NYC, I love thee

I will write a little recap of my very first trip to New York City. Note that my husband blogged about our trip as it was happening so his it better. Really you should just ignore this post and read his.

I learned two things on this trip.
1. All stereotypes about NYC are true.
2. NYC is the heart of Christmas.

1. Seriously. The accent, yelling over cabs, overweight cops eating bagels and donuts, the fast pace, the smells (good and bad), etc. New York is a lot like what you see in the movies and on tv. I wasn't disappointed.

2. Christmas is New York is better than you would expect. I feel like now I know what Christmas is supposed to be like. Every bar and restaurant we went to was decked out with Christmas decorations. So were most stores. Rockefeller Plaza and the surrounding stores could be part of the north pole. We saw a firetruck that had Christmas lights all over the front of it. Everyone wished you a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. Even the strip club we walked by on Broadway had a huge Nutcracker statue and the bouncer was dressed as Santa. I felt the immediate need to come home and decorate our house more. I cannot be outdone by a strip club.

I learned four things about New York.
1. All stereotypes are true
2. It is Santa's workshop
3. It is all about the bakeries
4. The shopping is varied and wonderful

3. Their bakeries are serious. I didn't eat anything bad (although I had help from a friend picking the good ones). Also there are bakeries on every block. We had cupcakes from Magnolia bakery which were so cute and delicious. At Amy's bread I had a scone and my husband had brioche and they were both fabulous. The brioche was the best I had EVER tasted. At Sarabeth's I had a breakfast sandwich on a croissant with ham and gruyere. The croissant was as light and fluffy as a pillow. We made several trips to Le Financier for macaroons. They were huge and very tasty. Especially the cassis one we had. At Le Pain Quotidien (which we called the pain quotient) I had another fantastic scone topped with ricotta cheese and paris ham. I plan on recreating that experience for breakfast every day possible. They also have a hazelnut spread that puts Nutella to shame.

4. The shopping was better than I could have imagined. I was picturing big department stores and name brands. That really isn't my kind of shopping. I knew there would be cute little boutiques too, and there were. The star of the shopping show, however, were the pop-up holiday markets. We went to five of them. They are temporary stores with lots of vendors selling anything you could imagine but mostly things that you couldn't. They ranged from kind of fancy (the Grand Central Station holiday market) to hipster and gritty (Artists and Flea pop-up shop in Chelsea market). I pretty much did all my holiday shopping at these markets and we both bought plenty for ourselves too. We would have bought more but that would have also required buying an additional suitcase. We seriously spent hours in these markets, shopping, pining and chatting with the vendors. I would like to live in Chelsea market please.

I learned six things during my trip.
1. Stereotypes - real
2. Santa lives there
3. Bakeries, you will eat until you explode and you will be happy to do so
4. Shopping, you will shop until you are poor and you will be happy to do so
5. It really is the city that never sleeps
6. I want to go to there, again

5. I felt safer in NYC at night than I do in Minneapolis and St. Paul. It is mostly because there are always people on the street. Walking back to our hotel at 2am we never went down a street without at least 3 other big groups of people walking as well. And many of them seemed to be just starting their nights.

6. As promised by everyone who has gone before me, I am already planning a return trip. We didn't make it to any of the other burrows or most museums. I am told that if I go to Brooklyn I may just settle in, never to return to MN.

We really crammed a lot into our trip. We only had 3 full days so we kept moving the whole time. We made it to the Nutcracker in Lincoln Center, the NBC studio tour, Top of the Rock, the Museum of Natural History, and a taping of the Letterman show plus lots more cute restaurants and shops. We really couldn't have done it without an awesome itinerary made for us by a friend and advice from my brother and lots more friends. Thanks everybody!

Refreshed and Renewed!

My finals are over and I couldn't be happier with the results. My final written exam went very well, so did the product id test and so did my final practical exam.

