My final grade and some other things on my mind....

Ok, so now that Intro II is officially over and i am finally on break, i'll have some time to catch up with what's been brewing in the kitchen at school thus far. Well I did ok on my written portion of the exam, in which we were provided a scantron similar to the exams in college classes. I scorred 89% on it, not bad. then there was the "notebook". I dont know if i mentioned the notebook before but its basically ALL the recipes, notes, handouts, and additional readings we collect for the class. It needs to be SUPER organized, all homeworks and notes MUST be types, there needs to be a table of conetents as well as a sectional table of contents (therefore it needs appropriate dividers), o yes, and every paper must be in a plastic sheet protector. Dude i swear, its like evidence of an OCD patient. O yes, and did i forget to mention the most time-consuming part of all this, every page must be numbered. and since i cant write on the plastic covers, i stick numbered labeles on each and every page, front to back. right well, anyhow apparently i am not OCD enough cause i got a 71 (out of 100) points for that. On my chicken trussing (you know, when you tie the chicken legs together with butcher twine) and fabrication, i got 100 and suprisingly on my fish fabrication, i got 100 as well. I was a bit shocken because i had to fillet a flat fish, a sole, and those are tricky. Have any of you actuall seen a whole sole? they look like tile fish, they swim sorta up and down, as opposed to round fish like salmon or sea bass that swim side to side and resemble goldfish crackers in shape. On my actual cooking, i was pretty pleased with my grade. Not a single dish scored below 90 and the only harsh comments were that my mahi mahi appetizer was slightly undercooked and that my cubes of carrots in my consomme were not perfectly uniform. Minor things really, so in the end, i got a 94 in the class leaving me with an A. Yay! i was extra happy especially after seeing that a lot of my peers got C's and D's. Only a select few got A's and thankfully, they were those that i truly see as potentially successful chefs in the making. So now i go from being super busy to, um, less so. I might have a few catering gigs for the holidays which will be nice cause i could certainly use the extra cash. but other than that, i'll be home alone since my dad will be in Israel. I was offered to go as its been a tradition to visit my mom (who's buried there) since she died Dec 28 in 2000. but I've been to Israel numerous times, i dont have many breaks from school, and i am already rather burned out and dont know if i can handle the VERY long distance trip. Anyhow, i am hoping to also catch up on nutritious junk and there's a chance me and tanya from iateapie will be doing a podcast about healthy meal ideas. To the right is the shrimp gumbo i made last week, btw. For the few readers that i visit this site, thank you, and i promise more stimulating posts to come!

finals, day 1!

Gah i am pissed! first of all, i wrote up this long post detailing how my first day of cooking finals went and like the dork i am, hit backspace and poof! i jeeze i just got back from class and and i am too tired to gab all about it after JUST writing about it, so i'll fill you in about it tomorrow, for now heres the shrimp gumbo i made on laste thursday (do you people still want recipes???)

Stuffed leg!

One of our chefs didnt make it on tuesday so the sub demo-ed this dish which is rather tricky because you have to debone the leg and thigh, stuff it, with dried apricots, and roll it up and pray it wont break apart. Mine wouldn't get done too! its easy to undercook it and everyone knows raw chicken is no good. alas, it was alright in the end.

Review week

I apologize for not updating recently. Ive been very busy aside from school as I am currently finishing up my UCLA application. I plan to go to to their acting program after I am done at the Le Cordon Bleu so i need to get my application in by friday. I am very nervous, i got rejected the first time (before i attended U.C. Santa Barbara) so i am crossing my fingers they'll let me in.
Anyhow, friday was "Fried Chicken Friday". Our class made a fried chicken dinner served family style with the classic biscuits, gravy, greens, and black eyes peas to accompany the fried chicken. I thought it would be fun but to be honest, i realize how much i like cooking by myself. Not to say that i dont work well with people, in fact i love working and cooking with people. but a lot of times i find myself wanting more control over situations and its hard when other team member disregard your suggestions and you end up with a less than perfect product. anyhow, i cant say i really like southern style food all that much, but i did get to sample some food from the hawaiian buffet the student from the international cooking class were having. Next week is the last week before finals, so we will be doing a mixture of dishes that will encompass all the meats we've learned about. I think i truly have new respect/love for pork now. its lean, tasty, and suprsingly, fairly cheap compared to other meats I like. I am also really liking the Chefs this term. I miss chef woodstock and i visit him often and bring him food i've made sometime, but these new chefs are closer to my age so i feel a bit more relaxed with them (as opposed to chef woodstock who was about my fathers age).
The class is a lot smaller than what it was when we first started, many switch to a different class and some dropped. I was hoping to have more close knit friends, but i can say that I am that close to anybody in the class simply because they are very different from me. O well, i love the friends I have outside of school who are great and always ready and willing to try ANYTHING i make.

veal scaloppini!

I was supposed to beat mine down a lot finer (i thought it was TOO thin, but i guess not thin enough). I was a bit embarrassed with this actually. My risotto was overcooked (and if you remember when i first learned how to make risotto i nailed it everytime). My sauce was excellent though...

Veal meatballs!

I dont eat veal because i;ve heard about how they slaughter it (or rather how its kept BEFORE slaughter) but i tried the artichokes in this and they were very good. I would defiently make these at home with some other type of lean meat

Lamb chops!

here's the pictures of the lamb chops i promised. they turned out great! i love mustard and a coated it with plenty of dijon!

Veal, Lamb, and Pork, O My!

Yep, this week its all about the three "other" meats. On monday we had a written quiz on seafood and fish, then a practical where we simply needed to fabricate a chicken and cook off on of the breasts however we liked it. THEN, and this is where i got kinda sick, Chef Kahuna fabricated a WHOLE lamb carcas! Its huge! and it looked so much like a live lamb (minus skin and head of course) that i really lost all taste for lamb. I am not a vegetarian or one of those peta activsits but i cant say i dont feel for the animal. Most of the guys in the class were in awe of this giant lamb. Anyhow, today we cooked it. We made lamb chops (I'll load those pictures up tomorrow)and lamb kabobs. My Chef said i did a good job on both which is great, but i couldn't eat it. So i went into the baking II class next door and traded my chops for chocolate truffles! I cant wait till baking II (next term will be baking I, then baking II). tomorrow is veal meatballs, and dont think i'll eat veal either, i just dont think its that good and i do have a problem with it being a baby cow. anyhow, i am exhausted as i just got back home from class but i will load those pictures (and would u like the recipe for the lamb as well?)

This weeks recipes!

I know, people are itching for the fabulous recipes of the food i made this week. So here are a few. Mind you, i figured most of you are somewhat health concious so i took the liberty of sub-ing some of my own ingredients for the massive amounts of butter that these recipes call for. but if you have no problem with butter, you may simply use it (i put my suggestions next to the "butter" on the ingredient list)

Poached Salmon in Court Bouillon (pictured)
(serves 1)
4 cups water
3 tbs white wine vinegar
1ea onion, sliced
1/2ea carrot, peeled and sliced
1/2 ea celery rib
1/4 tsp crushed peppercorns
1 thyme sprig
1 parsley sprig
1 bay leaf
5-6oz fillet of salmon
2 tbs salt

Bring all of the ingredients (expcept the salmon) to a simmer in a pot. Once simmered simply add the salmon and allow it to poach for about 15 min or until flesh is firm. (in the picture, it has hollandaise draped over it. i personally dont like hollandaise but if you do, its nothing but clarified butter, a little water, lemon juice, egg yolk and cayenne pepper mixed VERY rapidly over a simmering pot of water. A lot of elbow grease for a sauce that i think tastes like spicy rubber).

BlCKENED fISH
1 salmon fillet (cleaned and skinned)
1/2 t vegtable oil (i prefer oliver oil)
Blackening Seasoning
1 tsp each of Ancho chili powder, paprika, ground oregano, ground thyme
1/2tsp ea of onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, black pepper, white pepper, and salt

Coat the fish with the seasoning and on a VERY HOT pan (coated with the oil) "blacken" the fish on both side for about 4 min per side and finish off in the oven for about 5 min. Its important you place the fish on a VERY hot pan when you fist put it in otherwise it WILL stick. This rule actually applies so all protein, even eggs.

Roasted Poblano Chili Sauce
2 Poblano chilis, raosted, peeled and seeded, the purreed
2 oz onion, lightly carmelized (we carmelized them in butter, i would us olive oil if making this at home)
a litte "touch of cream" (you dont NEED this, i prefer it without but its part of the standard recipe)
salt and pepper to taste

carmelize onions in oil, and purred pepper and strain. transfer strained liquid to another small sautee pan (ad cream here if you wish) and let it reduce a little. season accordingly.

