the aub-blog

Grand Opening: Paradise Sweets!

2012-02-10T10:10:00.000-10:00

My Etsy Shop is finally open as of now!!!

For any of you that are unfamiliar with Etsy.com, it is an online marketplace for people who want to buy and sell handmade or vintage items. It's not done by auction and there are a billion things to choose from. It's pretty much amazing! And it's great because it allows people like me to share my talents with others EVERYWHERE!

Facts:
Name: Paradise Sweets
Selling: Decorated sugar cookies (and hopefully Liquid Gold Lilikoi Butter and candies in the future)
Link: Paradise Sweets
Like me on Facebook!

I am SO SO SO excited about this. One of my lifelong goals is to one day, open my own business. I never dreamed then that I could a business on the Internet. While it may seem like an easy, small step, it's still that - a small step. And at this point, a step is a step is a step!

You know how people have ten year plans on things they want to accomplish? I could easily see myself pushing my ten year plan off to maybe 30 or 40 years from now. Why? Because of the fear of FAILURE. Being an entrepreneur is all about taking a risk. And, to quote one of my favorite movies Blue Crush, "Take the risk, Feel the rush". You won't ever feel the rush (of success) if you don't take the risk.

I've always liked this quote as well:

"The only people who never fail are those who never try."

That being said, I opened this shop to prove to that small voice inside me that says "You can't do it!" that Yes, I can!

The two fears I have are:

I won't get any business
I will get absolutely overloaded with orders

Are any of those two fears bad?! No. It only costs 20 cents to post a listing on Etsy. So if I absolutely fail, it's not like I lost a huge chunk of cash. And I will know in my heart that I tried my best. The timing may not be right, or I might not be offering a product that people want right now, but at least I will have given it a shot. That's better than wondering.

If I get overloaded? GREAT! Then I can quit my day job!

I know that God has equipped me with all the things I need to be successful. And He will never lead me wrong. I don't have these skills to keep to myself. I love to share and bless and make other people happy. I wish that I could bake for everyone for free. Maybe when I'm a millionaire that will happen :)

So, dear friends. We come to the part where I must give my official THANK YOUs, because I could not have done this on my own.

Thank you to my family for always being so encouraging. For being the FIRST official taste testers! You guys are all so wonderful and the best family a girl could ever have!

Thank you to all the other taste testers: The guys at The House, ALL of my past roommates, classmates, dorm neighbors, friends, and co-workers. A big shout-out to our couples group - they let me experiment on them pretty much every week without complaining that I'm making them fat :)

Thank you to ALL of you who ever said, "You should open your own place!" It's affirmation like that that pushes me over the edge to do what I love. If no one said that, I'd think I was junk. So this is for you - I'm doing it!!!

Thank you to GOD of course. Without His constant love, support and blessings in my life, I would be nowhere. I'm blessed to have a home with an OVEN where I can do this. Blessed to have the money to start this hobby up last year and blessed to have the free time and spirit to want to do all of this!

I saved the best for last. And I will make him read this!

Thank you to my husband, K. He is my biggest supporter and encourager. He comes up with the best ideas.. "You know what you should do... You should make _____". Sometimes they are off the wall but he really comes up with great, different ideas. He makes it through all my meltdowns when I think I can't do it (haha, wedding cakes!) or I mess up and don't know how to fix things. He calms me and makes everything right. He puts it all into perspective. He puts up with my cookies and cookie decorating materials taking over the kitchen (I keep it neat, I swear!) and encourages me to KEEP GOING! Without his support, I would not be doing this. Marriage is a team effort and his support means everything to me! So thanks, honey!!!

Wow, so glad I am not standing up in front of you all saying this outloud. Even just typing it I am getting a lump in my throat and tears are welling up! I feel so loved and encouraged.

So, here we go. Here I GO! Whatever happens, happens, and I have high hopes!

February 2012: Goal Check

2012-02-09T20:27:00.000-10:00

I'd like to start checking in every month to make sure I'm keeping up with my goals.

Here's what I set for 2012:

-get into a healthier lifestyle
-continue with last year's goal of being more generous with my time, talents and money
-open up my Etsy store by the end of January (look out!)
-be a more thoughtful gift giver
-keep in better touch with my family and friends on the mainland
-do devotions with my husband once a week
-pay off my car early as planned. only a few more months to go!
-grow some edibles in our mini garden. last year I was still figuring things out back there.

Well, reading through those again makes me feel like I have so far to go! Good thing it's only February :)

Healthy Lifestyle

This is not a diet; it's a lifestyle change. I'd say that we are doing pretty well at this. Since Thanksgiving, I unintentionally lost 6 pounds. I think the culprit was working too hard in December :P I won't complain too much though, hehe! I am perfectly fine with my weight and lately I've just been wanting to feel more athletic and comfortable in my body.

I bought some swim goggles a few weeks ago and since then I've gone swimming three times, hopefully going again tomorrow!

Sunscreen and googles, that's all I need. Oh, and a suit.

I was on the swim team my senior year of high school and it was SO much fun. I really enjoyed it. So being back in the water like this makes me feel good. Swimming in the ocean is a very different from swimming a pool. Yesterday we had to deal with a pretty strong current. One way it was such a breeze. The other direction, it was like fighting a losing battle and I felt like I was going nowhere. What a workout! Also, there are more things to look at than just a blue line on the bottom. Where I swim, I try to stick to the "inside" where there's a sandy bottom. I've seen a few different types of fish and of course all the coral. There's also a channel which goes out, and I've swam there before, but it's super spooky. There's a pipeline to follow that goes out to a windsock and then you swim back. But I heard a rumor that someone saw a shark in the channel, so it creeps me out. I also once encountered a VERY large sea turtle when I was by myself and it freaked me out! I know they don't eat people but it was still very unsettling.

So my goal with the swimming is to get more comfortable going by myself, and go at least twice a week. I will only swim the channel if there is perfect visibility. Murky water gives me the creeps!

I also incorporated some strength training and I do walks and runs. Last week I rode my bike to work. I try to do this whenever it's not raining and I have the morning shift. It's safer and cooler then. It's only a 4-mile roundtrip ride, but it's a good way to sneak in some exercise when I don't have time.

Being More Generous
Yup, still good on this. Whether it's tithing monthly, supporting a missionary friend, or donating cookies, I feel good being more generous. I am trying to live life with more of an open hand than a closed fist.

Etsy Store
Stay tuned for an announcement tomorrow! I may not have made my goal of opening by the end of January, but that's okay, because it's still going to happen! LOVE IT when I reach my goals!

Be a More Thoughtful Gift Giver
I think I'm still working on this. I'll admit that I copped out on Christmas presents last year and bought a bunch of giftcards. They were easier to ship and just easier in general. However it's better when I can join the recipient in enjoying the giftcard. Sometimes you can't be present to do that, though.

Keep In Better Touch
I've been failing on this one. What is it that makes me too lazy to just pick up the phone and call? Or Skype?

Husband-Wife Devotions
We set the goal to do these once a week together, and so far it has been GREAT! I can't report any huge breakthroughs or anything, but it has been really fun and is a wonderful way to grow our relationship with each other and God. I love praying with my husband and learning together with him. Plus it's nice to hear someone else's perspective.

Pay Off the Car Early
We are on track. Estimated pay off date: July!

Grow Some Edibles
This is probably third on my list of things I need to take care of. However the lilikoi vine is absolutely growing out of control! I was training it to stay on top of the fence, but the top of the fence is flat so it doesn't have anything to hold onto. It was also pretty windy so it blew down a little bit. That thing grows so fast, I have to check every day to make sure it's not grabbing onto the clothesline! I got some nails to pound into the fence so hopefully it will be able to anchor itself on that way. I want to get it to grow across the whole length of the fence AND stay on our side so no one else can get the fruit (which will hopefully come out this summer!).

The garden is small but I want to try to make something of it! Besides the lilikoi vine, we've got a jasmine pikake plant, aloe, and three ti leaf plants. I killed the Amy Yoshioka Gardenia :( Oops!

I have a bunch of blog post ideas running through my head but just not enough time to do postings lately. Hopefully I can get on that soon.

Aloha!

Fun With Flax

2012-01-30T05:00:00.000-10:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm turning into a weird hippy-version of myself. One day I woke up and decided that I needed to jump on the flax train.

Right around the beginning of high school, I noticed that I just could not make it from breakfast to lunch without feeling like I was starving by 10am. I decided to save breakfast as the last thing to do before I left for school, but even that didn't help. Now, how many years later? I've finally got my solution (yeah maybe my metabolism is a little crazy but this works).

Flax. This simple little seed that makes me feel so full! I love it! And I can't even taste it! After I got my urge to jump on the flax train, I went down to our local (aka next door) health food co-op store and scooped up some flax meal. I started adding it to my bowl o' Vanilla Honey Greek Yogurt with added assorted berries. I couldn't taste it and I made it until lunchtime! So amazing! Yes, I am really excited.

There are lots of other blogs and websites out there where you can read about the benefits of flax. So go do that. I just love that it's high in omega-3s and fiber. Woot!

Once flax became acceptable as a "good food" to me, I couldn't wait to try it out in other things. I found a recipe via Pinterest for different kinds of granola. I'd been buying granola for my yogurt and the good stuff was getting expensive. My mom-in-law made an awesome granola for us for Christmas and it inspired me to try to make my own!

I made an almond vanilla granola which came out... not too tasty (still eating that mistake - I'm too cheap to throw it away!). Then I tried this recipe from Always Order Dessert for Triple Chocolate Quinoa Granola. Holy chocolate granola goodness. It was sooo delicious. I brought some to work and they demanded more. I sent some to my mom for her birthday and she demanded the recipe. I have yet to sit down and eat some myself (remember, eating the first mistake) so I'm pretty excited to get to it! The recipe calls for chia seeds (which are supposedly even BETTER than flax) but I substituted in my amazing flax meal instead. I had some leftover quinoa so I was able to throw that in. The only things I had to buy were the rolled oats and raw cocoa nibs (which my husband recommends you do NOT eat by themselves, haha!). Give this a try! I want to experiment with subbing in coconut oil for the olive oil since I have a lot, maybe throwing in some wheat germ, sunflower seeds, and more chocolate chips? :)

I also had to give a cookie recipe a try. And I saw this in my very first copy (thanks, Mom!) of the Food Network Magazine. This picture pretty much enticed me:

That and the fact that I already had all the ingredients! Love it when that happens.

Let me tell you that these cookies are a match made in heaven for K and I. For some weird reason, he loves crunchy cookies. I love delicious, soft n' chewy cookies! Whenever I make cookies for us I have to do some juggling to make sure we both get our fix.

These cookies are baked perfection, for both of us, all in one go. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Wow! And ya know, "semi-healthy" with the addition of the flax. TRY THEM!

Oatmeal-Flax Choco-Chip Cookies
Adapted from Food Network Magazine
Makes 32 small or 15 big cookies

Ingredients:
- 6 oz (12 T) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 c granulated sugar
- 3/4 c packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
- 1 c quick cooking oats
- 1/4 c flax meal
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 c (or more!) semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, mix and scrape the bowl.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, letting them incorporate fully.
4. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to the mixer, on low speed.
5. Mix until just combined and fold in chocolate chips.
6. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on baking sheet for three minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

Notes: I decided to go against my "small cookie" routine and go BIG! using my cookie scoop. These took a bit longer in the oven (13-16 minutes). Not sure the small cookies will be as chewy but it's worth a shot! I would love to try this recipe with whole wheat flour and maybe bigger chocolate chunks!

These also fit perfectly in my snazzy ant-proof cookie jar (thanks FSIL!!). That chalkboard part is just too much fun!

So, try some flax. And these recipes. Got any more to share? I'm game.

Wordless Wednesday #32!

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-10:00

Let's Get Political (Not Really) - Keepin' It Sweet

2012-01-20T09:30:00.001-10:00

I was asked to do these last-minute cookies by a friend of my last client. She explained that she was hosting a birthday party and the guest of honor was really into politics. Could I recreate the Democratic Party's logo - the donkey? Instead of "Happy Birthday" she wanted "Vote For Karen" on the cookie. What a great idea!

Of course, I said yes. I am not huge into politics at all. When I registered to vote at age 18, I put "undecided" for the party. I grew up around a lot of Republicans but I wanted to make the choice on my own and figure it out myself.

Well, it's 9 years later and guess what? Haven't done a bit of political soul searching. It's not that I don't care, it's just not my thing. I'm not really interested. When people begin to talk politics, I back out of the discussion mainly because I know I'm not informed. I don't want to put my ignorant views out there. I'm one of those "I'll-figure-out-who-I'm-voting-for-the-day-before-the-election" people. Yes.

I am glad however that there are people out there who are intensely interested. I tend to be more conservative so I probably would be labeled a "Republican", but I am glad there are liberals out there. I live in a pretty liberal state. It provides balance. It's what makes this country great - we can all have our own opinions and not get locked up for saying them out loud. Awesome!

That being said, I couldn't create the donkey, without doing the elephant :) WHEN I get my Etsy shop set up, I will definitely be selling these treats around Election Day. Wouldn't they make a great addition to a party?

My mom-in-law gifted me a wonderful Make Your Own Cookie Cutter kit for Christmas. Would you believe that I have already run out of the aluminum provided in the kit?! I've made four cutters so far and it's harder than you'd think. This cookie was a last minute request, so I headed down to my *favorite* cooking store (note sarcasm - their customer service is awful) and they didn't have it in stock. Went to the hardware store, and they didn't have any aluminum thin enough that I could bend with my hands. So, I had to get creative.

I've seen this on other websites before so I gave it a go. Here's what you'll need to make your own cookie cutter:

-Tape
-Scissors
-Shape printed out on paper
-Pen
-Plastic lids big enough to fit your design

Cut out your design, tape it to the lid, trace it and cut it out. Make sure you wash off any pen residue on the plastic. You're done! Lay it on your dough and cut around it with a very sharp knife.

These are really only good if you're making about 10 cookies or less. It gets pretty tedious cutting them out. I was happy to see that the edges still looked clean and not jagged.

Kept these simple, but maybe I'll add the stars next time.

Vote for Karen ('cause she's the birthday girl!)

Who would you vote for?

I had a fun time making these cookies and loved the challenge!

Currently Current

2012-01-05T10:50:00.001-10:00

I've let my blog spot go to waste because I have been too busy to sit down and spend time on my computer! The last half of the year is pretty hectic at work, and I'm thankful for that. I'd rather be busy and in over my head than have to scrounge around for things to do.

Usually, January - April is a slower time at work and I don't have any pressing things to do at home so I have more free time. I've resisted the Pinterest fad for a looong time, but finally gave in and I am hooked like so many others! There are some great crafty ideas out there. I've already "pinned" some new recipes to try, some date ideas, and ideas to save for the far off future. It is pretty cool. I also stumbled across a blog post that inspired me to start blogging again! So, enjoy.

current book(s)

I'm on a "re-read everything I own" kick in an effort to save money (and avoid paying my overdue fees at the library...eep!). I just finished re-reading Fahrenheit 451. Next up will be To Kill a Mockingbird. I just love that book and am excited to read it again!

current playlist

Foster the People, the Temper Trap, Iration, The Black Keys, and Tyrone Wells

current color
"natural". I can't have nail polish on at work, but I do paint some on when I have days off! I'm currently on a subtle sparkly gold kick.

current food

vegetables!

fuji apples with a bit of natural peanut butter

current favorite show

none - we don't have cable and I'd rather read!

current #1 blessing
This guy, of course!

current needs
keep cleaning up our apartment! it was clean for new year's but then I started all these organizing/decorating projects and it got a little cluttered again :P

current excitement
new projects in the works!

current mood
motivated

current indulgence

I dropped the Starbucks habit and now make my (cheap!) iced mochas at home with this bad boy:

current triumph(s)

my friend Kristen and I climbed Koko Crater yesterday. It was my first "hard" workout of 2012. Champs!

current bane of my existence

laundry

current #1 item on your wishlist

a new water bottle. I bought K one for Christmas and it's so awesome, I want one too!

Hydro Flask Insulated 40 oz.

current new years goals
-get into a healthier lifestyle. we indulged a bit too much last year!

-continue with last year's goal of being more generous with my time, talents and money

-open up my Etsy store by the end of January (look out!)

-be a more thoughtful gift giver

-keep in better touch with my family and friends on the mainland
-do devotions with my husband once a week

-pay off my car early as planned. only a few more months to go!

-grow some edibles in our mini garden. last year I was still figuring things out back there.

Well that was fun!

I've also been doing some "home improvement" stuff lately (mostly organizing) and tons of fun cookie projects, so I'll be posting them... soon!

Lilikoi Butter

2011-08-03T09:47:00.000-10:00

I am so glad that I moved to Hawai'i six years ago, otherwise I may never have had the opportunity to discover this amazing fruit - lilikoi.

