Category: The residency started off bright and early this morning at 8 a.m. with the CCL class. While I’ve complained about this class quite loudly in the past, I must say that today’s session was excellent. After discussing some of the drier, anthropological background of China, we moved on to disputing some of this panel data, and finally to discussing the overall cultural tensions in the region (specifically, Communism vs. Western Democracy). This is exactly the type of discussion I was hoping for when I came into the CCMBA program, and wish we would’ve had the same opportunity for robust discussion in India.
Bartering is a whole lot easier when you speak Mandarin
After CCL, we then moved onto the team-switching & bonding events. This activity consisted of two parts: a discussion of the new team dynamics and expectations, and the team building event. Whereas in London, we had a more physical team building activity, today we instead took the time to learn about Chinese culture by visiting a local Chinese produce market, then taking a cooking class. With 50 RMB in hand, the team set out around the market to pick up four items: chicken eggs, asparagus, Cantonese pork, and green onions. Luckily, we had David on our team, whose Taiwanese background and Mandarin language skills helped us walk out of the market with 20 RMB to spare!
At the cooking school, we spent about 45 minutes watching and listening to the master chef explain how to make Lemon Chicken and Pork Fried Rice. In Mandarin. For some reason, I spent most of my time watching the translator instead of watching the chef (don’t know why, the translator was only speaking, not cooking), but luckily Taniya took robust notes. After watching this short lesson in cooking, the teams were unleashed in the training facility with a wok, a commercial open flame cooktop, the ingredients, and a one hour time-limit. In retrospect, combining inexperienced cooks with an open flame, deep frying, and a time limit may not have been the best idea…
Brian, Joel, and Adam - Perhaps a bit TOO excited.
I can’t say for sure what happened, as (luckily) I wasn’t facing in that direction, but the team in the cooking station next to us had an oil explosion. Most likely, the cause of this accident was adding water to boiling oil; nevertheless, the sound a the resulting could was pretty intense for that small of an area. While several students were hit with boiling oil spray, luckily no one was seriously injured (at least as of the bus ride home). That served as a wake-up call for everyone that this activity, though seemingly innocuous, needed to be taken very seriously.
Wide awake, I was in charge of cooking the cornstarch-breaded chicken in the boiling oil, which I have done before on a much smaller scale in my kitchen at home. Eight minutes later, this golden delight was chopped up, arranged into a ‘Great Wall’ pattern, then garnished with the lemon sauce and lemon slices. The team also completed the fried rice dish, and it was on to judging!
See, you can’t just have a cooking class in an MBA program, there needs to be some level of competition involved; otherwise it would just be cooking when we should’ve been eating. Rather than getting to judge our own performances, each team had to submit their creation to the head chef, who rated the dishes based on taste, presentation, and teamwork while cooking. Knowing the author of this post, it should come as no surprise when I say…
Section 2, Team 2 was the WINNER of the Lemon Chicken cookoff!
With fantastic teamwork, preparation, and obtaining the perfect level of golden, crispy texture, the head chef presented us with signed aprons as our trophy. The aprons are nice and all, but the better reward followed as a compliment: “This is the only Lemon Chicken in the group that could be presented at a restaurant.” Score!
Oil explosion aside, I think I speak for everyone involved when I say today was a great first step in the journey with our new teams. Semester 4 has definitely gotten off to a great start!
Team Deuce Deuce: Success never tasted so good!
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