Choklit Blog #76: I'm Graduating, Part 2

       It was the first day of HOS 121: Decorating and Finishing Techniques. It was also my first day as a baking and pastry student, and my first dreaded class with Chef Gronert. I had heard bad things about him.

       I walked into class and sat down, wondering how terrible this class could possibly be. After I had spent a minute or two convincing myself that it very well may turn out to be pure torture, Chef Gronert looked down at his class roster, then looked up and said, “Who is... Violet?” I wasn’t sure why he wanted to know, but I raised my hand and said, “That’s me.” He looked at me like he was both confused and annoyed and said, “What are you doing here?”

       That was definitely not the best way this class could have possibly started. I wasn’t even sure how to respond. I had never had a teacher ask me what I was doing in their class, I assumed because most of them were aware that college students generally enrolled in and attended classes. I went through a few possible responses in my head like, “Well, I thought that maybe since I want to get a degree, I should try going to college and taking all the required classes,” or, “Oh, I’m just here for fun. Isn’t that why people go to college?” or maybe even, “What are you doing here?”

       My actual response ended up being more of a blank stare and a shrug. He explained to me that I was supposed to take this class after Intro to Cakes, which I was also taking that semester. That’s why he already knew everyone in the class except me. I also found out that the class used to be called Advanced Cakes, but I suppose the smart thing to do was to change that. Anyway, he told me a few times that I could drop the class until next semester and I was pretty sure he was recommending that, but I kind of wanted the challenge, so I decided not to.

       I almost regretted that decision when I realized that he was going to pick on me three days a week all semester. In fact, just later that day when I was having a hard time cutting blocks of butter into small cubes, he decided to walk up behind me and squeeze my arm until I thought it could snap in half at any moment. Then he kindly informed me that I had no muscle in my arm. Thanks for that.

       I liked Intro to Cakes way more than I liked Advanced Cakes because it was easier and the people in Intro were more fun. One time in class, we didn’t really have anything to do for a few hours. Laura and Michelle, who sat at the table in front of me and are pretty awesome, decided to see if they could make tiny cornets (piping bags). Michelle made one about the size of her finger tip, and when she set it on the tip of her finger, it looked like a hat. Since we were all obviously mature adults, we decided to make finger puppets, so she got out a pen and drew a face on her finger. Then Laura decided to make him a wife. Chef Gronert was talking to people about their ideas for their practical finals, and we were making finger puppets while laughing hysterically and taking pictures. That was definitely one of my favorite days in any of my classes.

       Another one of my favorite school days happened in Purchasing class. I hated that class with a passion because it was way too advanced for a first-semester student, and I took it my first semester. We would have about an hour-long lecture, and then we would split into groups and go work on our assignments in a kitchen or the storeroom or wherever we needed to go.

       On this particular day, my group was working in the bakeshop. We basically had to write down how many of each necessary item we had on the shelf. We had one person find everything and one person type while everyone else just sort of sat around waiting. We talked about taking a carrot cake out of the cooler and splitting it between the six of us, but we weren’t sure if we would be able to finish it. Then one of the guys in the group said he thought he was the youngest because he was eighteen. Everyone looked at me and asked me how old I was, so I told them, but they didn’t believe me until I showed them my driver’s permit. Then we hung out and looked at pictures of cakes until it was time for class to end.

       Another time, when everyone went to do their lab work, a classmate and I stayed in the classroom and looked at stuff on FAIL Blog. After an hour or so, we decided to go look for the rest of our group, but we couldn’t find them, so we just went home. Then there was the time that Chef Morgan was taking roll, and when he got to my name he said, “Miss Beasley, are you here?” I thought it was a dumb question since, if I answered, I was obviously there. So I decided to say no. I’m pretty sure he actually marked me absent that day. As much as I despised that class, it was fun sometimes and I got an A.

These are the awesome finger puppets that Laura and Michelle made.

Choklit Blog #75: I'm Graduating, Part 1

     In my two years as a culinary student at Trident Tech, I’ve made plenty of good memories and plenty of bad memories. I’ve met some awesome people, some stupid people, some creepy people, and even a few average people. Over the next three days until graduation, I want to recap a few of my favorite and least favorite moments for the three people who loyally follow my blog. It’s hard to decide which stories are worth telling and which ones would bore you all to tears, but there’s one that I know without a doubt I have to share. I’m sure some of you will know what I’m talking about if I just say the word “spatula.” For those of you that don’t, here’s what happened...

