It's Close to Midnight, Something Evil's Lurkin'in the Dark...

'Cause this is thriller! Thriller at night!
(Michael Jackson- Thriller)

Lesson Z- Halloween Party

The school decided to organize a Halloween party Tuesday night, which happened to be the night before the Basic Cuisine written final exam. What happens when you organize a school party the night before an exam? This:

Rocking the Dance Floor

To be fair the photo was taken at 9pm, but then the party started at 7pm, and was billed to end at midnight. As it was a Halloween party, students were encouraged to dress up. No one would be lame enough to actually show up with an outfit right? Well I did:

The "American Tourist"

I was going to go as the Chinese businessman, but I thought that the American Tourist would be a more popular crowd pleaser anywhere in the world. Anyways, I got to meet a lot of Basic Pastry folks, who had their written exam last week and could afford to come out. I learned a lot today, for example pastry folks don't actually have cooties, as was passed down in the folklore of Basic Cuisine! I mean, how would we know? We never come into contact with them at school. A few of them were actually quite friendly.

Anyways, the written exam was pretty straightforward. I don't think anyone who listened to class and somewhat studied would fail the thing. However, I don't regret all those hours memorizing cuisine vocabs, since they are quite useful to know in real life. IE when I go to the market or when I look at menus in French restaurants. Here are some words that I found useful.

Abats- Means the internal organs of a Chicken. When you buy a chicken from a farmer's market, they would ask you if you want your poulet avec or sans abats.

Allumette- Literally matchsticks. Describes the shape of a certain stick shape petit four, or very thin French Fries IE pomme allumette

Confit- food that is saturated with vinegar, sugar, alcohol or fat. IE Confit de canard is duck meat soaked in duckfat.

Consommé- clear soup that is served hot or cold, usually clarified

Crudités- raw vegetables sliced or cut served with vinaigrette or mayonnaise. You get these for appetizers. Also a popular sandwitch in france is a Sandwich Poulet Crudités= chicken mayo vegetable sandwich

Demi-glace- reduced espanole sauce plus madeira used to flavor dish or strengthen brown sauces

Hacher-  To chop into small pieces. IE Steak Haché is chopped up steak

Poêler-  Pan Fry. IE Poulet Poêlé is pan fried chicken

Vapeur- Steamed. IE: Raviolis à la Vapeur = steamed ravioli

Velouté- Cream soup similar to "Cream of" soups except it is also thickened with egg yolks.

Quote of the day:

Overheard
Student 1: Are you going to the school Halloween party?
Student 2: Dude, we have the written final the next day.
Student 1: But...... it's the HALLOWEEN PARTY!