Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Snippets from Cooking School

It was a grueling weekend of cooking at CCA...My classmates and I were so exhausted after each lesson we didn't have energy for anything else but sleep. Each day's session was intensive, simulating what happens in a professional kitchen. We were on our feet 9am to 6pm, putting together our assigned dishes, pressured all around! To think we didn't have actual customers yet demanding their food to be served pronto!

I like all our teachers so far, especially Chef Eric of Day 1. I like his down-to-earth and practical teaching style as well as his dry humor. His trivia on why a rat of all things was used as the protagonist in the film Ratatouille was an Aha! for me. A memorable scene from the first day was Chef Eric sampling the cream of celery soup I prepared. Here's the verdict:


Chef Eric in action

Chef
: Ang sama ng lasa ng celery soup na 'to!! (imagine him saying this with a pained facial expression, hand slapping the counter top and dramatically pushing the plate away)
Me (to myself): Ay ang OA ni Chef! Hehehe.
Me (to Chef): Chef, sorry, hindi ko na natikman! Nakulangan sa time!
Chef (exasperated): Guys, don't ever ever serve anything na hindi niyo tinitikman. You should do that every step of the way, not when you can't do anything about it anymore!
Me (to myself): Oo nga naman! What was I thinking? I wasn't thinking at all!
Me
(to Chef): Yes Chef. Sorry sorry!


Chef Chris in action

Chef Chris of Day 2 loves what he does and it definitely shows in the way he conducts class. He's crazy about butter, salt, and pepper. (I will never take these three items for granted again!) He's really OC about us keeping our workstations clean. I could still hear him giving us regular time checks -- shouting how many hours, then minutes, then seconds we have left before serving time. PRESSURE! Mercifully, he adjudged the two dishes I prepared "okay" though he said my pasta could be enhanced further with more salt and parmesan cheese! Whew.

I had lots of musings when the dust finally settled. :)

7 comments:

javi said...

Chef: Ang sama ng lasa ng celery soup na 'to!! (imagine him saying this with a pained facial expression, hand slapping the counter top, and dramatically pushing the plate away)

-- Akala ko may twist tong kwento na to na nagbibiro lang pala siya, kasi sabi mo dry humor. sana sinabi mo "ang sama MO!"

Samantha said...

or dapat sinabi mo, masarap naman nung tinikman ko a.

nobody said...

Sweeties -
Eh kasi nung tinikman ko, masama talaga ang lasa!! Lasang celery na blinender tapos nilagay agad sa soup plate! Ugh! Hahahaha! I forgot to season!

Samantha said...

tsk tsk. you disappoint me.

javi said...

Sweeties -
Eh kasi nung tinikman ko, masama talaga ang lasa!! Lasang celery na blinender tapos nilagay agad sa soup plate! Ugh! Hahahaha! I forgot to season! -- haha dito ko pala dapat cinomment yung blender bind oops the celery was in a blender bind. haha di ko na uulitin last na talaga.

nobody said...

Hahaha! Away na ito! Woohoo!

Samantha said...

hahaha okay lang. very apt use of my phrase. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA (di mo talaga matiis noh)