a ridiculous Day Worldwide

This morning I checked my stats for the for the first time in a few weeks. I hadn't been getting very many hits so I considered taking down the stattracker. But this morning I looked and ridiculous Day is up to 14 states and 6 countries! Though some of those people in those countries will be returning to the United States, it is still really neat to see it on a map. Last Thursday hit a record high of visitors and when I went back to see what the entry was, I laughed as I realized it was the attack of the knife.

So, Thank you everyone who is reading and keeping up with me. I hope that you are being entertained :) and some of the tips are helpful. It gives me another reason to keep on writing.

Summer Break in Culinary School

Ah, the slowed pace of vacation has made me lazy.

I have now had to actually make myself food now that there is no class to satisfy my hunger. But I have at least been practicing the skills and techniques that I have learned, I mean isn't that what school's about? The lack of schedule has also allowed me to let my finger heal a bit since I'm not cutting or scrubbing anything. I probably should have gone to get stitches, but as it is too late now it is healing on it's own and I can almost start to bend it without hurting!

Since summer has started for LCB, it has been in the mid 70s and pulled me outside to our rooftop to enjoy the weather. Unfortunately, it has also caused me to fall asleep on my back and thus only tanning my front very VERY well. So now I look like a ying and a yang...The nice weather has also brought out some of the local crazies and fun goers! Last Saturday K Dub, Poho and I came across All the apparatus, a local band that performs in Pioneer Square. Full of energy and sometimes rotating members, they were fun to watch and dance to and I'm hoping to catch them again this weekend. Our local Sleeping Bag man seems to be minus a sleeping bag and a belt, and the Blue Man is as blue as ever.

Since it is break, most people have gone home for the week. I am actually staying to house sit for K Dub and hang out with Poho for the week. This should be interesting. Polo has managed to eat K Dub's last down comforter and she had to go buy a new one so I could sleep here. Objective as of 9:40am today: keep an eye on the comforter while Poho is around. So far so good, but you never know. Day 1 almost down, 6 more to go.

Tip for the day is being interchanged with Recipe of the day.
Recipe of the Day:
Pan-fry Eggplant

Eggplant
Seasoned All purpose(AP) flour
Egg wash
Panko
Oil for frying
Salt and Pepper

1. Cut eggplant into 1/2 rounds and season with S & P
2. Pass through flour, egg and panko.
3. Heat oil in saute pan. Make sure there is enough oil to go a little more than half way up the frying item to prevent a line in the middle.
4. Test oil. When it's ready, place rounds in oil and fry until golden brown and flip.
5. When ready, take out and place on paper towels. Slice in half and serve with your sauce or dip!

War Wounds

Chef Shotgun said, "You'll never own your knives until you cut yourself." I thought he was kidding. People cut themselves on the first day we got our knives. Then people managed to cut themselves in the most unusual ways. I kept saying to myself how lucky I was to not have cut my self that bad.

Well, today was our final plate day, and the final day of everything Foundations II. I was stoked. My plate was coming along nicely, I had all my things mise en placed, a good pace to finish and everything was cooking to perfection. Then I got to my garnish while everything was in the oven, and started cruising through them. The first one, perfect! Half way through the second one, I hit a snag on the potato, the potate slipped out of my left hand while my right continued the motion and THUNK. Right into my left index knuckle, straight into the bone.

After wedging the assailant out of my finger, I realized I was bleeding onto almost everything. And then I realized, "Shit, that hurt!" and then I realized, "I just said that out loud". And then noticed, Chef Keep You on Your Toes, standing behind me while my hand dripped blood into the sink. "Sorry," was all I could get out. Her response, "Ok, do you want to try and wrap it real fast and continue, or do you want to go to the hospi-". "Bandage me up I have to finish this!" I bled through two band aids and two finger cots, had no idea where I left off in my groove and was suddenly very confused and lightheaded.

I finished, -3 points on my plate for stupid things that I knew to fix but had by then managed to grab every pan out of the oven with my bare hands and suffered from PTSD whenever I picked up the red potato to try and finish. Hoping to still pull my solid A, so we'll see. The most positive thing out of the day, one serious war wound that is about to be dumped into salt water or diluted hydrogen peroxide and my chef comment for the day, "you have a lot of potential, you just have to keep an eye on the small things".

