I am sipping coffee in my den this morning in a beautifully clean house.  I don't have work or school today.  I feel like weeping with the joy of it all!  More home Christmas decorating is in order and that makes me happy too.  God is good.
After speaking to a young girl yesterday who has a full time day job and goes to culinary school every evening (she was doing a make-up class with us) I was reminded of what a whiner I am.  Not a crybaby, clearly, but a whiner... I don't want to admit it, but there it is.  (How many times have I said this?  It is time to act!)
Yesterday during a break one of the chef's asked me if I remembered my knives?  What..?.Does every chef in the stinking school know I forgot my knives?  How can I distinguish myself if EVERYONE knows!! (Hm... that sound a bit like whining doesn't it?  What happened to acting on the whining problem, Gayle?  Well it was only 1 paragraph ago; this is a process people. )  I plan on regrouping from that fiasco and showing that my faux pas was an aberration, not the norm, unlike the whining problem.
Enough of all that! We cooked potatoes - a tournay of potatoes.  Crispy and crusty on the outside and absolute creamy, mouth-watering goodness on the inside.  These sculptures were made from red potatoes and are shaped like footballs, but have 7 even, very smooth, sides (unless it is the Fondant style, which has 6)) and two equally flat ends on which the potato can stand if you so choose.  Try it. You'll want to pull out all your hair. 
We simmered or boiled (it was a very gentle kind of rolling-ish boil) our tournays until al dente then pan fried (not to be confused with sauteed) them in olive oil until the were a light brown.  We then finished cooking them in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes.  The oil was then drained and these little bites of heaven were finished in  a little butter, some smashed, minced garlic (there is probably some fancy french word for that too), and finely chopped rosemary.  When one pops this potato in one's mouth, one does not care if one has patches of hair left on ones head or not.  This was the first time we actually got to cook at our stations instead of just watching.  What a way to start. :-]
That is almost all I remember of the day -  Tournayed potatoes!  Ahhh... (do you hear the full melodic chord of angels singing?)
Two things:  (1)I need to find out if tournay is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb in order to use it correctly! (2) I am not going to talk about the W word anymore I am either going to do it or not.  Okay,  three things, (3) When you ask this French chef how long it takes to cook something he gets this little gleam in his eye and says (don't forget the french accent) "Until it is done!"