jordanmakesfood-blog
cooking in class
My name is Jordan Knapp and I enjoy food. I love to eat it and eventually I will love to cook it. I am studying Hotel & Restaurant Management in hopes of acquiring the skills necessary to help me succeed in the industry.
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Week 15: Final Reflection
I was fortunate enough to have a few years of restaurant experience before class started. This is something that helped me tremendously throughout the class. I was not as shocked by the high-pressure environment and the performance expectations of a kitchen. This class did, however, provide me with a more personal experience in a professional kitchen and taught me so much. I have even more respect for those who work in the back of house of restaurants or really any foodservice worker for that matter. This class taught me so much more about food than I had ever known before. The amount of culinary knowledge I gained because of this class was enormous and something I am grateful for. My favorite part of the course was watching and being a part of the progression of our class. I am definitely much closer and more comfortable with my peers than I was in Week 1 and I feel like I know more about myself and what life has to offer than I did when the semester started. Forming those bonds and being able to work in such stressful situations with people of my same age and career focus was an experience I’ve never had before but one that I certainly did not take for granted. For me, the most difficult part of class was quite literally showing up, as I am positive Chef can attest to. It was not easy to go to class when it was cold, or I had a late night the night before or I have a long day to look forward to after class. I am not a morning person and it was not easy to go to class knowing that it was going to require energy and focus. However, attending those classes where I really had a hard time getting out of bed (which was almost all of them considering I’m very much not a morning person) was always very rewarding upon leaving class. The biggest thing I took away from this class is that life will be unforgiving and demanding and take all your energy from you but at the end of it all you can only hope it will be worth it but even if it is not, at least you get to enjoy some good food along the way. In order to prepare future students who will be taking this class I would just tell them not to underestimate the class and to try and take as much away from Chef as possible because he is full of valuable information and there is usually always a lesson to be learned by the end of class.
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Week 14 Application
This week I can apply lessons I’ve learned in class to my Geological Disasters Lab. I work in groups in that class. This means that people rely on me to do my part in order to have a successful lab and get the most points possible. I could definitely be more considerate at holding up my end of the bargain and putting in more effort to help my team out. I also need to show up on time to that class. I will not be late again.
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Week 14 AHA Moment
This week’s AHA moment came Tuesday morning. Under the weather and still recouping mentally from the holiday break, I decided that I was too ill to go to class, forgetting in the moment that it was prep day. Very irresponsible. I should have toughed it out and been there for my group. It did not feel good to leave my group a man down. I knew they had to adjust to my absence, which may have set them back. That was not reaponsible at all and I will be more considerate next time.
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Week 14
This week also did not hold my proudest moment. In the first picture you can see a disappointed Chef with my group on prep day. I was not in the picture because I was not there. However, I bounced back and was able to comminicage with my group to have a successful event day. We made patties as seen in the second and third picture. We had coffee and had our desserts on trays. We made doughnuts. The two doughnuts we made were s’mores and strawberry shortcake. Both were fun to make and I enjoyed working with my group, as evident by the last picture. We worked well together for both the first and the last events. Our efforts and execution were enough to get us Best in Show! (Again)
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Week 13
This holiday week, I made the executive decision to skip our only class on Tuesday and go home to see my family. I know this decision did not make Chef happy but I did get to spend an extra day with my family which was cool. We then celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday where I applied skills I have learned in class, into my own kitchen. Here is a photo of me helping out in the kitchen Prep Day and with an apron on Thanksgiving Day.
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Week 12 Application
Going back to communication and the importance of it, I am able to apply the skill to my HA 250 class. In that class we often have open discussions that I could engage in more in order to have better, more successful classes. In class we also talk about working on a staff and I am certain that communication is important in the hospitality industry when it comes to working in teams.
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Week 12 AHA Moment
This week my AHA moment came during class while working with my group. Because we were down a group member, we had to work to communicate how we would adapt. We did that successfully and because of good communication, my team and I had two successful and productive days in class. It showed me just how important communication is.
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Week 12
Unfortunately I did not get many pictures or videos this week. We participated in Prep Day and had our Event as well. This time I was more productive as ever. Focused on progress and creation from the moment I stepped in the door. We killed it too. Me, Shihai and Jackie were without our fourth group member Niko, for this week and we still won best presentation, as shown in the first image, and our pasta and sauce were both complimented heavily. You can see our presentation in the second picture. Also pictured are my group members hard at work. The video is of Shihai mixing our sauce in the pot. There were many ingredients in our Arbiretta sauce. It was a spicy, thick sauce.
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Here are some additional pictures from Week 11. The first is Chef kneading the dough. This must me done properly by pushing your palm across the dough and then folding it over on top of itself. The second picture is the recipe for the pasta dough. As you can see there are a handful of basic ingredients. Measurements definitely matter. The last picture shows Chef making the dough. There is a hole made in the middle of the flower where the wet ingredients are placed and slowly mixed into the flour.
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Week 11 Application
I can apply this week’s lessons into my RA job once again. I need to care more about it. If I do not care as much it will show. It will show to my residents and my supervisors. They will notice the programs I put on and the conversations I log and they will be able to tell if I cared and actually put the attention into a project or task that it deserves.
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Week 11 AHA Moment
My AHA moment this week came for me while watching the pasta he made. I caught myself thinking about pasta and how much work and effort goes into making it. There are many steps and directions but arguably the most important is care. Without care, the pasta you make will not turn out well. You must make the pasta with care just as Chef did with his pasta. You could tell his care was genuine and that is something I wish to emulate.
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Week 11
This was Chef demonstrating how the pasta maker worked. He had shaped the dough and then put it through the pasta maker and began to crank it. He then attached the two sides together and made a loop of pasta that continued to get bigger. In the second picture he is showing us how to properly store the pasta. He also made sure we saw how to lay the sheets of pasta on the tray and separate the layers with Saran Wrap. The third GIF is Chef showing us how long to make the cuts after the long, flat pasta has been layed out. This is also the approximate size of the initial shaped pasta dough before it is flattened.
This video is Chef explaining to us how to get the process started. This was very fascinating and important in the pasta making process.
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Week 10 AHA Moment
This week’s AHA moment came to me while cooking the potatoes. I did not expect to be doing an activity like the potato cooking one when I arrived in class Tuesday morning, however it was a pleasant surprise. I really appreciated how chef allowed us to gain experience working with our group members before the event day and prep day. That was important. The activity also made me feel that he trusted us to do more freelance, spontaneous cooking.
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Week 10 Application
This week, I realized I could apply my HA250 class to this one. In HA250 we talk about how being a housekeeper means you must fulfill a lot of duties. Essentially, you must be versatile to be a good housekeeper. Much like housekeepers, potatoes are very versatile. They play many roles in many different dishes.
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Week 9 Application
This week, I can apply my Geological Disasters Class to this class. In Geo Disasters we deal with a lot of different rocks. It is easy for one to look at rocks and think they are all the same, only appearing different. However, like pasta, this is just not the case. Rocks, like pasta, have completely different chemistry and appearance based on where it comes from.
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Week 9 AHA Moment
Week 9’s AHA moment came while Chef was talking about pasta. He explained how different pasta comes from different regions. This is something I was previously unaware of. I thought pasta was all the same just in different shapes but there is so much more to pasta than that. It can have completely different origin stories and chemistry depending on what pasta it is.
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