For the final practical I had to make a fresh fruit tart, strassburger cookies, eclairs and pastry cream to fill the eclairs and tart. These are all things I have made before but I historically screw up under pressure and forget to put in sugar or baking soda or whatever. This time I actually felt remarkably calm and confident during the whole baking assembly process. What a difference six weeks of instruction can make. Then came the grading part and I was extremely nervous. I'm actually surprised that I didn't drop the whole tray just walking up to the from to get graded. Luckily I didn't and my chef instructor was very happy with my products. Phew! Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before she tasted everything.

As a reward I went to New York with my husband. As part of our pre-flight routine we went to the Surdyk's Flights for a cocktail and late lunch.

Then we got to New York. And I ate. And I shopped. And I ate. And then we did some eating and shopping.


It was the best trip ever.

Oops

I forgot I had a blog. It is finals week this week so I can't really be held responsible for my sanity. My life will return to normal very soon but not before it gets a whole lot awesomer. Cryptic! Mysterious! Ooooooooooo (that was a ghost sound)! I'm tired.

I declare!

Eclairs!



These are yummy. I really had no idea how delicious eclairs were. And the best part is that the dough is easy to make and you can use it to make eclairs, fancy swans, churros, cream puffs and those tasty little gougere things I mentioned earlier.

Because I'm not a very nice person...

A while ago I accidentally stole a friend's hat. I borrowed it for the morning and then it warmed up so I put it in my purse and forgot about it until I was later accused of stealing it. I went with it. I began texting him pictures of different people with his hat on or me in various locations wearing his hat. His hat went bowling, went to the farmer's market, visited some restaurants, etc. Then one day he told me that he felt sorry for his hat because it had to spend so much time with me. I told him his hat would be punished.

His birthday was approaching so I figured that would be a good time to give the hat back. I used to do a lot of knitting so I found some yarn about the same colors and I distressed it a little so it looked worn. I also made a pom pom. Then I found some fleece similar to the lining of the hat and sewed a new lining. I thought the lack of tags would give me away so I cut the tag out of a hat I had (same brand) and sewed it into the lining. Then I made a ransom style note, just for fun.

I made a false bottom in a box and put the real hat in. On top of it I wrapped up the hat pieces with the note. Justice.

I only fooled him for a few minutes but what a precious few minutes they were. And the best part is my husband recorded it!

On a totally unrelated note, we made turkey pizza. Pumpkin puree was the base, topped with turkey, red onions, gruyere cheese and red pepper flakes. Pretty tasty!

Thankful Thanksgiving

I am very thankful that my Thanksgiving meal turned out well this year. I don't usually do too much cooking at Thanksgiving, just maybe a dessert. Last year we got take out so I did nothing. I may have rasied the bar too high.

Braised vegetables, turkey, potato leek potage

We usually have a small Thanksgiving, just my husband, my parents, my brother and often his roommate (if he doesn't go home to the east coast). Most of my extended family is scattered across the country so we don't see them for Thanksgiving. Out of the 6 of us at dinner this year, 3 were vegetarian so I had to keep that in mind as I cooked. I planned to make stock out of the turkey bones and use the stock to make some of the other dishes but apparently vegetarians frown on their vegetables being cooked in turkey. Who knew? I made vegetable stock instead.

I really wish I had taken pictures of the process of making the vegetable stock because it is just so pretty. The combination of carrots, onion, leeks and celery all chopped up just makes me happy. It looks so fresh and delicious. I love making stock now.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Anyway, I made the stock the night before and we used it to brine the turkey. We also used it to make the braised vegetables the next day and the potato, leek potage (probably the biggest hit at dinner). I also made citrus cranberry relish, biscuits, crack butter*, and pumpkin chiffon pie. My husband cooked the turkey and made couscous. I had learned to make gougeres (tasty little cheese puffs) the day before in class so I decided to throw those in as an appetizer.

Grugeres

Probably the most startling change from all years past was the lack of panic. If nothing else, my classes have taught me that you can accomplish a lot in four hours. I had about 12 hours including the night before so there was nothing to worry about.

Now what to do with all the leftovers? So far they have become turkey tacos and turkey soup.






*Crack butter is a butter mixture that we first had at our friends' wedding. It is called crack butter because the more you eat it, the more you need. I saw people eating this butter plain at the wedding. I have been known to spread it on an inch thick. It is simply butter mixed with a little cream cheese and a lot of spices but it will change the way you think about butter (meaning, you will begin to think about it all the time).

