Of coughs and cuts and chickens

Coughs

I have had a bit of a cough since early December. This past Sunday is got worse, then Monday it got even worse. Finally, Tuesday I went to the clinic. Yep, it's bronchitis. I was given a prescription for 2 different inhalers and a cough medicine that apparently contains gold ($26 a bottle!!). After taking the day off Thursday I am starting to feel better.

Cuts

Tuesday the coughing was so bad I ran out at break to buy some cough medicine. A nice extra strength one. It didn't work very well, so I took more at lunch. Bad plan. After lunch I nearly cut the end off my thumb ["do not operate dangerous equipment"]. It's not really that bad, I cut through the nail and a bit into the flesh at the end. I wish I'd cut it all the way off because now I have to be careful not to snag it or it will rip off. Ouch!

Chickens

Last week I volunteered to help at a Saturday luncheon that the school was catering. I learned how to make 7 chicken feed 70 people. You debone them, butterfly them, pound them flat, put some filling down the middle and roll them up. They cook tightly rolled in cling film and foil, then are sliced very thinly, with 3 pieces fanned out for each portion. It was a fun day, we learned all about the ins and outs of banquet serving, and we got some of the left overs (no chicken though).

The latest cooking school doings

So since my last post I finished my dining room stint with a rotation through the entremetier (veg and starch cook) station. I made risotto, cous cous, polenta, mashed potatoes & yam, vegetable custard, braised root veggies, and sauteed mushrooms, spinach & swiss chard. It was a very busy week.
Our team had now switched over to the cafeteria again. My first rotation was pasta. That was fun! I got to use the pasta machine to make fresh pasta. Holy cow! It tastes SO good fresh. I did 2 different pastas (fettucine and rigatoni), then a fantastic chicken curry with basmati rice (Must make this one at home! I will invite Niko and Rowena, the curry connoisseurs.). I was away for the vegetable strudel so someone else made it, and Friday is leftover day. Friday is also breakfast day, so our team went in early for breakfast service. I made omelets. Took a bit of getting used to doing it the right way (ie Chef's way), but it was fun.