Fields of Butter

I have my first cooking assessment today; it's where I got to show what I'm really made of I guess. My worst dish was the lemon chicken stir fry, mostly because I don't eat chicken and couldn't tell it was too "dry". I cooked it at the end of the day when my seemingly endless patience was starting to wear thin. I can deal with stress, but it becomes difficult to do so when you work with people who do unintelligent things - repeatedly.

The last time we had class was Saturday, and my Monday it seems as if most people have forgotten what the instructor said, "Everyone make sure to bring your work plans, as you will not be allowed to enter the kitchen without it". What do I see upon entering the kitchen? Blank work plans and people copying furiously from others! The whole purpose of a work plan is so that you know in which order your dishes are meant to be cooked. Seriously, some people though we were making carrot soup. My patience wore thin when someone at my table stole my chicken, used all my soy sauce without replacing it and took over my workspace. I have a lot of patience, but these kids just test me! No one failed today, but I'm sure it's because the unprepared students were able to literally copy the prepared ones just by looking at them.

In general, things went well. I brought home scones, vegetarian fried rice and crêpes with poached pears. Good for the refrigerator, not so much for the waistline. We use a lot of butter to cook and it's really my first time incorporating butter into my cooking routine. I'm really more of a fan of Mediterranean style cooking that focuses on olive oil. I won't be replacing my olive oils for butter any time soon!