# Just in case anyone is curious ...



## Ashtal@School (Sep 24, 2002)

Hihi!  This is a very Un-Modly Ashtal posting from School.   I don't trust the system with my other passwords (which reminds me to go and change my hotmail account password again ... ), but I still wouldn't mind being able to post from school in a non-Modly way.

Hence, the 'Ashtal@School' handle.  

And if something goes REALLY wierd, and I start saying very Un-Ashtal things (at least, Un-Ashtal for ENWorld), then you know someone has gotten this profile and run-amok with it.

Anywho, hope everyone has a great day!  I'm off to Meat Theory. 

(We actually got to see a video on moose-slaughtering!  Hee!)



Ashtal


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## hong (Sep 24, 2002)

I was under the impression you'd actually finished school, and in fact had just found a job...?


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## Ashtal@School (Sep 24, 2002)

Heh.

I _had_ finished school, Journalism, and did have a job.  But, things got icky this year.  When the contract ended, the organization didn't have any money to renew it, so I was out the door, on my butt, not a penny in my hand.  Then I had thyroid cancer.  That's resolved now, but it left me out of the workplace for about three months, and when I went back in, there wasn't a job to speak of in the city - nothing besides basic office work.

So, after the urgings of my BF, I decided to dive into Chef Training.  

I'm having an absolute blast with it, too.  It's like everything's clicking and I'm on this total, energetic high, at least when I get the thyroid pills down my throat at the right time!    They are probably going to be tinkering with my dosage for the next few years though. 

This training course is a year long, then I enter the industry.  After a few years, I can write my papers, and be a fully accredited Chef.  

Interestingly enough, I'd say about half the class I am in consists of people who have dramatically changed career paths.  And I've learned the hard way that I _never_ want to work in a straight-laced office again.  Ugh.  


Ashtal


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## hong (Sep 24, 2002)

Ashtal@School said:
			
		

> *Heh.
> 
> I had finished school, Journalism, and did have a job.  But, things got icky this year.  When the contract ended, the organization didn't have any money to renew it, so I was out the door, on my butt, not a penny in my hand.  Then I had thyroid cancer.*




Memo to self: avoid citizens of Sudbury, who can be recognised by their distinctive healthy glow, which illuminates a 20-foot radius at night. Recommend UN inspectors check out Canadia for signs of weapons of mass destruction.

Seriously, that's heavy. I keep thinking of cancer as something only old people get, but obviously this is slightly inaccurate.



> *Interestingly enough, I'd say about half the class I am in consists of people who have dramatically changed career paths.  And I've learned the hard way that I never want to work in a straight-laced office again.  Ugh.
> *




The department I work in is about as non-straightlaced as you can get, in an insurance company. I thank my lucky stars.


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## Ashtal (Sep 24, 2002)

hong said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Memo to self: avoid citizens of Sudbury, who can be recognised by their distinctive healthy glow, which illuminates a 20-foot radius at night. Recommend UN inspectors check out Canadia for signs of weapons of mass destruction.
> 
> ...




*LOLOLOL*

Well, you know, it helps reading late at night, not getting lost in all these snow storms, that sorta thing.  

Actually, from what I understand, Thyroid Cancer is one of those cancers that's hitting my age group really hard and heavy.  Mine wasn't even visible when it was spoted - my doctor felt something a little off when he did the neck/cough test.   It's a relatively nice cancer, in that it's so localized, can be removed, and a pill afterwards fixes you up.  Still something I'd rather have skipped, of course, but better than alternatives.


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## Jarval (Sep 24, 2002)

Ashtal@School said:
			
		

> *So, after the urgings of my BF, I decided to dive into Chef Training.
> 
> I'm having an absolute blast with it, too.*






> _In Ashtal's Profile:_
> *Occupation:  One that offers only mind-numbing insanity...*




Time for a profile update, maybe 

Seriously, I'm glad to hear things are going better for you.  Sounds like you're having a great time with the chef training (although I'm not too sure about the whole moose-slaughtering thing ).


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## Piratecat (Sep 24, 2002)

Ashtal@School said:
			
		

> *
> (We actually got to see a video on moose-slaughtering!  Hee!)
> 
> *




The immense silence you hear is me *not* making a Canada joke.


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## Crothian (Sep 24, 2002)

*Re: Re: Just in case anyone is curious ...*



			
				Piratecat said:
			
		

> *
> 
> The immense silence you hear is me not making a Canada joke. *




LMAO, ya, that would be a little easy.


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## Ashtal (Sep 25, 2002)

Heh, you should have heard the jokes WE were making. 

I mean, honestly, we had some people positively repulsed watching it get gutted in the out of doors, with only a sheet of plastic between the carcass and the ground.

And yes ... a profile update is probably a good thing.


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## rackabello (Sep 25, 2002)

Ashtal@School said:
			
		

> *So, after the urgings of my BF, I decided to dive into Chef Training.
> ....
> And I've learned the hard way that I never want to work in a straight-laced office again.  Ugh.
> *



Ashtal, if you haven't already, you _must_ read Anthony Bourdain's *Kitchen Confidential*.  While it's not for the faint of heart, nor, in all likelihood, for Eric's Grandma, it's a very funny, very profane memoir of a lifetime NYC punk rocker and junkie chefs exploits in the restaurant business.  Witty, wicked, and full of self-deprecating machismo.  Though it'll make you leary of ever again going out for brunch...

edit: _puck_ rocker? i wanted you to think Ramones, not hockey!


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## Ashtal (Sep 25, 2002)

It's next on my reading list, actually!  And it came recommended by my Meat Theory teacher (who is a pastry chef - don't ask).  

Currently I'm burning through, "The Making of a Chef", written by a Journalist who went through portions of the gruelling Culinary Institute of America (yes, the 'CIA'!  They also have a Food and Beverage Institute ... drum roll ... the FBI.  And I thought my BF was the king of bad puns! ).  It's been a facinating read.  I've been living and breathing food lately ... it's even filtering into my dreams at night!

Today I'm preparing Gnocci with Tomato and Mornay sauce, and Pacific Rim Salad with Beef, in the Garge Mange section.  *glee*


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## Morrus (Sep 25, 2002)

Ashtal said:
			
		

> *  And it came recommended by my Meat Theory teacher  *




"Meat....Theory?"


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## hong (Sep 25, 2002)

Morrus said:
			
		

> *
> 
> "Meat....Theory?" *




It's obviously about how to meat friends and influence people.


Hong "sounds right up Nutkinland's alley!" Ooi


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## Ashtal (Sep 25, 2002)

*giggle*  Yes, Meat Theory, verses Food Theory, and Kitchen Management, which is also a Theory.  I have two days of theory classes before heading into the kitchen for three days.

In Meat Theory, we learn about, well, meat!    Things like the make-up of meat, different kinds of animals, meat cuts off the carcass, cooking methods, how heat affects protien and water and fat in different ways, which allow us to achieve different flavors, textures and effects.

They used to take the classes out to the slaughter house.  Thankfully, all we have left is the moose video.


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## Morrus (Sep 25, 2002)

Well.  This seems like a great opportunity to use a little-used word:  I'm flabbergasted!


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## Ashtal (Sep 25, 2002)

*sniffles*

Why is it flabbergasting?  

It's one of my fav classes, too.  (Well, they are all favorites)   Got perfect on the quiz and there will be extra class time for us to see and help the Chef butcher/make cuts off of a goat carcass, possible some larger pieces of beef or pork as well.

He wants to get the goat, because it's small enough to handle, but will still give us a good idea of how it works.

OH, did you know that pigs have been bred to posess more ribs than they used to?  How creepy is that?


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## Morrus (Sep 25, 2002)

That is weird.

I was flabbergasted because I had no idea there was so much to know about meat!


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## hong (Sep 25, 2002)

Ashtal said:
			
		

> *OH, did you know that pigs have been bred to posess more ribs than they used to?  How creepy is that?  *




Actually, that reminds me of the news item that was shown a few weeks ago, about how the human race is evolving faster than ever before. They interviewed this professor, and one of the examples he gave was how people have an artery in their arm that didn't used to be there.


Hong "it's amazing what sheer strength of will can achieve" Ooi


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## Ashtal (Sep 25, 2002)

Really?  *ponders*  Did he say when this artery started to appear, and how they discovered it?

Maybe it's in relation to all the office work typing people do!  It can be, the MS Office Artery!


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## hong (Sep 25, 2002)

Ashtal said:
			
		

> *Really?  *ponders*  Did he say when this artery started to appear, and how they discovered it?*




I suspect it's just a mutation that's always been around in a few people, and it's more prevalent now than it used to be.

Speaking of mutations, I have three bottom incisors in my mouth instead of the regular four, and so do my sisters. It's an inherited feature courtesy of our mother's side. And there are plenty of documented cases of polydactyly (> 5 fingers/toes per hand/foot).



> *Maybe it's in relation to all the office work typing people do!  It can be, the MS Office Artery!  *




I think I type more on EN World than I do at work.


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## Buttercup (Sep 25, 2002)

Ashtal said:
			
		

> * the make-up of meat*




I recommend a light touch.  Just a bit of lipstick and mascara.


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## Ashtal (Sep 25, 2002)

D'oh!! Bad pun!


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## A2Z (Sep 25, 2002)

Don't you mean; _Dough! Bad pun!_


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