The Road to The Kitchen

my coconut oil solidified in the bottle.

Being out here hasn't been easy on me healthwise. I had to give my health insurance on Guam because they didn't cover off island stays as long as I was going to be gone. I managed to pick up some insurance out here but it's not cheap. Apparently "student rate" health insurance doesn't apply in California. I chose to go with Blue Cross's or Shield's (I always forget which) TONIK program. I am in the "calculated risk taker" bracket which means while my monthly premium and co-pay is a bit higher than their "thrill-seeker" and "part-time daredevil" programs, but my deductible is lower. I'm sure there are other particulars but I don't know exactly what they are. My plan covers dental as well as up to $50 in eye exams. The one thing I DO know is that my plan doesn't cover pregnancy...so they better cover birth control!

In addition to the massive amounts of moisturizer that never had to use on Guam, my overall health seems to be in decline. My weight is down due to all the walking but because I don't have a refrigerator large enough to hold reasonable amounts of fresh foods, I find myself eating a lot more canned foods and ramen type soups. At my age honey, my metabolism isn't gonna hold out much longer.

Recently, in the last week or so, my nose has started bleeding...it's not one of those mystery bleeds but more like there is a wound up in my left nostril. It bleeds and then I get a blood booger aka scab, then I have restricted breathing so I blow my nose and it bleeds again. Wheeee what a wonderful whirlwind I am on! I thought I might fix this situation by swabbing the sore with some hydogen peroxide but it didn't help much other than putting bubbles up my nose...and I still got blood boogers...and damn do they hurt! So I thought to pick up some triple antibiotic but because TA is ointment like and kept the area from drying out, my nose suddenly started bleeding in class. How elegant and noble of me to shove a tissue square up my nose so I could finish that poached salmon!

(to be continued...I have to get to class)

From Left to Right: Gia, Sam, Domini, Rick & Brad

Happy Birthday to me.

This is the view from my seat in my lecture class. There is a camera above that shoots down to show what Chef Steve is doing. In this photo he is demonstrating how to make a hollandaise sauce. On Monday, I have my competency test on hollandaise, mornay and bordelaise sauces as well as consumme and cream of mushroom soup.

I just got massively reamed by my mom in an email. Basically she said she didn't trust me and that anything I had said to her was B.S. It all boils down to money.
Mom gave me some before I left Guam and put some in an account which I had access to but wasn't supposed to touch. I touched it. Not all of it but I did touch it. There are quite a bit of unexpected expenses here in San Francisco that I hadn't planned for or didn't really factor in and money had to be touched. So nevermind the fact that I need warmer clothes, warmer shoes, shampoo, lots of f*cking moisturizer and health insurance.

August 25th marked the end of Safety & Sanitation and the beginnig of Summer break. Where at GCC, Safety/Sani lasted an enitire semester, this one was over and done with in 2 weeks. I passed my class with an A, and I will get my Serve Safe score when I return to class on Wednesday. I'm rather confident I did well and don't know if it will be a "with honors" situation as it was when I got my certifcate for the Safty/Sani EI from GCC.

After we recived our equipment, I carefully laid it out on my bed and snapped a shot. What's not shown is the 5 sets of Jackets, pants, hats, neckerchiefs, aprons and sidetowels. I also received a pair of steel toed shoes, a rolling luggage which all the equipment came in, a knife bag which the knives came in and oh about 60 pounds of books.