please pack your knives and go

Hey! Sorry I haven't updated about my last three weeks of class, but I was trying to find an externship. That was a whole fiasco, but I'm finally set. I've been working with Project Angel Food and I'm starting at Real Food Daily on Monday. Anyway... more about that later.

I really enjoyed International Cuisine. This class was really refreshing, because we cooked A LOT. We presented full dishes and practiced full-service buffets. We even had time "windows" when the chef wanted our courses.

We made cuisines from Italy, worked our way to Morocco, all the way to South East Asia.

Osso Bucco

Spanish Buffet

Indian Platter

Chinese Buffet

We made a lot more individual dishes, but I didn't feel like they were worth taking pictures of. There were definitely some awesome dishes, but there were also some that were just okay. I'm really glad we ended our classes this way.

So this probably concludes photos from the school kitchen, but hopefully I'll have more time to post more often now. Until next thyme!

Advanced Garde Manger

Another three weeks down, three more weeks to go! I finished my last class "Advanced Garde Manger" last week with a bang! We learned how to make sushi. It was delicious, but I think I would still rather just go out for sushi. Variety is one of the things I look for in sushi, and it's just too expensive to achieve at home if you don't have a lot of people to feed.




Going back to the first week, we worked with a lot of meat (mainly sausage-making). I'll just say, that I never want to work with that much meat again.

We finished off our little "sausagefest" with a BBQ buffet.

Our salt dough center-piece
Another group's salt dough center-piece

Week 2 was probably everyone's least favorite. Not only did we have to deal with a lot of meats, but the food that we produced seemed almost inedible. However, we did get to work with a lot of powdered gelatin. My favorite part was making the Chaud Froid platter. My design was inspired by the Solar System.

And here we have the Chicken Gallantine, Vegetable Terrine, and Pate en Croute:

These cold meat concoctions and the vegetables coated with balsamic gelatin are definitely NOT kosher.

And for our last week, besides the sushi, we also made one of my favorite dishes since my time in culinary school: Insalata Caprese (Caprese Salad)

I know the ingredients (heirloom tomatoes, mozarella, basil, spinach, and a balsamic vinaigrette) were quite simple, but it was extremely refreshing and tasty.

We also pickled a few things and made an antipasti platter.

I'm not sure if you guys can tell the difference, but I got myself a new camera for Christmas! Hopefully the pictures come out better. I sure can tell the difference!

I can't believe I'm in my last three weeks of culinary school. After that, I will be doing an externship for 6 weeks, and then I have my graduation ceremony in April. It is going to fly by like no other!

Right now, I'm in the middle of setting up an externship at Providence with the head chef at our school. I was quite honored when my Advanced Garde Manger chef approached me about it, because Providence looks AMAZING. It's unpaid, but the experience alone would be awesome. More updates on that later! I'm super excited for what's to come! =]

sweet

Hello everyone! I hope you had a delicious holiday season!

I know this is a little late, but the last class I completed was Advanced Baking and Pastries. I really loved the first week of it! The next two weeks were ok, but making truffles, marshmallows, and toffee is not the most exciting thing to do. This class confirmed that I definitely want to go into more pastries after school. So here are some photos from the class:

Banded Chocolate Mousse Cake

Charlotte Royale (looks like a brain to me)

Crepes Suzette

Frozen Souffle

Creme Brulee (my chocolate writing is not the greatest)

Chocolate Pot de Creme w/ Earthquake Cookies


Candy Platter

L'opera Cake

Sacher Torte

Reduced Sugar Apple Spice Cake

Making Truffles

Truffle and Toffee Platter

Flan w/ Sugar Cage

As with all my classes/dishes, there are triumphs and failures. I think my favorite part was plating the desserts and playing with the sauce designs. I learned that simple is better.

I'm currently in my Advanced Garde Manger class. I will let you guys know how that goes!

As for now, I have to look for a restaurant job to fulfill my externship requirement. I plan on staying at the restaurant I get hired into for a little while if all things go well. Wish me luck!

putting it together

I'm getting really bad at updating aren't I??? I apologize. It's really hard with my full schedule, but here I am making a quick update (with lots of pictures) before I have to go to work again.