Fish week wraps up, and check out the seabass!

This is my first whole fish dish. Its probably the best tasting to be honest. I had to fabricate the whole fish. Yep, meaning taking out all the guts, heart, liver and all the gooey insides AND scaling it. Note that scaling it does not mean removeing the skin. The scales are clear, so its actaully hard to tell it they are all off. You need to run you finger down the fish and make sure its smooth. this seabass was very easy to prepare and one of the few dishes we've made thats not doused with butter (giving health junkies like a me a break finally!). You simply saute some cremini mushrooms and shallots with a little olive oil, add some wine and reduce a bit. then you take your whole fish and stuff it with parsley, basily, lemon, and thyme. You then score its skin about three times (to prevent the skin from drying our and curling the fish. Then you add a little water or chicken stock to that pan, add the stuffed fish, and bake it at 350 for 30-45 min. When its done, remove the fish and with the remaning sauce, you add some chopped tomatoes, and chopped herbs (probably the ones you used to stuff the fish). cook a little and then simply pour it over the fish when it's ready to serve. today i forgot my camera, but we made fish n'chips (super healthy!) and salmon baking in parchment with gnocchi! I've never made gnocchi before! it was so fun and delicious, and chef Kahuna said mine were perfect. My fish on the other hand was under done :(. Do you guys want some of these recipes? anyhow, lots more to write about but i just got back from class and am exhausted, but i'll upload some more photos and write more tomorrow!

Grilled Salmon with Poblano Chili Sauce!

I made this tonight, its was PERFECT except that i forgot to season my rice. this actually is healthier than my previous salmon since we only used olive oil.

Poached Salmon!

I also made this tuesday. Its looks healthy, poached salmon with steamed veggies BUT its doused with hollandaise (which is made with a lot of clarified butter) and those potato gauffretts were indeeed deep fried. Honestly, kind of a boring dish but it was my first attempt at salmon.

Mussels!

I made these tuesday, it was pretty good, i overcooked my pasta slightly (i tend to do that when its freshly made. Can you believe this is an appetizer!) it was delicious though!

My pics are coming, and a great mussels recipe!

I know i promised pictures, but i got home later than expected last night and i am tech inept so i need to wait for my dad to get home and help me upload them. anyhow we made poached salmon with potato gauffrets (little waffle-shaped fried potatos) and mussels with pasta. I love mussels! so i thought i'd share the recipe (you may add pasta with the mussels, but this is often an appetizer and frnekly, i think pasta is a bit too filling for an appetizer).
40 mussels (20 per person)
4 oz. dry white wine
2 tsp. onions, spring or scallions (includes tops and bulb)
1 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. butter, with salt
1/4-tsp. bay leaf
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
1 tsp. freeze-dried chives
salt and pepper

Directions:


Scrub and debeard the mussels, discarding any that remain open.

Combine the wine, onions, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary and garlic and bring to a simmer.

Add mussels, cover the pot and steam until the shells open.

Remove the mussels and keep them warm while finishing the sauce.

Strain the steaming liquid, add parsley, chives, and mint and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve the sauce ladled over the mussels.
(if you interested in the nutition info its roughly per serving: calories, 150 calories and serves two)

Hey there Skinny Chef!

I know i have not posted a lot recently, mainly because i haven't had class since before thanksgiving. Monday night i have my Beef Quiz and then we have a fish and shellfish lecture as we beging fish/shellfish week. I promise i'll start taking pictures of my dishes each night becuase they truly are goregeous this quarter (as opposed to last term where it was simple stuff like rice and hollandaise). We also do a whole salmon fabication after our lecture, this could be fun, and fishy i guess. I am sorta glad to be doing fish because i love almost all seafood. Plus its super healthy, a good source of protein and omega 3's. Shrimp and oysters are also good sources of iron (oysters even have calcium, i prefer oysters to a glass of milk anyday!). Speaking of health, i feel a bit "different" when it comes to nutrition and health as opposed to the rest of the class. what i mean by "different" is that i seem to be the only person who cares maybe, or maybe iam the only person educated on it. The rest of the class will need to take a nutrtion academics class i believe in a few terms (i got out of it cause i studied it in college). I am not a crazy calorie counter but since i know a lot about nutrtion, i am mindful of the food's nutrtional value. For example, i am probably the only person in the class that thinks "why are we using clarified butter (buter with all the milk and water evaporated, basically fattier butter) when we can just as easily use canola oil?". I realize its not about nutrition, its about taste, but sometimes i just think about some dishes we make and think, "ok, this can still be delcious and be healthier". Maybe thats what I'll do with my career, open a GOOD tasting healthy resturant or write a healthier GOOD gourmet tasting cookbook. I dont remember who it was but someone once told me, you should never trust a skinny chef. I disagree. Although my chef instructors this term are a bit on the chubby side, Chef French and Woodstock were very slender and fit. People naturally come in all shapes and sizes, and their food shouldn't be judged on their pudgy-ness (or lack thereof). skinny chefs also doesn't mean they dont taste their food. Thats hogwash! all good chefs taste their food. I HATE cheese, i am even a little lactose intolerant, but i taste my dishes, even if they have cheese in them. Mind you TASTE is rather different than having it as a meal. One is meant to tickle your palatte, the other is meant to keep you full. Some the best chefs around are slender, Julia Child, my hero was fairly slender, Nigella Lawson could model, Martin Yan was pretty trim, and Gordon Ramsey is farily skinny. Dont judge a chef, or anyone for that matter, on their body. the one exception I'd be wary of is that creepy purple grimace icon from McDonalds. dude, a purple blob selling my quarter pounders? yea, ok, I'll pass on that one.

Turkey Coma

Hello everyone, not sure how many americans read this blog (not sure how many read this period but since nutritious junk for some reason gets a lot of canadian and british readers, maybe they found there way here), Happy Thanksgiving! Honestly, i dont care much for this holiday, and part of it is that stupid shopping day the day after. Black friday, as its known. I cant believe a discount on a semi-pointless item is motivation enough for some people to wake up at 3:30 am (or do they even go to bed? because i've totally stayed up until 4 before) to get to the stores at 4 and make their way through an stampede of other people just as crazy as you (or more, because they must have gotten there BEFORE you). Good lord, i enjoy shopping but not like this! Wel its done and over with. My turkey was OK, people told me it was good, i thought they were just being nice, or maybe so used to dry turkey that this was excellent according to their previous experiences. My dad forgot the stuffing and green beans in fridge back at our house, and my roulade was a teeny underdone. Ehh, whatevs. At least i dont get graded on this. I did make a fantastic roasted garlic mashed cauliflower (or "faux-tatoes" as i like to call them). I put in four cloves which was A LOT but i loved it! I didn't get to workout today which sorta pissed me off because on stressful days like this, i sorta rely on it to take my edge off. Thats ok though, since i am avoiding all malls tomorrow, i'll have plenty of time to blow off steam and maybe do some homework (believe it or not we get so many written assingments). What sorta bothers me about thanksgiving is that its like a little red carpet for all those relatives that havent seen you in a while. meaning...its like a little judgment session. What are you doing, how are you looking, what are you studying, where are you working, on and on...Its rather annoying filling people in and responding to less than nice comments. for instance, i just loved it how my dad introduces me to new people.
"this is my daughter, she took a year off school to go to Le Cordon Bleu"
First of all, this isn't a vacation, i am not taking anything off, i am more busy than i ever was in college. People can sleep their way through college and still get degrees. You defiently cannot just sleep through this! you need to be so passionate and have the energy to keep up with the rigorous demands. I dont think its for everyone. Now that I've gotten to know my classmates better, i am noticing some real chefs in rough, and some people that i really feel sorry for. Its like trying to be funny. You cant exactly fake it, and you cant fake passion, and i do think some people in the class really lack that. Its funny too because i know so many people NOT in culinary school that completely belong there, mostly their scared to take the plunge, but little do they know its a blessing for them if they just attended. I think i ll write up a post later on whether or not culinary school might be a place where you belong. hope everyone is recovering from their national day of eating and shopping.

Beef, its whats for dinner, but not tomorrow!

ahh, so last week was poultry, this week is all about beef! since most of you know from nutiritious junk, i am not big on beef. I like filet mignon and a good burger from time to time, but i dont tend to crave it like i do with shrimp and lobster. We saw a video all about the extensive parts of the cow and cuts that are servable from it. seeing that carcas hung up gave me the willies, i am not vegetarian now, but i do feel a bit guitly for the poor old cow. Cow are kinda cute, especially the one with earings on the babybell cheeses. anyhow, so i made hungarian goulash with chuck yesterday and the class as a whole roasted a huge rib eye. I admit, it was bloody but yes, delcious. i think today its just sauteed steak but beef week is cut short because of the turkey day weekend. I'll be in charge this year of the meal (its about time, i havent cooked for others since starting culinary school!) and i'll post some pictures from my spread. I am going to be a little untradtional, since my family, is indeed a little untradtional. I actually wont be spending it with most of my family, the only member will be my dad since my sister is having it a her husband's grandmothers house, and most of my family lives in Israel/Australia/Beligum and anywhere besides the US. anywho, ill post some stories of thanksgiving past tomorrow in between my basting the turkey. Stay tuned!

Wrap up of poulty week and thanksgiving!

So on friday we said our goodbuys to poultry as we begn beef on monday. I mad a delicious Coq au Vin that with chicken pieces that marinated overnight in burgundy wine! ah they were so beautifully purple! then we seared them off in a deep pan and flambeed them with some brandy! They were nice and mighty drunk but so delicious, the meat litterally fell off the bone! We also learned how to make Chicken roulade and i was so nervous mine would fall apart on me but it turned out great and Chef Kahuna loved it. It was served with a port wine sauce which nearly broke down on my when i served it. Its strnage, my meats have all been fantastic, but my sauces always break down on me. grrrr.... very frustrating, but i hear that pan sauces are indeed the most difficult thing to master (its very much a chemistry understanding of heat, and thickening, other stuff on that chem nature which i never warmed up to at school).
Anyhow, on nutritious junk i posted so thanksgiving recipes and thought i'd continue posting them here, so enjoy them!

Healthier cornbread stuffing

1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh parsley (2 tsp. dried)
1 tsp. ground sage
1 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 packages (12 oz. each) unseasoned cornbread stuffing cubes
3 cups chicken stock (fat-free/low salt)
1/2 cup egg substitute (or 4 egg whites)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a medium nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add the celery and onions. Cook over medium heat until tender. Stir in herbs, seasoning and spices. Lightly spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray. Place the cornbread cubes in casserole. Add onion and celery mixture, 2 cups of broth and egg substitute. Gently toss. Drizzle with remaining broth to moisten bread thoroughly; gently toss again to mix well. Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes or until heated through.
nutritional analysis per serving: 135 calories, 1 gram fat

Cranberry Chutney
Ever notice how cranberry sauce is like a sugar mine? this one is low in sugar and big on flavor! But it is a rather tart chutney, so if its sweet your after, you can add more splenda or honey.
1 cup raw cranberries
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Splenda®
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup finely chopped celery
1 medium apple, peeled and chopped
Directions:

Simmer all ingredients except apple in saucepan for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add chopped apple and cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
Cool. Serve as an accompaniment to turkey, fish, or pork.

per 1/4 cup serving: 30 calories, no fat, 2.5 g fiber

the Bird!
Orange-Sage Roasted Turkey

1 (15-lb.) fresh or frozen turkey, thawed
Cooking spray
1/2 cup chopped fresh sage
2 Tbsp. grated orange rind
1 1/8 tsp. salt, divided
1 1/4 cups fresh orange juice (about 3 oranges), divided
2 Tbsp. honey, divided
1 orange, quartered
1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Remove and discard giblets and neck from turkey. Rinse turkey with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under turkey (kinda like doing a full nelson on a turkey ;).

3. Place turkey on the rack of a broiler pan or roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Combine the sage, rind and 1 teaspoon salt. Rub sage mixture under skin and inside the cavity. Combine 1/4 cup juice and 1 tablespoon honey; pour over turkey. Place orange quarters inside body cavity.

4. Insert meat thermometer into meaty part of thigh, making sure not to touch bone. Bake at 325 degrees for three hours or until meat thermometer registers 180 degrees. Cover turkey loosely with foil, and let stand for 10 minutes. This is very important, if you dont let it stand the juices will escape and you'll end up with a very dry bird. throw away the skin and orange wedges. Remove turkey from pan, reserving pan drippings for sauce put the turkey on a platter; keep warm.

5. To make the sauce, pour reserved pan drippings into a zip-top plastic bag. Seal bag; snip off one corner of bag. Drain drippings into a medium saucepan, stopping before the fat layer reaches the opening; discard fat. (You should have about 2/3 cup drippings; add enough water or fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth to make up the difference, if necessary).

6. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup juice, and 1 tablespoon honey to drippings in pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer one minute. Combine 1/2 cup juice and cornstarch in a small bowl; add to drippings mixture. Bring to a boil, and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Serve sauce with turkey.

Makes 16 servings (serving size: 5 ounces turkey and 2 tablespoons sauce). Nutritional values per serving: 261 calories 7g fat 41g protein

Stewed Cinnamon Apples!
nice as a side dish to turkey or as dessert with son whipped cream or nonfat frozen yogurt!
6 cups chopped peeled Granny Smith apples (about 2 lbs.)
1/4 cup splenda (about 7 packets if your cheap like me and steal them from starbucks)
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 45 minutes or until apple is tender, stirring occasionally. Let stand five minutes.

Makes eight servings (serving size: 1/4 cup). Nutritional values per serving: 90 calories, 0g fat

Apricot glazed brussle sprouts!
I adapted this from the "A Veggie Venture" website. she used apricot perserves, i just substituted the sugar free smuckers version
Salted water to cover
1 1/2 pounds fresh Brussels sprouts, trimmed and X'd

GLAZE:
1/2 cup fruit preserves, apricot or peach (you may use the real thing, i used the smuckers sugar free and it works just fine)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
8 ounces canned sliced water chestnuts, drained and sliced into matchsticks

TOPPING:
1 tablespoon toasted nuts (almonds or pecans would be nice)

Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add sprouts, cover and adjust heat to maintain a slow simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until Brussels sprouts are fully cooked but still bright green. Drain and return to the hot saucepan.

Meanwhile, bring the glaze ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour over hot, cooked sprouts and stir to coat well. [You could pause for a few minutes here but cover to keep the sprouts hot.] Transfer to a serving dish. Top with toasted nuts.

Serves about 10 Per Serving: 80 Cal 3 g Protein; 1 g Tot Fat 4 g Fiber

Grilling and the social scene!

So we did our gilled chicken yesterday, learning how to do it properly (cause most people completely mess it up) and making the perfect grill marks. It was served on a bed of rice pilaf with a red pepper coulis (a roasted red pepper sauce). My sauce broke down on me and was too thin, but Chef Kahuna said my chicken was emitting juices (a GOOD SIGN, its the opposite of a dry chicken which can taste like chalk). Today we do duck which is a darker meat than chicken and has a LOT of skin, so much so we took piece off to render it down into huge pots full of pure cholestorol! Wonder why ducks float? yep its that thick layer of fat that surronds their skin. Tomorrow i need to make Coq Au Vin and write an essay on its origin (would you like me to post that as well, do any of you even care?).
I realized i havent talked much about the social scene in class. Well, i notice now its really not that much different from the people that were in my dorms in college. Sure they take night classes, but a lot of them are younger than me (like 18 or 19) and still after two things, booze and drugs. this makes me sad, i thought I might find people with different interests than the college crowd i was used to. and incase you didnt notice, those two things are not really my scene. dont get me wrong. i've smoked a doobie here and there (although NEVER ciggaretes, sorry, its just that I saw my mom die in the respitory intensive care unit and the hospital and that just did it for me), and its not like i dont enjoy alcohol. I do, but i dont like getting drunk or sick. I went to the biggest party school in west coast so i had to take care of a lot of drunk people and i never want to go through the embarassment of someone doing that for me. I think good food and exercise is my drug. Believe nothing gets me off like a good block of rich chocolate and nice run. so i am noticing that i am gravitating towards the older people and even the chefs which this term are very young (under 30!). anyway, my carpool is honking and i need to sharpen my knives. hopefully i'll have time to write if i get let out early! thanks guys for reading!