Lilikoi is the Hawaiian name for passionfruit. It has a pretty tarty taste right out the gate, but with some sugar and butter, it is just heavenly! I had never seen it "in the wild" before until last year when walking up a hill in my neighborhood with my sister-in-law. One of the things I love about Hawai'i is that if fruit is on the public side of a fence or street, it's fair game! We'd discovered a lilikoi vine on a fence outside the public water municipal property. We kept our eye on it, waiting for the time when the fruit would be ripe.

In Hawai'i, the yellow variety is most prevalent (the fruit turns from green to yellow). A beautiful flower sprouts up on the vine, and the lilikoi fruit comes out of the flower! How cool is that?!

(not ripe when it's green and hard)

It's kind of weird, you have to wait until the fruit gets wrinkly and looks like it's going bad before it gets ripe. When I had my fruit ripening on the counter also, it made my whole kitchen smell like stinky feet. Not desirable but I was willing to wait it out to get that delicious fruit! You can eat lilikoi just by cracking open the peel and sucking out the juice/seeds. The seeds are surrounded with delicious fruit pockets and are okay to eat, although I prefer to spit the seeds out.

I'm currently growing my own vine in the small strip of dirt we've got on our lanai. I got this tiny, 6-inch clipping from my husband's cousin in December, transplanted it in April, and it has just now started to take off!

I've heard they grow pretty fast, and I thought it would just magically grab onto the fence and climb but it needed some help. I picked up this bamboo trellis and I'm hoping to train it to go all over the place. So far, it's grabbed onto three different places.

I'm hoping that next year, I'll be harvesting my very own lilikoi! The concentrate from Perfect Purée out of Napa Valley is pretty pricey (which can be found at Foodland Farms market in Aina Hina), so being able to make my own fresh from the fruit is practical and worth it. I also like knowing exactly what is in my food. No preservatives or too much sugar here!

I found this recipe for lilikoi butter and decided to give it a whirl! I used about seven fruits and got 2 mason jars full of lilikoi butter. I picked up the lilikoi at this amazing little local market called Waialua Fresh on the North Shore of O'ahu. It's a drive (45 mins from Town), but it's so worth it! It can be used on ice cream, toast, or you could modify the recipe and make it into a thick curd for tarts, pie, etc! (just add more egg yolks or some cornstarch, your choice!)

Lilikoi Butter
(adapted from LavaLily)

1 cup fresh lilikoi juice
8 oz unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs

In a saucepan, bring to a boil the lilikoi juice, butter and sugar. Temper this hot mixture into the eggs, then add all back to the pan and return to a boil, whisking constantly. The original recipe recommended cooking for another 1/2 hour at a simmer, but I just stopped after it came to a boil. You can strain the liquid if you like before you pour it into some sterilized jars. Cap those suckers and turn them over to seal the jars. Refrigerate after opening.

Ono Chocolate Haupia Pie

2011-07-05T23:47:00.000-10:00

So ono it wen brok da mout.

So delicious your mouth will be broken! This simple pidgin sentence is the best way to describe this amazing pie. It's got a chewy pressed crust with coconut in it, then there's a layer each of smooth and sweet chocolate pudding and haupia (coconut pudding for you Mainlanders). Oh. My. Gosh.

As I ate my piece of pie, I kept thinking "This reminds me of something! But what??!" Then it dawned on me - this is like the pie version of a Mounds candy bar. Yum!

I was lucky enough to get this recipe from my brother's girlfriend and I am SO thankful!! After the two of them visited my husband and I for our wedding, she went home and tried to come up with the perfect Chocolate Haupia Pie ala Ted's Bakery, which is very popular here. She did a great job! The recipes come from a few different places but they are all good.

Give it a try; you won't be sorry.

Chocolate Haupia Pie
Serves 8-10

Pressed Crust
(Makes one pie crust)
adapted from The Cambrian

1 and 1/2 cups blanched almonds
1 and 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
6 T sugar
6 T unsalted butter, cold

After reading the ingredients list, I thought to myself, what could be more Hawaiian than swapping out the almonds for macadamia nuts??! I had some in my icebox (they keep longer) and figured I would use them up and, hello: Mac Nuts + Chocolate + Haupia = AMAZING, right?! Yes. Well, my little alteration to the recipe did NOT work. At all. I ended up with some weird bubbling mass in a pie pan instead of a delicious golden brown crust. I'm guessing that the fat content of the macadamia nuts plus the butter was just too much to handle for this crust. If you are crazy on the idea, I bet the addition of some flour would cure the problem.

Instead I ran down to our local co-op health food store because I knew they had almonds and they are a 1 minute walk away from the apartment. Well, bad news. They only had whole, raw almonds. The recipe called for blanched so I knew I had to do something. Luckily almonds are easy to blanche and peel. Check it out:

Place almonds in a bowl. Cover with boiling water and let sit for 1 minute and 1 minute only.

Pour out the hot water and douse with cool water to stop the cooking process. Drain the almonds. Pop the skins off (super easy!) and pat dry.

Voila! Blanched almonds!

Now yes, it is far easier to just buy them already blanched from the store in little 1/2 cup packets, but I'm betting that they are much cheaper to buy in bulk. Hence the inclusion of this process. It just took a little extra time!

I love doing pressed crusts because they are less messy than ones you have to roll out and they taste way way better than traditional pie crust. I am a pie crust hater, which is good because my husband loves pie crust so he eats my leftovers. Match made in Heaven.

Best tool for the job: The Food Processor.

Makes it quick and easy!

I chopped up the almonds to a "medium" size because I knew I would do more pulsing with the rest of the recipe. Just don't leave the nuts too big. The moisture from the butter needs something to soak into (i.e. the teeny tiny almond crumbs).

Add in the coconut and pulse a few times, then add in the sugar and butter. I cut the butter up in little cubes to help the processor along.

Pulse until it is well-combined and then dump it out into your pie pan. Press the crust into the pan and up along the sides. You can use something with a flat bottom to help out or just use your fingers. At this point, I heat my oven to 375F and pop the crust into the icebox to firm up the butter a little bit while I wait.

Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes and take it out when the edges are slightly crispy.

Hershey's Hotel Chocolate Pudding

(Makes enough for two pies!)

adapted from Food.com

2 and 1/2 cups whole milk, divided

1 cup sugar

3 T all-purpose flour

4 T cornstarch

2 T good quality cocoa powder*

1/2 tsp salt

3 egg yolks

2 and 1/2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, finely chopped

2 T unsalted butter

1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

*I use Cacao Barry brand cocoa powder. Rich and dark!

In a one-quart saucepan, combine 1 and 1/2 cups of the milk with the sugar.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Add the egg yolks and remaining cup of milk, whisk to combine well.

Bring the milk in the saucepan up to a boil, then temper in 1/2 the liquid into the egg mixture. Return everything to the pan and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Be careful not to overcook the pudding. When you see it thicken to a desired consistency, remove it from the heat.

Add in the butter and chocolate, then the vanilla. Whisk to combine well. Pour into the cooled pie crust until it is filled about halfway. Let set and cool in the icebox.

Haupia Filling

(Makes enough for two pies!)

Adapted from Hawaiian Sun Coconut Milk Package

1 bag (12 oz) Hawaiian Sun Coconut Milk (found in the freezer section)

1/2 cup sugar

6 T cornstarch

3/4 cup water

This is a very simple haupia recipe. I have seen it made with the addition of milk, heavy cream, butter and corn syrup. All those ingredients make it very creamy. Also, the thickness is controlled by the amount of cornstarch you choose to use. So if you want something very firm (this recipe is firm) add more cornstarch. If you want something looser and spreadable, add less.

In a small saucepan, bring the coconut milk and sugar to a slow boil, being careful not to let it scorch.

In another bowl, stir together the cold water and cornstarch.

When the coconut milk has come to boil, whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring to a boil, being sure to constantly whisk the mixture until it become very thick and you see some large bubbles appear.

Pour half over your pie and smooth it out. Let set in the icebox.

And ENJOY!

This pie is also delicious with a good dollop of fresh whipped cream!

We ended up sharing this pie at the Couples Bible Study that we lead every Tuesday night. I'm glad we have people to share with. I love baking but I definitely do not want to eat it all! Plus I love to share.

Enjoy and Bon Appetit!

Ocean Themed Cake

2011-07-01T10:29:00.001-10:00

I had the sweet opportunity to bake the cake and cupcakes for my husband's cousin's wedding this past weekend. It was a lot of work but it was very worth it! I just wanted to share a few photos of the baked goods and I hope it gives you some inspiration if you make cakes!

The bride and groom are both artists and extremely, wildly talented. I wish I had their drawing/art skills! They made all their own stationery for the wedding (drool). One of my secret dreams is to one day make my own paper stuff. Stationery. Etc! I am a total stationery junkie and have to restrain myself from buying too many cards. Yes, I am keeping Hallmark and the USPS in business. But that is another story!

The bride was also cool enough to let me do my own thing with the cake. This can be both a blessing and a curse. Fortunately, I had some direction and inspiration - their invites/RSVPs!

She also had told me that she was going to make their cake topper. At first I thought it was going to be like the two little birdies on their invite, but she ended up making a pair of turtles. It is amazing what you can do with some clay and creativity! They came out SO adorable!

I colored the fondant a sandy color and put that over the whole cake. Then, to make the "ocean waves" on the cake, I used white fondant for the first layer of ocean foam at the top of the cake. This gave it some nice contrast. Then I made three different shades of blue/green fondant and cut out more circles, layering them on the cake in a scallop pattern. I finished it off with a nice brown ribbon border at the bottom. This was a fairly easy design to execute; it just took some time and patience to do!

These guys are so cute!

I don't really like my fondant recipe and will need to do some tweaking. It doesn't respond well to the humidity here, even when I avoided refrigeration. Gah! Any suggestions? I'd rather make my own than buy commercially made fondant.

In addition to the small cake for cutting (which was Red Velvet inside!) I also made 300+ cupcakes, half Red Velvet and half Chocolate with Coconut Frosting. It would have been a LOT faster to make all the components in a mixer larger than my Kitchen Aid. (Honey - 20qt Hobart Mixer for Christmas - please?) But I made it work. I also have a super tiny oven at home, but my father-in-law graciously let me borrow his oven to bake all the cupcakes so it took me half the time! I brought all the cupcakes to the venue and frosted them right before the wedding. I could not have done everything as fast as I did without the help of my awesome sister-in-law! I think she also helped me keep my sanity a little bit :)

I really liked the heart toothpics that the bride had made. They added a nice amount of color to the cupcakes and made them look really special!

The whole wedding was super fun and I could really feel the love the couple had for each other! Congratulations you two!

And be sure to check out their clothing line: Vers Hawaii

Mango Madness: Mango Rosette Tartlets

2011-06-23T18:44:00.002-10:00

This randomly popped up - a challenge to do a mango madness blog post! I found out about it from @nella22 on Twitter. I don't have nearly enough time to devote myself fully to Twitter, but I do check it out at least once a day. I was mentioning to her how I was getting ready to do a post on mangoes and she told me to save it until Friday as "everyone" was going to be doing a #mangomadness post!

The rules:

-Something with mango (obviously)

-Eat mangoes while you create (obviously)

I had a mango ripening in the fridge and my brain reached back to a clipping I'd saved from a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine from a few years ago. How odd! But that was the first thing that came to mind. I have a folder where I keep all my clippings that have yet to be tested, so I knew it was safely inside. Once a recipe has been tested and deemed good enough to repeat, it makes it onto the pages of my special recipe book.

This one was a keeper!

Mango Rosette Tartlets

Don't those look beautiful??! A lovely crust and some whipped cream/creme fraiche filling topped with mango!

Well, I totally deviated from the recipe. I'm starting to do that more often! I had this amazing butter cookie dough in the freezer, just waiting to be used up. I had made it for sugar cookies and it was so delicious. I thought, tart dough = why not?

This recipe is adapted from the America's Test Kitchen and was recommended to me by @nella22:

Butter Cookies (aka Tart Dough!)

2 1/2 c All-Purpose Flour

3/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 c unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla

2 T cream cheese, softened*

Mix all together, shape into discs, and refrigerate.

*I didn't have cream cheese at the time so I actually substituted some Greek yogurt I already had. It worked great! I suppose you could even try using sour cream.

Now, back to our delicious tarts!

These were the molds I used. They are very, very tiny. I think in the magazine, they used ones a bit bigger, and were able to use more mango. These were gifted to me by my husband's aunt. She found them at a Goodwill-type store for suuuper cheap. A huge bag of different shapes! Amazing. And she thought of me :) Aww!

Now, take your refrigerated tart dough and roll it out to about 1/4"-1/8" thickness, whatever you are comfortable with. I know there are easier ways to do this, but my tart pans were very light, so I decided to use a round cutter for each pan.

It is slightly larger than the tart pan.

Cut out however many you want (I made 14).

And very carefully, ease the dough into the pan.

Even more carefully, press the dough into the rounded edges of the pan without squishing it too much, until everything is nice, cozy, and even.

If you have edges that hang out, use a small knife to neatly trim them. The edges should look nice since everyone sees that! Once you've got all your pans done, refrigerate them for 30 minutes to let the dough get firm again.

Then, prick the bottoms with a fork, and bake at 350 until they are baked to perfection (about 20-25 mins). Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Filling

1/2 c cold heavy cream

1 T powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c creme fraiche*

1 mango, peeled and halved

small mint leaves

*If you are unable to find creme fraiche ("fresh cream", a decadent sort of sour cream) at your local market, you can make it very easily at home! I did, using this website as a guide. I made mine with heavy cream and buttermilk.

Whip the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the creme fraiche and taste for desired sweetness. I found that I had to add a little more powdered sugar to mine.

Spoon the filling into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip, and pipe into the tart shells, filling them halfway.

Next, slice your mango very very thinly, roll each slice into a rose and place onto your tart. I found this part to be very tricky! And I think in the magazine picture, they used several pieces of mango. I used only one. Pop on a bit of mint and your Mango Rosette Tartlets are ready!

Can't get enough mango?! (I know I can't!)

Check out these other #mangomadness bloggers for great recipes and inspiration!

http://thedailypalette.com/ by the #mangocrazy Annapet

http://www.queensnotebook.com/ by the #mangomaniac Elizabeth
http://www.creativecookingcorner.com/ by the #mangosocial Karriann

http://www.skiptomalou.net/ by the #mangofriend Malou

http://lacocinakitchen.blogspot.com/ by the #dominicanmango Francys

http://cookingwithbooks.blogspot.com/ by the #mangowriter Nelly
http://bigfatbaker.com/blog/ by the #mangobaker Erin

Quick n' Easy Guacamole

2011-06-21T13:17:00.001-10:00

MMM. I love this time of year because all my favorite fruits and vegetables are in season! Most especially strawberries, mangoes, and AVOCADOS!

I can't believe that I didn't like these when I was younger, but yeah, mushy green stuff is probably not too appealing to kids.

This recipe that I made up is super easy and customizable. That's what I love about cooking - you can add in or leave out whatever you want, and change things along the way. I am totally a baker at heart and love precision, measurements, and technical skills, but there is something fun about just tossing in what you want and tasting along the way!

Ingredients:
- 5 Ripe Haas Avocados
- 5 Roma Tomatoes
- 1/2 Sweet Maui Onion
- 1 Lime
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to taste
- Salt and Pepper, to taste

Feel free to add anything else you might like... Cilantro, scallions, hot peppers?! Make it your way!

Go!
Cut all the avocados in half.

Remove the pits and scoop into a large non-reactive bowl (like stainless-steel) with a large spoon.

Cut the tomatoes and onion into a small dice. I like small-ish pieces that can fit on your chip.

As you can tell, I like tomatoes more than I like onions. I just add a little bit of onions for the crunch!

Throw all that into your bowl, and use my favorite tool for this recipe - the potato masher! I suppose you could also use a large fork.

I like to have some large chunks left over, so I don't mash my guacamole too much. You may prefer something incredibly smooth so I would suggest using a food processor (but seriously, try it chunky at least once!).

Ok, ditch the masher and switch back to your large spoon. Add in a generous amount of olive oil. As in, pour it once all around the diameter of the bowl. I find that this adds to the consistency as well as the flavor of the guacamole. Then squeeze in your lime and maybe some lemon juice. Add a generous pinch of kosher salt and crack some pepper in there!

Now stir it up and taste test!

Make sure you taste it with a chip or whatever you are serving it with. Chips already have salt on them, so perhaps you may not want to add too much salt to your guacamole. I thought mine needed some more salt and olive oil. You should always taste everything you make so that you know it is good and servable. Seriously!

Transfer your guacamole to a serving dish or storage container. I put some in both because I'm going to hide the storage container in the fridge somewhere. My husband LOVES guacamole so I hope this will make it last a little bit longer, haha!

Now, I know you have all heard the old wives' tale of leaving the pit of the avocado in the guacamole to keep it from turning brown. This works, but not very well! You just throw that pit away, seriously. The avocado turns brown when oxygen hits the surface. Although the browned guacamole doesn't taste any different, it just doesn't look that pretty. So, to keep that from happening, put some plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole. Directly! Press it down and make sure it is completely covered.

