BOH lingo!

It's been a week of back of the house saute station action for me. Its kinda fun going to school and not having formal classes anymore, i am thrown into a real cooking environment. Its like when i was in high school, i always sat in my boring pre-calculus class, and thought, "I god, when i am i ever going to use the practicality of this seriously! i mean i know how to add and subtract!". But here, we are put in the real world, shown that what we learn IS valuable in real life. I must say i was lucky to be in the back of the house, my peers that got in the front of the house told me its kinda boring, and that there are sick of smiling at people and getting them their lattes. And apparently, the saute station is the most sought out for because the chef asked who wanted to work next week and everyone jumped to it. As hard as it was on busy nights, i must say it was fun. I think the chef put me as a runner next week which i am not to happy about, but we'll see, at least its not front of the house (or FOH). speaking of which (pun intended), theres a whole set of words i picked up this week. If any of you have ever worked in a restaurant or cafe kitchen, you may be familiar with the terms. I don't like them all, but here they are (Merriam Webster, shame on you for making EVOO an official word):
-"all day": i got yelled this a lot from the sous chef who was expediting. when i got slammed with orders he'd yell out, "yo, you got 4 Alfredo's all day". Its basically how many dishes i needed to get out total. So if table 12 orders two orders of salmon and table 19 orders four orders of salmon, that's "six salmon, all day."
-"on the fly": usually, yelled not by the sous chef but by the chef. This could be a special order, or maybe an order that got messed up and needs to be replaced ASAP. When i did orders, i did them in the order they were issued, but "on the fly" had first priority to get made.
-making a dish "sexy": this term is relative, sometimes it means to make it look really nice by adding s nice garnish like chopped parsley, this was the case in my station. but sometime, people use it when they add some kind of really indulgent product like extra cheese, bacon pieces, or truffles. hmm which is sexier bacon grease or parsley???
-"Mise en Place": Essentially, it means everything in its place, very crucial to have your mise set up so you have everything you need handy so you can bust out dishes as they get ordered.
-cambro: its a large plastic bin when i throw in used saute pans once i finished with them, the runners then bring the cambro to the dishwasher (yay, i dont have to do dishes!)

these are just SOME terms, i only listed those we actually used A LOT because some "official" terms are just not used, at least not in our kitchen.

Back of the House!

so the first day of my first rotation began. Each rotation is three weeks. So i was placed at the cafe. I was a little disappointed i was placed there becuase i figured it would be like working in any old joint or starbucks. Thankfully, its really not so bad. My chef put me at the saute station which is basically just the pasta station. there are three pastas on the menu: alfredo, mariniara, and grilled veggie penne. I wouldn't call what i do real cooking because the sauces are sort of alread made. I just need to reduce the cream and add cheese and seasonings to make alfredo, saute some garlic and heat up the marinara sauce, and caramelize the veggies for the veggie pasta. I thought i might need ten pans at most. Boy was I wrong. I must have went through 20. The cafe opens for dinner at 6:30pm and oddly enough, it got busy in my station right away. I must have gotten five different orders for pastas in a matter on seconds. I messed up a lot, i felt a bit like Lucy in that famous epissode where she boxes chocolates like in an assembly line. Because there were a lot of steps i needed to complete for each order. heat sauce, re-boil pasta (thankfully they are already part boiled and portioned), season the sauce, toast the barlic bread, heat up the plate (hot food must always be served on a hot plate), plate the pasta, add the garnish (cheese and parsley) and slice the garlic bread on a bias and place it on the side. To-go orders are a hell of a lot easier (no plate heating). At first, my chef asked me if i was ok at the station alone and i was like "o yea, i can handel it!". I wanted to seem all macho because i was already happy he put me, a girl, the cafe's most active part of the kitchen. But i just couldn't handel it alone, i got like ten orders in a matter on minutes, so another girl jumped in to help me. It was cool then, i think we worked together nicely. Which brings me to another thing, the people are not all from the class i was in before because the rotations are all mixed up. So i met some really nice people and most seem cool and collected. I had dinner with this one girl that said, "for so pretty, you should be on T.V." and "wow, your such a tiny person, but you have such a big ass personality". To be honest, i dont take complements well, and i haven't gotten one in a while, so i sorta shrugged it off and said, "are you kidding, i am in my ugly phase right now, i haven't done my eye brows, i am not wearing any makeup, my hair is greased up under the chefs cap we wear. But as i drove home, i thought, "why didn't i just say thank you". I dont think i am pretty, but i am glad i made an impression on someone, that she thought i had a true soul and personality. maybe i should give myself more credit, i could sure use the confidence boost because the lack of it can bring me down. So tomorrow, i am going to bust out those pastas and i'll now know how to handel seven or eight orders better, and i am going to thank that girl and say "thanks, you very pretty too!".

My fairy godparents

I know, this is a little unrelated to cooking school per se, but I was pondering this yesterday. There are some people i just feel inspire me but also give me a sense of safety and positive energy. Thinking of them brings my spirits up when i am down and really serve as sort of "fairy godmother" to my Cinderella side. heres the list:

-Julia Child: also one of my heroes, but whenever i mess up in the kitchen i think of Julia that despite her culinary brilliance, didn't take herself too seriously and embraced screw-ups. Plus, i think she actually COULD turn a pumpkin into something magical, maybe not a carriage, but soup perhaps???

-Carson Kressley: famous for being the fashion guru on "Queer eye for the straight guy" and his new show "How too look good naked", I truly this guy could get me out of a beauty/fashion/body slump. He's helped so many women learn to love the bodies they were born with and I think his efforts are revolutionary in the body acceptance movement. I also think every straight girl needs a bff of sorts. Tim Gunn (from "Project Runway") seems nice, but he always wears the same thing! I know Tim's got a good eye for fashion, but shouldn't he practice what he preaches? Carson always dresses different, and he seems like a genuinely nice guy. That, and I don't think Tim would like my enormous collection of sweats...

-Morgan Freeman: I dont know if he in genuinely i nice guy, but he's such a fantastic actor that he sure puts on a great, grandfatherly image. That and I am in love with his voice (as you may well know, he narrated numerous documentaries and books on tape). If he came out with a cd where he reads the dictionary, I'd probably buy it! Being Jewish, i never really had a memory of a Santa Clause type figure, but I'd imagine Morgan Freeman would suffice.

-Rivkah, my second grade Hebrew teacher: yes, i went to a Jewish elementary school so we had to take Hebrew and Jewish studies course. When i was in second grade i switched to a new school and was terrified. But from the first day of class this lovely, smiling woman welcomed me. She was more than a teacher, she really connected with her students. another girl in the class had a piano recital (not connected to the school) and Rivkah not only came to show support, she offered to take me. she had this cupboard in the class room where she held "prizes" for when you did well on a test or something. bizarre but cute prizes like alphabet soups, glitter tooth paste, and silly putty. kinda odd but practical, fun things. I don't know what she's doing now, we actually kept in contact but last i saw her was about a year after my mother died. she was fairly old, i hope she'd still alive, but my mom and I both loved her.

there you have it, my list of fairy godparents, who's yours?

The final!

I didn't talk much about the final, but this was a very simple one. I actually didn't do as well as I had hoped, given that it was a breeze compared to our other finals, but i ended up getting an A in the class which is all i really cared about in the end. I had a day of prep and an hour and a half to turn in a soup (mine was hot and sour soup), an appetizer (mine way chicken and peanut satay), and an entree with a starch and veggie (mine was osso bucco with risotto and rapini). Most everyone had a different menu combo, but i definitely thought i got a harder menu. Osso bucco is a "low and slow" type of Italian dish. I remember when i visited Italy when i was in ninth grade with my friend whose family was Italian (and in the mob mind u, but i didn't care, i wasn't on their hit list so they just fed me and were happy that i ate what they gave me!). anyhow, her grandmother spent all day tending to her osso bucco. we had only a day of prep and then an hour before service the day of. Hence i was left with a fairly over-braised veal shank in the end. The chef liked my peanut satay which completely strayed from the recipe, but that's what i liked about this class, you didn't necessarily needed to follow the rules, but it just had to simply taste good. It was really cute in the end, i needed to use cucumber and red onion as a garnish so i made a cup out of the cucumber and used it as a vessel for the satay. My soup was "good but too sour" according to the chef. I agree with him, i knew it was sour, i tasted it many times, but i honestly never had hot and sour soup very often so i figured it was supposed to taste like that. next time, i'll go easy on the vinegar. anyhow, i've been working on my resume for my externship search which is a bit strange. I begin to reflect about all my previous education and odd-ball job experiences. I've worked and interned nearly everywhere. I was a movie set P.A. (very cool actually, i met Glenn Close and Dakota Fanning), a fashion house assistant (a horrible experience, i was an intern and not paid, but you could say they basically fired me. i think they didn't like my outspoken-ness...but i still wonder why they asked me not to come back...), a barista, a baby/dog/house/fish/hamster sitter, etc. what odd ball jobs have you had? share them, i am sure some of you could out do the next. (BTW, the picture here is actually of the very first dish i made in this course, my "steak au poive" practical quiz which i actually did well on, i didn't post my final pictures because as you can imagine, i was too busy worrying about getting the dishes out on time).

