tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58435056267695050612024-03-18T20:18:02.637-07:00jnerStarted out as a totally pointless blog and decided to make it into a little informative blog on a student (i.e. ME) pursuing a culinary arts degree...the ups and downs, all of it :-) From start to finish. Yeah, we'll see how that goes...jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-71529140402965159882011-04-14T10:04:00.000-07:002011-04-14T10:04:38.136-07:00Christopher'sI know, I know, I am a serious slacker these days....even with all my free time I've had lately. The reason I haven't been actively updating this blog is two-fold. First of all, I honestly haven't been anywhere new lately. I've been trying not to go out to eat as much. And the reason being the second part of my excuse, I've been writing bakery reviews for another website, Examiner.com. My money and my stomach have been committed to something other than a complete meal since I started writing at the end of last month. I've reviewed five bakeries so far and I'm enjoying it. As a baker, I enjoy seeing how different people interpret the classics and also how they translate themselves into their building decor. This experience has been so far very educational for me because I would like to open my own bakery one day, possibly even in this area. Exploring all the bakeries and their products allows me to essentially see who my competition will be.<br />
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However, with all that being said, I do have one new restaurant I visited that I would love to tell you about. With my birthday being last week, I was treated to a very delicious dinner at a place I have never even seen, let alone heard of. It's a place in Beaverdale called Christopher's and I highly recommend trying it out. The food was delicious. We arrived at about 8:30 on a Thursday night and were seated in the dining area that was quite full considering the time. I ordered the steak de burgo with mashed potatoes and a side salad. While we waited, we also enjoyed the bruschetta. It was good but not at all what I was expecting. The bread was cut quite thick and was not at all crunchy but the topping was very good (with melted fresh mozz) and they even provided a garlic oil dip. The side salad was good but the house italian dressing was much too thick, resembling and tasting too much like mayonnaise. The fresh bread was superb with a spread of butter or the above mentioned garlic oil. When my meal arrived I was hesitant as the size seemed quite small to me. However, after eating about half of it, I realized it was plenty. The meat was not melt in your mouth tender but still very delicious. The garlic herb sauce on top permeated through the meat and gave it so much more flavor. The mashed potatoes were only lukewarm and not flavorful at all.<br />
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Overall the food could definitely be improved in some aspects (mashed potatoes, bruschetta & italian dressing), I left overall pleased with the restaurant's service and would give it another shot in the near future. Prices are more than average but for a special occasion, I think it's worth the extra money.jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-73539073202171816302011-03-01T20:39:00.000-08:002011-03-01T20:39:41.559-08:00Pueblo Viejo (and) MonterreyI apologize for my absence. My stomach needed a break from eating out at all these new restaurants. Since my last post I have been to two new places: Pueblo Viejo off of 14th street and Monterrey in the strip mall across the street from Wal Mart in Altoona. Both these visits went off without a hitch. Pueblo Viejo is actually a restaurant I went to back in high school with my spanish class, but at the time it was called Plaza Mexico. Same owners and everything, just a new name now. I ordered the carne asada and was so hungry I was sure I would finish it all. However, after eating only half of the meat I was full (as is my usual). It's also important to note that they have really good chips and salsa here.<br />
Later on I visited a place I've been driving by for years and years, Monterrey. Though it was 1pm when I arrived, the place was busy and remained so until we left at 2:30. Chips and salsa were good here as well- we finished two baskets! Service was quick yet not so much so as to bother us with many interruptions. After ordering it literally only took five minutes for our food to be placed in front of us (we had easy items). I ordered the taquitos con pollo and they were burning hot. SO GOOD with moist shredded chicken! My friend who accompanied me always has difficulties receiving the right food when we go out- but this time everything was correct and perfect. Definitely will be stopping in, especially as prices are INCREDIBLY great here, especially around lunch!<br />
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Oh, and sorry- I didn't take pictures at either place.... I was much too hungry :-)jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-39783907991116893652011-02-16T10:49:00.000-08:002011-02-16T10:53:35.244-08:00Taqueria SonoraThe other day I was doing my daily scouting for restaurants on Metromix and stumbled across Taqueria Sonora. I looked at the map of where it was located briefly and then ran out to meet a friend. Later in the day after running some errands, we were trying to think of a Mexican restaurant near where we were (in Windsor Heights). We started driving south, at first towards Plaza Mexico on 14th but on the way we found the very place I had read about that day- so we stopped. It's off of 63rd street between Val Air Ballroom and Valley Junction. Once inside we were seated in a raised booth near the windows. We were asked if we wanted chips and cheese and we didn't refuse. The first item to reach our table was a plate with three salsas (verde, pico, habanero), and a few slices of cucumber and radishes. We ordered our beverages and then received the chips and salsa + cheese dip when we placed our orders. The salsa was pretty good, as were the chips....but the cheese dip was just plain bad. We used the salsa provided and finished most of our chips before our food arrived. Talk about small tacos! I wasn't that hungry so I only ordered two of the beer battered fish tacos and I'm glad I did- the corn tortillas are less than 4 inches in diameter (which would be fine but they were 3.50 each)! While we weren't too happy about the portion size, my fish tacos were delicious! So flaky and hot and just perfect. The sliced cabbage on top was okay but they could have jazzed it up by making an awesome spicy coleslaw.<br />
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The service was very minimal here which was surprising with how not busy they were. We waited at least 15 minutes with no food left in front of us and no check yet. When we did get our bill we were VERY surprised to see we were charged for chips and cheese/salsa. Not sure if it was because of the inedible cheese dip or if chips and salsa is always charged ($4)! Then, on top of that they basically force you to leave a 15% or greater tip and also ask you to fill out a survey about your experience. We left with happy stomachs and unhappy wallets.jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-22745516165482037702011-02-12T09:41:00.000-08:002011-02-12T09:41:56.990-08:00Cafe FuzionI'm starting to realize that while my quest for good food is a nice goal, there will be casualties along the way. And by coming across those casualties one part of me will suffer the consequences- my stomach. Two months ago I went to the hospital after eating at Buffalo Wild Wings and Chili's (both places I have avoided like the plague since) but they couldn't blame it on the food, instead saying it was just the flu. Nonetheless I made it a point to eat out as little as possible and cook at home instead. This plan worked until I decided to do this, that is, make a list of restaurants I've never been to and write about them. While the restaurant visits preceding this one left me feeling entirely in good health, this one did not. <br />
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Hidden in a strip mall behind Walgreens on 14th street is a super tiny restaurant called Cafe Fuzion. Upon entering, we waited a few minutes as the server was also the busser and the hostess. I decided to order something new so I got the "furious" stir fry with chicken. I almost opted to add more spice but after talking to the waitress, we decided I could get a side of chili pepper sauce if I needed to. When we got our plates, the food was lukewarm (same with my friends'). As someone who likes to burn my tongue on the temperature of my food, I was instantly disappointed. I kept my mouth shut (figuratively) though because I hate being a nuisance in a restaurant. The spice level on the food was intense and grew with every bite. At the end I had to constantly drink my water and alternate with the rice provided. The flavors were great, though a little soupy. After I finished eating all the meat off my plate, I noticed that the sauce had settled and I could see the oils separating.<br />
