The (first) home stretch...

Twenty-four days down......I'm still Cutlass Supreme. Get it? Well...Ludacris would get it.

Well, it's the home stretch of the first month of classes. You are reading the words of a PCI student currently rocking a 4.0 GPA heading into finals, and I couldn't be happier about that. Soon my world will revolve around soups, stocks and sauces, but for now four days of MOD 1 remain between me and sweet-sweet, three-day weekend glory.

But enough about the future-- let's talk about the previous week.

Tailgating a Steelers game is near a religious experience. Only in parking lots at 7am on a Sunday morning can you find homemade red wine two coolers down from a grain alcohol concoction that tastes like flat root beer. Mix with Steelers fans, who I quickly learned are some of the nicest, down-to-Earth people I've ever met, and you've got a recipe that leads to nap time by noon. The Steelers took out the high-flying Vikings, so obviously people were celebrating hard all day. My neighborhood, with it's proximity to the stadium and all, is an intense place to be on game day. It's fun to be immersed in such a solid sports culture...if not a little awkward to be *that guy* not wearing Steelers gear. Oh well. I can't like all things Pittsburgh...

As for the week of classes...it was pretty low key, but illuminating as usual.

I've come to the conclusion that my hatred for coleslaw and potato salad may be based on the American versions of the dishes. American meaning mayo-injected. The French version of potato salad we made in class (with vinaigrette, not mayo) was just amazing. I will make it again, for sure. I've also had my first Primanti Brother's experience (life-changing), and they rock a vinegar-based coleslaw on their sandwiches. While it's probably more accurate to classify it as more of a cabbage mixture, and less of a coleslaw (that's not as redundant as it sounds, I promise), it's still changing my mind on things. Vinegar is becoming a staple of delicious cooking in my book. There's just so many ways to use it with food.

Other salads prepared this week included chicken (pretty standard), Caesar (our dressing from scratch was stellar), chef (meat on salad never goes out of style), and a fruit salad (balsamic is a superior flavor to mint when paired with fruit...believe it).

I didn't get in much on the fruit salad, as I was making pancakes for the class. A conversation early in the week with Chef brought to light our shared love of everything butterscotch. In response she brought some butterscotch chips for pancakes. I mean it doesn't get any better than that-- ask and you shall receive. And any chance to touch on pastry under Chef is a valuable experience too, because it's far and away her forte in food (her brownies will change your life). More importantly, you learn amazing little tips...like buttermilk can be replaced with a milk and lemon juice mixture. Little tips like that (which could save your ass some day) are invaluable.

Wednesday was Huevos Rancheros, French Toast and bacon. What's not to like there?

Huevos Rancheros may be my new preferred way to eat eggs. Take that same pan you would scrambled eggs in...put some butter down to grease it up, add salsa, add two eggs, cover and allow them to poach. Put it on a tortilla (or toast), add some cheese...man-- just delicious. And honestly, I think it's the first time I've ever had a poached egg. I'm a fan.

The week was capped off with Root Vegetable Hash (carrots, potatoes, parsnips) and a Corn and Pepper Pudding. The hash was awesome (pretty sure it included my first experience with parsnips...tasty). I could go for some meat in it though. That's just how I like hash. Easily could be done, of course. The pudding...meh. Cheese, eggs, peppers...all good...but it just didn't do it for me. Was good spread on toast, definitely, but I don't see myself making it just to make it.

After a long week, a few guys from work, CP, and I met up at Mullen's last night for the Pens game. Nice to get to know some people from class better, outside the classroom setting. Also was great to see the Pens rally from down, 3-1, against the Blue Jackets to tie the game in the final two minutes. Pens ended up winning in the shootout.

The Pens are 11-2. What a season so far. And this is with injuries to Malkin, Gonchar, Talbot and Kennedy...yeesh. Wings are injured too...and playing .500 hockey. Beautiful.

OK-- that's it for now. Can't wait for next weekend! Heading to Cleveland!

"It's a party in Pittsburgh, PA!"

