All is right with my world

I spent the first part of the morning doing two things: fabricate a tray of cornish game hens and try to keep warm! For some reason, the hoods over the stoves were blowing in freezing cold air, we could all see our breath! But I figured I've worked in worse conditions, and I might work in worse ones in the future, so I rolled my sleeves back down and fired up the grill to warm up the room. After the hens were done, Chef told me to just "do something with them for an appetizer", whatever I wanted, my discretion. I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to do, we had a cambro of chopped mushrooms, so I made a duxelle, sauteed with onions and butter. I cut the breasts in half and topped each one with some of the duxelle, and wrapped it in puff pastry. Mini chicken Wellingtons, served on a pool of the same carrot-ginger emulsion from a few nights ago. It was a good combination, Chef seemed to be pleased with it, too. I should have made more!

After lunch, we came back to the lab (still in igloo), and were given similar instructions as this morning: make something out of all this chicken. This time, I froze up. I couldn't find something that sounded good, or that we had the product for, or wasn't too similar to something we've made recently. After much thought, I finally came up with something that's pretty basic, but that I've never made and always wanted to: chicken carbonara. It only took a minute to gather together the ingredients, and only a glance at the recipe, and I was rolling! I put some leg quarters in a roasting pan, drizzled on some olive oil and tri-mix, and threw them in the oven for a few minutes. Meanwhile, I got the pasta water boiling and the eggs and cream whisked together. I plated it up for a picture, sprinkled it with basil chiffonade, and arranged some leg quarters with it. By the time I had it ready, though, my class had been eating all day, so I'd ended up making way too much. It was then my sad duty to take it home to my dorm :-) I love my major!

I also got my deposit in for the trip to France, so I felt good about getting that done. It makes it feel that much closer. In recent weeks, I've ceased to dread the future and just figure I'll roll with it. Everything is starting to seem like it's falling into place. I'll probably intern at the new Italian restaurant in Decorah (my mom even said if I don't get enough hours there to satisfy my requirements, she could find a few jobs for me as a "personal chef" for a few "private parties" Translation: cooking for her and her work friends. I suggested a "Take This Job and Shove It" party. Ha! Thanks, Mom ). My classwork isn't nearly as daunting as it seemed at first, I have one project done and two to go. I'll be able to get them done with no trouble.

I had an idea a couple nights ago that my classmates and I should meet up in the lab some night and have a pre-graduation party sometime before the term is over. Once this term wraps up, we start going our different ways. If we all got together and each made a course, whether it was a signature dish of ours or something we've discovered and wanted to try out, it could be a lot of fun. I hope we can do something like that. I ran the idea by a few classmates, and Chef Gordon, and they all seem to be on board, so that would be a good last hurrah for us.

On a very non-culinary related note, I just downloaded my first mp3. I found a song I liked on a youtube video and just...wanted it. I'd never considered it before, I was happy to either just rip my existing cds onto the computer and copy them onto my little mp3 player, or to have friends send me music files to augment my library. I actually felt little bratty, just "I like this song, I want it, click, mine!" It's funny how technology is. I have the smallest player on the market, a 2G, but 10 years ago if I wanted to have 400 songs to take with me on a car trip, I would've had to pack a whole suitcase of cds. Now it's more than common for people to carry a couple thousand tracks in their pocket at any given time. That goes beyond anything I would imagine needing. A downside to the mp3 "culture" is that it ruins already perfectly laid-out albums, by concentrating on selling songs as singles. Two albums that I couldn't imagine breaking up are the Beatles "Abbey Road" (especially the B side, they all flow into each other seamlessly, truly a thing of beauty) and Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon". I'm sure there are many more, but those are two of my favorites to listen to all the way through. They were crafted to go together!

Tomorrow's the field trip, I hope the weather is clear. I can't wait!