Formal Restaurant Cooking week three (final)

Amuse bouche for family night
Arugula, peach, prosciutto, cheese

Final week at the school!

We came to the point of the final week. It was a really short week, we had three days only cooking at the restaurant and graduation ceremony on Friday. Even though we should not worry too much about making extra product, the chef asked if we could to make some product for two days of service. She asked to prepare some items which we could freeze. For our station these items were caramelized onion broth, meatballs, and corn soup.

On Tuesday we had a meatball 'party'. We planned to make half a butch of the meatballs. Right at the beginning of our shift we started to ground meat, mixing with vegetables and spices. Then added salt and pepper. After that I cooked small taster and it was spot on. I know that it was a coincidence to have perfect amount of salt and pepper from the first attempt, but felt good about it anyway. Then we formed meatballs, cooked them and during the service we simmer them with the sauce. A couple other stations struggled the same day to get
all ingredients together for service. John and me were organized as always and the day was really good.

Wednesday was quite, we had less than average number of the guests. We had no special projects and indeed the day was boring.

Thursday was the last day of the class. In the restaurant it was a family night - out of 88 expected guests, 35 were friends and family members of graduates. We had one big party of 13 people, other tables were much smaller. The night was smooth. Since the restaurant is going to be closed for the next three weeks, we had to cook all perishable food or food which can not be frozen. All these cooked food were a family meal at the end of the night. I even told the chef that it was a proper family meal:-)

Me at the graduation

Friday was graduation day. The ceremony was great. We had graduation speaker, as well as faculty members giving a speech. When we walked upstairs students made great amount of noise using pots, bowls, ladles and other metal objects. That is a tradition at the CIA. After the official ceremony there was a culinary celebration for the graduates and family members. The food prepared by special events were really good. We had five different stations: scallops, lamb, pork, quail, and sturgeon. Of course there was a dessert. Everyone was happy with the ceremony and culinary celebration. And that was the end of the school.

The whole program took 20 months and at the beginning it seemed long-long time to go. At the end that was a short but intense journey. I am happy to be able to finish it and graduate from the school. On Friday I got an email from the Spruce, one of the restaurant I did stage. They want me to be a part of the team. The offer seems reasonable and the job very interesting - to begin with canape station and working on charcuterie. I am going to accept it. The restaurant has one Michelin star, so it's a really great place to start my culinary career. Will see what is going to be the next step.