     It was one of my last days in Intro to Bakeshop. We were decorating a strawberry whipped cream cake, which we had to score into sixteen slices. I pulled out a knife I had never used before that resembled the one Chef Fritz had used in her demo. It basically looked like one of those straight pallet knives (which is a spatula, not an actual knife, for those of you who don’t speak that language), except it was really long and sharp. I was told it was a meat slicer, but I wouldn’t know. Anyway, I pulled it out and started scoring my cake.

     Just a few minutes earlier, when I had iced the cake, I was using a pallet knife. I guess I forgot that I had switched tools or else I was just really stupid, but I somehow got it in my head that I was scoring my cake with a pallet knife. Because I thought it was a pallet knife, I also thought it would be safe to wipe the whipped cream off the edge of the “pallet knife” with my fingers each time I marked the cake. I did this a few times before I felt a sharp pain shoot through my finger as I slid it over the cold metal. I looked at my hand, confused, and said aloud “Did I just cut myself with a spatula?”

     At this point, of course, I remembered that I was using a very sharp knife. Unfortunately, my partner heard my spatula comment, and I made myself look like even more of an idiot than I had already done by cutting myself twice in Intro to Bakeshop. We hardly even use knives in that class!

     Chef Fritz offered to call public safety, but I managed to choke out, “No, it’s just a tiny cut,” without crying. I slapped a band-aid and a rubber glove on it and went back to work, this time keeping my fingers off the blade- or so I thought. I somehow ended up slicing through both the glove and the band-aid within about 5 minutes. I felt super smart that day.

     Since I’m already talking about injuries, I might as well go ahead and tell my favorite injury story from CIC. The reason it’s my favorite is because it’s pretty much the only one that wasn’t my fault.

     It was practical final day in HOS 101 my first semester at CIC. We made cream of broccoli soup and hollandaise and did some vegetable cuts. I didn’t get hurt at all during the exam, but then it was time to clean up, which can be very dangerous in a kitchen full of first-semester culinary students. I decided to pile all of my dirty dishes onto a cutting board and carry them to the dish room where I would set them next to the sprayer and then wash everything. It seemed like an easy enough plan.

     When I walked into the dish room with my hands completely full, there was a pot sitting next to the sprayer right where I had planned to set all my dishes. Well that wasn’t too bad because, since I’m not a midget, I could just reach over the pot and set all my stuff behind it. That’s exactly what I did. About two seconds later, I was plunging my right forearm into the depths of the not-quite-icy-but-cold-enough sanitizing sink.

     Apparently some idiot and/or jerk had taken a pot straight off the open flame and tossed it in the dish room without thinking enough to at least put it in water! (Just kidding, I know who did it. I don’t think he’s an idiot or a jerk.) When I had reached behind the pot, my arm had pressed against its top edge, and it left a nice little red line on my skin. I assumed it wasn’t a very bad burn since it didn’t immediately blister and turn black, but I spent the rest of the class with a cold, wet towel pressed against my wound and had to bandage it up as soon as I got home. That was the end of my first semester- November 2009. It’s now May 2011 and I still have a mark from that burn. I’ve forgiven the guy, though, because he wrote a nice apology on one of my jackets.

     I wish I had the time to tell detailed stories of all my wonderful injuries since the first thing I want to do is relive all those painful moments, but I don’t have the time or a reason to do so. I’ll always cherish the memories of getting boiling glaze brushed onto my finger and not putting it under cold water, cutting myself on a loaf of bread, shredding my hands with aluminum foil while sculpting a bear, burning myself on a speed rack that tried to attack me, and accidentally running my hand into the blade of a knife that was lying on a table, but all those stories are just too boring to tell.

This is the day I cut myself with that "spatula." Chef Fritz was laughing because she knew what was about to happen.

Choklit Blog #74: 10 Things That Bother Me

  Even though these are all numbered, they are in no particular order. I just thought it would seem more dramatic and interesting if I counted them down as if I was slowly working my way to the one thing that bothers me more than anything in the world.  But no… that’s not how it works.

#10 People sitting on my bench.  There’s a bench at my school that I basically own.  I practically live on it, and I frequently get comments from people about how much time I spend there.  There should be a plaque over that bench with my name on it.  But some days, when I get to my bench to sit down, someone is already sitting there… and it’s never just “someone.”  It’s always several people who are quite large, with about a foot of space between each of them.  That way, they can take up my entire bench.

(Actually, sometimes it is just one person.  That doesn’t bother me, though.)

