I am literally counting the minutes.  The famously fabulous Lindsey is en route to Charlotte as we speak, and I can’t wait for her to get here!  It’s been almost a month since I’ve seen her and I’m so excited to show her around Charlotte (the little bits I know so far!).  Plus she is our first Charlotte visitor (hopefully of many…?), and I’m excited to have her see our house in person, snuggle the doggies (who love her), and do a whole lot of nothing – sit on the porch and talk for hours.

Speaking of our house, did I ever post pictures here?  I know I put some on facebook, but I dont know that I ever showed the finished product on the blog!  Without further adieu…

Left: pretty dining room table that we eat on every single day.  And it has a really great pass-through window from the kitchen where I try to get Casey to “play restaurant” with me.  I am not a grown up.

Right: Gigantic bedroom.  This is actually a pic from a few weeks ago – since then we got a big new fluffy queen sized bed (same bedding though).  It’s so nice to finally have a carpeted bedroom!

Left: long shot of our living room / dining room / kitchen combo first floor!  It is so nice to have an open floor plan.  It’s a really great entertaining house – so open and spacious.  (If only we knew people in Charlotte to entertain…)

Right: my workspace with my little Acer netbook that I so adore.  This is where I blog every day!  Notice I have my nameplate from my old office up – haha.  I also have a kick ass heated massage chair that I use daily (thanks for making me buy that, Tina!). 

Left: View from the inside of the kitchen.  It has this amazing island-stove where I claim I am going to film cooking demos.  Sometimes I put the netbook on the island above the stove and read recipes off of it, or Skype with my sister while I cook.  I also do my homework at this counter – great lighting!

Right: View of the rest of the kitchen, and a tiny yellow dog sunning himself.  Those double doors lead out onto our screened-in porch, overlooking the woods.

Left:  and speaking of the woods, here they are!  Our big beautiful backyard, surrounded by other houses filled with dogs on all sides.  It is a regular chorus of barking and howling around here.

Right:  the screened-in porch!  So nice to relax on.  Still hoping to fill those planters with fresh herbs, but fearing I may have missed my summer window.

Left:  HOT TUB!  This picture was taken right after we got back from a long run, when I plunged straight in wearing my sports bra and underwear.  Casey called me white trash:)

Right:  gratuitous doggie pic, just because.  There was a second exactly the same dog beg right next to this one, but of course they had to both cram into one. 

So that’s our house!  Or at least some of it.  It is much bigger than we need, but I love it.  I just wish it wasn’t quite so far out in the ‘burbs, but we’re making it work.  I have definitely realized how spoiled I was by my 2 mile “commute” back in Cincy.

Backing up to yesterday, here’s what went down in FFP class yesterday…

Left:  We were tested on our sauté technique yesterday, and I am proud to say I got a 99!  One point deducted because my sauce was a tad runny, and I knew it was, but I was afraid to put it back on the stove and end up burning it, ruining the flavor. 

Right:  Chelsea struck a pose in her hot culinary uniform.

Left:  We were also “tested” on eggs, and I was supposed to make one that was over light.  I was totally stressed out about this, and at the end of class he said he wasn’t going to grade them, so my stress and worry was pointless.  Lovely. 

Right:  Jessica made some delicious cornbread, so I took some extra home to Casey in a baggie!

Left:  One of the things on the menu for Thursday was a salad bar, so I was actually able to eat in class – yay!  Instead of the heavy oil-based dressing they made, I grabbed the bottle of balsamic vinegar out of the cabinet and used that – yum!

Right:  More desserts delivered.  Carrot raisin cake with a frozen cream cheese icing and caramelized fruit on the side.  These looked yummy.

And finally, the bicep is healing nicely.  It has really hurt while it has healed, lots of pulling and stretching of skin, and  peeling.  But I’ve been adamant that I would not pick at it and do something to cause a huge scar, so I’ve kept it covered with neosporin and band aids all week.  Crossing fingers for no lasting scars!