Flakiness

I really feel like the word flaky should be spelled flakey. I don't know why. I just feels right. My textbook disagrees.

I learned a lot about flakiness last week. We made biscuits and scones. We actually made biscuits twice, once to learn and once as a practical exam. I got an A! I froze some biscuits for Thanksgiving, had scones for breakfast for a couple days and the rest of the biscuits and scones were dispersed among friends. Now they have something to be thankful for this Thursday.


Flakiness is all about the size of the fat. The larger the chunks of fat in a dough, the flakier it will be. I like super flaky things so I left my fat about pea sized. For less flaky you could go down to cornmeal sized.

I am pretty excited about the rest of this week, mostly because it involves a lot of cooking and not a lot of anything else. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year and I am going to make some things that I learned (in theory) how to make in culinary class. In that class we were told how to make all the basic stocks and sauces. We were shown how to make some of those stocks and sauces and how to execute all of the basic 7 cooking techniques. Occasionally we got to try it too but mostly we watched. I feel like I need to try as many of these things as possible before they go out of my brain. A couple days ago I filleted a fish and did a decent job considering I only saw it done once. Lets hope, for my family's sake, that everything for Thanksgiving goes as well. At least I know the biscuits will be good.

All about the Pie

I have started to really love making pie. I have always liked it but now lets go ahead and call it love.

Last week in class we made two pies, apple and blueberry. I haven't had the chance to taste the blueberry but the apple was great. My favorite part of making any pie is the crust. I love making crust, rolling it out and making the top pretty. For my apple pie (I need to become a better photographer) I decorated the top crust with star cut outs. We made the blueberry pie in pairs and I volunteered to do the lattice. I just couldn't get enough of it so I went home and made a blackberry pie for a friend who was having a birthday party (with a plaid inspire lattice on top which I forgot to take a picture of). If anyone ever needs a pie, let me know.

After two weeks of class one theme is clear, there are no shortcuts in good baking. When making the pie crust for example, it is all done by hand. Up until this point I have been using a food processor to mix dough because that is what the recipe says to do. Also, the crust on the bottom should be different than the crust on top. You want a flaky crust on top but a flaky crust on the bottom will lead to a soggy bottom. The dry ingredients should all be sifted and pastry flour is the best. Most of our recipes are more complicated than anything I have done at home, even the brownies. They aren't more difficult, just more involved and time consuming. They also taste a lot better.

Friday was the best day ever. After making two pies that turned out nicely and getting an A on my biscuit practical (more on that later), we were treated to a soup and salad buffet put on by the catering class next door. Everything I had tasted amazing. I don't know how often they do buffets but I hope it happens again.

I love culinary school.

Earlier this week we made meringues. I love them so much. They are relatively easy to make (if you have a stand mixer with whip attachment) and they are like little clouds of happiness. The unbaked meringue is equally delicious and a brilliant girl in class discovered that dipping the baked meringues in the unbaked meringue fluff gives you the best of both worlds! After bringing home so many cookies last week I immediately got rid of these. After a slow start I have managed to get rid of everything so far. 

These chocolate chip cookies went away too. These were for my practical cookie exam and they look much healthier than my sickly no baking soda cookies. I got an A on these.

Also, let's check in. I had predicted that at some point I would set something on fire, break something and cut myself. I managed to cut myself pretty quickly. I haven't set anything on fire yet but I did burn myself this week enough to get a blister. I have not yet broken anything but I did almost drop a whole tray of scones.

Best Weekend Ever

I feel like I haven't been home for a week which is pretty much true. This past weekend and the beginning of the week has been just overfilling with awesomeness. Here are the highlights:
Friday - pizza with friends followed by watching youtube videos (one of my favorite past times)
Saturday - seeing the Tune-yards live. They really put on an amazing show.
Sunday - Pudgie Pie party (see more on that below)! We also went to see David Sedaris who is a hilarious and dirty little man.
Monday - We went to see Noah and the Whale. I wan't too familiar with their music but they also put on an entertaining show while dressed in 3 piece suits, as I'm now assuming all English gentlemen do.
Tuesday - checking out our new neighborhood pub with friends.