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While I didn't mind the smallness of the restaurant, the food was good- just missing the target on a few important points (temperature, sauce). Also, that night and the next day my stomach was not too happy with me, but that's mostly my fault.jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-87638779232926952252011-02-09T18:58:00.000-08:002011-02-09T18:58:00.482-08:00Drake DinerI've been going to this specific area of Des Moines for about two years now and have only spotted this stylish diner once. It's an establishment that has been around for years, serving this university campus area and beyond with simple yet good diner food. Upon entering, we were greeted with bright lights, shiny decor, and a full restaurant (which is a good thing). My friends and I went at 7pm on a Friday night so we didn't expect anything less. After waiting a few minutes, we were seated in a booth and started perusing the very large menu. So many decisions! Did I want breakfast, a sandwich, a blue plate special, or a standard burger? And then, did I want soda or a shake? Far too many difficult decisions to make while one hasn't eaten all day. But I finally decided on a soda and the classic cheeseburger with monterrey jack and onion rings. Our server was either overloaded or not properly trained. He had to come back a few times to repeat our orders. We also had to flag him down for ketchup and refills.<br />
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Normally when I go out to restaurants I eat half my meal and take the rest home for leftovers. NOT the case here, but that's because I was hungry. My burger was delicious. The only minor complaint I have is that the bottom bun was far too thin for such a hefty burger. It absorbed all the beef juice and was harder to handle. The onion rings were disappointing to me. I don't believe any salt was used in the cooking process and the onions had no actual onion flavor! My friend ordered the sweet potato fries and they were good- wish I would have ordered those instead. My other friend ordered a shake and it arrived about five minutes into her meal. We thought they had forgotten about it, but apparently it takes 20 minutes to make a shake (in this case).<br />
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While both the service and the food could be improved on greatly, I will be stopping in again (and probably again).jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-14138474786228850142011-02-06T15:10:00.000-08:002011-02-06T15:10:47.722-08:00Red Rossa Napoli PizzaI recently heard about Gusto Pizza Co. opening it's doors and it got me thinking....what other pizza places are there around here (and I'm not talking about Pizza Hut or Papa Murphy's)? I went to the Metromix website and searched under restaurants by cuisine and sure enough, pizza is apparently its own cuisine! I wanted something in the Clive area, as that was where I was spending the day, and had it narrowed down to two places: Red Rossa Napoli Pizza or Paradise Pizza Cafe. I chose the first one purely based on proximity and went later in the day, right about 1pm. It's off of University across the street from Granite City Brewery (on the East side). Three tables were occupied and no line was awaiting us, so we were able to order right away. I got the Napoli pizza with a small garden salad. After grabbing a beverage and choosing a table, the salad was brought out instantly. While I was disappointed with the overall flavor of the salad (i.e. dressing), I reminded myself that I didn't come here for the salads. The pizza arrived about halfway through my salad and looked delicious. I couldn't even wait for it to cool before I bit right into a hot pepperoni that slid off the pizza and onto my lip. Definitely worth it. The sauce is sweet but pleasant and the banana peppers were the perfect touch to the rest of the ingredients. I had no problem eating piece after piece until alas, the plate was empty. I even said out loud "did I just eat a whole pizza?" Turns out the person I had come with had eaten two of the pieces, so I didn't feel quite as bad. This is a restaurant I will definitely be going back to again. The decor is really inviting and the super thin/ crispy crust cooked at a high heat in a wood burning oven is what sets it apart from the rest. I vote they open more of these around Iowa instead of just the one out in Clive.<br />
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</div>jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-46553376587802046862011-01-24T16:04:00.001-08:002011-02-06T14:46:53.345-08:00Saigon CafeWhile my restaurant list is currently in the vast growing stage, I decided to write about my current favorite restaurant, Saigon Cafe. It's located in Clive off of 86th street across and diagonal from Ryan's Steakhouse, though I think it's become a solid buffet stop nowadays (it's amazing how horrible buffets stay in business while good solid family restaurants are closing left and right). BUT, back to what I was saying.... I've discovered this extremely great lunch spot where you can get fried rice, your choice of stir fry meat, egg roll, wonton, AND soup for no more than $7! And there is no need to order soda here- just stick with the water, it's insanely good (don't ask me why or how). Everything just tastes real and fresh. My favorite would actually have to be the chicken or double beef noodle soup (or pho).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_e9alsjyUPnfbph_pRDtt_TTP6DyhAj1GQ0Stv3B8phhpYreXvEhdMZb7yHa8Z3BOERpgUC7hDcn97Xv3R4iez4Skt_j0NGCn8JjDNIKqLTZXzozkRNWRjiqa_tARcNQkWFr1xiMl1h0/s1600/0131111140a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_e9alsjyUPnfbph_pRDtt_TTP6DyhAj1GQ0Stv3B8phhpYreXvEhdMZb7yHa8Z3BOERpgUC7hDcn97Xv3R4iez4Skt_j0NGCn8JjDNIKqLTZXzozkRNWRjiqa_tARcNQkWFr1xiMl1h0/s320/0131111140a.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>First your server (who will probably be the same man every time) brings out things you can opt to put into your soup should you choose to enhance the flavor and add some heat or texture. Bean sprouts, jalapenos, cilantro, thai basil, plum sauce, and some more items I know I am forgetting. I basically dump the whole plate in and end up adding some hot chili sauce that is served with the egg rolls. It's delicious on a cold day and even keeps to eat the next day (I mean, who can seriously eat that whole bowl)! The broth on its own would make me happy any day.<br />
<div>Though the exterior is probably the reason why I've driven by and never once pulled in or even glanced at it as I drove by countless times and the interior is a tad outdated and worn, the food and service will make anyone come back time after time (or in my case lately, week after week).</div>jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-31572080717333325412011-01-15T10:43:00.000-08:002011-01-15T10:48:25.658-08:00The Return of the CulinarianI'm baaaaaaaack! So obviously my whole two year journey through culinary school did not get documented as I had originally hoped. However, I have a new challenge I'd like to take on. I've lived in Des Moines my whole life and I pretty much play it safe and only eat at restaurants I know. Okay, maybe that's not playing it safe, it's just plain boring. I'm a culinary graduate and I haven't been to most of the places on the list of top dining establishments in this area. So, I'm going to change that and bring you along with me (figuratively speaking). My first duty is to make a list of all the restaurants I want to go to this year. Then each time I visit one of the restaurants, I will write about it here and basically be my own food critic for the two people who may read this blog. Sound like fun? Good! Because I'm doing it whether you want me to or not!jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-6630140925359341302010-03-17T16:18:00.000-07:002010-03-17T16:22:54.236-07:00Spring Break 2010Hm, I only have one gourmet dinner left. My last post was about a month and a half ago. At this current moment, I'm sitting in Teagan's apartment relaxing after a wonderful day at Newport Beach/Balboa Pier. I'm burnt, but I love it.<br />In a little over a month I SHOULD be graduating with my associates in culinary arts. How crazy is that!? I'm going to be in the real world but I haven't a clue of where to go. I love the West Coast but know the cost of living is ridiculous and it'd make more sense to stick around Iowa. But I hate Iowa. I love my family and want to be there for all the important and unimportant moments, but I can't make it through another winter. I am a creature of warmth. So where do I begin, because I haven't a clue....jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-19720858243239315952010-01-29T15:56:00.000-08:002010-01-29T17:24:33.480-08:00The end of French GDSo oddly enough I can't actually remember the lamb course except that I was second on the assembly line and I was right before Dowie (she was plating the lamb). I guess someone had decided to put the racks in a 200 degree oven to hold. NOT a good idea considering lamb should still be pink on the inside and 200 is way past well done. She was irate. We moved on nonetheless to the cheese course. I was actually later in arriving to the plate up room so all I was able to do was pass the plates to Alivia who was putting the lettuce on the plate. And lastly was dessert! They had started assembling these right after the lamb went out so all the servers had to do was take some plates and head out. We changed chef coats and hats real quick and then went out and served the first few plates of the dessert and let the servers do the rest. After the guests had taken a few bites we went out to do our introductions (which we never actually go around to). We watched the gift exchange between the french chefs and our chefs and recognized our chefs (Dowie, Leonard & Dowie). Then we went back into the kitchen, cleaned up, and then went into room 3 for a photo shoot with the french chefs. It was pure riot. They know a select few English phrases, oh and they sang "Old McDonald" in french and we all bust out laughing! I was in the very back row next to Joe, the director of the french exchange, and Alivia. It was great fun as the french chef's wives all catcalled us to look at their camera. Then we left and they had a shoot with our chefs and their chefs. A great finish to a great dinner!