Week 15: Where am I now?

This semester seemed to fly by! As Chef probably knows by now, I came into this class with almost NO knowledge of the kitchen. I was unaware of proper etiquette, handling of food and utensils, and the uses of each kind of food. This semester was simply an immersion into the world of food as well as responsibility. Being in the kitchen is truly a balancing act; you can't be wasteful, and you need to always be prepared and ready to roll with the punches. Although it is also important to avoid the punches at all costs!
So where do I go from here? My current plan is to start combining all of my skills and find something that I am passionate about. I know that I love music, helping others, computers, and certain aspects of working in a bar. Hopefully I can take all of my skills and apply them in my future jobs!

Week 14: Charcuterie and Garde Manger | Baking Bread

This week, we had our FINAL prep day!

Here is our plan from prep day. We had more details depending on who had which item and what they planned on doing. Sadly we couldn't do the cutting because the berries would go bad!

It was one of the craziest days yet, which Chef had warned us about. Although desserts seem sweet, they're actually evil (dessert puns). My biggest aha! moment today was that even if you're making a dessert filling, you CANNOT cut up berries or fresh produce a few days ahead of time!

Pic 1: Brett carefully measures out ingredients for event day. Although we couldn't do everything today, we tried to prep as much as possible! This was part of our kit prep.
Pic 2: The sad berries that we cut up. Luckily, we were able to give these to another group who needed them so as not to waste! We learned our lesson.

You can only do this with sauces or things where you're not keeping some of the berries whole. We learned our lesson though, and the rest of prep day went relatively smoothly! Lots of other groups seemed to be doing well too, however we did notice that today was the day of the most mistakes. Yikes!

 Pic 1: The other groups calmly panicking about the event. These guys did a great job with crepes. They couldn't prep much, but they got all ingredients together!
Pic 2: The beautiful creme brulee! This is one of my favorite desserts. They got them all ready and refrigerated today so that they can heat them the day of!

Our second day was THE SWEET ENDINGS EVENT! It was as crazy as ever, with just a hint of panic. Since we couldn't prepare anything but the crust on prep day, we had a MULTITUDE of items to get done today.

 Pic 1: Our summer table and decorations! We tried to incorporate the beach theme throughout. This was cute and brought people to our table!
Pic 2: Brett is sporting one of our summer outfits. We still tried to be appropriate for the kitchen, but wanted to give a fun vibe. What is ironic is that is was snowing the day before.

We managed to finish it all though, and we got pretty good feedback on our pies!

 Pic 1: Our restaurant was called "Life of Pie" (puns!). We used a refrigerated tin to keep the pies cold the whole time. People loved the strawberries hidden in the sign and table!
Pic 2: Our drink was a hit! We made a homemade blueberry simple syrup. Then we added ice, a blueberry, sparkling water, and a slice of kiwi!

The aha! moment happened when looking at other tables. For the desserts, one table even had an ice cream stand; this idea of a welcoming atmosphere truly drew people to their table and even made me want to come over!

This group had a cute idea with creating little swans! They were not too difficult to put together, and the guests loved them! The group got best presentation.

This week, I couldn't help but think about our weeks cutting vegetables. When we cut up our veggies for stock, it was okay to wait a few days in between using them. Fruit is completely different, however. It will go bad after being cut EXTREMELY QUICKLY, so you have to be careful and plan ahead!

Week 13: Salads and Sandwiches | Hors D'Oeuvre and Appetizers

Day 1 was EGG-CELENT! That's the only egg joke I'll say I promise. I just like to crack up at my own jokes.

**As a side note, we got best presentation for our last event! We were so excited, and the exact opposite of humble. Eh. It happens.

This was our first award, and the first of the table for ALL classes as well! We were so happy to get it, since we put so much work into the decorations! We also might have intimidated them into giving it to us.

We spent today's class learning a multitude of ways to cook eggs! Chef started by creating an omelet.

Here is the omelet that Chef made. I had no idea that the middle was actually not fully cooked egg! That's why it is the way it is; the inside is like scrambled eggs while the outside is folded and smooth.

Although easier than I had imagined, there were still a fair amount of steps involved in this dish. My aha! moment happened however when we switched to our own stations.


Caption: To the right, chef shows us the best way to crack an egg. When you crack it on the table, less shell gets into the yolk. Cracking it on the bowl causes shell to go inside! Who knew?

I was put in charge of the poached egg because I LOVE eggs benedict. I had no idea that you actually dropped an egg in water to do this. This seems sacrilegious to me... but it worked!

 Caption (Picture 1): An egg, sunny side up! He wanted it not overly cooked, just perfectly heated on both sides. Mikki took care of this, and after the second try it was perfection!

Caption (Picture 2): My beautiful poached egg. You have to slowly pour the egg from a bowl into the water, so that the white and yolk don't mix or break. They float around the water like aliens...


Day 2 revolved around the infamous Waldorf Salad! This salad is very simple, made from lettuce, apple, celery, and mayonnaise.

It ended up being delicious, however my aha moment was that the salad is only made of these four ingredients. Some chefs and restaurants add other tastes and foods, however the original had these simple ones!

Our perfect requisition (almost). We ended up changing some of our theme/ideas, but I think it will turn out great! The chocolate will be a fun touch too.

 Caption: Chef laid out all of the ingredients to make mayonnaise AND the salad! It is important to have everything ready so that you do not make the mayonnaise wrong and screw everything up. Mayonnaise is apparently very temperamental.

Here, chef is making the mayonnaise! He is describing how the oil is essential to add slowly, so that the whole dish is slowly mixed well.

 Caption: Slowly adding the oil to the mayo. When our group did this, we added it at the right speed as well and it helped to create a good consistency in the dip. It was also VERY tiring for Mikki to stir for so long!

Finally, here is the creation of the salad! It is important to chop the ingredients rather thinly so that every flavor can come through!

One connection this week was with our poached eggs. I realized that I am now able to make my very own eggs benedict (if I found the time during school.... so never)! I now have the skills and knowledge of how to make poached eggs as well as Hollaindaise sauce! I will have to try this out during finals week.