Under Pressure (cue Queen)

Part of the culinary program at my school is to work in the school's on campus restaurant Careme's, named after Marie Antoine Careme, one of the very first "celebrity chefs" back in the 1800s.  The end of the baking and pastry major's education for those in the degree program consists of working in the front of the house (server/hosting) and the back of the house (kitchen).  I just started my three week course in back of the house last Friday, and I have to admit I was a bit terrified.  You're basically thrown right into the midst of everything, and you only have your noggin to rely on for getting everything done.

 Marie Antoine Careme himself.  Image from http://www.famoushotels.org/article/984

The head chef, our instructor, wrote up a menu. On our first day, he told us his bosses said it was too difficult and it should be trimmed a bit, so we would not get overwhelmed; but Chef stood his ground and kept the menu the same.  He made a good point, that he was brought on to challenge the students and not let us slide by.  I was glad he believed in us, but a bit more anxious that we had to make this menu happen...the pressure was on!

If you've seen Ratatouille, or any restaurant kitchen themed movie/show, you know there are stations in the kitchen: the cold foods, soups and sauces, vegetables, fish, roast, saute, breads, pastries, etc.  I have to admit, it was pretty cool being like the chefs on Ratatouille. I was eternally grateful that Chef assigned myself and my friend, Melissa, in the pastry station, as we were the only two baking and pastry majors in the class.  We were also joined by our friend Aleisha, who was in our very first class then left us for hot foods classes.  It was like a reunion! 

Speaking of such, the school restaurant is typically run by mainly the culinary hot foods majors since (1) Careme's is only required for the degree majors and (2) the baking and pastry majors are few in number.  Typically, the students are rotated throughout the stations to get a try of everything, and nearly every hot foods major hates the pastry station.  So when Chef found out that he was getting two baking and pastry majors in his kitchen, he said we could stay there the whole block (yay!), and drew up a lovely little menu of some fancy pants desserts...no pressure. :-/

I met Chef at the beginning of this school year back in October 2010, and throughout the year he had always been asking me, "When do you have Careme's?" or "I have you in Careme's for Block 4!" So he was pretty excited that I was coming.  Again...No pressure, right??

So as you can see, I was terrified of screwing up on my first day...(to be continued, come back on Thursday April 14th for the exciting conclusion!)

- Sandwich