I even do this for the guacamole in the storage container. Even with a lid, oxygen will get in there and turn it brown. Cover it with plastic wrap directly on the surface and then put the lid on.

If you can wait, let your guacamole sit in the fridge for a good hour before serving. This will let all the flavors marinate. As each day passes (if you are lucky enough to have some leftover), you will need to re-evaluate the flavor. You might need more salt, olive oil, or citrus juice, so be sure to taste test before serving!

What do you put in your guacamole? How do you like it - chunky or smooth? Spicy or cool?

It's Been Awhile

2011-06-21T12:44:00.000-10:00

Hope you weren't holding your breath. It's been about 14 months since I last posted, I guess life got a bit busy!

In the time that has passed, I:

Got a "real" job
Moved into our first apartment and set it up to be our home sweet home
Got married to my husband on October 9, 2010 - a truly amazing, wonderful day!

These are just the major things, but a whole lot of fun little things have happened along the way since last April. Perhaps I will blog about them in the future.

I originally started this blog as a way to connect with my far-off family and friends while I was away at school. It's a non-obtrusive way of sharing what's going on without sending out constant e-mail blasts, and I can never remember all my life updates while on the phone. Plus life is better when you can share pictures, too!

So, as it was when I started, this will be a way to share what I've been up to, whether it be cooking, crafting, baking, doing stuff outdoors, or just to share random thoughts. Read on!

I'll Always Be... a California Girl

2010-04-18T01:23:00.001-10:00

My time in California was like a vacation, but I definitely had to do a little bit of work. I'd packed up everything I owned 5 years ago the first time I moved, and put it into storage. It was time to take it out and decide it if it was all worth keeping! I think I reduced it by 2/3, giving away and throwing away a lot of what I no longer needed/wanted. It felt good, but it took me a long time! I finally got all my photos in some semblance of order and organized everything else. Whew!

And what else did I get to do? Well, I went surfing a handful of times with some old friends and my dad. It felt sooo good to get back in the water, even if it was a little chilly. Here's a shot from San-O:

I had the chance to go up and spend some time with my aunts, cousins, and uncle. It was a quick but nice getaway, and they are so much fun!
My Maid n' Matron of Honor threw me a bridal shower as well! It was a bit early, but I wouldn't be back in California before the wedding, so the timing was perfect. I loved having the opportunity to be able to celebrate with the women in my life, like my aunts, mom, and good friends!

Check out these cuuuuute centerpieces my crafty momma made!

My lovely MOHs!
Me and my mom :)
Since I had so much time on my hands, I decided to take advantage and get a couple of do-it-yourself (DIY) projects done for our wedding. One of them was our invitations. We decided that purchasing a kit was easier and cheaper, so I got everything printed out and ready to be addressed, which I'll do in a few months. I feel so relieved that that is done!

I made these cute glass bead tacks to hold the escort cards at our reception using tacks, scrapbook paper, glue, and glass beads. It was easy and fun! Plus we can re-use them after the wedding.

The cake topped I purchased did not look like me (and yes, it is hard to find an interracial cake topper couple out there that looks like me and K!) so I decided to just make her blonde! After a few coats of paint and some glossy spray, I am satisfied with the results. AND these are salt and pepper shakers, so we can use them after! The cardboard letters were painted "patina" and will go on the cake table. I'm excited!
Lastly, by random fortune, I had the opportunity to meet up and have breakfast with some of my good girlfriends from college, in California! We are all from here, and a few of us moved back and some were just visiting. It was fun!!!

Snapshots

2010-04-17T14:58:00.014-10:00

Has it really been that long since my last post?

Well, I still have a few snapshots to share from my Roadtrip USA with my mom. We made it home safely, with no major mishaps or breakdowns, and we didn't kill each other (haha!). We made some great memories together after 8 days on the road! And we got her home in time to celebrate 30 years of marriage with my dad, yay!

Here we go:

Testing out the claim that "White Castle is the best" - NOT! My tastebuds have ruled that In-N-Out still takes 1st place.

One of my favorite things about visiting new places is the chance to try local foods/drinks. Here in Galena, IL, my mom and I stopped in at a restaurant that attempted to serve only local things. We both gave the Galena Beer a try - tasty!

Our super cute B&B in Galena, IL. Loved it! The hosts were nice with a good mix of not being too overbearing, but not too cold. It had a lot of character and we got great sleep!

No trip to the midwest is complete with a stop at Cracker Barrel. Omaha, Nebraska.

Boredom in Kansas. I'd picked up some Bubble Tape and went to work.

What is in central Kansas, you ask? Not much.

Well, this deserted little town holds the worlds largest ball o' sisal twine. It smelled funny.

After staying in Dodge City, KS, we quickly left (it seemed sketchy) and headed west!

Colorado brought more snow and I had to navigate my way safely through two mountain passes which weren't exactly clear of snow. Then we came upon this lovely flock of sheep. Nice!

A few more rounds through the mountain passes (so beautiful!)...

And we made it safely to our B&B - a comfy warm lodge where we each had our own rooms and fireplaces! I loved this - so warm!

Pagosa Springs, CO. WHAT A VIEW!

We had a short stay in Flagstaff, AZ and then continued on west for the last leg of our trip. This sign never looked so good!

And this landmark truly welcomed us home! :)

Putting NY Far Behind Me

2010-03-08T17:21:00.007-10:00

Although we are still seeing a lot of snow on the ground, the scenery is changing and it is nice to be away from New York, finally! We've driven over a thousand miles but have taken our time and had a lot of fun already.

We left Gettysburg early on Sunday morning and headed through the rest of Pennsylvania, taking a route through Cleveland, Ohio and along Lake Erie:

We stopped at a random family restaurant in a small town called Lorain. The advertised special was Lake Erie Perch Dinner, so I figured I should give it a go! It was actually delicious - hand breaded, too! Then we had hours and hours to go through Ohio and Indiana to get to Chicago, Illinois.

My mom and I met up with some friends for dinner at The Grand Lux Cafe - it was soo good! Great company as well. After a good night's sleep, we started our morning off with a walk to the beach (what these people call the beach!) on Lake Michigan. Lakeshore Drive parallels the shore here and it was full of traffic. It was a super foggy day so we couldn't see much of the lake.

We stopped for breakfast at The Corner Bakery and hit the streets looking for fun shops on our way to Sears Tower. Unfortunately, it was too foggy. The elevator attendant advised us that we would be unable to see anything, so we passed up the $15 trip to the top and kept walking. Too bad - they've got a new glass "ledge" you can step out on and look down to see the street beneath your feet. Freaky!

Next up was what everyone refers to as "The Bean", a piece of local art. It is SO COOL! I was glad that there weren't too many people around checking it out as well so we could get some good pictures.

Along the way we stopped into some chocolate shops (of course!!!). One of my chefs had recommended that I check out Vosges Chocolates since their headquarters are located in Chicago. We didn't get to the headquarters, but we were able to see another location. We picked up one of their famous bacon bars and a box of other assorted chocolates.

I'd never heard of Fannie Mae chocolates and my mom informed me that it is the equivalent of See's Candies, so we went in and had a look, and exited with some more chocolate! I was like a happy kid in a candy store, literally! It was mostly cool to see the chocolates and know that I knew how to make them. Fannie Mae is known for Mint Meltaways and Pixies so we made sure to get a few of those.

Our last stop was Sarah's Candies, which I just had to see based on a recommendation from my future mother-in-law. It was cute and I checked out her portfolio of cakes. Quality stuff! I think she's only 30 years old too and has a thriving business.

The afternoon was full with a little bit of White Castle (not as good as In-N-Out!), a short tour of the neighborhood where my mom grew up, and more driving to our next destination!

And Here We Go!

2010-03-07T05:40:00.000-10:00

One of the things I have been wanting to do since I became an adult was a cross-country road trip. There was something exciting to me about driving from one end of the country to another and "seeing it all". When I was younger, we took quite a few roadtrips as a family - the more memorable ones being to Oregon and also Colorado. Kids these days may see being trapped in a car without their favorite video game system or internet readily available as a fate worse than death. In those days I think we loved it and loved seeing the scenery change. Yes, we did have our Gameboys, but those 4-doubleA batteries would only last so long!

Now I have the chance to do such a trip and am taking full advantage! I may never have this opportunity or time again! My mom is coming with me and I am so excited to see it all.

We left NY, cut quickly through the Dirty Jersey (as my school friends refer to it!) and into Pennsylvania - a new state to check off for me! It was exactly as I pictured it - two lane highways and LOTS of farms. Unfortunately this time of year is not that picturesque.

Here's a few pictures of the sights we took in when we stopped:

The Crayola Factory in Easton, PA

Gettysburg National Military Park

one of the thousands of monuments there

Pennsylvania Sunset

Finally - It Came!

2010-03-05T17:53:00.006-10:00

I had been anticipating this day for two years, and finally, it came!!!

My graduation was SO awesome!!! I graduated from a university two years ago and mine today was nothing like it - so much better and more personal, especially since it was less than 70 students. By pure luck, my seat was on the end of the front row closest to the podium, and our guest speaker was Emeril Lagasse! It was the best front row seat imaginable. I remember watching his shows when I was younger so it was cool to actually see him in person. He shook all of our hands after we received our cordons (medals basically instead of a diploma for the ceremony) and said congratulations.

I also received two awards!!! I earned the highest GPA in my graduating class and was the only person to get high honors (over a 3.75), so I received an award for that. I also received an award for excellent performance in the management classes. I was so amazed and proud of myself!!! I'm glad that my parents were here to support me as well.

Then at our luncheon afterwards, a few friends and I approached Emeril to take a quick picture with him and not bother him too much. While we were taking the picture, he started asking us all what our plans were, starting with me. I told him that I was moving back home, and that I had applied somewhere where I saw he is doing a food show at next month! He told me to contact his chef organizer (who was there) about coming to assist him!!!!! Even if I don't get a job out of it or even work alongside Emeril, it will still be an amazing experience, so I got a business card out of that!

What a truly amazing day! I am so proud of myself and my accomplishments here. It once seemed like going to culinary school was lightyears away. Then, it felt as though my time here would never end. Now, I am ready to go out into the world, and bake my mark!!!

Thanks to all of you who have supported me along the way - whether it be directly or indirectly. I know I didn't do it alone! And most of all, I thank and praise God for bringing me through and giving me the strength!

Time to celebrate!!!

Tastings 1 & 2

2010-03-02T15:40:00.005-10:00

Hello again! I've been busy here, getting packed and resting up. This class has got me tired out at the end of the day! Last week I rotated from the morning shift to the afternoon shift and it makes the day seem a little bit longer.

In addition to working the afternoon shift, I also have to attend a lecture given by our instructor for an hour before class. She explained that we would be tasting different items every day. At first I thought that it was going to be a lot of useless information. Yes, I know about tea, coffee, wine, etc. But it has proven to be interesting!

On Thursday, we had a coffee tasting. I am in no way a fan of coffee, unless it is paired with milk and laced with tons of chocolate... aka: mocha! It was hard for me to keep a straight face while tasting the cafe's coffees. She also had us describe the smells and tastes of each cup... "Hmm... tastes like... coffee?" wouldn't pass for an answer. Darn!

First we learned about the decaffeination process - something I had never considered. This happens during the "green" state of the beans - beofre they have been washed and roasted. There are three ways to do this. The first is by the use of chemicals, which is damaging. It is the least expensive and also the least efficient, as 5-15% of the caffeine can remain on the bean. The second way to decaffeinate is by the "natural" process - the beans are steamed to remove the outer shell. It is the most cost effective method and removes 95-97% of caffeine. The third method is the CO2 method which is patented. Basically, the caffeine molecules are removed and replaced with CO2. It is the most expensive, but also the most effective.

We also learned about roasting. Roasting = flavor, and each batch of coffee beans can be roasted to an individual level and blend to get different intensities. We briefly touched on grinding and brewing and then had our tasting. We tasted automatic drip regular and decaff, which I found to have a smoky flavor. The brand our cafe uses is Green Mountain Coffee, which has coffees from many pricepoints available and is a great quality, mainstream company.

Then we tasted press pot regular and decaff. I had never seen press pot coffee before this class and was interested to see how it worked. This coffee tends to have a smoother flavor because the natural oils of the beans remain in the coffee instead of being filtered out through a paper filter. The beans we use for this come from Counter Culture, an artisan company based on the East Coast that is committed to organic and sustainable coffee. The regular press pot coffee came from Sidamo, Ethiopia and the decaff came from Jagong, Sumatra. So cool! I also got to try my first espresso. I cannot see how people drink that stuff straight up! We had to take it like a shot and it was just not pleasant at all.

On Friday we had a tea tasting, and I was very much looking forward to this because I am becoming a bigger fan of tea as I get older. Our cafe also has a really good selection of teas from Harney & Sons. We tasted:

-White Vanilla Grapefruit

-Sencha Green

-Jasmine Green

-Pomegranate Oolong

-English Breakfast

-Earl Grey

-Black Current

-African Autumn Red

-Chamomile Tisane

-Valentines Tea (black)

All teas come from the same tea plant, they just differ based on the harvest time and processing. The four types of tea are white, green, black, and oolong. White is made from the bud of the tea leaf and is packed with antioxidants. Green comes from the mature green tea leaf and it is believed that if you drink it regularly, it will help stave off plaque from your teeth! Too bad green tea is not one of my favorites! Oolong comes from the fully mature green tea leaf that goes through partial fermentation, allowing some tannins to develop but rendering it still palatable. Black tea is made from the fully mature green tea leaf that has been fully fermented. The tannins in black tea are extremely high, making it very astringent. The British soften these tannins with fat (milk) and Americans tend to brew it strong and cut the tannins with an acid (lemon wedges).

We learned about tisanes as well - this is not tea, but is a botanical infusion made without tea leaves. It can come from dried flowers, fruit rinds, spices, herbs, etc and is typically caffeine free.

Of the ones we tasted, my favorite by far was the Jasmine Green. I was surprised because I typically stay away from green tea, but this one smelled soooooo good!!! It smelled like jasmine but not too perfume-y and tasted clean and sweet. I like teas that are sweet enough to not need any sugar or milk added. I believe that they should be enjoyed in their purest form. This jasmine green took me straight back to the summers of my youth - when the air was permeated with jasmine that would waft through my bedroom windows at night. So lovely!

Feeling Refreshed

2010-02-16T13:26:00.006-10:00

A three day weekend and a new class always helps to lift my spirits a little bit. The extra rest helps me to refocus and it's nice to get out of the old routine and into a new one!

Since I'm moving out in a few weeks, I thought my day off would be a good time to start going through my belongings here and decide what to keep and what to chuck!

Here's where I started:

The pile on the left is to toss and the pile on the right is to keep. Wowee! Those are all papers from my time here at school - about two years' worth! It's mostly recipes, some lecture notes, and a TON of information that I hope will prove to be valuable in the future. As much as I like to think I have a photographic memory, there are things I forget. It will be nice to have something to look back through when I need new ideas or if I've forgotten how to do a certain technique.

I felt refreshed after I'd packed up most of my desk and lightened my load by throwing some unnecessary items out. This is only the first phase of lightening my load. I've got about 25 office filing boxes full of "stuff" waiting for me in California. I'm looking forward to sifting out the important things from the junk, organizing like items, and condensing my life. There is just something so refreshing about organizing! :) (but only when it's my stuff - not the attic or garage, M&D!)

We're getting more snow (finally). This has felt more like a brown winter than a white one!

Taking out the trash with my classmate in the snow. Too bad I'd zipped off my hood the other day and forgot to re-attach it. My head was wet by the time we got back inside!

I like it when trees look like this!

Maybe I Should Try...

2010-02-15T02:00:00.000-10:00

THIS!

and grocery shopping could be more fun?? :)

3 Years --- And more to come!!!

2010-02-13T02:28:00.000-10:00

Today is our 3 year dating anniversary! And while it is sad and hard to be away from each other, I am so grateful to have K in my life who is truly an amazing person! He has been supportive of me and my dreams to go to culinary school since our first date, three years ago! The letters and text messages he sends me often remind me how much he cares about me, and I look forward daily to the phonecalls and voicemails I get as well! I am so ready for our time apart to be over, but I am thankful and realize how much of a blessing this long distance has been for our relationship. It has strengthened us and grown our love daily. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, and I wouldn't ever want to do it again, but I do see the good that has come out of it!

I love you honey! Can't wait to make it official on 10-9-10!!!

Three Weeks to Go!

2010-02-12T12:08:00.003-10:00

Wow, I can hardly believe it myself! My last class started today. The class ahead of me had their graduation and I kept thinking to myself, "Next time, it will be my turn!" I will be the one celebrating and moving out! (I have been suuuper jealous of all the people moving out every three weeks!)

Back of the house in the cafe was so killer! I managed to make it through the class only burning one thing! Whew! That whole day was bad and some say I was jinxed by Chef M because he had said it was a miracle I hadn't burned anything. Earlier this week, I had to train the person who would be taking my spot (ahhh!!!). When Chef M and I had sat down before to go over my evaluation, he brought up an interesting point. The actual bake is not something that can be taught in a book, or done with just a timer. So it was definitely interesting trying to teach someone else what to look for when baking our products.