All of these activities were great fun and made me happy but the pudgie pie party made me especially thrilled because I got to eat things and judge people.

Every year our friend holds a pudgie pie contest for her birthday. A pudgie pie is a sandwich that you make with a special iron and cook over a fire (google it). The iron kind of seals everything in. Each year the entries are judged by the previous year's winners. Most people seem to take it pretty seriously so there is some seriously delicious sandwich action every year. I won last year along with 2 others (my husband included) so I had to try all the pies and after some intense debate we picked three winners.

1. Currywurst - So delicious. That is pretty much the only way I can describe it.

2. Brownie aka Fudgie Pie - It turned out more like a molten chocolate cake. Covered in salted caramel and whipped cream. And made over a camp fire!

3. The F@#& You - This sandwich has as much attitude as the guy who made it. It was full of meat and had the perfect amount of spice. My personal favorite.



We tasted 12 sandwiches in all. What a delicious day.

Cookie Time!

This week has been very cookie-centric. We made chocolate chip cookies earlier in the week and yesterday we made biscotti, Strassburger cookies and brownies. Did you know brownies are considered a cookie? They are a sheet cookie or a bar cookie. Ours are topped with white and dark chocolate ganache. And they are fantastic. I have managed to not forget any more ingredients.

On Monday I have 2 tests, one on all the book reading we've done and for the other I need to bake chocolate chip cookies. I will be muttering under my breath, "baking soda, baking soda, baking soda" the whole time.

I am doing my best to give my products away so I don't eat them all but I don't have time to make deliveries and there isn't a line at my door. I should have a sign in my window that lights up when I have baked goods to give away. I might have to start giving them to the culinary students in the class next to us. Maybe they will repay the favor!

Growl

I have been debating whether to even blog about today. It was one of those days that I would like to block out.
6:55am I went to my physical therapy appointment
7:00am I was told my appointment was actually at 8:30 so I went back home
8:30  I returned to physical therapy. I was told that there was a cancellation at 7 and I could have gotten in.
10am class starts
10:30 getting my mise en place together for making chocolate chip cookies
10:35 I say to the girl next to me "I kind of like this mise en place business. This way I won't forget anything like I usually do at home."
10:50 I put my cookies in the oven
10:52 I start to clean up my space and find my baking soda hiding under my parchment paper. Curses.

I blame being frazzled from the earlier appointment mix up.

Luckily, it turns out, baking soda mostly acts as a browning agent in cookies. My cookies taste fine, they are just a little pale and sickly looking.

Alright, none of these incidents are a big deal as I reflect on them. I am a bit of a perfectionist though and slightly competitive (slightly may be a slight understatement). The last thing I wanted was to screw up the first time baking something in my first baking class. It was bound to happen. Also, the last thing I wanted was for the instructor to point it out to the whole class. That happened too. Now we all know what happens if you forget the baking soda. Now you know too.

Now I'm glad I shared. Sort of.

*Update: I just stepped in dog pee.

...

Remember when I used to blog sometimes? That was fun. I should do that again.

I can't believe it is already November. This past week flew by in a whirlwind. I had 6 tests and a paper to deal with plus visits to medical people nearly every day. Foot is getting better and neck is not so much.

I passed all my tests and both of my classes. I got A's in both even. I am now Servsafe certified and I got 49/50 on my final knife skills test. Not bad.

The real adventure starts tomorrow, my first baking class.

You win some, you lose some

The good news is that my foot has been getting better.

The bad news is that I've gone and broke my neck. Or I pinched a nerve. Something bad mysteriously happened. All I know is that I can't turn my head and it hurts a whole lot. You win some, you lose some.

This is also my last week of my first classes. If things go according to plan I will be servesafe certified and finish Culinary 1 strong. 

