Here is a typical day in the life:
7:15 - alarm clock goes off
7:45 - out the door; walk to school
8:30 - begin uniform assembly (basically your standard karate uniform but less comfortable and no awesome/tyrannical colored belts), including but not limited to: a hat that can be described best as a bonnet-yamaka love-child, a neckerchief (pointless/ridiculously irritating), a double-breasted, 20 lb. coat with my name embroidered on it and a snazzy pen/spoon holder, black and white houndstooth pants (also 20 lb.), a crisp white apron, side towels tucked into the apron, socks, and the most hideous shoes/clogs you have ever seen. This assembly literally takes me no less than 15 minutes.
8:45 - enter my station in the classroom, which has my own burner, oven, and flat top grill. gather all of the ingredients necessary for the day.
9:00 - in an adorable French accent, Chef Rogers (RO-jay) demos how to make the recipes for that day.
10:00 - magical cooking time
12:00 - "family meal" - lunch served to the entire school :), usually delish. sometimes not.
12:30 - chef demo numero deux
1:30 - replication of demo numero deux
3:00 - disrobe armor
It has been absolutely wonderful to be able to do what I love all day, every day, and be able to talk about food with everyone around me all day, every day and it not be excruciating for the conversation-ee(?)
HOWEVER...(dum dum duuuum), this profession is crazy exhausting. We are standing all. day. long., the kitchen is the temperature of hell, and sometimes after whisking and stirring for an hour, my spaghetti string arm has violent cramping. At the end of the day, I am ready to collapse. Time to build up the ooold stamina.
Also, it's kind of unnerving to think that I spend every day with a group of amateurs (including myself), working with fire, scalding hot oil, samurai-sharp knives, and copious amounts of spilled liquids on the floor. Intéressante Chef Rogers...
Here are some photos from the first week. We did a lot of basic things - knife skills, French "mother" sauces, stocks, etc. I promise/hope the photos will become more exciting soon!
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| carrots: julienne, jardiniére, tranches |
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| warm goat cheese and roasted beet salad with frisée and macédoine apples |
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| Ratatouille |
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| garniture bouquetiér carrots and turnips cocotte, cooked glacer au blanc, pearl onions cooked glacer au brun, haricots verts and peas cooked a l'étuvée, potatoes cooked rissoler, and artichoke cooked a blanc |
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| sauce château briand |
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| sauce mayonnaise |
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| sauce béarnaise |
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| sauce beurre blanc |
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| sweet sabayon with fresh strawberries |
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| toasted sabayon |
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| in my belly sabayon |
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| potage saint-germain [split pea soup] |
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| potage cultivateur [farmer style vegetable soup] |
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| gratinée à l'oignon [french onion soup] |
<3 lisa, the little foodie.
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lisa, your description of your uniform had me dying. can i please borrow it for halloween? also, while all of your dishes and sauces and soups look heavenly, i am pretty sure there is nothing dairy-free about them. let me know when you make something delicious for us special dietary needs folk.
ReplyDeletexo madpig
SOUP PARTY PLEASE
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteKnowing you, the meals you prepare are of the highest quality and best taste possible~! I am mesmerized by the amount of delectable dishes that you have already made~! Presentation is important, and from the pictures you posted, you get an A* hands down~! I only hope that God gives me the strength to be able to sample some of your culinary masterpieces when you open your first Bistro, and eventually, Chez de Lisa'~!