<br />Oh and I took a few photos to share with you....<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMze5V3yGXHgACStqOnAYxTs2dxKsfSEkAtsb3wYMC_IwFytX7jJG1_9f-WxuO5IRQtQDOGZ_ig1E3diRQK97onQJSdEGr_1Rq-UO4EM4OUJ4nN0nBOEnhjdRY84dvDe6McdvyN0JgmE/s1600-h/DSC00051.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMze5V3yGXHgACStqOnAYxTs2dxKsfSEkAtsb3wYMC_IwFytX7jJG1_9f-WxuO5IRQtQDOGZ_ig1E3diRQK97onQJSdEGr_1Rq-UO4EM4OUJ4nN0nBOEnhjdRY84dvDe6McdvyN0JgmE/s200/DSC00051.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432336311989699010" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXC7ODO9ixRIskTKL4H8g_O1fckPBHT0MxLUICdiWNxUMaEJhdYABNDDJ7pmMRiuxbT5OmhXPUtKYg_btdmV0fKJPIg9e3asM6DCyoulbP8rbFDs_AWMLJ8TrAmjyPjRY5Mxgq0nM05po/s1600-h/DSC00052.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXC7ODO9ixRIskTKL4H8g_O1fckPBHT0MxLUICdiWNxUMaEJhdYABNDDJ7pmMRiuxbT5OmhXPUtKYg_btdmV0fKJPIg9e3asM6DCyoulbP8rbFDs_AWMLJ8TrAmjyPjRY5Mxgq0nM05po/s200/DSC00052.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432335668779441010" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihB73-EE2krqcC13KwRZccUR8cSPvH3zwb2JvnPdn_UpGzdjqLHSEjO4z5OU9ijk0GmpZsVH21HR7GlRS4A01kJEaRGNsv0oiiPGr_A-MY2fYuWqXf4aoAkgFAAowuoIRLzPjDhlNGEEA/s1600-h/DSC00048.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihB73-EE2krqcC13KwRZccUR8cSPvH3zwb2JvnPdn_UpGzdjqLHSEjO4z5OU9ijk0GmpZsVH21HR7GlRS4A01kJEaRGNsv0oiiPGr_A-MY2fYuWqXf4aoAkgFAAowuoIRLzPjDhlNGEEA/s200/DSC00048.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432335656050670242" border="0" /> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqV5DKy-DyU8ZB8yvVWHkYowqb-D-nixCgeNGn2gms6P-923ABlvTl12iyeaardohdCxWFr83ZQboLLkvrB3cgIpQDhIbd7R2xDO-N65Sr3En0ky13r9DyJP5TcvzNTYLD-Abhx52WQgk/s1600-h/DSC00037.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqV5DKy-DyU8ZB8yvVWHkYowqb-D-nixCgeNGn2gms6P-923ABlvTl12iyeaardohdCxWFr83ZQboLLkvrB3cgIpQDhIbd7R2xDO-N65Sr3En0ky13r9DyJP5TcvzNTYLD-Abhx52WQgk/s200/DSC00037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432334188159516546" border="0" /> </a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjfrlXo4EyHquJF8ZK-mY4b1pGLC34V-6Wvl-SFdlYFZd5Gxezew0O5GoTjIvQ5uW-kV96rB3mH02dBNyX8b6J3tJcOZrNofJ_ELCv2jpjSZ2wozxdQ7kzZyWOYzcAPCdfRUUSxF5Rtc/s1600-h/DSC00042.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifjfrlXo4EyHquJF8ZK-mY4b1pGLC34V-6Wvl-SFdlYFZd5Gxezew0O5GoTjIvQ5uW-kV96rB3mH02dBNyX8b6J3tJcOZrNofJ_ELCv2jpjSZ2wozxdQ7kzZyWOYzcAPCdfRUUSxF5Rtc/s200/DSC00042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432334197121441202" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjHbrUxOeMcQORERdyn-BeGTuP9XCon7uhZIM5RhpvSZc2RDnoZob0axKGCsFVYimkBC0slnsDOx9CczWjffIZWzP_yBlJBMbZNUbM5xGU5PUs4cQC5-73QHoT8Z6Hedq-ADbHDaiPRw/s1600-h/DSC00043.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjHbrUxOeMcQORERdyn-BeGTuP9XCon7uhZIM5RhpvSZc2RDnoZob0axKGCsFVYimkBC0slnsDOx9CczWjffIZWzP_yBlJBMbZNUbM5xGU5PUs4cQC5-73QHoT8Z6Hedq-ADbHDaiPRw/s200/DSC00043.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432335652546469778" border="0" /> </a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3SuYzppHk_cQAsti3_-WKN_Oql4PofMuQo8haCczEewuF9VOpc9RXOrQOWQuNcWVjzxDzND1ExrYT_EN8bwtV-3-cIDG03UvC4Hh3SM1DRj2QdMrpYsbQy4GK8hFcaYWc51wz8UXgUk/s1600-h/DSC00036.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3SuYzppHk_cQAsti3_-WKN_Oql4PofMuQo8haCczEewuF9VOpc9RXOrQOWQuNcWVjzxDzND1ExrYT_EN8bwtV-3-cIDG03UvC4Hh3SM1DRj2QdMrpYsbQy4GK8hFcaYWc51wz8UXgUk/s200/DSC00036.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432334181149067394" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZSMqhxp0-TuIr9eswsDy88EwUYnzJWY9pWxwHmq4tQ27KktcmILFx57zRW_O81lDQJnN7EEVwDzxYJM-O0epPG9vF2qGw04cSXIpY-718yt2PoT5lDsLrSHcMMcnuqL9qGmy6GscFkY/s1600-h/DSC00035.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZSMqhxp0-TuIr9eswsDy88EwUYnzJWY9pWxwHmq4tQ27KktcmILFx57zRW_O81lDQJnN7EEVwDzxYJM-O0epPG9vF2qGw04cSXIpY-718yt2PoT5lDsLrSHcMMcnuqL9qGmy6GscFkY/s200/DSC00035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432334169133290770" border="0" /> </a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsWcCm4JBnfOJqofOi0FZbOxYpzhbvrjcQqUGaKGrN2lfe3ZR8XlE5WEH1BFKjqY2oSNMj1dPvG5I45x_7LbJkNikv3x2yv6t6wB1aZ15J5EMxAkyN6cHeo_9Wd1EYhsVdos7isZ5QpcE/s1600-h/DSC00033.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsWcCm4JBnfOJqofOi0FZbOxYpzhbvrjcQqUGaKGrN2lfe3ZR8XlE5WEH1BFKjqY2oSNMj1dPvG5I45x_7LbJkNikv3x2yv6t6wB1aZ15J5EMxAkyN6cHeo_9Wd1EYhsVdos7isZ5QpcE/s200/DSC00033.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432334162557361170" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZj5kIH6GYxCsIOQ4vUTYMppT0XFiLMZ0jIzM0w7yAtNh0nmVgRCeqd11jfeeR28Q7VKCtPHvvtdv1X_1wbHTbzFtd9dBrmquj8ZMXGRRO6jnMIQwkI3HQtUlpGxhyphenhyphenwS3wzkN1l0W9-wM/s1600-h/DSC00032.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZj5kIH6GYxCsIOQ4vUTYMppT0XFiLMZ0jIzM0w7yAtNh0nmVgRCeqd11jfeeR28Q7VKCtPHvvtdv1X_1wbHTbzFtd9dBrmquj8ZMXGRRO6jnMIQwkI3HQtUlpGxhyphenhyphenwS3wzkN1l0W9-wM/s200/DSC00032.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432318289508296610" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LLYXsnQj4xJMU1PFPD3fPy-h_61RLbFN3WzCcZXhkIcjGNiRDw_kHJn6hRYuCRa7gcW9VJCs57sz-OxaVeXORRDAJJkeubyoc8mFBFAcAfv3B_LwJSzvBtZj8KLPfEJJ7EaULUB6Kag/s1600-h/DSC00027.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LLYXsnQj4xJMU1PFPD3fPy-h_61RLbFN3WzCcZXhkIcjGNiRDw_kHJn6hRYuCRa7gcW9VJCs57sz-OxaVeXORRDAJJkeubyoc8mFBFAcAfv3B_LwJSzvBtZj8KLPfEJJ7EaULUB6Kag/s200/DSC00027.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432318272004555106" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-quZRLdsDu9S4JWlLsXm4NSJl3ATKKCdu8hn_u9LY7bWDs1EEE5_ZNuMxC30doz1oRmMrqnUe9QtkwsVuyYgNX66BJ7t3fiIBj9EbtuQAobRIYQQNo_yWYwiSaI6SKuTU_6npKcOjAxA/s1600-h/DSC00029.JPG"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-quZRLdsDu9S4JWlLsXm4NSJl3ATKKCdu8hn_u9LY7bWDs1EEE5_ZNuMxC30doz1oRmMrqnUe9QtkwsVuyYgNX66BJ7t3fiIBj9EbtuQAobRIYQQNo_yWYwiSaI6SKuTU_6npKcOjAxA/s200/DSC00029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432318278916049618" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSEzXfX0u8BZA3fO0nnyLMm1ZyShsSElZ_SzivKJHxcWGDXRrdn-pcdfSXfWzt7Ned4reU4wbWXLqhhk7nnQ-R62ktPKkKsDUzhCO0BQqZ-qJsQONpVu00_bJ4pwRkE0kEjuJ6Nkokxk/s1600-h/DSC00024.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSEzXfX0u8BZA3fO0nnyLMm1ZyShsSElZ_SzivKJHxcWGDXRrdn-pcdfSXfWzt7Ned4reU4wbWXLqhhk7nnQ-R62ktPKkKsDUzhCO0BQqZ-qJsQONpVu00_bJ4pwRkE0kEjuJ6Nkokxk/s200/DSC00024.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432318262247542338" border="0" /></a> and it all tasted delicious too!jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-86467745982076824062010-01-21T09:12:00.000-08:002010-01-21T09:55:58.567-08:00The French DinnerI'm not sure if I went into this subconsciously deciding to have no expectations, but that's pretty much how my semester has been going so far. The demos have come and gone and now I've just completed the French Chefs Gala (or Gourmet Dinner).<br />Prep day (or day 1) was pure madness. We got assigned our dishes and we went in and began to prep. Then all the sudden, one by one the French chefs began coming in. For some reason I'd forgotten about this aspect. Pretty soon the kitchen was full of chefs doing this and that and there we were just simply lost in the whole process. My dish was the Canadian Walleye coated with sesame seeds, served on a bed of green lentils and garnished with a roasted tomato, a fried basil leaf, a bacon crisp, mussel cream sauce with a touch of saffron, and three whole mussels. Savannah, Anna, and I set out on cleaning our area and then we grabbed the fish out of the freezer. We did the math and figured the 9 boxes we had were for 2 days of gourmet dinners so we'd only need half. We put four boxes into the cooler and then after asking a few people, decided to start thawing our fish out under cold running water. This is when our "frenchie" came along and gathered us three together so he'd know who was working on his dish. A few minutes later we got called over to the sink. The translator told us we needed to count not every individual fish, but every portion we could get out of each fish. Between 1 and 3 portions per fish depending on the size. We went at it, trying to break apart the frozen fish in order to count them and put them on sheet pans. Then Chef Dowie came over and said to dump all the water because it would take flavor out of the fish. So we dumped the water and continued in our counting. We counted 338 portions of fish and let me tell you. Our hands were bright bright red and we could not feel them. Talk about torture! Then we all set up cutting boards and portioned out all the fish we just counted. Somehow we ended up with 398 portions despite our previous countings, though about 30 would get thrown aside due to their small size. All the pieces looked totally different in the end but this too was a long and tedious project. After we finally had them all sectioned, we then had to go through and de-bone the portions of walleye. Finally it was lunch time (2:30 pm) and we ate a feast of BBQ from a nearby restaurant. When we returned from lunch we set of finishing up our walleye and then helped another group peel and de-vein shrimp. From that I went on to brunoise 7 lbs of carrots with two other classmates. About half way thru I heard the girl that had been standing in front of me calling for Chef Dowie. I looked at her and realized she was holding her finger and blood was coming from it. Uh-oh, keep going....try to stay focused and not pass out or cut myself too. So I kept cutting my carrots and when we were done, she was leaving to go get stitches.<br />We cleaned up and were done for the day.