Give Me a Head With Hair

 #2 Son wiped his bleary eyes early and got up, got dressed, and we got to our appointment at the Culinary School fifteen minutes early.  It helps that the place is just up the highway about a mile.  He could bike there if he wanted, or even walk if he had to.  Unless we were having one of our monsoon storms, of course.

The place is spectacular, at least to me.  State of the art, beautiful kitchens, a bake shop, everything.  The students wear full chef uniforms as they would if they were working, so by the time they are, they're used to doing all the work in that type of clothing.  They also get their knife and utensil kit provided.

There is a restaurant set-up there, and each student is required to learn how to manage the front and back of a restaurant, proper service, adding up tickets, cost control, what to do on the day your sous chef calls in sick, your line chef is late, and two waitresses just don't show up.  They don't want to throw these kids out cold into the very competitive world of running a restaurant.

Ms. Cullen was professional and friendly.  She brought us in her office and asked #2 Son the typical questions, such as why he wants to go into culinary arts and about his work experience.  She also discussed the curriculum which leads to an Associates Degree in 16 months.

She stressed timeliness, as missing even a minute of class is not acceptable.  The only way to get through what should be a two year degree in 16 months is to make every minute count. 

#2 Son talked about how much he loves cooking.  We discussed how i taught cooking at a homeschool co-op, and his father was a sous chef.  Ms. Cullen seemed to like that it runs in the family.

We even got to see and meet a couple of the instructors, who are referred to as "Chef" followed by their first name, like Chef Dave and Chef Chris.  They are down to earth.

At the end of it all, as we were heading home, i asked him what he likes most about it.  He said, and this is an exact quote: "At last, a school where I can grow my hair as long as I want!  After all, the rule is if I can get it under the net and hat, I can grow it out!"


Today is

Biographer's Day -- anniversary of the day Boswell met Johnson in 1763

Brown Bag-It Thursday -- it's cheaper and healthier

Calaveras County Fair and Frog Jumping Jubilee -- Calaveras Fairgrounds, Angel's Camp, CA, US (the "Super Bowl" of frog jumping contests; through Sunday)

Frog Jumping Day -- for those of us who don't live in Calaveras County, you can still celebrate Mark Twain's famous story and go play with a frog

Hires Root Beer Day -- pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires created it on this day in 1866

Love a Tree Day -- and read about the love of a tree, in Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

Middlesex Day -- Middlesex, England (although it is only a postal county now, many celebrate the heritage of what was once the county that included London)

Miles City Bucking Horse Sale -- Miles City, MT, US (a celebration worthy of the city that inspired "Lonesome Dove;" through Saturday)

National Coquilles St. Jacques Day

Sea-Monkey® Day -- as declared by someone who likes these little brine shrimp as pets; for info on keeping Sea Monkeys, check herehttp://www.sea-monkey.com/; for ideas about how to celebrate there is a site about how to worship sea monkeyshttp://www.seamonkeyworship.com/nationalday.html

Sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in Rounds Day -- but not around me, please, or i might do something drastic

Sneeze Without Embarrassment Day -- because of pollen levels, as declared by Karen Richmond, of Eastport, MI, US

Spaghetti-Os Day -- they were first sold on this day in 1966

St. Brendan the Voyager's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, travellers, whales; Ardfert, Ireland; Clonfert, Ireland; Kerry, Ireland)

St. Honorius of Amiens' Day (Patron of bakers[especially bakers of communion wafers], cake makers, candlemakers, chandlers, confectioners, florists, flour merchants, oil refiners, pastry chefs; against drought)

St. John of Nepomuk's Day (Patron of bridges, bridge builders, confessors, discretion, good and right confession, running water, silence; Bohemia; Czech Republic; Slovakia; against calumnies, floods, indiscretions, and slander)

Shavuot -- Israel (Pentecost, ends at sunset)

Sudan People's Liberation Army Day -- South Sudan

Teachers' Day -- Malaysia

U.S.Nickel Day -- the first U.S. five-cent nickel was minted on this day in 1866

Wear Purple for Peace Day -- the idea being that until we become a peaceful species, the aliens won't visit


Anniversaries Today:

Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, marries Marie Antoinette, 1770
Edgar Allen Poe marries his cousin Virginia Clemm, 1836


Birthdays Today:

Megan Fox, 1986
Jim Sturgess, 1981
Tori Spelling, 1973
David Boreanaz, 1971
Gabriela Sabatini, 1970
Tracey Gold, 1969
Janet Jackson, 1966
Olga Korbut, 1955
Debra Winger, 1955
Pierce Brosnan, 1953
Bob Edwards, 1947
Liberace, 1919
Woody Herman, 1913
Henry Fonda, 1905
William Seward, 1801


Today in History:

The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence is re-established as a republic, 1527
Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England, 1532
Samuel Johnson meets his future biographer, James Boswell, in London, 1763
Denmark abolishes slave trade, 1792
The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail, 1843
Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer, 1866
A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight, 1919
Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc, 1920
Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel, 1948
The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between John F Kennedy International Airport (then Idlewild Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines, 1951
Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, 1960
China's Cultural Revolution begins, 1966
The Soviet Venera 5 spacecraft lands on Venus, 1969
India annexes Sikkim  after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote is in favour of merging with India, 1975
Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1975
The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain, 1986
A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine, 1988
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to address the US Houses of Congress, 1991
Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote, 2005