It was initiation day at the ICC International Culinary Center. We signed all our forms, got our chef’s outfits and Level 1 course book. We were given various presentations on kitchen rules (e.g. no jewelry, no nail polish, no unkempt facial hair etc…), on attendance (have to have a 90% attendance to pass), on graduating (have to earn at least 70% in all courses), on externships, on picking up pay-what-you-can bread and patisseries from the baking class, and on finances. My answer on form 1 to “Who is your favourite chef” was….. Diana Colman!
I also went and talked to Robin about getting paid for externships (the 200 hours we do in a restaurant). Apparently, foreign students (which I am) can’t get paid for this. It’s $9 hour which isn’t a ton but it would add up. On the flip side, it opens a lot more places to do the externships, because there are some really good spots that want people but can’t pay. We’ll see how that turns out.
There’s all types in my class of 24. I thought the maximum class was 12-15, but apparently its 12-15 PER INSTRUCTOR. I’m ok with that, it makes for more personalities which is going to make it exciting. It was a short day (3 hours), but the most exciting part was at the end when a couple of people had to wait for additional things, and we all started talking, and it was all food, food, food. Very cool.