Also this week, I had to spend about 6 hours doing cross-training for the last class (front of the house: aka customer service) in addition to my regular class hours. It was awful! I had to change my sleep schedule yet again, and I was just exhausted.

Today was Day 1, and it was a graduation day, so we all knew it was going to be hectic! We had a sort of orientation with the instructor back in December to go over some things and she said the one word that would describe our Day 1 would be "inhumane". I laughed to myself and thought that we were a good group, we could handle anything!

Ha. Ha. Ha. We totally got rocked this morning! Setting up was easy. My station is "tray up". I will coordinate all orders before they go out to the customer. The way the cafe operations are set up is a little funky in my opinion and nothing I have ever seen before. I worked behind the counter at a restaurant for three years, and I did all the coffee drinks, to-go orders, and general packaging and customer service. The cafe here on campus is the busiest of any restaurant, and there actually IS enough work to do to have each job be its own station. We have two students who bag up and plate all desserts and venoisserie (pastries, danish, cookies, etc). We have a barista and also a cold beverage student. There is one person who does the savory station expediting (they coordinate the hot food), and then there are several dining room attendants.

The first thing I have to do is go down to our school's storeroom to pick up the food order for the cafe. It was the most massive thing I have ever seen! On a huge cart. Just me and the cart. Yay! It took me over an hour to get things inventoried and put away, then I had a little bit of time to get my station organized before the doors opened.

In about half an hour, we totally got rocked. I had about 30 tickets laid out on the counter, the barista was 15 deep in hot beverages, and the slow guy on cold bev decided to polish glasses instead of give me a hand. It was out of control! Customers were getting upset because it was taking 15 minutes to get a coffee, and of course I am the one who gets to take the brunt of all their complaints! We sorted everything out, yet still kept getting rush after rush. I think the flaw in this system is that the cashiers take orders faster than we can fill them (customers come in, order and pay first, then sit down or wait for to-go's). I don't think this is a good system, but it works okay.

At the end of our very long day with no breaks :( we had a short meeting and our instructor said we did a great job! No one froze up or broke down, we just kept going! She said that she is pretty certain that we made our sales goal of the day. The deal was that if we made $10,000 on our first day, we wouldn't have to take the final! I'm pretty sure it's in the bag seeing as we were busy all day long!

Day 1 is the hardest and I am so glad it is overwith! We got slammed and now we know what to do to prevent mistakes and get through rough patches. It's not going to be a walk in the park, but I can tell you that I am rounding the bases and running hard to make it to the finish line!!!

Womanning the Oven

2010-02-01T05:22:00.003-10:00

My class is more like a job. I am constantly reminding myself to never take an overnight job like this - the hours are horrendous and it's hard to have any sort of normal life. I have finally gotten some sort of sleeping pattern going though, which is great. I'd be a wreck without sleep. My strategy is to take a nap for a few hours after class, wake up and get some food, hang out for a bit, and then sleep a few hours before class. When I wake up, I'm a little disoriented, but at least I'm rested enough to get through my work/class.

My job is baking and finishing. It's cool because I am really getting good at working an oven. Sure, each part of the baking process is important, but the finishing can make or break the product too! I am learning that not all ovens are created equal. I am in charge of two convection ovens. The idea behind the convection oven is that it has fans which help to evenly circulate heat around the oven. It also doesn't need to be as hot as a traditional oven and cooks a little faster. Traditional ovens (like gas or electric) have hot spots (and some may argue that there is "natural" convection - air currents inside traditional ovens). Convection ovens are "supposed to" eliminate hot spots with forced air currents. However, I have found this to be quite untrue.

The ovens I work with tend to cook items on the bottom racks quicker. Also the side closer to the door gets color faster. The edges cook faster than the middle. So it is a constant battle of rotating and reducing fan speeds to get items like muffins to all be the same color. I'm learning how to place things in the oven. For example, I bake three trays of muffins off at the same time - one each of bran, banana, and corn. Chef M doesn't like the corn muffins to have too much color (which is such a shame because it gives it an amazing crunchy outer layer!!) so those get put on the top rack. The bran is super moist, so I usually stick it on the bottom rack and the banana goes in the middle.

The bottom oven has the steam feature, and this is where I bake all the laminated doughs (alternated layers of dough and butter rolled and folded together). I do croissants, pain au chocolat, apple danish, banana danish, monkey danish, and a meyer lemon danish. The steam coagulates the starches in the dough, making it crusty. Then once the danish get a little bit of color (browning), I pull the vent open in the oven. This dries the starches and gives it a beautiful shiny finish.

One interesting thing that I have learned from culinary school is to not use a timer. Some of you may think that is scary, and it would be for me if I were running off doing something in another room. The good thing is that my station is right next to the oven, which has clear doors, so I can peek in and check on the product whenever I want. It would be a hassle to have to keep setting the timer for one minute more, or thirty seconds more, etc. It's done when it's done. And that is really the skill that I am learning - to know when it's done.

Every day, Chef M comes in at 5:30 am on the dot! Like clockwork, very predictable. The head baker (a paid employee) reminds us to clean up our stations and make everything presentable. It's a pain to have to stop and do this, but I think it shows respect to the chef and it's always a good idea to work cleanly. He'll come in and say hello to everyone, check his e-mails, and then he'll head straight to my speed racks. He pulls out every single sheet tray and looks over the finished products. It is crazy nervewracking! But it is great because of course I want to get better. It is a challenge to always be consistent and that is what a good baker should strive for, I think. The other day, Chef M asked me, "Are you nervous when I do this?" to which I answered, "Yes, of course, Chef!" He said I had no reason to be nervous; I was doing a great job. What a relief!

I can see how my job in a real bakery would be important. If each person was responsible for baking off their own products, it would be a mess! An oven coordinator is a great idea. So far I haven't burned or dropped anything! I think my mind is wired to multi-task and I feel really comfortable with what I'm doing . . . womanning the ovens. Now if only I could get them to bake evenly, all my baking dreams would come true!

Happy Birthday Momma!!!

2010-01-27T14:25:00.003-10:00

It's a big year for our family - lots of events coming up and big milestones to celebrate as well!

Today is my momma's extra special birthday (wink wink!). I wish I was there to spend it with her, bake her a cake, and just laughlaughlaugh!!! But instead, this blog-love, a phonecall, and some flowers will have to do.

Love you Momma! Happy Birthday!

A NYC Get-Together

2010-01-27T13:58:00.010-10:00

I had the fun opportunity to get together with some fellow brides-to-be this past Saturday in the city. The thing we all have in common: we're getting married in October! It has been so much fun to plan virtually with these other brides, get their input and compare where we are on our various checklists for the big day. The online web board is hosted by a large company that has a national magazine. The gal in charge of the online operations lives in NY, so she stopped by to say hi and organized this fun day for us. There was also a professional photographer on hand as well as a videographer. We were all interviewed for the website's online tv channel. This was a get-together for all the October brides in the tri-state area, so we had girls come from New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

Our get-together started off at The Plaza Hotel, home of some of the swankiest weddings out there! (Also seen in the movie Bride Wars) I would never even be able to afford the $600 stay in a tiny room for one night! Sheesh! We got a brief tour of the wedding areas (super gorgeous!) and then the retail section of the hotel, which was also super pricey. They have two bridal salons there as well. One is from a designer based in Milan. He comes in twice a month to custom-make dresses for brides, and he uses some special loom to weave the fabric that Leonardo da Vinci made and only he has access to... yeah. Big bucks! We were treated to a cup of tea and some petit fours from the hotel's little cafe, Dremel. I checked out their pastry case and wasn't really impressed. For what they were charging, I could have done better!

After our interviews, photos, tea, and chatting, we headed uptown a couple blocks to Flute, a champagne bar/lounge. Ultra swanky! And what a great idea. In addition to a full selection of all kinds of champagne, they also served appetizers and a few desserts. It was comfy, dark, and warm from the chilly outdoors! We celebrated our upcoming weddings with a champagne toast and some food. We even had a few wedding cake samples brought in for us from a bakery! After we chatted it up some more, we called it a night and then parted ways! It was my second get-together with these girls and my last, seeing as I will be moving from the tri-state area in about five weeks! Eep!

It was a GREAT experience and it was nice to be treated to a good time, as well as turning some virtual acquaintances into real friends. How cool! Here are some pictures:

Petit Fours from Dremel

Swanky wedding gown from uber-expensive Milan designer!

The infamous ring shot

enjoying our tea from Dremel

Trying on some lip moisturizer in the ridiculously expensive makeup retail area of The Plaza

New friends!

Runnin' on E

2010-01-20T09:10:00.002-10:00

This week has just been killer! And it's not even done yet!!!

In addition to my current class, final, and projects, I've had to start cross-training for my next class, which officially starts on Friday.

The next class is referred to as Back-Of-House (BOH) Cafe Operations. The Apple Pie Bakery Cafe is the last stop for all baking and pastry students for the last six weeks before graduation. Three weeks are spent in the BOH and the last three are spent as FOH (front) or servers. Personally, I do not find these next classes particularly valuable as I have worked in a few bakeries before and have been a server. Plus we are not getting paid to work! Free labor! The food cost and packaging costs the cafe racks up are also ridiculously unrealistic, but the food sells here because of our school name. It's good, just expensive and labor intensive.

We've got a few stations in the BOH and we sort of got to pick which one we wanted. Of course, not everyone would get their first choice. There is a Breads, Pastry, and Savory station, each divided into smaller individual stations. You do your own duties with no partner (yes!) and get through the day quickly.

My first choice was to work on the breads station, and I got put on the "baking and finishing" station within the breads department. Sounded good on paper, except for the hours. 12am to 8am or until we're finished? I am going to seriously have to work on my sleeping schedule!!

Today and tomorrow we have to cross-train so that we are completely prepared for Day 1 on Friday (it's a production kitchen, and they don't want to lose money on mistakes, so they work us to the bone!). Not fun (or fair!) when you still have to go to class afterwards from 7-130pm!

Yesterday I tried in vain to get a good afternoon's sleep in preparation. I fell asleep for probably an hour and a half, and then spent another four hours trying to get some shuteye to no avail. I just could not fall asleep!! I gave up and somehow made it through my day today (no doubt thanks to many prayers! thanks!!!) - 13 hours of "class time". Wow. And tomorrow I get to do it all over again! Hopefully my tiredness will carry over because right now it feels like I'm running on E.

My station will be a busy one that may take some time to get the hang of. I am in charge of two convection ovens, so all the other stations deliver their product to me, I set it up on sheet pans, glaze or eggwash it if necessary, and organize some kind of oven schedule to get everything baked correctly. Each item has its own specifics - temperature... does it get steamed? Does it need to get vented? Does the temperature get dropped? How will I tell when it's done??? A lot of unknowns and guesswork to be sure. The gal that trained me did an okay job, and I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow. After some of the products come out, I've got to garnish or glaze or finish them in different ways. Today I baked off all kinds of cookies, danish, pastries, brioche, croissants, and cinnamon rolls. It is a lot of product! Hope I don't burn something.

Clearly the key to success at this station is going to be a good night's.... I mean afternoon's rest!

Gettin' Judged

2010-01-18T15:36:00.009-10:00

My partner and I gettin' judged by a panel 0' chefs!

Today was "Mystery Basket" day in our class. Chef D has done this exercise for only a few of his classes. He will pick an exotic fruit that is in season, let us do a little research, and then we have one day to come up with a plated dessert. It's pretty intense - a fruit that none of us have ever heard of and we're expected to produce something delicious! Well, at this point in our education, it is totally doable, and I was surprised at what our class came up with. This exercise really opened my mind and I'm excited for opportunities like this in the future!!

The "Mystery" Fruit

Chico Sapote. Sapodilla. There are several other names, but this is a fruit with a skin like a potato, a smell like a pumpkin, and a taste like sweet brown sugar and rootbeer. So interesting! It grows in warm climates like Mexico, South America, Florida, and was recently introduced to the Philippines.

The fruit has a yellow-orangish soft flesh and 4-5 large black seeds. The seeds can wreck havoc on your insides if ya eat a few, and they have a small, lethal hook that will catch in your throat. Stay away!

Chico sapote doesn't ripen until it's picked. At that point, it is rock hard! At this state, the fruit is very astringent, and actually contains a gummy substance referred to as chicle. It is from this fruit that chewing gum originated! The Mayans chewed it in private, and as time passed, it became common in Mexico. A Mexican president was chewing on it while waiting passage into the USA at Staten Island in New York when a Thomas Adams noticed it, procured some, and created the first commercially sold chewing gum. Today's chewing gum does not contain any chicle.

Here's the fruit raw. We all got a taste when it first arrived in our bakeshop fresh from Southern Florida.

My partner and I decided on pairing the chico sapote with a variety of flavors and wound up doing Creme Catalana in four flavors. Creme Catalana is Spain's version of creme brulee (and the Catalans claim to be the inventors, but who really knows). We made a base using egg yolks, sugar, heavy cream, the puree of the chico sapote, then paired it with dark chocolate, strawberry, blood orange, and pecans. The strawberry was by far my favorite! We made all the flavorings just subtle enough so that the chico sapote would still be "heard" in the dessert.

I wanted to put the creme in those asian noodle spoons, but I couldn't find any in our dishrooms here at school, so we opted to use mini ramekins. When we tried to brulee the top, the granulated sugar just melted into the creme, leaving us burning the creme black. Undesirable! We decided to go with an invert sugar piece called "bubble sugar" to use as decor instead, a modern twist on the dessert. The green stripe under the ramekins is a banana leaf cut to size.

Chef D thought it would be great to have a panel of chefs "judge" our desserts and give us some criticism. This turned out to be such a wonderful experience! We had the Dean of the baking and pastry department and two of our past chefs (Chef H and Chef S). They were great judges.

Even though their criticism wouldn't affect our grade, it was still nerve-wracking! Would they like it? Hate it? Put it down? I was worried that it would come off as too elementary, but I was stoked that we had put out four different flavor combos that were really interesting.

Finally, it was our turn. We set a dessert in front of each chef and explained what we'd made, then went away for a little bit to let them judge things on their own. Chef D was taking pictures of everything, and his camera died so I let him use mine. He was like a crazy paparazzi! Taking pictures of everyone's desserts and reactions. He is going to send the pictures to the company in Florida where he got the chico sapote, our school newspaper and alumni newsletter. Pretty cool!

Chef S. really getting into his critique about what we could improve on.

The Dean listening and Chef H offering some suggestions.
They loved it!!! The Dean said he immediately wanted something to dip into the creme, like cake, a cookie, or fresh fruit. Chef H said he immediately thought of fondue. They all loved the flavors. Chef S thought we could have added a few more elements to the creme. They offered suggestions of things I hadn't even thought of!

It was a great exercise, and all the guest judges encouraged my partner and I to expand on this idea and take it to the next level! I am definitely keeping this in mind for the future.

Mmmm...

2010-01-15T11:56:00.001-10:00

Here's something I could eat by the spoonful, only because it's so FRESH!

More to come ;)

A Sweet Sampling

2010-01-13T15:14:00.010-10:00

Welcome 2010!!! Yes, I'm a little late. I've been a busy gal. My holidays and travels were amazing!!! I had a great time with my family, and it was so nice to see my fiance after 5 1/2 months of being apart! We only have a little bit more to go until we're together again. So worth it!

I'm looking forward to 2010 for many good things to come:

Graduation - March 5th! This also means leaving NY!
Roadtrip across America with my mom - something that's been on my list for a long time!
A good chunk of time with family and friends, and time to purge and consolidate all of my belongings.
Moving back to Hawai'i!
Planning, celebrating, and getting married!
A new, amazing job???!!

As of now, I have less than 3 classes to go until graduation. It is going to be like the last sprint before the finish line of a 2-year marathon. Ugh! The next class is going to be killer because I'll be in class, working for free, from 12am-8am. Yes, I will be messed up.

Right now, I'm enjoying my regular schedule and routine. The class is called Restaurant Production Desserts, which is what any pastry chef does at a restaurant. This is old news to me as I have had experience in this area several times now! Chef D is funny yet serious, yet kooky at the same time. He was born to Mexican and French parents, and he's trilingual, which means he has a crazy crazy accent.

Every day in class, we prep one dessert for the next day, and finish another at the same time. There are a LOT of components. On Monday, we did an open invitation service time for anyone at school to drop by for a free dessert. We were "open" for a half hour, each team had a station and their one dessert to do. Chef D would call out the order and we'd have to assemble it and give it to the customer. Somehow, this is supposed to simulate what happens out in the industry, but we veterans know this is not realistic at all! Reality is that one person would be doing all ten desserts on their own.

Here is a sampling of what my partner and I have done. We prepare ten desserts each day, plating nine the way Chef D shows us, leaving us one to do our own style.