Useful info picked up in my international class!

l.b. mentioned i should post some tips of the Latin cuisine i delved into last week, which got me thinking, i picked up a lot of useful info in this course and i'd be more than happy to spread the love! here's some key things i learned:
-most countries have their own "salt" medium. In the U.S., for example, salt is usually used to give items some taste. but say in south east Asia, they use fish sauce which is a good medium if your sick of using plain old NaCl (sodium chloride or salt, for those unchemistry oriented folk). Italians tend to use salty cheese like Parmesan or peccorino. The french like sea salt and items like capers. But try not to use too many salt sources in one dish. If you make a Parmesan risotto, don't add salt, or at least go easy on it. And i suggest trying sea salt. it might seem like a minor difference but don't think so, i think it gives this nice, fresh taste. Now that its summer, there really is nothing like biting into a fresh heirloom tomato with some sea salt (strange, but i swear, delicious!).
- just like every country has a preferred salt medium, they also have a preferred fat medium. In the U.S. (unfortunately) we tend to use a lot of criso and shortening. But in France they use really good quality butter, but they are also big on using the animal's own fat to cook a product (otherwise known as the "confit" method). In Greece, Spain, Italy and other Mediterranean countries, they use olive oil. In Mexico they use pork fat (aka, lard) and in Asian countries, they use nut oils like sesame or peanut oil. So when your making a dish, think about you fat medium. Don't think all oils are healthy. In South America they use Dende oil (or palm oil) which is actually very bad for you. I like flavorful fats, so i try to avoid bland ones like shortening. I prefer butter to crisco any day, even for the flakiest of pastries. Also, and i didn't really pick this up from class, i like to use naturally fat fill foods to substitute for stuff like butter. For example, i like to make cookies with 100% peanut butter or avocado.
- There are sooooo many ways to thicken sauces and soups! We made a very nice sauerbraten sauce when we did Germany and its made with prunes and thickened with ginger snap crumbs! for the Indian dishes, we used chickpea flour (mind you a very good substitute if you need a thickener and want something healthier than white flour). For my final menu, i need to make a hot and sour soup (although its also knows as egg drop soup) which is thickened with a slurry (a teaspoon of cornstarch and water poured in). So you see, thickeners can very so try a different thickener to give your dish another dimension.
-cooking methods really differ from region to region. I noticed a lot of the south east Asian dishes were made very quickly (e.g. pad Thai ). Most of the cooking time is just prepping the ingredients. Italians i think prefer the "low and slow", like osso bucco (also on my final menu) which requires a braise of a couple of hours. I think its pretty neat how Indians use the tandoor (a clay oven) to not only cook chicken but also their bread (naan which is actually pictured, its from the buffet so i didn't make it myself, but i can atest it was very tasty!) which they stick on the outside of the oven like a magnet.
-degreasing soups. ahh well i should have posted this in the beginning way back in intro I where i first learned how to make consomme. a good consomme is grease free and as we all know, water and fat are not friends, so when fat falls in the pool, its easy to spot. Although the method of making consomme does a good job of degreasing the broth and concentrating the flavor, sometimes grease still gets there. Even after to strain it through a coffee filter, you might still spot some grease so here's what i do when this happens: at this point, the soup is already nearly grease free so i would not recommend this if your soup is really greased out. take a couple strips of parchment and just run them through the soup very quickly. If you let it stay in the soup to long, the grease come off the parchment, initially, it sticks right to it so do this a few times very swiftly.

so those are some tidbits i picked up this term. I interviewed my chef so stay tuned for the quick Q and A i had with him!

catching you up...

i know, i haven't updated in a while, and so much has happened. too much to cover in one post, so real quick I'll just first explain that today was my last day at my International, the last day of the term where all we do is clean the lab (or kitchen as normal people might call it) and get our final grades and such. so yes, this was finals week, but you missed a hell of a week last week so I'll fill you in about that week now.
Our lovely chef had a family reunion and was out for all of last week. We knew this when we first started the class but didn't think much of it. We've had substitutes before and they've been nice enough. Hmm, maybe we got spoiled. The sub was the chef that teaches our class but on a different schedule (as you may remember i do the "c" schedule which runs from 6pm to 11pm, she teaches from 12pm-5pm). A friend of mine in class (yes, believe it or not even after the whole class finding out about my blog, some people apparently still think i am cool enough to talk to) told me her boyfriend had that particular teacher and that she was scary. how bad could it be???
I guess bad, real bad. On the surface, she was quite friendly. But she ran the class in such a way that EVERYONE was getting upset and angry. and angry and negative atmosphere is terrible for an effective. She was super strict, which i suppose is good, but I've had strict chefs before and there was this unfriendly aura about the way she followed "the rules". She spent a lot of class time lecturing about the recipes which really didn't need it so we got out very late. She would not let us really venture out of the recipe. Our regular chef told us before, i don't care how you make it, but make it taste good. This is our last formal class in the program so we're fairly advanced, this should be our time to glance at recipes to get an idea, and sort of build our dishes on our own. Everyone, and i do mean EVERY student in the class was very unhappy with this teacher. the class seemed like work or a boot camp and the joy of cooking that we had before was gone. As a result, people started to get snappy, no one was relaxed and everyone could have used some Prozac (me included). I didn't actually go on the last day she was teaching (last Thursday) which is rare because I've never missed a day of class throughout the whole program. Apparently, people got so on edge that there was a actually a physical fight between the students! i wasn't there thank god, bu i know enough simply from this blog not to get into peoples business so i am forever going to stay on the sidelines when it comes to personalities clashing.
The animosity aside, the theme of the week was south America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. this is my dish from our south American day, its a achiote marinated pork chop (which the chef referred to as so overcooked that it was "dead")with grilled cactus (not so bad tasting, and apparently very rich in vitamins!), and rice. the one good thing she said about my dish was that the rice was nice. And i suppose that was good enough for me. If you may remember, rice was the first dishes we learned way back in our Intro I class and people forget how to do it right. And its fundamental, i think every eatery serves rice of some sort. anyhow, more about finals week in my next post. thanks guys, for those still reading this!

South East Asian!

There are quite a few South East Asian students in my class, actually they make up about half the class i think. this is cool, but when we did South East Asia last week, i was so freaked out because clearly, they were in familiar territory. Case in point, the lumpia. its a egg roll, of sorts, but i asked a few of my classmates to show me how to roll it properly because once i hit the fryer, it sort of came apart on me. Actually, its quite simple to make, but i suppose there is a magic "southeast Asian" touch i lack. I served it with a hot sweet and sour sauce. I dont think my chef actually tried all of them, thats a lot of lumpias to try, but he said mine ok. I have loads more to dish about this week, it was a whirlwind like no other!

China!

so after Japan, which we did on Monday, we went over to china. Japan was a buffet style day so i volunteered to make desserts. My friend and i went online to try to make those mochi cakes. we did a few batches and needless to say, they were not very pleasant tasting. Not to mention, a total pain to clean, the gummi-goey-ness was stuck on all the pots which we had to scrub for about an hour and then try to boil down. Anyhow, we still needed a dessert so at the last second, we simple chopped some berries and wrapped them in won ton wrappers and fried them up. then we served it with wonderful fruit infuse gastrique (a sugar vinegar reduction which is actually used more for savory foods). Anyhow, we all had individual work when we did china. We needed to do two appetizers and an entree. So here's my won ton soup. There are some Asian kids in my class that folded their won tons impeccably, i asked one of them to show me, but still, mine looked a bit pathetic next to their little cute pockets of pork. They were very easy to make and i am wondering why people dont make these more often at home? seriously, try it, used group chicken, pork, beef, turkey, hell even tofu or veggies. Season in with some soy sauce and herbs like coriander or scallions, wrap them in won ton skins and boil in a good broth. tadah! no need for greasy American Chinese takeout!

