Externship - Lake Austin Spa Resort

I switched externships – like you didn’t see that coming! LOL

Sit down, and listen – I applied for an externship with Chef Terry Conlan at Lake Austin Spa Resort and got it!

After my first experience with the other externship and the wasted day – I was excited!

I learned the lunch station – the guest seemed to enjoy the lunch menu. The lunch station is a busy station; there is a lot of prep work involved – including the veggie soup, two dinner salads and keeping the desserts stocked. And being in charge of the 3pm appetizer! I enjoyed coming up with interesting appetizers!

My hours seem to fly by – and now I’m done!

Externship - Strike One

I accepted an externship, a paid externship - with a corporation that I'll keep to myself. I interviewed and talked to the executive chef. I never walked through the kitchen - strike one. I assumed that "line work" meant exactly that - working on the line - strike two. I also assumed I'd be actually doing more than moving yogurt from the original container to a clear plastic container and then adding fresh sliced fruits...and a sticker saying what was in the clear plastic container - strike three. The one and only day I ever worked there...was just that. And then, I found out what "line work" meant - to say I was shocked and a bit irritated was mild. I served lunch to the corporation for three hours! So - one day and eight hours I'll never ever see again...

Lesson Learned - always ask to SEE the kitchen and have the chef walk you through what the position is...before you accept the position. If he/she gets upset and they don't have TIME to show you around - especially if it is for a corporation!

To be honest, they did not need me - the girl that they had me working with could have handled this position alone - the guy before her did just fine

Good Luck! There are so many great Culinary Externships out there!

LCB Photos

I'll explain the photos later :)

I accepted an externship today!

Ventana - we were the last official class - now known as Technique

Look In Ventana

My 2nd amuse bouche - and this one was much more delicious than my first

Crab meat with clarified butter and zested lemon and a little pinch of cayenne pepper

Chef Loiacono

A look at the different stations

My first amuse bouche

Italian sausage with a sour cream base and pickled red onions and zested lemon

9th Day - Back of House - Ventana

I spent my whole day at school today.

I was Bonnie’s buser again, today. I also helped deliver plates for Joe. AND I served a guy first – and I admit my mistake, but I blame Joe! LOL! I was able to step up and be server for Bonnie while she fabricated her chicken for a grade. Today the chairs got polished.

The Eta Sigma Delta Honor Society Induction was today.

And I enjoyed Miss Jane’s Wine Class – dessert wine tasting was tonight! yum

8th Day - Back of House - Ventana

Today, I’m a buser – I decided to hook it up with Bonnie. We worked well together. We had the six top and it went smooth! Busing wasn’t bad at all – clearing and resetting the tables. We also prep the tables for night time service – replacing the sugar caddies with the candles.

BEGIN RANT

I really wish my classmates would just show up every day! They are paying for this education! I know some classmates have excuses and I know things come up. BUT – all too often…the excuses are, I needed a Halloween costume, it’s my birthday, etc… I’m here every day, actually, I’ve never missed a single day. I do what is expected of me, every day! I also have to do what is expected of YOU when YOU decide it wasn’t necessary to show up! I am dedicated, you are not! I don’t care that you have waited on tables for years and years – yes, word gets around Ventana.

END RANT

7th Day - Back of House - Ventana

I’m a server again, today. I wish I could remember how today went. I’m old, what do ya want! LOL

6th Day - Back of House - Ventana

Today I’m a server, serenity now, serenity now. Remember, I have never worked in a restaurant. I wasn’t nervous, if fact that is what worried me. My first table was a family of four. I fumbled a few times – trying to leave a spoon for the muscles they ordered. The father had his blackberry in the exact spot. I made a joke and said, this wasn’t covered during our pop quiz – they laughed. They ordered dessert and left a tip. I also think they snaked my pen…

5th Day - Back of House - Ventana

Today we prepped for the Ronald McDonald House. We also prepped for our BOH. I needed to leave early for an interview at 3M. The interview went well.

Externship - News

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve staged at a few places. I actually applied for two pastry externships that I thought would be interesting. I’m not going to use the names of the restaurants. But, here’s a little something I will share about them.

