Homecoming Weekend

Julianne had Homecoming this weekend. It's early this year and I think the kids had a hard time really getting into it. They won their game Friday night against Grandview 58-8. The dance was last night and everyone got ready at Molly's again this year. I have tons of pictures and will post them as soon as I can. Julianne's boyfriend is away at college and couldn't come home for the dance but she got "permission" to go with a different guy just as friends.

Yes, she's cutting her stitch. She wouldn't let me breathe on it (still hasn't gotten over her first lost tooth) but every one of these girls had a turn picking at it trying to pull it out!

Hannah, Julianne, Sophie, Jayme, Barb, Molly before:

Jayme, Sophie, Julianne, Molly after:

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Arg!

Julianne's foot saga

We visited a surgeon, Dr. Durgin, (real nice guy who was an Army surgeon in Baghdad) this morning and got her darned foot fixed. He was able to do it in his office and I got to watch. He was trying to get the thing out without any stitches but she did end up with one--her very first stitch ever. The "foreign body" looks like the business end of a thumbtack and it's rusty. We saved it 'cause we're goofy and because a couple of her teachers wanted to see. J has a low-grade infection. She ended up with antibiotics but no pain stuff and the shot he gave her has pretty much worn off. She can't cheer tonight but she donned her uniform (and slippers) and rode the bus to the game. I'm sure she's milking the sympathy for all she's worth! Just got a text. They won 25-7. YAY!!!

Julianne took this cheesy picture in Whole Foods on the way home from the doctor's office:

I went to the night class again last night. I really don't like it. The chef instructor does things and makes us do things so differently from the other instructors I've had so far. I expect that but he just expects me to  instinctively know to do them his way and is a little snotty about it. The class is much smaller than the morning class (and everyone is very, very nice) but, my gosh, they are the slowest cleaners! Class is over at 10:30 and they didn't get done last night until at least 11:00. My carpool & I were planning to go back to our 6am class today. Her F3 class at night only has eight students in it and they are always done very early. She just waits for me. Her dad is in ICU this week and she works right after our morning class. In order to be able to be at the hospital during visiting hours she needs to go to the night class. I totally understand and am grateful to be able to get to school but I really hate it! Chef Todd (gosh, I miss him this week) called me this morning while J was in x-ray (more on that below) to tell me that he has a schedule all worked out where I can pass the class but I have to be in his class and I have to be able to stay over. I had emailed him and asked him to be very honest about whether I could pass the class because if I had to take it over anyway I was not going back at night this week. I have to figure out the ride situation for staying after class. Next week is the last week of F2 anyway so I do need to catch up quickly if I don't want to take it again.

Last night we paired up and made roasted chickens with jus lie', pommes puree', glazed carrots, goujonettes of catfish, sauce tartar and cocktail sauce. It was all quite yummy! It's starting to matter how we plate the food. That is not my gift!

Julianne broke her toe on her bedroom doorway a few weeks ago. I thought it was getting better but the top of her foot is bruised and swollen and very tender. There is a little knot by the joint of that toe. I took her to an urgent care facility this morning. After an x-ray the doctor told us what's wrong--and you're not gonna believe this--she has the tip of a needle embedded in her foot! On the TOP of her foot! How the heck did that happen? She denies vehemently crawling around in Nanie's sewing room. Very weird! But kinda funny! There is no infection. This doctor didn't remove it because she didn't know how much tissue was around it and didn't want to dig around in there. I would have let her. Now I have to take her to a surgeon to remove it but they will probably do it in their office.

Egg Day

I made it to school last night! Chef Todd seemed happy to see me (but I had Chef David for my instructor). He said to just worry about Egg Day for the night and that we would catch me up slowly over the next two weeks and that I can still pass F2! There were tests yesterday but I don't have to take them yet. I've missed a lot! I've missed Vegetable Day, Legume Day, making homemade pasta (I really looked forward to that), and I don't even know what else. I want to do all of it but I don't want to be too overwhelmed. I know that on Monday we are roasting chickens (don't know what else except that it will also be roasted). I'm telling you right now that I am NOT throwing a whole chicken away! It's coming home with me. Chef has to look away some time!

