First Day of Class!

It started off oddly. I managed to sit with people from the other class underway at the school for breakfast, but after some advice and mentally kicking myself, I slipped away to my group. There are sixteen of us, with ranges of experience--some already with associate's degrees in culinary arts, some have come from restaurants, one with a food business in the family, one who worked at a food magazine, some fellow refugees from corporate America....

It was mostly a parade of administrative duties--reciting school policies and schedules, trying on chef jackets and pants, taking ID photos, issuing books (finally I have my own McGee!) and kits (finally I have my own bread knice!), touring the grounds, and introducing ourselves. I found myself wondering how I got through 18.25 yrs of classroom education, but I know I'm in for something quite different than what I'm used to.

I did the reading for our Culinary Math class tomorrow, and am preparing to memorize conversions between tbs, cups, oz, and perhaps a bushel and a peck. I learned that a fluid ounce (which is on Pyrex measuring cups and sometimes labelled as merely ounces) is a volume measurement, not a weight measurement, which makes complete sense after a half a moment's thought. Silly Americans--even what seems like a weight measurement is actually volume. My baking has improved so much since I got a scale and measure in grams that I shudder at any other way. A recipe that calls for "1 cup sifted flour" just kills me because I have to do it by volume and transfer it from a parchment paper to a measuring cup to boot.

Ah well, it's a beginning... It was still nice being in the gorgeous school with our charming Chef Instructor and anticipating what we'll get up to in the next the 30 weeks.