Cheez-Its or not to Cheez-Its

There have been several things occupying my mind and time recently. First, our class has passed the half-way point, with a mid-term scheduled for next week, and another scheduled the following week. Now these are not necessarily the high-pressure type mid-term for years past, but rather half-way milestones to see where we are. In leading up to this, I met with our primary Chef Instructor to discuss how I am doing. These “one on ones” were set up with all the students. Based on my discussion with Chef, I am on track, so far so good. There are areas for improvement, especially with knife skills - speed and accuracy, which means I have been trying to get practice in. Needless to say lots of minced shallots, cut a lot of orange sections (supreme cuts), made many o’ potato batonnets (can you say pommes frites).
Second, I have three reports due over the next two weeks. First one due is Thursday and it is a report on Shiso/Perilla. I have at least two resources available, but need to track down my third. I have my outline and am hoping to have it complete early this week. My second report due is in the sustainability topics class, and the subject is based on research on a refrigerator/pantry item. My choice was Cheez-Its. This is one of the kids favorite snacks. After digging a bit and looking at the concerns circulating around Kellogg (which owns the Cheez-It brand) including marketing to children, health and sustainable practices, I am having second thoughts. It is a hard one, because the kids can be pretty picky, and trying to include other options can take some hit and miss choices. Sometimes I need to remind myself, I am the parent and need to put their best interests above other considerations (their health versus their taste preferences).
The last report is due the following week and is a HACCP project. HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. Simply, it is a matter of taking a process, like a recipe, and identifying the hazards and critical points for controlling them. This report started ballooning into a 20 page report. However, the instructor has been kind enough to review it to date providing comments (in a nice way) that more or less say “cut to the chase, don’t sweat the small stuff.” This is a common refrain I recall from other courses I have taken over the years – corral the ideas and keep focused. I will feel more relieved when I have turned all of these in. Then I can concentrate on speed and accuracy a little more. I’ve got about 15 lbs of potatoes to work through and another 20 shallots to cut. But I try to keep the mantra at the forefront “1000 times” to develop the skill.