Hands-on experiences are a priority.

Learning and practicing the foundations of culinary arts and processes are essential to your long-range success. Application of everything that you read and learn in the classroom must be practiced. Your learning will evolve and you will soon find yourself at a new level of learning. You will soon see the target. You will soon be in reach of the "Gold." Never underestimate your education, specifically the fundamentals of cookery, it is the foundation for everything that lies ahead of you. 

Do you have what it takes?

"The title and privilege of being a Chef is something that you must earn. Getting a certificate or diploma doesn't make you a chef. Hard work, sacrifice, and understanding  that there are no shortcuts, will eventually make you a Chef."

Read more from the book in the section "Being a Chef." by Mareva Lynde & Frank Leake

TEAMWORK (Hawaii's 2007 ACF Team in Training)

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.

The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives.

It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

Simply stated it is less me and more we.     ---Author Unknown

Shortcuts that culinary students and competitors try to use.

There are some shortcuts that are used by culinary students and competitors alike. These shortcuts include cutting back on practice time; spending less time than required in journaling and evaluating their own work (self-analysis); guessing at time and temperature requirements; poor planning when it comes to their own time management; questioning the coaches coaching, creating a diversion to hide their own weaknesses, alias="smoke and mirrors"; not following recipes and other technically specific directions...

The list of shortcuts goes on and on. Making it easy on yourself, well that's all that happens, you make it easy. You learn nothing except how to take the easy way out of everything that you do. This habit soon becomes a way of life, it becomes your signature and tells a story of who you really are. You determine your destiny, FOLLOWER or LEADER. You decide, you make it happen. 

A Most Valuable Lesson

John Erskine learned the most valuable lesson of his life when he was only fourteen years old. His piano teacher asked him, "How many times a week do you practice and how long do you practice each time?"

He told her that he tried to practice once daily for an hour or more.

"Don't do that," she responded. "When you grow up, up time won't come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them---five or ten before school, after lunch, between chores. Spread your practice throughout the day, and music will become a part of your life."

Her advise obviously worked. Erskine became a concert pianist who performed with the New York Philharmonic, and he later served as president of the Juilliard School of Music and director of the Metropolitan Opera Association. He also went on  to teach literature at Columbia University and wrote more than forty-five books. His most famous work, The Private Life of Helen of Troy, was written as he commuted to Columbia.

                                                                                        SUCCESS ONE DAY AT A TIME

- John C. Maxwell

Think about your day

Planning your day out before you arrive to the classroom, the practice session or the work site is imperative to your success. We call this "Psychological or Mental Mise en Place." There is no winning without this. What you formulate in your mind before arriving will pre-determine your outcome. Messy station = messy outcome. Cluttered mind = fewer accomplishments. before your attack a project or task physically, be sure to have it completely thought out in your own mind. Identify the target and stay focused. And above all else have a "Plan B, C, D, etc." Life has a way of getting in the way. Be able to jump to another plan in order to achieve a favorable outcome. "Psychological  or Mental Mise en Place" will help you nail your target.