1. Make plans, not excuses

I'm so lucky to have my free period right before Food Lit Culinary on our prep and cook days. After the first couple times I kept Chef way after class to finish up cooking, I prioritized coming in early (even if it meant not sleeping in) in case I had a particularly hard recipe make. I think this is a little better than staying after class because at least it's planned ahead of time.

For my cupcakes in the memoir/mixtape challenge, I didn't plan on baking all three types of cupcakes during our prep day, so I didn't know how fast I had to work. Luckily I had first lunch at the time so I used that time to finish baking, but I definitely did not want to repeat that unnecessary stress. Emoni from With the Fire on High has grown into the habit of preparation, seen especially when she's "working on a marinade for a pork shoulder that Chef Amadi will be serving for dinner tomorrow night” well in advance (341). Thinking ahead for food like this is something I've learned from in our test kitchens.

Making baklava in Food Lit was the first time I've worked with phyllo dough. The pistachios Chef bought for me seemed to disappear into thin air so she spent first period looking for them for me. They never showed up but I'm glad we didn't go through that frantically while everyone else was also in the kitchen.

2. Everything's easier with help

While volunteering at Norwalk Hospital I realized my shyness was a real problem and I immediately started fixing it, moving way out of my comfort zone. Food Lit is a great example of how important asking questions is, especially for me because I never took Culinary Arts. There are dangerous works in the kitchen (to food and to people) so being crystal clear on what to do is always beneficial.

This lesson is pretty obvious but I'll briefly elaborate a little on two of my experiences. I'd never used the flat-top before making these bacon pancakes so I clarified with Chef how heating and greasing would be different than on the normal stove with a pan.

There was a particular design on Kiki's cake from the Studio Ghibli film, and I was running out of time so I asked Chef for help on decorations. That led to this beautiful finished product rather than whatever I probably would've done in five minutes.

3. Take responsibility

Sometimes, recipes call for time just waiting, for water to boil, for something to bake, all of that boring stuff. I spend that time washing dishes and cleaning my area because I know a lot of people don't. Even though most things aren't mine, I find that it's important I take responsibility for a lot of it because at the end of the day if no one cleans up then the kitchen is left a mess.

I remember these calzones took me quite a bit of time because we had a shortened cook period and I had a little learning curve on shaping all eight of them. I'm thankful for everyone who cleaned up while I cooked.

This soup on the other hand, I finished pretty quickly because most of the work after making the base was just boiling and seasoning to taste. I spent most of class at the sinks scrubbing and drying away- not the most fun task but I felt I had to take the responsibility and keep the kitchens clean.