vicious sweet tooth

But better late than never, so here’s where my new path has taken me….

Me, In partial uniform

On April 9, 2011 I began my first quarter at The Art Institute of Atlanta.  I’m currently enrolled in the Baking and Pastry Diploma program, although, honestly, I would love to take every class offered.

During the week of Orientation, we picked up our uniforms and supply kits that would carry us through our time at school.

Culinary Gear

The chef’s would be appalled to see me wearing my uniform this way, but this was before knowing the proper way of wearing it for either lecture class or when in the kitchen.  But,  I wanted to try everything on the day I got it.  You are supposed to wear your scarf around your neck, hair up and under the hat, an apron with side towels if you’re in the kitchen, calf-high black socks and pants should be hemmed and worn with black non-slip shoes.  I’m carrying my supply kit which houses all of my tools I’ll need for my classes and is something you should never be without when in the kitchen.

Currently, I’m taking 2 classes – Foundations of Culinary Techniques (Lecture Class) and Fundamentals of Classical Techniques (Lab/Production Class).  Our lecture class introduces us to items such as stocks, mother sauces, cooking techniques, vegetables, poultry, beef, and even fish then we get hands on experience 2 days a week in the lab. We are learning techniques from French classical cooking – which is very thorough and can be quite time-consuming.  Some days we use one entire class time to prep items and then actually cook them the following day.  So, a lot goes into the French style, but I’ve really enjoyed learning and getting to produce amazing food.

Both classes are pretty early, but I know that if I want to be a baker I must be up before dawn in order to produce the freshest products.  So, these days I no longer get to sleep in, but it’s such a small price to pay for reaching your dreams.  I iron my uniform every night before going to bed…well, Monday’s I usually iron that morning since that class is later.  My Tues/Wed class starts at 5:55am, so I do what I can the night before so I can sleep until the last possible moment and then get up and get ready for class.  The chefs are very strict on timeliness and professionalism, which most of the older students in the class understand, but many of the younger ones do not.

We have a few more weeks left in these 2 foundation classes and then I’ll move into Intro to Baking and Pastry which I’m so excited about and Latin Cuisine! Yum Yum!!

Love it!