Fresh Pasta Day and Eggs Benedict Day

Hi all! School has been really fun in the past couple days. I always wanted to make fresh pasta.

Friday:
Tortellini with Creamy Pesto Sauce (4)
The tortellini wasn't hard to shape at all, and the basic pasta dough is super simple. I love using the pasta roller; I used to use the same kind for making clay jewelry when I was a kid. The creamy pesto sauce was so delicious; I thought I broke it at first but I just had to keep whisking the hell out of it and we brought it back. I made the filling for the tortellini, the pesto sauce, and I helped form the tortellini as well. We had four people that day, me, Tim, Ethan, and Norma.
Fettuccine Alfredo (4)
Norma made the Alfredo sauce and we all made the pasta. This was a surprisingly simple dish, and I liked it a lot more than I've liked it before (presumably not homemade, I guess).

Again, we had nothing left to take home, because we ate everything right after we made it.

Monday:
Eggs Benedict (4)
We had to work alone today and make Eggs Benedict, which requires a poached egg, Hollandaise sauce, a slice of Canadian bacon, and a toasted English muffin. I toasted mine with butter nooks and crannies side down, and it came out amazing. I didn't break my Hollandaise, and I guess my egg was perfect; Chef Mary said so. I'm so proud of myself about today!
I had to make a potato side dish for the Benedict, either Pommes Anna or Rosti potatoes. I chose the Rosti, which is like a hash brown thing, because I tried to make Pommes Anna this weekend and ended up with potato chips (got a little overzealous with my brand new mandolin!). My Rosti could have been better, but in the end we were only graded on the Benedict, and I'm so happy I got a 4! I ate my Benedict after the Chefs tried it, and I loved it! I guess Hollandaise is only gross when I have to taste it by itself for seasoning.

A guy who goes to my bar apparently went to my school, and told me to say hi to Chef Mary and Chef Kupper. He's a tattoo artist, kind of a weirdo, little bit of a douchebag. When I told them he said hi, their reaction was a mix of curiosity, restraint, and glances back and forth at each other which tells me that we are definitely talking about the same person. Chef Kupper asked me, "When did he drop out," and I took great pleasure in telling him, "Right after your class."

Tomorrow we're back into groups and we're starting meat! We've got Veal Marsala, Asian glazed pork chops, and Steak Diane. I'm so stoked about tomorrow.