My head is going to explode.

If it wasn't Friday already, I'd pretend it was.

As I was putting my stuff in my locker this morning, Chef grabbed Andy and me to help him collect and carry ingredients for gravlax from the skills kitchen. He demo'd it after we finished two tests: remove the pin bones from a side of salmon; score the skin side lightly. Chop a bunch of dill and spread it on the surface of the fish. Combine a pound and a half each of kosher salt and sugar and 1/4 cup of coarse black pepper. Unfold a six foot length of cheesecloth. Lay one end of the cloth in a pan large enough to hold the fish, and put the fish on the cloth. Pour 1/2 the salt mixture over the fish, cover it with the short end of the cheesecloth, and flip the fish over. Pour on the other half of the salt mixture, and begin rolling up the fish like a mummy in the cheesecloth, tuckng in the sides of the cloth. Scoop any loose salt mixture out of the pan and spread it on the fish. When the package is complete, put the fish mummy on a rack over a shallow pan. Sprinkle it liberally with alcohol (he used tequila) and put the whole thing in the fridge. Til Monday. Jordan has been assigned to bring bagels. I'll report.

The tests were on food science, week one. Open book. No sweat. The second one was about consommé, to ensure that we had done the assigned reading. Both consommé and gravlax are examples of the science principles we're learning now: proteins, coagulation, stuff like that. The Chef drew a great diagram of a coffee percolator to demonstrate how consommé is made. Your object is a perfectly clear perfectly seasoned broth. Deceptively simple. Hair-pullingly complex. It's all about getting your raft to float. And percolating.

We also made shrimp bisque. We had to serve Chef a bowl of each soup, completed and garnished. We were docked two points (out of 10) for lukewarm bisque. And two points because some of the minced parsley garnish on the consommé was too big. But they were both well seasoned. That's the real objective.

Monday, after bagels and gravlax, we've got the kitchen test. Two soups and three sauces in two hours. Thursday, oral report. Friday, a written kitchen skills midterm. TUESDAY IS EGGS!