Hurricanes, Paperwork, and Not Enough Power

If you haven't already noticed, hurricane season is in full swing. For those unfamiliar, about 97% of tropical storm activity in the Atlantic Ocean occurs from June 1st to November 30th each year. Just a fun fact that some will never learn unless they spend more than a 10 day vacation or cruise in the Caribbean. Nevertheless, in the last two weeks Hurricane Earl and Gaston have brought heavy winds and torrential downpour to Saint Croix. Earl was the worse of the two knocking my power out for 4 days and nudging me over the fence of buying a generator. There's nothing more inconvenient yet humbling about losing electricity for several days. Something I love about hurricanes though, is the reminiscent feeling I get on the day of its expected arrival. It feels like a snow day back up in the Northeast. The refinery contemplates early releases or closing down and smaller businesses all around take the day off. It throws a wrench into the monotonous schedule of your typical work week. You may think me naive since I haven't seen a really bad hurricane hit the island, but it's my silver lining for the whole situation.

My cooking expedition sort of took the "back burner" (pun intended) in the midst of the storms but I've regrouped and came up with some great ideas for next week's technique. As a recap, thus far I have done:

1. Poaching - Eggs Benedict
2. Braising - Ossobuco
3. Steaming - Pork and Shrimp Dumplings
4. Grilling - Chicken and Shrimp Hawaiian Skewers

This week I will be trying the technique of roasting with the application of a Roasted Shoulder of Lamb and Couscous, Mechoui style. It's a recipe from one of the books I ordered online a couple weeks ago. I figured I should be versatile and not just draw culinary inspiration from one source - the internet. While it is a good tool for learning, I enjoy the credible sources that a book comes from. Anyone can post information on the internet nowadays, but a book, now that requires you to be someone. This particular one is a textbook called The Professional Chef and it was written by the Culinary Institute of America. I like it because it is geared toward a culinary student. Details about food safety and how to calculate As-Purchased Quantities and Yield Percents are outlined clearly. Before reading the first chapter, I had no idea that this field involved so much algebra. Overall, I'm hoping the book will prepare for what may be coming in my future.

On a separate note, I sent my application into The Art Institute of California - San Diego three weeks ago and they sent me back some forms to fill out. Nothing too complicated. Most of it was related to credit transferring, student housing, and curriculum details. I'm hoping that my credits from Drexel can transfer over and cover the generic Math, English, and computer classes that sprinkle the curriculum for Culinary Arts/Managment. If chemical engineering math can't opt me out of culinary algebra, what can?