Intro to Culinary Arts II !

so yesterday was the first day of Intoduction to Culinary Arts II. The biggest difference between this class and my last on is that we will be learning to work with protiens like poultry, fish, beef, lamb, etc. Plus, we serve complete dishes (each must have a protein, starch, and vegetable) and in between a certain time window (to mimic what its like to turn out plates on time for when you work at a resturant). My new chef is kinda laid back, hes huge, like the green giant, but soft spoken so a friendly giant. He graduated from the same culinary school but 7 years ago. The first day we had a little lecture about poultry (next week is beef, than fish...) and we had to "fabricate" two chickens and truss them. Fabrication is merely butchering off the breasts, wings, thighs, drunsticks, etc. Trussing is putting it under arrest, or just tying it's legs together and then binding it at its neck so its all compacted together. Today we only need to produce one dish: herb roasted chicken, with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, pan gravy, and zuchinni and squash tournes. My potatos were out of this world, but it seemed like forever until mychicken would get done. You have to test it's temperature and it needs to be at least 165 degrees. Mine kept reading 140 or 150. But my time limit was nearing so i just busted it out of the oven, carved it nicely, and served it. My new chef, lets call him Chef Kahuna (cause he looks kinda hawaiian), said my gravy was not emulsified enough, but that my chicken was perfect, juicy, moist, and flavorful. woo hoo. He also busted my for chewing gum during class, o well., i am not perfect, but i need to get the garlicy taste out of my mouth from my mashed potato tasting! well tomorrow's menu is grilled chicken with rice pilaf, red bell pepper couli, green beans, and tortilla soup. Going with a south of the border theme i see....

"Deep Cleaning" and my final grade!

So today we basically chillaxed (its chill and relax, incase you thought it was some sort of typo which i am infamous of doing) and cleaned the labs (the kitchens, we call them labs i guess to make it seem more scientific) and had a one on one with our instructor. I was so happy! Chef Woodstock said, "I think you doing pretty darn well, i did think you conomme was very salty but overall you did just fine. On cooking i got a 91, an 88 on the "notebook", 97 on performance, and overall all i got a solid "A" for the term as i averaged out a 93.3. I was happy, some people did slightly better, most got away with a b, and i did over hear some C's, but honestly its from students who i think really alck the heart for this. its the kids that miss class, smoke and drink a lot, and fairly young. Ehh, i dont want to be one to judge, i got loads of C's in college and a select few in high school algebra. But i am very happy that i am content with my grade. i think i tried, i think i deserved it, no more (i am devoted, but this isn't the only thing in my life), no less. Perfetly seasoned! anyhow, monday is intro II !! Eeek! new instructors and meats! I cant only hope I'll do just as well. Sit tight readers (if there are any, i really am begining to doubt people read this), we've only just begun!

ALL DONE!

Woo hoo! today was my last day of finals! tomorrow we get our "exit interviews" where the chefs tell us our grade while the rest of the class cleans the bottoms of the pots and pans (exciting, no?). Anyhow, I am fairly pleased with my cooking. Yesterday was the most difficult day but i finished with an hour to spare! in fact, the chef came by as i was cleaning up and told me to go take a break or get some coffee because i worked so hard. I could barely believe it! was he that impressed at how i managed to finished everything so quickly or was he seeing through my aching body as i was dying to crawl into bed and catch up on much deprived sleep? anyhow, took it as a complement. Today was short but tricky, I had to make Pommes Lyonaise (1/2 in sliced potatos that are fried and served with fried onions), a fine herb omlette, sauteed spinach, and Girodoine (Hollandaise mixed with dijon mustard). The catch, this all needed to be presented at once. its tricky cause the omlette will begin to cook itself if it lays around for too long and the spinach will wilt if it does too. Also, you need 100% attenetion when you work on a hollandaise (not good for multitasking). I worked on my onions for the Lyonaise first, concetrating on browning them and NOT burning them (the biggest mistake people tend to make on this dish). Then i fried the potato medalions and set those aside with a bowl on top to lock in the heat. I next worked my wisk at the hollandaise (although thanks god i caught up with a further along in the program student yesterday that told me the key is to move the wisk side to side, not around). The sauteed spinach was what i did next (it took litterally 30 seconds becuase longer can make it change color, and then devoted another 30 seconds to my omlette. TADA! fini! and i believe i was the second dish turned in of the night. I am a natural multitasker, in fact, its rare i find myself doing only one thing at a time. Even when i eat, i need to be reading or even watching tv, or talking on the phone, or something! Perhaps the one exception is driving, but i am prone to do my friend check ups while in bumper to bumper traffic. Well tomorrow i get me grade and on monday, sadly, no more Chef French and Chef Woodstock. I'll really miss them and i am a little nervous about getting new chefs. SO Intro I (the name of the class i just took) is done and monday i begin Intro 2 which is more focused on meats and fish and other interesting things (becuase this class was uber basic). Yay! i cant wait to eat those dishes cause i am sick and tired of rice pilaf and potatos!

Day three of finals!

so i did day two last night. as you saw in my preveious post, a lot of dishes bu simple one, today is the tricky one. Well yesterday was ok, i think. its very strange in the kitchen as we are not allowed to talk. I first got my potatos boiling for the pommes duchess, and then got my white roux working for my bechemel. the bechemel just needs 10-15 min to simmer so during that time i got my carrots cooking for the glazed carrots. i turned in my bechemel first, and by that time my carrots were ready so i turned them in next. so i got to work on my blanched broccoli. i think i may have left them in for too long, but i tried a few and they were ok, but maybe to mushy for the chefs standards. I then proceeded to braising endives because that can take 30 min. in that time i got the food mill going for the duchess. it was tough because i assembled the food mill wrong! any how i got it to work and piped my little roses of potato on the sheet pan. So while that was in the oven i got the pilaf going. I pulled it off with time to spare, but i am not sure i did fantastic, ok, but not perfect. anyhow, after we finished, we had 40 min of prep for today's menu which is super complicated. Iam nervous about the carbonara, the eggs always curdle on me! and the french onion soup my turn out a bust, it has before. anyhow, i'll let you know how it goes, hopefully we'll get out early...

Finals Day two!

So after completing the written portion of the final and our knife cuts, we were given the weeks menu and time for prep for today. tonight i have to make the following
-Blanched broccoli
-Braised Endives
-Glazed carrots (oblique cut)
- Bechemel sauce
- rice pilaf
-Pommes Duchess (basically mashed potatoes piped into little roses and baked, gorgeous but honestly taste kinda strange)

fairly simple and easy, but then again,i have no clue how much time they will give us to present all these. tomorrow is really tough, i have the following:
-pasta carbonara (i need to make the pasta too)
-cream of tomato soup
-French Onion soup
-Chicken Consomme
-Rissoto Quatre Fromagio (three cheese risotto)

those all take a lot of time and can be messed up if neglected. we'll see, i am so nervous....

Some Recipes I need to memorize!

again, i apologize if you guys are bored with this, but i need to memorize these as we aren't allowed to have our recipe cards during the exam. anyhow, here is the recipe for Pasta Bolognese:
1/2 tbl butter (of course to be healthy, i'd only use olive oil if i were making this at home for myslef)
1/2 tbl olive oil
1 oz ham
2oz each of onion, celery, and carrot (aka, mirepoix)
2 oz mushrooms
2 oz each of ground beef, pork, and veal (once again, i'd just use lean ground beef, tofu, chicken or turkey)
1 garlic glove
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup stock
2 cups tomato sauce
1 bouquet garni (celery, leek leaf, bay leaf, and parsley wraped in a string)
salt/pepper

Heat butter/olive oil in a sauce pan, add ham and mirepoix and sweat unitl carmelized. set aside
Brown the mushrooms in the remaining fat and set aside
Add the ground meats and saute until brown, add the garlic and saute unitl aromatic
Deglaze the wine and reduce until almost dry (aka, au sec)
Add the stock, tomato sauce, bouquet garni, and ham/mirepoix/mushrooms that were set aside earlier.
Cover and simmer for 45 min and season.

you may use any noodle you'd like, it works weel with shiritaki noodles as well!

just spitting out some info!

One of the first things we learned at culinary school was how to make stock. Its very simple, but actually has a detailed prep and a good stock can make other good things, but a bad stock can equal a bad soup, bad rice, bad sauce, bad risotto, etc. You get the picture and how there are 7 key pricples to makeing stock and imust know them backwards and forwards. so here is is!
1) Start with COLD WATER: it allows the protiens to coagulate and evenly rise to the surface
2) Simmer NEVER BOIL: Once the impurites rise to the top, a boiling stock will emulsify it and we dont want that to happen
3) SKIM FREQUENTLY: This is to remove the impurites and excess fat that can cloud the stock (if you want to actually attempt to make stock, use a good strainer or even a coffee filter will to the trick)
4) Strain carefully: Its important this is done CAREFULLY because to quickly will emulsify the fat and allos them to actully go through the strainer.
5)Cool Quickly-its also vital a stock be cool quickly because it has a large amount of protien and this can spoil
6) Store Properly: its crucial to store stock in plastic containers (but this is more of a school policy because part of this step according to my notes is to label it so another class doesn't use it)
7) Degrease: There might me a fat cap floating at the top but leave it because it helps the preservation of the stocck but remove it before use. Reomove the fat BEFORE reheating the stock because it will be much harder to remove when warm.

