Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Aye Aye mates.  Just feeling inspirational so I thought I would share.

Should I ask my boss for a promotion?

Should I ask her/him out?

Should I ask her to marry me?

Should we have a baby?

I’ve always wanted to work for the government.

I’ve always wanted to be a pro athlete.

I’ve always wanted to live at sea.

I’ve always wanted to be a cop.

I’ve always wanted to take a trip to Europe?

I’ve always wanted to fly planes.

Should I open my own business?

Should I go to med-school and become a doctor?

Should I work for NASA so I can travel into space like I’ve always wanted to?

I love designing and building, should I become and architect?

Should I go to Law School, become a lawyer and open my own practice?

Should I move to California or NY to try and become an actor, musician or dancer?

I’ve always wanted to go to culinary school and become a chef.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Compared to eternity, life is too short my friends.  I encourage all of you to find what it is that you love and just do it.  Every second of everyday is a chance to do so and it’s never to late.  I don’t care if you’ve always enjoyed cutting grass or if you’ve always wanted to fly to mars.  repeat after me “Ive always wanted to ____________.”  Think about it, and when you think to yourself I can’t or it’s too late or I dont have time or it’s not in the budget.  Think about this… someone, somewhere in you situation and with your circumstances has done it.  So NOTHING in this world in unattainable.  Now I am going to call you out… You can make excuses or you can do what you’ve always wanted.  Choose the latter.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Cheers

New World Cuisine, dominated. Essenials of Dining Room, on deck.

So today was my last day in New World Cuisine, I had a blast in that class.  As I told you earlier it was all about Roasting, Grilling and Frying.  Yours truly is pretty sick at all three now so next time you see me put me to the test!  For my final I had a written exam and I had to make 3 final dishes testing my skills on all three of the cooking methods I mentioned just previously.  It was kind of a challenge trying to manage getting everything out on time especially with so many people moving around the kitchen making different dishes becuase we were on the clock.  On top of that we still had to perform our regualr duties of making our food for the day for the people that come in and eat.  All in all it was a great start to what I foresee being an excellent year in culinary school. 

 

 

 

Getting ready for my presentations to the head chef.

 

 

Final Plate Presentaions

Hush Puppies with Scallions, Spicy Beer Battered Flounder topped with a Herb Infused Malt Vinegar, and Lemon-Habanero Tartar Sauce

Lemon, Butter and Herb Roasted Chicken, Blanched Green Beans with Garlic, Lemon, Parsley and Julienned Carrots, and Butter-Cream Mushroom Risotto

Grilled Ribeye with Chimichurri Sauce, Pomme’ Puree and Grilled Asparagus with Tomato Vinaigrette

I actually kind of surprised myself.  I knew that I had to make these dishes for my first practical and I also had to come up with my own plate presentations.  I was really just winging it, so I didn’t expect them to turn out so well.  I ended up getting a 95, 97 and 99 considering the head chef had to act like she was a judge from Iron Chef, which really made it kind of cool becuase we had to break down each item just like they do in the show and explain our motivation for each dish.

I hope you all try these recipes becuase they are bangerrang – Enjoy!

I won’t have any recipes for 2 weeks because I’m taking Essentials of Dining Room next.  So… til then.

Slob-ka Babka

!!!RECIPES BELOW!!!

Ladies and gentlemen (mostly the ladies because I know how crucial a woman’s relationship is with chocolate) I had probably one of the best dessert breads I have ever had yesterday.  It is called Babka.  Traditionally it is a Jewish cake that is mixed with sugar, candied fruits, raisins, and rum.  The JWU recipe however is quite different.   They have turned it into more of a bread and instead of all of the candied fruit and raisin, it is packed LOADED with pockets and morels of chocolate.  The texture of the bread is very similar to that of a ciabatta, it had kind of a crisp crunchy outside with a warm, soft and gooey inside surrounded by chocolate.  Unfortunately I don’t have the recipe because it was brought to us by another class.  I would have just looked one up, but there are several different variations of recipes on the internet.  Plus when I do take the Into to Baking course and finally get the right recipe, I promise it will be worth the wait.  The picture you see below doesn’t even do it justice, just imagine what you see but with chocolate literally bursting out of the sides of an entire loaf and all over the bread.

We have made some incredible food over the last couple of days.

