Onions and thumbs...Making the cut.

Not a stellar week for the dedicated students in the Gros Bonnet class of December 2011.  Oh, we made some very good dishes, got to have a little fun in the kitchen, and had some laughs, but Chef Sigi in the hospital and Sandy having a terrible personal week seemed to cast a pall over our activities.  We were all saddened to hear that Sandy had lost a close family member last weekend and another was hospitalized, and we are sending what prayers and positive energy we can to her and her family. 

Chef Klaus was our interim instructor for the week, and for the most part he was very helpful, pleasant, and in good spirits.  His only brief piece of meanness was a biting comment that he inexplicably aimed at Sandy on Wednesday, when she was emotionally vulnerable.  Maybe he wasn't fully aware of her family situation, or maybe he was trying to draw her focus to her kitchen work...whatever, it was pretty damned mean to make that his only sour comment for the week.  The comments were followed a couple minutes later by Sandy cutting her thumb badly (I suppose no one ever cuts their thumb well) while cutting cabbage.  She survived thanks to a quick response from Jessica and an expedient dressing applied by Chef Klaus.  The doctor gave her five stitches on Thursday (thereby disproving Chef's observation that it "wasn't too bad") and with that slice she stole my class record for most blood lost on a single cut.

I don't mean to criticize other people's misfortune, but when Sandy's cut occurred, instead of heading (logically) for the sink, she strolled out of the kitchen and into the dining area where she sat on the floor and bled.   A fine and colorful puddle of blood that impressed me with it's healthy shine and mopped up easily. 

There's a right way and several wrong ways to dice an onion.  The right way involves trimming the root end, slicing in half, and scoring to form even sized pieces before dicing.  Working on a recipe, Jessica came across a partially-cut large onion.  The end had been entirely cut off, and odd angle cuts had been made in several places.  She showed it to us and we wondered what moron in the evening class had hacked that poor onion.  Because it was so big, I used up the rest of the onion the next day, chopping it for a lamb braise.  I pointed out again how terrible the cutting technique was, and Enju piped up that SHE had cut that onion.  When Jessica laughed and said "YOU cut that onion?"  Enju replied "Who else would cut it like that?"

On Thursday Chef Sigi stopped by the kitchen, and it was very good to see him up and getting around, even if a little gingerly.  Seems his hospital procedure went well, and he'll be back with us next week.  Chef Klaus left on Thursday for his big biker adventure, so we won't see him until our last rotation in his Hot Kitchen I.  That left us supervised by Robin, our Kitchen Manager.  He pretty much let us loose with a couple recipes that Chef Klaus had left us and kicked in a few really good pieces of advice, so the end of the week went pretty smoothly. 

This weekend brings happiness as Wendy comes home from her six-week school and vacation trip to Washington D.C., Wisconsin, and Alaska.  She suggested, and I was sorely tempted to play hooky for a week and join her up north but my total dedication to my school work (in addition to ridiculous airfares) kept me at home.  We'll get in some vacation when the schooling is done. 

Just got me thinking...for good or bad:

GOOD:  Warren Buffett offers up the outrageous notion that the super-rich could pay a little more in taxes.
Ya think?  His maid pays a higher tax rate than he does.  Our system is just wrong.

BAD:     "Whisker Wars" - A reality show about growing facial hair.  Ho-ly shit.  I met some of the  contestants a couple years ago at the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage.
The secret of their success?  Don't shave.

GOOD:  The just-released remake of one of my favorite movies of the 80s, Fright Night .  The movie   rocked, and I never thought I would be impressed with Colin Farrell, but he was excellent.

BAD:      "Hunters" that I saw while channel-flipping.  Here's the truth:  If you are inside a fence, regardless how big the area is, it's a ranch...you might as well be shooting cattle.  If a guide shows you where
to hunt, scouts the animals for you, or tells you what animal to take, you are not a hunter, you're a shooter.  Oh yeah...Only an asshole goes to another continent to kill an animal.

“When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one’s ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries.”- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows