Preeti was not so pretty

In case you are not following my very distinct instructions to cancel all plans on Wednesday night at 10 p.m and watch Top Chef, I will now inform you that Preeti(the Indian chef that was a handsome young man er woman is officially gone. Maybe with longer hair and a little more grace in the way she stood she'd kind of look like a woman, but anyway there is no more preeti; now if only the dirty looking hobbit would get eliminated so we could all watch the show without being bothered by her sweaty hair contaminating the food.

Last night I watched the episode with Rob, Alice, and Rob's fiance as a going away get together for me. I think I might just have to take a flight from Boston every Wednesday night to be able to watch it with them till the end of the season. We did what a bunch of cooks(and sous chef)do best, gossiped while being as tough as nails on the competitors and the failure of a pasta salad. Sunday is my last day at the country club and I am honestly already feeling like I am kitchen deprived. How one is deprived before they are actually away from something I don't know, but I can honestly tell you I am already feeling deprived.

This summer has been one big lesson for me. I had a lesson in home. I have called many places home since I started college, but I had never had the chance to really come back home and spend time at home. Home is priceless and you really only have one real one.

The kitchen lessons were at times more painful. Sharp knives are a lot less likely to give you bad cuts. Doubt me? Try it. Not only will the whole cutting experience be easier, but you'll also be using less force when cutting that bell pepper so the knife will be less likely to cut off the tip of your finger.

A willing learner and a hard worker can do anything she(I can't speak for men since I am not one)puts her mind to. I'm a pastry chef and I must say that I was a little worried about my lack of knife skills and culinary knowledge, but thanks to very patient teachers I am doing a lot better. I can't say I'm going miss my hands smelling like onions or salmon every time stag day comes around.

Kitchen family is like no other family. We work together, we drive each other crazy and if someone decided to mess with one of our family at work(by someone I mean one of the people that are totally left out of the family; kind of the red headed step child in the bunch)we'd all make their lives miserable. The best part of the whole deal is that normally you aren't related to one of them. I know it sounds silly that that is the best part, but quite honestly you probably wouldn't put up with as much if it were your family(it's kind of one of those life rules you never understand but follow like your life depended on it).

Every Puerto Rican needs a PR survival kit, and thanks to Rob I have my travel sized bottle of Adobo to make sure I am never without it. Rob was pretty disappointed when he found out I didn't keep it in my knife kit, so now I can be a good PR and never disappoint him again. Well I might disappoint him, but I'm going to try my hardest not to because of lack of Adobo.

You can take the girl out of the kitchen and she'll probably be sad till she gets back in. Sunday I will definitely be a not so happy Emily. I promise I won't bemoan it too much longer, but in the middle of a recession I found the job at the country club by emailing a woman in HR. I hate people in HR; they normally hate me, but this woman liked me and then the chef liked me and somehow I landed the job. So life worked out and it's been an awesome summer. I guess all summers come to an end. I'm going to try to enjoy every last bit I have.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily