Choux Fly Don't Bother Me

So my upcoming unit is Pate Feuilletee which is puff pastry - it will definitely be interesting to say the least.  I'm going to have a partner change that I'm a little aprehensive about but I'll get over it!!

Yesterday was so awesome, I finally met one of the main reasons I came to this school, Mr. Jacques Torres, Mr. Chocolate himself.  He did a chef demo on petit fours and chocolate, but of course.  I learned a lot and I learned that he's a pretty funny dude.  I got my picture with him afterward.  I remember watching him when I was really young on PBS with Julia Childs, so this was like as starstruck as I've been since moving to NYC.



After the demo a bunch of us went out for German beers and food.  It was so much fun!  No Das Boot, but I had a liter of a special pilsner, okay, okay, I had two, and a small one of some kind of banana wheat beer, pretty delicious.  And I had a bratwurst with some mustard, if you were wondering. 



Just finished my Pate a Choux week today - YAY! Out with the choux and in with the new is what I always say. I got a 98 on my written and a 96 on my practical so I should be happy with that and I most definitely am, but I want a damn 100%! It will happen next time, gadget, next time.

All Aboard - Choux, Choux, I Mean Choo-Choo

First things first, I changed the coloring of my blog, because it felt a little gloomy when I looked at it and I wanted some more color in my life.

This last week we've been making Pate a Choux which is the basic dough that makes eclairs, cream puffs, profiteroles, etc.  I remember watching Jaques Torres and Julia Childs make it several times on PBS at Grandma's house when I was younger and then again a few months ago on re-runs.  It's one of the easiest things in the world to make and the easiest to screw up.  It's a tricky little sucker that you have to get just the right amount of eggs.  You want it to be light and airy and essentially hollow.  Here's a fun fact for you, it's the only French dough that is cooked twice.

It's a busy week coming up, I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  Monday I have a lot of errands to run because I chose to have mimosa's today instead of doing anything.  Well not anything, I did do laundry, woohoo, score one for me!  Tuesday is the chef demo for Jacques Torres which I'm super excited for.  If anyone out there that doesn't know who he is - Google him.  He is an amazing pastry chef and really the one responsible for the pastry program at my school.  I'm trying not to let what others say about him spoil it for me.  In my eyes he is a pastry legend and I can't hardly wait!  After that a bunch of us are going to check out this German bar in the East Village that we've been talking about for weeks.  I'm seriously hoping that they have Das Boot!  Wednesday I have a test on the Choux and we switch partners again.  Then Thursday - Sunday my youngest sister and brother are coming to visit - YAY ME! 

So Mandy and Ian will get in right after school Thursday and we're going to do some tourist stuff, but I really want to take them to some places I've been dying to go to.  The first one is Lombardi's Pizza which is the very first pizzaria in the U.S.  It was opened in 1905 and operates with a coal-fired oven which I guess makes a huge difference.  I've heard they are a bit pricey but worth every penny.  I think I'll take them to Clinton Street Bakery which has by far the best pancakes I've ever eaten.  I know Ian will enjoy it because that kid sure loves to eat! 

I am just so excited for some family visitors, I was really kind of homesick this week.  I miss my family, I miss my friends and as weird as this sounds, I miss the Seattle weather and the humidity in the air.  I feel like my skin is constantly dry and my nose is bleeding a bit and lips are chapped all the time.  I guess I'll eventually acclimate - but man until I do, I'm going through a large amount of moisturizer! 

I would like to remind everyone that I'm going to be 30 in 11 days.  Yup 30, the big 3-0, holy balls I'm getting old!  I haven't had a lot of time to think about it, but I won't be home to celebrate and that makes me pretty sad.  Most of you know how much I love my birthday.  I will definitely make something happen here and celebrate so don't worry, but it won't be the same.  But I'm on a new adventure and I will suck it up because I really am loving it and having fun.  And I guess I'm riding that train out of my 20's and into my "dirty thirties" as they say, gotta love it!

Testing...Testing...1...2...3

Ok so I'm sorry I've been absent for a bit, it's been crazy busy these last couple weeks.  This will probably be sooooo long because I haven't been keeping up and so much has happened, hmmmm, where to begin?

