I AM the Master! (Chef.)
Feb. 10th, 2004 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yinshubackupI made the best. soup. ever! in lab today.
Okay, so I am totally overexaggerating, because I usually don't brag on myself, so when I do, I feel it has to be satirical and funny or else someone might actually *gasp* believe me. It wasn't actually the "best. soup. ever!" Not the Zeus or Jesus Christ of soups, really. It was more like...just a minor demi-god in the realm of hearty root vegetable soups appropriate for Autumn and Winter.
Seriously, though, it was so good, my professor took a second bite. And then she went and got a little ramekin and spooned some out for herself to eat right then and there. My classmates all snarfed the rest of my presented bowl down pretty fast too.
Luckily, I got to take home the rest of what was left in some cardboard cartons, but by the time I got home, there was only one carton left because my friends at the school all wanted to try some.
Even my friend Kat, who works in the Statler kitchen and is an expiditer for the restaurant class (not worthy! *makes little hand-bow guestures*) loved it. She dug my leftover celery stalk (I had thrown a big 'ol leafy tip in there for flavor when I boxed it up) out of the soup, and stuffed the whole thing (now all juicy and marinated with broth and spices) in her mouth in the most un-ladylike display of gastronomical appreciation I have ever seen, while making happy-food noises.
For whatever reason, the foodie gods love me! And I am humbled and amazed. I'm not even a foodie myself, I just seem to have a knack for it so far.
First my melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookies, and now this.
Everyone says what a bitch of a class this is-- and they're probably going to be right, somewhere down the line (like, after our first exam).
Don't get me wrong, it is challenging even now, for simple stuff like consistency in the size of the dicing and timing everything just right and presenting it just so..... and later, I'm sure soups and cookies are going to seem like a cakewalk (ha, ha.) next to harder stuff like coq au vin and foie gras. (I hate foie gras, by the way. I realize it's a very status conscious thing, like caviar and Dom Perignon, but I just can't stand eating the stuff. I'd rather eat a stick of raw butter. Yes, really. ) But right now, I'm really liking this class. Uhm.... *looks around nervously* I am... allowed to like one of my classes here, right? *wince**cringe*
Just remind me of this horrid little fact later in this semester when I am under so much pressure I'm boiling over like a steam-jacketed kettle.
In other news, apparently Tweedledum and Tweedledumber have decided to try and start up a big new flashy "Dragon Attack Stunt Show" at Muskogee faire. Complete with the return of the Evil Dragon Yoko. (Oh no!)
*groan*
*smacks forehead*
Okay, okay. Calling them names is mean of me. The Dynamic Duo (trio?) never really [got the chance to] hurt me in any way.
And I really don't mean to sound catty-- Hawkwood was good to me in a lot of ways, and I will always have fond memories of the place.
But.... oy vey. Haven't we learned this lesson already?
*sigh* Errm...Well, I hope, for their sake, it is a success.
(must... resist..... urge to.... giggle...)
Annnnyway. I have about 25 papers to grade for my class that I'm T.A.'ing, so I best get to it if I want to get any other work done tonight. So I guess that's all for now.
P.S. (9 days till my birthday! yay! *happy dance*)
P.P.S. I apologize if any my friends are actual Chefs and are offended by my daringly assertive title. I promise you, I have no illusion that I am an actual real Master Chef, it is nothing more than the enthusiasm of youth and my own tongue-in-cheek grandstanding.
Okay, so I am totally overexaggerating, because I usually don't brag on myself, so when I do, I feel it has to be satirical and funny or else someone might actually *gasp* believe me. It wasn't actually the "best. soup. ever!" Not the Zeus or Jesus Christ of soups, really. It was more like...just a minor demi-god in the realm of hearty root vegetable soups appropriate for Autumn and Winter.
Seriously, though, it was so good, my professor took a second bite. And then she went and got a little ramekin and spooned some out for herself to eat right then and there. My classmates all snarfed the rest of my presented bowl down pretty fast too.
Luckily, I got to take home the rest of what was left in some cardboard cartons, but by the time I got home, there was only one carton left because my friends at the school all wanted to try some.
Even my friend Kat, who works in the Statler kitchen and is an expiditer for the restaurant class (not worthy! *makes little hand-bow guestures*) loved it. She dug my leftover celery stalk (I had thrown a big 'ol leafy tip in there for flavor when I boxed it up) out of the soup, and stuffed the whole thing (now all juicy and marinated with broth and spices) in her mouth in the most un-ladylike display of gastronomical appreciation I have ever seen, while making happy-food noises.
For whatever reason, the foodie gods love me! And I am humbled and amazed. I'm not even a foodie myself, I just seem to have a knack for it so far.
