First Day...

Yesterday was my first day of "Intro to Food Theory" Class at the local College.  I was so nervous and excited.  I was pleasantly surprised when the Chef Instructor (CI for the blog) was nice and down-to-earth instead of the Chef Ramsey type I was sort of expecting.  As we all introduced ourselves I found myself amongst Restaurant Managers, Waitresses, first time students, experienced cooks but all lovers of food.  It was exciting to be with people who share the same passion.  I'm sure everyone thought the same but I really felt I was the most excited and hung on every single word the CI said. 
     The first two hours were spent going over policies, procedures, and most importantly safety & sanitation rules.  I quickly learned I would be doing a paper, creating a notebook and having a cooking final which was just like the show "Chopped" on Food Network (so crazy as this is my favorite show right now).  Wait a minute a Cooking Final?!  What have I gotten myself into I thought over and over and answered the question in my head over and over..."I've gotten myself into something so exciting!". 
     I so wanted to start cooking but the first day only covered the tour of the kitchen with all the equipment and things to know.  When the CI talked about different cooking methods and foods to make on each item I kept getting more and more excited.  I actually knew a lot of what he was talking about but learned new things too: braizing (cooking using two methods -heat & liquid), parboiling (starting the cooking process), carmelizing (FLAVOR).  
The three main skills he said we will learn and master are:
1. The 5 Mother Sauces: Bechemel, Hollandaise, Tomato and two others I can't remember right now
2. Knife/Cutting skills: small dice, medium dice and 6 other types of cuts
3. Cooking Techniques: Sauteing, shallow poaching, etc.

Is this exciting stuff or what!?  Stay tuned for more and lots of homework along the way.  Can't wait for next week where we will get our knives out and get in the kitchen.