Nicko had contacted me about continuing my blog regarding my restaurant experiences. However, prior to today, I just couldn't bring myself around to it just yet.

Long story short, after all my efforts and sacrifices to make the career change, I got blindsided a bit by a physical problem...sciatica! Basically, this is a back problem that affects the sciatic nerve that runs from the spine through your gluts, to the front of your thighs and downward.

I pushed through...

So I am about two weeks behind, but with good cause.

For Aromatics, we did a test run of the school's restaurant. My team was assigned the vegetables for the meals. Nothing too fancy...glazed carrots, sauteed zucchini, and sauteed mushrooms with onions.

As for our veg items, the carrots turned out well. The mushrooms and onions turned out well (though a little tardy...more in a moment). And the zucchini were mushy. I think the zucchini needed to be sauteed...

For Aromatics, we finally did some cooking--get us used to the restaurant kitchen. Next week, we will do a dry run of the restaurant. Then the week following, we will go live and prepare meals for the school's restaurant.

I didn't know what to expect for cooking this week as we were not given menus in advance. In fact, we were asked to volunteer for stations the morning of our cooking. My team volunteered for the soups. My particular soup: Black Bean.

Now, if...

This week for Aromatics, we got a lecture on Salt, Chilis, and edible flowers. Nothing too exciting. We did, however, get to see a few dozen examples of salts (artisinal and natural). The coolest ones, in my opinion, were the smoked salts. They, of course, carried the smoke flavor of the wood over which it was cooked. Nice aroma.

For Butchery, our chef demo'd how to break down a whole pig. Then we each broke down a pig loin.

From our loins, we cut chops, ribs,...

I almost forgot to share one of the more interesting stories from this past week!

In our classes, we are fortunate enough to have a few professional cooks/chefs who are going through the program to get their cooking degree. A few of these students have been in the culinary industry here in town (Vegas) for YEARS. So we have boat load of diverse experiences within our walls.

One good aspect of being around such people is that you get an insider's view of the state...