Egg Day was easy! We made Eggs Benedict, French omelets, and fried eggs. I had never eaten eggs Benedict before. I don't know why, except that I don't really care for English muffins. I love poached eggs. I only had to try this recipe once and Chef declared it "the best so far!" It was awesome! I inhaled it while I cooked the other stuff. I had to do two omelets because the first one had a weird texture and wasn't setting up. Chef said that it was because I didn't use a non-stick pan (I NEVER use non-stick) but I don't think that was it. I did switch pans, though, and it was perfect the next time. Now, I've fried eggs for years, but I had to do them THREE times last night! The first time I broke one of the yolks. The second time I lost half of it between the stoves when I tried to flip them (never tried that before and was intimidated but I'll never do it with a spatula again). The third time even my flip was good! I meant to do them over-easy but they felt hard to me so that's what I told Chef they were. They were medium. They were good, though. Obviously, I couldn't eat all of those eggs, so they did get thrown away (except the poached ones). Chef took a picture of each of us with each dish for our portfolios. Thank God I wore makeup to class! I hope this is not going to be a regular occurrence. I'm just not real photogenic. To round out the class, Chef David felt that he should pass on some wisdom on his own, and he showed us how to season pans. That was cool. I'm going to do that to all of mine over the weekend.

Just when I think I have it all worked out

my new carpool chick slept through her alarm this morning! Go figure. We are hitting the evening class so I just put my uniform back on and I'm waiting for her. I have no idea who teaches F2 in the evening but I do know that it's Egg Day. I canceled a date for it so those better be some darn good eggs! I can't remember what they made last time around. Chef Todd was planning to have us make hollandaise again this morning. Maybe we won't have to this evening. I almost made a poached egg for lunch. I'll be glad I didn't later!

It looks like I'm staying at Le Cordon Bleu. What a relief! I was getting excited about the alternative but I think I would rather just finish what I am already doing--and paying for. I had a voicemail last night (weird because I was holding the phone when it came through but it never rang or showed a missed call--maybe I accidentally rejected the call?) that I didn't bother to check until this morning from another student who lives very close to me and works after school just a couple of blocks from my house. She said that she would be happy to pick me up. I should have checked voicemail last night so I could go to school today! I have emailed Chef Todd and asked what I can do to catch up or to at least pass. I would like to go back to this class and repeat everything I've missed but I would rather just pass it and keep moving! I really don't want to repeat the things I didn't miss! I don't know how expensive it is for us to repeat a 6-week class and I would like to still graduate in March. I still want to find some baking/pastry classes to take on my own. I'm going to check with Forest Park College to see what they have. I know they have a culinary program and I saw online last week that they have just been accredited to offer a baking degree. I don't want to take all of the general education classes that I would need for their degree program but I think I can take some individual classes and I'm going to look into it. There's no such thing as too much knowledge, right?

I'm feeling a little better today. I talked to an admissions representative at L'Ecole Culinaire and might go tomorrow afternoon to see a chef demonstration there. I'm dying to see their campus! He can't do anything financial aid-wise until I officially withdraw from Le Cordon Bleu. I talked to a financial aid representative at LCB about the financial consequences if I withdraw from there now. She couldn't tell me. I will have to talk to the financial aid director about that. She did say that she has an email out to all of the chef instructors about my carpool problems and doesn't want me to quit yet. I've missed more than a week but she says I can catch up. It would be hard but I know I can. I can learn the recipes. I have them. I won't see Chef's demos and I won't know exactly how he wants them to turn out. He has his own funny little things that he does to recipes that aren't in our books--like whole grain mustard in the Sauce Robert and a wine/shallot reduction for hollandaise. I love details like those and they do make them better. The end texture and consistency is important and what I think is good isn't always what he wants. because, of course, cooking for public is different from cooking for family. If I don't have a carpool by the end of this week I am going to withdraw from LCB. I really don't see how I have a choice. If I can work out financial aid I am going to LEC starting in November but I'm going to go for 90 weeks and get an associates degree instead of the certificate. Julianne & I would graduate at the same time! The certificate takes 36 weeks at LCB and 60 at LEC and the classes at LEC are two hours longer each day. I hate to say it, but it sounds like it might be a better education anyway and I should have examined that possibility before I made a commitment at LCB. Even for the certificate the baking & pastry class is 15 weeks as opposed to 6 at LCB. If I work at a restaurant or hotel I want to be a pastry chef. I think it suits my temperament better for several reasons--one of which is that you don't bake a cake to order at a restuarant! I want the general culinary knowledge, too, but I plan to take as many extra baking classes as I can wherever I can find them. I want to start a personal chef business. I was planning to do that in November when I finished up with the cooking technique classes at LCB but in time for the holiday busy time but I have to have a dependable car for that. I can't haul that many groceries and a knife kit and recipes and whatever equipment I need around on the bus! That's assuming that everyone who hires me even lives on the bus line.