Middle East? if you say so...

I apologize for not updating you about last week. After doing Great Britain, we did Russia (lots of Borscht, caviar, and blinis), and then Middle Eastern, or at least what's middle eastern in Le cordon Bleu's Book. My mom being Israeli and visiting Israel and parts of Egypt, i can tell you they might snub their noses at some of this Middle Eastern recipes we were given. What was cool about this day though was that we did something called an "order fire exercise". For those not in the restaurant biz, this means its basically simulating a restaurant situation. Threes an expediter (in our case, the sous chef) who calls out down the line for orders as tickets keep coming in. So for our "simulation" our chef would give an order to the sous chef, like say, two kabob plates, one moussaka, and three desserts. Then our class (most of which were working in different stations down the line) would have to get those meals out, all looking beautiful, identical, on hot plates (if its a hot dish), and FAST. ten minuets in the kitchen is like a hour to the customer. My friend an I made the desserts which was baklava (this is not that middle eastern if you ask me...). To make look pretty, we decided to make two different colored sauces, a pistachio creme anglaise and a yogurt honey sauce (My friend and i couldn't stop snacking on the yogurt sauce! we dipped all this fruit that we used as garnish in it and it was divine. anyhow, the baklava was a little over baked, so to compensate, we agreed the plate really needed to at least look magnificent. so we made about 16 caramel cages (very time consuming, but we had help thanks to some awesome peers that risked their fingers to work to make these cages (because hot sugar burns are terrible, and lord knows i left with a few battle scars that night). Our chef was impressed and it was overall a fun exercise. The one of the quickest hours of my life. It was stressful, but in a good way, kind of like working out, icky when your actually doing it, but the adrenaline is awesome and you don't regret doing it.

London Calling!

Wow am i sorry for not updating, and A LOT has happend. I've been very busy with work and school and not to mention had to deal with some personal stuff this week so its been a bit of a whirlwind. Anyhow, let me fill you in on this last week. We covered England of Tuesday and each student needed to present a beef wellington a cottage pie or pastie (pronounced pah-s-tee, not PAY-s-tee). I did the cottage pie (FYI, its a Shepard's pie not made with deer meat) and the wellington (that's the wellington pictured). Thank the lord we didn't need to make our own puff pastry! We were allowed to do whatever design we wanted and we needed to present it with tourneed potatoes and haricot vert. I was so proud of my sauce! it was reduced enough that it was super rich (you can tell by it's dark color) and it didn't break down on me (you know, when the fat and water separates..yea, no very pleasing on a fine dining plate). I thought my design was cute, but i saw some stuff the other students made and was a bit humbled, they really went all out and churned out some pretty neat wellingtons. I think that's the most expensive meal I've cooked, you know, it being a fillet Mignon, topped with mushroom duxelle, and foie gras. I should have pawned it! hey, i could use the money!

Gambas!

I made this dish with another classmate. I needed the help peeling all those shrimp which was murder for my fingers since the package they came in was frozen. they were simple to make, sauted in olive oil, chili flakes, and a spanish paprika. We had a little lecture about spain afterward with a whole break-down of the way they eat their meals. Actually, they eat a lot like me. they have a light breakfast or sometimes no real breakfast because they like to wake up late (like me). then they have a light lunch around 2, followed by a nap. then a little tea break around 4 or 5pm. then a little light dinner around 7 pm (like tapas and little appetizer sized portions) and then a real full course grand meal around 9 or 10pm. It seems like they must eat so much that they must face some obesity problem but not that what they do it is wholesome and fresh. They have wonderful local produce, wines, olive oils, seafood, etc. I've been to most of Europe but not Spain so i really hope to visit sometime in the near future. I'd also love to see more Spanish resturants. i only know of two "semi-decent" ones in LA and i know of a few in New York, but i think its a very tasty cuisine thats a bit underrated.

Paella!

We did a whole spanish buffet/banquet spread on tuesday. This reminded me a lot of my Garde Manger class because it was everyone in class kind of working together towards a big buffet, its not like individual plated dishes. However, the banquet was supposed to be for 16 people and we henceforth needed to make little tapas plates that all look indetical. The paella was the exception (because no one eats an individual paella, its meant to be a communal dish). Its gorgeous (and yummy!) but sadly i cant take credit for it because other people in the class made it. I did make the shrimp "gambas" which will be in the next post...

Aww, poor thumper!

ok so this is the rabbit. Its actually a rabbit roullade (with the leg/thigh meat) and rabbit loin which was crusted with bread crumbs (i know its a bit hard to tell). After the frogs legs, i was hesitant about try anymore out of the ordinary proteins, but i was pleasantly surprised. i actually am not to keen on duck, but i actually really enjoyed this, i am ashamed to admit. I fabricated poor bugs or thumper on Tuesday and it just looked so much like a rabbit, that it freaked me out a bit. But oddly enough, and not to sound too cliche, its a lot like chicken, maybe a little "meatier" perhaps leaner although i am not sure. Actually, i think its maybe more comparable to pork, hmm maybe a cross between the too. There is a fava and mushroom ragu with i think came out nicely beside it, with fried sage as a garnish, because anything fried is better, right?
Anyhows, I am really digging this class. Since there are little to no cooking demos we (the students) are really getting our chance to execute creative control and as the chef said "we're letting you fly". Garde Manger and baking were ok and the lessons were invaluable, but i really enjoyed my intro II class and i feel like this is like a big, grown-up, up-grade from that class. Next week we do Spanish, German, Belgian (my dad's Belgian, we'll see what HE has to say about the authenticity), Swiss, and Italian cuisine. I am lucky to have visited most the countries so we'll see how "authentic" they really are.

Frogs legs!

bleh, apparently a delicacy right? i know some people who actually like them, but they look too much like human muscles, and they taste like overcooked fish (or maybe i just overcooked mine?). We needed to serve it with a starch and veggie (like most entrees) so i chose polenta and baby carrots, still, I couldn't manage to make this look appetizing....

Bouillanbaise

Here's my Bouillabaisse, a provincial south of France fish stew. I've actually had some in Cannes and it was way better. Our recipe was a bit different because the end result did not have a lot of vegtables left and i remember the loads of stewed veggies in the Bouillabaisse i had in France. My Chef said it needed more salt, i am not going to argue, the truth is, i made a big batch so didn't realize i might need a lot more salt for the individual bowl to taste ok. I could have done better but i don't think it was a total disaster.

Welcome to International!

I apologize for not updating daily, its been a jam packed week. Anyhow, Garde Manger is over and on to the last formal cooking class because after this class i start to do a rotation where i work at the school's cafe, res truant, receiving, etc. I must say though, this was the class i was most physicked about when i heard about the whole program. Of course, every class gets harder and harder, and yes, this class is challenging and a lot of work (besides cooking) but its interesting to learn about different cuisines and we cover about 30 countries! Everyday is usually a different country, with this week being the except. This week was a lot about French food although some days we primarily focused on classical dishes and while other were provincial. I have loads of pics to share so with each picture of the dishes i made this week, I'll share some info about the class and the feelings that brewed in me. This was the first dish we had to make, nothing fancy but this was actually a practical quiz, we needed to make steak au poive with three tourneed potatoes with beans. I am not sure how i did. my sauce could have been darker but i think i did ok on the doneness which was supposed to be medium rare. I freaked out a bit because i thought initially it was overdone because i got a very thin piece compared to the others around me, but i think it turned out ok, i saw the color inside and it look medium.

my final buffet!

so i ditched my Dr. Seuss idea (sorry leslie, i know you were into that after the whole Horton who pancake fiasco) and went with "garden of eden". That tree there in the background is the tree of life made out of salt dough. Its not my proudest achievement but at least i made it through and it looks decent. I did the best i could, given the circumstances. My next class, International cuisines. This should be fun since i love to travel and have been almost everywhere. let see how authentic a french culinary school can be....

Final Freakout!!