So thats it, the seven principles. and if you want to take a stab at making your own just know the very simple ratio to stock makeing: 100% water, 50% bones (if chicken stock, use chicken bones, if fish stock use fish bones...etc), and 10% mirepoix (which has its own ratio of 50% onion, 25% celery, and 25% carrot). You also need to add a "sache" which is a bayleaf, parsley sprig, thyme, peppercorns, one clove, and sometimes, garlic, wrapped in a cheese cloth into a little sack. Just dont forget to take it out one your done (a kid in my class forgot to take it out in one of his soups and he put it in the blender! ekk!).
I know its so much easier to go buy a box or can of stock, but beleive me the flavor will be very different and make everthing that will derive fromt eh stock taste spectacular!

Finals!!!!!

so resturant day went, ok. no i'll admit it, it was a bit sucky. I enjoyed being fed by another group, but my team must have been a collection of the slowest learners in class. I was also the only girl, so they were really "rough" on our food (as in when i suggested we pipe the whipped cream on the mousse, they basically plopped it on, forgetting that mousse is very delicate!). They also were not being very helpful, a lot of standing around when i was like..."well do somthing! clean dishes at least so we have some space to work!". Anyhow, we however got another teams food and i am glad we did (cause the guys on my team completely overdid the steaks!). It was a mexican themed resturant with shrimp ceviche with tortilla chips and spicey beef empanadas as an appetizer, some sort of stuffed chicked (i am sure if your Mexican you might know the exact name, forgive me), and flan for dessert. I was stuffed, and i dont care much for flan, so i has some of the dessert my carpool's team made which was a plaintain egg roll with caramel syrup!
Anyhow, final begin monday and basically the first day is a the written test and kinife cuts where we need to produce the precise cuts they ask of us. I am most worried about this because its very hard to get thme uniform and i am pretty sure they'll ask us to work with carrots which are a lot hard to cut than potatos.
Tues-thurs is the cooking tests, which i am less nervous about.
anyhow, i was udying earlier todya when i realized that re-typing some of the info will help me retain it, and i think some of you might really find this info useful and interesting. so i'll post some recipes and info i need to memorize in hopes you guys will be somewhat interested....

Resturant Day and Finals Week!

We've mostly been doing review dishes for the final. It lasts a week! the first day is mostly written work (what i am most worried about cause its math conversions and ratios) and knife cuts. Tuesday-thursday is cooking. We get the menus each of us needs to make on each day. Everyone cooks somehting different on a different day so we cant "cheat" (reminds me of the exams they gave in college, you know the A, B, C etc). Friday we get our scores and we "deep clean" which is the cleaning of all the bottoms of the pans and pots, burners, ovens etc. this can get messy. Anyhow, tomorrow is the resturant day. we decided to name our restaurant "Basta" which means "enough" in Italian. I came up with it cause i remember when i went to Italy with a friend of mine, her father told me if there is any italian i must know going in, its "basta" because people will keep on piling food on your plate even after your stuffed. Chef Woodstock was actually out sick monday and tuesday. Its werid but i missed him a little and my dishes were definetly not great those days. Plus, i hated the sub who completely massacred my confidence by saying nothing positive about any of my dishes. But he was back yesterday and i nailed my review of ratatouille and i made hollandiase which is probably the most difficult thing to do with a little help. Anyhow, i am currently waiting for my carpool and i think i hear the honk, so i'll catch you up later!

Pros and Cons of a Culinary Student!

I thought this up while in traffic on the way to class. Dont take this too seriously, its meant to be funny and silly and iam obviously exagerating it. I honestly love being a culinary student although it is grueling on the mind and body, but its like a good workout, it kinda hurts but you get a high off it and never really regret doing it. So once again these are true to an extent but are exagerated and meant to be goofy.

Pros
-the most obvious, the food, gourmet food is constantly made and ready to be eaten and you try dishes and foods thats out of this world and so exotic that most people are never lucky enough to get the oppertunity to try.
-since your introduced to all this wonderful food, your uniform is very forgiving. You could be pregnant and probably no one would notice since the pants are baggier that the one that were popular in the late 90's and the chef jacket buttoned on the front makes even a waif like me look big.
-Its easy to get roomates, just list in your ad "gourmet chef looking for a hungry roomate to feed...."
-Servers and waiters are at your mercy, its like a resturant higharchy and your groomed to be at the top.
-Your not boring, seriously and not to be rude to anybody out there who is (a lot of my friends are) but like everyone i know is like a phychology/bio/english major and when someone asks you all of a sudden what you study and you say, "me, o i go to culinary school" it sorta stands out.

Cons
-although food is good, doesn't mean it always is, remeber your in culinary SCHOOL, as in learning as in you may get yourself sick
-Although the outfits are forgiving for those extra pounds you may put in, it kinda sucks because i think my biceps have shaped up from all that whisking, kneading, etc. and for anybody who has a body to show off, you dont really get a chance to flaunt it. Even your hair is covered so there goes my 50$ blowout!
-You get ugly, you cant wear makeup, jewlery, nail polish, and that stupid hat covers your head so you look bald.
-you become ashamed of your hands, they are cut, burned, bruised, unpolished, unpampered, just plain old beaten up, alas, they are your most important tool.
-This correlates the the room-mate thing, u might feel kinda used, and on that note, the pressure is on to make spectacular food, otherwise, people think your a joke.
-People dont get why your stressed, but believe me, making hollandaise just right CAN be stressful.
-Seeing food network begins to irritate you since about 90% of the cooks have no culinary background, and you begin to notice it....

ok i could add more but thats all i can think of right now, but again take it with a grian of salt cause i honestly do love it.

Burning from the inside out and finals approaching....

I know i haven't posted in a bit, but its mainly because i have class on saturday mornings at 8 am (meaning i need to leave the house at 7:15) and i only get back from class the night before around midnight. Hence i never feel like writing much once i get home those nights. Anyhow, lets review my last few days this week. Its good i have carpool now so i am not driving exhausted all the time. But i still had a very tiring day yesterday, i nearly fell asleeo during the demo of latkes! (luckily, being the only jew in the class i didn't really need a demo as i have made and tasted ALL sorts of latkes). I perked up once we started cooking, but lectures and stuff that keep me inactive can induce sleep on me. As we were prepping for the latkes, i was explain to the people at my table (or around my station, so to speak) that these are usually eaten at Hanukah and that its a little early to be making these(to be pc, i shold be spelling "Chanukah" but people mispronounce that one even worse so i spare the sore throat). So the girl the works beside me, I'll call her Jessica (because her real name is one of a pop star without any recent hits, like Jessica Simpson) asked me, "So, does that make you Jewish?" I've gotten a bit used to this, so i tried i replied, "yes, why, is that a bad thing??"
"o no no..." she replied obviously worried she ofended me. But it seems i am indeed the only jew in the class and most of the people in the class were clueless about judaism. Not that mind, i was kinda the opposite because i went to a private jewish (but NOT religious AT ALL) high school and i never had real non-jewish friends until college. I tried to do what all good jews do, poke fun at my jewish-ness by saying, "I know, its hard to tell sometimes i am a jew because my nose hasn't developed enough yet". But after thinking about it, i am sad i said that because iam afraid i sparked or refueled the sterotype. And i usually get mad at my jewish friends that say they have a jewish nose.
Anyhow, my latkes were ok, but i made like seven (i only needed to present three) cause i kept messing them up. I had an off day yesterday, i also burnt my onions for my risotto milanaise. O but we had to make a DELICOUS gazpacho soup thursday! (recipe will be posted at nutritious junk). It was a bit weird cause most of the time we spent on it was make the garnishes! i never had gazpacho with so much garnish. We had chopped tomatoes, red bell peppers, green peppers, cucumbers, smashed egg whites, smashed egg yolks (hard boiled, of course), and little cubes of pullman bread that we made into cute little croutons. It was so yummy and i am guessing very good for you. Probably the healthiest thing we've made thus far (besides roasted and balnched veggies). a good break from all the unhealthy clarified butter we've been cooking everything in. So by friday i was so burned out and it doesn't help i need to go to my sanitation class with that smart ass instructor (she hated me today for bringing my laptop! sorry, my handwriting is illegible). And finals are the week after this coming one so i am really headed to a burn out. o yea, and i burned my finger tip trying to grab a hot plate. I hate complaining and i am not really, i am just exhausted but in a good way i guess. At least i am leaving class feeling productive and i do enjoy it when i cook well and everything is orderly. anyhow, i'll post more fun posts about things i learned this week soon, hopefully that will be more stimulating to you lovely readers.

