Tuesday afternoon, I've got my second-term cooking practical. I like to make it very gangsta by pretending it's me against the world (!), but it's really not that bad. Basically, I'll enter a testing kitchen, have 150 minutes to knock out a soup, three sides, and a main entree. It's all gotta come out at the exact same time at the end of the testing period and I can't ask questions or receive any help. So it's a little tedious, but I feel some sort of confidence, though I'm nascent of the possibility of going down in a big ball of flames.

There are six stations with six different menus. You don't know which of the six you got until 15 minutes prior to starting, so it's a little frustrating because you can't just cram one menu in and know it by heart. There's some tough items, but the absolute worst is Station #4. Shallow poached Sole with Sauce Vin Blanc. It's the most work and has the least margin of error. So at 4pm tomorrow, be hoping that Station #4 doesn't call my number.