You may have noticed how i haven't been posting lately here or over at Nutritious Junk, but that's because I've been super stressed with finals!!! I can finally breathe a little now that i get an hour and a half break while my buffet is being graded (btw, my chef knows about this blog so if he's reading, please be gentle, this was a tough one). For those of you who aren't in my class (because since now the word is out about my blog, i suspect people check it to see if i wrote any nasty things about them), let me break it down how the Garde Manger finals work. We had a written final on Monday, then we have to prep for a buffet of our very own (individual, NO TEAMS like before) with 3 different canapes with 12 of each and a chicken galantine. With four and a half days of prep, you'd think this is easy, right? well thats not all. On tuesday, we drew out of a hat two assinged salads and needed to present two appetizer portions of each at the alloted time. On Wednsday, we drew a sandwich and needed to present 12 tea sandwiches of our choice (i went with egg salad, i felt if i went for something too simple like cucumber or watercress, i'd be graded more harshly). I am sure you guys think sandwiches are super simpel and they are! but not when you have to make your own mayo, grill/roast your veggies, cook your bacon, make you spread etc. and today (thursday) we need to be clean and present our themed buffet at 8:30. I chose my theme to be "The Garden of Eden". I had the tree of life (sans apples, i guess eve ate them all) made out of salt dough (which is the culinary term for play dough, now i know why play dough tastes so salty, and yes, i was the adventuerous child who actually tried play-dough). O yes, and of course we need to present 10 vegtable carvings and a melon carving. I feel like i am about to collapse. tomorrow i also am just loaded with personal stuff i need to take care of (two doctors appointments, 1 job interview, laundry, groceries, etc) and i still need to go to school to help clean the lab before the next term and recieve my final grade. Gahh! i will take a picture when i can get back into the lab in about an hour and you guys can give me feed back. Not my best work, but lord knows i tried the best i could and given the circumstances, i am not completely dissatisfied, at least all my components are there (i hope?). anyhow, i am going to get some grub, strange this is all really about food and i forget to feed i have a growling stomach.

All about my mother

Happy mothers day, Ive had a terrible/stressful weekend but I'll carve (haha no pun intended) out a little non culinary face time to talk about my mother. I haven't celebrated mother's day with her in for nearly a decade. She died in 2000 when i was just entering my teen years, a fragile time to loose a mother. She had cancer since i was in her womb. Her doctors told her once i came out, she should start chemo on her breast and forgo breast feeding. but my mom was no match, she was like, "no way will me daughter grow up on formula! I'll breast feed her until she's ready to eat on her own!". And so she did, and completed a round of chemo successfully after she breast fed me for nine months. My mother was a bit of an astronaut, as my dad called her. Loving to explore new places and meeting new people. Its amazing how many friends she knew! very different from my dad who was a bit of an extrovert and less social. She told me she always wanted to be a flight attendant, she loved flying (i totally didn't get THAT gene, i hate flights!) and loved traveling. But she actually had a masters in urban planning although never really did that. She bounced around doing marketing for various companies. She was in no way a housewife, she always worked even when she had chemo again when i was in their grade when her breast cancer came back. She lost her hair completely the second time around. In that time, cancer wasn't very chic like it is today with Melissa Ethridge proudly shaking her bald head at the Grammy's. So she was very shy and upset about being bald. But it was fun going with her to the wig shop (note, i should NEVER be platinum blond!) and trying on crazy wigs. she was very healthy about it though, she ate well and exercised every morning. and I honestly never remember her in pain of i bed a lot. she wasn't "sick" to me. She was so cool in that as healthy as she was, she would take me every so often McDonald's and order a Big Mac, one of her prized foods. she knew this wasn't healthy, and mind you, she did take off the third bun on it (which is perfectly good to do, who needs three buns!). Anyhow, she did have a great appetite. she never restricted junk food at all, but she also wasn't inclined to buy unhealthy snacks like sugary cereals and those kiddie fruit by the foot stuff. That's why my lunches in school were so odd. I had stuff like pita with hummus or a tuna and corn salad (a very good salad, mind you!) with literally a hunk of chocolate for dessert! how weird, right? Its strange though because i found all these diet books on her book case (old diet books, like "fit or fat" and Susan powder books) but i never remember her following them. Anyhow, fast forward to when i was about 12 when the cancer came back again. This time it was breast cancer cells in the lung. This time, it took her life about a year and half later. She was only bed ridden about a month before she died, and i don't even think she thought she was dying. So when she did die, it was a bit of a shock to everyone, despite the fact that people knew breast cancer and her were on a on/off relationship for a while. I cried i a lot before she died, but no so much after, strangely enough. It was like a weight was lifted. We buried her near where she grew up in Israel. Its actually a lovely cemetery with only about 20 graves, not like a death row most cemetery's resemble. Its in the outskirt hills of Jerusalem, and it looks more like a hidden cove than a cemetery. I hated the funeral, simply because i didn't want to see people cry and get all sappy because i find that contagious and it made me that way too. My mother's absence has unfortunately stirred up some problems with my mental health. For a while, i was so scarred for my dad's life because i was afraid to be an orphan. I think loosing a mother before you enter high school can be daunting. I didn't have a mother primp me for prom or "lunch" with, or go bra shopping. I dragged my dad, poor thing, but he's been awesome, he's had women around him all his life so he's in the know with female issues as opposed to most fathers. I actually usually give my dad a gift on mother's day because i think he's been great at trying to be mom. This is getting long and i to be honest, i am beginning to tear up writing this so I'll wrap this up. Have a wonderful mothers day everybody!

Galantines, Pates, and Terrines: french Jell-O

so this week was fairly easy going (although still for me, pretty harsh, i think there must be some hex that the classmates put upon me). we made chicken galantines which is a chicken forcemeat mixture that covers a carrot, spinach, and mushroom inlay, wraped boned chicken breast, wraped in its own casing (as in, chicken skin), and the THAT is covered in edible chaud froid, which is basically a bechemel sauce with gelatin so it hardens up. sounds delicious, doesn't it!? well no, even the chef told us he'd pay to NOT eat it. This is very classical french and really for the sake of presentation. Its like taking meatloaf and giving it a Jell-O coat (scarry thought). Needless to say, mine was horrible. My inlays were alll different sizes and got all mushed when i poached them. Finals are next week so I am a bit stressed, but i must get this gallantine right for th final (i did terribly on the last quiz, i think my lowest grade in my whole culinary school career). Finals are crazy hard, and i thought the baking II finals were stressful! I have to make my own buffet (no more groups) and have 10 vegtable carvings plus a melon carving. the thing is, i suck (i'd use a nicer word but, i plainly just "suck") at carving. maybe my fingers are deformed. Its weird cause i thought i might be good at it cause i knit a lot but i suppose being "handy" has nothing to do with your veggie carving skills. I still think i cook veggies, as opposed to making them look like roses. I wonder which lasts longer? anyhow, yesterday we had a test run for next week cause we had a little mini buffet (with only three items though)and my theme was my mother, for mothers day. speaking of which, my next post will be about my mother, she was such an amazing person, i would love to share with you her story.

In the Grinder

here is the picture of our "sausage buffet" since we made a whole batch of different sausages. Our theme was Las Vegas which actually suited us well since we made use of the "wienies" which is sort of like poker food. On top of the whole fiasco in class (which, and to be honest, i am scarred to come back too because i feel so hated by nearly everyone)i got my rejection later from the theater program at ucla. I felt it coming, i didn't think my audition went well, but this was the wrong time, i feel like along with the sausage meat, I've been processed in the grinder. My future is so unclear, i am not sure what i want to do once i finish school. I definitely do NOT want to go back to UC Santa Barbara and i never really wanted to do restaurant work. Like most twenty-somethings, i feel like i am heading in direction. Anyhow, class aside because just thinking about school right now makes me uneasy, I've picked up the new Madonna CD, hard candy. I have been a die hard Madonna fan since i was little and obsessing over knowing all the lyrics to "Vogue". I love that Madonna is aging gracefully, but this is not my favorite album of hers. Its very "hip hop" and although i love the "4 minuets" song, the rest of the album is not as work-out worthy. I know she's been into electronic beats and what not since Ray of Light (which is definitely one of my favorite albums of hers), and although the songs from her last album, "confessions of a dance floor" were mediocre, i thought it was a great work-out album. some of the beats to "hard candy" are a little strange to run or bike too and its not a very good "chill" soundtrack like the one from "Juno" was (GREAT soundtrack, by the way, GET IT!!!). Speaking of Juno, did you see the Barbara Walters interview with Ellen Page? she was telling Ellen she doesn't really understand the song and was wondering why anyone would listen to it. whoa, babs, chill, its a cool song and clearly, you need to let some other young journalists take the spotlight every once and a while. I am all for seniors giving up retirement for later, but is this was kind of a sign that maybe its time she gave it a rest?

Cheese Store Field Trip!