Today marks the completion of MOD Day No. 19...and my hands are still finger-licken' good. Here's to hoping there never comes a day where I describe my hands as stump-licken' good.

Well, whew-- what a week. Let's rewind to this past Friday to get the ball rolling as we're about six hours shy of the one-week anniversary of, "Yay! CP and Mark Didn't Die in West Virginia!" Day. It's not that we were in any real danger, it's just that we got lost en route to OU Homecoming in what can only be described as the butt crack of American states.

West Virginia at night has to be every horror writer's default setting for shenanigans. You're in a place you don't want to be. You don't want to be stuck here...but you're stuck here...so go check out that abandoned barn to see if they have a phone. And don't mind the cackling gas station attendant, or that brawny fellow who looks like he's on the way from a hockey game. They just live here.


Seriously-- West Virginia sucks. "The Mountain State." "Mountaineers are always free." Thanks for the visual...now roll up the windows, lock the doors, and step on the gas... Deuces.

OU Homecoming was a nice change of pace. It was great to see a lot of old friends, the Bobcats beat up on the RedHawks, and Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" played numerous times. Seriously, no complaints there...other then I came down with a bit of a cold later in the week due to lack of sleep and the recent (RIDICULOUS!) temperature changes.

The past few days in the 'Burgh have been pleasant though. Twenty-degrees on Monday flourished into 70-degree beauties by Wednesday. If not for the threat of rain for this entire weekend, it may have been the best weather week in Pitt since I got here. At least it feels like Fall again. I was a bit worried we had skipped the season entirely and jumped into Winter. I like kicking multi-colored leaves around on the way to school in the morning in boyish glee...

School was busy this week. We got our Safety/Sanitation midterm test back Monday, then had our kitchen midterm yesterday. We then had a practical in kitchen this morning, and another test in Safety/Sanitation to wrap up the week. It's almost like we're trying to accomplish something in a 28-day period...who would have thought? The pace is definitely fast and furious now for sure...and the tests are getting a bit more difficult. Oh well...this *IS* school I heard.

Cooking...cooking-- well, we transitioned into salads after heart attack Friday last week. We learned how to prepare a bunch of different greens and started the week making our own vinaigrettes. We made mayo on Tuesday (what is "Something I Don't Want to Taste at 8am" for a billion dollars), and then used the mayo to make emulsified dressings like ranch and blue cheese. Thursday was fantastical, in the sense we made a Middle Eastern "sampler." Hummus, falafels, tabbouleh and baba ganous. DE-LICIOUS...and easy to make!

So that's the week in a nut shell. I may tailgate the Steelers game with CP on Sunday, and I'm meeting up with some friends from school tonight to teach them a lesson in the art of NHL 10. I'm sure I will squeeze some laundry and grocery shopping somewhere in there.

Speaking of the NHL-- Pens are 8-1...and the Red Wings are still failing. Chris Osgood let in one of the most embarrassing goals I've ever seen to allow them to lose in OT to Phoenix the other night. The "end of the dynasty" talks are beginning, and it couldn't be sweeter...

Nine days of the first MOD remain. Whew-- where did the first month go?

Death by deliciousness...

I am 14 days cut free. That's a fortnight to you Lincoln lovers.

Well, I'm about to have a heart attack. If for some reason this post cuts off mid-sentence and my face slamming into the keyboard somehow publishes it-- don't say I didn't warn you. Why you ask? Today was essentially Fry-Everything-Friday in kitchen. If you've ever ordered some Super Sampler appetizer, chances are we cooked a product found on the plate. The rundown:

Fried provolone wedges, fried pickles, fried sweet potatoes (yams actually), fried red peppers, fried mushrooms, fried zucchini, onion rings, fried broccoli, french fries, home fries...and Chef made pumpkin pancakes and some bacon. Take THAT arteries!

We ate all of this at 8:30am. What did *you* have for breakfast?

The pumpkin pancakes were AMAZING! Best pancakes I have had --ever-- hands down. A fried surprise included the broccoli (great with ranch), but I mostly gravitated to old favorites (mushrooms, pickles and cheese).

