Beaucoup de Bocuse

I’m settling in quite nicely now. I have developed a few good friendships, conversations are becoming more relaxed, I don’t get (as) lost anymore in Roth Hall (story below), and my roommates and I seem to be getting along well.

Two new friends of note are Jen and Katie. Jen is 22 and from Florida. She is really funny and willing to go out and do things. She reminds me quite a bit of Laura Karr. Also, since she is over 21, she and I went to a local bar, Darby’s, on Friday night. We went kinda early to take advantage of Happy Hour. It was nice talking to her and checking out the local bar scene. Once it started getting late, around midnight, the bar filled up with students from The Culinary. It’s literally a ½ mile from the school, so I understand why students here go there so often. And it’s so cheap. I had 4 gin and tonics and only paid $13 with tip! That would have been at least $24 at Chatham Tap.

Last night, Saturday, Katie and I went to a gay dance club called Primetime over in Highland. Katie is 18 and from Chicago. She is a lot like Kumari from the museum. Highland is just over the bridge from Poughkeepsie, about 10 minutes from here. I guess the experience can be summed up in the word: typical. Like from the very moment I walked in, I knew I was no longer in Indy or even Syracuse. This is the country of the Hudson Valley. Katie and I showed up just after 11:30pm, hoping that the party would be in full swing. We were both correct and incorrect. It was pretty much just two rooms. The first just had a bar. The second room was the dance floor/stage. There were probably just about 50 people there. 40 of them were over the age of 30-35. I guess you can’t expect much from Highland, NY. While the club may have been pretty lame, it was fun dancing with Katie and being around good (read as: gay) music.

I guess since this about my culinary adventure, I should talk about school a little. Yes? Ok…

On Tuesday afternoon I met with Chrissy and Stephanie to work on our project for Gastronomy. We have to do a 20-minute presentation on Paul Bocuse. He is a chef from France who, in the 60’s and 70’s helped to create the field of nouvelle cuisine. This movement took the classic French haute cuisine and lightened it up a little and made it more regional. This meant that I got to spend several hours in the Conrad Hilton Library. Really, I kind of loved it. Our library is beautiful. It has a large marble entryway and several floors. It is also completely filled with books on food, chefs, gastronomy, and food science. My part of the presentation is on Bocuse’s philosophy and how it shaped future generations of chef’s. It’s been a lot of fun looking into his life and studying how his food changed as he got older. The tough part is that we have to make this presentation creative and interactive. While this is often a component of class presentations, I don’t think that professors ever realize how lame it always is. The presenters feel awkward and the class does not want to get involved. Maybe we’ll cook something for the class. I don’t know yet. The library also has some big, comfy, leather chairs in front of a wall of windows. I find myself going there to do my class reading or when I have some downtime just to look at the 76,000 volume collection of cookbooks. Serisouly, this place is crazy.

On Friday in Product Knowledge, we had our first quiz. It covered principals of purchasing, basic agriculture, the distribution chain, as well as the identification of some basic salad greens. In order to study, on Thursday afternoon, Jen, Chrissy, and I took a trip to the storeroom. I am sure you all know where this is going. I had only ever been there once and it was through a door in the back of the Anheiser-Bush Theatre that leads directly to the storeroom. So, I knew it was in the basement somewhere, but wasn’t sure where. Well, we end up on a staircase that takes us directly into the Meat Fabrication room. Wrong. The we try another staircase that takes us out of the building. Wrong. Then we try a ramp that leads us to a window to the storeroom. Closer, but still wrong. Eventually, we just decide to get to the basement the only way we know how, by the mailroom. We just start walking around until we find the right hallway to the storeroom. Trying to study produce in a giant walk-in refrigerator is an interesting experience. Nothing is actually labeled, so we have to figure it out by looking at little pictures that have been printed out from our powerpoints in class. Then, you also have to avoid piles of chicken stock, cases of beets, and puddles of water while trying to stay out of the way of the storeroom staff. Now, if anybody ever needs to tell the difference between beet greens, swiss chard, and mustard greens, I am your man.

This upcoming week is shortened because of Thanksgiving break. We only have three days of class. I’m going to a Chilean wine tasting on Tuesday with Stephanie. This should be fun…

Weekend No. 1

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Friday morning started off with another session of Culinary Math. I would love for Caitlin to sit in on this class. She would laugh at the kinds of things we do. Seriously, the hardest thing we do in this class is convert form US Standard to Metric. I really like our instructor; she does not mess around. She teaches us a concept, then we do homework on it, then we move on. There is no time for review. It’s funny to watch the people in class who have not been to college before. It’s a complete adjustment for them. I am really happy that I have been to both Le Moyne and Ivy Tech. I feel ridiculously prepared and able to study. I’m looking forward to learning how to cost out a menu. It’s one of the only things that I have zero experience with in the culinary world. It will be nice to learn something new and be challenged.

