finals! finally!!

finally, the week of finals. this quarter seems to have just been longer than last. i think its because i have been so unhappy with the job. im so glad that i am getting a new one!!! i *seriously* hate my job. last week, i was scheduled 2 shifts. 1 of which i cannot get home from (without walking a mile uphill and then taking an hour long bus only to pick up the car from the chef's work) and the other shift, i am not available for. sooo sorry y'all cant quite get things together and figure out how to schedule people!!! 2 weeks ago, there was no schedule made. i got a text at midnight asking me to open the next day (6:30am). seriously? wtf?! so that week, the chef and i talked it to death and decided i would go and apply at all the bakeries in the area. BIG pain in the ass. but, worth it. i had 2 interviews in the last 2 weeks and went and filled out the job offer. its only for 1-2 days a week (less than 20 hours). i get paid better. its with a large company (yay!) and i might learn how to bake with the bakers :). i wont be late getting a schedule, my paychecks wont bounce, they will work with my schooling, did i mention i get paid better? hahaha. sorry. very excited about this. this week at my current job, i am working 1 day. i still havent gotten my (bouncy-ball) paycheck and i dont know if it will clear. the whole job is a f-in joke. i understand its a place that has a hard time paying payroll. i also know they have been struggling financially. but the kicker: I KNOW THEY HAVENT BEEN GETTING INVOICES TO COMPANIES THAT WILL PAY THEM ON THE REGULAR! mainly, my chef's. i hear about it. i KNOW. for sure. see, the chef buys the bread from the bakery i work for. the owner, he cant get an invoice to the chef to save his life...ok maybe...but not on the regular. so, no invoice, no money for bread. how hard is it to understand? apparently, very. i was told a bunch of fluff when i took the job. i am very qualified to work there, i have waitressing experience, i am in culinary school, i have worked fast food. i have also done outbound telesales. not hard to sell bread, clean the place, and make sandwiches. not really what i took the job to do though. i was told i would learn to bake. someone else was told that and worked there longer than i and didnt. LAME. so, i am getting out of it. THANK GOD.

anyways, finals are here. i had a presentation (bet you didnt know that did ya chef? you didnt ask) tonight. i did my project on immigrants. i titled my slideshow "Arizona: Anti-immigrant or Anti-Mexican? Why I would learn Spanish for my culinary carreer" yea, it was goood. i might post the paper sometime. its sad what is happening and what is going to happen. that was actually for my information systems and technologies class. for my spanish class, i translated a brioche recipe and then got some general baking terms translated too. the book we use it doesnt have any baking terms in it so i figured i would get some and make a copy for the whole class. im a nice girl like that :)

the chef and i are doing well. a few miscommunication issues but i think we iron things out fairly well. he met my (favorite) aunt yesterday and we both had the chance to hold my baby cousin (he is 4 months). then we looked at a house. we are still going to look at a few other houses we found online but at lease we are looking. hopefully i will be able to spend more time with my aunt again before she goes back to texas.

ugh, im dying...not really

i need to stop this! i am on break from school and i cant even bring myself to blog! wtf! my chef was suprised i hadnt blogged sooner. its cause i have been sick! it started with a sore throat the day before my last final. my cooking final. i thought it was nothing and maybe i had inhaled too much helium from the valentine's baloon my best friend gave me, but NO. i finished my final, ate my 1/2 of my final, and waiting with bated breath, and a sore throat. for my teacher to call my name, more like holler "Melissa" which isnt even my name. after what? 12 weeks? he couldnt remember my name. just call me "omelet girl" and im comin' a runnin'! lol. for my final, i made sauteed chicken breast, lemon caper aioli, mashed potatoes, and julienned carrots. i went into class with the sore throat feeling nervous as all hell. the night before, the chef and i had made it, without some of the ingredients but he said my face lit up so many times. so he pretty much gave us a little speil, and we all split up. the bitches in one kitchen and the cool kids in another (guess where i was! and if you said bitches, you are wrong!) i gathered all my ingredients except the chicken. i felt calm, my heart racing. i had a shitty whisk. my arm was tired. the teacher came by, says "you know, there is another whisk in the other kitchen" i felt like dying. i shoulda just brought my whisk from home! damn. (my whisk from home is a little cheapy cause we had to buy it just to practice my final! ha!) i felt like i was on chopped, and i was going to get the axe. i mean, what if i didnt pass? my mind was racing, but my hands were calm. i kept repeating what my chefboyfriend was saying the night before. i am so glad that about 20 mins into it, i checked my phone only to see a sweet text from him. i was a lot calmer after that. i had forgotten to check what the cooked temp of a chicken was so i had to ask another student (thanks brandon!). i had discussed presentation with my chef the night before but my hands were shaking. there was not just my teacher at the table, but our TA, and another teacher. OMG! i dropped off my plate. it looked awesome (and yes, i tasted my mashed potatoes and my aioli before dropping it off). the only think i wasnt 100% sure about was my carrots. i didnt practice those. i was given a sheet and told to go eat my plate across the hall. my food, it was GOOD! on the sheet, there was a question that asked "what grade do you think you deserve?" i had put a 90%. its a low A but, i didnt do as well on the carrots as i should/could have. the teacher *finally* called my name and critiqued my food (again, i felt like i was on chopped) just with one judge. you know, i know that we are our own worst critic. i had wanted to put maybe an 80%. but i was feeling ballsy. my teacher said that i was going to get a low A/high B on the final. he said that i could have done a better job on the carrots, they werent hot enough but he attributed that to the cut we had to do. he said my chicken, it wasnt seasoned properly, however, it was cooked perfectly. *thanks again brandon!* 2 days later, and a worse sore throat and aches and pains, i checked my grades, I GOT AN A! i was elated, but sick. now, almost a week later and 3 and a half days on the couch, i am starting to feel better. by starting, i mean: i am coughing up a lot of junk and its still hard to breathe, but i dont sound so much like a 70 year old smoker, more like a 40 year old one. i had to wait until very early friday morning to get my other grade, my math grade, which i wasnt too worried about, but it too, was an A! wth! i wasnt a good student by any means in high school and when i started college, i let the voices of my parents ring in my ears. they were telling me i wasnt a good student. that i barely passed high school. i didnt think i was going to make it. i had worse of encouragement in my ears on the day of my last final this quarter though. they were the words of someone who loves me, someone who has faith in me. i dont think he will ever doubt me, my chef that is. it wasnt easy to ask for his help, especially after him thinking i was just going to cut my finger off when practicing for my midterm. HA! the only cut i acquired that whole class was from a grater, and that was on a carrot! (a minute later, we were told to cut the carrots, not grate them). i am blessed to have people in my life that have faith in me, my chef, my sponsor and my best friend. i am getting to know my chef's family online (distance is a problem) and they offer words of encouragement too. i just want to start feeling better so i can get my kiss i have been wanting since i found out i have an A! it will be worth wait.
-Jes