#9 Slacking off.  I’m sure anyone reading this has heard the horror stories of all the slackers I’ve ever met in my entire life.  I’m especially annoyed by people who slack off in college.  I honestly do not understand the mentality that says “This is going to count toward my grade.  I think I just won’t do it.  Maybe I’ll turn it in a week late.  Why come to class?  It’s just my grade.  I think I’ll walk in twenty minutes late every day.”  If you’re not going to do the work, don’t pay to go to college.  Please… for all of our sakes.

#8 Stupid questions.  My favorite stupid question was asked halfway through the year in my ninth grade spanish class: “Mr. Cancino, what does buenos dias [pronounced “byoonis die-us”] mean?”  Mr. Cancino had greeted us every morning so far by saying “buenos dias.”  Although it was funny, I felt like beating my head against a brick wall to cleanse my mind from the stupidity it had just endured.  I also just love when people use class time to ask questions that are answered in the syllabus, or questions that the teacher has just answered ten times.  And please don’t ask me about something you have no reason to care about, or about what I just said to someone else.

#7 Bad writing.  I know it’s cruel to be so aggravated by something that so many people can’t help, but if I was only bothered by things that people can help, then… well, I would still be annoyed by a lot of things.  Anyway, I’m always very greatly displeased when I attempt to read something, but I can’t because there’s no punctuation, half of the words don’t actually exist, and the writer has completely changed direction in middle of a sentence.  I also hate when someone writes a paper or a blog or something like that, and it has no direction, organization, or flow… it’s just a collection of random sentences about the same topic.  If you can’t write, please please please don’t write.

#6 Poorly written song lyrics.  This is, in fact, different from bad writing.  Bad writing applies more to things that are intended to be read, unlike song lyrics, which are intended to be put to music and listened to.  When someone writes a song that is completely uncreative and unoriginal, has no interesting words, has a boring rhyme scheme, and/or lacks any sort of substance, then that person should promptly throw their song lyrics into a really big fire.  That’s right, Ke$ha (I mean, Ket¢hup), your songs should be burned at the stake.

#5 Girls who insist that they’re ugly and fat.  Believe it or not, girls, I’m getting quite tired of going on Facebook to see you comment on every single picture of yourself that “ewwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!! like i luk sssoooooooo uglllyyyyyy heerrrr!!!! deleettteeee!!!!!”  Everyone is probably ugly in someone’s eyes.  Everyone is also probably attractive in someone’s eyes.  Ugliness is subjective and cannot accurately be declared as a fact.  If you think you’re ugly and you wish you looked like someone else, then you would probably still feel the same way if you looked different.  You’re not ugly- you’re insecure.  It’s not helping you any to let the whole world know it.

#4 People who beg celebrities to tweet them back or reply to them on Facebook.  It’s especially annoying when said celebrity replies and encourages such behavior.  Why don’t you have anything better to do with your time?  And don’t you think celebrities get annoyed by people who act like that?  Does it make you happy to think your favorite celebrity is sitting there going “WHY won’t this person just shut up already?!?!”  I think it’s hilarious, though, when girls who are like thirteen take a picture with a band, post it on Facebook, tag the band members, and then comment back and forth “aren’t they like super hotties??????” “yeah, they’re soooo hot!!!!” “i’m totally marrying all of them!!!!”  It’s not like they’re going to comment back “You’re hot too! Let’s get married!”  If they see your comments, they’ll most likely think you’re creepy and stay away from you.

#3 Improperly pronounced words.  When people say words wrong, it sounds to me like fingernails on a chalkboard.  Welcome to perfectionism.  If I correct you, it’s because I care too much about you to let you embarrass yourself in front of the entire world.  Or it might be because I’m starting to feel physical pain.

#2 Teenagers in “relationships.”  Now, I’m not saying I have a problem with people dating if they’re under the age of twenty... plenty of people get married when they’re eighteen and nineteen.  What I have a problem with is people (usually girls, and usually under the age of sixteen) who “date” someone (which doesn’t actually mean they go on dates since neither of them is old enough to drive), then go around saying they’re in love, they’re never going to break up, they promise nothing will ever change and they’ll be in love forever... and then a week later they’re with someone else, saying the same things about that person.  Just the amount of pure ignorance required to act like this blows my mind.  Please grow up.

#1 Confinement.  Being confined in any way, shape, or form scares me. The end.

Choklit Blog #73: Epic Accounts of Candy-Making, Week 13

November 23, 2010.

       Today we put together our pastillage centerpieces.  Now all we have left is our written final, which we’re not worried about, since we all know we’re going to fail.

       The first order of business today was to build a box out of dried pastillage and royal icing.  Then we had to find and mark the center of the top of the box, and, of course, Chef Gronert tried to tell me I was doing it the wrong way.  I didn’t listen.

