Lamb

Sadly, my Spring Break has come to an end. It was nice having those 2 days off. Today we got our second Food Basics quiz back. I got a 92. There were a couple of questions that really threw me off, but one of them had thrown the whole class off, so Chef Jim didn't grade that question. We talked about Lamb and ages. The worst part is learning that a Spring/Easter Lamb is only 6-8 weeks old before it's slaughtered. The only comment we could make was 'that sucks'.

Once in the kitchen I was in a team of 3 and our recipes included Fried Artichoke Hearts with a Lemon Sauce, Tomato and Red Pepper Soup, and Lamb Ravioli. One of our team member focused on the soup and myself and my other teammate split the other dishes between us. The filling for the ravioli was awesome. Plus, we got to use the pasta attachment for the KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I loved it...I almost want to buy one, but I don't like pasta enough. Our eating time was set at 3:30pm today. Our 3 recipes were all prepped and were just waiting for other team's lambs to be done so we could finish ours off. I think that gave us a little leeway as far as the time was concerned. We actually decided that some of the lamb was cooking quicker than we had expected, so we changed the time to 3:15pm and hit it right on the nose! It's always nice when we all reach this goal. We do work really well together. I have to say, this was probably the best meal we have eaten to date. I love lamb, and, of course, the side dishes were great with the lamb.

Today also happened to be our quarterly reviews. We all met one-on-one with Chef Jim to discuss our performance to date. He started off by telling me my average grade between the quizzes and my lab grade. He has me down as a 90. He said this is very good as he considers himself quite a tough teacher. This made me feel really good. He likes how I am efficient, organized and am an emerging leader in the class. He told everyone that he expects us to be the ones that communicate with each other and see where everyone is and when they will be ready to serve. He only wants to be there to observe by the last weeks of our classes with him. During our meeting, he also asked me if I was willing to become more of a leader in the kitchen and really help push the class along in reaching this goal. Of course I am happy to take that opportunity and run with it. He told me it's very good that I am able to get my stuff done successfully, but am also very aware of everyone around me and their situation and how it would affect my dish and the classes dishes as a whole. Not that I had doubt about this whole culinary thing, but today's meeting totally erased any feeling of uncertainty that I may have had.

It was a good day! But, tomorrow is Baking. I have a quiz, maybe quarterly reviews for that class and we are making phyllo dough and something else (yuck). Anyways, I have to have a good attitude tomorrow since that counts as part of my grade!

Today's Recipes:Leek and Goat Cheese Tart, Tomato and Red Pepper Soup, Ravioli D'Agnello, Braised Lamb Shanks A La Provencale, Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint Pesto, Zucchini with Tomato, Artichoke Heart Beignets with Avgolemono Sauce, Roasted Beets with Balsamic Vinegar Sauce, Arugula Salad with Feta, Mint and Olives, Konafa (look it up, it's so freakin' good!)