Entering the Finishing Stretch

Good evening! I really do need to start this earlier, but I had to study for my Skills I written final tomorrow. Feeling pretty confident. And the practical exam is 3 hours long on Thursday... Last day for the block and then SUMMER BREAK!!!

Today in class we roasted our last batch of bludgeoned baby cow bones (veal... hehe) for making stock, and the stock mirepoix. No more before break! No more ovens at 500 degrees! And we made #4 out of 5 Mother Sauces, Espagnole, or brown, sauce, and also the contemporary version--Jus de Veau Lie. The former uses roux, and the later uses corn starch. one of the biggest differences. The latter is also fortified with maillard veal. I was excellent on both. Very happy. And with no knife tray, we got out of class way early, which was nice since it was so hot! Oh, and the other four sauces are veloute, bechamel, hollandaise, and tomato. I'll go into those tomorrow after I discuss tomato. We do that in class tomorrow.

So back to Fort Worth...

When last I wrote, Cory seemed better, but it was all smoke and mirrors. He was seeing a new guy and things seemed to be going well. I came home from work on a Wednesday evening and they had just finished eating dinner that they cooked. Cory never cooked. He reheated... And then they got all snuggly on the couch, poking and tickling at each other, giggling like giddy school girls, and then went back to Cory's room and went to bed. Who knew what was to come...

I was off work on Tuesday and Thursday that week, as was Cory by coincidence, and the two of us spent all day on Tuesday cleaning the house. Me on the inside, him on the outside and the yard. And I told him that I was taking Gracie to the groomer on Thursday, so she'd be missing, in case he wondered where she was. I woke up late on Thursday morning, and rushed out the door to get Gracie to her appointment at the groomer by 11am. I planned to drop her off and do some shopping and run errands. I stopped into Williams-Sonoma and bought a 10" Shun Chef Knife on sale (it was still about $150, down from $200), and I was so excited about it that I took it to work to show it off to my coworkers. I remember my friend Devin was so happy for me that she took a picture of me holding my new knife. Then I went upstairs to the office and ran into my friend and boss, Karon and was chatting with her when the call came...

Patrick called my cell, and I sent it to voicemail because I was in a conversation and figured I'd call him back after. Then I got the text telling me to call him 9-1-1... I called him and he told me that something had happened to Cory, but he wasn't sure of the situation, but that he thoughty Cory may have killed himself and that people were trying to reach me. I was standing in a hallway and my boss, hearing me repeating every word, yanked me into the closest office and shut the door.

I asked the questions, Patrick told me what he could; what he knew, and my knees just went out from under me and I hit the floor. Wow, this is hard... Harder than I thought it would be... Bottom line, I needed to head home and sort things out. I needed to get Gracie from the groomer and get home. And as I was trying to get my thoughts back in operational function, everyone was asking if there was anything they could do, could they drive me, do I need them to get Gracie... Then the call came in at work from the police, telling me that Cory was deceased, but they couldn't make a ruling on homicide or suicide until they interviewed me, and could I come home right away. I was in shock, and I had to fight to keep my thoughts together. Everyone was surprised how well I was handling it, but hey--that's what the military did for me--taught me to compartmentalize and get on with the mission. So I hunkered down, got my thoughts together and did what I had to do. Made arrangements at work, called the groomer and told them the situation and that they need to get Gracie done ASAP because I was on my way to pick her up and take her home. It was the longest drive of my life... And I don't remember it...

With that, I'm going to leave you with another cliffhanger for tonight. In the next edition, arriving at home with emergency services and family on the front lawn...

Thank you for reading.

Clear Consommes and Precision Knife Cuts