Well, I've been waiting for the right moment to start posting again, and it seems like I have picked today. The last time I wrote in this blog was LAST SEPTEMBER, and so many (and yet, so few) things have happened since then.
In retrospect, all I really went through in the past four months was a few different class schedules. I finished modern cakes with a good grade, and moved through breads class like a breeze. The schedule for breads was the worst part, simply because I had to adjust my whole life for three weeks. I respect bread bakers so much after that class, I would have a terrible time existing on the opposite schedule as the rest of the world. I guess there is an upside, however, if they ever flew around the globe, they would be significantly less jet-lagged than the rest of us. After breads was Chef Coppedge's "Advanced Baking Principles" block, then service class with Mr. C, as well as the ominous wines class with Professor Kolpan. I did not dread wines like some of my classmates, and I did quite well. I discovered early on that the people who fail wines are the people who don't study properly. I went to a University before coming to the CIA, so preparing for exams was not an issue for me. (Plus I really, REALLY like wine.) After wines was Apple Pie, which was the most trying experience I have had at the CIA.
Apple Pie is operated and managed by Chef Ballay, who, if you remember, was my chef for Individual Pastry Production. You may also remember, that IPP was not my favorite class. I did moderately well, and walked out with a B, but chefs never remember your moderate days, they remember your worst ones. As it turns out, the only memory Chef Ballay has of me was the day when I dropped his gingerbread house on the floor. Mind you, this was ONE BAD DAY I had out of an entire three-week block. But of course, he doesn't remember me for all of the times I produced nice product, showed up on time, and busted my tail for him, he only remembers the sound of that cookie house smashing to bits on the tile.
To continue, Chef Ballay is in charge of putting students on their stations for the three weeks we spend in Apple Pie. His favorites get put on pastry with him and his MIT, the ones who want breads get put in the bread kitchen, and the screw-ups get put in savory (unless you request it). Savory position entails: frying french fries, prep work, plating salads, and occasionally plating specials. I got shafted to savory. I got placed on the hot line for three solid weeks because of ONE bad day.
I will say, in retrospect, that working savory was by far the best option. Pastry students ended up having to stay for 13-hour days on occasion, but I was always tapped out right at 1:30. Breads students loved what they did, but they had to be at school at 11:45 PM, which would not have worked for my work schedule (or my life). I didn't learn much working on the hot line, as I feel that apes could plate salads or fry french fries, but I definitely had a better time than a lot of the people in my class.
Since Apple Pie, however, I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. I did very well on the expediting station in the front of house of Apple Pie, and I did even better in Chef Knaster's Plated Desserts class. It was during my time right before Chef Knaster's class that I made progress in the real world...I got a job.
During Christmas break, Daniel and I went down to Florida to visit my parents. While we were there, we made a short trip to Atlanta, where I interviewed for a position at King + Duke as "head plater". I got the job that day. I start on February 18th at the restaurant, and Daniel and I move into our new apartment just a few days before that. I cannot wait.
Being so close to the end has been such a strange experience, I'm wrapping up my time here in the best way possible: I'm working on the pastry station with my all-time favorite chef, Melissa Walnock in American Bounty. She was my fundamentals teacher when I first started school here, and she is now the last chef I will work with at the CIA. I knew that finishing up with her would be amazing, and I was right. Mary and I work the prep shift, so we arrive at class at 6:30 to put away the food order and begin our work. We have family meal at 10:15 (it's always SO GOOD), and then we work until 1:30, or until all of our list is completed. I love our little, happy, pastry family that we have in Bounty. Chef Walnock is a forever inspirational, understanding, and empowering leader. She has worked hard to achieve what she has, and you can see it in the way she carries herself. All of her desserts not only look wonderful, but taste delicious, and I am honored to call her my chef.
Walking around the halls of this place even feels different. I don't feel as egotistical as I thought I would, instead I have been humbled by this experience. I feel so small, but so very big at the same time.
I went to speak to a newly-begun fundamentals class the other day with a few of my classmates, and it was very surreal. I was telling MYSELF the things that I wish someone had told me when I started. I recapped, in one sentence, what I wish had been emphasized to me since day one: Make the chefs tell you everything they know, and take full advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. I have no regrets from being at this school; I met the love of my life, I made the best friend(s) I will ever need or want, and I formed unbreakable bonds with some of the most amazing chefs I will ever encounter. I do, however, wish I had been more involved from the get-go. I wish I had shaken the tree of "Chef Knowledge" from the day I walked into the building for the first time, and that I had been unrelenting in my quest of knowledge from these teachers. Since I returned from externship, I have made it my mission to ask every question that comes to mind, and be exactly the person I want to be in my professional life. I only wish I had started earlier.
Graduation is in two weeks, and I could not be more ready, but not, excited, but nervous, or ecstatic, but devastated. I will never know another group of people like the ones I have worked with at this school, and saying goodbye to them will be harder than they will ever know.
I'll keep you posted. Until then, I hope everyone is doing well, and has not missed me too much ;)
Here's a link to the restaurant I will be working at in Atlanta:
http://www.kinganddukeatl.com/
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