First my melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookies, and now this.
Everyone says what a bitch of a class this is-- and they're probably going to be right, somewhere down the line (like, after our first exam).
Don't get me wrong, it is challenging even now, for simple stuff like consistency in the size of the dicing and timing everything just right and presenting it just so..... and later, I'm sure soups and cookies are going to seem like a cakewalk (ha, ha.) next to harder stuff like coq au vin and foie gras. (I hate foie gras, by the way. I realize it's a very status conscious thing, like caviar and Dom Perignon, but I just can't stand eating the stuff. I'd rather eat a stick of raw butter. Yes, really. ) But right now, I'm really liking this class. Uhm.... *looks around nervously* I am... allowed to like one of my classes here, right? *wince**cringe*
Just remind me of this horrid little fact later in this semester when I am under so much pressure I'm boiling over like a steam-jacketed kettle.
In other news, apparently Tweedledum and Tweedledumber have decided to try and start up a big new flashy "Dragon Attack Stunt Show" at Muskogee faire. Complete with the return of the Evil Dragon Yoko. (Oh no!)
*groan*
*smacks forehead*
Okay, okay. Calling them names is mean of me. The Dynamic Duo (trio?) never really [got the chance to] hurt me in any way.
And I really don't mean to sound catty-- Hawkwood was good to me in a lot of ways, and I will always have fond memories of the place.
But.... oy vey. Haven't we learned this lesson already?
*sigh* Errm...Well, I hope, for their sake, it is a success.
(must... resist..... urge to.... giggle...)
Annnnyway. I have about 25 papers to grade for my class that I'm T.A.'ing, so I best get to it if I want to get any other work done tonight. So I guess that's all for now.
P.S. (9 days till my birthday! yay! *happy dance*)
P.P.S. I apologize if any my friends are actual Chefs and are offended by my daringly assertive title. I promise you, I have no illusion that I am an actual real Master Chef, it is nothing more than the enthusiasm of youth and my own tongue-in-cheek grandstanding.
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-10 06:07 pm (UTC)BTW, will you be back in town in time for the end of Scarby?
~D
Re:
Date: 2004-02-10 06:33 pm (UTC)And I don't know. I have a Final on May 18th, which is kind of late, and then it depends on what kind of job I get for the summer and where it is. Right now I'm applying to a couple of not-in-Texas places, and a few that are. In the long run, "Not in Texas" would be better for me, "In Texas" would be better for my family. We'll see how that plays out.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-10 07:28 pm (UTC)Dude.
I knew you were good, but wow. I wanna be YOUR friend!
Re:
Date: 2004-02-10 10:46 pm (UTC)That is hilarious! I never even thought of it like that. hehehe.
Sadly, no, I've never turned Wileys broth cubes into Vichyssois, or walked on Borscht (eww?) ....but I have fed a multitude of hungry kids with the wileys mixed with water and cans of "chicken" noodle soup plus whatever other vegetables I found in the fridge to stretch it farther (which, of course, is not very noticable at all if you put enough goldfish crackers on top).
I have to admit, most of the high-falutin' "haute cuisine" stuff I've only just learned here at the hotel school. My extended family has no end of "traditional" recipes like the infamous Green Jello Stuff, and baked chicken coated in bar-b-q- sauce and rolled in crushed-bar-b-q chips (like shake-n-bake, only better!), and my parents alternated manic-depressively every few years between that extreme and some new health kick, like the all-organic-simple-healthy-beans-and-whole-wheat-bread and stuff. I mean, we never ate bad growing up, but we never ate very fancy, either. (Well, I guess the organic stuff is kinda hot now, but back then it just got us teased for being 'granola flakes'.)
Some other hotelies I know were born with silver spoons in their mouths, and more than make up for my Texan roughness with their *ahem* refined palates. And they let everyone know it. (like Mr. "I got accepted to CIA, but I turned them down." ) And then I laugh to myself when they burn their cookies.
(yep, headed straight to hell, me.)
no subject
Date: 2004-02-10 07:45 pm (UTC)Congratulations!!!!
Date: 2004-02-11 04:48 am (UTC)You really don't need to apologise so much for being proud of doing something good. You are an incredible and an itelligent woman. You can be proud of yourself. It's all right.
Having said that. If there is no meat in this soup of yours, then you are TOTALLY going to have to remake some when you are here again. I wanna try some. :-)
_BB_
Re: Congratulations!!!!
Date: 2004-02-11 07:00 am (UTC)And nope, no meat at all, it even just uses vegetable stock as the base- however, there is parmesan cheese in it, so I guess it's not vegan.
I think I will post the recipe later today.