Cakes class finished up last week. All in all, it was a successful segment. I learned alot, and I got my first "A" in culinary school!
Friday (we had a make-up day last Friday because of the MLK holiday on Monday) was our first day across the hall in Hot and Cold Dessert Presentations. It appears that all the rumors we heard about Chef K. are false. I'm finding her quite delightful. The class is much less intense than Chef Clement's class, but not as relaxed as Chef Comar's, if that makes any sense. We're making lots (and lots!) of pie; Moday was Dutch Apple, yesterday was Cherry. Today were Strawberry Chiffon and Lemon Meringue. Tomorrow we're going to do cream pies. I love pie :)
Bake Tech is moving along. It's not my favorite class by a long shot. I understand the reasoning behind it, but a lot of the time it feels really redundant. Maybe if we were Freshman who hadn't had a culinary lab before, it would seem more important. Besides which, the ovens work like c&*$ and there's never enough equipment.
Speaking of which, I've gotten really spoiled being able to bake in the labs. We have everything we could possibly need, from 5 kinds of flour to sheet pans in stacks and parchment paper that comes in sheets, and huge mixers with two different sized bowls. Not to mention space. Ergo, baking at home has turned into a challenge. I have to make a list before I bake to make sure that we have everything I need. We're kind of limited for space. And I still haven't figured out the temperature discrepency in our new-ish oven (that we've had for a year). Someday, someday. Someday we're going to win the lottery and build our dream house with a fabulous kitchen. Maybe.
Right now I'm avoiding doing homework. I missed Bake Tech yesterday, and since I missed a lab on chocolates, I need to write an essay about chocolate. I think. I can't seem to get either of the chefs to email me back, and Keisha said that when she told Chef Swanson I was going to be absent, Chef Swanson had no idea who I was. Great. 7 weeks of class and she doesn't know me from a tree stump.
In other news, we collected 142 hats for the DPL K4OT event last weekend! Yay!!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
"Maybe it's monkey!"
Just a note on the title: every day, lunch is a guessing game as far as what meat product we're eating. It's a little scary, sometimes, especially when the servers can't tell us for sure whether it's pork, beef, or veal. So, today, Keisha decided to be funny.
Today was the last day of cakes class. I loved Chef Clement, so I'm sad to see Intro to Cakes get ticked off my list of labs. Somehow, I'm thinking that the next segment won't be as much fun. Anyway, we had two days of practical, which went really well. The cakes that Kendra and I made were well mixed, though my finishing still needed a little work. The only snag came when we couldn't find the half of the petit fours sheet that was ours. After Shannon and Maria cut theirs, they put it back in the fridge wrapped in plastic and labelled with tape for our table. When Kendra and I went looking for it, it was gone. Nobody 'fessed up to having it, so we were left finishing somebody elses sunken petit fours. Chef was really p.o.'d and only graded us on the finishing; I'm just annoyed, because it obviously wasn't a mistake. The tray was labelled, for crying out loud. But, it's over. I shouldn't hold a grudge, especially since I don't know who did it (although I think I know who did it).
Tomorrow it's on to Hot and Cold Dessert Presentations. That is so not going to be fun. But, in 5 weeks it will be Chocolates, and then another dose of Chef Clement before co-op.
This weekend I'll be busy knitting away on hats for the Knitting for the Troops Marathon sponsored by Denver Public Library. The goal is to knit 5, 280 hats to donate to the USO for servicemembers deployed overseas.
That's about all from here today. I'm sure I'll have alot more to talk about after meeting the new Chef tomorrow...
Today was the last day of cakes class. I loved Chef Clement, so I'm sad to see Intro to Cakes get ticked off my list of labs. Somehow, I'm thinking that the next segment won't be as much fun. Anyway, we had two days of practical, which went really well. The cakes that Kendra and I made were well mixed, though my finishing still needed a little work. The only snag came when we couldn't find the half of the petit fours sheet that was ours. After Shannon and Maria cut theirs, they put it back in the fridge wrapped in plastic and labelled with tape for our table. When Kendra and I went looking for it, it was gone. Nobody 'fessed up to having it, so we were left finishing somebody elses sunken petit fours. Chef was really p.o.'d and only graded us on the finishing; I'm just annoyed, because it obviously wasn't a mistake. The tray was labelled, for crying out loud. But, it's over. I shouldn't hold a grudge, especially since I don't know who did it (although I think I know who did it).