Our first dessert was a strawberry tart, composed of fresh strawberries on top of mascarpone mousse and a cookie base along with strawberry sauce, a white sauce, and strawberry gelee. This was Chef D's design:

Followed by our own interpretation:

This is the chocolate pistachio bomb. On top is a tuile spoon with pistachios. The bomb was sprayed with chocolate and glazed with chocolate sauce. The bomb was made of milk chocolate mousse with a frozen pistachio mousse insert and chocolate chiffon cake with a crispy base on the bottom. The sauce was raspberry. Pretty tasty! This was our interpretation:

This one is called Zucotto - sooo delicious!! Inside this italian-style bomb is milk chocolate mousse, chocolate shortbread and a gianduja crispy base. The decor on top is chocolate tuile and bubble sugar.

I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake, but this one was super good! Goat cheese cake - A mixture of goat cheese and cream cheese. We made a grape compote and grape sauce with red wine and black grape juice. The pasta-looking thing on top of the cake is actually baked pastry cream!!! The process was so amazing, I had no idea you could bake pastry cream! While it was hot, I peeled it off the pan and wrapped it around a tube to give it the nest shape. We also made a white grape sorbet which was really really refreshing.

The next dessert was also one of my favorites so far - Chocolate caramel apple. It was a little time-consuming but very rewarding. The mousse was a chocolate caramel mousse. The base was chocolate chiffon with a caramel chocolate crispy base (yummmm!!) and the insert and garnish was spiced apple! It took me a long time to cut them in tiny perfect cubes. They were then stewed in a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, orange juice, vanilla, apricot jam, white wine, and Calvados. We also made an apple cider sauce, which was the best part of the dessert - apple cider, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, Calvados, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. The tissue-looking decor is called apple paper, and was made using only apple puree, cake flour and powdered sugar! It looks delicate but is pretty sturdy and tastes delicious! There were also a few Calvados-soaked raisins. This was our design:

Lastly, today we finished off this dessert: Pain Perdue 2! This is an interpretation of the French's French Toast. The bread was brioche which we soaked in a creme caramel base and then pan seared on both sides. The citrus sauce was made with orange juice, vanilla, cinnamon, orange segments (used for garnish), sugar, and then monte au buerre finished with butter. It smelled amazing! We also put candied orange peel on top and served it with a refreshing lemon verbena ice cream.

Wordless Wednesday #31!

2009-12-23T13:04:00.000-10:00

Traveling

2009-12-19T17:59:00.002-10:00

"You're like a boomerang," said my older brother when I talked to him last week on the phone. Yes, I am, in the sense that I flew across the country back and forth three weeks ago and then again last night.

My journey to and from school is always long. I never appreciated living "close" to an airport (under 1 hour driving time away) until now! When I booked my flight, I knew that I needed to have at least a 6-hour window of time from when I leave my room to the actual take-off. Time to wait for the taxi to come, to take me to the train station. Wait for the train, get on the train, make it to the other station. Walk to the bus, wait for the bus, wait for them to load the bus, then make the trip to the airport. Wait in several lines to check in, go through security, then wait to board. Get on the flight, wait to get to the destination, wait for the baggage, wait to get picked up. It is a long, long process!

My waiting time is usually filled with reading, naps, staring off into space, watching the scenery, and doing some thinking. Yesterday I realized that it's been at least a year and a half since I traveled with someone else. It gets lonely traveling by yourself all the time. I don't like to impose on others around me, so when things get frustrating or annoying, there is no one to gripe to. Any observations I make, I just think to myself. I carry everything myself, eat by myself, and sit by myself. This wouldn't be so bad if I only took one or two flights a year, but I travel a lot. This year, I've logged 14 flight segments. For the last 5 years, that's been my average I believe.

The good thing is that I'm a pro at flying now. I know how to pack well and quickly. I'm prepared for the trip, I have everything ready before I get to the counter. I can zip through security when my turn comes. I am familiar with several airports now and I know how things work. However, I fear that the novelty of it all has worn off. I no longer pay attention to the flight attendants' spiel or the general comments made by the pilots. I don't check my watch several times while in the security line - I'll get through when I get through. I know to drink a lot of water before the flight, to bring emergency snacks in case I get stuck on the runway, and I bring earplugs as well now to block out the noise from crying babies and loud sighers.

The only thing that is exciting to me about flying now is what is on the other end - a new place, a familiar face, and the hope of good things to come.

Wordless Wednesday #30!

2009-12-16T01:03:00.000-10:00

If You're Bored...

2009-12-15T09:50:00.001-10:00

Look this up!

http://www.sundog.net/carolofthechins/flash/card.swf

An Award and Graduation Pictures

2009-12-13T06:51:00.003-10:00

Before I get to the award... ("it's a major award!")

Last week we had to take our graduation pictures. Seems waayyyyy early, but whatever!!! We took all our individual headshots (very awkward!) and got to pick the one we wanted right there on the computer! For some reason they make us a take a picture with our arm curled around a toque?? That is everyone's least-favorite part of our uniform (besides the neckerchief) so why in the world would we want a picture with it?! No idea.

While we were waiting for everyone's individual shots, a few of us headed outside to take some candid shots, like this one! (photo courtesy of German Giraldo)

Look, we're ankle deep in snow!!! Then we had to take our group pictures... outside! It was freezing cold, in the 30s, windy, and we didn't have our overcoats on, just these fancy blue ones. Hope our faces don't look like we're freezing! We'll get the pictures a week before graduation and maybe I'll think about distributing them to family members... haha!

And now the award! I got a call from Financial Aid last week, and thought "Uh-oh, what happened?" because they wanted me to come into the office. I did and found out that I am getting an award! I had the highest GPA going into the 5th term, making me the official recipient of the President's Scholarship! It's a cash prize :) and I have to accept it in front of the next batch of new students in January, make a little acceptance speech and inspire them to study hard and go big! Kinda cool :) Never thought I'd get money for being smart! That's working hard and getting paid for it!

Well, it JUST started snowing right now, gonna go enjoy it! May be my last until January since I'm going somewhere warmer for the holidays!

Wordless Wednesday #29!

2009-12-09T01:00:00.000-10:00

Gluten-Free Day

2009-12-07T14:28:00.002-10:00

Woohoo! Another class up and running :) This new one is called "Advance Baking Techniques" and is taught by Chef C. We will be learning about how to manipulate recipes and cater to those who have special dietary needs. So interesting, and so necessary!

Today was our designated "Gluten-Free" day. You can read more about celiac's disease here. Basically, about 1 in 133 Americans have this disease. They have either a wheat allergy or intolerance to all forms of wheat and there is no cure. The gluten-free diet is not a fad - it's a way of life. After learning about all the things that contain gluten (all forms of barley, rye, oats, and wheat), I concur that having this disease would be disheartening, frustrating and sad for someone who loves food. It is often more expensive for people to live gluten-free because the food (especially processed food) is much harder to find and more costly.

Also, even the smallest bit of gluten can make people really sick. It damages the vili inside the small intestine, causing it to become inflamed and results in a lot of gastric discomfort. Also, nutrients can't be absorbed when this happens.

When baking gluten-free, a lot of care has to be taken to make sure that the kitchen is clean and free of contaminants. This morning, we had to clean the entire bakeshop. Usually 48 hours is needed to let the dust settle. We had to disinfect the ovens and all countertops. All of our gluten-free equipment is kept in a separate pantry and all finished gluten-free products have their own freezer.

Once that was done, we all got going on our individual projects! Chef C wrote a book about gluten-free baking which is AWESOME! And he came up with five different blends of flour to use as substitutes in our recipes. These contain different amounts of flours like white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, powdered egg whites, guar gum, soy flour and whey powder. The blends differ in strength so that you can adapt them for what you need. (For example: a pie crust would need a low-protein flour because you want it to be soft and tender, same for a cake. For bread, it would need high-protein to create structure and strength)

My team got assigned pumpkin roll cake. Yum!! I think that people usually have the misconception that anything flourless is good for you. Not! I learned that most of the time, extra eggs or fat is added to compensate for the protein/structure lost from taking out the flour. People also may think that gluten-free food doesn't taste as good. In some cases, this is true. It's hard to create something exactly the same without the original intended ingredients. BUT there are a lot of gluten-free foods that are DELICIOUS (like this pumpkin roll!) and people with Celiac's are happy to have anything even close to regular food!

This cake was made using one of Chef C's flour blends. I was surprised at how it came out. I thought that since there was no gluten, we would need to whip the eggs a lot to incorporate air and compensate for the structure. Nope! The mixing took hardly any time at all (no gluten to develop) and it was aerated with baking powder. The filling is a buttery cream cheese filling. So good!

Some of the other products today included doughnuts, crackers, angel food cake, cinnamon buns, pasta, waffles and bread. I liked everything except the doughnuts (which I'm not a huge fan of anyway!)

Tomorrow we are learning about sugar substitutes. Another interesting day!

First Snow!

2009-12-06T02:20:00.001-10:00

Yesterday I worked in the bakeshop all morning, assisting Chef W with a baking class for "regular" people (civilians, haha!). It was really fun and I enjoyed doing it, and getting paid! We made apple pie, sour cream pound cake, and a devil's fudge cake.

Throughout the morning, I kept peeking out through the windows to look for snow. The forecast said 100% so I knew it was going to happen, it was just a question of when! Then, it started to rain, and before long, the rain turned into snow! Small little flakes drifted down and floated around everywhere. Yay!

By the time my friend and I finished up the class and had to take the trash out, the snowflakes were huge and in full effect! It looked like we were inside a big snowglobe that just got shaken up! I caught snowflakes on my tongue and had them land in my eyelashes. Magical!

It came down fast and didn't coat the pavement. Soon enough, the grass was no longer visible and the bare trees finally looked pretty again. Winter is here!

5th Term Baking Practical

2009-12-05T11:11:00.002-10:00

After a spectacular weekend at home with my family, I made the journey back to school and was thrown headfirst into the 5th term baking practical. Yay?

Fortunately, I'd gotten a lot of sleep on the plane, bus, and train, so when 4:30am rolled around, I felt rested and ready!

Tuesday was Day 1. We had fifteen minutes to get setup (gather equipment and set up our stations) and then it was go time! The first thing I had to make was the chiffon cake so that it would have time to cool. Then I made the ganache and piped it for the truffles. Once the cake was cool, I trimmed and cut it into 1/2" layers, made the mousse, assembled and froze it. One product almost done! I rolled the truffles by hand, and had just enough time to scale out the ingredients for the challah bread for the next day.

Wednesday was Day 2 and I knew I had a tight schedule to stick to. There would only be one shot at the challah bread! The sponge and dough had to rest and ferment, and I also had to divide and shape/braid three loaves, so I had to work around that and the resting time. I got my chocolate in temper, quickly made the square plaques for the cake, glazed the cake and released it from the mold, and slapped on the pre and final coats for the truffles. I ended up finishing everything with about 20 minutes to spare! What a great feeling! Every minute that you are late is one point off of your score, and you need 70 points (out of 100) to pass in addition to scoring at least 70% on each item.

It was a relief to be done, but then we had to wait a good hour and a half for the chefs to grade all of our products!

Finally, Chef S came out with our cakes and truffles, informed us that everyone passed (yes!) and then discussed some of the problem areas and things we could work on. Then Chef C came out and showed us all of our challah breads. In my group, everyone except one person passed! Woohoo!

It is a great feeling to know that I am done and I don't have to worry about it anymore! I feel like I turned out an average product, but that I did my best considering the circumstances.

Wordless Wednesday #28!

2009-11-25T01:52:00.001-10:00

Grand Buffet Breads-Style!

2009-11-24T14:41:00.012-10:00

The Grand Buffet went off without a hitch today! And I am soo glad it is done! It opens up at 11am, which meant we needed to have everything set up by 10:30am, which also meant that we all needed to show up at . . . 5am.

In addition to making some great products for this big day every block, we have to present them in an effective and attractive manner. With the chocolates display, we borrowed some dummy cakes from the cakes class. For this display, we had to make our own decorative pieces out of "dead" dough (it has no yeast). We colored it with natural colorings (tumeric, cayenne, cocoa, etc), rolled it out, shaped it, and let it dry out overnight. It is super stable!

Our theme was "THANKSGIVING", so we did:

A Native American headdress:

A pilgrim's hat:

And some moccasins and shoes:

We put out three tables' worth of bread in baskets, on peels, and in bowls. Sliced. Whole. Small. Large! It was fun.

Conchas: a Mexican sweet roll with a crunchy cookie topping.

Mini baguettes!

Mini Ciabatta!

Another decorative piece:

Mini Multigrain!

Cherry Chocolate Sourdough... and a tiny hedgehog.

We also had our final today after class. It gets old having a final every three weeks! I'm constantly reviewing and studying! Tomorrow we are arriving in the bakeshop early again to prepare the breads in time for the graduation. Can't wait to be done with this class! I've enjoyed breads, but I'm ready for the next class!

What a Compliment!

2009-11-23T23:45:00.000-10:00

I walked into the Chocolates class yesterday to ask Chef G if I could come in next week. He'd gotten ahold of some single origin chocolate from Hawai'i (woot!) and he offered it to me to play around with.

He was getting a nice box together, and I looked over and saw there on the tray... Molasses Chips! He'd told me when I was in his class that he really liked the recipe we came up with enough to put it in his next book. I thought it was so cool that he liked it enough as well to have people in his next class make it! How cool!

Later on this week, I'm definitely going to pick up a box of the See's version to do a little comparison :) as well as make some at home!

Bread Favorites

2009-11-23T13:14:00.009-10:00

Every day at the end of our class, we sit down and have an evaluation of all the day's products. It's usually pretty fun and it's nice to see what everyone made, how it turned out, and taste it, too! We evaluate the shape, size, weight, length, color, crust, garnish, crumb on the interior, volume, smell, and taste. Then we'll usually make suggestions on how we can make the bread better for the next day.

Here's a shot of the Day of the Dead Bread we made on Day 1 or 2. It's enriched with lots of butter! And it also has some orange blossom water and citrus zest added. It smells delicious when it's mixing! We shaped it into a round, then rolled out three strands and draped them over the round to make them look like bones. Then we rolled a small piece and stuck it in the middle. After these are baked, they are dipped in clarified butter and then in vanilla sugar. SO GOOD!
CHALLAH! HOLLA!!! I don't care much for the taste of this dough enriched with eggs and oil, but the braiding part is fun. This is an example of a 4-strand. For our practical next week, we have to do one 4-strand loaf and two 6-strand loaves. Braiding is easy for me, but once it's done, you pretty much have no control over how the bread will move when it's baked. Hopefully you've done it right (not stretched the strands too much, left them too loose, or floured them too much) and will end up with a great looking loaf!
These corn rolls are another delicious bread that we make! The liquid we use instead of water is a mixture of milk and cornmeal. We also throw in some corn niblets too, so it's a super tasty roll!
Focaccia - a lot of fun can be had with this dough. It's reeeeeaaaallly oily, easy to shape, and you can put any toppings you want on it! We do a basic rendition with onions, rosemary, olive oil and salt.
Sourdough - I love how much fun you can have with the scoring patterns on top. The score is like the mark of the baker. You can differentiate your product ("this is mine!") and make different designs for each bread. The scoring is necessary, because once the loaf goes in the oven, the first thing that happens is a little bit of expansion called "oven spring". The yeast dies and lets out one last bit of carbon dioxide and alcohol, pushing the bread up and out. The air needs somewhere to escape, and if the bread isn't scored, the air will escape at the weakest point (the seam, on the bottom).
Ciabatta - This dough is so wet and sticky and tricky to work with. It requires a very gentle hand. Getting it out of the mixer is a chore enough! After it has fermented for a good hour or so, we dump it on a well-floured table and stretch it out in a big square. After it rests for about 15 minutes, we then cut it into smaller squares. Each piece is gently stretched out and placed on a couche ("koosh" - a linen cloth that helps looser breads keep their shape while proofing) to proof before going in the oven. No kneading happens, which is really weird. When it's cut open, there is a lovely open crumb (aka lots of holes in the bread) and a light texture. The crust is soft and this bread makes great sandwiches.

Today my partner and I made Semolina bread and I forgot to take a picture! And we also made a type of flat bread called Kalyra. It has a very minimal amount of yeast in it and is shaped like a cog and drizzled with salted honey! It was really tasty.

Tomorrow is le Grand Buffet (yet again) and we are in charge of making a GRAND presentation of bread. We're been working on a few pieces made with decoration dough. It has no yeast and gets dried in the oven. Our theme is.... "THANKSGIVING" (surprise surprise!) and I can't wait to show you what our class came up with for decorations. Should be good!

Turning in early tonight, I'm exhausted and there's a lot to do in the coming days! I can't wait to come home!

Pain au Chocolate

2009-11-20T16:28:00.004-10:00

I'm really tired and totally eyeing my bed right now (so warm! so cozy!) but I just had to put this picture up because I am so stoked with how things came out today! We had a lot on our plate, so I was worried that we rushed through things instead of focusing on quality.

Check this out!

