Midterms! School! PIE!

It's official....I'm halfway through my first semester in culinary school.  Surprisingly, this is way tougher than I thought it would be.  In fact, my sanitation and safety class is MUCH more difficult than I thought it would be for a two credit course.  The instructor is the head of the culinary program, and I find myself working a lot harder in this class (especially on the assignments) to prove myself.  Is this surprising to any of y'all?  I didn't think so. :)

I was thinking to myself the other day, on my way to class, "How could I EVER have thought that being a full-time student wasn't the right path?!"  Rather than beat myself up about it, I'm going to fully embrace this opportunity and let myself enjoy (and dread) the process. 

Next semester, here are a few of the courses I'm hoping to take (Chef Hay opened spots for me, which is how you have to register in the CULA program)---

-Fundamentals of Baking (YESSSSSSS!)

-Basic Food Preparation

-Meat Identifying and Processing (where I will be CARVING MEAT!!!!)

-Dining Room Service

-Nutrition for the Food Service Professional

So clearly you can understand why I'm so excited?!  Once we get through the prerequisites, we get to take the fun classes with labs.

Tomorrow, William's sister and niece are coming over and I'm going to bake some cinnamon rolls for Marie's little boy's flag football game Saturday.  I'm also going to bake a pie for the group for tomorrow night, and some friends of ours, Kent and Sabrina, are also owed a pie for Sunday. :)

One of the things I'm so excited I have the time to do now is READ!  I just started Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith.  If you're interested, here's a link to Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Corduroy-Mansions-Alexander-Mccall-Smith/dp/0307379086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287068955&sr=8-1

Aaaaaannnnnddd, one more cookbook I am currently coveting:

http://www.amazon.com/Flour-Spectacular-Recipes-Bostons-Bakery/dp/081186944X/ref=pd_sim_b_4

Obviously, I've loved baking since I was younger, but the movie Stranger Than Fiction, with Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal, where she owns the bakery?  That was when I realized, "I want to do that."

Awesome ways to wake up---with your 18 lb dog curled up behind your knees. :)