This entire week has been pretty edible. Eggplant parmigiana-- delicious. Collard greens and ham/bacon-- delicious. Cheese grits-- delicious. It's like being in kindergarten again, only snack time has evolved into something much more appealing. It isn't milk and cookies, that's for sure. Now all we need is nap time...

The broccoli practical was Thursday. I got an 'A' on it, and that's 10% of my grade. No complaints there. I have another test today in Sanitation that will be obnoxious (memorize the minimum internal heat all foods must be cooked to and for how long to be safe to serve-- go!), but doable. All in all, it was a pretty great week-- cook a ton of delicious food, do some homework, rinse and repeat.

My parents were up yesterday, swinging through on the way to visit friends in New York. They dropped off some miscellaneous supplies and essentials I missed. We did lunch, and squared away the title for my car (The Cookie Monster/Big Papa Smurf is officially out of my hands...sigh). It was a nice break in the routine.

This weekend will be another. OU HOMECOMING!!! I can't wait to fall into the OU routine a bit and see some great people I haven't seen for a few years. Should be a great time!

Aside from that I've secured tickets to Penguins/Flyers for $20 in mid-December (a steal because a local guy in class has a brother who pawns off season tickets...SCORE!). Speaking of those Pens, they're 6-1 to start the season. The Red Wings are 3-3, HA!

OK, time to get back to class...

GO BOBCATS! GO PENS! GO ARTERIES!

What are you doing at work/school tomorrow?

Because we're doing this:

Yeah, that's eggplant parmigiana...be jealous.

Nine days unscathed...

The title of these blog posts might as well become a tracker of a (hopefully) Brett Favre-ian streak of me not shanking myself with my knives. It may seem like the simplest goal in the culinary world-- point knives away from the soft, fleshy mass that is your body-- but week two in kitchen class proved it to be a seemingly monumental task.

Three jabronies cut themselves this week. There was a casual nick, another girl lost her fingernail when she sliced through half of it (yes, the knives are *that* sharp), and we had another guy take a hunk out of his thumb. The last was the most interesting, as the day ended with him passing out in the back of the classroom. We're all watching the chef show us how to cut a green pepper and BOOM-- a giant crash. Apparently he was walking around the back of the room and just toppled right over. Like-- tiiiiiiiiiimber, straight over/header into the floor. Obviously, once we realized he didn't smoke himself of the (very unforgiving) stainless steel prep tables, or land on a knife...and he woke up...it went from horrifying to hilarious.

It only became more hilarious when a couple other guys in class and myself went to take all of the product we cut that day across the street to the school cafeteria. As we presented the chef with our day's successes, the chef inquired where our garlic and parsley was. We explained that we didn't get to that because of the incident in class. Chef was sympathetic:

"Oh, I see. Well make sure to tell him to put his hand in his pants and find his..."

You get the idea.

Anyway, class was fun this week. A lot more work on our cuts (the knife and cuts are beginning to feel very natural), and we actually cooked a few things. It's been awesome because the advanced classes around us are also cooking more (and not just vegetables). There's nothing like pork chops, homemade spaghetti, or mac&cheese at 9am. Breakfast never tasted so good...

We made cauliflower polonaise Friday (and sauteed some broccoli-- but you all know what that looks like). The gist of the dish is you boil cauliflower, top it with a breadcrumb/parsley mixture and also whites and yolks of a hard boiled egg that have been passed through a strainer to become very fine. I'd say this pic above looks 95% like the stuff we made...so I will take this moment to add that I will start posting general pics of the food we make in class daily so you can be jealous. Cauliflower polonaise is easy to make, and pretty delicious (for cauliflower).

I'd say the most interested cooking event of the week came Friday when we were charged with cooking vegetables in a bunch of different ways to prove how conditions can affect the appearance of food. We cooked things like broccoli, carrots and red cabbage in normal fashion, in water with vinegar (acid) in it, in water with baking soda (alkaline) in it, and we also just overcooked the product. Until you've seen red cabbage turn BLUE...you don't appreciate the science that happens in the kitchen. It's even weirder to see that same disgusting blue mass turn red (and edible-looking) again when you add a bit of acid back into it. It's real Bill Nye kinda' stuff.