Today we went on a field trip to the Beverly Hills Cheese store. Its about 50 years old and one of the oldest cheese stores in the country actually. Its small but very classy, old registers and meat slicers. Ironically enough, my stomach has a strong aversion to cheese. I never warmed up to like it and when i have had it on rare occasions, i got severe stomach pains. But i understand that as a chef i should be familiar with all food mediums. The guy who gave us the bulk of the tour was so sweet. It was very refreshing to see someone so passionate about cheese! We sampled cheeses (duh) but also some good olive oils, cured meats, salami, mustard, and this fig cake which i couldn't get enough of. they served it with a sheep's milk Gouda, but i brushed off the cheese and ate as much on this fig cake that was left on the sample tray. We still had to show up in "semi" uniform (as in we just needed our jackets and shoes, although i forgot about the shoes and wore my bright pink nikes, very classy, no?). It was funny walking back to my car, someone asked me if i am a chef and i said, "no, this is a costume". I was obviously joking but he believed me for second (hey, its la, you never know...). I can't lie and say i am 100% ok these days. I am actually falling a little a bit into this depressive hole i was in when i started culinary school. this whole website getting exposed thing i think made this negative aura around me and i think the whole class collectively hates me. I hope this won't affect me cooking, but i am just not happy right now, and its seeping to outside the kitchen as well. I already have self esteem issues, and having a bunch of haters doesn't aid that. I feel the relationship between my dad and i is deteriorating as well which is upsetting because i want to make him proud because he's done so much helping me pay for school and all. I need to start seeing a therapist again. I saw therapists since my mom died when i was 13 and stopped when i went to college. Than in college i started seeing one again and when i moved back home to go to culinary school, i sort of stopped therapy period. I am sorry to make this a sad post, i am just really upset lately. don't worry, more upbeat posts to follow.

Retraction

It has come to my attention that this blog has been viewed by most of my peers. To those offended by the comments i have made, from the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry. Understand that this blog is a diary of sorts and i forget that this is accessible to the whole world and that anyone can view it. Please, understand that my view points are probably made because of my ignorance about certain situations, and i try to be funny and together, it can come up as hurtful. I was about to cancel the whole blog, but i still feel i should document my journey, but from now on I will no longer gossip about ANYONE (even chefs and top chef contestants). To those i have hurt, i respect you to the bone and hope you accept my since apologizes. I meant no harm, everything should be taken with a grain of salt (kosher salt, of course).

"Cooking" Demo

so i went to the book festival yesterday and Brian Malarkey (from Miami Top Chef season) signed my book and gave me a hug. I saw Padma Lakshami's scheduled cooking demo too. It was rather silly, everything was already made basically and she didn't even assemble anything! she made goat cheese flauntas and after she assembled one, she asked someone from the audience to do the rest and fry them! in the meantime, she did a reading from her book. I think she is gorgeous and not your typical "model/actress" but i don't think she's a chef, and i have a feeling she didn't come up with the recipes in her book all on her own. I love that she proudly displays her scar shamelessly. I have a scar too on my right shoulder, not as noticeable as hers but still, a good conversation starter (although i never wear tank tops). Anyways, here's the picture of Padma "cooking". the line for her to sign was too long and it was 90 degrees outside and i was already beginning to resemble a lobster.

Tea Party!

Our chef went to New Orleans Thursday and he only comes back on Tuesday. We have a sub who i absolutely love. He's laid back and very chill-axed, no drill sergeant methods of teaching. Not that our subject for yesterday was that hard, tea sandwiches. We had a whole lecture of "tea" and what's served with classic "tea time" and as the British call is "elevenses" (an in between breakfast and lunch snack/tea time, like a daily brunch, if you will). We made some classic, albeit rather boring sandwiches like cucumber, watercress, egg-salad, smoked salmon, curried chicken, and we needed to present two "signature" ones. We were in groups of four and since chola chika excommunicated me from her aura, i was a group of fairly ok people. I am a bit bossy, i admit so we ran with my tea sandwich ideas which turned out really delicious, date and cream cheese filled sandwiches and a peanut, chicken, slices apple open faced sandwich. Tomorrow i go to the Los Angeles Times festival of books to meet some cookbook authors and hopefully get them to sign my book. I wish i could be at the Coachella music festival, but i am a book worm too so i am excited about the book festival (man i am dork). Btw, this is the Reuben from the other day, cholesterol city!

Grilled Veggie Sandwich

this is the grilled veggie. There's olive capanade in there too and "signature" side was tabouli which he said was too dry (boo!). Sorry the resolution is sorta crappy. Today we did a buffet of tea sandwiches (very english, no?) but i forgot my camera. Whats sad is that we threw most of them away, no one really wanted cucmber and watercress sandwiches.

Sandwiches!

we needed to bust out 3 snadwiches (reuben, club, and grilled veggie) with a bound salad for each. I just got home so I'll write more about them later, heres the club

what the #%@! ????

I recently came across an article in the new york times (which i find one of the few very good American newspapers) about chefs and this new cursing phenomenon (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/dining/16profane.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin). Gordon Ramsey and Anthony Bourdain, both very successful chefs, have their cussing to thank for much of their recent popularity and fame. In the food industry, or any industry with lots of stress, cussing is bound to burst. Now i am not all innocent and proper, I curse, but only when appropriate. I like to use curse words in their simplest form, without adjoining words. Like lets say i spilled something, i often say, "Shit!". this to me is ok, and spills and burns happen all the time in the kitchen, and in this context, i find it ok to curse. I DON'T find it professional or beneficial when people start to inject curse words into semi-cogent sentences like, "get me that fucking pot into my fucking hands you shithead!". This is just a) a rude, condescending request, b) bad English, period!, and c) a desperate attempt to attract attention or superiority. That said, this Chola Chika bully of mine curse without end, and not in the context of my preference. I am not offended by people cursing, but why do it for the sake of wanting to portray power or attention. Like drinking, cursing is fine in moderation. I learned it from my mother (who without shame cursed infront of me in the car while driving in rush hour traffic). But she never said, "dont curse" and hence, i never felt the need to rebel and curse. I know its not the most polite thing to do, but i admit i do it. Anyhow, what do you think?

Canapes!

We actually had to produce 15 12 different kinds of canapes (9 with specific recipes, 2 what had to have smoked trout and duck rillet with whatever base or spread/garnish we wanted and 1 signature canape)per group. Our signature one is indeed on this chaud froid platter that i did which looks awful (the platter, not the canape). We used jicama circles as the base, a spicy peanut spread, shrimp, and a piece of coconut for garnish. I originally wanted to do a date jicama canape, but i was out voted by the rest of the group who killed my idea (i eve brought in dates!). I was still satisfied. anyhow, a canape must have 1) a base, 2)a spread, 3) a topping, and 3) a garnish. Now sometimes, like those boats of salmon mousse, the mousse is also the spread, its mainly so the topping will adhere. I cant take credit for making all the canapes you see in the picture because we worked in teams and everyone did a little of something, but i CAN take credit for those prosciutto and melon of shortbread cookies you see. For some reason, no one in my group wanted to do it. Needless to say, they were probably the best tasting.

About to start class!

I got here a bit early and i like to sip my oh so healthy diet Dr. Pepper and have a moment of blog zen before i take my quiz today. We had a whole canape spread yesterday (pic will come once i get home). I am writing this from the "wine classroom" that has an available computer (i am in a room full of booze, alone!). My test is on caviar and canapes. We also do a caviar tasting today. I have a feeling its not the expensive stuff but probably still worth it. I just wanted to reach out and write a quick post before i start in a few minutes. That being said i should start to suit up my chef's coat and try to squeeze my unruly hair into my hat. talk to you when i get home!

My culinary anti-heros

a couple months back i listed some true culinary legends that inspired me to go to culinary school and overall wonderful role models (amoung them, Julia Child, Ruth Riechl). These people had true success in their field, but most importantly, they had true heart. Lately, i've read about a bunch of people that bluntly, piss me off! They have no respect for food, no compassion, and probably were given a plethora of bad meals. heres the list:


Karl Largerlfeld: he recently stated: "I hate the smell of cooking. Some people love it, but I don't care for it. I don't eat sweet things. I don't eat greasy things. And I like fish better than meat. In fact, I hate meat. My doctor calls me to eat meat twice a week, as apparently we are cannibals. There used to be a Nobu here in Paris but it was very bad; it was horrible". Not to mention, he stated in the same article that he hates fat people. I know he must be a very talented fashion designer, but I think he needs to wise up, realize the world doesn't revolve around him and eat trans-fat laden fried twinkie for god's sake!

