Friday, April 3, 2015

NE Highlights and Challenges | Week 1

This is a class assignment that I write about at the end of each week called Highlights and Challenges. If you are new to my blog I am enrolled at The Natural Epicurean Culinary Academy in Austin, Texas and this is my online journal (among other things!).


HIGHLIGHTS 

1. Describe: What did you find especially exciting, interesting, inspiring, satisfying and/or fun this week in the kitchen? 

This being my first week was very exciting, more so than being nervous, and the day went by so fast. I felt like I was taking a big step forward in my future just by showing up to orientation. I arrived a little early and saw that all of our supplies were neatly laid out and of course I sat front row. I didn't want to miss any information that Chef Rosa was going to dish out! 



The agenda that was given was a thoughtful touch because it let me know what to expect the first two weeks of class and allowed me to anticipate what was going to happen next. 

I thought the information about the kitchen brigade, equipment and tools was interesting. It was validating for me to know that my Vitamix, Le Creuset dutch oven, and Cuisinart processor were great investment pieces to have in my home.

The really fun part about class this week was using our new knives! The lab was called knife skills 1 and we learned the basics (parts of the knife, how to hold a knife, types of knives, etc.) as well as dicing veggies! Here is a photo of my veggie cutting skills. Yeah, I need to practice, but it was fun!


The other great part about this is my classmates. They are all so eager and have a positive attitude and I'm grateful that it's a small sized group of people to have this experience with. 

The other thing I liked were the demos! This is where we see Chef Inge demonstrate some recipes and provide objectives and of course we got to sample three soups. Mmmmm, food!!! 

Lastly, this may not be important to some, but for me it is and it's the location of being in south Austin. I am now in close proximity to some of my favorite places, for example Wheatsville Co-op, Mr. Natural, Alamo Drafthouse, and others. 

Lot's of good things happening for sure!

2. Reflect: In what ways have you begun to apply, develop or incorporate this and/or how does this influence your professional goals?

As I was driving home I was thinking about the week and how I felt and I have come to the conclusion that I am on the right path. There is no doubt that I struggle with or have that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think about becoming a personal chef. I just love food. They way it makes me feel, the time and effort that goes into creating a meal for someone, and to be able to share my skills with others so that they can create plant-based meals themselves.

When I'm in my kitchen I think about how to stand when I'm about to chop and how to hold my knife. As I mentioned before I need more practice and looks like we will be having a lot of potato themed meals in my house :P

CHALLENGES

3. Describe: What did you find especially challenging or difficult in the kitchen this week?

A couple of things, knife skills and sitting during the demos

4. Reflect: What might you do to meet and overcome these challenges or difficulties?

Let's start with sitting in the demos. I now realize that I will have to stand a lot more during our demos. Before I started this program I worked in an office and I had a standing desk. I had been using a standing desk for a couple of years and it has served my body well. I thought I could sit throughout the entire demo, but by doing so my back hurts. So from now on I plan on dividing my time between standing and sitting.  This is what my standing desk at my old job looked liked in case you were curious :)




As for the knife skills, I realize that lots of practice will help me so it's not something that is out of my reach. I am capable of improving!  I also have to be more conscious of the 'little things' like my standing position and cutting more evenly (line up my knife accordingly). Here are a couple pics from this weeks knife cutting lab. 





Thanks for reading my highlights and challenges. See you again next week!

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