that Banquet dinner was duck too. Later on though, people told me their duck wasn't very good. However, I was very pleased with mine, which was braised (slow-cooking in liquid to produce super-tender meat) and elegantly placed on top of the pretty red and green chard and polenta cake, surrounded by a nice puddle of brown duck glory-juice.

I really enjoyed this dinner and it was a real treat for my first meal on my own.

Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more