Consommé and Minestrone

Monday morning, back to school. I stayed up late last night, trying to study for Monday's (2) quizzes, but there is so much information to cover. I already know that I screwed up one question - as soon as we were finished it hit me. Doh! Anyway, moving on to more fun and exciting stuff -- cooking!!
We were split into new kitchen groups by Chef Soren. I ended up in a group of three this time -- two guys and me. Our projects for the day were to make a consommé and a Minestrone. Half the class made veal consommé and the other half made chicken. We were a chicken group. I'll warn everyone now, I forgot to whip out the camera at the appropriate moments, so there will be no photos today. We also made a gorgeous Minestrone with pancetta added to it. Our consommé came out beautiful and clear and the Minestrone was fresh tasting and hearty. We all got to sit down to a lunch of our soups before cleaning the kitchen. Wonderful!
The other exciting thing I have to share -- this weekend, I received my birthday present from my bosses.

Beautiful, isn't it? It came with a lovely sweet note and a lucky penny. The handle is rosewood, the blade is high carbon surgical steel. I almost cried when I saw it.