New Carpool and i double as an acting coach!

So this guy that works next to me at our "station" lives in Santa monica so my house is on the way and hence a good carpool opptunity. I could certainly use the extra gas money. he's cool, he saved my carbonara the other night and lets me borrow tools and stuff when i dont have one on hand. Dont think this is a romantic gettup, its not, hes really not my type, but seems like a cool pal. Anyhow its also nice to have some company on the way to school which can take up to two hours if traffic is really bad.
My other chef, chef French, can into class, and asked if he could talk to me outside. You can imagine my nerves. I was like,"o shit, did he find out i wasnt wearing my neckercheif!?" but no, his agency (cause hes about to release a cookbook) gave him a script for a mustard commericial and he knew i was into acting and wanted me to look over it with him and help him out. Phew! ok something i can handle! he has a thick accent as is, so i am pretty sure he nailed out, i hope he did, and i hope he shares the money with me! (unlikely, but who knows?). I made a lot of baked dishes yesterday, roasted chayote (i never had it before but its really good!), roaseted tomates, pommes duchess (which are like little piped mushed potatos that are baked and beautiful, but honestly are kinda off tasting), scalloped potatos, rice pilaf, and risotto with three cheese. I loath cheese not just the taste, but the smell makes me gag too. I felt like passing out as my pot reeked of my three chesse blend. I finished early but this means we'll have A LOT to do today. I also cut myself while packing up my knives so i hope i wont be too handicapped. Ugh..i also need to finish up my sanitation report on lysteriosis...fun times.

Resturant day!

The last class before finals is "resturant day" where our class is divided into five groups of five and we all cook a three course meal for another group. We were randomly assigned groups and i ended up i a group full of guys with on of the guys i probably get most irritated from in the entire class. What should i call him???hmmm....his name (first and last) is SO common so I'll just call him by another common name, george. George is those nerds that aren't cool. i love nerds, at least i usually grow to love them, but no, George is an uncool nerd, making you feel stupid by always inserting his "words if wisdom" when sometimes he's completely wrong. He's annoyingly always prepared for class with all the latest high tech gadgets. He also wanted to be the dictator of the group by deciding on what the menu should be, but actually, I was elected to be "manager" by another member so i guess its my ultimate decision making. I dont know why he elected me, maybe cause i was the only girl. Anyhow, i need some ideas for this meal. I thought for an appetizer we'd make thin crusted gourmet pizza with sage or rosemary or figs and goat cheese or something fancy shamncy like that. The boys (or should i say, George) wanted this roulade of beef. i'll give them that, but i would have prefered something with seafood like Paella. anyhow i am stumped on dessert. we need to make it in two hours so nothing like cheesecake or tiramisu that needs at least a day of chilling. Also, we need to make everything so stuff like ice cream and canned whiped cream is out. I was thinking chocolate mousse but word of mouth is that everyone else is doing that. so any ideas????

Sanitation and my midterm!

so a couple of things went down recently. I had my first "real" santiation class (because i missed the first week, and last week the teacher was sick and the sub ditched!). It sucks to go to school on a saturday at 8 am! thanks god my teacher is a little crazy in that half the class she let us go to the other labs (which in culinary school is where most of the hands on cooking classes take place but are basically large commericial kitchens to the normal people looking in)where they set up an omlette bar. she freaks me out a bit, shes blantly mean but she tries to be funny about it so shes a bit confusing. she talks super fast too. Well its only once a week and its over in three weeks so i should manage. I got my midterm grade. Chef Woodstock (who i know i said has a stick up his ass but i am begining to appreciate it because he genuinely makes me want to improve)said i have a 91 in the class but that i could probably improve and get a solid A which would only require me getting a 93 or higher. It depends a lot on the final which i think is nov 9th so i'll just have to study real hard. I am beginning to get a little more friendly with my class mates. those that work near my station already have a few jokes with me and we share all our secrets when we nail a dish. Anyhow, i do hope people are reading this, i know this has not displayed as much color and fun as nutrious junk, but i hope people are still reading this. I'll write more tomorrow because its my only day off the whole week!

Mmmm and eggs over easy are really hard!

Mmmmm for that lovely dinner we had at our school bistro! it was wonderful! It was merely a tasting menu but it was bursting with flavor. First course was mussels and clams steamed in a white wine reduction with saffron foam. Main course was a filet minon with a mushroom demi-glace with arugula and risotto cocquet (which is bascially a little ball of risotto. The dessert was where i was a little unhappy about, combining two things i dont like very much, it was pumpkin cheesecake. A beautiful presentation, but ehh, still pumpkin cheesecake.
Today though i had to make a few soups like clam chowder and consumme (both i got A's on!) but i also had to make eggs over easy. I must have gone through seven eggs! i still dont think i have it down. it was so freaky trying to flip the pan. Everytime, i asked Wanda (yes as i mentioned earlier, not her real name but reminds me of Wanda Sykes) to hold my hand. It was like jumping into a pool cause the flipping is so fast. anyhow, it'll be on my final so i really need to pratice!

Manic Mondays!

yea, although i haven't really loathed mondays since high school, i really dont like them now. Basically every monday, and last night, we just have a looooong lecture and demos for most of the dishes we'll be preparing this week. So we had a demo for espagnole sauce, clam chowder, cream of tomato soup, roseti potatoes (yes, thats not a typo, its a swiss dish aparently, pommes anna, and some egg dishes. Yes we had a long lecture about eggs. I now know what the different egg grades mean and the different components of the egg (yes, it more than the mere yolk and white). What was sort of funny was that we got a list of egg sizes and it included: jumbo, extra large, large, medium, small, and get this, pee wee! yes mini eggs are apparently called pee wees! any how, yesterday was basically all talk so we weren't actually cooking. today should be better, i'll be making all the dishes we saw in demo and before our whole class actually gets to go the school "bistro" where the almost graduates serve the public but one day a quarter each class gets to eat there so the chefs at the resturant handel a simulated "high volume" situation. I'll tell you all about it, it should be yummy!

Tricks of the Trade!

This week I learned about all these little cooking, presentation, and preparation methods high end resturants use and thought I'd share a few of them. some a are not suprising, others a little disturbing...

-Notice how the more high end the resturant, the smaller you dish is, regardless if its an appetizer, entree, dessert, whatever. Of course big chains give you those massive more bang for your buck portions, but the high end ones give you fairly small portions not because they use better ingredients and thus costing more (that couls be, but thats not why), its because they dont want you to be full to quickly, they want you to stay there and order more and stay longer and longer. Our chef was demonstrating a soup and pour a single ladel into a big soup bowl and said to us not to fill above the rim. He explained that you want to keep your customers as long as possible cause that way, they'll keep ordering more things.

-That sauce, yea, its basically butter, flour , and somesort of seasoning agent, so if your watching you figure or cholestorol, be aware. Most sauces are based on a roux which is equal parts butter and flour. other sauces may be even more unhealthy and contain clarified butter which is 95% butterfat with the milk solids and water evaporatied out of it. You dish shouldn't need that much sauce anyhow because it may overpower.

- If you dont like something, say your allergic. Our chefs told us that they take allergies in resturants VERY seriously cause they could get sued. and sometimes, the inflated egos of big time chefs dont want to alter their dishes simply because someone doesn't like parsely or whatever you dislike. but allergies are a differnt story and they're not going to demand a medical record so just mention this when you order.

- If your vegetarian, ask if your soup is make contians chicken stock. Many resturants have healthy, veggie soups, but they may be made with chicken stock so just ask.

-If your vegan, ask if the pasta is made with egg yolks. i made pasta every day last week and they all had egg yolks.

-be wary that before serving soups, chefs like to up the butter ante in a process called "Monte au beurre" which translates to "mounting the butter". What they do it add soft, room temperature butter right before service. a sneaky way so make it creamier.

this week's wrap up: soups, sauces, and pasta!