<br />Dinner day (or day 2) went a lot smoother actually. We came in at 11 and got right to work on our dish. I toasted a bunch of sesame seeds while the other two cut tomatoes and then picked basil leaves. After toasting, I then coated each walleye (non-skin side only) with the seeds. Today we had our real French chef with us (I guess he was sick yesterday) and he was super nice. He kept checking up on me to see that I was doing well. After coating the walleye, he then showed me how to cook slightly in a saute pan. By then the other two girls had finished their project and we all got nonstick saute pans and fired up all the walleye. We were oblivious to any other happenings in the kitchen for about half the day because we could not hear let alone see any of our other classmates. Our French chef came over and said something in french and then said "more fish more fish more fish" and we all laughed because it was true. They just kept on coming! When we finished the fish it was lunch time. We had soup and bread. Then we went back to work, but we had practically everything done at this point. Savannah fried up our basil. I did dishes and cleaned up and then at 5, Chef Dowie let us go on a 45 minute break. I just moved my car, tried bleaching my chefs coat, and then we all sat in the lounge area talking. Came back from break and now we just had to execute our dishes or complete them. Ours didn't require any work until about half an hour before plate up. So we helped other people with their dishes. I picked cilantro for the garlic flan garnish. Then we plated up the 2nd dish since it could be assembled slightly earlier. It was the smoked salmon mouse with brunoised vegetables and three different oils and microgreens. I made the zucchini row and then we sent it out after the first course was done. Then it was our dish. We put our fish and tomatoes in the oven and then our French Chef showed us how to plate. In the assembly line I put the fish on top of the lentils. Our dish looked great and went very smoothly. Next was the intermezzo. It was a blood orange sorbet with vodka. Steph and I filled the shot glasses with vodka and then we sent them out. When a bunch came back we all ended up getting to do shots. Whew! Too much vodka. I guess Dowie had only wanted them half full and we did 2/3 full. Whoops! After intermezzo was the lamb.....jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-69677376805746937262010-01-18T20:08:00.000-08:002010-01-18T20:49:47.463-08:00Full CircleLast week I had french demos. You may remember me mentioning these last year. That's right- a whole year ago I was starting my first semester in the culinary program. How EVERYTHING has changed is simply crazy. We had orientation on the 11th and we looked at our calendars for our remaining time in the program. It is upon us! We talked about the drastic changes that were happening in the Bistro. Seating will now be limited to only 50 per day and the menu is set for the whole semester. This is an attempt to eliminate excess spending in food production and also to allow for each student to properly work each station throughout the kitchen. I understand and am not concerned, but other students were not so understanding. That night we also met together for our first pre-employment strategies class. It's all culinary students and it's just preparing us for getting culinary jobs out in the real world thru proper resume techniques and etc. It's my only non-culinary class so I'm hoping I can actually stay awake during the two hours of lecture. Then on Wednesday the 13th my section got to prepare "Food for Fifty" which is basically just cooking whatever we have to feed the french chefs and us. Chef Palar had already determined exactly what were making and we set out at a nice sloooow pace (we had 3 whole hours) to make two soups between the 10 of us. Jason and I set out on working the Chicken Tortilla Soup. We did practically the whole thing ourselves and then once it was going on the stove we decided to spice it up quite a bit with some chili flakes from Thailand that we had sitting on the shelves in the back. Then we ate our creations and waited for the french chefs to eat so we could clean up and go to the next session of demos. As we were filling sinks with ice to chill the soups off so we could put them in the fridge, we discovered moldy ice. Yes, apparently such a thing exists and we so happened to be the lucky ones to find it (and get all over me I might add). Had to unplug the whole machine and cover it to let it melt and prevent any students (*cough*first years*cough) from using it. After we had cleaned everything up we then all found seats in the lecture room and got to watch two french chefs prepare the following items:<br />-Charlotte of Smoked Salmon with Marinated Scallops & Belgian Endives<br />and<br />-Gingerbread & Blue Cheese with Caramelized Fresh Figs<br /><br />The whole process seems totally different to me now, being a second year student. I actually get it now. Everything seems so much simpler. Yes, they still are way beyond me- but it's attainable...you know? Not to mention that I actually know practically everyone sitting in the classroom. I fit in now, I guess that's what I'm trying to say.<br />As with last year- I am trying everything given to me. The first dish (smoked salmon with scallops) was great. I had never had a scallop before and it tasted delicious. It was prepared similarly to ceviche so no heat was used in the process of "cooking" the fish. The marinade was the only cooking agent exposed to the scallops. The second dish as good despite me not being a huge blue cheese fan. The sweetness nicely set off the flavors in the cheese and it is such a simple dish!<br /><br />Day 2 of Demos it was our turn to be the assistants to the chefs. All this meant is that prior to the session we'd gather all the ingredients needed for the day and place them on a stack cart. My friend from day 1's session told me that no one had volunteered to do the writing of recipes and the process (where you sit in front of the whole class and write on an ELMO). So when she asked our group who wanted to do it I raised my hand to prevent any drawing of sticks. During these sessions (we had to attend both) two different chefs made the following items:<br />-Walleye with Sesame, Smoked Bacon & Green Lentils<br />and<br />-Coco Passion "Tears"<br /><br />The fish course actually seemed quite simple and tasted really good with the mussel cream sauce made with saffron. The dessert was ridiculously confusing (both for an observer and for someone like me trying to keep the recipes and notes seperate) but looked and smelled delicious. We were not able to try the dessert because the chocolate did not set up properly and Fabian (the chef) was still making some tweaks to the recipe. I did get to stick my finger in the passion fruit cream and sauce, both of which were amazing.<br /><br />Day 3 was the last of our demo week and another two new chefs made the following dishes:<br />-Squash Veloute with Soy Sauce Tiger Shrimp & Chestnuts<br />-Herb Crusted Lamb Racks with Garlic Flan & Potato/Mushroom Gratin<br /><br />I didn't really follow much of the first course but it tasted really really good at the end. The chestnuts provided a nice smooth crunch and the squash veloute added a sweetness and the shrimp was a perfect addition. The lamb on the other hand was a tad different for me. Quite fatty and very rare in cooking I tasted but didn't finish my small portion. The garlic flan was good but even for a garlic lover like me, it was a tad extreme. The mushroom gratin, however, was downright delicious. And I don't even like mushrooms!<br /><br />All in all the first week of my final semester turned out to go quite well and going in with no expectations for reasons to impress was a new feeling for me. I'm still trying to get used to it.jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-40908458689274328172010-01-15T22:03:00.000-08:002010-01-15T22:05:47.804-08:00Uh-Oh, the end is nearOoops. Last semester of culinary school is upon me and I have so much that I haven't told you guys about. I'm sorry! My schedule this semester actually looks super easy with classes only all day mondays and then wednesday nights. I'll try to start racking my brain for good stories and information to relay to you.jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-65936085815488766782009-11-09T11:56:00.000-08:002009-11-09T12:17:20.385-08:00First Gourmet DinnerI meant to write in here about a month and a half ago and kept pushing it off. Once I start typing you'll understand why.<br />You see, at the end of September we had our first gourmet dinner. No managers, just using previous dishes that Chef Dowie loves. I was super nervous going into it because I've only viewed these from a first-year server perspective. Just watching the tense and vital plate-up session is enough to send anyone running (experienced or not). I volunteered for the intermezzo which was a grape sorbet of some sort. As we were going through the menu and volunteering, I realized mine wasn't all that labor-intensive, at all actually. So I ended up working on the dessert course with one of my classmates. It was a tres leches cake- which I love, and have made a few times at work. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was making it out to be, especially since desserts are my strongpoint. We followed the recipe and made a few changes per Chef Dowie. Once the batter was complete we tasted it to check our product. Very cinnamon-y, but very good. We baked off the cakes and then poured our milk mixture ontop and let it soak up all the goodness. The next day we were working on it some more and talking about how it tasted more cinnamon-y than all the other weeks they made it. I heard Chef Dowie and my classmate say how they thought it was weird that we only used .75 (? measurement) of cinnamon when we were doubling it. I spoke up and said "it has a one in front of it"- we used 1.5. I guess she told us to double when we weren't supposed to. THAT explains it! She said I should have spoke up, but it was her fault. No one else seemed to mind it though. We garnished with fresh fruit, shaved chocolate flowers (that we made), mint, and whip cream!