The 1^st one was ok, and I mean just ok – I was told I would be doing something completely different on the phone and when I got there…I made muffins! I don’t know about you, but I’ve made a ton of muffins in my life – and I can follow a recipe, when it is right! That’s right; I found a mistake on their recipe! I got to mix muffins with a hand whisk, a medium size mixer and the mac daddy mixer…that should have been on wheels (my back is still suffering!) The kitchen was unorganized – that’s not a good thing for anyone that suffers from OCD. I had to move my bowls several times to different tables during the four long hours I was there. Why? Well, because I don’t work there and I was in the way. I wasn’t impressed with this bakery – actually I was horrified!

And the 2^nd place is a well known restaurant here – everyone wants to stage or extern with them. That is everyone but me; I will not be intimidated! I was told by the person I was staging with that “they don’t like to see you leave on time!” - Well excuse me, I was asked if I could be there from 9am-1pm. Not, can you be here 9am until the sun goes down. He also went on to say, “you need to show more of a commitment, before they’ll accept you as the extern!” That translates to…you need to stage here every day for the next three weeks and they still may not accept you as the extern. And yes, as you may have guessed, when you stage, it is free work for that restaurant. And this extern was an unpaid externship, too! And the icing on the top of this stage was when it was time for me to leave, and the person I was staging with says, “Let me see if the chef wants to talk to you before you leave” – but – “stay here, he’s weird about people approaching him?” Ok, so now the “chef” doesn’t want to be approached. The person I’m working with says, “No, he’s good!” I walk over there to pick my bag up, and I say good bye to him – and I wanted to add KMA. Maybe someday I’ll tell you who this person is –

So, that is two different stages I did – and I feel like I wasted my time! Oh, I didn’t waste their time, because they got a lot of work out of me for free. I’ll never see those hours again! ha

4th Day - Back Waiter - Ventana

Thursday and Friday, I was the back waiter in Ventana. I was in control of the tea, coffee, cokes, and bread. We were not too busy on Thursday, but Friday, kicked our ass! We had no reservations and it looked like it would rain all day. I had to open several bottles of wine – have I mentioned that my thumb has been acting up and opening wine with a jacked thumb hurts! I enjoyed being the back waiter, it was just busy enough.

2nd Day - Front of House - Ventana

I started off as the host – we were busy today…a lot of walk-ins! For never having worked in a restaurant…I think I did pretty well. And thankfully the phone never rang.

1st Day - Front of House - Ventana

Today was our first official day as front of the house. I’m now wearing a white button down and a black tie. Our restaurant is closed on Monday’s. So today we watched a short video on the front of house operations. The video was interesting – except I have questions… Why doesn’t LCB have teaching videos? And probably because the video was from the CIA, they serve from the right, right?

Back of House - getting caught up

Grill - wasn't busy at all - thank god! I prepped four portobellas ahead of time - just in case.

Three orders of lamb and one order of ribs! That's it, I admit, the grill and I need some work...

Sauté - Is a busy station! I was much busier on sauté than the grill! I had no issues with the trout! Look out, I can sauté fish! The same trout dish was very similar to my International Trout final!

But sautéed chicken... I know how, yet it still stressed me out! I watch Hell's Kitchen! I never wanna serve under cooked chicken! I really enjoyed the sauté station! And out of all the dishes, I believe you get more for your money when ordering the chicken!

Garde Manger - did this station twice and again, I enjoyed this station!

Dessert - thank god I couldn't afford the P and B certificate at LCB! As much as I love baking and as much as I loved our 14 days in Pastry and Baking... I've realized, it's not for me! It took me two stages in two different directions to come to this conclusion. OMG, I never wanna be that sticky! Not even in the real world - BUT, if needed I can step up and preform as a pastry/baker - dessert plater person.

Lead - oh what fun, that is after I called to fire the first tickets...before they received their salads! Sorry, hope they enjoyed their food! LOL!! Once I was shown the correct way - it was fun!

My final day back of house was on the fryer - I enjoyed the fryer.

