Tuscany

Sorry I have been delayed in getting a new blog up. I think it's because the Italian classes have not been as fun as the food basics classes were. It has nothing to do with the cooking. It's the fact that the dynamics of the classes have changed. We have lost people from our class that were only doing the certificate program and have completed what they needed to do, so they combined the remaining people. We all know each other because we have had baking together, but it still makes it harder because there are a few people from the 'other' class that don't do anything to help others out. A lot of people get frustrated with that, but that is the least of my worries. I know that I can't rely on those people, so I don't consider them. The issue I have is with the teaching methods from certain teachers. It makes it hard to get excited about going in and being there for 8 hours. I think we are all at the point where we cannot wait for the summer. When school began, there were people before us that started in September and will go right through until graduation next month. At first I though this was good because they can finish in less time and not have that 3 month break. Now I realize that I would slowly go nuts if I didn't have this break coming up. When I told Derek that he said 'But, I though you liked cooking?' I do, it's just hard to enjoy what you are doing when you have a million people in your way and little birdies chirping in your ear telling you 10 different ways to do one simple thing. It's getting to be a lot. Anyways, only 3 more weeks!!

In class I cooked the pork loin, roasted rosemary potatoes and baked cauliflower. It was all pretty good. I don't really care for pork or potatoes so I couldn't care less about the dish. Tuscany is known for their painfully simple dishes. They do not believe in sauces or millions of ingredients. Some dishes were good that way, but it made some suffer in my opinion. During class we also got our 2nd semester binders. I haven't had a chance to look through it, but I think I will like it because it changes a lot. There are no 6 weeks worth of classes on one particular subject. The variety should keep it interesting.

During wine seminar, we focused on food and wine pairings. This was the best wine class by far. Next week is our last class and we have our exam as well. I also have an Italian quiz next week too. Both have to do with a lot of memorization, not so much about knowing cooking techniques like Food Basics was.

One final thing, I know I told you I got a 94 on my practicum and the second part of that was the written exam. On that I got a 88.9125....stupid right?!! Just round up for pete's sake!!!