Eclair-ity

Today I am working on my final practical exam packet for my baking class. I am looking back on all the things I have learned this semester and thinking that I have really not posted enough to let everyone in on what I am doing. I haven't taken enough photos, told enough stories, or shared enough thoughts.

I have to say that with 22 hours of school plus another 10 or so of homework -- not to mention the countless hours of cooking and baking at home -- gives me little time to share the excitement.

Now that things are winding down a bit -- we have no more reading assignments, yay! -- I can spend a few minutes sharing my thoughts. I will start with baking, since it's fresh on my mind.

A small list of what I learned about baking that I didn't know or thought I knew:

• Baking is a science -- measurements should be exact, substitutions should be made carefully
• Baking takes practice -- sometimes you don't get it right the first time and that's ok because that is how you learn
• Using a mixer - the whip attachment should mainly be used for whipping egg whites or whipping cream - it's used to incorporate air. Use the paddle attachment when making cookies, brownies, or cakes.
• Bake until done does not always mean the amount of time on the recipe you are using.
• All flour is not created equal: the amount of protein in flour can have a great impact on the product you are baking. Cake flour has a low protein percentage, where all-purpose has a high protein percentage.
• Regarding biscuits: don't twist the cutters, it inhibits rise; place close together on pan to have taller biscuits.
• Yeast breads are a lot of work, totally fun, and I wish I had my own proof box at home -- although I can always use my laundry room.
• The temperature of the water you use with yeast is more important than I thought; salt kills yeast
• I love puff pastry
• There is a reason you refrigerate cookie dough, so if the recipe calls for it - you probably should do it
• Apricot glaze is what makes a lot of pastries and tarts really shiny
• Eclairs are not donuts; eclairs are yummy; churros are deep fried eclair paste
• Baklava will always be my favorite application of phyllo dough
• Croissants can take several days to make because of the large content of butter that is rolled in; you literally have to refrigerate up to an hour between rolling to keep the butter the same temp as the dough.
• Heat your pans before putting the popover batter into them -- this will help them rise almost 2x the size without heating pans.
• Mise en place is essential -- measure out your ingredients first, be sure you have all the equipment you need handy, preheat your oven, have your fillings prepared beforehand.

And this is only a small part of my experience in baking! When I first started culinary school, I had a small vision of what I wanted to do with my career. Now that I have made it through my first semester, my vision starts to become clearer. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy baking! I must somehow incorporate this into my business plan.....

Tonight we will be taste testing the baklava I made on Monday, making chocolate mousse and chocolate pot de creme! Monday we start our individual practical exams where I will be making the following: French apple tart, danishes (probably apple), pumpkin muffins, and cream scones. It will take us 2 class sessions to complete our recipes and we are going to be graded on quality, presentation, and of course: taste. I can't wait!

Black Box

I can't believe Thanksgiving is here already! We only have about 4 weeks left in the semester, and our finals start the week after Thanksgiving break! I hardly have had time to blog about all the food we make - cooking and baking, let alone take any photos!

I do however, keep track of all the dishes we make for class -- I have logbooks for each lab class where we keep track of all the recipes, production sheets, class handouts, notes, etc. The purpose of these are so we have a collection of base recipes and a book organized enough that we can reference throughout our careers.

Today we wrapped up the beef chapter and healthy cooking chapter. I find that pretty hilarious we covered these in the same week. Today in class we finished up the short ribs (OMG - they are delish!) and I made saffron vegetable risotto. I was really thrilled that my risotto came out well -- many students have attempted risotto, but only a few have had success! I didn't think it was that hard, but I've had some really chewy risotto in the past few weeks!

One of my classmates (he's a total showoff and I can't stand him) caught the grill on fire today. Chef had to put it out with baking soda so the hood system wouldn't go off. I guess it was something in the marinade -- who knows -- but thank goodness I stopped wearing hairspray, I'd have been a mess! To top it off, his steak did not have that much flavor.