Robert Irvine: I never liked his show (dinner: impossible) because it was totally staged, aparently so was his resume. he lied about his resume including cooking at the White House, knighthood, a university degree and making Lady Diana's wedding cake. I hate nothing more than people who name names to further their career. He may be nice, but a chef should set a good example (it does mean "cheif" in french).

Natsuko "Gal" Sone : The leading Japanese competitve eater, i give her props because she's unconventional (being a female in a male dominated "sport") but i put her on my list because i think competetive eating degrades the purpose of food. Food is pleasure, nourishment, art, but i dont think you can really get that by shoving X amount of hotdogs, cakes, or wings. this just kind of makes me sick and i want people to taste food, not force it down.

Healthy sushi choices!

adress the comment from my previous post, i'll give you my little guide to health sushi navigation. First of all, let me just say that every sushi place will vary a little bit so ask when your unsure. Some places sneak in mayo into basic rolls like cucumber and spicy tuna rolls. ask if they do this. Nigiri is ok because there usually is no chance of mayo getting in there. Tuna, Salmon, yellow tail, shrimp, and crab are the good choices for seafood. mackrel is great but fairly high in fat so if your watching that, just be aware. Eel is sometimes fried but some places bake them so agian, ask. sushi rice does actually have sugar in it so don't load up on the rice, unless theres a marathon tomorrow, then by all means carbo load. Miso soup, edemmae and seaweed salads are great starters. Soy sauce has A LOT of sodium so try tamari which is what soy sauce is based out of only it has about 1/3 less salt (and its good if you gluten intolerant, soy sauce has wheat). Wasabi and ginger are also harmless condiments. Tempra anything is battered and fried, its like the KFC of sushi. some crazy specialty sushi's like those "rainbow" or "spider" rolls are usually slathered in may somewhere. go for simple rolls and go easy on the rice. and bring a case of emergency fork if your like me and are a complete chop stick novice! (ps, i didn't make the top roll with the avocado on top, i did the inside out one next to it)

Sushi Buffet!

This is from friday's sushi buffet. I must say sushi is overrated and over priced. Our chef explained to us it one of the oldest tricks to milk money our of consummers. Many people put huge price tags on sushi when you really only get a little bit of fish or seafood and a lot of veggies or rice. I never loved sushi, i like fish, i am not crazy about rice (i am more of a bread lover when it comes to starches) and i have never left a sushi resturant very full. I usually load up on miso soup, edammae, and maybe tuna and salmon rolls when got to sushi bars. But in general, sushi is not my all time favorite food. I came home with so much sushi that night!

The Asian Appetizer Buffet!

Here's our cold asian appetizer buffet. I was in the group with all the asian students in the class (ironic?). I am the one staring to the distance and not at the camera on the far left (and obviously, the only one thats not Asian.

Welcome to Garde Manger!

Wow, so the new term started and boy i am i in for a whirlwind. first of all, my apologize for not posting sooner, this class is major busy! Its actually infamous around the school as being the toughest because A LOT of material is covered in a very short period of time. As i explained in earlier posts, Garde Manger is a lot about cold food and buffets. Presentations are a big chunk of the class as well. On Monday, we had a long lecture about preservation methods like curing and confit. I am sure if you watch top chef (review of this weeks top chef to come soon!), you may have heard that phrase such as "duck confit" or "tuna confit". Well let me tell you, if your watching your weight or fat grams, stay away from anything confit. Confit means preserved and cooked in its own fat. So we made duck condif this week. Duck has a thick skin (which equals fat) and so we rubbed a curing mixture and let it cure in the fridge overnight, rubbed off the mixture the next day to let it form whats called a "pellicle" which happens when you let stuff air dry. Then we cooked it in the rendered duck fat and cooled it in the duck fat. We are going to use the duck probably next week, and guess whats going to keep it nice and fresh until then, yep the fat. We began to make smoked salmon, gravlax, bacon, turkey, corned beef, and sauerkraut. You see, we are doing a whole week of sandwiches week 3 so this stuff needs to cure. It amazing how long it takes to make things like turkey and bacon, I mean its there ready to eat at your local grocery store. So the first few days we worked on stuff for next week and the week after. We did do a few cold appetizers because we had an Asian appetizer buffet (pics to be uploaded soon!). It was actually very delicious we made tea smoked duck (smoking using tea is genius!), fragrant chicken, five spice beef, chui-sui pork (i dont think that means anything, but maybe they though chui sui is some word in Chinese of whatever), spring rolls (very fun to make! a great idea to for a dyi dinner party, its like a step above dyi burritos and tacos, and probably healthier as well!). We also learned how to carve since its all about presentation in this class. So i had bring in 5 radish roses Tuesday for homework and a "kissing swans" melon carvings. I got home tuesday night and began to work on my melons, when i woke up the nest day, my dad's girlfriend's daughter decided to have one of my swans for breakfast! it was so embarrassing to tell the chef, "um, this little brat ate my homework!".

Top Chef Chicago overview!

I remember when the first season of top chef ran back in 05 when i was living in the college dorms. I thought it was ok, but I really fell in love with the show during the second season (and totally had a crush on the winner, Ilan). Now i am addicted. the Miami season wrapped just when i was beginning culinary school and now that the Chicago one premiered, i haven't realized how i view the show in a completely different light now. Before, i did have an interest in their food, but more into the drama (which i am sure is semi-staged, as with all reality shows). So i thought each week, I'd give a quick overview and my thoughts of the weeks episode. I dont know if any of my readers care or even watch the show, but maybe if you just listen to my ramblings about it, you won't even need to watch. Now i know i am sort of jumping into this kind of late in the game since its already had three episodes for the new Chicago season but I'll briefly fill you in. Right now, theres a lesbian couple who new each other from before the show (Jennifer and Zoi), a quirky new Zealand (Marc), a kinda cute wise crack (I have a crush on on of the chefs in EVERY season, last season it was CJ, this time its Spike, the token Latina (Antonia), the other cute but kinda dumb guy (Ryan), a know it all gastronomy whiz (Richard), the token Asian (cause every top chef season needs one or they would be prejudice, Dale), the quiet ladies (Valerie, who was voted off, Lisa and Stephanie), the token black girl (they always need someone black, in this case it was nimma, voted off the first episode), the scary tattoo dawning guy (Erik, voted off last week for soggy corn dogs), the pretty girl with little culinary knowledge (they always need some really pretty girl, usually shes just eye candy for producers, she wont win, but will be around for beauty's sake, its sad but its a pattern I've noticed, anyway, this season its Nikki), the comic relief (Andrew), and the quiet guy (Manuel, who was voted off this past episode). I think they cast strategically, as with all reality shows, but i love the show for the fun culinary creations and challenges, not for the "diverse" cast. I like that Ted Allen is one of the judges this season, joining Padma Lakshmi (Salman Rushdie's ex wife) and Tom Collichio (a very good chef i might ad, just opened Craft in LA and it got three stars in the times which is very rare). I wont go over the first two episodes because that could take a while, but I just loved this past one. They had to do a dish with a partner based or inspired by a movie with film critic, Richard Roeper, and kick-ass actress, Aisha Tyler, as guest judges. One team did Vietnamese Spring rolls for the film, "Good Morning Vietnam" and Padma commented that she though they chose the film because they want to make Vietnamese food, when it should have been the other way around. I agreed with her, and if it were me I might make something like twist on chili and corn bread (a la one of my favorite films, "Blazing Saddles")or some southern inspired dish (a la "Gone with the Wind", don't make fun, i still cry when i watch it!). What would your film/dish be? imagine if someone chose Silence of the Lambs! what would they serve, their partner's kidneys or liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti!?

How-to's for those "duh" items!

Its funny, i remember when i first started in my intro I class, I was rather agravated at what were learning. At first, LOTS of time spent in class just cutting up carrots and potatoes! NOT for consumption, but to hone our knife cuts. And lets not forget that week where all we made was stuff like rice pilaf, blanched broccoli, hard boiled eggs, chicken stock.. i mean i wanted to do what they were doing on "top chef", i wanted to play up with new flavors and ingredients. Now that I am almost nearing the end of my formal cooking classes (because after Garde Manger, I go to international, and then its "restaurant rotation" where i work for a few weeks at the school's bistro), I realize just how those intro I classes were. I mean they are basic things, and surprisingly, most people (culinary students aside although many forget these basics as well and are guilty of this too) do these "duh" items incorrectly. so i thought I'd go back to my Intro I lessons and review with you some items you should know how to do properly. mind you, many people do things differently and if it works your way, great, but its good to know these "core" techniques.