Each little pocket in that croissant once had butter in it! Croissants are made by laminating dough - folding a layer of butter inbetween dough, folding and rolling over and over again to create hundreds of layers. The butter melts in the oven, and the water in the butter evaporates into steam, pushing up each layer of the dough while it escapes - puff pastry! Before going into the oven, the dough was about an inch thick and flatflatflat. When it comes out the oven, it is a completely different animal. Amazing!!!

We stuck little chocolate sticks inside the dough and wrapped it up. It's a special kind of chocolate with a low amount of cocoa butter, so it doesn't melt too much in the oven. Tastes delicious!

Leftover Confections

2009-11-19T11:50:00.000-10:00

I finished this class almost two weeks ago... Here's some items I made during the last few days. Lots of fun!

Nougat Montelimar:

It's like an Italian meringue on steroids - whipped egg whites, cooked sugar and honey and gelatin, and lots of inclusions - all kinds of dried fruits and toasted nuts!

Lunas:

We made Port Marzipan. American marzipan is pretty much disgusting, so a lot of people think "ewww" when they hear the word. It's too sweet and bitter almond oil is often used. It's commercial. Homemade marzipan is AMAZING! These were so subtle in flavor; it would be very hard to guess the interior was marzipan! The marzipan was rolled out to a certain thickness, and then we cut out moon shapes using a petit four cutter, dipped and piped them!
Agar agar orange jellies:

These were really fun to make! Agar agar is derived from seaweed commonly found in Asia. It comes in many forms (dried, powdered, strips, etc) and is a great option for people who don't like gelatin, are vegan, or want something Kosher. However, agar agar melts at a higher temperature than gelatin, so when you put it in your mouth, it doesn't melt the same way. Plus the texture is kind of weird. It works as a stabilizing agent though!

For these delectable jellies, we made the outer, lighter-colored layer first by pouring it out flat. When it set (very quickly!), we cut it to size and then placed it into these half-pipe molds. It was bendy but stable! Then we made the filling and poured it in and let it set.

These were pulled out then brushed with some coloring, then we cut them in neat little slices on the guitar.
Rolled in some sugar and citric acid... and done!

I asked Chef G if he knew how to make Molasses Chips - he'd never heard of them! What a travesty! These are a huge hit in my family. My grandparents used to give us kids our own boxes at Christmas... yum! A whole box of dark chocolate molasses chips just for me! :) They came from See's Candies and would quickly disappear within a day (or two) of receiving them. Ahh!!!

Chef G had heard of See's, but I never knew that they didn't exist on the East Coast! They are missing out! There's nothing to take the place of them either. I asked my friend from Jersey where people go to get chocolates for holidays, and he said just mom-and-pop type places. Interesting! Chef G was up for the challenge, and we created a recipe that we tested and manipulated to come up with a formula for something extremely similar to Molasses Chips! And it only took us two tries! How cool is that?!

The molasses...

And dipped in the chip form!

My final test was to give one to someone from California without telling them what it was, and see if it reminded them of anything. The person said "These are like those toffee chips from See's!" Right on Aubs! Right on!

I'm hoping to do some re-creations at home!

Grand Buffet Chocolate Spread

2009-11-19T10:07:00.000-10:00

Ahh... the Grand Buffet:

Strawberry Jelly Lips in a starch mold:
Liquor cordials:
Strawberry Jelly Lips:
Orange pinwheels:
Pistachio Princesse:
Hazelnut marzipan:
PB&Js:
Walnut Marzipan:
Turkish Delight: (which I would never trade my family for - it's just not that good!)
Gummy bears:

Things Are Happening!!!!

2009-11-18T14:35:00.002-10:00

We're fresh into Week 2 of the last term (YES!!!) and already preparations for our graduation in March have begun!!

Today, we got fitted for our graduation jackets. Even though I think it's unnecessary, let's be honest - these are wayyyy better than regular ol' caps n' gowns! Plus they will have our names embroidered on them, our school's logo and the word "ALUMNUS". Awesome!

In three weeks, we have to go take graduation pictures (yes, they make us!). One group shot and an individual shot. I'm trying to come up with a good facial expression for my individual shot... Serious? Extremely excited/happy? Bored? Wise? Angry? Haha. I know, I know, one day I will look back on the pictures and be happy I have them, but right now I'm just not into it!

We sent two representatives from our group today to a graduation meeting. Word on the street is that our official graduation speaker is Emeril Lagasse!!! Weird? Yes. Cool? Yes. I feel like it's a little stereotypical, but it's cool nonetheless. I'll take it! Hopefully I'll get to meet him. I'm sure there will be about 5 "bam!"s and a few "kick it up a notch" catchphrases in his speech!

The breads class is speeding along and I got some cool pics to share, which I will post up this week, along with some leftover chocolates! I've got some time tonight to make it happen. Whew!

And tomorrow, I get to sleep in until 5am! Yay!!!

Wordless Wednesday #27!

2009-11-18T01:51:00.000-10:00

Production and the Early Hours

2009-11-12T14:32:00.002-10:00

Those two things are killing me! Well, I am keeping up alright in class. I am just exhausted at the end of the day!!! I struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep. I usually wake up two to three times a night, wondering if I have overslept my alarm! Ahh!

The last four days have passed by in a blur. My partner and I were on the enriched doughs station for two days, then yesterday and today we moved to a new station.

At this new station, we were in charge of three doughs, which is a lot for a group of two people (others have three). It is just go-go-go the whole day!

Right when we came in, we ripped through three doughs, getting the water scaled out and at the correct temperature, then dumping everything into the mixers. Then we had to simultaneously mix those and do all of our sticky dishes. The time just flies by, and even though we both worked very hard and very fast, Chef K still said we were behind schedule. I couldn't believe it!

The three doughs we made we very very tasty though: Sourdough, Challah, and Cheddar Onion Rye rolls yesterday and Caraway Rye rolls today! The rolls are easy, because the dough doesn't have to rest/bulk ferment for too long, and we have a lovely dough dividing press that cuts out 36 rolls at a time AND rolls them for us! It is amazing.

For the Challah, yesterday we learned how to braid it using six strands, and today we did it with four - so cool! Whoever figured that out is genius.

Working with the sourdough is definitely very interesting. We have to make a "sour" 18 hours ahead of time. This is basically a ratio of water and flour (to a sticky consistency) which we let sit and ferment. The natural yeast in the air gives it the sour acidic flavor as it ferments at room temperature overnight. We then add this to our dough when we mix it. After letting it ferment further for two hours after mixing, we shape the dough, then let it retard (slowly ferment) overnight in the refrigerator. This further develops the sour flavors. So cool!

Today in our lecture, we talked a little bit about the "desired dough temperature". This is basically the temperature we want the dough to be at when it comes off the mixer in order to have it ferment correctly. There are a lot of things to take into consideration: temperatures of the flour, water, ambient room temperature, pre-ferments, and even mixer friction. We learned how to calculate mixer friction (very cool) and will have to do this every day for the rest of the block. The mixer will add heat to the dough based on the dough hydration, mixing time, and even the number of RPMs of a certain type of mixer. The one thing that we do have control over is the temperature of the water, so that's always figured out last.

I had experience with this when working at a bread bakery. Every morning when I came in (at 4am!), I took the air temperature and the flour temperature and put it into a formula provided by the franchise. This way, I was able to find out what temperature of water I would need to make the dough. This helped to ensure a consistent product and always allowed us to let the dough proof for pretty much the same amount of time.

The last four days, my partner and I have been coming in at 6am. Tomorrow we switch to a new station, and we have to be there at 5am! I'm not looking forward to that at all, because it means I have to go to bed even earlier. Thankfully, the weekend is in sight and I can take some naps!

Wordless Wednesday #26!

2009-11-11T01:50:00.000-10:00

A Warm, Crusty Baguette!

2009-11-09T14:47:00.002-10:00

It feels good to be baking again! I just started "P-Block" (weird) which is more commonly known as "Specialty Breads". YAY! I love breads. I love working with them, smelling them baking, and learning more about breads in general. You can be a little bit rough and a little bit gentle, and you have to be able to "know" things by using your eyes and hands to tell if the dough is just right! It's an ancient process and food, and it's so cool to be able to participate in the process. We're doing the same thing that alllll those people back in the day did!

I had to wake up at 4am this morning, and since it was the first day of class, I had the classic "I can't sleep" sleep. Waking up every hour, worried I'd miss my alarm, or forget something crucial, having bad dreams, etc. Not good! I knew it was going to be a long day.

My partner and I, in addition to our regular schedule, were also "stewards". So we had to arrive early enough at the storeroom to pick up the food order, deliver it, put it all away, bring the cart back, grab dishes and utensils for our breakfast bar, and later on take care of trash, sanitation, and assign cleaning duties at the end of the day. It was a lot of responsibility for Day 1 of the class, but we did a good job!

This is a production class, so there's no time to lollygag! Each station makes a few breads and every two days we'll rotate to get a feel for all of them. I was on the "enriched dough" station, meaning the bread is more than just the basic 4 ingredients (flour, water, yeast, and salt) - it's got fats, dairy, nuts, etc.

We got to make up some sunflower seed rolls, as well as brioche! It looked and smelled so delicious in the mixer, and we'll bake it off tomorrow! We also scaled out some ingredients for another bread we'll mix and bake tomorrow: Day of the Dead bread. Interesting!

At the end of the day, we will usually do product evaluation. Chef K will look over the breads, cut them open, and we'll all observe and taste, making comments on what's good and what needs improvement.

Today we got sent home with some fresh bread! I nabbed a half of a baguette and some butter.. yum what a tasty snack! I had just enough time to attempt a short nap between class and work.

I've still got some more pictures from my chocolates class to share, so I'll put those up sometime this week when I get a chance. I'll be tucking in early for this class... 8:30pm? 9pm? That's the only way I'm going to make it!!!

Soft Caramels & Peppermint Patties

2009-11-05T07:41:00.005-10:00

Yum yum yum!!! Both of these confections were sooo delicious!!! And so much fun to make! I am constantly amazed by how the ingredients we use come together in this class, based on the preparation techniques.

Soft Caramels:

These are characterized by their chewy caramel-flavor. The main difference between toffees and caramels is that the toffee is cooked to a higher temperature. These soft caramels contain sugar, glucose, evaporated milk, butter, and some flavorings (we used vanilla bean). The main flavoring comes from the Maillard browning of the milk and sugars - sweet! It required constant stirring until it reached a high enough temperature to evaporate some liquid and to reach the right consistency. I had to numb my fingers and then reach in and grab some of the caramel to check the texture... dangerous fun! Once it was chewy enough, we poured it into a frame and let it set.

We cut it by scoring the square first with a caramel cutter (think: six pizza wheels connected together) and then cutting them apart swiftly with a knife. The cuts have to be made with intent, otherwise the caramel will stick and you'll end up with smashed squares instead of nice, straight sides.

Then we dipped 'em in dark chocolate, did a little wavy pattern with the dipping fork, and let them set.

The flavor reminded me of Werthers, and I bet if I cooked it a little bit longer, I could have made a Werthers-like confection!

Mint Fondants/Peppermint Patties:

I was sooo excited to make these! Usually, people buy fondant because it is cheap, easy and convenient. Sometimes it is necessary to make your own so that you can have more control of the consistency. In my cakes class, we made rolled fondant ourselves, which was pretty easy. It is more like a dough. In this class, we made fondant to be used as centers for our confections. It was an easy process.

We cooked sugar, glucose and water to the soft-ball stage, then poured it out onto an oiled marble and let it cool a little bit. Then we vigorously agitated it with a scraper for a good 10 minutes.. and by vigorously, I mean it was like a workout! My abs hurt afterwards! It was scooped up and then spread out across the marble to encourage crystallization. It went from a clear liquid to an opaque white soft solid... so cool! We wrapped it up to be used the next day.

(Next day) My group got assigned the Mint Fondants (also known as Peppermint Patties). We were told to go down to the garden and check out the varieties of mint, then to pick the one we wanted to use in our confection. There was variegated pineapple mint (eh), lemon mint (bleh - tasted like Pinesol!), chocolate mint, and Kentucky Colonel, which we used. It tasted pretty normal!

I used a food processor to combine a bit of the fondant with the mint leaves, then combined it all and heated it over a water bath until it was fluid enough to pour using a funnel. Then, we deposited it into a mat with circle cut-outs. The fondant centers hardened in about 60 seconds! It was SO COOL! They were dipped in dark chocolate.

The other group across from us did the same recipe, but added another ingredient - invertase. It's an enzyme that breaks down invert sugar. This means that the group could make a product that was solid, encase it in chocolate, and then a few days later, the invertase would have broken the fondant down into a liquid - similar to Junior Mints! Isn't that cool??? That's also how liquor cordials and cherry cordials are made. AMAZING!!!

Wordless Wednesday #25!

2009-11-04T01:47:00.000-10:00

Sweet Goodness!!!

2009-11-03T08:46:00.006-10:00

Class is so much fun!!! Today I got to recreate a favorite of mine that reminds me of my grandparents. But before I get to that in another post, here's some more from last week!

Non-crystalline: Hard Candies

I had no idea these were so easy to make! I am getting more comfortable working with sugar, but for some reason these were suuuper suuuper hot to work with! We cooked sugar, glucose syrup and water to the hard-ball stage and spread it out onto the marble to cool in a large puddle and a small puddle. Color, flavor, and citric acid was added to both. When it was cool enough to handle (but still ripping hot), my partner and I pulled the sugar to incorporate air and mix in the color and flavor. We chose to do passionfruit and wanted a pink and purple color. However, we learned that purple in hot sugar turns to blue. Weird!

Once we had our two colors pulled, we twisted them into long ropes and then cut off pieces with scissors. It hardened really fast, so we had to work fast and then keep warming the sugar up with a heat lamp and the microwave. Check it out!

This shape is the "artisan's" shape. Now there are machines that can make this shape so they look homemade. Personally I enjoy it! I sent some of these off in a package to my brother in Iraq, and hopefully they'll hold up well!

Hollow-shell Truffles: Dulce de Leche Coffee

We used hollow shells that are machine-made. The advantage to these is that they all look uniform in size and shape, and no skill is needed when filling them. You can also make a softer filling for some good textural contrast.

First, we filled the shells with a little bit of dulce de leche. We stuck some cans of sweet condensed milk in water and simmered them for four hours.

Next, we made up a soft butter ganache with milk chocolate and milk that had been steeped with freshly ground coffee beans. We piped that in and let it set, then coated our truffles in milk chocolate and sprinkled some instant coffee crystals on top! Yum!!!

Next up: Soft Caramels and Peppermint Patties!!! :)

November Is Here!

2009-11-02T15:46:00.009-10:00

The crisp is finally in the air... and it's getting chilly!!! Usually I hustle off to class without a jacket because my clothes are pretty thick, and it's a three minute walk to the main building. That all may be changing... classes start early and the mornings are cold! Brr! Thanks to the time change, this morning it was actually light outside when I left for class - a rarity! I'll try to enjoy it while I can.

It's the last week of chocolates class, and I'm sad about that! It has truly been a pleasure to be in this class. It is so relaxing because there are no production needs and the focus is on the process more than on the final product. I am learning so much!

Now, where did I leave off? We've made so many delicious confections in the last few days!

Ahh... Mt. Rainiers! Named after that mountain in Washington... these were so fun to make! They are under the "butter ganache" category of chocolates. The technique for putting the ganache together is similar to that of cream ganache, but it's a water-in-fat emulsion and temperatures are always important. This one took little more legwork to get it to come together just right, but the finished product was rad!

We started off by piping some discs with tempered chocolate, then placing a half of a brandied cherry on each one...

Once the ganache as made, we piped it on top to seal in the cherry. The ganache was a white chocolate butter ganache flavored with Kirschwasser. Some of our Mt. Rainiers looked more like Mt. Crumpet, the Matterhorn, or the Crag (from GUTS, one of our fav. kid action shows!).

And some looked really really nice!

The finished mountains were dipped in dark chocolate, then a little bit of white chocolate was piped on top, a little snow decor!

Eh they didn't cut so nicely, but they tasted great!

October Birthdays!

2009-10-31T11:40:00.007-10:00

I'm a little late on this... but:

Happy Birthday to my cousin Jozzy!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful fiance!!!!

And Happy Birthday to my youngest brother!!!!

Peace n' Quiet

2009-10-30T01:02:00.001-10:00

Cape Elizabeth, Maine

2009-10-29T00:57:00.000-10:00

Wordless Wednesday #24!

2009-10-28T00:10:00.000-10:00

Maine Adventure Pt. 2

2009-10-27T00:24:00.001-10:00

Throughout our journey, I was just continually amazed at all the cool trees and colors! Autumn is a beautiful season, and totally made this trip worthwhile. We came at the perfect time. I kept pointing out trees, saying, "Ooh look, that's a good one!"

My friend and I had done a little bit of research for our trip, some done at the local B&N. I flipped through a book titled "500 Best Scenic Drives in the US" (or something to that effect). For Maine, the book recommended taking Route 1 up the coast. I expected it to be somewhat like Pacific Coast Highway, but it wasn't actually on the coast. It was really scenic, took far longer than Hwy 295, but was worth it! That was how we found the beach in NH as well as Ogunquit Beach in Maine. We also passed through several cute little towns and villages (even smaller than towns!) which made the drive fun.