The cool thing about getting to taste everyones cooking (and my own) is that you get to know what is missing in a dish or also what is overpowering it. Chef encourages us to learn the technique -- and a few of us, he tells not to focus so much on the recipe -- but know the technique and the ingredients will come. One of the benefits of my experimental nature is that our practical exam is basically going to have to be dishes on the fly. They are called "black box" for a reason. We get a "box" of ingredients and have 3 hours to come up with a menu of a soup and an entree including: a protein with a sauce, a vegetable, and a starch. We have no idea what the ingredients are ahead of time, and we have a half hour to produce a menu, the 2nd hour we have to turn in the soup, and by hour 3 we have to turn in the entree. Chef will try the dish and grade us accordingly. I am a little nervous, but very excited!!

Just to be cute, I should make pierogi with my ingredients! :)

Ciao!

What's This?!

Inspired by Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, we created a scene from Christmas Town with Jack Skellington for our entry into the gingerbread competition!


We ended up taking 2nd place in the college category!!! I am so thrilled that we placed! I was just happy to be a part of the competition! The houses are going to be auctioned off for charity this weekend -- I hope it makes a great contribution!

The house itself is made of gingerbread, as is the sign and Jack's body. We had some challenges with the house mainly because using store bought candy would mark us down. My classmate that I entered the contest with made a ton of rock candy that we didn't end up using a whole lot of. We used it for the windows only. He also made some seafom, which is what we used under the piles of snow. I did the design, scaling and baking of the main house. I also did the decorating and assembly of the house, roof, Jack, sign, and the trees.

I learned a lot of lessons in the short time we had for assembly. I couldn't start assembly without the windows, and my partner didn't come over to my house until Friday at 9pm! We worked through the night until 5am. I got up at 8 am and finished the assembly, and had to redo Jack. The gumpaste Jack my partner made the night before was all dried out and crumbled. I didn't think we were going to make the 3pm deadline -- but we did and had only 5 minutes to spare!

The funny thing is that I have never made a gingerbread house before. I didn't even know what gum paste was. I am so excited from all the knowledge I have gained in the few weeks I worked on the house. It was thrilling to win an award -- and even more satisfying was when the head of our culinary program came up to us and complimented the roof, piping, and lettering. That totally made my day.

I have decided I can handle this myself next year, and already have a list of potential themes. The best part is there is an adult category, so once I finish school, I can still participate! I am very thrilled to have my very own annual holiday tradition!

While visions of sugar plums dance in my head....

I've been smelling gingerbread for days here in my kitchen, aka Gingerbread Central. I entered a gingerbread house contest at school with a class mate of mine -- our house will be turned in 3pm on Saturday for judging, and 5pm is the announcement of the winners.

I have to admit it was totally on a whim -- I have never made a gingerbread house before in my life! Good thing I picked someone who knows a bit about candy making, because the judges will mark you down for using store bought candy. So much for gumdrops and candy canes!

I will post pictures when we are finished, but I don't want to spoil the surprise -- or get you thinking we are some kind of ginger-sperts. Let's just say we consider ourselves novice.

In the past week I've made pounds of fondant, gum paste and royal frosting. I think I've used about 10 lbs of powdered sugar, no exaggeration what-so-ever! I can't wait to start the decorating!

Two Months In

I can hardly believe October is almost over -- which means I have 2 months of culinary school under my belt. It feels good to be deep into it. I am enjoying all of it. And I want more.

Next weekend is our class dinner and we've been busy preparing, testing, and more preparing. The buffet dinner is a showcase to what we have learned so far in our classes, and also is an assignment of organization. It's not all about cooking. Anyone can be a "good cook", but when it comes down to it, a chef must endear many more qualities than just talent in the kitchen.

I love it. The challenge. One of the things I have learned is that many of my classmates do not have the attention to detail that I do. It is frustrating, but at the same time -- it will be what puts me in the next level of my career. I have found that we all have different levels of passion, dedication, and skill. And of course, there is the biggest differences: age and maturity.

Tonight, I am working the front of the house for another class dinner. A first for this girl -- I have never waited tables before. I am excited, slightly nervous, but mostly excited. The patrons who come to our restaurant are there because they know we are learning and love to hear about us, talk to us, and of course -- enjoy the food!

More updates to come -- I will have to tell you of all the fantastic things I am learning!

Ciao!

Orange

It's been way too long, my friends, way too long. I haven't posted, I haven't seen you, and I just plain miss you all.

