Chef Shane brought on the creativity for us as our final Final was not just an evaluation meal produced as a group from an established menu, but a "Black Box" event wherein we were given the opportunity to freestyle and improvise in a "Chopped" scenario. Chef stocked the refrigerator with various meats, fish, and veggies and we were told to each prepare a dish with entree, starch, vegetable, and sauce. Being the gentleman that I am (I also didn't fully understand the instructions), I waited quietly while Jessica hogged the pork chops, Sandy hooked the mahi mahi, and Van rustled up the beef. That left me with sea bass and/or shrimp. I felt pretty good about both, and finished up 1 1/2 hours or so later with pan-fried sea bass and sauteed lemon/parmesan shrimp with a lightly seasoned julienne vegetable medley (carrot, leek, yellow squash, green beans) that turned out just as I had hoped, colorful and tasty. This with the slightly sweet parsnip puree that I wish I'd put a little more onion into scored me a 15 out of 20. I was unsure if I should be disappointed or happy with that score until I found out that everyone had scored 15, so no big deal either way. The judges were our class administrator, Terry (who you know is a cool guy because he took a cruise to Alaska this fall), and a young dude I learned was a former student that works in a restaurant somewhere, and if girth is any indicator of your ability to judge food, then I have complete faith in his decisions.
We passed our final evaluation and have met all the requirements so I guess that leaves us with only Graduation Day! Arriving right on time and accompanied by my entourage of good friends that were willing to give up a couple hours of their lives, Mel, Patti, and Brandon, I was whisked upstairs to have my tall hat fitted and fill out a very short bio. Sandy arrived about 10 minutes later, thereby allaying the fear that I'd be the only one to show, having been informed by Jessica a few days ago that she wouldn't be attending because she didn't want to make the drive to school that she's been making for a year now. (I know, right?). Terry informed us that we would walk to the podium in alphabetic order. I guess to avoid the two of us getting confused. Then the festivities began and as I predicted there were 12 people there, including the graduates. A couple short speeches, one by our kitchen manager Robin, and one by the school President who I've never seen before, and we were ready for the year's picture montage played on a small screen TV and I noticed something right off...if there are only 3 of you left, you get to be in almost all of the pictures.
So the preliminaries are over, and it's time to trade out our year-old shapeless flat hat for the Tall Hat, The Gros Bonnet. Sandy walks up to Chef Klaus, takes off her mushroom hat, and as Chef puts her hat on her head, it slides down over her eyes and ears. It's about an inch too wide, and won't stay on the top of her head! Now I'm the one that set the size, but she told me when it was snug enough, so we both have to be held accountable for poor Sandy walking around with a hat that came down over her eyes ala Beetle Bailey.
With a nice medal hanging around my neck, a diploma in hand, and a copy of the picture montage in my pocket, my groupies and I then headed to Helena's Hawaiian Restaurant for a celebratory dinner that included some dandy pipikaula ribs and kahlua pig.
Missing on the big night were a few key players in our year of school: Chefs Sigi and Otto and Enju. Chef Sigi's medical issues have, unfortunately, worsened. He is currently in treatment for cancer, and we're hoping he can recover and come back to the kitchen. He did send us his congratulations, though, and I found that to be pretty damned noble, considering. Don't know if I ever mentioned Chef Sigi's background, but he has been the Executive Chef at the Savoy hotel in London, the Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix, the Hilton Waikiki and the Ala Moana Hotel here in Honolulu, and has served as Personal Chef for President Ronald Reagan. When you look him up on Google, he's usually referred to as "Renowned Chef Siegbert Wendler". I'm very proud to have trained under him for even a short time. Enju is going through some home issues and will be coming back to finish her course in the Spring. Chef Otto is off gallivanting around Southeast Asia somewhere.
I was wondering a couple of months ago when I was slacking off and not doing a post every week whether The Innocent would make it to the magical 2000 view plateau and as of last week we did! This week makes post number 43 (has it really been that many?!) with over 2100 views, so I thank you all for your continued interest in my progress and be sure to check back from time to time to see if I can actually make this education work for me. I've gotten some good advice from the folks here at the school, and a couple of former students are doing well working outside of the traditional restaurant environment in catering and cruise ships. Where to go from here? El Paso, Texas. Other than that, I don't know. I'll be in touch.
A FEW MORE QUOTES:
There is a good reason they call these ceremonies "commencement exercises." Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning. ~Orrin Hatch
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. ~Aristotle
Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out. ~Art Linkletter
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.~Dr. Seuss
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