Who wants overcooked chicken?

Will and I had planned on getting dinner at our favourite take away place in the city -- The Spicy Noodle Cafe. They have heaps of Thai-style stir fries and noodle dishes; my favourite is the Ginger & Vegetable Stir Fry over steamed rice. However, I spent 7 hours or so surrounded by chicken and dishes made with chicken and Asian food was the last thing on my mind. The practicals went OK, but because my class is rather large and we have to share appliances everything takes so much longer than it should. By lunch time we had only managed to cook and chill rice and make scones, which was from 9am to 12:30pm. This is completely ridiculous. I could have made most of the menu before lunch time had I been able to work at my own pace. My scones came out a bit over cooked, but yum nonetheless. My chicken stir fry came out over cooked because, let's face it, I'm a vegetarian and don't really know how to cook meat that well! I don't use that as an excuse, of course.

Learning to julienne vegetables properly is quite the task! And restraining myself from rendering some of the kids in my class unconscious with a fry pan because they don't pay attention and slow down the class is even harder! "What's a leek?" "Am I putting the Cos Lettuce in the soup? " "How come I can't chop carrots until I get it right?". Aaarg! Someday these kiddies will learn how to get around the kitchen.

I'm finding that people are coming to me with questions on how to do thing properly and I'm torn between wanting to help them and telling them to go read their darned recipes and pay attention during the demos instead of talking like I did! These kids literally yap yap yap throughout most of the demos and then slow everyone down with their questions during practicals. I wonder what it must be like to attend a proper cookery school where everyone actually wants to be there...

This has actually turned into quite the negative post. Let's end on a positive note, shall we? Just a few moments ago I cleaned out Citrus and Sofia's home (our lovely little pet mice) and it's so nice to have them back. They were staying at a friend's house while we are away and apparently they ate quite well over there! They're rather plump! Gotta love the little girls.