JWU RI Trimester 2 Week 2

[KateW]

Last week was our classtime on beer and wine. We tasted various wines and beers and learned proper ways of serving both, including the actual procedure, as well as serving temperatures. We learned how beer and wine are made.
Tomorrow is my final. I have never been so worried about a final. I know I am probably building it up and it will really be over before I know it, especially the practical testing. We were given 12 mixed drinks to study and each of us will be given a list of 8 that we have to make in a certain amount of time, based on the drink types. Then we will pick red or white wine service out of a hat and be expected to serve the chef and 3 students at a table. I get nervous when people watch me. The difference between cooking and beverage service is that in cooking, there is usually more than one way to make something and have it come out well. There is much less room, if any, for variations in beverage service.
I feel like I am not bonding quite as well with this group of students, but I think it may be the individuality of the class material rather than the people. The only time we have had to group is when we were practicing wine service. I look forward to the more interactive classes.
I will keep you all posted on my final. I have a slight leg up on most of the class in the fact that I have a passing quiz average and I did not miss any classes. Also I went in for the extra help on bar practice last Thursday. I hope he sees I am making an effort.
I felt very slow in the bar practice extra help. It may have been because I was still using my note cards with the recipes. I don't know if I will be even slower without them or faster because I will have nothing to look back at. I also have not figured out my strategy--should I try to make the ones I am less sure of, and recite the ones I do know if I run out of time? (Chef will ask us how to make the drinks we did not get a chance to make, and if we can tell him, we get credit) Or should I make the ones I know for sure, and try to recite the ones I'm less sure of?
Until next time!
Edit: I can't stand typos

[Suzanne]

Don't worry so much, Kate! You'll be fine. The point isn't your grade, but how much more you know now, than you did before. Nobody's an expert in everything (except maybe Cape Chef ).

[ALynch]

Hey, Kate

Best of luck on your final, mine was not hard at all, but we didn't have to do wine service, just the mixology. I got a 14/15, we had to make 12 drinks, teacher's discreation, then we had to tell him how to make them.

However it's looking like my whole class is going to miss out on the next lab, we all tasted some mussels in the dinning room, and it's been the worse 4 hours of my life. They decided it was food poisioning and we got to stay out of labs for at least 3 days.
Well I'm going back to bed to wait this out.

[KateW]

Wow! How are you all supposed to make up the days you missed?
Well I think I did half decent on the practical. There were some tricky questions on the scantron final, though. I did some pretty dumb stuff in wine service that I know I am not supposed to do, like carrying the bev. tray in the right hand and clearing the glasses before the bottle. I luckily chose white wine service out of the hat, which is slightly easier than red wine service.
In mixology, I make 6 drinks out of 8, but got the smoky martini and manhattan confused. I was able to tell him what was in the drinks I didn't make (orgasm and zombie). I purposely avoided making those because the orgasm was supposed to be frozen and I was hesitant about that because we never practiced frozen drinks, and the zombie takes me the longest to make because it has the most ingredients.
I did okay on my free pours but I had done better on those during Thursday practice.
BTW, I have the highest quiz average in the class...I did not ask him what that was but it must have been 80-something or so. I know I do because chef said "You have the highest quiz average in the class. Left or right?" I picked his left hand which had a list of half the class that would do mixology first. I was not on the list. The rest of us waited in the hall. After the second half went, he chose 4 of us at a time to do wine. Then we cleaned, and then we did the scantron. We could have waited until everyone was done and then he would go grade them for us, but I think most of us left. We can find out our grades on Wednesday.
I have the list of drinks I had to make somewhere...if anyone is interested I can dig them up and post them. Then if anyone cares to know some recipes I can post them provided I have them.