Again, on Friday afternoon, I had Product Knowledge. I think that this will be my favorite class in B-Block. Right now, we are still learning basic botany. We are talking about the process that fruits and vegetable go through as they grow and develop. This will help set us up for the next five weeks. We will be going through the basic groups of produce and learn not only to identify them, but also how to pick out the most ideal one and describe their stages of development and ripeness. My instructor used to be in charge of purchasing produce and dairy for the school. She really knows her products. I would guess that she would be one of the best produce purchasers in the country, seeing as how she used to buy for the CIA. I am really looking forward to the caliber of instructors here.

On Friday night, I drove my friend Eric to the train station so that he could go home for the evening. I then spent the night hanging out with Chrissy, Justin, Rosemary, and Chris. Weekends here are kinda boring. I don’t really know too many people and several of them are under 21, so it makes going out hard. I just learned where some good bars are, so hopefully next weekend will be better. Saturday was spent going out to lunch and doing a little shopping. Then we went out to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. I had a sushi platter and it was delicious. Sunday was equally as borning. I woke up early and did some homework, then went to the Courtside Café for lunch. It is the only campus dining option on the weekends. Eating here on the weekends are going to get expensive. We are inundated with food during the week, but on the weekend there are so few options. It pretty much leaves eating out or cooking for ourselves. The kitchens in the dorms are pretty nice, but there is not much room and the provided pans are crap. Also, they have weird hours. So for dinner on Sunday, I went to Panera and had a delicious sandwich. Then it was back to campus for even more homework. I’m trying really hard not to get behind. I really want to do well here…

Today, Monday, was not much different from last Friday. I have decided to start working out again. I found the erg in the gym and used it last night and tonight. It’s a Concept II version D (about 5 years old). Sadly, though, the screen/computer are broken. It makes it tough to know how hard I am working or how far I have gone. I kinda just have to remember how it used to feel. I guess that it could be a good thing and make me focus on my pressure and technique instead of doing erging math (you rowers know what I’m talking about…) People just stare at me when I use it. I’m guessing they are not used to people erging. It is stuck tightly in between two pieces of weight equipment and the fan has a layer of dust. The chain that connects the handle to the fan is starting to rust. I think I’m going to talk to the weight room manager to see what it would take to fix the erg and get it working well again.

That’s all for now…the rest of this week should be pretty much like last…I’ll keep you updated.

Finding Fish and Forcemeats

So, I realized that I never explained the title of my last post.

As part of orientation, we took a tour of campus. As my group was walking past the rec center, a group of upperclassmen started yelling things like “hey b-blockers” (B-Block is the first set of classes at the CIA), “don’t get demerits!” “wear your neckerchiefs!” and “do you have a carrot peeling attitude?” Well, you know how certain things stick with you through the day and you can’t get them out of you mind? As I was falling asleep that night, I started imagining what the hell this kid must have done in order to be told that he had a carrot-peeling attitude. Like, he must have rolled his eyes and groaned when he was asked to peel carrots or something.

Well, the next day, we had a lecture from Tim Ryan, CMC. He is the president of the CIA. He’s kind of a big deal. He has made the CIA what it is today. He turned it into less of a trade school and more of the culinary education headquarters that it is today. In addition to being the world’s leader on culinary education, he is also a Certified Master Chef (CMC). Certified Master Chefs go through a two-week intensive practical and written evaluation. It’s ridiculously hard. Eighty percent of people who start it either fail or drop out. These guys are like the Nobel Prize winners of the culinary world. Anyway, Tim Ryan is kind of an intimidating man. He gave us a welcome speech and some tips to help us succeed at The Culinary. He was explaining how our attitude will determine our altitude. I know…how trite? He launched into this really long imaginary scenario about a student getting an externship at the French Laundry with Chef Keller. This student is then assigned to peel and brunoise (a 1/8^th inch cube knife cut…. It takes forever, especially on a carrot) 300 pounds of carrots on his first day. It takes him a long time, but he gets it done. The extern is then assigned the exact same task the next day. But this time he is not so thrilled. He then does the same thing on day four and five. By day 6 he has an awful attitude and is asked to leave. President Ryan told us instead, we should keep a positive attitude and turn the carrot task into a game. We should time ourselves and look at the 300 pounds of carrots as a way to improve in the kitchen. He refers to this as having a “carrot peeling attitude”. Apparently he is really proud of this story and scenario and tells it to every incoming class. It looks like it has become a campus wide joke.

