NSR - Culinary School

This isn't stamp related....BUT....I'm just so proud of my son that I had to share.
My oldest son is in Culinary School (he just started and is in his first semester). So yesterday he asked me if he could make dinner himself. He wanted to make one of the meals he'd learned about in school.....and he needed to practice some techniques with potatoes.

So last night he did chicken breast in a white sauce (white wine, chicken broth, seasonings, heavy cream and something else that I didn't pay attention to LOL), asparagus steamed and sauteed, and potatoes cut some weird way steamed and sauteed. OMG!!!! This meal was FABULOUS!!! We usually have some left overs.....not last night. Every one of my crew went back for seconds and left mom with NO SECONDS!!!!!! LOL I went in the kitchen to get another piece of chicken (not a whole piece....I only wanted a couple of bites) but there was NONE left. LOL

Ok, so during this whole cooking of dinner process Anthony was getting really frustrated. We didn't have all the spices he needed. He thought mom would have had everything since mom cooks a lot and loves to cook......but mom apparently didn't use the same seasonings he needed. How could I NOT????? LOL Anyway, then he needed cheesecloth for some of the seasonings but we didn't have that either (I dont' use cheesecloth for anything) so he had to make do with a tea strainer. We didn't get clarified butter for the white sauce so he had to make do with what we had.

So this whole ordeal has helped him to learn to improvise and make substitutions in a pinch. Sure he was frustrated. But I am hoping that he learned something from this experience. He pretty much had all the substitutions figured out but was not pleased with the fact that he had to do that in the first place. I have explained to him that there are going to be times in his career that he is out of something or missplaced something or whatever the case may be he'll have to substitute and think on the spot of a way to make do with what ingredients and tools he has on hand.

All in all, he did a GREAT job...especially considering we didn't have everything he needed. Today I am planning to go to Bed Bath & Beyond and get one of those spice/seasoning things that hangs on the side of the refrigerator with the metal tins and then I'm going to make sure we have every single seasoning you can possibly imagine so that my baby will have what he needs when he cooks for us next time. :-)

Anyway, I'm so proud of him that I just had to share.