tenth week

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, so the school is closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Five of us, over one portable propane stove, make several dessert sauces such as lemon, cinnamon and custard, for theory practice. We learn to make a slurry out of cornstarch and water to thicken our sauce, since the cornstarch added alone to the hot liquid leaves small lumps.
I am in the "cooked to order" station the two days we are in school. CTO as it is called, has a hired chef in charge who plans the menus and directs the students. Usually people order off a menu in the restaurant. Monday we prepare and organize all the food that will be served buffet style in the restaurant on Tuesday, for a Thanksgiving meal. The price is $7.50 for all you can eat. The buffet is turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas and carrots, pumpkin soup, fruit salad, green salad, rolls and butter, cranberry sauce, and various kinds of pies with whipped cream.
Tuesday I change out the half empty buffet pans for the first part of the restaurant lunch and carve the ham for the rest of the time. We students eat lunch in the cafeteria, as usual, where the food is not as fancy (or as good).
This is toward the last of the term, and I have not mentioned our uniform requirements as yet. Our jackets are to be white, black and white checked pants, a hat that covers our hair, a white chef's apron, and black shoes. I have pockets in my apron that hold my paring and chef's knife, in plastic holders, so they are available to me at all times. Most people have knife cases that they put on the station where they are working.
Not everyone is 100% uniform compliant, but George is pretty strict on the white jacket and checked pants part. He wants everyone to look the same, although some of the white jackets are looking pretty gray and there are many white tennis shoes.