Culinary School - Day 1

First of all...thanks for all the supportive messages, texts, calls and emails! Even though I'm semi-far from home and away from my friends and family, it feels great to know so many people are thinking about me!

So, here's an update: So far, I'm completely overwhelmed, absolutely exhausted and way out of my element...but I'm having a blast!

For the next 7 days I'm enrolled in "Nutrition and Sensory Analysis" where the cooking methods we're concentrating on are steaming and poaching...along with other healthy techniques that don't involve a lot of fat, but still include great flavors. It's a great class to start off with because, 1 - I'm told it's one of the more difficult classes, so I'm getting that over with, and 2 - everything we eat is good for you!

On day 1, we took it easy and each group made a different sandwich. Our group was in charge of sliced poached chicken on ciabatta with roasted red peppers and a white bean puree. The bean puree took the place of the mayonnaise, and by poaching the chicken in court bouillon we added flavor without incorporating fat or losing a significant amount of nutrients.

Day 2 was a little more involved...we studied the technique of en papillote, which involves wrapping a protein (chicken, pork or fish) with an acid (vinegar, wine or lemon), aromatics (herbs or spices) and vegetables in parchment paper and steaming the little packages in an oven. Our project was Chicken en Papillote, which I must say was delicious!

Thursday has more fun in store with a special "field trip" to the university auditorium to view a culinary demonstration by Certified Master Chef, Helmut Holzer of Atlanta Foods International, which I'm super excited about.

While I know there are MANY more exhausting days ahead...I am looking forward to them all and ready to soak up some culinary knowledge!

Stay tuned for more updates, but for now I'm counting down the days to a fun weekend with my husband in Charlotte, a break from classes, a little r&r...oh yeah, and a tiny little football game. :)