Spring Break has started! But there's still much to do next week.
Just a recap on what happened this week... There are five groups in our class, and each is assigned a specific station which is lead by a chef. The five stations are entree, deli, steward, short order, and salads. Each group has five students, except for ours. I'm in group 5 with Cory and Philip. This week we were assigned to the short order cook station with Chef Eric. We ran the grill, flat top, and fryer stations. We fried straight and curly fries, grilled burgers, and did daily specials. Mostly everything was par cooked, except for some eggs which we used for loco moco's. Besides loco moco's we did fish taco's, fish and chips, Chicken Quesadilla's, Chicken Chow Mein, and Ciopiono (from PM Fundamentals - which looked and tasted different for the AM class).

Interesting week, i must say. Three weeks ago I was in Fundamentals learning one way, and now in Interediate I'm learning another way. No qualms though. I understand we're in a different setting under different chefs, so we do what we gotta do. I'm persistent however to remain professional, safe, and clean.
One thing funny I found yesterday though was that a box of trash under the counter was left over night. I'll take the blame for that since I put that there. It was easier than running back and forth down the line to throw trash away. At the end of the day I made sure I threw it away and didn't leave it for anyone else to take care of. Also, there's apparently a "burger cemetary" behind the grill. During our clean up I was wiping up the grease under the grill and found all the burgers that had fallen in the past week (or who knows when).
Sometimes I wonder if there's some kind of conspiracy - a test almost - on who's going to do things right and who's going to do thing wrong, and there's secret camera's tucked away in the kitchen watching all us kids...

Anyway, before my imagination gets carried away, I'll mention a few things REALLY going on in my culinary life. My church, Wellspring Covenant, is having a fundraiser and Faye, who helps run the food committee, asked if I'd be able to assist her. So, I along with a small group of Brigade818 will be participating. I thought it would be fun to do things we learned in Fundamentals. As of now we have a five course progressive menu from a soup to dessert. Here's the menu so far:

- "Peas & Carrots"L Chilled Spring Pea Veloute with Carrots Vichy and a Mint Whipcream
- Iceberg Wedge with Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
- Ratatouille with Creamy Polenta
- Classic Boeuf Bourguignon
- Strawberry Shortcake: Vanilla Almond cake with Grand Manier Drunkin Strawberries and Sweet Whip Cream

And more new news: On Friday during class Mark Noguchi a talented cook who's worked for Chef Mavro, and currently with Chef Ed Kenney and Chef Dave Caldiero came to see if I'd be interested in working at town restaurant in Kaimuki! I've actually been interested in working for Chef Ed Kenney's restaurant's (and mentioned this to Chef Leake which is why Mark Noguchi came up to see me), and the opportunity has come my way (I actually applied there before applying for school). I'm very excited! One book that Chef Kenney recommended somewhere was "Setting the Table" by Danny Meyer. Reading that book began to change the way I looked at the restaurant industry, and a book I've encouraged other industry friends of mine to read as well.
Chef Kenney is all about local, organic, and taking care of the environment. I'm looking forward to many new things to learn!
And next Thursday and Friday I'll be working with Chef Susanna Ok, Chef di Cuisine at Downtown (Ed Kenney's second restaurant) with their monthly Art After Dark event. Whoohoo! :)
Let y'all know about all this later. Gotta go work now. Shoots!