I once agian appologize for not updating this week. Anyhows, i thought i'd give you an update of this whole week, cause boy did A LOT happen! Lets start with the chef instuctors. Chef Woodstock still has a stick up is...ahem....but i am kind of appreciating it now. He's hard on me, but it makes me want to do better, to outsmart him and to be honest, i think he likes me because i talk to him during break about stuff that he does in his life(always get to know your teachers on a more personal, one on one level. college taught me that at least!) like this buddhist retreat he did where he only ate vegan food at this remote place in Carmel for a month. He's also given me a good credit on most of my dishes. Which brings me to the dishes....monday is usually a lecture/demo day so no actual cooking. We learned about soups and sauces this week and man, i had no idea they can be that complex! With that, we had to make a number of soups this week like potato parmentier (the french name for potato leek soup), carrot ginger puree soup, spicy black bean, and vichysoisse (which is nothing more than potato leek soup chilled!). I usually am in love with potato leek, but i actually preferred my spicy black bean! It had only like four ingredients and it was SO simple to make, i am suprised i never thought of it before! sauces were a bit strange. we did the classics like roux (butter/flour mixtures) based sauces like bechemel, veloute (basically like gravy), and hollandaise (yuck!) as well as carbonara pasta and prima vera. We made out own pastas which sounds cool but i hated it, he had these terrible pasta crankers that were falling apart on us so it took me forever. All i wanted to do was get a box of barilla and be done with it! Can i just say that i HATE holladaise! the taste, and even more the process! first of all it's concentrated cholestorol with egg yolks, a bit of water and lemon juice, and most importantly clarified butter. for those who dont know, clarified butter is butter heated just enough that most of the water evaporates, it like fattier butter. We made batches of the clarified butter the day before and combined it into this huge plastic tub. I sat next to sit, inhaled the fattiness, and thought, "By god, this is like an atkins dream and susan powder nightmare!". Anyhow, back to the holladnaise, you need to wisk the clarified butter into the egg yold mixture gradually over a towel with heated steam water in a pot underneath. But you have to wisk FAST or else the butter wont combine. Its about 8 min of constant wisking. yes, my arm is sore. Not to mention, i think it tastes awful.
As far as the other students, i am slowly getting a better feel of who they are. some are very naive and litterally just fresh out of high school. and then theres those who blow me a away like this girl, i'll call wanda (cause she reminds me of wanda sykes) who has a full time job, a two year old, AND does this culinary school. There are a few people who keep very quiet and i try to exchange a word or two from time to time to spark converstation, but i think they mostly want me to leave them alone. Its sorta funny because some aspects of the social scene are very high school. there are those few that actually do the reading, you know, the types that get 100 on all the quizes and make you feel a little lazy. there are the social butterflies that cant keep their mouth shut and need to talk about something or someone all the time. the nerds who interject to say what they want to correct you when you were really doing it right all the time (its just this one guy in particular). I was never in any "group" in high school, so i am not sure where i fall here, but i am doing alright i guess. anyhows, more culinary school gossip to come...

More posts to come, just very busy this week!

I apologize greatly for not updating this week, i ve been hella busy with other stuff on top of school but i promise to be post more often so continue checking. I have loads to gab about!

Ratatouille and another year older

I was glad that my last class before my birthday went well. Last night (i dont know if you've noticed but since my classes run from 6pm to 11pm, i write about what i did the day after..) we needed to make rice pilaf (again, but this is the last time we'd get to do it before the final in the beginning of november), risotto, and a ratatouille (which we also had a demo for as well). Having two bad attempts at this rice pilaf, i wanted to get it perfect this time, so i made it first. My risotto wasn't as good as yesterdays. when i presented it to chef Woodstock, he asked me to put it back in the pot and make it creamier (ie, add more broth). When it did come out he explained it was slightly overdone (because i re-heated it) but that it was at the right consistency. However i totally aced my rice pilaf with one tiny exception. NOT SALTY ENOUGH! ok, i know he likes things salty, but geez i might ass well give him salt with a little rice mixed in. He said, "Its cooked perfectly and i'd probably give you something in the "A" range if this were on the final, but not a 100 because its not salty enough." GRRR! so to help me adjust my salt levels he made me try the rice pilaf over and over again, salting it over each time so realize how salty i am getting it. Personally it salted enough initially, but i'll need to know what "just right" is for someone who likes things salty. Anyhow, i am sick of rice pilaf. Ratatouille is a fairly simple dish which i am suprised is not more popular because its vegetarian/vegan friendly. Anyhow, it involved a lot of pan flipping for veggie sauteing because the chef told us to use the as little tools as possibles. And these are commercial kitchen pans so they are HEAVY. I really need to continue my arm strength training which ive put on hold since ive been really bust with school. But he even explained to us we need to condition our arms because we'll imoprove our pan flipping and knife skills. For the ratatouille, I needed to saute all the veggies separately and them braise them again all together. Once i finished, my product looked a bit to greasy so tried to blot some of the excess oil out before presenting it to the Chef. When i did present it, chef woodstock said, "not bad, your cuts are uniform (a crucial component to ensure even cooking), your veggied are cooked just right, pretty good, just make your chiffonade of basil (which was the final garnish we needed to add) a little more fine." Phew! i was sure i'd char all my veggies cause i am actually known to doing that at home. but i was so happy he though it was good becuase i saw him be very critical of others. Besides the cooking, i am beging to get to know the other students more. its a big mix. I am probably one of the few caucasians there. I'd say there's a good girl/boy ratio, i am really not certain about the ages though. I know a good chunkfull are fresh out of high school, but some have kids and theres a woman older than my dad. Its a rather strange concept, having some students older than the teacher. I am actually tolerating Chef Woodstock, i know he's a hard ass, but honestly he's making me want to do better so he might be good afterall. Chef French is cool, he talks to me in French a lot and calls my Isabelle or Brigette (because he knows i am an actress and so he calls me after French actresses i told him i like). I actually think he may just have a hard time pronouncing my real name (for those of you who do know my real name, i am sure it took you a little while getting used to saying it). But he's cool. He's actually written a cookbook coming out next year. The production class next door (i believe its the class you take before you graduate) brough us their left over shrimp, fried chicken, bagette, and scalloped potatoes. I had some rice already but i was stilll hungry so the class and I noshed on it. The bagette was exquiste! better than most bakeries!I brought some home to give to my dad since hes belgian and the real bagette aficionado. He loved it wans it was a great tool for soaking up the left-over shrimp juices left in the pan. I then realized why the othe classes were being so generous, when they gave us pans full of food, it meant WE needed to handle the clean up. ahh no good deed goes unpunished. oh well, i was willing to do a little extra cleaning in exhange for good food (although the fried chicken was mostly breading and grease and i loath scalloped potatos, but the rest was really delicious). well, its my birthday today which i really want to relax but i have in the back of my mind all this homework i need to get done...well i'll try to forget it for now.

Rockin Risotto!

After almost crying when i left class yesterday (let out half an hour late mind you!), it was great to actually have a good day today. We had to make pilaf and rissotto, as well as blanched spinach and broccoli. After about a hald our of practicing knife cuts (cause there are many! and mine although may look fine to the normal person, are not unifom or cemitrtical so i need to practice), we started working on our dishes. This time, ! ONLY focused on 1 dish at a time. I collected all my ingredients so they'd be ready to go (like you see on cooking shows) and all my tools handy. Risotto cant be made in a hurry, so i started that one first. I babysat that for about 45 min checking it from time to time to see if it was ready. Ah success at last! after looking at the texture and consistency and then of course tasting, Chef Woodstock said, "its a but wine-y, but i'd say about an 'A'". HA! at last a successful dish! and not an easy one at that, many people screwed this one up. I brought a zip loc container to show it to my dad. I personally didn't like it cause we needed to add some cheese at the end and i loathe cheese. but before my addition of it i did think it was quite nice. my pilaf was way undercooked this time, and i new it. I admitted it to Chef Woodstock so he didn't hound me for it cause i also know what i did wrong (not enough time in the oven). I also started to get a warmer sense of my fellow classmates. The guys are very respectful and helpful to us girls in the class. i really appreciated that, in college they all treated us like a piece of ass. We all look so unflattering in our uniform that its hard to tell cometimes the one's gender. Anyhow, today i think we are doing risotto agian and i think ratatouille (the dish, not the movie, although the movie rocked!). Lets hope today goes just as smoothly as yesterday....