HOW TO:

-Boil Rice: Its different but each kind of rice has a standard. Long grain white rice is 1/2 cup rice to 1 cup water. Ive read some packages that say to boil the water first, but don't do this, i dont know why but my rice never turns out nice this way. I usually "pearlize" the rice with a bit of olive oil on low heat and then add my water. Bring to a boil and once boil cover and put in a bay leaf and seasoning and pop a lid on it and put it in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 min. Once you get it out of the oven, fight the temptation to open the lid, let it rest off the heat for 10 min. The you can fluff with fork and i promise, perfect rice! Jasmine rice works a bit differently (but I LOVE jasmine rice so to me, this is important) there is no exact ration, but you simply cover the rice in the pot by 3/4 of an inch and bring to a boil uncovered. then pop on a lid and on a very low heat, let it simmer for about 20. Take off the heat (again, no peaking!) and let it rest for 10. Like with meats and even cookies and cakes, rice needs its rest after its been in the heat.

-Hard Boil an Egg: i love hard boiled eggs and i make it a lot in batched so i always have a few ready on hand. There are loads of ways I've seen people do it but here the way we were taught (i find it the most effective for not overcooking the yolk so it turns green). simply place egg in water unboiled water and let it come to a boil and boil for 8 min and done!

-Poach an Egg: this bit me in the ass when i took my Baking I class because we had a "pop quiz" where we all had to make two poached eggs with hollandaise. like hard-boiled eggs, people over the years came up with little tricks and what not for the the perfect shape, there are even cute egg poachers in nifty stores like bed and bath. But here's the old school way: add regular distilled vinegar to your water or poaching liquid (it helps keep it together) and bring to an almost boil (you don't want a full on boil because it'll break up the structure of the egg). It sounds theoretically appealing that if you stir the water rapidly to create a vortex in the middle of the pot, and you crack an egg into that vortex, it will magically wrap the whites around the yolk. It rarely works this way, though.Once the egg is in the pot, you can shape it a bit using a spoon or spatula. This definitely helps to rein in the loose bits. It's not going to transform a totally incoherent egg into a beautifully contained one, but it can make some difference.
fish out with a slotted spoon and i like to let it rest over some paper towels because it'll still have a fair amount of water on it thus making your English muffin or plate watery.

-Blanch veggies: Many SO many people screw this up. in boiling water dump your veggies. if its leafy like greens, almost immediately fish out and shock in an ice bath (i cant stress this shocking step enough! it will over cook if you leave it). broccoli, green beans, and cauliflower take about min and then shock, carrots can be left for about 2 min. it might seem like little time but i get over steamed veggies in restaurants and people's house all the time. I dont like it raw (unless intentional, of course) but you do want so snap. Unless its meant to be pureed or for baby food, it should not be uber soft it practically melts in your mouth.

-Sear meat: even if your baking meat in the oven, it often wise to sear because it adds color (for appearance) and seals in juices. You do need so sort of fat (you can go healthy like me and use canola, olive or sesame oil, or go French and use butter, or go american and use crisco, or if your really gutsy, go with lard). You dont need a lot of fat but a little. heat the fat FIRST and do the sizzle test (drop or water in the fat pool, if it reacts immediately, its ready for the meat). sear all side evenly, dont walk away and change the TV channel or answer the phone, it easy to over cook meat which if you ask me is more serious of a crime than overcooked veggies.

there you have it, some simple "duh" moves you may have been doing differently, but try the old school approach.

Possible Business Venture???

So a couple weeks ago when i went to get my hair done for my UCLA audition, i brought a tin of the cookies i made in class (hoping to get a slight discount...). Well i did get a discount (i doubt the cookies had anything to do with it, i just my dad is family friends with my hairdresser) but the owner of the salon asked me if i ever thought about selling the cookies. When i cam back a week ago just for a blowout, she said she gave them to a few customers and they loved it and wondered if they could buy some. She suggested i give her my card (which the closest thing i have to a business card is my head shot i give when i go on auditions)so people could contact me and buy my cookies. Well this got me thinking...maybe i could make a healthier assortment of cookies and sell them. I called my nutritionist and she said she'd gladly help me figure out the correct nutritional info for labeling. I am thinking of selling all sorts of low sugar biscotti. what do you think? could i possibly sell them online? maybe through nutritious junk? would people actually buy them? Tell me what you think?

How to be a Faker Baker!

Now that i have completed 12 weeks of baking, I've come up with a few tips and tricks for all you baking novice's and even experienced cooks. The thing is, most chefs don't like baking. Its hard, chefs (and most home cooks too) generally treat baking like some people treat math. Many people are love writing, reading, and English people like me, for example) and hate subject like math and science and vise versa (some loath language arts and thrive off numbers and theories). Chefs may be excellent chefs, but when it comes to pastries, they begin to loose their cool. Pastry chefs are a lot rarer than savory chefs, and not surprisingly, get paid sometimes double the salary. Rachel Ray (as annoyingly "cute" as she is) always says, "I don't bake!" and some chefs of "top chef" were booted for their pathetic attempt at dessert concoctions. I am probably not going to be a pastry chef, but I do think my skills have improved tremendously in the past 12 weeks and i completely understand why they included baking in the culinary arts program (because the Le Cordon Bleu also has a separate Baking and Patisserie program). So here they are, a few tips you should know when you do venture into baking to ensure better products and self-proclaim yourself as a baker (even if you fake it!).

-BOX MIXES: yes, my baking teacher did consider these box mixes and canned frosting (or what she referred to as the f-word)taboo but lets be honest, the average home cook does not have loads of different flours, extracts, and baking powders necessary to make cakes or cookies for those once in a blue moon events (with the exception of those that DO bake often and DO happen to have these item on hand). Its simply easier and cheaper for these occasions to resort to the mixes. so if you do choose the mix, to ensure a more "professional" or "home-made" touch, remember to sift your dry ingredients ALWAYS. Nothing pisses me off more than biting into a brownine with a dry lump of powdered cocoa. Sifting ensures a smooth lump-less batter. Often your asked to add eggs and oil to these mixes so make sure you do use your amounts correctly. If you think skipping the oil or only using egg white will yield a healthier product, you may be right, but if substitution is your thing, so it when you make the whole thing from scratch. These mixes already have some oils and other sorts of chemicals in them that can make it taste off when you substitute your own products. If healthier baking is your goal, just don't go with mixes.

-PAM: or otherwise known as cooking spray to prevent your desserts and breads from sticking. Its used in most pastry kitchens, but my chef told us that she personally tries to avoid them whenever she can, opting to use a non-stick silicone "silpat" baking sheet or lining pans with non-stick parchment. why? because besides oil, these sprays have a fair amount of alcohol in them that can produce this waxy film on your product. I've tried it and its totally true. silpats are a little pricey but definitely a great investment and they last forever.

- FRUIT: are you stumped as to what dessert to make? start with nature's sweetness. Think of a seasonal fruit and try to build your dessert around that. this was a good exercise in our "mystery box" exams. Say you want to use cherries, you can flambe them with rum for a "cherries jubilee", incorporate them into cake like a cherry clafoutti, or if you can, maybe even a cherry sorbet. Just like savory menus can often be built off protein, dessert menus can be built off fruits.

-SCALES: by all means throw away the bathroom scale (clothes are a much better way to measure whether your leaning out or expanding), but instead trade it in for a kitchen scale. I think chefs don't like baking because to bake correctly, measurements must be precise to a T, unlike cooking which is more "dash" there, "hand full" there, "eye ball" etc. And cups and tablespoons are actually not very accurate. weight is the best way to measure so invest in a small kitchen scale (i got a digital one for like 14 bucks at costco) and you're baking good will probably always turn out perfect.

-VANILLA BEANS: again a pricey ingredient that goes a long way. extracts are OK, but the vanilla bean itself will really pack a great flavor to ANYTHING. Ice cream bases, pie, cookies, custards, cake, pudding, even savory dishes get a great enhancement with some scraped fresh vanilla beans. You can buy a single bean in most markets (for about 4 bucks per pod) but i think the best deal is a wholesale pack which has about 100 pods and costs about 50 bucks. Its a lot of vanilla beans, but you'll probably never need vanilla beans again and they don't go bad (so maybe you can pass them on to your grandchildren if you don't use them all).