This morning I had Writing. It looks like it’s going to be super easy. There is a lot of busy work, but the assignments sound like things I wrote freshman year at Le Moyne. However, even our books of essays and style are about food and food writing. The hardest part will be getting up at 5:30am two days a week for the next 15 weeks. The instructor for that class, though, used to be an editor at Wine Enthusiast magazine. One of the things that I might like to do after CIA is work for a magazine or cookbook company doing recipe testing and development. I will be talking to her soon to see what ideas she has as far as my externship goes. I think she could be an excellent resource.

After that class, I have 45 minutes until my next class. So, I went down to the Apple Pie Bakery and Café (one of the public restaurants on campus) with a girl, Chrissy, who I have eaten with a few times and sat with in class. I made the really poor choice of taking a staircase that I have never been on before. We were going to stop by the copy center and mailboxes in the basement before eating. Well, when we got the basement, instead of exiting into a hallway we recongnized, we were overwhelmed with the smell of meat and fish. Turns out we had entered the Seafood Fabrication and Garde Manger (sausages, patte’, and forcemeats) After walking in a few circles, we eventually made it to mailroom and then Apple Pie Bakery. I had a cup of Chai latte and this gigantic scone that was filled with cheddar cheese, chunks of ham, and some scallions. Delicious. This school is going to make me into a Fatty McFatfat Fatterson. I found out yesterday that this school goes through 4,000 pounds of butter a week. That is ridiculous. To put that into perspective, one of those boxes of four sticks of butter weighs a pound. We use 4,000 of them!

After breakfast, I had Introduction to Gastronomy. The class will go through tastes and preferences and why they exist, a history of European and American Haute Cuisine, as well as new trends in food and agriculture. I have to do a group presentation. I am working with Chrissy and Stephanie, a girl who I have gotten to know too. I think it could be an interesting class. I really love the professor. She is a PhD candidate in Food Anthropology at Boston University. I think I’ll be able to learn a lot from her. She is really funny too. Most of my classes right now meet in the Anheiser-Busch Theatre. It’s a big lecture hall/demo kitchen and the main door to the room has a bunch of windows. Every tour that comes through stops in front of the theatre, and they hear about the classes and guest lectures that happen on campus. Well, Prof. Forrest wants us to be friendly. So, every time a tour group stops out front the theatre, she says the word “perogies” and we are all to turn around and wave at the tour. It catches them off guard and is funny to watch.

Speaking of tourists, there are constantly tons of people visiting the school! I had no idea that so many people would be interested in visiting the CIA. Yesterday, two tour buses of elderly people pulled up out front. For the next several hours, the main floor of Roth Hall was filled with geriatrics as they toured, shopped, and ate in the restaurants. I have seen lots of high schoolers, families, and vacationers as well. Every time I walk through Anton Plaza (our version of a quad) there are visitors taking in the views. I try to be friendly and smile and say hello. I still know how they feel, amazed and overwhelmed to be at such an amazing school. I really really want to be a tour guide, but I’m going to wait until I stop getting lost in Roth Hall before I apply….

I’m gonna have to stop eating so much. All the new students are talking about how full we constantly are. I don’t think I have mentioned this, but every night at 5:30 for dinner, I am required to eat at K-17, the Banquets and Catering kitchen. Our Product Knowledge instructor gives us a grade just for showing up as part of our palate development. A meal from K-17 usually lasts an hour. It’s a sit-down, three course meal (appetizer, main course and sides, and a dessert). It is also the only time when we are going to get waited on and have our food brought to us. It’s just a lot of food to eat in addition to breakfast or lunch every day. I think I’m going to have to start working out again too (4,000 pounds of butter!) The website for the student gym says that there is an erg, but I have not been able to find it. Perhaps I’ll go down there this afternoon/evening to look for it.

Carrot Peeling Attitude

Ok. I started my trip to New York on Thursday morning. I drove for right around twelve hours to Syracuse. I spent the next two days hanging out with friends at Le Moyne College. It was so nice to see them again. It's funny how we are the exact same people, but at the same time we have all grown up so much.

