Two weeks to go...
 

My friends, I've waited for this for what seems like an eternity.
Two weeks from today, I am FINALLY enrolling in certificate 1 in commercial catering and food preparation, the first step in a five year journey to becoming a chef.
I'll be sharing my experiences among my people, and mainly over at SCAREDYET, as I learn.
All I want is to eventually teach MANY more people from the skills I have learned. Yep, I've decided my primary objective is to become a teacher...it's not for a while yet, but it's nice to know where one is heading.

So yeah, sorry for yknow crashing the forum with this, but I'm really, REALLY looking foward to this - just thought I'd share.
Your soon to be resident chef-in-training, - B

Congrats and good luck. My dad only got an associates degree (2 years) in food service management, but most of the classes were cooking, and he absolutely loved every minute of it.


I think i'm going to wait for next seasdon's Hell's Kitchen and see if Gordon Ramsey will just give me a restaraunt ;)

i cant wait to see the future posts ..

cut myself today - here's the picture :


burned myself today - here's a picture ...



teacher dissed my souffle today so i broke his nose - here's a picture


:D

I'm sure he did, I can't imagine NOT enjoying it...I mean, like, IMO food is one HELL of a creative outlet.
I'm with this for the long run, and I may even specialise too.
Good news for you, Vod, is that I've decided to go scaredyet exclusive with my recipes....so yeah, we'll really make TVG somethin' else.
Not to mention, you'll be getting all the inside information you can handle, so yeah, thought you should know.

Thanks for the kind words.

- B

Yeah...haha...I'll try to keep m'self in check.:D

Good luck Cheeb. I'll be keeping an eye out over at scaredyet.com.Always looking for something new to cook.

Cool, thankyou...
Yeah, there's already some of my exprimental recipes up over there in TVG, nothing groundbreaking, but worth a look.
I'll be adding as I go, check out some of vods stuff too, it's pretty different from mine, but damn....good shit.

Gonna go buy my knife set soon...

- B.

congrats and good luck to you mate, though i dont think you will need the luck.

I'm so happy for you!!! Make SURE you keep us all updated.
I just graduated college last month, so I know what it's like to finally realize your dreams. Glad to know you're about to do the same. :)
All the best,
-Robin

take as many pastry classes as you can fit in. and don't let them rip you off when you are interning. I instantly made $3 more an hour if I left out the part about me interning, then again I couldn't get a school contract but I made it work.

Thankyou, and I most definately will...I'll update this thread whenever I learn something new, but, if y'all want my recipes, you'll have to head to scaredyet.net

I'll bear that in mind...I LOVE making pastries...well, the fillings work thus far, the artistry could use some work. Money aint a thing though, I'm just in this for kicks...

You have to be just bursting at the seems with excitement...We all know how badly you've wanted this...Congratulations:)

Damn straight, and I'm gonna go as far as I possibly can with it.., I wanna make my entire life about learning and teaching new things...I want nothing more.
Just spoke to my head teacher today too...very helpful, cool chick.
For the first 6 months, I will be learning the cookery and food prep basics (which is the point I want to start at), and in the second 6, I'll be learning about the business and catering side of things.
Thanks for the congrats;)

- B

What brand?

My dad uses zwilling, and as a result, when my parents bought me my butcher and paring knives, that is what they got me. Great shit, pricy but worth the cost.


Although there are a ton of good companies out there. Ceramics are supposed to be the shit, they never dull, but they are godawful expensive.


I have also heard that any that are made of a sigle piece of stainless steel (handle and all) are very nice, but like the ceramic, you definatly pay for what you get.

well, if you're forking out the money for school then you should think about a career. Pastry's are going to be the next big thing when people start eating bread again. Hearty pastrys like some morocan dishes are really tasty and fun to play with presentation wise. It seems like you'll be keeping documentation on the recipies you'll be learning/fixing/creating on scaredyet, but also make friends and in no time you'll have people throwing money at you wanting you in their kitchens. If you really don't care about the money and you're not worried about bills then I say float around and work as many kitchens as you can, you are going to learn more in the work place than you will at school and depending on the size of the school you are going to, you may not get a lot of lab time.

oh yeah and I love my henkles, they keep a nice edge, and my chicago 12' chef blade is nice and heavy and keeps a good edge, its a little cheaper and needs to be sharpend a little more but its a wonderful knife.

Vod, I'm not too familiar with brands as such, but all the same, I'll be going with something german...they make some quality blades.
'zwilling" sounds pretty german or dutch, is it?
And yes, in my experience, the solid forged knives are some of the best.

Well yeah, I have thought about that...I'm gonna eventually teach, and if one day, finances allow, I'm gonna open my own pizza joint.

That sounds like a totally great idea. I have a few friends that are associated with some head chefs of various establishments around Sydney...so yeah, I'll probably spend a year or two here and there, it's awesome gathering many different peoples individual advice and teachings.

