It would actually be nice to only need six hours sleep a night, but I doubt I’m developing a new, more efficient pattern. My headache woke me up at a point in my dream where a guy was pulling a long, serrated knife from his cheek as I encouraged him to end his life. That followed a non-linear, chaotic gun battle on a beach. Two men pointed long riffles at me. I walked up and in cartoon-style bent the end of each barrel back at them. One quickly tried to get a shot off at me, but it left the barrel and hit a cuffed, beaten prisoner walking behind him.
I’m not sure if the analysis is I feel attacked after one day at culinary school, or that my brain wants me to annihilate my classmates, but nevertheless it was an emotional and mentally exhausting day. Crammed with an overwhelming amount of kitchen rules and regulations, I left weighed down by both books and details. Proper set up on your station. Red sanitation buckets, green compost bins. Neckerchief folding. Student IDs, lockers, parking permits. It’s all the usual stuff, but I just haven’t done it for eight years.
Lunch was pretty damn amazing though. A buffet spread of lovely seasoned dishes. Mine was piled high with crispy, blackened pencil-thin asparagus roasted with olive oil and lemon; spinach salad with fennel and roasted yellow beets; pan-seared salmon with “micro-arugula” and a seeded wheat bun drizzled with olive oil. My only disappointment in the meal was the olive oil labeled Colavita. Crappy Italian olive oil in Napa Valley – holy crap! CIA is so connected to UC Davis that I’m really surprised they aren’t aware of the Olive Oil Center. Only six olive oil companies came up when I Googled ‘olive oil produced in napa valley’ including, and I shit you not, St. Helena Olive Oil Co.! Maybe it’s a production or cost problem, or maybe I need to make some introductions.
Dinner at home was Roasted Broccoli Soup with sharp cheddar and crushed crackers. We had eaten it last week, and it was still tasty. I roasted the broccoli, onion and garlic, which both grounded and lifted the flavor without time-intensive stock-making. In a month it’ll probably be shit – actually I hope it will be.
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