What I will miss most about Culinary 1 is the lunches. I already told you about the braised lamb and the grilled salmon. We also had pork chops with chambord sauce, asparagus with hollandaise and mashed potatoes one day. We also made fried shrimp and tartar sauce. Another day we had a duo of soups. One was a leek and potato potage and the other was lobster bisque. They were both incredibly delicious. The only down side of the lobster bisque was the killing of the lobsters. I hadn't really expected to see that. Our chef said the most humane way to do it is to just chop them right in half, which is what he did. I was slightly disturbed but by the time we were done cooking, the lobster had become just ingredients to me. Oh so very tasty ingredients. 

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

I'm Learning!

Write it down! I made dinner for my husband!

I have made dinners before (usually something I can bake or put in the crockpot) but it is always for company and it is always from a recipe. Earlier this week I COOKED my husband dinner for maybe the first time ever, and I didn't even need a recipe. I have maybe made him a grilled cheese sandwich before and once I think I cooked him some eggs for breakfast, but dinner? Never. (well, I guess there was the lamb last week but the husband helped a little with that)

I made grilled chicken tacos with a fresh and warm corn, tomato and red wine vinegar onion salsa. There was also a side of black beans and queso fresco and avocado to put on top. It was delicious! I was shocked! I felt so good about it that I made desert too!

For desert I poached pears in white wine, then I stuffed the center with chopped up dates and pecans and put them in the oven. Meanwhile I made a syrup with brown sugar, water, a little wine, star anise, cloves and cinnamon. I drizzled it over the pear and done! Dessert! *I forgot to take a picture so I will recreate it and add at a later date

Next week is my last week of culinary class. I am sad. I have heard it said over and over that if you want to be a good pastry chef you need to be a good savory chef. I am determined to make that happen so I am going to try to cook at least once a week from now on. In theory, I should know how to do that now.

3.1415926535

So my brother had a pie party last weekend. A brilliant, filling, and then sickening idea. Just kidding, it was plain great. The rule was you had to bring pie or a beverage. I made two contributions because I am an over achiever.

All the pies!
(My pecan pie is the 1/2 eaten one)

First I made this pecan pie recipe. I was curious what a pecan pie without corn syrup would be like. Fabulous. Way better than normal which is good news for me since I am technically allergic to corn. It was very much a typical pecan pie but without the syrupy sweetness. I made a clove crust and Amaretto whipped cream which really sealed the deal. The whipped cream was more popular than the pie actually. I forgot to take a pic of this pie until it was half eaten on the pie table.

Pi pies

Next I made these apple pie cookies. I mostly wanted to make these so I could bring in pi. I had the idea to carve the numbers into the tops of the crust instead of the usual little slits you make in pies (is there a technical term for those?). It was really had to get a good picture of these cookies but you get the idea. They were really yummy too, a perfect cross between pie and a cookie. I used a cinnamon crust for these. I can't wait to make these again.

I did not use the pie crust given in the apple pie recipe. I always use a recipe from America's Test Kitchen that I found in a magazine a few years ago. I never really thought too much about the crust of a pie until I made this one. It is so delicious. I now love the crust and feel like it should really have a presence in a pie. It isn't just there to hold the filling together, it can make or break a pie. I usually pump up the volume of the crust recipe by adding a few extra spices or some secret ingredient. Making the crust has become my favorite part of making pie.

All the pies were really tasty. I was not smart though and I took too big of pieces to begin with so I did not get to sample all the pies. Now I know for next time!

Ah, Friday

It has been a rather stressful week (4 tests!) but this weekend is sure to make up for it.

First, my lovely pseudo-sisters brought me back these little beauties from Paris! Lets pretend I took the photo before I started eating them. They are wonderful and they make me happy and I haven't been sharing them with my husband.

Second, tonight my brother is having a pie party. The only point of the party is to eat pie. I'm in. I made a pecan pie this morning (which I over baked a little, oops)and I have another project in mind for this afternoon. Lets hope I can pull it off in time.

Third, we don't really have any plans this weekend. Lately this is rare. I can't wait to get appropriate amounts of sleep and get some housework done. And make macaroons, lots of adorable little french macaroons.

