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.

Soups, Soups, Grains and Drop-Outs

Wow! What a busy week! I haven't been this exhausted in a while. On your feet and running around and then standing and selling wicked kitchen furnishing can really tire you out! After taking our sauce final, which resulted in a thin bechamel and a hollandaise that did not end up on the floor, we started our soup week.

Consomme and Cream of Broccoli were up first. We got some practice with flipping things as we made some fine herb crepes (fantastic). There was a bit of an accident and someone dropped their Cream of Broccoli and what didn't end up on the floor, ended up on my leg. The price we pay to get things done on time. Shrimp Bisque and Corn Chowder were next. And I have decided that Chowder is actually not that bad. Fact: the ingredient that is most commonly found in all Clam Chowder...oh you guessed Clams didn't you? And it's not potatoes either. It's sand. Little dirt never hurt! Puree of White Bean Soup with a garnish of Avocado tomato Salsa and Avocado Creme Fraiche (pictured) and the classic French Onion Soup, topped with my favorite, gruyere. Today was rice and believe it or not, some people actually refrained from asking me if I knew how to cook rice. The favorite of the day was the risotto topped again with gruyere and chives.

To this day we have lost about six people in our class and word in the kitchen is we're about to lose a few more. And I'm not gonna lie...the people that are talking about dropping out, it's about time. Though we're all here for numero uno, we still have group work to complete that some people think means everyone else does it but them. Also, some people are frustrated that 'someone' keeps messing with their stuff. Clearly not really in tune with everything going on.

Tip for the Day: One of the worst things to cut up are jalapenos aka jalaps. For most women, the pain comes from rubbing your eyes. For most men, the pain comes after you use the um, restroom. Ah there is cure! Milk! So, guys if you forget and head to the head after chopping up some jalaps...you might as well grab yourself a quart container...or pint container, fill it up with buttermilk and have a seat. Ladies, just flush your eyes out with buttermilk.

The Job That Makes Me Spend Money

Culinary school is great. I love it so far. The worst part is the cost. So, I got a job...in retail...in a really good place...that provides me with a really good discount. And in our current class we are all assigned different jobs every day that must be completed before we can leave; sous chef, clean ovens, clean walk-in, clean shelves and windows, sweep and mop, take out trash and compost and the most difficult part it seems, dishwashing.

Well with all of this money that I seem to be spending to attend the School, I seem to be working a lot...at the School. Every day we are supposed to be doing something different as far as our jobs go; however, it seems that our class has a LAZY and EGOTISTICAL problem. There are many people who drop their dishes off and get new ones instead of cleaning theirs. Also, when help is needed, standing there seems to be the course that most take. So, not only am I paying plenty of cash to learn some amazing stuff, I'm paying to pick up some slack in the dishwashing area...every day. So, I've been yelling, a lot. And once or twice things actually get done. More or less, the class needs to just do their dishes. Mommy and Daddy aren't here to pick up after you when you're done playing.

I got this really cool job so that I could afford to keep going to school and living in a place with a roof and a bathroom and a bed. The job has a dress code, the one part I get dinged on...I don't have nice enough shoes. For those of you who know me, shoes rank up there almost next to food, Star Wars and panda bears. So the job that I got so that I could start earning some money is actually causing me to spend money, on shoes. Money that I don't even have yet but have to spend so that I can go make the money that will be used in buying the shoes. The real world sucks but we all have to enter it at some point.

Tip for the Day: It's ok to be the leader as long as you're being productive and it's ok to take the back seat to make others step up.
Cooking Tip for the Day: Presentation is an important part of food, so take your time to make it look nice, it makes it appealing to eat. Everything you put in the bowl or plate has to be able to be eaten.

Boneing a Chicken

After yesterday's debacle with the hollandaise sauce, I felt the need to cut something up. So after a slightly uncomfortable time at Henry's with some new friends, I wandered to Whole Foods (right next to P.F. Chang's...O.M.G. I found one). I love that store, that and Trader Joe's and Safeway. I found the meat section which it seems to house not only some of the most derishous looking fish, chicken and meat cuts, but also some of Portland's finest men, they were all very helpful.