I am just fine, aside from a momentary freak out where I thought I might need stitches, which I probably still might need, and that I might not finish my final. Final finished, and now it is time to enjoy the wonderful Portland sun that showed itself today! Summer break, here I come!

Tip for the Day: It's the industry, if you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen. And if you cry like a baby, just make sure the ones you want scared of you don't see you or read your blog see you do it.

Naked Bike Rides and TV Shoots

It's Pedalpalooza! Promotion of alternative transportation, sustainability and bike awareness. Saturday marked a joyous occasion of fun filled bike events. The one that we attended: the Annual Naked Bike Race, I also jogged a quick block earlier with some clothed bikers. The important thing to focus on is alternative transportation. The naked part, though highly entertaining was for the awareness part. Please be weary and share the road! There were so many partial "costumes" and such. The only thing that everyone was concerned about was why we were still wearing clothes. Apparently people participating for their own cause don't always understand the concept, hello I took the bus and I'm walking with you. Aside from some other awkward encounters, the night was very successful. KW, LA and I were even able to enjoy a lovely 40 block stroll home, through the sketchy SE, over the grated bridge and through the wanna be gang asking for directions. Thank you Portland for reminding me that it's still the city.

Our Sunday was successful for Chef Passionista (a classmate). Some friends from class and I helped her film a segment for her TV audition tape for the future O Network. Her focus is improving couples relationships through the joys of cooking. Her concept is great and I wish her the best of luck in the competition for her own show. Hopefully by tomorrow the clip will be edited and I can post the link for you to vote! As awkward as filming was, it was still a lot of fun!

This week marks our final week in our first session and this will all hopefully end with a gold star for me to pin to my coat. All of our tests have been pushed up which actually may be a good thing. Our final black box plates are due on Wednesday...so it's off to do some more studying.

Tip for the Day: You won't always get a police escort while you ride naked but remember to enjoy the little things in life. Also, black pepper can be your enemy and white pepper is ok to use. Don't over season, but don't under season, you must find a balance in the force.

The Coat

So if you know where to look and who to talk to and how to dress, you can find some pretty sweet deals around town. First and foremost, The Coat. This a recent experience for me though I have heard stories from classmates and chefs.

The Coat I refer to is my uniform coat, it's white with that infamous blue ribbon and for some reason really makes you stand out in a crowd. Usually I have time to go home and change before I decide to go places; however, the other day some of us left straight from school to enjoy some doings in Portland. This meant, no change of clothes and The Coat was staying on.

As shallow as it sounds, The Coat is the best networking tool. We had the owners of the eaterys coming up to talk to us about our past, present and future doings. On the down side of The Coat, it's like it's the world's free up close and personal Food Network and Yellow Pages. We gave more advice on where to eat and places to go in town. While I was waiting outside of the Vd doughnuts I got tons of questions about the doughnuts. Apparently even though I don't work there or have any idea how to make doughnuts, The Coat gives people a false sense of knowledge about everything food. Helping people is always nice, but sometimes people seem like they are taking advantage more than anything.

Another day, I stopped by the grocery store on my way home from school to pick up some basics. Biggest mistake ever. Even with all of the free samples and good deals I get for being in culinary school, the grocery store is never a place to go in The Coat. I think that day, I helped at least 10 people plan their dinner menus and baking needs. I should have listened to Chef Shotgun. Chef Shotgun had mentioned the worst time to wear your coat is Thanksgiving. And after the grocery store experience I have no want to test his theory.

But like I said, networking and the free samples and helping people isn't all that bad. The Coat has it's ups and down but hopefully in the end, they'll see past the coat.

Tip for the Day: Explore. It's really the only way to get to know your surroundings. It's also where you will find the best dive places and quirky hole in the wall eaterys that just may become your favorite!

Keepin' it Clean

It has been a long and busy week and with finals quickly approaching it is bound to get busier. I'll start doing a better job of posting when things slow down a bit. As our second session comes to a close, we are FINALLY beginning to get a good groove for dishes and our schedules in general, this also includes life.