Skillz

I realize that what I consider to be major accomplishments in school right now are things that normal people do on a daily basis in their homes because it is what normal people do. Normal people can cut things up without incident. Normal people can saute vegetables without breaking into cold sweats. Normal people will also know when these vegetables are done cooking. Normal people can grill a piece of fish. I don't know how I missed obtaining the basic skill of cooking, even cooking simply. If you watch How I Met Your Mother, this is one of my (many) gaps in knowledge.

I really shouldn't be so excited and feel so proud that I grilled a piece of fish today but I do. I have never grilled anything except a cheese sandwich before. But, I also can now fillet and skin that fish. Not everyone can do that (right?).

The culinary course I am in now has stepped it up a notch. There is a whole lot less cutting going on and now more cooking. I know how to make stocks and sauces (with fancy french names). I know what it means to sweat vegetables. I can tie, cut and de-bone a chicken. But what I am most proud of is that I made dinner on Sunday.

In class last week our instructor showed us how to  make braised lamb and I wrote down every step so that I could try it at home.

For braised lamb you want something like a shoulder, something a little more on the tough side and with lots of connective tissue. You also need a large pan or dutch oven that you can bake. Lightly season the meat with some kosher salt. The first step is to sear the meat to a nice brown color on all sides, getting a good carmelization in the pan. Set the meat aside.

Cut up a couple onions and shallots in a medium dice. Heat them up in a little oil and then cover the pan to sweat the vegetables until they are translucent. Add minced garlic (about 10 cloves). Cook for another minute. Then add a small can of tomato paste and mix in with the veggies. Once that has been well incorporated add some flour (about 3/4 cup). Gently mix in the flour and cook for a minute or two. Then add 4 roma tomatoes, halved and slice thin. Cover and cook for another minute to release the juices. Make a bouquet garni with some thyme, black peppercorns and a bay leaf. Throw the meat and the veggie mixture into the pan with the bouquet garni and bake for about 2 1/2 hours with a cover on. I started out at 350 and reduced to 325 after about an hour.

Mean while blanch some green beans and cut up some turnips, carrots and potatoes. I used 4 of each and a bunch of green beans. You could add more if you want to go heavy on the vegetables. Steam the potatoes in one pan and the carrots and turnips in another (add salt to the potatoes and sugar to the other). We steamed ours by making a parchment paper cover. Set the veggies aside.

Right before the lamb is done, saute the potatoes in a little oil. Saute the carrots and turnips in a little oil with some sugar to make kind of a little glaze. Throw the green beans in for a minute towards the end just to heat them back up.

When the lamb and all the vegetables are done, put them all in a large bowl and gently mix to combine them. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Eat and enjoy!

When the chef made this in class and we all got to eat it, our class was ridiculously happy. It made my day. It is perfect for these damp, cold fall days and I can't wait to do it again.

This is what we call the...

Muppet show!

This weekend I got to exercise my decorating skill. Our godson turned five last week and he requested Muppet cupcakes for his birthday party. The Muppet Show was a big part of my childhood so I was happy to help. His mom and I did some research to see how this could be done. We ended up dividing the labor, she made the cupcakes and I decorated. It worked out well since she also needed to prepare lunch for the other guests and also entertain people.

I have never really attempted anything like this. I used fondant to make some of the faces or embellishments like  glasses or Fozzie's hat. My friend bought candy eyes so that part was all done for me. I did change Kermit's,,
Miss Piggy and Gonzo's eyes a little to try to make them look a little more accurate. Some were dipped in white chocolate ganache that was colored and some that we wanted more texture for I used buttercream. I used a Jim Henson book for reference and I did a google image search for muppet cupcakes which came up with some amazing results! I made Kermit, Miss Piggy, Bunson, Beaker, Rolf, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter and Animal with varying levels of success. Beaker and Fozzie were my favorites. Overall, I was happy and so was the birthday boy. He ate Beaker.

I couldn't handle eating any of them so I had a plain cupcake.

I'm excited to try something like this again. Fondant is very fun to work with. Trying to mix the correct colors was my favorite part.

