Creative Avoidance

Chef gave us an outline for our Practical in two weeks with an assignment for developing our plate based on the outline. So another series of trips to the grocery stores has yielded some Belgian endive and fennel to braise, another pommelo to test plus some Roma tomatoes to roast. I'm currently inclined to choose sea bass as my protein but I would like to find some fillets for experiments before I get too far along in this process.

Meanwhile, I continue to find creative ways which are helping me to avoid dealing with this next challenge in a couple weeks. For example, a new dish for me (Lasagne Bolognese with Spinach) should be coming out of the oven in about 20 minutes. We had a Foundation class share its bolognese sauce a couple of weeks ago during lab. That experience brought back some memories of my own Foundation class and has been in the back of my mind to find another way to use that sauce. So while I researching ideas for our Practical I ran across this recipe. The dish has a small amount of tomato paste in it but no other forms of tomatoes. Thus it is not as "saucy" as most lasagnas and its texture is also a little different. (My food critic thought it had good flavor but guessed that it would be a little dry when reheated.)

I also uploaded Turbo Tax this afternoon and did a quick run through of my 2009 taxes. What does that have to do with culinary school?? The American Opportunity Credit for 2009 (and 2010) is a tax credit for undergraduate college expenses. What a great deal for the culinary students at Metro!