First Day of Classes... Kinda Again

Today we had 2 new classes for the first time so it's sort of like the first day all over again. As per my usual which I'm sure I'll manage to sustain throughout the semester, my alarm buzzed at 8:15 and I happily rolled over, shut it off and took an extra 20 minutes to sleep.

The first class today was Introduction to Gastronomy which is all about how people and culture affect food and such things like people such as Escoffier (one of the most famous chefs) and Careme (another famous chef) have shaped cuisine today and so on. The class seems moderately interesting but we unfortunately got stuck with Raider (her last name) who isn't a well liked teacher to put it lightly. Yes shes a feminist sort of and when she lectures its fine but whenever a male spoke in her class she either kept nodding or trying to interrupt as if she didn't want him to finish or answering in what came off in an extremely snobby way, as noticed by most of the class at lunch. Either way I guess we're stuck with her and I'm sure you'll hear plenty more about her in the future seeing as I get pissed pretty easily at people like her so please don't be offended when I use moderately derogatory terms to identify her.

After that we went to lunch at the Banquet Room (3 courses). Appetizer was strangely not a "fine cuisine" food unlike the last 6 meals there. It was Fried Sole (type of mild fish) in almost like a fish stick type presentation with a Slaw and sauce resembling tartar sauce. It was very good but just didn't seem like the typical thing we would eat there. Anyway, the entree was Spice Rubbed Pork Loin with a Tomatillo Salsa, Chorizo Corn Cake, Potato thing and Sauteed Chayote (Mexican Squash... no I didn't know what it was, had to ask). The Pork Loin wasn't great neither was the Potato thing that was like a thick short tube of super thick mashed potatoes without flavor, needed salt. The Chorizo Corn Cake was very good as was the Chayote which kinda just tasted like mild squash in butter. The Tomatillo was a really small spoonful but was so good and I wish I could've taken some back to my room.

Lunch finished and we had about 3 hours to kill so we took a trip down to the storeroom to dig through produce and look at everything.... SO COOL!! There's so many different foods there it would blow your mind, everything from lots of bags of red onions to HUGE wheels of cheese to caviar and quail eggs. We spent about 30 minutes in there with wide eyes trying to guess the things we didn't know (when you ask the guys who work there they make you guess). A quick run to the bookstore where I bought a $5 on sale book called "A Drink For Every Occasion" which is hilarious and a great investment and then a nice run through the rain to the dorm.

Myself and my new friend from class and from my dorm went to hang out in the lounge at the dorm to watch soccer and relax till our 4pm class which was Food Safety. Shoot me now. This class is so ridiculous but unfortunately literally everyone must take it. People here have certifications up to wazoo but are still stuck taking this class and even though the teacher was very nice, spending an hour going over Cross-Contamination will put anyone to sleep.

The end of my day in some sense was walking to the Cafe in the Rec Center for dinner because the dining hall was packed at 6pm. Another friend and I got some dinner and had a beer (the Cafe has a bar with about 6 stools, 15 bottled beers and 4 beers on tap which is awesome) before he headed back to his off-campus apartment and I made my way to the room.

In store for tonight is the NBA draft at 8, a Brewery Club meeting at 9 in the Rec Center where we will be brewing from scratch Guinness, Root Beer and another something I didn't catch when the guy did his little plug and then my bball workout which on Thursdays and Mondays consists of about an hours worth of shooting drills and then a 3 mile run.

One more day until the weekend and the week-early 4th of July festivities here.

Chef Werblin

ps. I don't have a ps but its been a trend on the posts so I can't break a 4 day tradition