playing catch-up

Ok, so I am while a bit behind in my postings, but pictures are worth a thousand words so no writing today, just a bunch of pics from the last week or so.

Croquembouche



Pate a Choux exam tray, 5 choc/5 coffee eclairs & Paris Brest

Jacques Pepin, right before he deboned a chicken in 45 seconds (while talking and explaining how to do it! crazy!)

Puff Pastry Fruit Bar

cheesy straws

tomato tart

Apple Puff pastry tartConversation

Mille Feuille

Tart aux poires



Baked Pineapple Puff Tart

let the choux times roll!

Day 2 of Choux...and 3 more to go! So I've asked around and this section is apparently the worst of them all in level one. Thank GOD, cause I thought it was just me that thought it was horrible. I hope to someday be able to hire schlackies to make my choux for me. We made some pretty things today (and yummy).

So I've decided by the time school is over I am going to have some crazy ripped arms. Lets just say that whisking pastry cream at a vigorous speed without stopping for 2 mins is not as easy as it sounds. Seriously. Try it.

On today's agenda: Paris-Brest, Cygnes (Swans) and Profiteroles. Pain in the ass to make, but oh so delicious.


Swans!

Profiteroles

Paris-Brest

whirlwind of a week

This week has been crazy! The week went by so fast that I don't even remember what we did, but I'll try. Over the weekend I had the craziest chocolate ice cream craving and as hard as I tried to avoid my addiction, I gave into the chocolate and went to the store. Then on Monday I was punished for my weakness by having to make a Chocolate Bavarian Cream Tart and a Chocolate Ganache Tart. I guess that's what i get by giving into a chocolate weakness. After the chocolate coma, I was punished again by getting to see my favorite band play the most amazing show ever. I've seen my fair share of Jack's Mannequin/Something Corporate concerts, but this was unlike any other. 2 hours, no opening band, just Andrew on the piano and Bobby Raw with an acoustic guitar. Songs from the beginning of SoCo to the newest Jack's stuff. Beyond unbelievable.

Choc. Ganache

Choc. Bavarian

Tuesday we learned all about caramel...or in my case how to burn them. Lets just say 3 batches of my partner and my caramel got burnt. Wasn't me is all I'm saying. We made a Rapid caramel Apple tart and a Caramel Nut tart with the burnt caramel. We also made a batch of bourbon pecan cookies. After class it was errands galore day. Ran around like a crazy person, but I got a bunch of stuff done. Went on an interview with a catering company. It went really well except that they were only paying $8.50 so that was a bust. But the chef did give me the number for the woman who does their hiring for cater waiters. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Caramel Nut Tart

Wednesday was a whirl. We made a ridiculous amount of stuff. We made the apple compote that goes into the raspberry compote that we needed to make for the Linzer tart. Lets just say, the Linzer tart was amazing, but i will never go through that much trouble just to make such a little amount of raspberry jam. Ya it taste great, but is it really worth the 2 hours of you life when you can just go buy a bottle at the store for $2? Oh ya, we also made quiche.

Linzer Tart

Thursday was our first Practical/written exam day. Can I just say that I have taken a lot of exams in my day and this was by far the most nerve racking. I got group 3 for the practical exam which was 1 Tart aux Noix, 4 Choc Ganache Tartlettes and Bourbon Pecan cookies. It went really well. I do have to say that I am totally confused though. So the other day in class the Chef stopped me in the hall to tell me that I'm "doing an amazing job in class" and to "keep up the excellent work." Come to my judgement time for my practical, the Chef is critiquing my work and the only negative he said to me was that I over decorated my choc ganache tart, but the taste was "exactly what we look for." Come to my grade... 93. Really good, yes. BUT other girls who got more negative comments got better grades! WTF! So i went to ask the Chef why and he didn't really have anything negative to say to me. I totally don't mind a lower grade, as long as I'm given some criticism as to why. But anyways, I did really well all around 93 on the practical and 94 on both my written exam and rubrics (weekly performance evaluations.) Can't/shouldn't really complain.