It's a technical institute college type dealy, with like a GIGANTIC dept. for all things culinary.
The kitchens are extensive, and SO well equipped, the place is amazing...the chefs teaching there are brilliant, some of them former restaurant owners...and some of the best. However, I DO intend to do the whole apprentice thing, because yeah, I'd tend to agree that you would learn more in a hands on working environment. I'll be studying full time, and pulling maybe 3-4 night shifts a week, either in the institutes own restaurant, or, for one of the companies that recruit directly from the college.
So yeah, should all be sorted.

Damn, I wish two weeks was up already...:(

Zwilling is german, dont get no better than that :)

they make good cars too :D

get your knives and a bag of potatos. at least 20 pounds every other day. then you'll make your teachers snail trail over your knife skills.

Not to mention your freinds will locve you for all the fries they are getting :)

especiallly the large american ones :D :p

Congradu freakin lations

Just wanna take the oppertunity to thank everyone that's posted up in here - I appreciate the support.
So...not long to go now, just gearing up for it...It's admittedly gonna be the first thing I have ever had the resolve to see through to the end, I'm really not the most studious lad, but...this is something I feel like I'm ready for, and even knowing it's gonna be the biggest thing I have ever endeavoured to do, I still have the utmost confidence that I can make this work for me.

So yeah, just again, thankyou all...I'll keep y'all informed.

:D

Today
 

So yeah, it's a lil' bit past 5am here, today is the day I'll be officially enrolling and collecting my equipment for my studies.
The course itself will start within a week, although I wish it was today...I'm feeling pretty nervous for some reason, but yknow, I think it's just because everything is finally becoming a reality, it's almost tangible.
So yeah, I'll be heading off in a while, just thought I'd keep you all
updated, and, I guess I'll cya when I get back...and rather than a cooking enthusiast, I'll be a chef in training.:D

Cya guys...

- B

Good luck, don't lose a finger. I think they frown on that shit.

But seriously, good luck.:)

That's funny...I already slice and dice myself so much that I've pretty much ruled out getting out of this thing undamaged from the get go...especially with all this funky lethal looking stuff I'm getting in my equipment...guess it'll be a learning experience...
But yeah, thanks.;)

Ya gotta come up with some kinda "catch phrase" while your cooking........ya know....like....BAM!

Ya know...like Emeril.

http://www.allyourtv.com/images/e/emeril/bam.jpg



Ya probably never heard of him in Australia.

Yeah, I've heard of him, and have since seen one or two segments...he aint bad.

My own word?? Hmmm...maybe not just yet, but I know
"BOOYAH!" is one close to my heart, and one of my VERY own
would be "this dish is the shizzlnizzle-bam-biznitch"...maybe not.

Well folks...this is it, I'm all ready to go, and just about to head out...I'll come back in when I come home, and tell you all about my wonderful new weapons, I mean "the tools of my trade"
;)

have fun ... i think it'll be a blast ..

You could use my "!BWAH!" if you wanna....I'll let you barrow it, but only if it'll make you rich:D

Re: Today
 

Goo dluck buddy :)

Looks liek this is a big changing time fo rus both :)

Well...the enrollment went pretty smoothly.
I don't have my equipment yet (dammit), but I'll tel you all about it ASAP.
Seems like it may not be quite 5 years...I was invited to take on a slightly more advanced course today, I mean it still starts at a basic level, which is good, and covers everything the more basic courses do, but more.
It's Certificate 4 in Hospitality and Catering Ops + Cert 3 in commercial cookery, combined.
Takes a year and a half, but at that point I'll be qualified as a catering supervisor/manager, and cook.
Not saying I'm going to stop there, just that it's a pretty sweet deal for a year and a half.
Another good thing is that through industry associations, finding a job through the college is never gonna be a problem.

Here's a basic course outline, module by module:
*Organising and Preparing food
*Clean and maintain kitchen premesis
*Present Food
*Receive and Store kitchen supplies
*Use basic methods in cookery
*Prepare appetisers and salads
*Prepare, cook and serve food
*Control and order stock
*Package and prepare food
*Food transport and storage
*Catering control principles
*Catering planning and control
*Nutrition applications in food services
*Catering quality control
*Monitoring catering revenue and costs
*Planning nutrition needs
*Hospitality colleagues and customers
*Hospitality industry
*Coach job skills
*Interpret financial information
*Management fundamentals
*Lead and manage people
*Monitor workplace operations
*Learner orientation/recognition
*Workplace Hygeine
*Hospitality products and services
*Implement food hygeine procedures
*Food safety programs
*Hospitality conflict resolution
*Hospitality health, safety and security

I have three electives, for those I've chosen:
*Prepare hot and cold desserts
*Menu planning and design
*Responsible service of alcohol.

So yeah...there's elements here that'll definately work for my teaching thang, and eventual business ownership (my own pizza joint....one day....), not to mention a WHOLE buncha good cooking stuff.
Oh, and I've got 2 weeks to wait 'til everything kicks off.
ok....uh....tired now.

- B