Practicals today. My three plates were a Fennel, Red Pepper and Granny Smith Apple Salad with Shaved Parmesan, Anise Scented Squash Soup and a Fennel Gratin - three simple and straight forward dishes. The salad turned out OK, Chef suggested leaving the skin on the apple so the julienne cuts would have some green on the ends and he also thought the pepper cuts should have been the same size as the fennel and apples. Chef said the fennel was not evident in the soup (I used a 1:2 ratio of fennel to butternut squash) so I'll use a little more fennel and add some fennel seeds next time I make it.

Some of my fellow students created some fairly involved plates with somewhat mixed results in terms of flavors, execution and presentation. Overall, it was hard to tell what Chef thought about our practicals since we had a lot of leeway in our menu choices plus the range of kitchen experience among my fellow classmates seems pretty wide at times. Chef made no comment about seasoning on my three plates - a first . . .

We had a new menu item for the second class in a row that I made but had no real reference as to the taste profile. Last week was Ratatouille; this week we had an Artichoke Barigoule. By the way, that burning smell in the kitchen was from a quarter sized spot on my seared duck breast and my right arm (after I brushed an oven during an demo).

One of my objectives of coming to culinary school was to expand my taste horizons and MCC has been certainly doing that. Unfortunately, I am running out of class time as this quarter is quickly disappearing.