<br />At the end of the day when Chef was signing our competencies sheet and I was the last one in the room, she told me I was a natural and looked very comfortable in the kitchen. It made my day!jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-88050766774036737322009-09-04T13:14:00.000-07:002009-09-04T13:56:51.963-07:00Fall 2009 ClassesWhile I wish I could update you on all the happenings of my life as of late, I simply don't have the time. I would like to tell you what classes I will be enduring this fall semester:<br /><br />Dining Management- taught by this older woman whose cooking experience stops at microwaving popcorn the class is about people, sales and profit as it pertains to the food and beverage industry. She has lots of chain restaurant experience so I know she knows her stuff, she just finds herself too darn hilarious to get very far in one 2-hour lecture per week. Not to mention her hand out fonts are large enough to see from one end of the lecture hall to the other.<br /><br />International Cuisine Lecture- learning about different countries and the types of cuisine they have to offer. We've only met once and we've already learned a fistful of French vocab words. Prepping us for January when we have 25 French chefs and their spouses over here, I suppose.<br /><br />Purchasing- taught by the most down-to-earth Chef and going over some of the items we simply touched on in Menu Planning. For this class we will also have a huge project so that will bring its own stresses I'm sure. Otherwise we will be learning how to properly order food and products for an establishment.<br /><br />Culinary Skills Development- cooking in the student-run bistro inside the ICI building that is open to the public. Each sectioned group of students is responsible for coming up with a buffet that will change weekly as well as a complete menu that remain for their three weeks reign of the kitchen. All the recipes are thought of and executed by the group of students. Basically, it's putting all of our skills and practices into order to see if we can execute appropriately.<br /><br />Dining Room Service- the service end of bistro at ICI. Where one side of it is the cooking aspect, we must also learn how to serve tables in an appropriate and professional manner. Easy for some (like me) who work in restaurants and do this sort of thing every day, not so easy for others. The positions range from server, host, cashier, manager, expo, dishwasher and busser.<br /><br />Lastly I have International Cuisine- this "class" is not only helping execute three gourmet dinners but also managing a specific nationality-themed dinner. In my case, Mediterranean. Managing means we must find every recipe we wish to use (after researching the history and typical dishes of that region),we must order our food from suppliers, we come up with plating techniques for each dish and how we want it to be garnished, and then we must relay all of our knowledge and hard work onto the others working that specific dinner and have them be our hands of the operation. It's really intense, and lucky me- I'm first! As in, I have a month to do all the above! No pressure, yeah?<br /><br />So that is my semester, along with work (as usual) in which I still manage to work 5-6 nights a week. To sum it up, if you're not in my classes or alongside me at work, you probably never see me. Sad, but true. My life is consumed with busyness but such is the life of a second year culinary student!jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-46685818249038669812009-08-21T13:51:00.000-07:002009-08-21T14:03:19.244-07:00One year down, one to go.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5C-ZVxInmf6Qq8DHotxdTqgdm7WLf4z9eLPq8cVhWvPg3bcIR7Pth8xWnfaKyA6h70JuzC6uJZaIXpYi7_1qrl-OIWsdxIYubimA8hwBDjeHar487wPkSCn5kA391gXP99Ek4BmYef4s/s1600-h/0729091618.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5C-ZVxInmf6Qq8DHotxdTqgdm7WLf4z9eLPq8cVhWvPg3bcIR7Pth8xWnfaKyA6h70JuzC6uJZaIXpYi7_1qrl-OIWsdxIYubimA8hwBDjeHar487wPkSCn5kA391gXP99Ek4BmYef4s/s200/0729091618.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372523370155422098" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEogY6gHt8gNo7aOQYVkl1dh3NOM_HNcgQqA0zYp0q_qUVRrMc-PwERnpSZ9qkcxqV-NdL7hbwAQ3H2fWG59O1qZOls0jsERQHbhyuvJBUOOMZUAa029bXUXDXNEiMhRrEPT9Q3bGbqX8/s1600-h/0729091730a.jpg"> <img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEogY6gHt8gNo7aOQYVkl1dh3NOM_HNcgQqA0zYp0q_qUVRrMc-PwERnpSZ9qkcxqV-NdL7hbwAQ3H2fWG59O1qZOls0jsERQHbhyuvJBUOOMZUAa029bXUXDXNEiMhRrEPT9Q3bGbqX8/s200/0729091730a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372523385773085138" border="0" /></a><br />My twenty days of summer are nearly complete. It seems like just yesterday I was baking off the perfect baguette for my bakery final, getting docked 5% on my Food Prep II Final for talking, and completing my first year of culinary school. I hope to go back and write more on my last days of first year but right now my life is consumed with work. Lots of changes going on so I have a lot of my mind as well, which has been nice having the time off from school. But on Wednesday, August 26th that will all change. Soon I will be yet again juggling a practically full-time job with full-time culinary status. Not to mention trying to maintain a semi-normal social life and enough time to sleep :-)jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-53159824971879669222009-07-24T08:41:00.000-07:002009-07-24T09:14:07.800-07:00Project(ed)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzkkLWkb4AaYA5z1LkUUuSXoJyv9w2ZcJWsguG3aS7LH9OjHnAyKpqx0taGotz0Ubfnp22Dqx8u2Tnb7oir0qXkeDXNHvFJRd9UVoqNNUBVa34BXPI-uDhxpCOAHZtkD7KfjKbKF4uOU/s1600-h/P1010009.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzkkLWkb4AaYA5z1LkUUuSXoJyv9w2ZcJWsguG3aS7LH9OjHnAyKpqx0taGotz0Ubfnp22Dqx8u2Tnb7oir0qXkeDXNHvFJRd9UVoqNNUBVa34BXPI-uDhxpCOAHZtkD7KfjKbKF4uOU/s320/P1010009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362055911982126402" border="0" /> </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1i4dnlwvI1WI5yxU6MGDSpAvztQBDpPq-gg_s1vJ0Jb1OhNLtf-MIxA5OKBvYMOVQ5_ZKmzE62BtEbHpfcnFFdl1s7OcR01zvxE9iekcXVXYCl0hyHlcksvHP61wAHFLKc7vAAJdVYwM/s1600-h/P1010004.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1i4dnlwvI1WI5yxU6MGDSpAvztQBDpPq-gg_s1vJ0Jb1OhNLtf-MIxA5OKBvYMOVQ5_ZKmzE62BtEbHpfcnFFdl1s7OcR01zvxE9iekcXVXYCl0hyHlcksvHP61wAHFLKc7vAAJdVYwM/s320/P1010004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362055908328385490" border="0" /></a><br />No matter how proud or good of a student you are, always listen to your teacher (or in my case, chef). I remember the beginning of summer classes and debating whether or not to stay in my menu planning class because of all the outside work. I ended up staying in it because I figured there was no way it would really require THAT much time. hahaha, oh boy was I wrong! I've been working off and on this project ever since he gave it to us, but only really dived in about 2 weeks ago finalizing my menu and figuring out the costs of each ingredient used. Then over the last three days I have been nonstop working on detailing the menu according to our book, marking up the costs to get my selling cost, and finishing my twelve page business plan.<br />Having just completed the last step of this project (a short speech in which we "sell" our restaurant)--I feel complete relief. Yes, my pricing is probably off, but considering the limited time- I'm quite happy with my menu and concept. For my financial stability paragraph I put that my family used to live in Italy and we sold our land and moved to America to open a restaurant based on my grandmother's dying wishes (haha). I thought about going up for my speech and being like "yeeeeeeeah, I'm secretly rich. I'm funding myself." I figured that wouldn't go over too well....<br /><br />Anyways, the top pictures are of items I've made lately in my baking class. This coming Wednesday is the last day for that class :-(. Anyways- Chef Easter has been out because he had a stroke, but a former student (Julie) and Chef O'Brien aretaking over for him. We've had a lot of fun making the above items as well as some not pictured. The left picture is of whole wheat loaf bread, white loaf bread, and my BABY (aka sourdough that I developed for seven days). The right picture is almond poppseed muffins & golden raisin currant scones.