Level I Comprehensive Practical and Theory Exam

So, I didn't do so bad on the practical exam. They moved us to a different room to take it. I'm not sure what purpose that served except to frighten us a little and make us feel like we were thrown to the wolves, which it did. We were put in a much smaller kitchen, elbow to elbow with each other, and the lighting was very institutional, with a bluish tinge.

I didn't think I'd be nervous, but I was. If the change of scenery wasn't enough to rattle our nerves, through the windows we could see Chef Chris Burke, a contestant from Food Network's Chopped. He was in the next kitchen, doing who knows what, and I've never seen the episode, but according to my classmate Maria, he is what one might refer to as an extremely ungentlemanly presence.

So, here we were, ready to complete our most important test thus far in front of Chef Burke and all to see. I didn't do so bad. My turnips came out too short, and I made them too salty- after we'd been taught to salt, salt, salt! And I sliced my finger open while butchering my chicken, so I left the little guy on my board, walked away, and got myself a bandaid. Big no-no. Raw chickens should always be kept on ice. My grade for the practical was a 94.

Then, the theory test. I actually showed up three hours early to re-read chapters and review my notes. Chef Phil saw me sitting alone in the lounge with my Starbucks coffee, looking pitiful. I am convinced this is the only reason I received a 100 on the test. It was not composed of all the chapters, like we were told. Instead, it was mostly based on the last few classes, which I barely got to reading in my study session. And instead of multiple-choice questions like we were used to, every question was in short-answer form. So, I did my best to give detailed, BS answers. And it worked!

After class, Maria and I attempted to score some free bread from the school's bread department. We have attempted this several times before, ever since we discovered they throw the bread out if no one takes it. Unfortunately, the bread is usually gone by the time we get there. Why don't we just spend a dollar and buy ourselves a loaf from the supermarket? Because our school has a reputation for making the best bread in the city.

So, we waited... and waited... and when we realized the classroom wasn't going to clear out for awhile, we gave up and changed out of our uniforms. Then, we decided to give it one more try on the way out. Sure enough, there was no one but cleaning people in the bread room. And a plethora of bread! And we took them all, save for about two which we couldn't fit in our bags. We took about twenty loaves of bread: baguettes, and other unidentifiable loaves. And we laughed all the way out with our ridiculous amount of bread- our reward for completing Level I.