I just got a promise from Julianne that I can make her wedding cake someday if I'm any good at it. YAY!!! I'll make my own, too, if the nursing home will let me use the kitchen.

Julianne got a refill for her henna kit tonight and she gave me another tattoo--a chef's toque on top of my foot--only I smeared it so the other foot looks like I stepped in something in the yard. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow.

I'm having big issues. I don't like to whine in public like this but I guess I think I have to explain or something--you know, why there are suddenly no cooking at school pictures. I enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu very spontaneously. I've wished for a long time that I had pursued the culinary arts years ago. There is a culinary school called L'Ecole Culinaire very close to here and every single time I've ever passed it (often because it's right off the highway) I've felt that twang of regret. I kind of thought that I couldn't go back to school. I've been a single working parent for so long and won't commit my time to anything else. I wouldn't even work evenings and nights after Julianne started school because I didn't want sitters and teachers raising her. In fact, I've avoided the hospitality industry completely because of that and that's where I wanted to be. She's in high school now so I'm much more open about my schedule. When I'm alone again in a couple of years I plan to get back into that industry and not in St. Louis. I didn't know how I could pay for school. I've done the financial aid thing before and figured I had tapped it almost out. I'm also extremely hard-of-hearing and have a lot of problems following instructors even if I'm paying close attention. I saw an ad for LCB and requested information without taking time to think about it. An admissions representative called me and I made an appointment with her but I still didn't think I could go. Long story short, the financial aid worked out and everything fell into place very nicely. LCB is in St. Peters and that is thirty miles from here. There are no trains or busses to get me there. I am driving an ancient car but I really thought it would last me until I graduate in March. I still signed up for the carpool thing but have never found anyone to share a ride with. There was one chick who emailed me but never returned an email or call when I tried to contact her back. Frustrating! Of course, a couple of weeks into classes my car started having problems and they were bad enough that I was scared to drive the thirty miles to school in it. I missed three days of F1 (Food Foundations 1--the first six weeks of school) because of car trouble. Those were the days when Chef Shane demonstrated soups for us so I totally missed the soups. I still have never made consomme'! Of course, I had to take a practical test on what I didn't learn those days. A dude in my class offered to drive me. That was working out great as far as I knew. We get along fine. His car is comfortable. He has great music. I gave him gas money. He stopped showing up last week out of the blue. He doesn't answer the phone and doesn't return an email. I don't know what the problem is. I have one guess unless he has quit school. Bottom line is that I can't drive my car and have no way to get to St. Peters and it looks like I have to quit Le Cordon Bleu. It's killing me. I'm heartbroken and just pissed at the whole wide world tonight. I'm really getting seriously depressed and I don't get depressed. I was so excited about this and so extremely excited about the future after it. I'm going to check out L'Ecole Culinaire in the morning. Their program is almost twice as long and therefore more expensive and they don't have the big name but I can get there on public transportation if I have to. I'll make sure of that before I even make an appointment with an admissions rep. If financial aid works out again I'll go that route. I don't know what else to do if I want to be a chef. I just feel like I should have my act together by now and have at least a car that I can depend on.

Thank you for letting me whine! I promise to not do it here again!

We won!!!

We won our first home game and it was against our biggest rivals--Brentwood. The score was 28-14. It was exciting!