See, you can make decent, gourmet desserts without being a pastry chef! and if all else fails, i am sure there's a lovely local bakery where you can get a cake and put it in you cake pan and call it your own. Don't worry, these cakes are generally not copyrighted.

See ya Baking II!

So baking II ended this Friday. For those wondering if Iam alive, i assure you i am, but just barely, hence my infrequent posts. A LOT went on since i wrote last, finals week, and i wish i could be more articulate to describe it, sucked! lets begin with my little mystery box fiasco. I did LOADS of research, i went to three bookstores to look for this particular fine dining dessert cookbook for ideas, I browsed online for ideas and plating designs. I had a concept, i wanted to have a chocolate devils food cake tart with a chocolate tart shell filled with thyme infused pastry cream with caramelized orange segments on top with a orange thyme creme anglise and orange apple cider gastrique (we needed two sauces). But everything that i tried to execute just didn't go! the ONE thing that went smoothly was the bake on my cake, but when i made the chocolate tart shells, they stuck to the molds and wouldn't come loose! so i covered the molds with plastic wrap, hoping i could just remove the plastic to help them move off. but it just broke off the set up, chocolate! At this point i had about ten minuets to plate up, clean, and fill in my mystery box form (explaining all the components of the dish and listing ingredients). my orange segment which i cooked with flambeed triple sec completely fell apart and didn't hold their crescent shape I'd hoped they would, they just looked like orange mush. It was awful, i didn't know what to do, so i just piled everything on the plate. I know I had to kill it with my final products that were to be due on Thursday. So Tuesday, from 6:00-9:30 we need to do what we could for Thursday where, as i mentioned previously, I needed to turn it a dobos torte, 12 tempered chocolate truffles, 12 petite fours, 12 biscotti cookies, creme brulee, and caramel sauce. We had Wednesday too, but the catch was, that we needed to turn in a hot souffle at a specific time on Wednesday. you see souffles need to be served "a minute", french for "at the moment" otherwise they deflate and i guess are no longer considered a souffle. So everyone really needed to time it perfectly, get them in the oven with enough time to rise and bring them with their given time. I was three minutes late, but at my time they really weren't puffed up enough and she mentioned that she'd prefer a late, puffed souffle as opposed to a flat ramekin on time. It wasn't even that puffed up, but i didn't was to be TOO late. SO i was super stressed for time, everything was made hastily and without careful attention, and hence done, and again excuse my in-articulate use of words, half-assed. Fat blooms (or streaking) surrounded my truffles, my petite four were not uniform and not all completely glazed, my biscotti was way too big (i forgot to half the recipe), and my sponge layers for my dobos torte were not "spongy" and hence super dry and hard. The one thing i think i nailed was the creme brulee. I say "think" because when i received my final grades, yesterday, i was so embarrassed from my performance during finals that i folded it over without looking and its in that same position in my car as we speak. a terrible habit of mine where i do into denial mode until i get in a better mood and then face it. Maybe I'll look at it next week, in the meantime i just need to focus forward, on whats next. Well actually we have a week break (thank the lord)and then i start a class called Garde Manger, french for "keeper of the food". Its basically all about preparing and presenting cold foods like canapes, cold cuts, terrines, sushi, sandwiches, salads, and stuff like that. Its also about making decorative centerpieces from ice sculptures to decorative cuts of fruits. The class works a bit differently from the others, you work in groups and you do a whole buffet spread each week. The final is a whole buffet spread you prepare by yourself, without your "group". I am nervous, i hated when we had to work in groups for our fried chicken day in my Intro II. Not to get snotty, but i really think some people are difficult to work with and um...i don't know i kinda am a bit of a control freak, i like doing things my way. I guess that makes me bossy, but i always avoid fights by not staying out of drama. anyhow, I have week to recharge. I'll be posting some recipes and other articles here throughout the week so check often, I'll try to get them in daily, thanks for the support guys!

Yet another cry for help!

Man what a week! finals are on monday and work a little differently for this class. Monday is our written exam and right after is our "mystery box" practical. this isn't a mystery box like before this time its way more difficult, and thus the plea for help. this time i need to make a plated dessert using devil's food cake (the cake needs to be part of the dessert, the dessert itself cnt just be a slice of devil's food cake), pastry cream, orange, and thyme! God i hate this!!! everyone got a weird spice. i dont know why they did that because we never learned how to use savory herbs in desserts. I have a feeling my dish will taste pretty awful. Then on tuesday and wednsday we have all class to prep for thursday when I have to turn in: 12 round dark chocolate truffles, 12 petit four cakes, 12 orange anise flavored biscotti, and a whole dobos torte (remember the pic i took of mine a little while back?). I actually have to turn in a hot chocolate souffle on wednsday at 8:10 pm EXACTLY becasue those need to be served right away otherwise they'll deflate. i need to time it perfectly, i loose points if it early or late! Anyhow, i stumped about this mystery box, the only think i can think of is baking the cake on sheet pan (so its thin and flat) and rolling it with the orange/thyme pastry cream. But i dont really thing this cake will roll nicly because its so moist and not very sponge-y. anyhow ideas would be much appreciated :)

Advice? Anyone?

Hey, i just got back from my 8am saturday math class and feel like i am going to melt into my bed/sofa/or any surface. we finished our fondant celebration cakes (i will post the pic in the next post) but most importantly, we have a mystery box plated dessert quiz on monday and we each got to pick out of a hat three flavors and make a fine dining, balanced dessert using the ingredients. Mine are apple, cinnamon, and walnut. honestly, i was a bit disappointed because this pairing is very cliche. but i need to get creative so if you have ANY ideas, throw em at me! there are rules though: i cant do frozen desserts (no ice cream, sorbet, etc), no flambeed desserts, no custards like flan, creme brulee, etc, and no souffles. sure i could do a cobbler-esque type thing, but again, thats pretty cliche so if theres anything you guys can think of, let me know! i'll post the final end result on monday!

Mystery Box!

I appologize again for not posting daily this week. I've been so burnt out! Gah! but I have loads to dish about! First, lets go over what i did this week:

Tuesday: We made the base for ice cream and sorbet last week and we needed to present them on tuesday. We were given free reign over the flavors. So i made a hazlenut chocolate ice cream swirled in with almond butter. For the sorbet, i made an orange/pomogrante with some balsamic vinegar! We had to bake the approptiate "vessels" for each. For the ice cream we made a tuile cookie in any shape we wanted to contain our single scoop of ice cream. We also had to present two sauces so i made an almond creme anglaise and an almond gastrique (a reduction of sugar and vinegar, its kind of like syrup, its used in sweet and savory dishes). As far as presentation, we could have done whatever we wanted. I admit, my plate looked so so, but when the chef tastes my ice cream, she flipped. She was like, "Wow, this is so good, bring this to chef so and so next door, i want him to taste this!". I was so happy!!! Most of the class did fruit based ice creams, the know-it-all who works next to my station made a wasabi and seaweed one with soy sauce. It pissed me off because it smalled like a sushi resturant alley annd he was doing it for the sake of being "unconventional". Trust me, he's that type of guy.

Wednsday: pretty boring day, we made crepe batter and flourless chocolate cake for friday

Thurday: this was the Mystery Box plated dessert practical quiz. We could make ANY well blananced plated dessert that had ti have a financier cake (a basic french almond cake) somewhere in the main item and a seasonal fruit which since its winter, was either a pear or apple. Its actually not much of a mystery but there will be more of these types of quizes next week where it really WILL be a mystery fruit. It was so exciting but my creative mind was running a mile a minute and i had so many ideas and concepts that i kinda went a little haywire and couldn't decide on what to actually do. I ended up making a small cranberry ginger financier round with a ginger lemon poached pear (visit nutritious junk for the recipe. I had an almond sabayon and cranberry cooked fruit sauce as my two sauces (also a requirement), and i made some brittle which i added crystalized ginger and dried cranberries in for my "crunch" component. I got a great score for flavor, but it was overbaked so i got an 88. o well, now i am doing resereach to get inspired for new ideas to cook fruit desserts until next monday (btw, feel free to give me ideas!)

Friday: we had a super busy day, we made crepe suzzet, baked alaskas (yay for the blowtorch!), and 2 10 in sponge cakes which I hate to make beacause they state like scoth brite and involve separating 16 eggs!

anyhow this week we do chocolate truffles and sugar pulling. at the end of the week we are doing a themed fondant cake. my sister is having a baby show next week so i'll make it baby shower themed!