I finally feel like a chef!

The day has finally come....I finally feel like a chef! It is a great feeling! I have just been feeling like a cook and struggling some days to feel like that but now I feel like a chef! I have just three days left in the kitchen of the student-ran restaurant and I am so glad and so excited! I feel like I might just survive in the industry! I actually am starting to feel confident and that I can do it...I can succeed and for that I am so very grateful! Cooking in the restaurant has been fantastic and I am learning by leaps and bounds everyday! I really like the rush of the restaurant although it is so stressful and chaotic at times! I am very grateful for finally coming to feel like I can succeed and this restaurant has blessed me with the ability to know that. I am so grateful!
As for another news...my friend had an attempted break-in at her house last week and so I have been staying there. I have come to realize how much I hate living alone. It was nice at first but now it is awful. I am looking forward to the end of January when I can get roommates again. It will be a very nice.
Thankgiving is this week and I get to go home to UTAH!! YES!! It will be so nice to see my family and to get to show off some of my cooking skills! I am very grateful for Thanksgiving! It is a great time to be grateful and I am very grateful for all my blessings at this time of the year as well as every other time of the year!!

6 weeks in counting

I only have 6 weeks of classes left starting tomorrow! I am so excited! I am cooking in the student ran restaurant, DuJour, starting tomorrow. I am so scared and yet so happy and excited all at the same time. It should be a blast. I get to spend three weeks there and then I get to move to the front of the house and try my hand at waiting and such. I am incredibly nervous for that. I then am off just after Christmas for an exciting three month adventure. I am still not sure where my internship lies but hopefully it will truly be an adventure even it is still here in Arizona. I am currently looking at Resorts and Hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Sheraton and other such fine companies. I am hoping to find an internship to fit my needs perfectly! I am just so excited to start in the restaurant tomorrow! I am so close to being done and it feels great!

Projects Galore

Homework is the theme of this blog. My classes are more intense than normal and they just keep loading on the projects and assignments. This week only I had assignments to write a diabetic meal plan, a resume, a cover letter, do a 24-hour food log and a project associated with that. I also have a menu project due as well as a paper on wild rice due next week. I also got take two tests this weeks and get to take three this weeks.

Tests are fabulous as well as stressful. I did amazing on my first nutrition test though. I only missed 0.25 of a point. Nutrition is one of my favorite class I have gotten to take while at school. I love everything about it...including learning how bad I eat and how much I need to improve my lifestyle and eating habits. One thing at a time though. I figure I better get out of school first.

I've also been working on this menu project. I have to creat an entire menu for a restaurant of my creation . I have to write a mission statement, design the menu and have all the recipes and cost cards necessary for that menu. It has been a lot of work and I don't even think I am half way done yet. My restaurant is all based on grains though and so it was been incredibly fun to learn so many different recipes with so many different grains. I am very focused on grains right now. There are so many different grains, with so many different tastes and textures and each provides different nutrients. My world used to consist of just long-grain rice.....now I think I have to decide between 13 or 14. Grains are good!