It was also my last official day of wearing my Le Cordon Bleu uniform - a bitter sweet day.

Next week I move to the front of house - with a white button down and a black tie!

12th Day - Ventana

Today we held our first banquet – something called Student (something of other…I’ll ask and update to correct it) LOL!! – This is a time that the new students come in the restaurant and enjoy the food production we prepared. It was so sweet to see so many excited faces, newbie’s to Le Cordon Bleu, we were those excited faces not too long ago. We are still excited! Being a part of the Le Cordon Bleu family has been an extreme pleasure for me. We’ve worked so hard to be here in the restaurant. Today we heard again, how many students make it this far, I think the number is something like 60% make it to Ventana. I know we had six drop from my class alone. We were also reminded if you show up for class, you will pass. Listen to those words – show up, you are paying for this education! You miss so much when you are absent! And trust me, this coming from someone who hasn’t missed a single day – but had friends miss days, due to all types of issues. They usually missed productions that were part of our final practical!

Yesterday was a huge prep day –

I made the rice pilaf for the banquet – two full hotel pans. And in the process managed to burn my fingers – on both hands! Yes, I was paying attention, but for some reason my mind still thinks that certain handles are still ok to touch, even if they are IN.THE.OVEN! Making rice pilaf is easy – and it is something we made a lot of while we were in the kitchens during our class productions. But, usually not in this amount! LOL

I volunteered to serve the Tomato Soup – it was served in white coffee cups with a crouton topped off with pesto. It was very simple, yet very elegant.

At the end of the service, one student – only one student walked over and shook our hands and told us that he very much enjoyed the food…even though he did not like tomato soup. He was very polite!

6th Day - Ventana

We laughed so hard today in Ventana – we’ve all been discussing where we’d like to extern. I admit, that I did start this conversation – but I didn’t mean for it to go in the direction it went. Yes, it was funny! I started off the conversation by saying I’d like to extern at Hooters, and well – it went downhill fast after that! I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time!! I’m gonna miss my new AM Ventana friends!

I just wonder if anyone from Le Cordon Bleu has ever applied to extern at Hooters, Twin Peaks or the Landing Strip...

5th Day - Ventana

It is Friday, our first week in Ventana is complete! And tonight, we're going to eat dinner at Ventana. We surprised our PM friends - had a great time! The food was wonderful and so was the service!

3rd Day - Ventana

So, today a couple of people were absent and I was going to be sent to the grill – and just as I’m asking the person from yesterday for help, I got sent to amuse bouche. Amuse what? OMG, I do not think on the fly – I can’t, yet. Amuse Bouche, simply means, one bite, or small bite. Sounds easy enough, right? Again, my mind was not wrapping around this one bite thing! I know I asked, what is here to whip up with a concerned look on my face. Please don’t take the looks on my face as…I’m lost. I’m not; it is just me processing ideas. I’m really ok; I’m not giving you a “lost dumbass in the kitchen look”… I’ll figure it out. I know, the looks on my face have scared off a few chefs – they ran from the kitchen screaming, and none has heard from them since. I’m guessing they are sitting on a bamboo lounge sipping on a mai tai on an island far from here. I wish they’d reply to my friend request on facebook!

Today, I had to whip up an amuse bouche – so on the fly, I came up with Italian sweet sausage, goat cheese with heavy cream, sautéed red onions ( I should have pickled them…) minced parsley and zested lemon. I don’t eat sausage, so I have no firsthand experience on if they tasted as well as everyone said. But, thank you to everyone that did taste test them for me!

2nd Day - Ventana

Today we open – we what? Yep, today we open Ventana to our guest. Today I was supposed to be the roundsman/prep, but got moved to the Pantry/Garde Manger position. Oh yes, let the fun begin! And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t flipping the heck out – unlike some of my classmates, I have NEVER worked in a restaurant. NEVER! I’m not too sure we could count Burger King as a true restaurant. I was told by the assistant manager of BK that I would never amount to him – I never wanted to be an assistant manager to BK. So, yeah, he was right! LOL

Today, I was in charge of plating the Les Escargots en Croute, Gazpacho Andalouse, Salade Maraichere, and Salade de Laitue a la Sauce de Fromage Bleu. And, yes, the amuse bouche, too!