Mise En Place

For the first week (at least) of class the instructor kept referring to mise en place and I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm not sure if he explained it and I wasn't paying attention, or more likely he didn't explain it ever and hoped we would just figure it out. He does that. He is a very brief man.

Mise en place for cupcake fail

Mise en place means everything in its place. I have never been great at having everything ready before I start a recipe. I'm not even good at reading all the way through a recipe before I start. I was making cupcakes yesterday morning and I thought I might as well give it a try. Turns out, it is super nice and handy to have everything ready to go. I like it!

Actually I made cupcakes twice this week. The first time I used a new recipe. I'm not sure why. It all went fine and the cupcakes looked great but then they sank when I took them out of the oven. They tasted great but looked terrible. The recipe seemed suspect to begin with, it had tons of sugar and very little flour. And a lot of milk too.

After that fail I went with my go-to cupcake cookbook. It is a vegan cupcake book I got when I made 500 vegan cupcakes for a wedding last summer. I'm not vegan so when I use these recipes for me I use real butter and milk and they turn out fantastic. The hair salon we go to changed ownership, one of the awesome stylists bought it and gave it a make over so to celebrate I wanted to bring cupcakes. Hair-O-Smith is an 80's themed salon and dance studio (and everyone there is totally rad, you should go to there). They made the floor pink and black so I thought I would reflect that in the cupcakes. I made pink and chocolate marble cakes. I didn't taste them but they looked super cute!

 For the frosting I made a simple vanilla bean buttercream. I tried to make pink and black swirls but it was really hard to get a true black. They ended up looking more purple. Oh well. They were well received so I am happy about that.

In other news I cut myself yesterday but on a transformer toy at work. AND, I have my first practical exam next week. I will have a time limit and several knife cuts to perform. I should probably practice this weekend. Anyone have any veggies they need cut up rather small?

Blah

I actually did some baking this week and I managed to take zero pictures. Fail.

I am in two bookclubs, because I like people and I like books. One of the bookclubs (and I promise I love you both equally) does a potluck of sorts when we meet. Everyone brings a dish to share, the hostess makes a main dish. Usually the hostess will tell everyone what she is making and occasionally the rest of us will tell what we are bringing. More often it is a complete surprise. We never know if there will be repeats or if anything will really go together. Somehow it all works out, it is always a fantastic meal.

I hosted this month and we read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I made a savory pumpkin pie and a chicken pot pie. There was also a variety of cheese and crackers, pickled green beans, beets and okra, tiny cupcakes, pumpkin cookies, tuna and veggie dip, and custard pie. All delicious. Wish bookclub happened more than once a month.

I got more skills in school today that I can't wait to bust out. I made mayonaise for the first time and learn how to tie up a chicken. I also learned how to cut that chicken all apart, with or without bones. I actually really want to buy a whole chicken now and cut it up. I really, really do.

Tomorrow I will again me battling my nemesis, the tourne. I have to tourne a turnip, carrot and potato for homework. And then maybe I'll make cupcakes.

Take That Veggies!

I julienned the crap out of some vegetables this week. Carrots, zucchini, celery, leeks, green pepper and scallions all went down without much of a fight. Are you sick of my cut up vegetable pictures yet? I'll try to add some variety this weekend. I can now also paysanne and make a basket out of a lemon (which I'm sure has a french name too but I wasn't paying attention). I was able to tourne some carrots and even got a "looking good" from my instructor (which is the highest level of praise we have heard so far). All while not cutting myself. Winner.

Strangely, I'm actually starting to enjoy cutting things up all thin and tiny. I have even started looking at knives in the kitchen stores. I feel fiercely protective over the precious knives in my kit. I would never have expected this. I'm a little bummed that this will probably be my only class where I get to cut stuff up. But I am happy to be in a program where I don't have to kill a lobster or deal with raw meat. I would much rather be making gingerbread houses and pies. I'll just cut up more stuff at home. Plus the culinary students seem kind of intense. You can definitely tell who is in which program.

In other news, I signed up for another food swap this weekend and I'm not sure what to make. I have a ton of canned goods but I can't bear to part with them and I certainly am not up to canning more. I'm all canned out for the season.