Thanks for viewing my Blog! It means a lot to me.
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| I have a great pantry-this is just 1/3 of it! |
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| My kitchen |
Ok,
Another week in! On Monday, I was ready to drop out. It was such a bad day, but luckily I had a friend who talked with me, convinced me that I was just having a bad day and I'd be alright. It's now Saturday and I'm still not too sure. So this past Monday I drove the 15 minutes to school, was ready to take the stairs, and realized...I forgot my knife kit at home. I may as well have forgotten to wear pants. How could I forget it? You can't do anything in class without it! So, I asked my chef if I should drive back home and miss 1/2 hour of class...he said, "No, you can use mine." I felt like I was eight years old! How many times did I scold my kids for doing the same thing! It was humbling. The day went down hill from there. We had to each make a Chicken Consomme' and our table had to make Espagnole - one of the Mother Sauces. My Consomme' did not turn out. I let it come to a boil instead of a simmer and it was screwed right from the start. I learned a lesson. We need to make a successful Consomme' for our mid-term in two weeks. Our Espagnole didn't turn out as well as it could have I THINK because I made the roux and it could have been a bit thinner and would have incorporated nicer. Learned another lesson. The next day I made a roux and it was much better. I know now I'm learning, but on Monday I felt like a total failure. The week did get better - except for a fancy cut called a Tourne'. You cut a vegetable to resemble a seven-sided football. So, you guessed it - I'm going into school today - SATURDAY - for open lab time to practice that cut, along with all of the other cuts. We need to produce all the cuts we've learned so far on our mid-term as well. This week we're covering breakfast foods. Chef told us to go home and put a slice of bread into a saute' pan and practice flipping! I CAN do that! I'm also going to practice making poached eggs this weekend. Oh, it is so humbling. These kids in my class just pick this stuff up. All the other "adults" in class have restaurant experience. That would be very helpful, so next session I'm going to look for a part-time job. I hope I can get a part-time job with no prior experience to gain experience!!
Anyway - my photos. Tried a new pie crust and a new technique - best I've ever made and I'm pretty critical of my dishes. My pantry is the best part of my apartment - it's HUGE! My knife kit - from now on it's going to sit in front of the door so I'll have to trip over it before I forget it again. My hip is slowly healing, but this week I did a few minutes on the treadmill! What a great feeling - to be running again. I know I can't rush it, but just a few minutes running felt fantastic!
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| Sugar not melted yet, but BEST Apple Pie I've ever made! |
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| My knife kit |
WOW! This week was crazy! It's Sunday and I've allowed myself the entire day (except from 1:00-4:00 to watch the Steelers game!) to study for a big quiz tomorrow. I spent four hours yesterday - yes, on a Saturday, in an open lab, practicing my knife cuts. I'm still slicing on an angle and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'll probably be attending open labs A LOT! I'm exhausted and can't imagine how anyone could go to school and work AND take care of a family! I feel pretty confident overall. I'm pretty organized (as you can see by the photo) and you can see where my favorite place in the apartment is for just organizing and getting ready for the week ahead - in front of the TV! Besides school, I'm keeping up on lessons in my Divorce Care workbook, exercises in conjunction with my physical therapy,working with a trainer at the gym, working with a great investment consultant, and keeping up on the paperwork for the divorce. I finally looked over the Consent Judgement of Divorce paperwork last night. There it was - in black and white - the procedure to end 30 years of marriage. "...from which it satisfactorily appears to the Court that there has been a breakdown of the marriage relationship to the extent that the objects of matrimony have been destroyed and there remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved..."; and "...DOTH ORDER, that the marriage between said Plaintiff, Dan E. Alt, and the said Defendant, Edith A. Alt, be dissolved, and the same hereby is dissolved accordingly, and a divorce from the bonds of matrimony between said parties is hereby ORDERED." I know it's for the best - at this point in time - after many months of Hell. You know what I've finally figured out? One of us in this marriage has been thinking about this for quite a while...the other one was taken quite by surprise...and shame on her. You don't go from loving someone to wanting a divorce in a matter of a day. Shame on her for not even considering the possibility of needing to have her own credit card and credit in her own name. Shame on her for not being more knowledgeable about where and how life savings were being invested. Shame on her for not giving herself a chance to realize what her worth was. Shame on her for going through most of her life thinking she wasn't smart enough to go to college. And, shame on her for thinking she was going to be taken care of for the rest of her life by the man she shared almost her entire life with. I guess that may sound cold and harsh, but over the last six months I've realized - just as my lawyer explained it to me - divorce comes down to money. There are feelings of sadness, hopelessness, disbelief, fear, hate, love, abandonment, embarrassment, humiliation, etc., etc., etc., but in the end it comes down to money. I was talking to a very nice women the other day who lived very close to where we lived in Harper Creek. She had most of her home destroyed a couple of months ago by a terrible storm that ripped through the area. After months, their new home will finally be started this week - a new foundation will be built. The pain of that terrible day is still in her memory, but it's finally time to rebuild. Their home will be better than it was before. They're going to make some improvements and upgrades to the way it was. It will be a better home in the long run. They are so grateful to God that they weren't killed. Time to start over and appreciate just what really is important in life. I feel like that. That, in a sense, is what I'm going through in my life right now.
Today is Day Three of my new semester and I feel like I've been run over by a truck! Monday and Tuesday mornings from 7 am to 12 pm I'm in the kitchen going NON-STOP. We get one break. I usually use the bathroom but I'd love to be able to curl up on a couch somewhere! The class is called Fundamentals of Classical Techniques. The school focuses on International cuisine and is based on much of Aguste Escoffier's philosophy. Lots of French terms to memorize, techniques to master, remembering where everything is located in the kitchen, working within a group, recipes to copy, chapters to read, quizzes to study for, notebook and journal to keep up on, etc., etc., etc., and this is just one class! On Monday I have that class from 7-12, have an hour for lunch/studying, (or I could catch a nap in the car! lol) and then a four hour English 101 class from 1-5 pm. Oh, by the way, I'm about a century older than EVERYONE else in that class of 32. It's so interesting to hear their opinions and views - and they know EVERYTHING - or at least they thing they do! Experience is my friend, but I'd love to be that cocky and carefree again. After class, I go home and eat something, do some homework from my morning class for the next day, and then go to a new church I'm trying out to attend a class called Divorce Care, which runs from 7-9. It is a good class and I'm appreciating hearing others going through similar experiences. Then I'll have to come home and finish up on homework. I know I just need to get into the swing of it. This is all so new to me. When I got home on Monday I read my e-mail and found a huge prelimanary Judgement of Divorce document, along with three others, that need to be reviewed. When I saw that, I broke down. After that long first day and being so tired, it was just too much. So, today I'll attend my first Nutrition class. I've given myself Thursday and Friday off from classes. I'm still attending physical therapy twice a week and working with a trainer at the gym to gain strength back in my legs. I'm also trying to build myself back up to where I was aerobically before my injury. So, I'm extremely busy. But, there are students who are working full-time or part-time and have families and managing to go to school so I have nothing to complain about. I do want to get a part-time job in the food industry, but not until next semester. Time to study! More later.