I learned that working the Pantry/Garde Manger – was a lot about listening. Restaurants can be loud and if you’re not paying attention or are hard of hearing it can be difficult during certain times. You are the first course to your guest’s meal!

I really enjoyed this position in – Kitchen Ventana!

1st Day - Ventana

Ventana is closed on Monday's. We use this day to prep for Tuesday. Today I was in charge of prepping Cotelettes de Porc Braisees a l'Orientale and the English translation is Honey-Hoisin Glazed Baby-Back Ribs with Asian Cole Slaw.

So, today I prepped the ribs, the Honey-Hoisin Glaze and the Asian Vinaigrette - I started off all over the place, the term "Mis en Place" meant nothing to me today. No, really, it meant nothing. That term was not a part of my prep! And if it had been, it didn't matter, I had to adapt, I had a broken blender and the Honey-Hoisin Glaze leaked out everywhere...and still tasted great, but made a huge mess!

Today kicked my butt, but I loved it! I'm not a morning person, I've never been a morning person and I probably will never be one...but I do enjoy having the afternoons and evenings to spend with my kids! I will adapt! Ok, so I'll adapt as long as I have a latte or two...ok, ok, three or four - look if it keeps me awake and not grouchy...don't complain! LOL

See you tomorrow, and by the way, I always arrive at 7:15am – class starts at 8am!

Day 3 - International Cuisine

Tonight we prepared foods from the United Kingdom, to include, Ireland and England.

We produced:

Bubble and Squeak

Yorkshire Pudding

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Blancmange

I believe the Bubble and Squeak was the best food produced tonight - it was so very yummy!! I will reproduce this at home!

Yorkshire Pudding was ok - really, just ok. Nothing real special.

I'm not a huge fan of Corned Beef, but it was tasty with some Horseradish Sauce. I don't remember seeing the cabbage, I did see red potatoes and carrots.

I also put a spoonfun of the Horseradish Sauce on our Bubble and Squeak...yummy!!

The Blancmange, was tasty...not something that I'll make at home.

A few of us keep up with the score of the Saints/Vikings game - just as class was ending we heard the Saints won!

Day 2 - International Cuisine

Tonight we visited cuisine from a few Scandinavian countries -Sweden, Norway and Denmark. We were still with our same teams as last night. Our team was given Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberry Jam. We were also in charge of setting the buffet, including making name tags for the food, wrapping plasticware in a napkin, and warming plates.

We produced:

Pickled Herring Canapes

Danish Cucumber Salad

Swedish Meatballs with Potato and Anchovy Casserole

Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberry Jam

I'm not gonna lie to ya - I was not in love with the pickled herring. The skin was still on the herring - think I heard other people in the class compare it to bubble gum. I don't know about you, but bubble yum, can't be compared to pickled herring.

The Danish Cucumber Salad was pretty good - so good that I'm burping the cucumbers! I don't like raw onions - I had a second helping of cucumbers!

I ate three sweddish meatballs with gravy - yummo! But for as much as I love Swedish meatballs, I can only eat a few a year. I'll probably not have Swedish meatballs again for six months or so...but they were yummy!!

OMG - why oh why did I load my plate with the Potato and Anchovy Casserole...and why oh why didn't I stop eating when I noticed a faint fishy taste. That'll teach me not to pay more attention to what other teams are preparing! I'd make this again, but without the anchovy, does that make it any less Scandinavian? LOL!!

My team made the Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberry Jam - we also made some with cinnamon sugar and butter.

EXTRA: A lucky almond hidden in one of the porridge (rice pudding) bowls, is believed to grant good fortune to the person who finds it.

Day 1 - International Cuisine

And Tropical Storm Hermine -

It rained on my drive to school.

I parked rather close.

It rained while I was in school.

My parking spot was flooded.

I had to climb through the back door to get in the truck.

I was soaked to the bone - including shoes, socks, chef pants and coat, etc...