As you can see from the picture, I was still working on trying to keep up with my dish stack. Aside from LA (the guy at the end of the table), pictured is just about every pan that I used and parm polenta, with roasted Cornish Game hen, candied apples and sauteed broccoli. Keepin' it clean was something I finally mastered today. Our table aside from one person, was able to keep up with all of our dishes. And the kitchen was pretty darn clean today. The dishes is also an entire kitchen fiasco most of the time. So we'll get it hopefully by graduation.

I've also gotten to the point where I am finally getting my budgets together and my house in order, work schedules and figuring out more things to do around Portland. I have found several local places to shop for inexpensive groceries, sweet dive bars with some Wyoming friends and multiple trips to Voodoo. Money is still pretty tight so it helps that I am starting to get to know where to go for the good deals and even free stuff. My work schedule is still very random since I am still new but I have also recently discovered the Buffalo Exchange and the coat (I will explain this one, later).

Today I found out that Portland is one of the places where prostitution is NBD (no big deal). No don't worry, I'm not going to pimp myself out, that's a lot of work. Though this could be an option for income (!) it is more of just an interesting fact. This also explains the burritos and the strippers. For those of you who don't know, one of our new favorite places to eat is a burrito joint that happens to share a bathroom with the strip club next door. The burritos are that good. And as we found today, the strip clubs/brothels here in town are like the local grocery stores. Keepin' it clean=stay away from the grocery store clubs and don't be trashy in the kitchen.

Fact for the Day: Speaking of Cornish Game Hens, these are actually chickens...baby chickens. And trussing your birds before they go through a traumatic experience through an oven is the best way to cook them. Not only does it guarantee even cooking but it makes the bird hold it's shape well. Also don't forget to let 'em rest before you cut 'em up. They can only take so much trauma at a time...

Empty Fridge?

For the past two weeks, my mind has kind of been all over the place and not really focused on the necessities of life, like eating or going grocery shopping on a normal basis.

Funny thing is, I'm still alive and not starving. When I looked in my fridge I noticed that I currently hold the best bachelor(ette) fridge. There's no food, just condiments and beer, oh and rotten milk. When I saw this, I thought to myself, what the heck? How am I still kickin'? Not that my friends and family would let me starve but seriously, don't even feel hungry!

Then I remembered, ha I go to culinary school. I eat on a constant basis, tasting all my foods and then eating most of the 2-3 meals we make a day. Every that isn't eaten at school, makes it home for about 10 minutes and then I eat it again. So the food doesn't actually stay around for too long. KW and I also eat together at least twice a week for our Dexter nights, usually after I get back from work.

Dear Family and Friends, don't worry, I'm really not starving. It is just an observation. Thank goodness for culinary school!

Tip for the Day: Make sure your basics are always covered. Mirepoix usually consists of carrots, celery and onions, those are your basics.

Top Chef

It was a great week, frustrating but great!

On Wednesday we finally finished up our days of egg cookery. I managed to flip my egg into the stove and onto the floor several times. I made my overhard eggs 7 times and still didn't pass, they were either underdone or overdone or broke in half. My overeasy eggs Chef Keep You on Your Toes actually did mine for me, and my sunny side eggs (yuck) were a bit under done the first time or over done and still slimy the next. Needless to say, I really dislike eggs for the time being.

However, all of this was quickly put behind me, seeing as I am currently eating an egg with homemade biscuits. On Wednesday, there was a Top Chef tent parked at the square and they were doing cooking demos and having a meet and greet...of some of season 3 (the one when Hung won)'s chefs. CJ and Bryan. Bryan is actually from Portland and came to chat with the class after mine. A few of us headed down to the square to check it out and our good friend Mama MER put us on the list to watch the demo.

While we were waiting Mama MER told me to come with her as she headed to the Top Chef trailer. When we arrived, CJ and Bryan were standing there in the back chatting. So, we got to chat right along with them. We talked about school, who we were and what we were up to. Both guys were really nice and very studly for some Top Chefs. They told us that we would get into the demo, and we did. Got right up front. CJ led the demo and made us braised veal with bacon and red wine marinated apricots with a radish and parsley salad, garnished with sauteed garlic shoots. It was awesome!

Tip for the Day: Just because you win a competition doesn't mean people will like you. Just do your thing and be proud of the things that you put on your plate. And even though people may not like you, try really hard not to piss off your fellow chefs.

Movin' on Up!

