Today we had our first two tests at school. The first one was general culinary stuff that we have gone over and I expected it to be easy. I got 87% on it. I really dreaded the second one on sanitation. We had to know a lot about different different pathogens, viruses, and allergens--in what food they are found, symptoms, treatments, how to avoid them, etc., etc. besides some other things. When I finished the test I held my breath as I pushed the "Grade and Submit" button just hoping that I had passed. I made 90%! What a relief! 90% is my class grade so far. I'm doing pretty well after all. Tomorrow is the knife cuts test. That one won't be easy! I can make all of the cuts but the shapes aren't perfect. I do manage to get them to uniform sizes, though, and that is the most important thing (for even cooking times).

The St. Louis Le Cordon Bleu is brand-new. I am in the third class to go through so nobody has even graduated yet. The first class is almost halfway through. Our ribbon-cutting (I'm guessing it will be a blue ribbon) is next Tuesday night. Most LCBs have three areas of study--Culinary Arts, Patisserie, and Hospitality Management. We only have Culinary Arts for now. Yesterday I learned that we will be adding Patisserie and that we will be able to get an associates degree about the time that my class is finishing up. We only have to take three more classes for the associates degree. I think that will be about 18 more weeks. I definitely plan to do that but I want to do Patisserie also. If I can pay for it I'm going to go through again for that. I love to bake and I think that I would enjoy being a pastry chef more if I was working in a large restaurant or a hotel. For now my plan is to go the extra time for Culinary Arts and then do Patisserie. I'm very excited about it!