       Then we had to remove our ornaments from the plastic sheet protectors we had piped them on by sliding a pallet knife under each ornament.  This wasn’t really a problem for me with my large ornaments, but even though I had made extras, I broke way too many of my small ones.  I ended up having to glue eight of them back together and use them anyway.  After we got the ornaments off the sheet protectors, we just had to glue them on top of the box with royal icing.  It was pretty easy.

       I ran into one problem that I could have avoided.  The colors on my large ornaments had run together, some pretty badly.  I was told by one of my other instructors, Chef Vein, that if I had let the outlines dry longer, then the black wouldn’t have run.  Let me rephrase that: If I had piped all of my outlines last Tuesday and had filled them all when I came back on Friday, then not only would my colors have matched much better, but they wouldn’t have run so badly and I would have saved money on food coloring.

       Overall it was a pretty good day, but then Chef Gronert had to ruin it by putting royal icing on my super expensive 54 cent sunglasses… twice.  My lovely classmates wanted me to put some royal icing in his briefcase while he was out of the room, but unfortunately, I’m smarter than that.

Choklit Blog #72: Epic Accounts of Candy-Making, Week 12

November 16, 2010.

       Remember that super fun final exam we had a few weeks ago where we got to experience the wonderful privilege of piping for an entire class period?  We got to do that again!  This time it was a little bit easier because we were pretty much just tracing pictures, and we didn’t have a time limit.  Well… we sort of did have a time limit.

       I was under the impression that we would be given enough time in class to complete this project.  Unfortunately, that assumption was the furthest possible thing from correct.  It was incorrect.

       Apparently, we’re all going to have to pipe most of our ornaments for our centerpieces at home.  Then we get to attempt the simple and enjoyable task of transporting our extremely delicate ornaments from our houses to class next Tuesday morning.

       Today I almost finished six of my large ornaments.  I started off just outlining all of the ornaments so they could dry thoroughly before I filled in the colors, but Chef Gronert told me that I had to fill them before class was over since I couldn’t take the outlines home and fill them there.  So I stopped outlining and started filling.  I finished just in time, so I was excited that I wouldn’t have to come by later in the week to fill them.  Then Chef Gronert told me I needed to fill in all the empty spaces with white, which means I’ll have to come back in sometime before next Tuesday to do it.  Well, if I had just done all of my outlines today and hadn’t bothered with the colors yet, then I could have just come in on Friday and done all the colors.  That way it would be much easier and actually possible to match all the colors, and I would only have to pipe my small ornaments at home.  If he would just let me do things my way...

Choklit Blog #71: Songwriting is fun

    As you may or may not know (why do so many of my blogs start that way?), I spend a lot of time sitting around doing nothing at school.  I recently decided to use that time to write songs.  So I've written some songs recently, and I've been waiting for the perfect moment to post them.  This is that moment... because I don't really have anything better to do... so here there are.  Enjoy, or don't.

The first one is called "Relentless."  It's basically about the dangers of praying for something relentlessly without stopping to consider how it will affect other people or whether it's even God's will.

Down on my knees, I made one request
That I refused to put to rest
Cause I'm relentless

Maybe I was a fool for asking
Cause I was the only one in mind
Maybe this infection's passing
But I won't hold my breath this time
Maybe I was desperate, I was clinging
But I swear I wasn't thinking
I hope that I'm sleeping, I pray that I'm dreaming
I cry that, oh God, would you please forgive me?

Down on my knees, I made one request
That I refused to put to rest
Cause I'm relentless
[One request, that I refused to put to rest]
Cause I'm relentless

How can I be happy for myself
When my discontentment's killed someone else?
I've got exactly what I wanted
But I lost so much more in the process
Cause I'm afraid that I'm to blame
As I'm watching everyone around me break
And what I've gained isn't worth your pain
I just hope that you can't read my shame

Down on my knees, I made one request
That I refused to put to rest
Cause I'm relentless

The second one is currently untitled, but it's about being strengthened by faith in God, despite normal human weaknesses.

Sometimes I'm afraid to try
Sometimes I won't look inside my mind
Sometimes, just scared of life
Do you think I'm down?

Some days I cry
Some days I can't look you in the eye
Some days I'm not ready to die
Do you think I'm out?

