I might even pay for that...

Because not much has been said on the subject, I thought I would fill you in a little on the teaching strategy here at GBCA (Chef Klaus in particular) and my view of it's relative effectiveness.   Our mornings start with class work that for the most part involve discussing what we will be cooking for the day with ingredients, cooking methods, and origins of the various dishes being explained and questions answered.  Demonstrations are sometimes given if a particular task involves unfamiliar equipment or processes.  Recipes are given orally  allowing plenty of time for questions and requiring us to take detailed notes.  We then move on to the actual preparation of the dishes, with Chef Klaus providing needed assistance, information, and correction.  I have to say that this is, for me, a most excellent way to learn.  Talk about it, See it, Do it seems to fit my learning style, which is tactile and visual (or something like that - Professor Mother-in-Law told me, but I don't remember the term she used because I didn't feel it or see it).  As class days go by, we use what we learned previously routinely, thereby reinforcing the lessons.  Bottom line:  It works for me.

No class is interesting if the instructor is boring and fortunately for us Chef Klaus will never be accused of being dull or uninformative.  This is a man that has mastered his profession and more, involving himself in the governing of various professional and fraternal organizations in The Industry.  I find his passion for history, tradition, and the many diverse subjects we've discussed in class to be refreshingly genuine.  In yesterday's quiet time (yes, sometimes you just have to wait for something in the oven) our topics ranged from the history of foods to classic movies to boiling potatoes to commuter rail systems to parrots.   The sincerity of his interest in each topic is unmistakable, his enthusiasm for discussion a little infectious. 

So I cooked a few things this week.  We generally break the day's menu up and each take a primary task, get started, then sort of rotate around to each station to observe all of the components in action.  My menu items this week were pretty decent, as I put together a very tasty cream of celery soup, Manhattan style clam chowder, and a pork paprikache (paprika seasoned pork stew) that was excellent.  Now our recipes are given to us, and if our dish doesn't look or taste right, we get criticism from the Chef.  If it comes out looking and tasting right, you're on even keel because it's SUPPOSED to come out right.  I am pleased to say that the pork paprikache garnered the highest compliment that Chef Klaus has offered to us, "I might even pay money for that."   My shoulder still hurts from patting myself on the back.

I'm a little embarrassed that I've made this blog all about myself and haven't touched on the team aspect as much as I should.  This would be a much more trying course if I didn't like and respect each of my classmates, so I hope that they will approve of my efforts to bring the course to life through this blog and help me with comments or suggestions as the weeks go by. 
That being said, this week we say hello to Jessica.

Jessica lives on the other side of the Island and has a long commute each day for class.  She is a property manager who has considerable cooking experience on her own and has worked in the front of the house tending bar at one of our favorite places to eat, Haleiwa Joe's in Kaneohe.  She has great knowledge about a lot of foods and is a strong advocate of making sure we are getting the education that we are paying for.  With an excellent sense of humor and an occasionally sailor-esque vocabulary, she's a lot of fun in the kitchen.  Fearless, she tells it like it is and isn't shy about disagreeing with the chefs - a trait I find admirable, since I pretty much always take the kitchen politically correct way out and shut up.  My blurting out wrong answers aside, Jessica has become the voice of the class and that's great.

Since I know you're wondering:

Wiener Schnitzel didn't originate in Germany

Chef Klaus was Master Chef simultaneously in the U.S, Canada, and Germany

Chef Klaus was so shocked that none of us had seen the old movie "The Third Man" that he assigned it as homework this weekend.  I hope they at least cook something in it.

Yes, I screw up occasionally.  I Missed a step and put fennel where it didn't belong and had to start over.  Believe me, you don't want fennel where it doesn't belong.

Korean pears are delicious.

I make a dandy 1000 Island dressing.

I'm glad it's almost Baseball season.  You saw it here first- Seattle Mariners in the World Series.

Live und gut essen, meine Freunde.