Roast Groups

Cuban-Style Pork Loin, Chayote Squash with Corn and Chiles, Roast Chicken with Herbs and Garlic, Roasted Paprika Potatoes, Jamaican Rice and Peas, Chili-Roasted Chicken with Roast Garlic Gravy, Caribbean Roast Lamb, Roasted Calabaza Squash with Curry and Coriander, Yellow Rice with Sofrito, Jicama & Orange Salad

 Fry Groups

Soft Fish Tacos with Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Red Cabbage Slaw and Habanero-pickled Onions, Tostones, Stamp and Go with Sauce Chicken, Yucca Crisps with Chipotle Mayonnaise and Mojo Sauce, Chile Rellenos with Tomato Sauce, Snapper Escabeche with Bell Peppers and Green Beans, Buffalo Chicken Wings with Celery & Blue Cheese Dressing, Drunken Beans (REALLY GOOD)

 Grill Groups

Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Pineapple Habanero Sauce, Pommes Purée, Grilled Shrimp and Mango Salad, Spicy Black Beans and Rice, Grilled Corn with Chipotle Butter, Grilled Chorizo, Shrimp and Skirt Steak Anticucho with Chimichurri Rojo, Pork tenderloin & Flank Steak Churrasco with Chimichurri Verde, Grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash Salad with Basil-Parmesan Dressing Mexican Rice

I’ve got practicals starting tomorrow.  The first day I am making Fish and Chips, the second day I am making Grilled Prime Rib with Pomme Puree, and the third day I am making a Roasted Garlic and Butter Herb Chicken with a Jus Lie Sauce.  Ive already made all this food and absolutely dominated each one, we just have to be tested on it for presentation, taste, and texture.  So the first class is almost over, just one step closer to the dream!

Eustress

Eustress – a healthful, stimulating kind of stress that results in a positive outcome.

In a small but very nice and fully stocked kitchen there are 23 people frantically trying to get their tasks done for the day.  After lecture, we usually have around 3 hours to prepare 3 full course meals to the classes visiting for the day (which are usually classes like baking, or dinning room, or stocks, classes that don’t make full meals).  Everyone has knife cuts to get approved, vegetables and meats to cut. There are ovens, grills, fryers, and stoves to get hot.  For some reason no one wants to cook in any kind of order so we are all trying to cook everything at once and it’s just not possible.  If you were watching from the outside, the best way I think to describe what was going on is a chaotic thrill.  The kitchen gets really messy, unorganized, and the dishes pile to the ceiling.  We are always down to the last second, but it always gets done. When the food is ready we serve it to our guests for the day.  I don’t know about anyone else, but the best part for me is watching people eat the food I have prepared.  It is really humbling to me watching someone enjoy something I have just made with my own hands.  All of the enthralled facial expressions and the occasional “mmm this is so good” is a pleasant ending to a hard day slaving in the kitchen.  As hungry as I am watching them eat, I am so satisfied by their gratification and appreciation, I don’t even need to eat (but you know I do).

 Of course when we are all done eating the last thing anyone wants to do is clean, but we have to do it everyday.  It’s not just a wipe off the tables and sweep the floors clean either.  It is a full North, South, East, West, and outer space scrub down.  We have to get in every crack and crevice possible.  I want you to imagine a kitchen in a restaurant, everything from top to bottom has to be individually scrubbed with serious elbow grease.

When class is dismissed I walk home with Z.  Its been a long first week for us.  Both of us have this look of slight death on our faces, we look like we’ve just been to war and it sure feels like it too.  My feet, ankles, legs, knees, and back are about to give out. The funny thing is the pain doesn’t even matter.  All I can think about is how I can’t wait to do it all over again next week.  Stay tuned!

Side Note

For those of you who actually do try the recipes I posted, please note that some of those recipes call for a lot of food and make huge portions. So if your making dinner for 4 or less, don’t cut up 20 potatoes or get  20 pieces of chicken or fish.  Also if you cut portion, remember to do it across the board with all ingredients.  Just divide evenly and you should come up with the right results.  For example if your making only half of the recipe just use half of all the ingredients, so on and so forth.

Enjoy!

Whooo wee! First day was a doozy!