On the menu: mushrooms, pilaf, spinach, and haricot vert

Finally we got to cooking, and man did i crumble. First of all, we work closely in a big commercial kitchen so the burners, ovens, pans, and pots are gigantic! i am small and although not weak (thanks body works classes!)it was difficuly for me to handle. We only had about an hour to saute spinach and mushrooms, make a chicken stock, blanch some haricot vert (green beans although they insist we call them by their frnch name), and make rice pilaf. Simple enough right? i mean, it looked so easy at the demo yesterday. Ahh, i was so naive. When your not used to the kitchen and where everything is and working side by side with someone, things can get hectic. I made a big mistake of trying to multitask, so i had the butter in the pan read for the spinach, and onions sweating in the pot for the rice, and the water almost boiling for my stock. But needed to prep my veggies get the salt and pepper, get the serving plates, etc....GAH! i was about to crack. and Chef Woodstock comes over to my station and yells "Your butter is burning!". O crap, already on to a bad start. I but the salted water on for the blanching and drop my gree beans in. the Chef Woodstock proceed to holler, "what are you doing"
"blanching" (i reply)
"but your water isn't up to a boil! you werent paying attention during demo"
(to my self) "Crap, and what the hell are you telling me i am not paying attention, i am just doing seven things at the same time and not used to the kitchen and....oh shit, i need to pearl my rice!". Well when all was done Chef Woodstock said my spinach was too greasy, my muushrooms not uniformly cut and therefore i am lazy, not salted enough (yea for you smoker maybe not, and i thought it was certainly enough to raise your blood pressure!), my rice under cooked, my onions not chopped fine enough, and my beans once again not salt enough!
I felt like crying but i felt some solace when others managed to turn their spinch into chips because they were on for too long. Well in about an hour i am off to school and today i am going to be prepared (or at least try)
i need to make risotto and blanched broccoli/spinach. I am goint to get all of my ingredients out before and have my recipe card on the side of my apron so i dont mess anything up, o yea, and ill salt it like crazy. Wish me luck!

Pressure Cooker!

I apologize for not reporting about my first day as soon as i came back, but since i started at 11:30 am and finished at 11:00pm i was tired, hungry, and too wipeed out to blog or really do anything besides shower, eat, and sleep. To be honest, i had a terrible first day. It began with my santiation class taught by a cheery Austrailian Chef. This is an academic class and fairly boring since all we do is learn about food safety, diseases, and such. Its in a class room so obviously, its not a cooking course at all. Then my actual cooking class began at 6:00pm and although taught in a kitchen, we haven't actually cooked anything yet. My class is taught be two chefs. I wont say their real names (incase they google themselves and find my ratting about them) so I'll call one Chef Woodstock (cause he told us he used to have a serious drug problem and was a Woodstock regular) and Chef France (hes a french/algerian chef with a VERY thick accent). Chef Woodstack certainly did a good job of scaring the crap out of me. He spent like an hour explaining how he doesn't tolerate sexual harassment. We were given lots of papers and handouts. There is so much work involved! we have to have a 3 inch binder with all our recipes in plastic holders (talk about expensive!) and TYPE all of our notes and re-write all the recipes on cards and put those in the notebook as well. We have lots of reading and math assignments, mostly about measuring things. For example, we had about an hour lecture of stock and to make stock it must be 100% water, 50% bones, and 10% mirepoix (which is celery, onions, and carrots). You have to be able to convert gallons into lbs, and then into cups, pint, teaspoons, etc...its rather mindblowing and i was never good at math. Anyhow, i came home the first day in tears. I felt so stressed and i dont want to be a wimp and on the first day!? i cant just give up but i am so afraid i will fail at this. There are so many things that i can do wrong, so many ways to mess this up. A single day missed puts a big damper on your grade, and more than two days, forget it, your gone. I know i wanted a serious program, but its stressing me out. The second day was a little better. We didnt cook, but we learned the knife cuts (Julienne, Battonet, Brunosie, parmenteir etc...) and we got a demo of rice pilaf, chicken stock, risotto, balnched spinach, green beans, and broccoli, and sauted mushrooms. This is an Intro of Culinary Arts class, so obviously the things we learn are very basic. We were all starving so we tated the demos. The sauted mushrooms were very simply made with some butter, olive oil, and salt, but i found they WAY to salty. Chef France made them and he's a smoker, and people who smoke have a hard time tasting salt, so this may have been why. Chef Woodstock made the pilaf which was slighly overdone (he admitted to it too) and the risotto was alright, but i am not a big cheese person and he added to it some at the end. Some of the students asked the chefs if they cook at home, and both said never. Actually, Chef Woodstock said that he loves McDonalds. Alright, i can a appreicate a good burger as well but McDonalds? seriously have you seen their burgers!? i prefer old fashion burger joints, hell even fat burger is a step up from McDonalds! the fries i admit are tempting, but good lord i hope his taste buds are more refined. Anyhow, i'll try to post daily but dont count on it cause i am SO stressed right now. It might calm down as i get the hang of how it works and learn to managae my time better. Today i think i actually get to cook, probably rice pilaf and some blanched veggies. I'll let you know how they turned out, i just hope the I wont wilt like the spinach by the end of the week for my birthday.

My Culinary Heros!

This is my last day of total freedom. I start at 11:30 am on monday and I dont get done until 11pm! I was flipping thorugh the books i recieved and its all seems pretty interesting. Anyhow since i didn't officialy start yet, i though i might instead share with you some of my culinary heros. these people inspired me and i think inspired many people to love, appreciate and truly enjoy cooking as well as eating. Here they are, (in no particular order:

1. Julia Child- gotta love the high pitched voiced woman. She also went to the Le Cordon Bleu! so I am following her footsteps, sorta. She demystified french cooking with such a down to earth, friendly attiude. I also admire that she was a woman, in a profession dominated by men, she really shone and was never afraid to get her hands dirty. I love her quote, "I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate."

2. Ruth Reichl: she was the food critic for top newspapers in the country and nowadays the editor in cheif for gourmet magazine. I am mostly a big fan of her books, "Garlic and Saphires" and "Comfort me with Apples". Being trained as an actress myself, this woman really inspired me that you could combine those two passions as she narrated in "Garlic and Saphires" about all her many disguises, alias, and personalities she "put on" as she reviewed resturants in New York.

3. Graham Kerr: He's a scottish (although lived most of his life in London) chef that had a really awesome show called "the Galloping Gourmet" in the 70's. Its such a delight to watch (they used to air it at like 2 am on food network but i haven't seen them do so recently, ahh well, theres always youtube). He was known for not skimping not wine and takes several swigs of it throughout his show (he actually ended up becoming an alcoholic, but he recovered thankfully and is still alive today).

4. My mom: She was also a Julia worshiper, its her collection of julia books that introduced me to high end cooking. She wasn't he best cook, but far from the worst. She had some winning dishes, a few flops (but dont we all), but she enjoyed food and relished new flavors and dishes. Once she go cancer, she tried to watch her diet and cut back on eating her ulitmate guilty pleasures, (Big Macs and chocolate). She was actually very funny in that way, she would make all sorts of healthy and tasty dishes and go to the gym regularly, but she had to get a weekly fix of these big macs i tell you. Anyhow, she knew how to appreciate good food and passed that influence down to me.

there they are, I might add more as I delve deeper into the culinary world.

Orientation and My Student Chef Garb!

so today was oreitnation (no elaborate breakfast spread, but sorta sad looking sandwiches and chips, really gourmet like doritos and fritos) and i got my books for the term, my uniform, my classes, and tools. The tool kit is mind blowing, its like every item from william sonoma in a suitcase! The one thing i still need is my shoes which they also provide since we all have to have leather shoes because they can hold up to hot liquids. I get that on monday though. The one thing that bugged me was that i have to actually take classes on saturaday! yep from 8 am to 2:30 and its not that exciting of a class, sanitation. important, but not as interesting as other courses. Plus, next saturday is my birthday and i was looking forward to sleeping in and enjoying my day, not learning about how to be an ocd clean freak. They didn't do much in oreintation, but they seem very strict with attendence and dress code. No jewlery, make-up, hair must be up, black or white socks (i dont get this one since you can barely see your shoes with the clown chef's pants on, maybe i'll wear my purply fluffer ones and be "bad"). We get at least an hour on homework a night (so the student coucil president told us) but being a college student for two years prior to this, i have a feeling it might take me less time since some of these students are in their 40s and 50s and havent done "homework" in a while. We also got a cute key-chain of a mini whisk (you know, like in case someone needs an emergency custard). My tool kit does make me feel very secure though. If i walk back from class and someone want to rape me (which is a waste, i am not that hot anyhow) i'll filet or de-bone their ass. I have like seven knives and a sharpner to do so. anyhow, I feel like this will be very stressful, and i was considering to start a job too cause this school aint cheap and there are lots of job placements connected to the school. for the first term, i might just see how i handle things before i start looking for a job. anyhow, tomorrow i'll give you a picture of the tools and maybe better ones of my in my uniform (this one stinks cause of terrible lighting, i am exhausted, and haven't done up my eye brows).