Pate Sucree cookies, Bourbon Pecan Cookies

dump bucket from the practical exam tastings

Friday we just right into our new section. Pate a Choux. Lets just I love to eat Pate a Choux, i just despise making it. I have made this dough before and it was sticky/messy disaster. No change in school. Still sticky and messy. Not as much of a disaster, but still. Don't get me wrong, I love cream puffs and eclairs but I definitely need to practice this dough at home. I have serious issues with it. Not so much the making it, just the keeping myself clean while making it, which is all taken into account during exams. Not only do you have to make a delicious, beautiful product, you need to have a clean workspace while you are doing it (which is not my forte). Final products of the day: eclairs with chocolate, vanilla and coffee fillings. Yum.

So on top of being horrible at keeping the blog updated this week, I also did a horrible job taking pictures in class so I don't have a whole lot. Sorry... Enjoy what I did take tho. I had a little space moment and forgot to take pics of my practical exam products.

tarts galore...

I think everyone in class is starting to get in the flow of things, which makes class run a lot quicker. I feel like we've made a ridiculous amount of stuff in 2 days. Thursday was our sanitation exam, which I think went ok. We find out our scores in a week or two. On Thursdays menu was a Clafoutis Tart which was a baked sour cherry custard tart. This so far has to be the yummiest tart we've made. I love/live for the sweet and sour combo. We rolled out 4 mini tartletts, then we made a lemon curd. Pretty straight forward, although I usually make my lemon curds a bit different. The way we made it in class was definately a quicker method then the way I'm use to making it. But the flavor is just as amazing and you save about 15 mins so I'm welcoming the change.

Clafoutis Tarte

Friday was crazy. We made a double recipe of Pate Brisee, rolled out, chilled and baked some Pate sucree. Candied some lemon peels, made a Tarte aux noix (nut tart), tarte aux citron (lemon tart), made a swiss meringue, made spritskakor cookies, worked on piping rosettes and shells. And after all of that we worked on conversions. Holy crap!

Lemon Meringue Tart

Tarte aux Noix

Spritz Cookies

I am currently attempting to organize all my notes to prepare for our first practical exam on Thurs. I'm not gonna lie, I am crazy nervous for it, especially since our oven is on the fritz and I can't bake/practice at home.

I have some pics from Jacques Torres' demo. The pics kinda suck cause I took them with my camera phone, but its better than nothing.

Chocolate Eclairs Jacques Torres style
Plum Puff Pastry

Starwberry Mini Tarts

so the saga continues...

Today I quit my job. The main reason why I chose French Culinary Institute over some other culinary schools is because they offer free cooking demonstrations by world renowned chefs. Yesterday Chef Jacque Torres came to school to do a baking demo. I had asked my boss for the day off so I could go and she was not happy. In fact she sounded a bit furious. Rewinding back to my job interview, I had told my managers that school was my number one priority and if I had a school event I would not be able to work. Well not only has she scheduled me to work on this cooking demo day, she scheduled me to work on the day before my first practical exam which I had specifically requested off so I could study. I have no idea what I'm going to do about money, I feel like I made a good decision. If I'm paying over $40,000 on school I might as well get to experince as much as I can.

For the record the cooking demo was totally worth it. I learned so much insider info. I've been making chocolates for years and I've read tons of chocolate books and not only did he give us tips that I've never read in any of those books, he also told us what his favorite chocolate cookbook was. AND we got to eat Chef Torres work for free and when you consider people spend $5 on a piece of chocolate from him that's insane!

So now I am jobless, yet again, and have to go through the job hunting all over again. I met with the career counselor today and she gave me some leads on catering jobs around the city who work well with FCI students so we'll see how that goes.

Night before the big test!

Ok... so I was given a hard time by a certain someone for not posting a blog last night. So tonight is a double post nighter.

So before class yesterday we had another class in sanitation. I have now learned the most disturbing piece of information and I wish I could erase it from my mind. Now you all may wonder, what is the most dangerous pest that may infest your place of business. First to come to mind, for me anyways, was rats and cockroaches. WRONG! It's flies! If you don't want eating out ruined for you for a while don't continue reading this. So every time a fly lands on your food, it not only vomits, it leaves some poop particles behind too! I don't think I can ever look and a fly normally again. Other than that disturbing piece of news, yesterday we had repeat of day and made a lot of stuff we've already made in class. We made more Pate Sucree and Brisee. Then instead of making a big tart we made a few mini fruit tartlettes. We also made a Fig Newton dough and fig compote and a dough for Vanilla Kipferls which is a vanilla hazelnut shortbread cookie.

