Wednesday, October 28th

Happy Lee Butcher's Birthday Day!!!

Thank you to everyone for expressing such sincere sadness caused by not getting to read my blog for the past two days (and when I say "everyone" I mean Sue... my sister). AHEM...

Before you start working in a "real" kitchen you are required to be certified by SafeServe in Sanitation so Monday and Tuesday evening were spent in a class room from 6pm-10:30pm (after a full day in the kitchen) of learning not to cut veggies on a cutting board that just had raw chicken on it, not to put your hands down your pants and then prepare food, and that if you have diarrhea, you shouldn't come to work because you could potentially give someone a very serious disease like jaundice... I have to stay after class again tomorrow to take the actual test which has 90 questions on it. To quote my mother "Oh joy. Oh bliss."

Monday we made whole wheat rolls with a honey wash which I found to be totally boring so I gave mine to Kimberly to take to her church group meeting that night.

Yesterday we made Ciabatta bread which was SO good. Its totally messy to make, but completely worth it. We also made a pre-ferment (part of a dough that must sit overnight or sometimes longer in order to obtain flavor) for our fruit and nut bread (with currants, raisins, pecans and hazelnuts) which we baked today.

After the fruit and nut bread (which I unloaded at Rhea's doorstep on my way home tonight), we made Pain de Campanion which I found to be boring as well so I gave that to Kimberly for her PTA meeting tomorrow morning (and she manages to be peppy and friendly EVERY DAY!)

And then we made what Monica HOFFBERG and myself, Maryn SILVERBERG (the only two Jews in the class) like to call Jew Day in the Le Cordon Blue baking program: we made Challah and Rye Bread. The rye bread wont be baked until tomorrow, but we did the challah (mine was a bit under-proofed which means that I didn't let the dough rise enough before baking it. The main sign of under-proofing is splitting which is what mine did down the middle). Tomorrow we will be tested, yet again, on baguettes as well as the challah. By the end of the day tomorrow, I will have taken three tests this week which seems like a lot...