“So Virginia, what do you think you want to be when you leave this university?” said Ms.Carter, the guidance counselor. Hi, my name is Virginia Lois and I am 24 and I love to cook.
“I want to work at The Universal Studios as a chef.”
“Okay, I know some people, I can give you their phone numbers so you can be in touch to have an interview there,” said Ms. Carter.
“Great.”
I woke up this morning and I am very nervous and I had to get some new business suits for my interview. Since my university is about an hour from Universal Studios, I had to get up very early.
“Hello Mr. Clark, my name is Virginia Lois, I am 24 years old and I was wondering if I could work at Universal Studios as a chef!”
“Well I am happy to interview you today. I will also need you to prepare a dish for the head of the food department.” So we had the interview and he seemed very impressed with my knowledge of cooking. Next I met the head chef and he asked me some questions about what I am going to cook. He then showed me everything in the kitchen and he said I could start preparing my dish.
So I started to make a quiche, so I got my eggs and my pie crust and was going to add some tomatoes, lettuce and some butter. I put everything inside and added my eggs and then crumbled some goat cheese on top. Then I put it in the oven to bake. I was going to make a quick garlic sauce. I peeled the garlic and mashed it together, I added a little salt, pepper and some water, mixed it up and tasted it, and it tasted like it needed some more salt so I poured more salt in the sauce. I wasn’t really paying attention and all of the salt went in the sauce. My first mistake. I realized as they were watching that I needed to finish quickly.
So I just doubled the recipe and and tasted it, it was okay and it wasn’t great. It was too salty, I was thinking of scrapping it, but the head chef was looking at me and it seemed like he really wanted to taste it. So I just kept it there and took out my quiche. I cut it into some slices and put the sauce on the side of each plate. I gave a piece of quiche and sauce to the head chef, the head of the food department and Mr. Clark, the manager of Universal Studios.
I am really confident about about this dish and I think they are going to love it. Everyone looked really impressed and started smelling the dish because it smelled really good, and I was hoping that it tastes really good too, though I am sure that it tasted delicious. They all took a bite of the quiche with the sauce and they all made strange faces, like it was sour. That’s when my confidence went from 100 to a 0. Mr. Clark said, “The quiche is good, but the garlic sauce is very bad and we can’t have mistakes like that at our amusement park. So, I’m sorry, you don’t get the job.”
I said, “Thank you, I enjoyed the interview,” and I left with a broken heart. I really wanted the job, so I decided I need to get more training. I knew that in France they have really intense training and the teachers are really great, so I thought, why not try to get there and get trained. When I got back to school I told Ms. Carter what happened and she said to try to get into the training program in France was a great idea.
I just got off my plane and I am really excited that I am in Paris to be trained to be a better chef and I am a little nervous because I haven’t been out of the country before and that is a very scary thing for me. The sights look really cool and pretty. I got here a week early so I can could look around and see what Paris really looks like and see the cities. I will be staying in a really nice posh apartment. I have a roommate, her name is Annabeth, she is very smart and fun. She really loves the history of cooking.
It’s my first day of school and I am really excited. I think that I will be the best student besides Annabeth. My culinary teachers names are Mr.Pierre and Ms. Jorris. Ms. Jorris welcomed us, she explained our course schedule and put use in groups of three. I got paired with Annabeth and my friend Anthony. We are all the same age so I am really excited.
The first assignment we were given was to make a dinner with our group. We each decided to make a course. I was feeling very confident so I volunteered to make the dessert. I wanted to do something hard and really fun that I know how to do very well. I picked profiteroles, which I love. I will fill them with a lemon cream and some powdered sugar on top.
The first dish we presented was an appetizer made by anthony which Mr. Pierre especially loved. Next, it was the entree, a delicious looking roast chicken with white rice and roasted vegetables. Both Mr. Pierre and Ms. Jorris enjoyed the entree.
Now it was my turn to present. I was sooo nervous, my heart was pounding. It happened so quickly I couldn’t believe it. They bit into my profiteroles and smiled I smiled back then they frowned, their faces looked like they had just ate something rotten later after a lot of water and coffee Mr. Pierre and Ms. Jorris told me the puff tasted good but the lemon in the filling was sour and had an after taste. I was heart broken at the news and the started to cry. Our team did not win the best meal even though Mr .Pierre said we had the best entree and appetizer. Ms. Jorris did say that we would rather have you serve an okay meal than an okay and really bad dessert. But that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to have an okay dish.
After seven weeks in France and some very intense training, we had our final tests on Friday. I had a written exam that was fairly easy then a visual presentation. We had one hour and 30 minutes. When I did the presentation I was kind of worried. I didn’t want to mess up. I wanted to redeem myself, so I decided to make cheesy bread, quiche, and lemon puffs. The cheesy bread was very easy, I just got some nice shredded gruyere cheese and put some salt, pepper, and a little butter on the bread and sprinkled the cheese on top. I put it in the oven and started on my quiche. I wanted to do the quiche again because I wanted the judges to know that I could make the quiche and I wanted it to be perfect because I knew I wouldn’t get past the class if I didn’t make it perfect.
First, I made a homemade pie crust which is very simple. I mixed everything then rolled it out, put it in the pan, and then quickly tossed it in the oven and so the pie crust would be cooked fully when I put the eggs inside. I added tomatoes, lettuce, salt and pepper, put it back in the over. I took out my appetizer and let it cool. Then I started on my pate choux for the profiteroles. By the time I finished making the dough and got the puffs in the oven, I took out my quiche and started on my garlic sauce. When I made my garlic sauce, my hands were shaking because I didn’t want to mess it up, especially with the salt this time. When I made my garlic sauce I tasted it and it had way too much garlic. It was so spicy! I decided that I needed to throw away the sauce and make a new one quickly. I started to sweat I was afraid I wouldn’t finish in time. But finally the sauce was finished. With my shaky hands I took out the puffs. I instantly made the lemon cream which was delicious.
I plated everything very neatly and brought my food to the judges. I told them what I made and they looked excited.
“Why did you make this,” asked the judge.
“I want to redeem myself with the profiteroles and I love cheesy bread. And they reason I did the quiche is because I was interviewed, but I messed up the quiche, and I wanted to know that I could do it right.” So they said thank you and they took big bites of the quiche with the garlic sauce. The day was so bright because they were all saying how good it was and saying “ummm” and everyone ate their entire slice of quiche! They also loved the lemon cream puffs and thought that it was just the right sweet and tangy. I was so happy and I started jumping for joy.
I am so happy with my new job at Universal Studios! When I tried to get the job again there were no mistakes. They all seemed really surprised at how good the food was they especially loved my garlic sauce. Mr. Clark said. “I will work on getting this sauce on the new revised menu.” That night I called my parents as soon as I got home they were soo happy for me that they were going to fly from California to Florida to congratulate me. I feel so blessed.