This weekend went by in kind of a blur. After much deliberation and convincing, I got the go ahead to move into a new apartment. Benefits of not having Craig living outside my window, more natural light, the view is pretty sweet, I can have my windows open and it's a much nicer apartment. The downsides I have found are garbage and recycle take out on Monday mornings is brutal with or without the windows open.

The cause of the move besides wanting to get up off the ground floor? Well, it's actually cheaper. But then Friday evening I started to hear a dripping noise. It took me a while to find where it was coming from. The dripping was coming from the ceiling in the bathroom but there wasn't actually any water coming into my apartment. I went to go change the laundry and found a waterfall coming from the ceiling in the hallway. I called maintenance to come and fix it. Then there was this awful smell coming from the ceiling and wall in my room, from where the water was landing. Despite the smell I decided to stay since I was so tired.

The next morning the smell was ten times worse. I ran up to the office and asked them to let me move into my new apartment. They said yes, so I started packing up the cart and movin' on up. As I was moving I started meeting the people on my new floor. This is when I found out, I had been inhaling poop water all night. Some guy above had clogged his toilet, didn't turn his water off and had tried to plunge it for a few hours as water poured out everywhere.

So, it's been a week since this happened and the fans are still blowing, trying to dry up the smell. But now I live up on a sweet floor with a great view and a little more usable room.

Tip for the Day: Plan ahead. You can never go wrong with planning ahead. And there is always time to be spontaneous.

Catch-up!

It's been a bit, last we talked about soups. This past week we worked on vegetable cookery, sauteing, braising, pan frying, deep frying and piping veggies. Potates (aka potatoes) were also a whole day to themselves and I found, that potates in fact are not my thing. This was also the first time since I've started that the majority of what I made this week was less than passing. Mistakes are once again ok. I was such in a rush that I just wanted everything to get signed off rather than put something of quality on the plate. Well that won't fly in the real world.

It was a busy week, with work for WS and I had the opportunity to work with a local catering company, Catering at Its Best, for an event that Nike threw. Needless to say, my first real experience in their makeshift kitchen for catering was excellent. I had tons of fun, ate copious amounts of sushi, steak, mashed taters, homemade desserts and more. For four hours we plated, salads, dinners, garnished desserts and dished up late night appetizers. I got to dance, network and was introduced to the sweet sweet world of catering. Well worth the 2am trek home.

This past week, I also learned, there is such a thing as too much butter unfortunately. When sauteing you never want to have the plate look greasy or the sauteed green beans to be sloshing in the fat across the plate. I wish it weren't true. But potates with lots of butter are still great. We also braised red cabbage and had to taste it on its own. Mine was a bit under cooked but cooked or not, probably one of the more unappetizing things I have eaten on its own. Now with beef medallions would make it derishous (and it does, see a recipe in Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking).

The Whiner has been laying pretty low, his constant whining has become part of our every day drawl. But we have a new contender for the names list! The Peanut Gallery. And it is not a group of people, but one person, who has successfully managed to peanut gallery lecture all on her own, asked every question that has been answered already and pushed us over our cooking time into our clean up time. She is thus named the Peanut Gallery. She's also the lazy person of our kitchen, instead of getting everything herself she'll yell to everyone to see if anyone has any extras. And when I say yell, it's her high pitched whiny voice carrying across the room. Like there isn't enough obnoxious noises in the kitchen already.

This week we are starting pastas and egg cookery with final plates on a full breakfast plate. My egg flipping will be put to the test. Ravioli, fettuccine, pesto and breakfast will make this week probably fly by...or so I think.

Last night was the Starry Light Parade to kick off the start of the Rose Festival. And with the Rose Festival, there are tons of coupons and sweet find all over town. I missed the Starry Light Run due to WS but had planned on wearing the Ewok costume to run the 3.1 miles, next year. On the sweet finds list is a new Dutch Taco, aka savory Waffles, cart. Going to check it out tomorrow. Looking forward to the weeks festivities and I promise I'll be more on top of things!

Tip for the (Last) Week: Before the famine in Ireland, the average Irishman/woman, consumed 10 pounds of potates per day. So the tip...VARIETY, DIVERSITY or you will starve if the time comes to that...

Unfortunately, the pictures from last week refuse to load.