<br /><br />In Garde Manger we attempted to make sausages (which I will never eat again). We did everything up to the grinding for the sausage before one of the teams managed to break both of our working grinders. Oh, and this was only after every other group had gone. So therefore, not knowing exactly when the blade edges wore off- we had to throw away all the sausage.....except ours! haha, that's what we get for being patient I suppose. So then we were using the big buffalo grinder and that worked but Chef Boetel managed to short that out right before we could case the meat. Needless to say, we went home early this day :-)<br /><br />Food Prep 2 has changed since I last blogged. Chef Carey no longer instructs us (which is something I never thought I'd be sad to say). Instead, Chef Miller took over and we are doing demonstrations. This means that he'll give us a recipe the week before, he'll demo it the day of, and then we copy what he did and produce the same thing. Last week we had a delicious Sauteed Chicken with Supreme Sauce and Glazed Carrots. I received at 85/100 because he said it wasn't seasoned quite enough and that my chicken was a tad overcooked (my thermometer stopped working). Then this week we made Beef Stew rimmed with Whipped Potatoes. I received a 90/100 this time only both items needed more seasoning. I've decided I'm going to start arguing with him (advice from a book I'm reading) about his "complaints" on my food. I seasoned the heck out of that stew. It says a pinch and I "pinched" about ten times (no joke). So now, anytime we make something I'm going to season it to my liking and then add double. I wonder if there's something wrong with his taste buds....eating 85 different student's stews can do that to ya, right?jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-55895451064528252532009-07-14T18:43:00.000-07:002009-07-14T19:06:31.982-07:00Pacific Northwest<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj06gJon5SSFrbiHSEJOdMOd6VpbYIcUpkQVE4H4V0WaLSWnBTRsVKaTnNnzUSGENP0NW3XwMJ0AQETu9KznqdZ6A_pWmky9pb2_g2qZ4uzAA2mhBkVTvYA9xGoRJCSiaP7MbtDQVIUmGo/s1600-h/0701091433.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj06gJon5SSFrbiHSEJOdMOd6VpbYIcUpkQVE4H4V0WaLSWnBTRsVKaTnNnzUSGENP0NW3XwMJ0AQETu9KznqdZ6A_pWmky9pb2_g2qZ4uzAA2mhBkVTvYA9xGoRJCSiaP7MbtDQVIUmGo/s320/0701091433.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358502497834364882" border="0" /></a><br />I don't even know where to begin on updating you on my life's happenings.<br />Honestly, I did not expect summer school to go this quickly. Sure eight weeks is a short amount of time to learn a semester's worth of information- but I have learned a TON and the semester is not even over yet. In Food Prep II we just completed making all five mother sauces. Each one proved to have its own difficulties.<br />Hollandaise- sure enough my very first time making it, it curdled. I tried my best to save it (as did Jimmy) but in the end I had to toss it an start over. Luckily it was a quick recovery and my next attempt proved to be successful. This sauce tasted good, but only in moderation. It's very very rich in butter.<br />Bechamel- my personal favorite. It took forever to stir, about 45 minutes, but in the end this was hands down the best tasting of all the sauces.<br />Veloute- my mortal enemy. Seriously, I was working on this sauce the whole time while my classmates breezed on to their third sauce of the day (this was my first). Finally, two slurries later and about an hour and a half later- Chef said it was complete.<br />Espagnole- Not what I imagined when I thought of brown sauce. Very red in complexion up until we sent it through the sieve in which it then looked brown (true to its name afterall!). At the beginning stages when you're browning the roux it look like stuffing at Thanksgiving time...haha, though I doubt it would taste remotely good.<br />Tomato- 2nd favorite of mine, it tasted delicious despite being a combination of about 12 students' sauces. It required a lot of time (2 hours in the oven) and constant stirri.ng to prevent ending up with a black tomato sauce, but it was good<br />In baking we had a "feed the baby" project in which over a period of seven days we take away and add to a levain (or sourdough starter). Today is actually day 7 for me so I'm taking mine a week late and cooking my baby off :-) since I was out of state. We also got to make croissants and danishes which have very rich doughs and lottsa butta!<br />Garde Manger we have made sandwiches, condiments, crackers, and pickles. Today I personally made a dried apricot relish and sweet coin pickles. Both of which are really good (I can tell already). The pickles take three days to...well, pickle and the relish takes a day. Throughout the week we get to check up on our product (aka sample). We also got in two fresh Ivory Salmon from Seattle that weighed 32Lbs together. They were ginormous! We all got to help scale the fish, fillet it, de-bone it, and scoop out the insides for salmon tar-tar. We grilled one after a short cold brine and it was freakin' awesome. Like 5x better than your normal salmon. The other three fillets we are going to smoke later on in the week.<br />Menu Planning is getting close to the due date. I finally have a feasible menu (kinda) with all items except five. It is indeed a lot of work and I have two short weeks to complete it all so here's to hoping I can complete it and complete it well.<br />My recent trip to Seattle gave me some very good insight as that is actually the location for the restaurant that I had in mind. In going there I realized Seattle is a very populated area and has a tooooooon of food options available to the many tourists and locals. Therefore, I decided to instead focus on surrounding cities that are on the rise. I also was able to visit a few restaurants and get ideas. Tutta Bella was probably the largest contributor. I realized that despite their good food and hyped up restaurant, I do not want to be like that. Much too small and not at all the atmosphere I envisioned for my place. Instead, I'm beginning to toy with incorpating something similar to another restaurant, Melting Pot into my Italian restaurant theme. It'll be interesting to see how it all fuses together.<br />Seattle was indeed awesome and I looved my time there hanging out with my APU friend Alison, hanging with my sister on three different days, and even meeting up with another APU friend, Kevin. I saw a bunch of what Seattle has to offer and I would love to live there someday! Definitely recommend going there any chance you get. Oh and it did not rain one single day I was there (and I was there for 10 days)!jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-28834715319543571202009-06-13T21:04:00.001-07:002009-06-13T21:35:03.766-07:00Artsy Fartsy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6f3CX-Akn9iHUhgeoPIAhWeTJTZGaSNJDCvvcxkgQq9GI91ygMcRN2EPbmQTozRuhYmeN8SmRVxw3AZMb13z3yClIaF5g6S1_vc6hBwJQrIgRG3x1K_JHpH5eDRW3te7PrH9FRLlVWJY/s1600-h/0609091438a.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6f3CX-Akn9iHUhgeoPIAhWeTJTZGaSNJDCvvcxkgQq9GI91ygMcRN2EPbmQTozRuhYmeN8SmRVxw3AZMb13z3yClIaF5g6S1_vc6hBwJQrIgRG3x1K_JHpH5eDRW3te7PrH9FRLlVWJY/s400/0609091438a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347029410079229810" border="0" /></a><br />You're looking at my latest Garde Manger creations! I have to admit...when I heard we were carving fruits and veggies for this class- I was super nervous especially as she stated that the artistically gifted would appreciate this most. I have never taken an art class and am an AWFUL artist... we're talking stick people here. So she shows this super intimidating movie where the chef is carving masterpieces within seconds and then she send us to work. Luckily she was super chill about it and just wanted us to be practicing and be as creative as possible. My products actually turned out really well and I was happy with my results. Looks like I'm more artistic with a knife and food than I am with a pen and paper.<br />So school has been getting better. I think the decreased "lecture" times and more "labs" helps a lot. It's hard sitting in a classroom all day trying to stay awake- actually using our hand and creating stuff in the kitchen can keep anyone awake. This week we have Boys State over in Camp Dodge at the military base. There are three seperate kitchens and we are assigned two days in which we prepare 3 meals a day for hundreds of teenage boys. Each individual kitchen only serves about 100-200 so really it's not as bad as I originally thought. Today we had to go on site and finish cleaning the kitchens and then actually got to feed some of the counselors that are there already. It was short and quite fun actually. During one of our breaks we threw together a game of kickball. I'm hoping that my group and I later in the week can manage to get along and function at five in the morning and survive til eight at night.<br />Other interesting happenings at culinary school:<br />I sauteed and ate my very first foie gras. It was crazy because our professor showed us this graphic video of how the duck liver is acquired (let's just say forcefed and electricity) and then she wants us to go into the kitchen and eat it!? Everyone but me liked it. The taste I could handle, the texture was a whole other story.<br />We also made homemade mozzarella in this class and it was super good!<br />Unfortunately I haven't had baking since my last post. Of all the classes- why must the one I love most be delayed?<br />In Food Prep 2 we've been preparing for boys state. Made brownies last week and managed to get my chef's jacket covered in batter thanks to Cody. Needless to say- the stains still have not come out (yeah...not a happy camper). Made chicken stock in this last class and it was really fun though time consuming. Smoked up some pork to take to boys state for bbq sandwiches.<br />I decided to stay in my Menu Planning class. I am slightly behind the rest of the group at the moment though. I have a restaurant name, location, concept and all that good stuff. I even have a few recipes picked out. I have yet to decide which recipes I will really use, how to cost it all, and properly researching some of my basic concepts (i.e. trademarking my name, researching demographics of prospective location, etc). It is indeed a lot of work but I'm finding it very beneficial.