We started our advanced baking class this week, and I LOVE it. I've liked almost everything we've made. BUT, I will have to do a recap on my most previous class, which consisted of mostly proteins and putting together full dishes. This worked out really well, because it taught me a few things for Thanksgiving. Here are some of my favorite dishes from the class:

Grilled Salmon and Vegetables with French Lentils


Seared Scallops with Orange Beurre Blanc Sauce


Roasted Butternut Squash Soup


Grilled Pork Chop
with Warm German Potato Salad and Braised Red Cabbage


Chicken Roulade with Port Wine Reduction


Shrimp Gumbo


Sauteed Duck Breast with Cherry Reduction


Crispy Snapper with Fine Herbs Sauce

Happy Holidays! I can't wait to show you guys my advanced baking pictures when I'm done!

hors d'oeurves

After a week of making them, I think I finally got the hang of spelling hors d'oeurves. My next goal is to be able to spell onomatopoeia without looking it up. Cling cling, clang clang goes the pots...

Our Intro to Garde Manger class has definitely been a bit slower compared to previous classes, but I enjoyed most of the food we made. Besides learning special techniques, the thing with culinary arts is that we can take simple ingredients and make them look extravagant. I'd be comfortable throwing my own classy holiday dinner with hors d'oeurves now, so I definitely got something out of this class.

I'm usually the lone ranger working at my own station, but this class has also made me more comfortable working in groups. I couldn't imagine these dishes coming out so well if we didn't work together. There are a lot of pictures I want to show you guys, so I will stop talking now!

Kerry and Kristin

Tea Sandwiches
Sarah Workin' her Mojo

Hot Platter

Vegetable Platter

Cajun Shrimp with Jalapeno Cream Cheese (These were SOOO good!)
Sun-dried Tomato Smoked Chicken wrapped in Crepes
Caviar/salmon/roe on puff pastries
Pear and Prosciutto with Gorgonzola Cheese
I'm gonna open a bakery with these girls, haha...

spinach artichoke dip

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! As you know, last weekend was Halloween. My friend Robbie had a special request for his Halloween party, and I thought I'd post the recipe on here.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

The one I have pictured here is a slightly different than how I usually make it, and I don't feel it was as good, so I will post up the one I usually use.

You will need:

1 large deep skillet

2 Tbls of olive oil
1 cup white onions, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced

2 jars of marinated artichoke hearts, roughly chopped (about 14-16oz)
16 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
Salt and Pepper to taste

8 oz cream cheese
8 oz swiss cheese, sliced
8 oz pepperjack cheese, sliced or shredded/grated
4 oz parmesan cheese, shredded/grated

Red bell pepper for garnish

Tortilla chips or toasted/warmed baguettes for dipping.

Heat skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil. Once it's hot, add the chopped onions into the deep skillet and lightly salt them. Saute until just tender (1 to 2 minutes), then add the minced garlic. Saute less than 30 seconds, and add artichokes along with a little bit of the marinade from the jar and drained spinach. Saute until all of it is heated through, and add cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Stir just until spices are incorporated, then add the cream cheese. Heat until cream cheese is melted and incorporated into the greens. Then add swiss, pepperjack, and paremesan and melt all the way through. Transfer to chafing dish or serving bowl and garnish with bell peppers, chopped or sliced. Serve with tortillas or baguettes.

Simple, no? I kind of do it a little different every time depending on what cheeses I can find at the moment. Let me know how yours turn out!

caviar tasting

We had a caviar tasting on the first day of Intro to Garde Manger after boiling eggs. Supposedly the good stuff there on the right was $120 (for 2 oz). I just don't get it... I guess it's like wine: it's an acquired taste. But even so, that small amount of food for that much money is not worth it to me, no matter how good it tasted.


In case you're wondering though, caviar is good with champagne, vodka, latkes, oysters, lemon wedges, hard-boiled eggs with separated yolks and whites, onions, and creme fraiche or sour cream. It's best served on ice in its original container with the lid nearby. DO NOT serve it with a metal spoon, because they seep metallic taste into the eggs and spoil the flavor. Serve it with spoons made with mother of pearl, bone, glass, good ivory, wood or horn, and porcelain. Or you can serve it on plastic like we did. I know, fancy, right?