Once we got to Portland, Maine, we did a little driving tour I'd looked up. In 2 hours, you can drive around and see 6 lighthouses. These were all cool! There were 3 that we couldn't walk up to (on private property or out in the water) but they were all fun to see and fun to think about...

Here's a view of Two Lights beach park...
And one of the many lighthouses we saw...

Can you see my friend waving? :) To get to this lighthouse, we had to drive through a community college campus - so lucky they have that location! It would be so fun to study and bask in the sun on this rock jetty between classes!
This little one was called "Bug Light". At this port, a lot of people were enlisted to make emergency ships really fast for WWII.

After we finally made it to our cheapy hotel in Brunswick, Maine, we took a good hour nap (we were pooped!), then got ready and headed to dinner. Turns out my friend's cousin had lived in Brunswick (it's really small, so that is very random!). She gave us a recommendation on where to eat dinner: Cook's Lobster House. It was 11 miles from our hotel and we had to drive across two little islands to get there, but it was sooo cool!! It was on a little harbor and was casual but a bit expensive.

Since we were in Maine, I just had to get lobster! Or "lobsta" as they pronounce it there. This poor guy never had a chance.
I guess lobsta stuffed with breadcrumbs is popular here - I've never had it that way! It smelled fresh and tasted like I was eating the ocean! Wow! This guy was a lot of work, but I did my best to get the most meat I could out of the claws and tail.
The next morning, we woke up early and attempted to catch the sunrise, which I have never seen from the Atlantic Ocean. My fiance and I like to watch the sunrise and sunset in Hawai'i whenever we get the chance. It was nice to see it from a different place. This was as much color as we got because it was really overcast!
It was reeeeeeaaaaallly cold....
...but I loved taking in the sights and salty smells here!
Bailey's Island is so pretty. We meandered around the island, taking little side roads and exploring. There were lots of docks with lobster traps/cages and the houses were all really cute.
We had planned to stop in New Hampshire on the way back to do some giant corn maze, but it was pouring rain! Once we got to Epping, New Hamphsire, I gasped because I noticed that the raindrops had turned into big fat snowflakes! It was beautiful. As we drove, the snow got thicker and it looked like we were inside a giant snowglobe - so pretty! Fortunately the snow wasn't sticking to the road, but it did create a little bit of traffic.
The snow lasted until we got to Connecticut, where it turned back into rain. I like snow, but I don't like the cold. Hopefully we'll have a few more weeks of bearable weather here in NY before winter sets in!

Maine Adventure Pt. 1

2009-10-26T12:12:00.009-10:00

Our journey began at 2am! We'd rented a car and wanted to get to Maine early enough in the day to see everything we could see. From NY, it's a lovely 7ish hour drive. We cut through Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire to add to our "visited states" list (and according to my friend, you've "been" there if you've put your feet down, so we did it!). As a side note... I've now been to 29 states and I want to go to all 50 before I turn 50! I think I can make that happen :)

I love roadtrips! And how could anyone not when you get to see beautiful things like this:

Can you believe that this is NEW HAMPSHIRE???? I had no idea it was so beautiful up here! I guess I always thought East Coast beaches were rather trashy... I was so wrong!

We ended up finding this beach (Wallis Sands) by randomly following a road sign that said "Beach: 1.5 miles---->" Since I was driving, I definitely wanted to take that right! I miss the ocean, so I couldn't resist taking a peek. I'm so glad I did!

This scene of trees was right across from the beach - so weird to see the ocean and then turn and see lots of fall colors. It was super frigid out (a cool 35 degrees) and we saw a whole grip of surfers checking the waves and driving around with their boards throughout New England. Brave souls!

This shot looks like the typical "East Coast Beach" shot for a calendar, eh? Ogunquit Beach, Maine.

I was a happy camper with the ocean breeze in my face! :)

Check out this cute ride! We got 36 miles to the gallon. Not too shabby!

More to come!

Dark & Stormies

2009-10-26T11:57:00.005-10:00

....or "Stark & Dormies" if you end up eating too many of these babies!

The flavor profile of these little rectangles is dark chocolate, white chocolate, and Bermudan rum! I tasted the centers alone and didn't like them (thought the rum was too strong), but when coated in the dark chocolate, they are absolutely delicious!

These chocolates were made using the "slabbed ganache" technique. My partner and I had to temper our white chocolate and then combine it with the liquid flavoring. That same day, we had learned techniques to use when ganache separates, or "breaks". Ours broke, and I gently heated it and agitated it (aka stirred it) for awhile and it magically came back together! Wow! Chef G said that emulsions are like a metaphor for life: sometimes things get really ugly before they get good. So true!

Once our ganache had come together, we poured it into a frame (zinc coated bars) on top of a piece of plexiglass. It was left alone over night so that the cocoa butter in the chocolate could crystallize/set. We used this cool device called a guitar to cut out perfect shapes. It has sharp wires that can cut chocolates, ganache, candies, fruit jellies, etc. We used one at a bakery I worked at to cut soft cheeses into cubes for our bread, so I was familiar with this machinery. It is a GREAT tool - quick and easy and all uniformly-sized pieces. For our Dark & Stormies, we cut them into rectangles.

Then they were dipped in some tempered dark chocolate, left alone to set a little bit, and then we made the wave patterns on top with a dipping fork. Yum!

Polymorphism and You

2009-10-22T15:13:00.004-10:00

Interesting title for a lecture, no? We sat through an hour's worth of super interesting information on the polymorphistic characteristics of chocolate. Polymorphism means that a substance can crystallize into several distinct forms. One great example is carbon. At its softest stage, it is the graphite you find in pencils. At its hardest stage, it is a diamond! Pretty interesting.

Chocolate contains several types of crystals that change form over time. It gets complicated...and anyone can temper chocolate without knowing all the science, but I think the science part is fun! Chef G compared the crystals to rabbits (which multiply endlessly) and gave us some helpful tips about tempering. After a short break, we were let loose to finish our products.

Surprisingly, this one project took us all day! I love the way artisan chocolates look - imperfect and handmade by a human! Made with aloha as well :)

Anise Sticks

These were made using the piped ganache technique. We piped them in long strands and precoated them (yesterday), and then cut them into two inch sticks. Next we tempered some milk chocolate and proceeded to dip each stick individually, using a dipping fork.

They were laid out on an icing rack. After setting for awhile, we rolled them a few times to create the spikey effect!

I was amused to find that these actually tasted good! I don't care much for milk chocolate or anise (licorice), but this recipe was subtle enough for me to like.

O-Block: Chocolates and Confections

2009-10-21T13:35:00.006-10:00

Wow! Finally it is HERE! I have been waiting a long, long time to take this class!!! And so far it has proven to be just AWESOME!!!

One of my favorite things about culinary school is learning the science of baking. As of now, I'm finding chocolate to be the most complex scientific thing!!! It is just incredible, and there will be a lot to wrap my head around in the coming weeks.

Chef G is a self-described "confectionary geek", who reminds me of the weirdest cross between Mr. Rogers and John Malkovich - sarcastic, distinct in his speech, and you just never know when he is being funny. The man knows his stuff! Our textbook for the course is evidence for certain - he wrote it! He will teach us a lot in the next three weeks and I am looking forward to soaking it up!

The general feeling of the class is like a 180 from last block - totally relaxed. It's not a production class; if we didn't make chocolates all week, no one would notice! So the pressure to finish on a schedule is off, which is really really nice. We were also allowed to choose our partners (finally!), so my roommate and I are working together since we've never had the opportunity. It's nice to be with someone who works well and doesn't have a lot of attitude, and we have fun!

We also get a morning break - 15 minutes! We can run down to Club Farq and grab some coffee, tea, or a breakfast pastry and shoot the breeze for a little bit. It's nice!

Day One was full of lecture and then we got to work making ganache, a chocolate fundamental. There are two ways to use ganache when doing chocolate work: the piped method and the slabbed method (there are other ways to use ganache, like as a glaze or as a filling, it's all in the ratio of ingredients!).

We were to focus on the piped technique for Day One. The truffles pictured above were made this way. These will be what we make for our 5th term practical. Cream and glucose syrup are heated and poured over unmelted, tempered chocolate. It sits like this for a minute or so, then is vigorously stirred together to create a stable emulsion. An emulsion is two things that don't normally combine: fat and water.

After our ganache was assembled, we tabled it on the marble slab at our station. Tempering ganache?! Weird! I'd never heard of such a thing. It was necessary to do in order set the crystals in the chocolate so that the ganache would set quickly. Then we got it all into a piping bag and piped away! After the truffles had set, I rolled mine round, then put a precoat of tempered chocolate on each one by hand. The precoat is a thin layer than protects the truffle from moisture migration (moisture leaving or entering the center), exposure to oxygen and makes the centers easier to handle. Day Two we put a thicker outer coat for a crunch effect and to make them look nice and shiny! Pretty easy, and rustic-looking. Hand rolled truffles will never look perfect, but that's not the point.

Today we learned how to do the slabbed technique. This is the process of creating a center of consistent thickness. We do this on a plexiglass with zinc-coated bars on top. The bars can be moved and make a frame setup in which we pour the ganache. It sets and then can be cut, glazed, etc. to create chocolates! Pretty ingenious.

We also learned how to fix ganaches that "break" or separate. This is an important skill to know, because it's more cost-efficient and saves time for pastry chefs to fix mistakes or problems than to throw them away and start over. Ganache is a fat-in-water emulsion. Chocolate contains cocoa butter (fat) and heavy cream also contains fat, as well as water. Usually there is a liquid flavoring as well, which adds more water to the emulsion. Ganache can break when there is too much fat. This can be fixed by adding some liquid, slowly. It can also break from over agitation when it is not at the correct temperature. That can be fixed by slowly heating it up, but keeping it under 94F so the cocoa butter doesn't melt. Scientific stuff!

Our slabbed ganache ("Dark and Stormy" - ginger and rum) totally broke, as we figured it would. It looked sooo ugly, but putting it over the fire (aka gas stove) and vigorously stirring it *magically* brought it back together! So cool! My partner and I also made another piped ganache (Anise sticks). This took a little more finagling since the ganache was made with milk chocolate (which has much less cocoa butter than dark chocolate). We piped it in long strands across the back of a sheet tray, then precoated them. Tomorrow we will cut them into 2" sticks and do the final coating/dipping. Fun!

Every day for homework, we not only have reading and reviewing, but we also have to cost out a recipe each day. This is educational and not too hard, but is just another thing to add to my list of things to do! Those truffles cost about 5 cents each to make! And we'd probably sell them around a quarter each.

Another fun thing about class is that Chef G wants us to be eating chocolates for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'm not sure I can follow through on that assignment, but I agree that it's a good idea to expand my palate and try what I can! Wish I could send some of these goodies home!

Wordless Wednesday #23!

2009-10-21T00:00:00.000-10:00

Grand Buffet Spread

2009-10-17T01:19:00.000-10:00

Garde manger's set up for Grand Buffet in Club Farq:Bubble Tea in two flavors: pandan milk and mixed berry, both with large tapioca pearls:
Butternut squash mousse and pan d'epices petit gateau:
Chocolate mousse and chocolate sable petit gateau:
Tangerine and chestnut petit gateau:
Indonesian date cake:
French waffles with tonka bean flavoring:
Lemon blueberry basil petit gateau:
Tiramisu with mascarpone cheese petit gateau:
Green tea mousse petit gateau:

Mac's Modern Crepe Cake

2009-10-16T09:02:00.005-10:00

Woohoooooo!!! All done! This morning we all enjoyed an early 5:30am breakfast with Chef W. What a pleasure! Then we had about 2 hours to finish off our individual entremet projects. This was plenty of time, as I finished up in about 30 minutes!

I had to make the glaze, gather my equipment and decor, glaze my cakes, remove them from the cake rings while they were still frozen and toss some garnish on (yes, I literally haphazardly tossed it on! It's very "contompory" you know!).

Pictures!!!

From top to bottom: caramelized hazelnuts, candied orange peel, maple icing, maple syrup mirror glaze and one large orange crepe; mascarpone mousse; nutmeg bavarian mousse and orange crepes, orange chiffon cake soaked with maple simple syrup, and an orange cookie base.

All in all, I was very satisfied with the way this cake turned out. The flavors are GREAT!!! Reminds me of Christmas and eggnog and happy times. A lot of the orange comes through, there was some chewiness and texture from the cake and crepes, and the cookie base was crunchy! The colors are very monochromatic, but I couldn't help much with that. The nutmeg mousse was SUPER GOOD! I decided to call it a "modern" crepe cake because it is a twist on the traditional, plus using crepes as an insert is like a surprise when you cut it open!

At the end of class, each student had to get up and share about their cake in 2 minutes. Then everyone tried it. This was fun.... until you got to piece o' cake #10... sugar overload! We had to taste 16 pieces. Gahhh... way to kill my lunch appetite! Everyone came up with either iconic or interesting flavor combinations, and there were maybe 1 or 2 that didn't quite work or taste good. Plus you could easily tell if people made their products well. Cakes and mousse don't lie... If a mousse isn't made right, you can feel it in your mouth (lumpy or grainy) or see it oozing out of shape once it thaws. Tricky, tricky!

We also were required to cost out how much one cake would be to produce. I was exempt from this exercise since I had compiled everyone's ingredient shopping list for Chef W, but I decided to do it anyways just to know! It would cost me $6 to make one cake, and I could definitely sell it for more!

We took our final after production and I think I maybe only missed one question, so that's good. I studied a LOT as usual.

At lunch I knew I needed to get rid of my second cake (aka give it away because I am absolutely sick of mousse cakes!). I wish I could send something like this home or off to my friends, but it just wouldn't make it in one piece! So I took it down to some of my culinary friends in another kitchen. The other chefs I don't know are kind of intimidating, but the one in this French kitchen was very nice and everyone looked super happy to have the cake to eat! It brought back memories of me bringing my baked goods up to my friends houses back home :) I miss sharing my food with people I know!

And now, off to enjoy the weekend! I'll post some pictures tomorrow of our Grand Buffet spread. I'm taking a looooong road trip (as in many hours, but only a few days!) while I'm out here in New England. Gotta see as much as I can!

Practical Cake & the Super Grand Buffet

2009-10-15T13:40:00.011-10:00

At my school, we have two "big" practicals we have to pass in order to move on/graduate. The 2nd term involved a cake, a puff pastry apple strip, and pastry cream-filled eclairs. The 5th term practical is about six weeks away (whoa!) and it doesn't look as scary this time around, for some reason. Could it be that I am more confident in my skills? More comfortable making timelines/gameplans? Sure, sure. The components for this practical exam are: chocolate truffles, challah bread, and two raspberry mousse cakes.

The thing I don't like is that we only get one chance in a class to make the cake. We did it this week, and it really didn't seem so bad. After making and presenting them, Chef W deemed them all "passing" with some work to do to get a better score. Fine by me! He said that the recipe has really been manipulated to show all defaults if you don't do things correctly. Greeeeeeaaaat.

We have to make two cakes, leave one whole and cut a slice out of the other. Here's my cake:

I definitely need work dividing a cake into six portions, because mine was definitely off center! I also forgot to take a picture after I placed some chocolate plaques on the side. Those decor pieces are surprisingly easy too.

Today was Grand Buffet... ahh! I got to class at 5:15 am to help Chef W out with setting our classroom up and getting things proofed. My partner and I made these beauties:

They're called Bamboloni and are Italian Doughnuts, found on streetcarts early in the morning, filled with all kinds of jams and creams. We filled ours with pastry cream and raspberry jam. Yum yum! It's a sweet brioche dough that's proofed and fried on both sides then sugared and filled!

We also made these:

Fruit tarts with pastry cream and an apricot glaze. A simple dessert that highlights good tart shell-making skillz.. These better be good! They took us about 4 hours to make. Argh!

Here's a nice picture of our team display at the Grand Buffet... pretty sweet!!!

And a picture of the chefs :)

This also happened to me:

Chocolate shiny glaze looking not-so-shiny on my jacket. Yeaaaaaahhhhh.......That's not coming out :(

Last day of the block tomorrow!!! Woohoo!!! I'm so ready for this class to be over and for a three day weekend. I need a break!

Wordless Wednesday #22!

2009-10-14T13:52:00.001-10:00

Throwdown!

2009-10-12T12:58:00.010-10:00

It is currently 49 degrees outside, so I'm snuggled up with a blanket and listening to some Gwen :)

As much as I like Chef W, I am so over mousse cakes!!!!

I remember how much I used to loooove mousse, of the chocolate variety. When I was younger, my parents would take us out to Sizzler for dinner. We loved it because we got to choose whatever we wanted to eat from the salad bar. I know for a fact that my mom ended up hating this because we wouldn't choose very well-rounded meals. I liked it because you could really load up on dessert! They always had a big bowl of chocolate mousse out and I'd stick it underneath my softserve ice cream. Yum!!! okay, I guess I could go for some of that now, as long as I didn't have to make it myself!