<br />It may be another week before I blog again. With boys state going on, classes are cancelled. Woot woot.jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-34994597511570008282009-05-29T10:41:00.000-07:002009-05-29T11:40:03.953-07:002nd SemesterOnly three days of summer school have gone by and I'm already counting down the classes and waiting for them to be over with. Sure, I'm finally finally FINALLY in baking which I have been looking forward to since the day I decided to attend culinary school, buuuuut waking up at 7 AM four days a week and sitting through hours of lecture, trying my best not to fall asleep, is really hard! <br />On Wednesday I had baking. We started out going over the syllabus and then proceeded onto some of the basic principles and laws of the bakeshop (i.e. we call them formulas and not recipes) and then came the fun part...going over the history of bread starting from 10,500 years ago and working our way to present day. Yeah, let's just say that on page four my page has a mark from where I drooled on it. Haha yes, I fell asleep in my very first summer class right as we were talking about Baron Zang introducing the poolish pre-ferments into French bread production. Although I did fall asleep or fight sleep most of this part of class, I still learned quite a lot. As Chef Easter says, "bread is life, bread is power," and the history of bread is very evident of this. Next after a short break to allow us to properly wake up from our naps, Chef took us into the kitchen and started going over the basic tools we would be using for the day in our production of baguettes. After having a slight problem with remembering how to use a baker's scale, my partner Katie and I completed making our dough by hand and placed it into the proofer before going off to lunch. Upon returning we were instructed to do certain folds at certain times and to allow rest in the proofer for various lengths of time. While we waited, Chef Easter demonstrated the various parts of a grain (endosperm, germ, bran) using his finger and a table covered in flour as his white board. We learned about patent and clear flours and the various other types of flours extracted all from the same grain. Our dough completed its necessary proofing time and then we scaled it into 18oz pieces, rounded it into three rounds, allowed it to rest, then formed into the actual baguette shape, panned, slit the tops, and finally handed it over to Chef as he put it into this fancy stone hearth oven. The result? Amazing baguette bread that my family all devoured within the same day. Only had time to drop off my baguette, change, eat lunch, and then drive to work. <br />Thursday I had Food Prep 2 class in which Chef Carey simply went over the syllabus and then Chef Anderson came in and we talked about Boys State for a long time. After he left we had to read a whole chapter to ourselves and it took forever, everyone was falling asleep. Afterward we went over what we read and discussed the conversion formula used to shrink or expand recipes. Luckily we got out of class around 11:30 so I was able to come home, eat lunch, take a nap, and then go to work (after a slight delay due to no oil in my car).<br />Today (Friday) I had Menu Planning from 8-11:15. It is going to be a VERY intense class as we have to construct our own business plan which is about 12 pages minimum and then we also have to create a menu with a minimum of 29 items in which we have recipes for and have evaluated the cost of not only the total end product but also supplies. Chef Carey said it's going to take about 40 hours a week outside of class to work on. <br />So 28 hours a week for classes. 40 hours a week for "real" work. and then another 40 hours a week for this project alone. Are there even that many hours in the week!? Sheesh- I really hope I survive this all.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUWRuYUETj18ouGPMterPFwnupG5cFX1OZG0KTKN4d3_3xeYjiCGxT5GHxKIWSNy4bWf75-JGc9FsMZfPBKixZWpSr-bCbRCejeAQLTGwVFgMvwq_kMreAmA4yuCm0wThmj4FK_53iFpk/s1600-h/0527092309.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUWRuYUETj18ouGPMterPFwnupG5cFX1OZG0KTKN4d3_3xeYjiCGxT5GHxKIWSNy4bWf75-JGc9FsMZfPBKixZWpSr-bCbRCejeAQLTGwVFgMvwq_kMreAmA4yuCm0wThmj4FK_53iFpk/s320/0527092309.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341317365220238258" /></a>jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-87346795312033920212009-05-24T22:36:00.000-07:002009-05-24T22:40:57.737-07:00With power comes responsibilityEver since turning 21, I’ve been given a lot of responsibilities. Way more than I ever could have imagined in fact. I had no intention of ever becoming a manager, and it never crossed my mind even when I constantly joked with Matt that I could take over the whole store. So it’s been over a month since I’ve been one of the managers at our store. I feel like I’m just scratching the surface in everything I need to know. I want to know how to do every single aspect of the store and I wish I knew it all already! I grow impatient with myself just as much (if not more) than Ryan already does. So I guess I was doing a pretty good job working over in the café and, when Laura quit, Josh asked me to take over her position as well. So goodbye market side of the store- hello café! I live there six days a week now. It is a completely different atmosphere and I like it at times (when Ryan or one of the chefs isn’t yelling at me or I’m not screwing up orders). On Thursday I ran registers in the café for the first time and boy was it stressful! I had constant lines of like 10 people and I’d take their order (pretty efficiently) but then wouldn’t have time to pour their glasses of wine so they’d get that really late or a smoothie for example. Ryan was managing that night and he had to come over to help us for awhile and he kept getting mad at me saying “strike one” or “strike two.” I gave up trying to be perfect a long time ago so I was just like “is it possible to strike out in one night?” Oh this was also the night I got in trouble for Tuesday night when I locked the doors five minutes early and Debra ratted on me. Ryan said that if it happens again I’ll no longer be a manager. I tried to explain the situation but as Matt told me later on, not the best idea. I guess Ryan doesn’t like to hear explanations; he just wants to hear “okay it won’t happen again.” And Matt was also telling me that when he came back from Campbell’s that people were out to get him and he related that to how Debra is trying to sabotage my manager job. I feel like I’m bending over backwards for this place and it is never good enough for them. There are moments when I feel accomplished and proud and there are other moments that often outweigh the good ones, when I just want to bawl and walk out. And in a few short days I will not only have all this loveliness but also summer school to deal with. Let’s pray for survival, shall we.</p>jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-29327839987174626992009-05-13T21:11:00.000-07:002009-05-13T21:24:47.972-07:00Moving up up UP<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKASFU_zbVvAVkzdIe7CzAlgjXY4P-SVHcmBbYLWWBqpX_WdAkdFtDfulIHbbAsFOH1W5t4R3wW45uyC-rsnIxI0pJRZ6C3CUQtMEtHpDaGCm7lLwwoRPMMnrrQn26lMYXpz6-0kiY9Zo/s1600-h/DSCF0005a.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKASFU_zbVvAVkzdIe7CzAlgjXY4P-SVHcmBbYLWWBqpX_WdAkdFtDfulIHbbAsFOH1W5t4R3wW45uyC-rsnIxI0pJRZ6C3CUQtMEtHpDaGCm7lLwwoRPMMnrrQn26lMYXpz6-0kiY9Zo/s200/DSCF0005a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335530772979149682" border="0" /></a><--- the fam at Easter<br /><br />Ah. To blog with no motives. Such a great and new thing for me.<br />I have officially been out of school for a week now and I'm starting to go crazy. Sure, I work 6 days this week, but what about all the other time I'm not at work. I need a purpose to my life and sleeping in until 11 is great, but I feel useless (as I have been recently told I am).<br />*Note to self: never ever EVER call someone useless.<br />Anyways, so since mid-April I have been acting as a manager-in-training at my store Gateway Market in West Des Moines. This just means that on one or two nights a week I close the whole store. So I check employees out before they leave, I stock and face everything, maintain the appearance of an exceptional store, answer questions (or redirect them to another manager at a later date), and take care of all the cash and sales of the day. At first it was overwhelming but it's beginning to become easier. It can be tough at times, when fellow employees turn on you, but for the most part I'm very blessed to be in this position at such a young age. Today I also found out that I will become a cafe supervisor. So this means that my jobs include the following:<br />-MOD (manager on duty)<br />-cafe clerk<br />-cafe supervisor<br />-market cashier<br />-catering server<br />and I still have a lot to learn. It's a very stretching experience but will be very beneficial in the long run.<br />School starts May 27th- let's just hope I can maintain 10 units and a full-time job during the summer :-)jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-9239194282603949392009-05-06T12:23:00.001-07:002009-05-06T12:49:31.565-07:00not so UmamiDid you know that aside from bitter, salty, sweet, sour there is also another sense on your taste buds called Umami which just means overall savory.<br />Anyways, this blog is twofold, or bittersweet in terms of sensory glands.<br /><br />This week I had one last final which I got a A on. The same class (Food Prep 1) lab part of the class I ended up getting an A as well. Now this is the class final lab that I thought I absolutely failed miserably. I ended up getting a B on that! A miracle, I know. He said the only problems with my products was that my biscuits were tough and my cheese rarebit was too thin. Oh and I got 50 points deducted for being late in turning in my product. I am so happy right now because I seriously thought I had failed.