The Chicken guys were who I really needed and after much deliberation I chose a 4lb chicken to take home. I told the Chicken Guy, "I'm going to debone her myself" and he laughed at me. I told him it was ok, I was practicing and he offered to do it for me if I couldn't. Well that sounds like a challenge. I also asked for chitlins, and they both laughed at me and told me to go to a Mexican market or a butcher place. So, I brought Evee (that's what I named her) on my 15 block hike home and stuck her in the fridge.

This morning I plopped her on the table and just stared at her. Then I remembered, I attend a culinary school, there has to be pictures and a chapter on poultry, and low and behold there was. In 28 minutes, I had Evee eighthed, skinned and the thighs and breasts deboned. All the bones are now just awaiting to be made into a stock. It was an amazing thing, I got to cut something up and it is going to be useful for pospas, stock, chicksalad. I feel very accomplished now and less stressed, huh the irony.

Tip for the Day: In the real world, always pay attention to your Cost Production and you're Yield Percentage. The percentage should always be 75% or better. This is to maximize costs and product.

Hollandaise

Fact of the Day: On any DAY the average chef will consume between 3,500-4,000 calories, just in TASTING. This does not include the regular meals that everyone should eat. I'm going to need to bump up the workout schedule...

This past week we have been working on our sauce making for our practical exam on Monday. We have plowed through bechamel, veloute, espagnole and tomato. Today was our hollandaise sauce and from those we had to make a maltise (flavored with a blood orange puree) and a moussleline (folded in heavy cream). We only had the two hours to au sec our emulsion and whip it good. Our group is also behind one morney sauce. It's going to be a busy weekend!

After burning my reduction and starting over, I found myself a little behind. Being as small as I am also holds a bit of a disadvantage when trying to get some leverage and height on the tables not to mention a mixing bowl, sauce pan and whipping room. I was one of the last ones to get started on my whipping but was still making good time. Since I was a little lower than the mixing bowls I was practically mixing the stainless steel off the bowl, instead of "stir/mixing". Then when I was almost done it broke, no big deal easily fixed with a little hot water! Well to get to the hot water, I needed it from the sauce pan that was heating the mixture. So naturally I took off the bowl to get to the water. And in my rush, I set the bowl down on the table and it was hanging off the edge a little, leaning on me. So I took a slight step back and...SPLAT. All over the under table and my knife kit and all over the table.

After yelling some profanities, Chef On Your Toes came over. She grabbed my arm that was now frantically whipping at practically nothing, told me to take some deep breaths and helped me finish my sauce as silent tears ran down my face. It was a mistake. At the end of class we all went over what we did wrong and what could make it better for Monday. As everyone left I went over to assess the damage that I had caused to my area. My close classmates had cleaned up most of it and sprayed my bag off for me. They are great, and then I just started crying. Like Izzy Stevens crying, ugh and I had no idea why. Chef On Your Toes just kept telling me it happens and I wasn't the first one to cry in her class. I apologized and thanked her for helping me out.

So the only thing that I am really sure is, hollandaise is my true enemy on Monday. My pride was hurt because I had to get help, but this is why I'm at school and my table or at least a few of us at the table, are a team and we when said we'd help each other out we meant it. I was upset because something that happens every day in the kitchen happened while I was starting. But now, I know how to make one of the hardest sauces and all the things not to do. Maybe I'll open up a breakfast place...

Learning

So just to clarify, Chef BA is no longer Chef BA. She is probably one of the nicest people and has proven to be a great instructor. For now she will just be Chef on Your Toes. And she really does keep you on your toes. Something that we have learned-WATCH YOUR BURNERS. She goes around turning your burners on higher or turning them off. She has caught me several times doing something I shouldn't be doing. She's like a cat! But she is a great resource who is packed full of information. There hasn't been an hour that has gone by where I haven't learned something new.

Today she asked me how I was doing and later "Are you learning?". "Oh yeah, Chef, I'm learning a lot. Mostly because I'm making so many mistakes," was my answer. Today I found myself cover from head to toe in tomato and supreme sauce. It was the most fun I've had yet. Our class is awful about doing the dishes but it's a learning experience and we are learning who holds their ground and who is holding us back. Survival of the Fittest again. Today we learned that multi-tasking is a must in the kitchen.

Tip for the Day: Vinegar takes out tomato stains.