I have a head chef named Chef Tom and sometimes two assistant chefs Chef Mike and Chef Jean.  Chef Tom is awesome, he's a former military man and very structured and organized and I really dig that.  Plus he is very helpful and encouraging when he helps you.  It's weird because you are constantly seeking the approval from these people because you want them to like you and you want them to think you're doing an awesome job.  I got a fist bump from Chef Tom and it made my day, so I have no worries that he thinks I'm doing a good job because he gives good feedback.  Chef Mike freaks me out!  I don't think he likes me at all, my roommate is convinced it's because he knows we're roomies and he doesn't like her.  But I just think he's harded on us and not as vocal.  But when he takes off the chef's coat he's a cool guy, it's weird.  Chef Jean is cool but not there often, she rotates.

To give you an idea of how much pastry goods I am producing and how much we are working, I will give you a rundown of what we've made in 13 days of class.  We have made candied lemon peels, lemon curd, an apple compote, raspberry compote, almond cream, pastry cream, 18 different tarts, 5 different cookies, 4 kinds of dough, 3 different whipped creams, 3 different meringues and a partridge in a pear tree.  And some of the dough's we've made 6 or 7 times!  Man I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

I have a bunch of pictures to post on Facebook so I will do that today.  The bad news is we have had 2 dropouts already and I think a possible third anyday now.  I guess maybe they didn't realize how intense the program was and with the long commutes and personal issues it just got to be too much.  I feel bad for them but it's less competition for me.

Tests, tests, tests and more tests! 

I have taken like 6 pop quizzes in the last week and a half, thankfully this stuff has been committed to my long-term memory somehow because I sometimes feel it's like in one ear and out the other.  So we received our Sanitation results today and I passed with flying colors, of course.  I got a 91% if anyone is keeping track. 

We took our first Unit Exam today so the last couple days I've been trying to study as hard as I can, but you know procrastination is my middle name.  So the exam is a Written Exam and a Practical Exam.  For the written we had to answer questions on ingredients of recipes and method to cook them (all without notes), conversions from American weights to Metric weights, temperature from Farenheit to Celsius and vice versa, vocabulary terms and just matching and true false questions.  It was surprisingly a lot easier than I thought it would be.  I guess when you make something over and over again you just know it.  The Practical Exam was 1 large tart, 4 small tarts and 6 cookies that we had to present to the chef for tasting, grading, etc.  Thank God we got to use our recipes for this part!  I made the Tarte Aux Noix Caramel (Carmel Nut Tart) as the large one, Quiche Lorraine as the small tartelettes and Vanille-Kipferl (Viennese Vanilla Crescents) for the cookies.  My group was the first ones done so it makes you feel good.  However I avoided a disaster with the help from a friend because my cookies were a little on the dry side and crumbling apart while I was shaping the dough.  Then she reminded me that we ammended the recipe with 1 egg, which I wrote down but missed it somehow, so criss averted, thank you Clarice!  Chef Mike had to do my evaluation of my finished pieces (which I'm pissed I didn't take a picture of) but I was a little nervous what he would say.  I feel he's been warming up to me since he told us our stuff was perfect the other day and my stuff was awesome today.  I got a 96 on my written and a 96 on my practical and a 93 on my grade for the week - YAY ME!!

So now that I know I'm doing well I am not so stressed out, phew, now I can sleep well tonight!

Other than that I've just been trying to meet new people and hang out with people in my program.  I've signed up to be a Student Representative and I've been going to Chef Demo's, I'll have to talk more about that another time.

Hope all is well out there, I'm off to celebrate!

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

Wow, it has been a crazy long week!  I feel like I've been making tarts for days...oh wait, I have!

So in 5 days of class I have made 5 tarts.  And not just the tarts, but the dough, the shell, the filling, the topping, etc.  My knife skills are improving and I'm learn a lot about pastry cream or Créme Patissieré amd custards.  It's like go, go, go in the kitchen and the Chef never wants to stop.

We're also learning about sanitation and studying for our Servesafe exam which is like a nationally recognized Food Handler's Permit.  He is hilarious!  His name is Chef Tim and he's pretty good looking but has the craziest stories about food poisoning and crazy celebrities.  So there is a lot to study and remember this week.

Today we had a day off for the Good Friday holiday, which is kinda weird.  I mean I've never heard of anyone having this day off.  Maybe it's the large Catholic population here, I don't know, but I have a day off so I can't complain!

I still love school and yesterday I had a little celebrity moment when Chef Jacque Torres came to class to say hello, I've been watching him since he had specials with Julia Childs on PBS.  It was an amazing, but brief moment, but amazing none the less.

Here are some pics of what I've made.  Now those people I said I would send stuff to, no worries, I still will, but these won't hold up in transit so these will just be given away, and have been to my doorman.