Fall leaves

It's fall leaf season here in Vermont. There is still quite a lot of green, but the change has definitely begun. The air is crisp and cool in the mornings, the temp usually drops down into the upper thirties at night. I will try to get out this weekend to get some photos of the fall leaves to share.

Food Science

My first class came to a close last Friday. It was a quick two weeks that was jam packed full of the science of cooking, theory, and lots of experiments. It was a great foundation class to begin my studies.

Cooking tips: 1.) when blanching vegetables, salt the shocking liquid instead of the cooking liquid. The result is more salt stays with the vegetable and no further salting is required.; 2.) when making stock, roast the mirepoix (veg mixture of 1/2 onion, 1/4 carrot and 1/4 celery) before adding to the pot, there is a much richer flavor derived when first roasting the vegetables. A note on roasting vegetables...don't roast the celery, it just turns into a dry nasty bit of bark with no further flavor to release into the stock.

Today was my first day in Baking 1a. Its a lot of fun so far and am looking forward to learning a ton of information and sharing some tips here.

Disoriented

I have officially completed orientation! Today was the final session. Yay!

Monday morning at 7AM I begin a class in Cooking Theory and Food Science. Seems like the perfect place to begin this journey of learning with some fundamentals that will create a good foundation.

Montpelier

I'm here! I'm actually staying near Burlington until I can move into the dorm next Wednesday. I am getting more excited about starting school with each passing day! I know I've done the right thing. It will be interesting to see if I still feel that way when the temperature drops below zero and I'm trudging through snow to get to class. ;-) Stay tuned!