And it rained really hard on my drive home from school.

I had white knuckles.

Tonight we prepared foods from Russia and Eastern Europe. This class is a bit different than any other class at Le Cordon Bleu. We're in groups, each group is given a food to prepare and then we serve it family style (banquet style).

We produced:

Blini with Creme Fraiche and Salmon Caviar

Borscht

Golabki with Hungarian Potatoes

Sweet Plum Pierogi

I refused to try the Blini with Creme Fraiche and Salmon Caviar - with good reason...back when we were in our 101 class, a plate of these pretties came down and I grabbed one and tossed it in my mouth - I quickly realized what the hell it was and immediately started looking for something to spit it out in...and nicely without conflict! Dear God that was vile! So, lesson learned...LOL I'm not a fan of Salmon Caviar!

Our team produced the Borscht and I have to say, that was quite tasty. I'm not saying I'd make it again.

I'm pretty sure, I'd not make Hungarian Potatoes again, either. They were just ok.

Now, I will make Golabki again...stuffed cabbage rolls, those were really yummy!!

I didn't try the Sweet Plum Pierogi -

I did have a Meat Pierogi that was really delish!!

It is still pouring outside - weather says six inches so far

Day 14 - Final Exams - The End of Garde Manger

Tonight was our finals, they count for 25% of our grades - a written and a practical. We had to produce, Mayonnaise, Red Pepper Coulis, Vichysoisse and Caesar Salad with Garlic Croutons.

I started by roasting my peppers and sauting the onions and leeks for the vichysoisse. I peeled the potato and placed it in water. I, then started work on the mayonnaise and continued checking on the vichysoisse. I was multi-tasking - taking my bowl of mayo and my whisk over to the stove to add the diced potatoes and chicken stock - set to simmer until the potatoes are cooked. I finished up the mayonnaise and got that grade out of the way.

The vichysoisse was ready to be strained and for the cream to be added - and back to the stove to boil for a second. I poured the vichysoisse in another bowl and started the cooling process. I prepared the cream and green onion garnish and set it aside. I placed the bowl of vichysoisse in the walk in to chill.

I started on the caesar salad dressing next - mashing one anchovy with one clove of garlic, added the other ingredients - bam...dressing was done. It took me serveral minutes to find a salad spinner - every spinner I picked up was broke...four minutes later I was on my way again. I sliced up my french bread and started on the garlic croutons. I tore the romaine, placed it in the bowl with the dressing and tossed in a few garlic croutons and parm - tossed around and plated - time for a grade.

I ran back to the walk in and grabbed the chilled bowl of vichysoisse to be graded.

I now have about twenty minutes left of class and the red pepper coulis is not finished...the peppers aren't even peeled. I manage to put a rush on and got it completed barely in time - reducing the white wine and reducing the stock - and graded just in time!

So that was the practical. I didn't have time for any photos - you all know what mayonnaise looks like. Thankfully I did pretty well on this part of the final! Because for some reason, I do awful on written tests.

Day 13 - Hor D'oeuvres and Canapés

Tonight we put everything together and presented our mirror.

Smoked Salmon Mousse

Prosciutto and Melon

Goat Cheese with Peppers

Tuna Confit

Wild Mushroom Tartelettes

Smoked Whiskey Shrimp in Gougeres

Deviled Quail Eggs

Curried Chicken Salad in Bouchees

Day 12 - Hor D'oeuvres and Canapés

- today we were busy, I blinked and we were done...

So, today was prep work -

Wild Mushrooms for Tartelettes

Curried Chicken Salad for Bouchees

Smoked Whiskey Shrimp for Gougeres

Deviled Quail Eggs

Prosciutto and Melons

Goat Cheese for Peppers

and tomorrow we will prep Tuna Confit

I'm gonna say this and probably just once - I'm enjoying this class more than I thought I would. I can't believe it will be over on Thursday.

Day 11 - Hors D'oeuvres and Canapés

Tonight we started work on Hors D'oeuvres and Canapés. We made Pate Dough for Barquettes and Tartelettes. We made Gougeres, Puff Pastry and some lovely Smoked Salmon Mousse. I'm gonna tell ya right now, I'll never understand why anyone would want to make a mousse out of a fish - it really is a taste only a bear would love!