Many of you already know that my Grammie Coral passed away on Sunday October 3rd after a tough battle with breast cancer. She was one tough cookie, make no mistake, but God decided it was her time to let go of all the pain. At 3:15 pm she was gone.

I can't help but tell you that October 3rd was my birthday, and I suppose it still is. Many people have said they are sorry, or feel bad that it was my birthday. But the way I look at it is that God answers prayers when you least expect it -- and God knew we all wanted her to be pain free. I am grateful I will always remember this day, it was a blessing for her more than anything. She waited until J and I arrived with Milton and passed away quietly as she slept.

It was a surreal week as I spent most of it with my family, reminiscing about the good ole days and all the values Grammie had taught us. Grammie Coral was a beautiful woman who was married to a debonaire Gino once upon a time. After Gmpa Gino passed away in 1979, she started spending much more time at her cottage. It was there in the 1980s that she was courted by Milton, who came to be my 2nd Grandpa. What a blessing to have 2 loves in her life!!

My memories of Grammie include spending time in her house in Detroit, imagining I was a movie star sitting at her vanity. I loved how big her bathroom was -- it just made me feel like a princess. When we would get there, my first mission would to be to find out what kind of candy she had in her glass jars in the kitchen. Sometimes butterscotch discs, sometimes peppermint candies, and even circus peanuts!

Grammie always let me play dress up with her clothes, one item I remember in particular was a pink frilly short robe that had velure swirls all over it. Years later, my cousin also played dress up with the same robe. I remember all the brightly colored robes, clothes and muu muus she had in her closet at the cottage. I loved how she used to like all the bright colors.

Memories of Grammie and those bright colors is what makes my favorite color orange. She is what inspired my 1970s colored decor at my old place. She is what is inspires me to keep living in color. She may be gone, but memories of her and her influence will last forever.

Every year on my birthday I will now light those candles on my cake (or pumpkin pie, actually) and think of Grammie. I love you, I miss you, I am glad you are whole once again.

Whirlwind

Whirlwind is the perfect word to describe the past few weeks. School started, my job ended, and I had family in town. A wonderful whirlwind it's been!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE going to culinary school!! I am having a ball in the kitchen and learning new techniques, history, and the science of cooking. Each chapter I read (it's about 4 so far in each book - so about 8) I find something fascinating or find myself saying, "Oh, that's why!"

Last week was our first week cooking -- besides the play dough we made the first week of school. Yes, I made mine orange and it was to practice our knife cuts. I am a little ahead of the game since I learned some knife skills at the restaurant, but I tell you the larger the dice the harder it is for me. I guess I am into the small detailed work. We also practice on potatoes and carrots. Carrots are difficult to cut (people cut themselves on carrots quite a bit), but since I cut about 4 lbs of carrots into brunoise over the summer -- I am pretty much used to it.

Sandwiches are the first project we worked on because they may use many pieces of kitchen equipment such as the grill, stovetop, oven, mandoline, deepfryer, etc. My team made a Pan Bagnet sandwich that contained tunafish with capers and green onions -- topped with thinly sliced tomatoes, red onions, and roasted red and green pepper. It turned out really good -- which surprised me since I am not really a tuna fan right now. The next day my team made french fries -- they were super yummy!! Nothing like fresh french fries in fresh oil! Mmmmm...

In my Pro Cook class we have to have our meal prepped and ready to go for "family meal". Yes, we get to eat our classwork. :) Our teams talk about what we made and then enjoy! Cleanup time is next -- we all participate in this and my class is really good about keeping up with the work.

Baking is similar style -- we have to have our items baked off and ready to go for roundtable. Then we get a bag we can fill with baked goods to take home. Yes, BF is very excited about this part! Last week my teammate and I made Spicy Banana Bread, Morning Glory Muffins (with carrots, apples, raisins, pecans), and southwest Corn Muffins (with cheddar cheese and red peppers). Other groups made gingerbread, poppy seed bread, sour cream muffins, blueberry muffins, cheddar bacon muffins, and streusel topped muffins. All this in about 2 hours!!

I have 3 tests this week already and I am nervous! I know I will do ok, but I am not sure how the test styles are going to be. Once I get through the first one I should be good to go.

I will fill you in on more adventures later, but until then -- bon appetit!