RECIPES AT END

Man oooo man.. The first day was nothing short of a handful and a half! First of all I go to my morning class and about an hour in, the Dean comes in demanding for two people to switch to afternoon classes.  Of course no one wanted to and everyone was sweating bullets because he was going to draw names out of a hat.  So being the kind hearted gentleman I am, I volunteered.  I didnt really want to so I could have the rest of the afternoon off to chillax, get a job, or  just chillax,  but it’s going to pay off because the Dean said he owes me a huge favor (and you better believe I’m taking full advantage).  So now my schedule has completely changed.  I am still taking the same classes, minus my food safety class this semester.  Also I am currently taking New World Cusine instead of Essentials of Dining Room, so here comes the good part.. all of the recipes.  I will get to those in just a little bit.

First, I just need to brag about how I am “Old Man River” in my class.  I look around in class today and I’m surrounded by all these little 17 and 18-year-old babies.  Its kinda cool though because I guess everyone kinda recognized me as older, so all of them are kinda looking up to me and seeing how I am doing things.  There are plenty of older people at JWU just not in my class currently.  Also (since I worked with and under such awesome people at (cough cough) “Campus Catering”) it just so happens that all of my prep work and knife skills were “extremely exceptional” so says my instructor.  And you know I have to mention that she took a double-take at my name tag and said she will remember me for the future.  So yours truly is off to an awesome start!

Now for what you all are probably waiting on so you can drool and imagine how awesome all of this food really is.  The menu I am posting is what we made today.  New World cuisine focuses primarily on Roasting, (my favorite) Grilling  and (every bodies favorite but my worst enemy for 10 days) Deep Fat Frying.  So the menu for today was as follows. 

Roasted Course – Roast Chicken with Herbs, Garlic and Jus Lie (sauce), Herb Roasted Potatoes, Herb Roasted Pork Loin, Red Bell And Poblano Rajas con crema.

Grilled Course – Gilled Chicken with tomato basil sauce, Grilled Corn with roasted garlic, Beer brined pork chops with creole salsa, Grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash with basil-parmesan dressing.

Fried Course – Fried Calamari, with Rouille, Cornmeal-crusted Flounder with Tartar Sauce, Southern Fried Chicken with creamy gravy, Pomme Frites (fancy for french fries) and Pomme Puree (fancy for mashed potatoes).

Now I know what you’re thinking, because I was thinking the same.  Yes it is an insane amount of food but we do feed it to different classes every day.  And No, as much as I wanted to stuff my face with everything, I didnt otherwise you would need a fork lift to get me outta here after a year. 

Attached at the bottom are all the recipes for what we cooked and some of them are really easy and some of them are really tricky.  This blog site doesnt support uploading .doc files very well so the way I had to do it left me no choice but to mix recipes.  Pick apart what you will and I encourage all of you to try and make these dishes, if not a whole meal, at least a part of one because all of this food is amazing.  Now there are certain techniques used to make some of these foods but the instructions should be somewhat clear but if you have any questions please call me and I try and help talk you through it.

It looks like I am going to be busier than I thought so I doubt I will be posting everyday but when I do I will include all juicy details.  Til next time.

 

PS – I will try and get some more pictures in here to livin’ things up a bit.

Idle hands get you in trouble, time to get back to the grind!

Alright… Finally… class starts Tuesday.  I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know my TV remote control, watching several movies and hours of Food Network, and of course cooking lots of food. My roommate,the lovely Kathryn Ziemann, and I have literally been the epitome of  couch potatoes.  We all know about Idle Hands, so I’m ready to get back into the grind.

I’ve finally received all of my uniforms and just picked up my knife set this morning, which by the way is off the chain!  I won’t be able to post any recipes or anything like that for at least two weeks because my first class is Essentials of Dinning Room.  The class structure here is very different to what most of us are accustomed to.  They run on Trimesters and you take six courses per trimester.  You take each course one at a time for 10 days, 9 days learning and on the 10th day a practical.  This trimester I’m taking Essentials of Dinning Room(which I’m going to dominate since I’ve got prime experience working for a catering company (shout out to Campus Catering) for the last two years).  I will also be taking Stock, Sauces and Soups, Traditional European Cuisine, Intro to Baking and Pastry (Gonna be rough on the diet), New World Cuisine, and  Food Safety and Sanitation Management.  Check back Tuesday evening for an update.