After my last bit of orientation the day before, I received a copy of my class schedule. This schedule is in a previous post. I was and still am very happy with it because it's pretty much better than any of my friends' schedules. For example, I didn't have to get up until 10:20 for lunch! So I got a good night's sleep, and got ready for the lunch that would precede my first class. Well, it wouldn't come right after lunch; there are a few hours between them. And here's lunch:
-- Butternut Squash Soup with Créme Fraiche
-- Gorgonzola Crusted Meatloaf with Haricot Verts, Bacon, Garlic Pommes Purée, Creamed Corn and Madeira Sauce
-- Apple Crisp with Cherries and Créme Anglaise
Créme Fraiche: A matured, thickened cream with a tangy, nutty flavor and velvety rich texture. Ideal for sauces and soups or over fruits, cobblers or puddings
Haricot Verts: French for "green string bean". Hand-picked variety of green bean
Pommes Purée: French version of mashed potatoes
Madeira: A great cooking wine which is made on the Portuguese island of Madeira
Créme Anglaise: The French term for a rich custard sauce that can be served hot or cold over cake, fruit or other dessert
I'd never tried créme fraiche before. I'd heard it was quite popular, so when it arrived drizzled onto my orange soup I was intrigued. To be honest, there wasn't enough to notice the flavor. So I don't really know if I like créme fraiche or not, but I'll definitely give it another shot some day. The soup itself was quite good. It was warm, spiced, and reminded you of leaves changing colors and all that good stuff. I also had never tried creamed corn. People talk about it all the time and it's not like it's uncommon, but I'd just never had the opportunity to try it. I liked it.
Then there was the meatloaf. It was crusted on the outsides by gorgonzola. Bugaboo number four I believe. This was a dairy product that was molded on purpose and you could even point out the moldy spots (blue veins). I was not very happy that the meatloaf was crusted with a blue cheese, but I was at the CIA and I had to try everything. Down the hatch, if you will. I tried a manly piece of the meatloaf in a section smothered with the cheese, (not the way wimps take a tiny piece which can't possibly let them know what they're even eating in the first place) and found it to be quite good. It just made it a little salty.
It looks like today we have three new additions: gorgonzola, creamed corn, and créme fraiche. And the list of foods I've never tried before coming to the CIA grows even larger!
So in the books went down gorgonzola with a check mark. This is a figurative book by the way. I continued to devour the contents on my plate, and found that the best part was the sauce. Not very surprising though, because red wine sauces rule. And then there was the dessert which was like an apple cobbler. Pretty good stuff I must say, but I limited myself to only half of it because I didn't want to get fat and I knew no one was making me finish it. I think that's a good mindset to have at this place.
After lunch I retreated back to my room and got my books together for my first class at the CIA. Wooooooooooo! It was Math.
Math with a hint of culinary in it. It's food math, and consists of converting measurements and doing costing sheets. It's not too tough for me personally, at least so far, because I have a good background with math. Our modules say that on Class 5 we need to bring a peeler and a pairing knife to class with us. How awesome does that sound?
Math was alright. Our teacher is a nice guy who is a complete nerd. He has a Dharma Initiative mug (the ABC show "Lost") and references the band Aerosmith frequently. No, my brother doesn't teach Math at the CIA. Although he should.
After math, it was time for dinner. In case I didn't mention it, we're required to eat at Banquet once a day as part of our grade for Product Knowledge class. If you can't get seated (arrive too late), then you just eat somewhere else and let the teacher know what happened. So I have my lunches at Banquet and then eat somewhere in Roth Hall for dinner. Today I went to K16 again. I'm telling you, it's way too conveniently located. They're open longest, they have a varied menu, and the line is never long. Also, I was still too scared to venture off to other kitchens. Here's dinner:
-- Asian Pork Burger with Slaw and French Fries on an Egg Bread Bun
-- Mocha Cake
-- Sesame Bread
This was an excellent meal. Not one of the best I've had or anything, but it was just really nice to have a burger and fries. The burger was in fact made from ground pork and you could taste the difference. The fries were nice and salty, and the bun was awesome. It was fluffy, sweet and complimented the flavor of the pork. The cake I had afterward was hard to describe. It was sort of like a Swiss Roll design with layers of chocolate cake and mocha mousse. There was a pretty little molded chocolate decoration on the top which I could tell was made with ground coffee beans. That made me happy. It was the softest and most moist cake I've had here, and the whole thing was just completely delicate. I loved that cake. The sesame bread was just a kick-ass slice of bread I picked up from the bread basket on my way to my table, (pretty much just because it was there) and I felt that I should include it.
After dinner, I went to my room to get my bag and switch books for my first Product Knowledge class. Product Knowledge is my favorite class at the moment. It may be because we have food tastings every class, it might not be. Our chef instructor is a really cool guy who worked all over France and Manhattan in top-notch restaurants. He's really humorous and passionate about this class. The class is about produce and more specifically what kinds of produce the school uses. During this first class of Product Knowledge, we were taken to the storage room which is through a series of narrow hallways behind the classroom (the AB Theater).
The storage room is just incredible. They have separate rooms for vegetables, fruits, dairy, cheeses, unripe fruits, mushrooms, canned goods, frozen foods, and so much more. Some of those gigantic refrigerators which we call "walk-ins" are pretty damn cold too. We were taken on a little tour of each room, and our chef introduced us to a lot of foods we carry and how the receiving dock system works. As you could imagine, the CIA has almost everything you could think of (produce varies through the seasons). They have lobster and shimeji mushrooms, kumquats and persimmons, vanilla bean paste, racks of bottles of olives, and so many interesting products.
On our way out of the storage room, we passed by a case of chocolate cherry tomatoes, and our chef said, "Oh look we have the chocolate cherry tomatoes! I wasn't expecting them to be here. Do you guys want to taste them?" I think you know what we said.
So we all walked back through the winding corridors (I already thought the place was like Hogwarts before I saw those hallways) to our classroom and took our seats. We were all given little plates and forks, and we were given chocolate cherry tomatoes, Thompson seedless grapes, and slices of honey crisp apples to sample. I only took a little bite of the apple because apples, like many other fruits, make the back of my throat itch, and that is quite annoying. The grapes were very good, as I expected since they're grapes, and the tomatoes were pretty terrible. He may have said they weren't in season, but regardless, it's safe to say I'd rather have had chocolate or cherries instead.
Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more
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