I am deep into chef & instructor training. Since this is the 3rd module, designed for us to be certified as Associate Chefs & Instructors, the pace has picked up quite a bit. Classes are starting earlier and ending later, with less breaks than before - so condensed in fact, that many participants are getting tired and grumpy - how about that! I am actually getting quite tired on my feet as well, but the information is all so fascinating and I have such a deep desire to absorb everything that I am still enjoying the class thoroughly.
In this module we are being trained in 2 major aspects - 1 is in a high level of culinary skill, and the other is in culinary instruction. They are 2 very different skills! You could say that while culinary skill is a fine art, instruction is more of a science in organization. The great thing is that we are being taught very comprehensively, even down to methods for organizing our filing and schedules, so much so that even a hair brain like me can become confident in organizing a class.
One of the highlights for us is our individual demonstration next week - each of us will be teaching the rest of the class a particular dish, just like the cooking shows on TV! There are hours of preparation behind each demonstration, and it gets us quite enthused about the opportunity to stage a performance. I will be teaching the class how to make Spinach Mushroom Quiche, and it is a dish that's generating a lot of excitement.
In the chef training, I am so impressed by the recipes that we are learning to make. Just about everything we've been learning has been taken to a new level of sophistication. It now dawns upon me that this really is a school of culinary arts rather than just a raw food school. Today Cherie demonstrated a linguine in a truffle cream sauce. The dish was completely raw, but the flavours were so outstanding that it was probably the best tasting pasta dish (cooked food included) that I'd ever had. Can one imagine that I now have the recipes and the know-how to make stuff like that as well? I can't! Woo hoo!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Day 7 @ Living Light
Chef training is going well, although I've been feeling somewhat disconnected today - I'm not sure why. Nevertheless, it was an interesting day - Cherie got 2 of us to help her with a class demonstration, so I got to make something up in front of class. We added a twist of humour by mimicking Cherie's *every* move - it was quite funny. We made Vanilla Cherry Cheesecake - and it was amazing! Cherie has such a gift for manipulating raw textures. Today I found out she has the same birthday as my mum that she's not used soap or shampoo to bathe for the past decade. Isn't the raw food world interesting?
Today was the last day of "Essentials" - we finished with an exam and a graduation ceremony, after which we ate our cheesecake! The day ended by 4, and graduates went out to celebrate while the sun was still out, but being in my disconnected mood, I came back to the inn to meditate and to catch up on some sleep and a little reading. I spent a few hours reading about seeds and growing, getting information about what I'll be able to grow when I'm back home. My plan is to grow enough salad and juicing greens and maybe some tomatoes in the apartment to eat as a staple, and I will be buying the organic seeds from seedsofchange.com while I'm still here. I'm hoping that some heirloom seeds will grow in our climate as well! :) It seems that growing our own food is becoming a larger and larger part of healthy living. In 2 weekends I'll be attending another class on just kitchen gardening and composting - if I can get this going in Singapore its going to be very exciting!
I think I've found a source of worms for the vermicomposter. WormMan will deliver in Singapore!
Here we go!
Today was the last day of "Essentials" - we finished with an exam and a graduation ceremony, after which we ate our cheesecake! The day ended by 4, and graduates went out to celebrate while the sun was still out, but being in my disconnected mood, I came back to the inn to meditate and to catch up on some sleep and a little reading. I spent a few hours reading about seeds and growing, getting information about what I'll be able to grow when I'm back home. My plan is to grow enough salad and juicing greens and maybe some tomatoes in the apartment to eat as a staple, and I will be buying the organic seeds from seedsofchange.com while I'm still here. I'm hoping that some heirloom seeds will grow in our climate as well! :) It seems that growing our own food is becoming a larger and larger part of healthy living. In 2 weekends I'll be attending another class on just kitchen gardening and composting - if I can get this going in Singapore its going to be very exciting!
I think I've found a source of worms for the vermicomposter. WormMan will deliver in Singapore!
Here we go!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Day 4
Excerpt from email to my family
...
The founder of the school, Cherie Soria, returned to teach us today. She has been in Florida with her husband Dan (the GM of Living Light) at the Hippocrates Health institute attending a raw food summit. Cherie is turning 60 in 2 weeks, and we (the students staying until then) will be catering her birthday party lunch! Cherie is stunningly beautiful. She has a figure of a young pop star, long curly black/gray hair, and a gorgeous face. Her skin and her eyes radiate like a studio camera effect - it is ridiculous. She has a humble, loving and sharing energy that is wonderful to receive, and she will be teaching us from now on!
This is her picture from the website, which looks just -okay-. In person she looks like the kind of woman that teenage boys have crushes on.
Today we had tasting class all morning. We were given trays of little "flavour" cups (e.g. garlic, lime, tamarind...) and spent all morning experimenting with how different flavours combined together. I find this a little challenging - it is all awakening a very new awareness in my mouth.
After that we made a delicious Caesar salad sauce that you would've loved mummy, because it tastes like a Japanese sauce using a lot of miso flavour and horseradish. We had that (Caesar salad) for lunch, with yummy croutons made from almond pulp. Later we also made apple pie, followed by some raw pasta dishes (pesto & marinara). These are dishes that I've made before but I'm learning new ways and techniques to create better, more conscious versions! And these are REALLY GOOD YUMMY VERSIONS! *slurp* The wonderful thing is that, they are even healthier and easier to digest than the ones that I've learnt in the past, just by using more intelligently combined ingredients and by using techniques like fermentation and dehydration.
...
The founder of the school, Cherie Soria, returned to teach us today. She has been in Florida with her husband Dan (the GM of Living Light) at the Hippocrates Health institute attending a raw food summit. Cherie is turning 60 in 2 weeks, and we (the students staying until then) will be catering her birthday party lunch! Cherie is stunningly beautiful. She has a figure of a young pop star, long curly black/gray hair, and a gorgeous face. Her skin and her eyes radiate like a studio camera effect - it is ridiculous. She has a humble, loving and sharing energy that is wonderful to receive, and she will be teaching us from now on!
This is her picture from the website, which looks just -okay-. In person she looks like the kind of woman that teenage boys have crushes on.
Today we had tasting class all morning. We were given trays of little "flavour" cups (e.g. garlic, lime, tamarind...) and spent all morning experimenting with how different flavours combined together. I find this a little challenging - it is all awakening a very new awareness in my mouth.
After that we made a delicious Caesar salad sauce that you would've loved mummy, because it tastes like a Japanese sauce using a lot of miso flavour and horseradish. We had that (Caesar salad) for lunch, with yummy croutons made from almond pulp. Later we also made apple pie, followed by some raw pasta dishes (pesto & marinara). These are dishes that I've made before but I'm learning new ways and techniques to create better, more conscious versions! And these are REALLY GOOD YUMMY VERSIONS! *slurp* The wonderful thing is that, they are even healthier and easier to digest than the ones that I've learnt in the past, just by using more intelligently combined ingredients and by using techniques like fermentation and dehydration.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