Anyway, I drove down to Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon and met my Mom at our hotel. We both took some time to rest after our drives before going out to dinner. Hyde Park itself is kinda gross. It's very small town and is just kinda stuck along Route 9 between Marist College and the Vanderbilt estate. I would say that its only redeming quality is the CIA and the FDR house and presidential library. So, Mom and I went to the town just north of Hyde Park called Rhinebeck. It is perhaps the cutest, most awesome town I have ever seen. For those of you from Indy, it's a lot like Broad Ripple, only bigger and better. For those of you from Syracuse, it's a lot like Armory Square, only much much bigger and better. Rhinebeck is filled with cute shops and tons of really good restaurants. Mom and I ended up at a place called Terrapin. It's in an converted church building. The cuisine was the food that I love, New American. It was very birsto-esque and seasonal. Delicious!

The next morning, Mom and I went to brunch and killed some time at the FDR estate and then I had to move in. I have never been so nervous about doing anything in my life. We unpacked the car and started moving things into my room. My roommate Robert was here and was very helpful. Anthony showed up not too long after. They have both been super friendly. Our room is kinda cramped and we are each on really different schedules, but we are making it work.

Stepping onto the CIA campus for the first time was incredibly sureal. I have been looking at pictures of the buildings, grounds, and kitchen for 4 years. To actually see them and have class in them is amazing. The main building, Roth Hall, is an old Jesuit monestary. It is deceivingly large. From the outside, it looks like a four story, rectangular building. In actuality, there are five or six floors that go in a "U" shape around what used to the the chapel. Every floor has at least two ramps. There are staircases that come out of nowhere and some hallways that come to dead ends. I get lost constantly. The former chapel is now Farqueson Hall, and it's where we eat our meals after we pick them up from the various production kitchens.

The first two and a half days were spend doing normal orientation things: registration, campus safety demos, a lecture on academic survival, team building exercises, etc. What was not normal for orientation was the food. Brekfast consisted of eggs benedict. Lunches were mushroom vol-au-vents, seared lamb shanks, creme brulee, NY strip steaks. Dinners had prosciutto and melon salads, apple crisps, braised short ribs. It's so much fun to be around people who appreciate food. The dialogues that I used to have about food in my head are now the things that people say out loud at meals. I don't know how I ate Le Moyne's Sodexho food for a year.

I'm starting to make a few friends. I've started to sit with a few of the same people at meals and in a few classes. Nothing much beyond that, though. I still spend most of my down time in my room. Like I said, though, my roommates are both great. Anthony is gay, too, so it's nice to know that my Lady Gaga music and A&F desktop screen aren't going to be judged. However, I still wish I had people to do and do things with. I'm not worried about it, though. I've been here three days. These things take time.

We had our first real classes today. This morning, I had Culinary Math. I haven't been in a math class since May 2006. I forgot what it's like. It is not hard by any means. Like, I'm pretty sure I did alot of this in 6th grade. Right now we are just doing things like converting units. Later on, though, we will learn how to calculate yields, cost out a menu, and mildly more challenging things. My math professor is pretty great. She knows her food and she is really entertaining. After that class, I had a few errands to run on campus (putting money on my card, getting things printed, etc.) I also had time to go back to my room to finish my math homework and take a nap before lunch. As far as dining here goes, we pretty much get to pick where we eat most of our meals. We can eat at one of six or seven production kitchens or at some of the public restaurants. Today, I decided to go to Cuisines of The Americas. I had cheddar and beer soup, a wedge salad with the best homemade Thousand Island I have ever tasted and goat cheese, and braised short ribs in a demi-glace with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots and broccoli rabe. After lunch, I had my second class: Product Knowledge. Today was spent mainly going over class procedures and objectives. The course will pretty much be a survey of all produce items (veggies, fruits, grains, herbs, etc.). We will learn about their flavors, applications, and how to handle and store them. I am really really really excited for this class. I love learning about food items and I'm really good at memorizing things, which is what the exams in this class will mainly consist of. To help us with this, students in Product Knowledge have access to the colleges store rooms. :-)

The CIA spends about 7 million a year on food. It arrives on semi every morning at seven. The rest of the day, the staff organize and invintory all the food. The area is huge! The walk-in refrigeratory for produce alone is the size of the bottom floor of my mom's house. There are separate rooms for dairy (including 27 types of cheese) and mushrooms. There is an entire walk-in for flours, a hallway for dry goods, and entire wings of the school for meats and fish. By the time I finsh the first nine weeks of school, I am expected to walk into any of those rooms and identify anything that is put in front of me. Tomorrow, I have a general Writing class and Introduction to Gastronomy. I'll let you know how that goes later.

For reference, my schedual until winter break will be:
M,W,F:
7:30am-8:50am: Culinary Math
1:45pm-3:45pm: Product Knowledge

T, TH
7:00am-8:20am: Writing
9:15am-11:15am: Intro to Gastronomy


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