[Sca-cooks] I just have to brag...

[Elaine Koogler]

King's Taste Productions wrote:

>Some of my students competed in a culinary competition today.  They are
>high school kids in ProStart, and are also in my Culinary College
>courses.  These 5 have been practicing with the father of yet another
>student, he owns a bakery in downtown ATL.  He has been cracking the
>whip on them for 3 months, they have practiced this menu so they can do
>it in their sleep, I’m sure.  They had 10 minutes to set up, 30 minutes
>to do all of their knife cuts which were then sent out to be judged for
>accuracy, then 55 minutes to cook, plate, and have a serving of 3
>courses for the judges and another set for the display table.  They did
>an Asian Fusion appetizer (the Japanese-American girl did that one) that
>had 4 or 5 offerings, and featured a piece of daikon shaped like a boat
>hollowed out to hold the ponzu dipping sauce.  The entrée was squid ink
>pasta (the girl that did that had it down to 23 minutes from start to
>finish), a saffron cream sauce, baby lobster tails, chicken breast, and
>sautéed veggies.  The dessert was a tower of thinly sliced pears, half
>covered with chocolate, in-between puffs of chocolate mousse with fresh
>berries and a few icing embellishments on the plate.  All three dishes
>were spectacular, and very sophisticated for a high school team.   They
>ran a very organized kitchen, practiced excellent hygiene, and were
>ahead of time by a few minutes almost the entire way.  (They slowed down
>to make sure they plated exactly on time.)  No instructors were allowed
>in the room, so we all hovered with parents and other interested parties
>around the doors. :-) 
>            I just got word that they have received their critique and
>came in 2nd place!  They each won a small scholarships to CIA, Johnson
>and Wales, and the Atlanta Institute of Art (where the competition was
>held today).   Each is enough for them to take summer courses as
>supplemental education, or add to a whole program.  Since they came in
>second they don’t go on to Nationals in Florida, but I am so proud of
>them I could bust.  They looked very calm and cool, did an excellent
>job, and were singled out by the camera crew to be filmed for a feature
>the school is producing.  And wouldn’t you know it, the things they lost
>points on were typical subjective judge issues.  They said the alternate
>was not doing enough, when the rules say very specifically how much the
>alt is allowed to do and no more.  They had black pants with white
>stripes instead of black or houndstooth (ok, that was in the rules).
>They said one judge was very negative about several small things.  I
>told them that the same entry on two different days with different sets
>of judges can net either top or bottom scores, it is the nature of human
>beings.  
>            I spend so much time trying to stuff education into the
>heads of kids at 8:30 AM and again right after lunch, and seldom see the
>flickers of interest that let me know they are alive.  It was extremely
>cool to see some of the same kids so totally focused on the details that
>go into doing a superior job.  Quite refreshing.  
>            What do you know, teaching actually IS rewarding!  
>            Chef Seelye-King
>            (Christianna)
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>
>
>  
>
Congratulations on the success of your students. It really makes you 
feel great to see your work bear fruit...it's one of the most rewarding 
things about teaching. Even though I'm teaching adults computer stuff, I 
still occasionally see it and feel the success...this week I taught a 
class that I wrote...it was the first teach of the class. The students 
loved it, giving top marks for both the book and my instruction. It can 
really make it all worthwhile. While I won't see their work and have it 
make me proud, at least I feel that they were happy with their 
experience...and that they learned what they needed to do their jobs.

I know you're proud of them...and you should be very proud of yourself 
to have inspired such work!

Kiri