<br /><br />*I never did tell the story about the final exam, did I? Well I had two hours to complete the following products:<br />-broccoli with cheese rarebit sauce<br />-biscuits<br />-chicken a la king<br />-baked custard<br />I was so elated not to have the godforsaken Orange Charlotte on my list, I can't even explain.<br />So I started cutting up all my vegetables and putting stuff in bowls so I could just dump them in when needbe. I ended up cooking my baked custard first and then it got to cool off in the fridge the rest of the time so that was no problem. Then I fabricated my chicken (woot woot) and started simmering it while I made my biscuits. I cooked my biscuits and took them out after about 15 minutes and so those were complete now too. I then made my rarebit sauce and let it sit on the double boiler as I worked on my chicken a la king now. Somehow the 30 minutes til service called turned into the "you have five minutes before I take what you have" call. Yeah-NOT a good sign. I threw everything together, not even measuring anymore since Chef was out of the room. I threw a few sprigs of herbs on for a garnish and presented my products. Seriously, I don't know why I have the inability to complete tasks in time! And it only seems to be for the important days like midterms and finals. Every other day I'm fine- but not on the most important ones. So needless to say, I thought I had failed because he said four people were okay and three were not. And I was the third to last person to turn my products in. WHEW! but I made it!<br /><br />Then this week I've had two certification exams. One was for ServSafe (or Sanitation and Safety) and one was for ManageFirst (or Nutrition). Both were actually pretty decent so I think I find out in a week how I did.<br />Today I went in to school at 12:15 and just had to clean for an hour to get an easy 100 points for lecture and I am officially done with spring semester!!!!! I have finished my first semester of culinary school! And now I have 21 days until it all starts again.<br /><br />So that's my good news.<br /><br />On the other hand, my dad had some tests done last week because they found a suspicious spot. Today we found out that his cancer has returned. After battling it for the past year and then being cancer free for a few short months, it has returned...worse than before. He was in stage 3 last year and now it's in stage 4. My mom says its sovereign timing because she no longer has a job so now she can take care of him and take him to his chemo treatments once a week. What happened before was that he had cancer in his appendix and it burst. So technically he doesn't have an appendix to have cancer, but all the yummy juices of it are still floating around in what the doctors call like a balloon.<br />Last time he was taking chemo he ended up having bleeding in his brain and had to have a really serious brain surgery. So there are all these questions of if it will have the same negative effects it did last time or if they would have completed the chemos the first time around- would it have come back? I try not to think about it, but to just accept it. It's hard. Harder then I make it out to be at times.<br />So that's my update as of now. I know it wasn't public knowledge to all my friends before about my dad's situation, but this time I'm realizing it helps to have people know and not keep all these feelings to myself.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right; color: rgb(51, 255, 51); font-weight: bold; font-family: courier new;">jen žít<br /></div>jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-46408982570488211122009-05-04T10:46:00.000-07:002009-05-04T11:28:02.674-07:00The long awaited fabricating story<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mkb5fX2Emsggb4EYkeKqM6ySsNyLmeST3S6EMV5FGI17efU-kYbCb6OBgKhVOW4Dxk68jqgnJyeiOObBcxSmqaLh_l_yQN4RPVhOuUa4VnhKJbLNXKhhZfTx6lGbXAjLmhbas95hleY/s1600-h/0421091329.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2mkb5fX2Emsggb4EYkeKqM6ySsNyLmeST3S6EMV5FGI17efU-kYbCb6OBgKhVOW4Dxk68jqgnJyeiOObBcxSmqaLh_l_yQN4RPVhOuUa4VnhKJbLNXKhhZfTx6lGbXAjLmhbas95hleY/s200/0421091329.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332026789460389170" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbjWte8TjvuURCHbdhqzguom1BIF3JFdV4Fw3pcE1rh60JJzsW0TFZJLiiQt4CSP14K8GB9o7nIaHyfwWwVH0aUQTQSN2TomO-UnqyEZqY_wSRn_3iot9CDfI0EHmxxqXwy8scZMXebI/s1600-h/0423091251.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbjWte8TjvuURCHbdhqzguom1BIF3JFdV4Fw3pcE1rh60JJzsW0TFZJLiiQt4CSP14K8GB9o7nIaHyfwWwVH0aUQTQSN2TomO-UnqyEZqY_wSRn_3iot9CDfI0EHmxxqXwy8scZMXebI/s200/0423091251.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332026790315895042" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbh2CVyd0rWykl6Rwb-YtjrjHaORHnrGYsYQ5bYTh8vRbUjg-a0VTmKQ_larZ6BFVwQwgmsTbJB7iGxCdZGt_U6MH9q8NevSyMoQbQHtSeBU3XGoxe8Mxk4anZVLLlXFzImLRKhusJ9XA/s1600-h/0416091306.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbh2CVyd0rWykl6Rwb-YtjrjHaORHnrGYsYQ5bYTh8vRbUjg-a0VTmKQ_larZ6BFVwQwgmsTbJB7iGxCdZGt_U6MH9q8NevSyMoQbQHtSeBU3XGoxe8Mxk4anZVLLlXFzImLRKhusJ9XA/s200/0416091306.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332026787007688194" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDbfVQFMnFrx6_94zcfrCEXP70jDAjezudbaFDLwePrsK97CB2HyAv7A4m35akotNuNo7-zIurpwe6-ResgZ423OWWTBmwU90H-D3nga1y_VPFFu5gQvCiCZLxa2nOxX2BGpfrorOHjs/s1600-h/0414091317.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDbfVQFMnFrx6_94zcfrCEXP70jDAjezudbaFDLwePrsK97CB2HyAv7A4m35akotNuNo7-zIurpwe6-ResgZ423OWWTBmwU90H-D3nga1y_VPFFu5gQvCiCZLxa2nOxX2BGpfrorOHjs/s200/0414091317.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332026780473451762" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The four pictures you see above are the last ones ever from food prep 1 lab. Since I am about a month overdue in my blogging, I'm cramming them all into one blog. I apologize, but as my old boss always said "it is what it is". Oh, speaking of my old boss- I went to a new restaurant the other night with my friend and it turns out it's in the exact same place where I used to work (Kin Noodles Pasta Shoppe). It was weird at first, but it's a really fancy Thai place now and I hope they do well, unlike us.<br />So since I last posted we've been diving into the meat section of the course with full force. After the dry heat section (kabobs in my previous post), we moved onto moist heat, poultry, and seafood. In the moist heat lab I prepared the last picture (bottom right) of stuffed yams that I made a pecan streusel for and leg of lamb. This was my first time tasting lamb, let alone cooking it- so it was an interesting experience and I actually liked it. Oh and my yams were bomb!<br />The next section of lab was the start of poultry and in this lab I made chicken kiev (bottom left picture). Got to use the frier for the second time after breading up the stuffed chicken. It was really good! The next poultry section I made chicken a la king (top left picture). Boy! Talk about a lot of work. It took the whole time in lab to produce and honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of it. It just tasted like biscuits and gravy with chicken and pimentos in it. ALMOST FORGOT! This was the lab that I fabricated my first chicken! What is fabricating you may ask? Well you see- it's the not-so-gory way of saying cutting up a chicken. Had to hold the chicken under running water to rinse it off, picking off any pinfeathers. Then carry it over to your cutting board and hold it by the neck, cut down along the backbone on one side, then along the other. Throw that junk away. Then turn the chicken over and pull it open, cut along the breastbone in the middle and then pull out with your hand. Cut chicken in half. Then karate chop it into fourths. Use your finger to guide along the joints and cut into eighths. It was scary at first but now I'm a chicken fabricating pro!! lol.<br />The last section of lab was seafood. I was slightly disappointed to only have one day to work with seafood but oh well. I signed up for shrimp creole (top right picture) and it was pretty easy to make. That day once everyone was done I got to try the following for the first time ever : shrimp (sad, I know), tuna steaks, lobster tail, and cod I believe. It's funny because all the items I tried didn't really have the fishy flavor that I am always so scared of. What have I been running from?!<br />I think this will have to suffice for now. I am going to hold off on talking about my final lab disaster until I have my individual conference with Chef Easter tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5843505626769505061.post-69403533981838246382009-05-03T10:19:00.000-07:002009-05-03T10:21:43.185-07:00shoot. bang. dead.Today was the day I intended to inform you of all (or most) of my happenings.<br /><br />But NO.<br /><br />Instead, I must race to get ready and eat before going into work. I guess it's "crazy busy" today and they need me in three hours early to help.<br />Shoot. This was supposed to be my studying for finals time. Now I won't have any time before I actually have my final. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot.<br /><br />I'll leave you with a picture though. Of this crazy alien-looking house at the top of my street.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMoiZy8b5zc2nQuYFqIYlUnO9xZvZcYui5wvyOlAYPPOhw5B3vOVyl0Rm-bQwA0g7KDUkc4yN1Pb8f_ShWwEcuJwSmHx8sX5xWzXKU4L89QdP53E7bG1SJOsmrDNWGVjt2bpg44Qaf3PQ/s1600-h/0425091327.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMoiZy8b5zc2nQuYFqIYlUnO9xZvZcYui5wvyOlAYPPOhw5B3vOVyl0Rm-bQwA0g7KDUkc4yN1Pb8f_ShWwEcuJwSmHx8sX5xWzXKU4L89QdP53E7bG1SJOsmrDNWGVjt2bpg44Qaf3PQ/s200/0425091327.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331649011999996642" border="0" /></a>jnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17731107842873181423noreply@blogger.com0