Week two and California Weekend

So its already been a week and some change since I started culinary school. I'm proud to say that I'm actually really starting to enjoy it now. I'm getting into a routine, waking up, eating, getting dressed, making sure I have everything and out the door. Still having classroom lectures, but now we're starting to get into lab (kitchen) stuff, like cutting and knife work, it is getting very interesting now. Not to mention a whole lot of fun. I'm starting to interact with the other students and learn everybody's name, get to know them. Getting used to people staring at me in my uniform, as I walk through the store or the mall, coming up and asking me stuff. Sometimes I like the attention, but not always. At school, before we enter C10, I always watch the other students across the hall in the kitchen cooking. And they're starting to notice me!
Everyday! Watching them. Some smile and wave, others pretend I'm not there...I just tap on the glass then. I'm meeting a lot of people outside of my own class too. Just sitting outside the school in between classes, or waiting to be picked up. People actually come up and sit down next to me and start talking, giving me helpful tips and a heads up about what I should expect in my other classes like Foundations II and III. I'm really starting to like it. Today was the first day of labs and we practiced our knife work. Chiffonade, Brunoise, and Julienne. Basics. Very frustrating the first time around, I must say. But, it was my first time so, give myself a high five for trying.


On another note, this past weekend we made a rather, random last minute trip to California. It was so random I dont know how we pulled it off. I love California. It's awesome. The food is spectacular. The whole state is. We drove on the coast and went to Long Beach with my Cambodian friend for some Cambodian food in...you guessed it, Cambodia Town. I've never seen so many Cambodians in one spot. Jewelry places and banks, all crammed onto one street that runs maybe, three blocks, if that. We stopped off, got out and walked around, buying cambodian vegetables and drinks. I just HAD to try a durian boba. Anyone who doesnt know what durian is...its an EXTREMELY SMELLY FRUIT! I'm serious. It smells like a hot, wet dog rolled around in garbage...a month ago. Like, piss from a mule been ruminating on asparagus for two weeks. Absolutely grotesque. But it tastes pretty good. I mean, I liked it at the beginning. Not at the end. And dont even think about burping! It goes up into your nose and you smell it for days. It was slightly sweet, because of the eighty pounds of sugar they added, but you could still taste that it was durian. Then at the end...you KNOW it's durian! But I would totally do it again.

We also stopped off at this one restaurant, La Lune for lunch. A rather, oddly placed cambodian joint. If your a fan of fried intestines and being ignored for thirty minutes, then this a place you should check out. We ordered ginger chicken, vegetable fried rice and some chicken soup with pineapple. The ginger chicken wasnt too bad. Kind of greasy. The soup was pretty good too. Now, my brother is a vegetarian (nobody knows why) so he wanted the vegetable fried rice. The man (seven hours later after ordering) brings us a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and some plain sticky rice. The idea was for Jonathon to stir fry the rice in with the vegetables himself. Lol. Ohh silly cambodians! No tip for you. Seriously. He was so rude, Jonathon kept his tip and we went around the corner and got something else. Something better. I'm not sure the name of the vegetable, but it was a curry with beef and lemongrass and of course I ate it with rice. Soooo good!

Hoping to walk it all off, we just got back into the car and made our way to San Diego to go to a kitchen supply store to get something for my knives, but sadly, they dont open on a monday. So we, once again, went and got yet MORE food, at this one Jamaican restaurant we always go to on market street. They have the best curried goat I've ever had outside of Jamaica. Amazing! So between the all you can eat breakfast at the hotel, which I'm proud to say I completely tore up, random eating in the car, and all this other food I'm force feeding myself, I must have gained like ten pounds! Ten delicious, mouth watering pounds!


I'm not eating for two weeks now.