Week 2 = Success

Week 2 is over already. The weeks just seem to be flying by now! This week was even more enjoyable than the first. There was a lot of anxiety/stress in the first week, having a new nanny, worrying whether or not she would be late, and how quickly my kids would warm up to her. It's only the 2nd week and I am already getting into a good routine, learning how to manage my time better, and finding good times to get my homework done. My kids love our new nanny so that is a huge relief as well.

This week in my Fundamentals of Classical Tech class we learned about the 5 mother sauces: Bechamel, Espagnole, Tomato, Hollandaise, and Veloute. Our class is divided into groups of four and we had the opportunity to make each sauce. I was especially excited to learn how to make Hollandaise. I am so ready to make some eggs benedict now! Yum!!!

On Friday, we made the Bechamel sauce, added shredded cheese to it and made homemade macaroni and cheese. On Saturday, we made pasta and had that with our fresh Tomato sauce. I love being able to eat in class and try all the things we learn how to make!

We also focused on Roux (roo) this week and everyone got to make their own batch cooking it through 3 different stages to see what it's supposed to look like at each stage. We started off with white roux, cooked it longer until it became blonde roux, and even longer until we had a brown roux. Roux is a thickening agent made from clarified butter or some other fat and an equal part by weight of flour.

Each week we are supposed to make a stock. Last week our group made fish stock and this week we made lobster stock. We also had a knife skills assessment. We had 45 minutes to do all of the following: Julienne Carrot, 1/4" Diced Onion, 1/4" Diced Celery, 1/8" x 1/8" x 1/8" Brunoise Summer Squash, Tomato Concasse (peeled, seeded, and diced into 1/4" pieces), Parsley Dust, Minced Garlic, and Potato Batonnette. We have a cooking ruler and are supposed to be very precise when cutting these veggies. Right now it's all about precision and speed will come later with practice. I am proud to say that I did NOT cut myself this week, but some of my other classmates did!