Vanilla Kipferls

Mini Tartletts





Today we made our first savory dish, which was refreshing after all the sweets we have been eating. We made Tarte a L'oignon...aka Onion Tart. It was so amazing! It was made with a pate Brisee so the crust was nice and flaky. It was topped with caramelized onions, walnuts, blue cheese and tomatoes. Amazing! Then we made Fig Newtons and rolled and shaped our Vanilla Kipferls. Not a huge fan of Figs so the Fig Newtons were a fav, but the dough was really tasty so I'm thinking of making them with sour cherries next time. We didn't get a chance to bake the Vanilla Kipferls so I'll have pics of those up tomorrow.



Tarte a L'oignon


We have our first test tomorrow. A group of friends and I decided we would go find a restaurant to go hang out and study at. The "study" sesh turn into a gab sesh and we ended up getting trashed. Lets just say 2 pitchers of mixed drinks goes a long way with 4 girls who haven't eaten. Lets just say the books were never even opened. I am now at home sobering up, writing the blog and attempting to finally study.

School shopping

Gotta love the fact that school shopping includes buying fun new kitchen supplies. Went to Sur La Table after class today and got some new tools for my chef kit. Got a electric scale, digital thermometer, vegetable peeler, tongs, bench scraper/ruler, kitchen timer. Thanks Aunt Hae-Hwa and Uncle Chuck for the grad check! It was definitely put to good use.

Made more tarts today, which makes sense because we are in the tart section of class. Its funny because before school, the one thing that I always had a hard time with was tarts. Now I feel like I am a tart master. On today's menu, Tarte Alsacienne which is a baked apple custard tart. We flambed the apples. Very exciting. My poor friend Nikki didn't agree with me though. She sort of burned off her eye brow/lashes and some of her hair along with the flambe :( Then we made a Baked apricot almond flour tart.

Tarte Alsacienne

Baked Apricot Tart

Banana Creme Tart from last week...

It's all about the Hookie

I played hookie from work today. I've haven't been feeling too good lately and with being so busy I don't think my body has been able to heal itself so I decided to take a physical health day and called in sick to work.

My ankle is still a bit sore and my ears have been plugged since Thursday. But other than that, I'd say I'm doing good. The party was so much fun. So fun in fact that I didn't get to bed until well past 2am. Wouldn't have been too big of a deal except that I had to get up for work at the butt crack of dawn. Oh well, it was totally worth it.

School tomorrow, no work though thank God. I'm super excited because we are learning to flambe tomorrow. I hope I still have eyebrows.

End of the first week.

Today we made Crème de Amands which is a baked almond cream which I would say is more like a cake dough versus a cream. We put this as the base of our tarts in both the Tarte Bourdaloue, an pear and almond tart, and a fruit tart. After which we made Pots de crème au chocolat which is an amazingly rich baked chocolate custard/pudding. So amazing!

Today is another long day, had to rush to work after class. My ankle is still a bit sore from the stairs incident so being on my feet for 13 hours a day is not fun. Having our first house party today since living in Brooklyn. I'm super excited.

Chocolat Pot de Creme

Fruit Tart

Tarte Bourdaloue

*I'll try to take better pics next time. The camera phone doesnt really do it justice

Sanitation=CREEPY

We have to take a course on sanitation in order to get our ARA certificate (thats American Restaurant Association, not Rifle) and I can not begin to tell you how disturbing it all is. Seriously, I don't think I can wash my hands enough. I will spare are the scary details but please, please wash your hands with hot soapy water. I am soooo skeeved out by this all.

On a lighter note, we made Pate Brisee, which is the French version of Pie dough. I know we are suppose to be learning technique, but it was very evil how the Chef instructor made us make the dough by hand. Not fun, when the kitchenaid is sitting right in front of you taunting you to use your arm muscles. Lets just say sablage and fraisage the hell out of the dough (french terms for chopping and schmearing butter).

After that we made Gingersnap dough and Tarte Aux Bananes et Creme aka Banana Cream Tart. I haven't tried it yet, but it is in the freezer patiently waiting to be consumed. Had to work today too. Sucked. I really dont like my job, but at least I get to bring home food. I haven't spend money on food in a while.