Here's another sampling of what I did last week:

This is a passion, pineapple, coconut entremet that I made. Here it is, freshly popped out of the metal mold (with a blowtorch) awaiting glazing on a wire rack. It was fun to have the pineapple slice "inclusions", but also difficult to keep them in place while we poured the mousse. Looks like the center ones moved a litttttttle bit. Oops. The ones on the bottom were cut in half and lined up against the mold.

Post-glazing and cutting shot. Since this is a "contemporary" (or "contompory" as Chef W says) cakes class, all our decor is asymmetrical and very modern. Off-center, off-balance, minimal.

And the cake components! From top to bottom - passion fruit mirror glaze, coconut lime mousse, passionfruit mousse with pineapple chunk inclusions, and coconut dacquoise. This one is my favorite! So good!

On Thursday, we had: "The Last Entremet: Throwdown Edition!" Haha! We came to class with no clue what we were going to be making. Chef W set molds out on our stations, and when we all came together for lecture, he doled out what we would make, some with formulas and some with things we had to figure out. My partner and I had a fairly easy one.

From top to bottom: Whipped cream quenelle, chocolate shiny glaze, chocolate mousse, chocolate flourless cake, pistachio creméux, pistachio crunchy base, and chocolate flourless cake again. The chocolate mousse was difficult to work with due to temperature issues, but everything else was okay. We made a basic creméux and flavored it with pistachio paste until it tasted how we liked. The crispy base looks really gross (think: baby poop) but tasted good!

In addition to our successful Throwdown! we worked on a side project for Chef W: an example of a crepe cake. Most people think of having crepes for breakfast or served hot, so it can be daunting to think of them eaten cold. On the contrary, it was quite delicious! The crepes were pretty plain, and then I made a mascarpone, whipped cream and anisette flavoring to stack between them. I didn't care for the anisette, but the whole thing was good regardless!

Many layers of crepes!

Last Friday I also had a little conference with Chef W to get his feedback on my class performance and what I could do for improvement. It was all positive stuff and I need to work on little things like not working too too fast and being more efficient. But he did say that he can definitely see me owning my own place someday, that I have the drive, I'm firm and I work hard and I can anticipate well. He also said I have a talent for watching and replicating well. Cool! I guess I never really realized that about myself.

I can't wait for this week to be over already! It is going to be very challenging! Tomorrow we start work on preparations for the Grand Buffet on Thursday. My partner and I are making a small type of doughnut as well as fruit tarts and assisting other groups. Wednesday is the BIG day: we are all making our own Entremet projects. From scratch. Out of our own noggins! Last week we submitted our ideas and drawings to Chef W. I am doing a twist on the crepe cake with Christmas-type flavors. I hope it come out like it looks in my head, or better!

365 days and counting!!!

2009-10-09T00:00:00.001-10:00

One year from today, I will be putting on a white dress and walking down the aisle to say "I do"! I am so excited to share this day with family and friends, and begin my life as a wife! My fiance and I are suuuuuuuuuper excited, stoked, antsy, impatient, and thrilled that in no time, the wedding will be here. WE CAN'T WAIT! But we'll have to :)

It's All a Big Blur!

2009-10-07T13:23:00.007-10:00

Where has the last week and a half gone? It feels like my head is sticking out a car window, we're going 70 mph, but I'm not having any fun . . .

Okay, I'm having a tiny bit of fun, but this class is stressful!!! My sleeping/dreams are hugely affected by life's present situations. Yes, I have a lot of weird dreams that I usually remember... but when I am stressed out or worried, it gets into my dreams and I end up tossing and turning all night. On the weekends, I sleep deeply and don't wake up until morning. During the week, I feel like I wake up every hour. It is disgusting!!!

Being tired doesn't help with my schedule - class from 6:30am - 1:30pm, then work from 2-5, dinner (everything is scheduled here!), homework and studying... we have so much to do for this class! We are required to be super prepared, scheduled, make daily gameplans, meet with our partners and study every day for a potential pop "queeez" as our French chef says it. BAH!

When I step back and look at our products, they DO look amazing, interesting, contemporary, and cool! I am amazed! But in the heat of the moment, in the rush of the day, it just feels awful! My partner and I get along well enough; we get the job done and make minimal mistakes. I am totally comfortable making mousse cakes, working with gelatin, and working fast and cleanly.

Here's what I've been doing:

Modern Carrot Cake petit gateau:

Layers of cream cheese mousse, pear gelee and carrot cake. Modern? Yes. Weird? Yes.

Lemon Blueberry Basil petit gateu, made with a buche mold.

Layers of: basil glaze, lemon mousse, basil creméux, blueberry compote, chiffon cake, raspberry jam and 1-2-3 cookie dough as a base.

The "Take 5" entremet:

Layers of caramel glaze, peanut butter mousse, chocolate flourless cake, caramel creméux, pretzel crunch, and chocolate flourless cake!

Every day we follow a similar pattern for going about making these. All the bases (cakes, cookie doughs) were made on Day 1 by various teams. If our entremet has a cookie base, we have to roll it out, cut it and bake it ourselves. If the base is a cake, we roll it to make it a little thinner, apply some pate a glace (to make the cake stick to the cake board), and cut it to the correct size.

All the desserts have two types of mousse, or a mousse and a creméux ("creamy" in French). The insert (part in the middle) has to be frozen rock solid before the outer mousse can be made. Since we're using gelatin, it is imperative that once the mousse is made, whatever it is going into is ready. We have a lot of assembling obstacles to overcome, and a lot of components to gather and have ready.

In addition to that, we have to work CLEAN! A lot of times, we hide the dirty bowls under our station in the cubby and clean them once we get a chance. The table gets wiped down a lot, and our handtools sit in a bain marie of hot water. Good skillz for sure, but tedious sometimes!

Tomorrow is going to be interesting... Chef W is calling it a "Throwdown" - basically, it's a surprise. Tomorrow when we get to class, we'll find out what it is we're making. At this point, I'm not sure how it's going to go. I think he's giving us the mold to use, and flavors. Then we'll have 45 minutes to sit down with our partners, make up recipes for what he's given us and scale things accordingly. I've never had to make up a recipe from scratch on the spot, but we have all the ratios and percentages for mousses, so I think we'll be okay. It's not a race or a contest, rather it's a way to show that we have learned something in the class.

Just as we were getting used to the flow of the class...

Wordless Wednesday #21!

2009-10-07T13:22:00.002-10:00

Contemporary Cakes: Week One Preview

2009-10-05T00:17:00.005-10:00

Here's just a little taste of what I made last week - more to come! I'm off to be in class at 6:30am!

Fig Newton petit gateau:

Chocolate Praline entremet - think Nutella/Ferrer Roche/Pirouette!

inside of the entremet:

Birthday Fun Recap

2009-10-03T11:18:00.011-10:00

Last weekend was great! One of the things I like for short amounts of time in New York City is the hustle and bustle. I love to walk fast, take subways and get places. There is always a lot of action and a lot of people to watch! My life up here at school during my free time is very s l o w. I'm taking some time to myself this weekend to relax after a crazy week, but I'm remembering my fun fast past weekend with a smile!

My mom flew in for three days and we had an absolute blast! Here are some highlights:

-A theater "tour" (more like a talk about the history of an old theater, kinda cool! No pictures though)

-Shopping (yes, I've nearly finished all my Christmas shopping! WOW!!!!!)

Afternoon tea at a place called Tea & Sympathy. Traditional English and sooo cute! Tea with me mum... what could be better?!

We took the ferry over to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I'd seen Lady Lib when I was 7 but I didn't remember much. Ellis Island was definitely on my list, especially since we had family go through there! It was a rainy day, and that meant it wasn't crowded. Nice!

This is where people were processed, and it looks pretty much like how it did when it was being used. I had no idea it was functioning up to 1954! Wow!

We walked A LOT! But we also enjoyed some subway rides. These got us where we wanted to go fairly quickly and we got to sit down. Every station in NYC has the name in mosaic tile. Sometimes, there are themes/designs/art! This station had all different kinds of famous peoples' hats! So fun!

We had dinner to celebrate at a place called craft.steak. Last year, we ate at craft. I LOVE the way this place is designed - it is so comfortable! Like you're in someone's chic living room space. Dessert was these cinnamon crumb donuts with blueberry compote and cream cheese ice cream. Everything about this place is amazing!

I had a GREAT time with my mom and I can't wait to see her and the rest of my family for Thanksgiving!

Aubs Picks Apples

2009-10-02T09:17:00.001-10:00

Happy October, and happy Friday! This video was taken during Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday #20!

2009-09-30T04:09:00.000-10:00

N-Block: Contemporary Cakes and Desserts

2009-09-29T15:40:00.004-10:00

A new class, yet again! I have never truly enjoyed the first-day-of-school jitters. Seems like I get to experience them every three weeks here at this school! Only 'cause it's that intense! In college, the first day was a guaranteed snoozer = go over the syllabus, maybe get an assignment, go home early!

Here we are expected to be well well well prepared. This new class is no different, and I suspect that it will get increasingly harder as we make our way back down the hall throughout the bakeshops.

Chef W is French. Our first French chef so far. We have had several Germans, Americans, and a Swiss instructor. Everyone has had a hard time pronouncing my name, but instead of annoying me, I find it amusing and look forward to the next butchering of my given name. Chef W is French, but for some reason still couldn't pronounce my French-style name! Haha!

So far, he seems extremely nice, but wants to push us and make us better. This is a production class. All the desserts we make will go down to the common eating area for the other students (fondly referred to as Club Farq by some of us). We will be expected to have things finished by 10:45 am every day, so it is really a collective effort instead of individual. When we finish things within our team, we are expected to offer help to other teams. The products I made today (coconut dacquoise and chocolate flourless - both short, flat cakes in sheetpans) will be used by everyone else later on in the week. In this way, we can maximize our production, although we don't get to learn how to make everything. Too bad, but this class also focuses on taking our skills to the next level, not necessarily learning all new things.

Chef W was pretty serious about being prepared for the class - to the point of sending home two students right off the bat because they didn't have everything with them. They came back once they got their act together, but I'm sure it wasn't a great way for them to start off the class.

We lost a classmate last block (dropped out), and gained three more, so our group stands at 16 now. There are 8 of us who are from the "original" group of 13 we started with. Pretty amazing how many people have filtered in and out due to varying circumstances.

Today was mostly a mise-en-place day. It felt good to do some baking, as I hadn't done ANY since I made a friend's wedding cake back in July! Tomorrow we will begin to build our desserts. The "large" size is called an entremet (on-tre-may) which means "between meals" in French. It's typically served around 4pm. The smaller sizes we will make are called petit gateau (pe-tee gah-toe). Contemporary means we are using new ways to make cakes - using molds, fleximolds, silicone molds, pvc pipes and ring molds to create ways to hold up mousse and make new shapes. Interesting glazes, chocolate decor, and colorful jaconde (decorative thin sponge cakes) will happen in this class. I'm totally familiar with making mousse after the many debacles I had with gelatin in my last class before extern. Woo!!!

On another note, my mom and I had a FABULOUS time this past weekend, celebrating my birthday! It was great to see her of course, and I'm hoping to post some pictures about it here soon. Here's a shot of my lovely *surprise* birthday cake from my best friend! It was delicious!!!

I feel as though we are finally starting to look related, Mom!

My pillow is calling me.... goodnight!

Twenty-Five

2009-09-25T19:25:00.000-10:00

Today is my birthday!

I am so blessed to be able to spend it with my mom! I have a random three-day weekend, so Mom came out and we are going to have a great time. I've been a little homesick lately, so it's nice to have a little piece of my family here with me.

Love to you all! I'm so happy to be alive! :)

100th Post! Individual Cake: Pt. 2!

2009-09-25T17:01:00.006-10:00

I DID IT! Finished the cake that is... with 10 minutes to spare! Here's some eye candy... I'm really happy with how it turned out given the time I had to work on it.

The class is now complete and I'm kinda sad. I really liked Chef C, the creativity we got to have, and the relaxed atmosphere. I learned so much!

This is also my 100th post... who would have thought I'd have so much to say? :)

Individual Cake: Pt. 1

2009-09-24T15:41:00.004-10:00

Man, today was intense!!! Everything took way longer than I had anticipated!

I got to the bakeshop early to get everything set up and gather all my equipment. Thankfully, my buttercream worked out. I started off trimming all my cakes, slicing them in three layers each and soaking them with some simple syrup. I colored the frosting in varying shades of green, frosted each layer, trimmed the sides, crumb coated 'em and put the final layer on. I wasn't happy with the finished product, but I had to make do!

I thought all that trimming and frosting bizness was only going to take me 1 hour. It took me 1 hr and 45 minutes. !!! I forgot I was doing three cakes, not just one!

I quickly got on making the flowers. I busted out ten plumerias fairly quickly, then moved onto the hibiscus petals. So frustrating! Lunch break. Then I made a sea grape lei with gumpaste and floss (yes, floss!) in about 25 minutes! I had to work fast to finish before the time limit.

Tomorrow is looking like assembly, painting the flowers and decorating! Hopefully I can finish up in 3 hours! I can't believe it is the last day already! Whew!

Work today was AWESOME!!! I am finally on a long-term project! I started it on Tuesday, gathering info for a proposal for a new book. Today, I brought that outline up to the editorial publishing manager and she said "You did this? All this?" YESSSSS!!!! Well, it's not hard when it's baking stuff! So now I am set to work on the project, gathering information and doing research. So cool! It is making me think about baking in a totally different way, especially when trying to inform readers and make it visually pleasing. Then, we had a BROWNIE tasting! Peanut butter swirl! Woot! Then my two supervisors said "We need to have a morale booster. Coloring contest!" Haha - these two girls I work with are so cool - hilarious and funny. It made my day!

Team Time: 4-Tier Cake Pt. 2

2009-09-23T07:44:00.008-10:00

We did it! Finished the cake! Finished ten minutes early!!! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It was A LOT more work than I would have guessed at the beginning. I spent over an hour cutting the circles out and gluing them all on while my partner painted/colored all the roses and leaves. Whew! Here it is. Too bad it can't be eaten!

The example we were to follow:

Our finished product: view 1:

View 2:

close up of the roses:

The final went well and was pretty quick. It was short answer, but I knew it all! Not too shabby :) Off to do some work! Feeling pretty nervous about my individual cake tomorrow. I need to get as much done as possible. We'll see what happens!

Wordless Wednesday #19!

2009-09-23T00:37:00.000-10:00

Team Time: 4-Tier Cake Pt. 1

2009-09-22T12:36:00.002-10:00

We had all of class today (7-11am, and 12-1pm) to work on our team project: a wedding cake. Chef C assigned designs to each team according to their styles. As mentioned before, my partner and I got a cool retro-lookin' cake! I'm still stoked on the design and I hope we can execute it well.

Each team got a fresh bucket of white fondant and we were off! My partner and I got to work greasing the fake cake rounds (made of styrofoam) with some Crisco and then colored our fondant a peachy-orange for the base. Since the design is retro, we're going for 1970's colors too: orange, brown and yellow.

Once we'd gotten the color we wanted, we rolled out the fondant and covered each of the four tiers. It was my first time covering a round cake and it was harder than I thought! Fortunately, my partner had experience working with fondant and she was happy to teach me some new tricks. We tag-teamed the larger layers and stacked the cake, gluing each layer together with some royal icing. The fondant isn't completely smooth because the styrofoam layers were pretty nicked up to begin with. Thankfully we're covering it with lots of cutouts!

Then we got started on making our gumpaste roses. It was absolutely critical that we finished them today so that they could dry overnight. I learned that it takes me about 30 minutes just to make one rose, not including the greenery for it and painting later. Ugh! Now I know why these things get expensive! We made a bunch of rosebuds and some loose petals too. After lunch, I busted out about 20 leaves as fillers while my partner colored the rest of our fondant brown in preparation for tomorrow.

I'm really happy with our progress today and I'm looking forward to finishing it up tomorrow! We'll have 3 hours to do it all, which should be ample. And I'm glad we have extra flowers and leaves too.. Just in case!

Anthony Bourdain (author of Kitchen Confidential and host of No Reservations) was at our school today, at a totally inconvenient time for us to go (during class). For some reason (politics?) the school didn't advertise it well and stuck him in the smallest theater on campus. It was at 1pm and the theater was full at 11am, with a huge line around the building. Apparently there was some filming happening for the show. Mr. Bourdain is an alum of the school (1978! haha!) so his name is advertised as "Anthony Bourdain '78"... hmm someday I will be Aubrey M. '10! Haha! I'm not into celebrity chefs so I didn't see what the big fuss was about.

Work was fun! We had a brownie tasting (German Chocolate Brownies!) that was pretty good and I did a lot of work on a new book that the school is putting out for bakers. It's more of an instructional book than a recipe book, so I had a lot of fun doing research for that.

Off to study for our final tomorrow!!!