A composed Hors D'ouevere consists of four elements - Base, Spread, Filling and Garnish.

We made the base tonight - tomorrow we make the spread and filling. And we garnish on Wednesday.

Day 10 - Speed Drill

I started this class two weeks ago and thought I would die on the first day. We made four things and it seemed to take five hours! The second day I was ready to cry. It's been 10 days and I'm feeling a lot better - it covers a ton of things from cold soups, salads, sauces, brining, curing, smoking, sausages, forced-meats, etc... We're busy, it is a lot to learn in a very short time. I'm in the certificate program and we get exactly 14 days for each class. We're doing in 14 days what the associates program does in 6 weeks - I kid you not! I know this because, my son is in the associates program and the Chefs remind us of this almost daily! LOL

The Chefs are great and I've learned a great deal from them. I'm glad I didn't break down and cry! I'm not going to lie to you, I was half way to a break down - I was overwhelmed! Truth be told, I hated this class until the 10th day - on the 10th day we had a speed drill - break down a whole chicken (wings, thighs, legs, boneless skinless breast, airline breast), chicken stock, 4 oz of this cut, 2 oz of that cut, 1 pound of mirepoix, saute the airline chicken breast, butter carrots, rice pilaf, etc... We had 2.5 hours to produce. I received a 95 out of 100.

Several things have been pounded into our heads - hot plate with hot foods, cold with cold food - this class is a mixture of hot/cold plates/bowls.

Sauteed Chicken Breast with Rice Pilaf and Carrots au Beurre

First Day at Le Cordon Bleu

You will notice that I am back dating to get caught up -

It is my first day walking through the doors of Le Cordon Bleu in my uniform and carrying my book bag with the big heavy red book!

It's finally here, time to get dressed - black checkered pants, neckerchief, white chef coat, steel toed black shoes, and the white cap . We don't have to bring our aprons or towels, yet. We're sitting in a classroom, reading, reviewing, and starving - waiting for the other classes to put food on the little stools outside their classrooms. I'll tell you more about that later - this wasn't something Chef Porter told us about - she never really mentioned it...we kinda came across this on our on. BUT when we did come across these morsels of treats...it was like heaven. Did I mention, we were starving?

I've been excited for this day to arrive. I remember walking the halls with Justin (my oldest - he's in the associate program during the mornings) during his orientation and thinking this might be where I fit. I've been searching for something - I knew I wanted to go back to school, but didn't know for sure...what I wanted to do.

So along comes my orientation and I'm sick...S I C K - there's only one more orientation before classes start, I had to make it, sick or not! I needed my uniforms and books! Or I'd have to wait and start the next go around...

Back to my first day - we were all a little nervous, I didn't know anyone in the class, but others knew a few. There was a little confusion as to what room we were to be in. We moved a few times that night before we settled in for the next 14 days. We had Chef Porter, she has the knowledge! I wish I was a fly on the wall when she did her chef thing back in the day!

The class was interesting and informing - we learned extra things, too, that I won't mention here, but that I want to remember in forty years when I read this! I should have known at this point, that our class would be full of entertainment! Both - negative and positive!

Our first classes consisted of Sanitation and Basic Cookery.

Chef Porter asked us why we wanted to attend Le Cordon Bleu - it wasn't because I loved to cook - though, that has changed. I wanted to attend Le Cordon Bleu for Patisserie, but I could not afford the program. I'm gonna be honest with ya'll - holy cow...that's a huge expense! BUT, I wasn't going to give up and say screw it...so I joined the Culinary Certificate Program. A much more affordable program for me! So, sit tight and I'll be adding posts, hopefully day by day - some days will be more interesting than others - like egg day!

My days at LCB -

Coming Soon!

I've seen a few blogs about the adventures of going to Le Cordon Bleu - I only wished I'd started my LCB blog back when I started school. I'll be doing a catch up blog here, since I started in May and it is really September now... Yes, it really is...September!