It’s an odd title, I know, but it hits all the
highlights. Last week our school hosted
the annual boys’ basketball tournament for our conference. Every year we have a hospitality room that has
earned quite the reputation. This year,
my food service class is helping prepare food.
Our biggest contribution has been cookies. For the first night, we had two large
platters of cookies. Every single one of
them was eaten the first night and we had so many positive comments. I was very proud of my kids. They worked hard on their cookies - having
fun at the same time of course! (I’ve
decided that at least for this year, it is impossible to do anything in my room
without having fun.) I have such willing
workers. They’re always ready to cook
and some even offered to come last night to help serve. I am truly blessed with good students this
year. By the end of the week we had
served 12 batches of cookies, roughly 36 dozen.
I have a student this year, who has figured out my weakness. (One of them anyway.) For one of our Christmas parties, he brought
in punch cubes – a kind that happens to be my favorite. He has now created a monster. We’ve already had a “punch party” since we’ve
been back from Christmas. I’m sure that
there are more such days in our future as a class!
At semester break, I always get new students. My food service class went from 6 to 13! All have been in a foods related class with
me before so they know the drill as far as clean up and procedures. But just to be sure I reviewed all my
expectations at the beginning of the semester which was met with several looks
of “Yes, we know already. Can we just
cook now?” What’s even better is not
that they just know my expectations, they follow them – specifically. I’m EXTREMELY picky about cleanliness and
keeping the kitchens spotless after labs.
And it’s rubbed off on the kids.
They take pride in how clean everything looks and any dirty dishes or
leftover messes from when other people come in to use a sink or counter space
are met with disgust. For example –
today was the first lab day for my orientation classes. It’s always an experience when the kids cook
for the first time. But I didn’t realize
just how much my upperclassmen had spoiled me.
There were SO many questions over things that I know I covered in
class. Then when it came to clean up –
oh my goodness! As I’m grading 2nd
hour on their kitchens after the bell rang, my food service kids are coming in
for class and are seeing what I’m grading.
They were shocked at how messy things were and frankly so was I. I believe a serious talk will be taking place
tomorrow. Even in my disappointment in
the previous hour, my kids still managed to make me smile. I’ve managed to make them all as OCD as I am
about cleanliness J.
Today was chicken day!
Yesterday I demonstrated how to cut up a chicken. And I managed to get a few good comments out
of it too. “Oh that’s gross!” It’s strange, but it makes me smile
inside. Today was their turn and I am so
proud! I didn’t have hardly any disgusted
comments. As they are working on their
birds, I’m walking around helping them find the right spots to cut, having them
feel bones and joints and such. They
were really excited about getting to do this and really got into cutting up
their chickens – so much so that they all named their birds before they
started. I have pictures that I plan to
print out to give to the kids. “Harry,” “Carlos,”
“Maria,” “Gregory,” and “Steven” were all great sports today and will make some
very tasty fried chicken next week. I
think the whole school probably heard about the chickens at some point today.
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