When I'm on the ground
I'll need more than just a feeling
To pick me back up

I don't need my heart, you can take my mind
They'll only quicken my demise
You can take my emotion, inspiration
Cause I'm built on faith and determination
You'll never weaken my resolve
I may trip, but I'll never fall

Some nights I can't fall asleep
Some nights, can't do anything but think
Some nights I can't even dream
But I'm not going down
I'm not falling out

I don't need my heart, you can take my mind
They'll only quicken my demise
You can take my emotion, inspiration
Cause I'm built on faith and determination
You'll never weaken my resolve
I may trip, but I'll never fall

Self-certainty creates the weak, and it's got no place in me
But I'm aware beyond a doubt that Someone's holding out
Someone's holding on to me
(When I'm on the ground
I'll need more than just a feeling
To pick me back up)

I don't need my heart, you can take my mind
They'll only quicken my demise
You can take my emotion, inspiration
Cause I'm built on faith and determination
You'll never weaken my resolve
I may trip, but I'll never fall

The next one is also untitled at the moment, and it's pretty much about the finiteness of the human mind and having faith.

After all these years
I'm flipping through old pictures
Trying to find proof
That You're not really here

After all these nights
I'm trying to remember what You said
Searching for one word
That will prove You wrong or right
And put my doubts to rest

If I could stretch the edge of my mind
To comprehend the touch of Your fingertip
That's the only thing I'll ever need
If I could stretch out my hand to touch
The beating of the heart inside Your chest
I swear I'd never ask for anything

After all these dreams
I'm wondering if I'd take more comfort
In knowing You're a fake
Or living solely on belief

But after all this time
I really think I'm so convinced
That no amount of fact
Could even try to change my mind
Cause You're the only thing that makes sense

Uncertainty is gripping at my mind
Like I want to grip Your hand
But I'll scream the truth at myself
Even though I'll never understand

If I could stretch the edge of my mind
To comprehend the touch of Your fingertip
That's the only thing I'll ever need
If I could stretch out my hand to touch
The beating of the heart inside Your chest
I swear I'd never ask for anything

Uncertainty is gripping at my mind
Like I want to grip Your hand
But I'll scream the truth at myself
Even though I'll never understand

The last one is called Break. It's self-explanatory. Actually, I guess most of these are, if not all of them.

I never saw this coming
Never though you'd be the one
I saw you moving closer
But I never though you'd take the plunge
And now it's done, you've fallen under
I feel like I'm chasing after thunder
Reaching for you
Why won't you take my hand, don't you understand?

Indecision's on my mind
I want to tear you down
But I want to know you're fine

When you start to shake
I pray it's more than you can take
And when you fall apart
You're always welcome in my arms
When you come unglued
I pray you'll finally see the truth
If that's what it's gonna take
Then I hope to God you break

My days are dragging slowly
Ad you're drowning in your skin
Each night I'm begging for you
That God would pull you from your sins
It feels so useless, I'm confused
I feel like my mind has been abused
Trying to get you
Why won't you take my hand? I don't understand.

This thing is hurting us both
If it's not over soon
Then I don't know how we'll cope

When you start to shake
I pray it's more than you can take
And when you fall apart
You're always welcome in my arms
When you come unglued
I pray you'll finally see the truth
If that's what it's gonna take
Then I hope to God you break

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have some more done soon. If you happen to read this, feedback would be appreciated. Thank you and goodbye.

Choklit Blog #70: Epic Accounts of Candy-Making, Week 11

November 9, 2010.

       For me and most of my classmates, today was the last day of dealing with our newly acquired enemy, marzipan.  My prediction about my scene was correct... it’s one of the worst-looking in the class, because there’s really not much to it and all my animals look like they were made by a second grader.  The animals are falling over, too... but that’s okay, because they’re doing something exciting.

       Today we started preparing for the project we’ll be working on for the next few weeks-- pastillage centerpieces.  In order to make this centerpiece, we have to build a box out of pastillage, then pipe eight large ornaments and thirty-two small ornaments with royal icing (plus extras in case we break some).  The ornaments dry for a few days, and then we put them on the box.  Sounds easy, right?  We’ll see.  What we had to do today was show Chef Gronert the designs for our ornaments.  He called everyone up front one at a time, looked at their design, and told them all the things that were wrong with it.  After seeing some other designs, I thought mine would be too simple, so I knew he would hate it.  I was wrong.  I was also shocked and amazed.

       When I was called to the front, I was just about to start piping the border around my marzipan dummy cake.  I’m glad that event was temporarily delayed, but I kind of wish I had further postponed it by passing out or something on the way back to my table.  My border was really ugly.  That’s all I have to say on that subject.

       The one thing I was happy with today was my marzipan fruit.  I wasn’t totally thrilled because my cherry didn’t have a stem, I couldn’t fit my last pear on the little fruit mountain, and I almost forgot to powder my peaches, but I think the awesomeness of my limes made up for all that stuff.