Dining Room

For the last 7 days i have been in Dining Room. This is the lab that you learn the Fine Dining Etiquette. We serve people, have a wine tasting, and learn different types of silverware, and fine china. A typical day in Freshman Fine Dining goes about like this. We come in at 7 AM and get our coffee or hot tea! We lecture and discuss different topics until about 10:15. At this time we start setting up the dining room. Everyone in the class had a different task to complete. Everything from putting linens on the tables, setting up the coffee and tea station, getting out tray jacks for the food trays, polishing silverware for the tables, picking up bread, prepping the dish pit, folding napkins, setting out salt ans pepper, and the simple sugar, just to name a few. Then all the servers line up at 10: 40 to get their assigned table and check presenters. Then the chef will come out about 10:45 to tell us about the menus and go over the different places each dish come from. We serve from 11:00-12:00 then we start to breakdown and clear all the tables. Then we get to eat! the best part of the whole day! After we eat then we break down the whole dining room, polish the silverware, vacuum the floors, and return the dessert plates to the pastry classroom. We have group pow wow and talk about what things worked, and what things we need to improve on. I have to say this class is a lot different then i thought. there is a lot to remember, but its fun. i always kind of wanted to be a server at a restaurant so this is my fulfillment i guess.  

It's been so crazy!

I want to say thank you to all of my fellow readers, and also i am sorry for not posting lately, things have been so crazy!
I left off talking about being in FFP, after that i went to Meat cutting. This class was very interesting. I have to say that i learned a lot, but i also really learned all the things that it takes to be a successful butcher. I learned how to break down a chicken, how to fabricate lamb chops, and how to make sausage. oh and did i mention that it was all done in a refrigerated classroom. It was about 37 degrees everyday. Yes, that cold. It was always nice to leave class and go outside in the 55 degree weather.  It was so warm!
After Meat Cutting,  the term was over and i was headed home for spring break!! Now normally i would be excited to go home for spring, except that my break was the end of February/ beginning of March, so it was still cold at home.
When i got back to school i started a new term, and New World Cuisine. New World incorporates foods from the "Old World", and the "New World". There are influences from Jamaica, Spain, Americas, and many other countries.
The three main things that we had to learn were frying, roasting, and grilling. I had a lot of first time things in this class. First time breaking down a fish, grilling steak, tresing and roasting a chicken. This class i had alot of fun in.
I will post my favorite recipes later. Unfortunately i have no pictures from my class, but i will try to take pictures of the class in there now so you can see the kitchen.