Other event's of the week...uhh...I have official Internet and cable. The Pens beat the Flyers. I cleaned the apartment, and I think I need to go shopping today. Pretty standard stuff.

Alright-- the weekend's here and already off and running (it's sad when sleeping in until 7am is sleeping in...but it's not 5:30am I guess). Mary's coming to visit today so I see a tour of the downtown area, Primanti Brother's and a stop out to my favorite bar to catch the Pens/Leafs game in our future. Should be a good one!

OU Homecoming in a week! Hope to see you there! I think both Shugar brothers will be there!

School, hockey and knives, oh my!

A quick breakdown of my first week in the 'Burgh.

*The Apartment/Neighborhood. The (one-bedroom) apartment is fantastic, considering it's cheaper than a (much smaller) studio in the same building. Great deal from the renter for sure. Plus I'm close to the Internet lounge so I haven't had to pay for Internet...yet. It's a bit blah at times, but it's working well enough that I can do most of my Internet tasks with ease. As for the neighborhood...well...it's a bit sketchy. I feel like I've seen worse...but it's sketchy. Thankfully no problems (or really people out on the streets) when I'm making the walk at 6am to class. The good news is PNC Park and Heinz Field are 10- and 20-minute walks from my apartment, respectively. I've already found my Pens bar ($2.50 Labatt's on game day), and there's good food surrounding both stadiums. I got to watch the Pens '09 Stanley Cup Banner get raised...with other Pens fans...last night. It was a glorious change of pace. Pittsburgh really feels like home when you've been being blasted by Detroit fans for most your life.

*School/Class. No complaints here. I can leave my apartment at 6am and easily make the walk to class (located in downtown Pittsburgh) in about 20 minutes or so. That's good because I have a 1.5 hour gap between my morning kitchen lab and my ServSafe class, which means I'm making the walk several times a day. Judging by how much my legs hurt right now, it's probably good exercise. Kitchen lab has been slow so far (memorizing quantities-- how many quarts in a gallon kind of stuff-- learning about kitchen equipment, etc). The food safety/sanitation class, while making you never want to abuse food again in fear of death or wiggly little worms in your bloody diarrhea (sorry to be crude, but it's in the book), has been interesting. Scary...but interesting. Did I mention scary? COOK FOOD PROPERLY! THAW FOOD PROPERLY! Eek if you don't...

*The Uniform. No issues with the pants or jacket (it's kinda like wearing pajamas to school), but I'm a bit blah about the 'beanie' and kerchief. The beanie obviously serves as a more professional-looking hair net, and I'm fine with wearing some kind of hat instead of worrying about how my hair looks all day. I wouldn't say I look cool in it though. The kerchief really seems to serve no purpose other than to make us a bit more French in this whole ordeal. Picture wearing a tie that ends at the knot. Pretty stylish-- I know.

*My Knife Kit is amazing. We're talking around 50 kitchen tools in one handy-dandy tri-zip bag. You name it, the kit has it. Obviously the pride and joy is a 9" Chef's Knife (high-carbon stainless steel with full 'tang'). Truth be told, it was a bit intimidating to pick up and go on some zucchini the other day for our first cuts...mostly due to the fact that there is an incredible difference between a proper kitchen knife and what's sitting in the average silverware drawer right now. Thankfully the grip/cutting motion is feeling pretty natural so far, and I've still got all my fingertips.

Mix all of this with about four days worth of rain and that's the gist of my first week in Pittsburgh. These posts will no doubt become more exciting as I progress in not only my current classes, but the program as well...so bear with me.

Also, thanks to all of the people who have made phone calls or promises to come visit as some point. You're all welcome to come, and I've got plenty of room to spare. It all makes the transition to a big new city smoother, for sure, so never hesitate to contact me.