And now I’m off to run a few errands, go to the gym, and try to occupy myself until Lindsey gets here!  Obviously she wanted to visit anyways, but her visit was sealed  on the calendar when I discovered that one of our favorites was coming to Charlotte this weekend.  We are headed to see the completely amazing Indigo Girls tonight at the Fillmore Charlotte, where we will sing at the top of our lungs, cry uncontrollably, and dance in our flannel.  Sounds like the perfect Friday night to me!

So yesterday and today, we’ve been working on perfecting the art of sauté.  Very important in the culinary world, as it is the most frequently used technique.  This has also been our first technique that made me kind of realize – woaaah, this isn’t home cooking anymore.  Things like reductions, deglazing, pan sauces – things I don’t do in my kitchen at home.  Ever.

So this was new territory for me.  Yesterday was my first stab at it, and I was really hesitant and nervous, and didn’t feel like any of my practice dishes really came out how they should.  I know it’s a learning experience, but I still hate messing things up.  So today we got to try again, before tomorrow’s practical (where we are tested on our skills, eeek!), and it went much better.  I went into it armed with knowledge from my studying and lecture notes, and most importantly – confidence.  All my sautéed dishes turned out great, and I feel totally comfortable about tomorrow’s skill test.

So what are we sautéing, you ask?  We’ve definitely upped the ante from fried cuts of cube steak.  Here are some pictures, and today’s menu…

When we practice our sautés, we rotate around stations that are set up like this, with individual burners and a mis en place of ingredients.  This was my first go-round with chicken marsala.  I hear it was delicious! :)

While my marsala cream sauce reduced, the Chef checked out Jessica and Varnay’s finished product (and I snuck a picture!).  He samples every single thing we bring him, no matter what it is, or what time of day it is – so crazy.  Lamb in demi-glace red wine reduction at 10am – I guess you get used to it! 

The final spread.  From our six sauté stations, we produced:  Chicken Marsala and Mashed Potatoes, Shrimp in Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce and Bowtie Pasta with Broccoli, Sautéed Lamb with Rosemary and Red Wine Demi Glace, Sautéed Asian Pork with Steamed Rice, Bowtie Pasta with White Clam Sauce, and Assorted Omelets (still practicing breakfast foods in our free time).

Now can you see what I mean about the temptation to over-indulge?  I think my culinary school food philosophy is kind of like how I feel about eating on vacation.  The first few days I usually go totally overboard, eat way too much, and eat things I would never even consider eating on a normal day at home.  Each day I promise not to do it again tomorrow, and then repeat the cycle.  This usually lasts three days, and then I’m over the food, over the guilt, and back to being my normal, healthy self.

Days one and two, I obviously didn’t eat meat, but I still ate the seafood and pasta and breakfast foods – things I would not normally eat for lunch, especially prepared with all that butter and cream.  My body is used to a lunch of Greek yogurt and fruit, or soup and salads!  So I felt like crap, had tremendous guilt, and vowed to not do it anymore.  And I am proud to say that starting this week, I haven’t touched it. 

I bring a reasonable snack with me to eat while everyone else eats their lunch, to tide me over until I can make myself a “normal” lunch at home, and to give me something to do during the lunch break so that I’m not just sitting there watching them eat.  I am definitely the class weirdo, but I don’t care.  At first I got questions about why I wasn’t eating, or why I brought something else, but we’re such a small group that by now my classmates are used to it and don’t care.  And even if they did, my health is more important to me than being the cool kid in class – I’ll be the healthy kid in class – fine with me!  Here is what I snacked on today, while everyone else filled up their plates with sautéed goodies.

If you thought the food we made sounded good, here’s the other piece I deal with every day.  Towards the end of each class, the baking and pastry students come upstairs with what they have been making all day long, free to anyone who wants it with lunch, or you can even bag it and take it home.  Every day is different – today was pear strudel and chocolate cream pie, and yesterday was this assortment of crème brulee and frozen white chocolate ice cream cakes.

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I am majoring in Culinary Arts, but mastering in temptation resistance!

Sauté practical test tomorrow – off to get some rest!