Tomorrow it's on to Hot and Cold Dessert Presentations. That is so not going to be fun. But, in 5 weeks it will be Chocolates, and then another dose of Chef Clement before co-op.
This weekend I'll be busy knitting away on hats for the Knitting for the Troops Marathon sponsored by Denver Public Library. The goal is to knit 5, 280 hats to donate to the USO for servicemembers deployed overseas.
That's about all from here today. I'm sure I'll have alot more to talk about after meeting the new Chef tomorrow...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Ode to Italian Buttercream
First, in honor of the 32 lbs of Italian buttercream my group made today, a little waxing poetic about Italian B.C.:
Egg whites and sugar
what a sticky mess you make
stop! medium peak!
sugar and water
is thermometer working?
please don't crystallize
pouring carefully
syrup hits side of bowl and
makes cotton candy
whipping until cool
add lots and lots of butter
whipping until smooth
oh dear buttercream
why must you take so much time?
Hours I can't get back
And yes, you read right. We made just shy of 32 pounds of buttercream. Hopefully I'll put some pictures up tomorrow of the cake monstrosity that requires so much buttercream. Actually, I'm sure it will be lovely. Just right now, that's alot of cake and alot of buttercream to deal with in the am.
We spent much of last week making petit fours. We did some petit fours sec ("dry") and demi-sec ("semi-dry"), my favorites of which were pine nut macaroons, and almond spritz cookies with raspberry jam. We also worked on petit fours glace, tiny squares of frangipane (almond cake) layered with raspberry jame and marzipan. Then, we had to cover the squares with cream fondant. Let me state for the record that while I have now figured out the cream fondant, I still don't like it. The highlight of last Thursday was dripping some on my shoe. Then, yesterday, the fondant was fine but my scrivosa for drawing on the tops gave me problems. Today, my skills were a hot mess. I hope it gets better before our practical next week.
Speaking of practicals, it's hard to believe that cakes class is almost done. I'll miss having Chef C. for class every day, but we'll get to see her again next tri for advanced cakes. We also have Chocolates next tri. I think I'll like chocolates, and I hope I'll be good at it. I mean, I do all right in cakes, and I did fine in my other two labs, but I feel like I'm not really excelling at anything yet. Granted, I've made lots of progress since the first day, so maybe I'm judging myself a little harshly. I don't know. I still think I'm going to like chocolates; apparently it requires patience. For the most part, patience is something I have lots of.
As an escape from school, Other Half and I have been watching the dvds of Battlestar Galactica. I didn't get into the show until the third season, and we've since discovered that Other Half didn't start watching regularly until almost the middle of the second season herself, so this has been a fun journey. The final 10 episodes start on Friday. We won't be finished watching the back episodes, but I know that I'll have a much better understanding of the goings on than I did before.
Check back tomorrow or Friday for pictures!
Egg whites and sugar
what a sticky mess you make
stop! medium peak!
sugar and water
is thermometer working?
please don't crystallize
pouring carefully
syrup hits side of bowl and
makes cotton candy
whipping until cool
add lots and lots of butter
whipping until smooth
oh dear buttercream
why must you take so much time?
Hours I can't get back
And yes, you read right. We made just shy of 32 pounds of buttercream. Hopefully I'll put some pictures up tomorrow of the cake monstrosity that requires so much buttercream. Actually, I'm sure it will be lovely. Just right now, that's alot of cake and alot of buttercream to deal with in the am.
We spent much of last week making petit fours. We did some petit fours sec ("dry") and demi-sec ("semi-dry"), my favorites of which were pine nut macaroons, and almond spritz cookies with raspberry jam. We also worked on petit fours glace, tiny squares of frangipane (almond cake) layered with raspberry jame and marzipan. Then, we had to cover the squares with cream fondant. Let me state for the record that while I have now figured out the cream fondant, I still don't like it. The highlight of last Thursday was dripping some on my shoe. Then, yesterday, the fondant was fine but my scrivosa for drawing on the tops gave me problems. Today, my skills were a hot mess. I hope it gets better before our practical next week.
Speaking of practicals, it's hard to believe that cakes class is almost done. I'll miss having Chef C. for class every day, but we'll get to see her again next tri for advanced cakes. We also have Chocolates next tri. I think I'll like chocolates, and I hope I'll be good at it. I mean, I do all right in cakes, and I did fine in my other two labs, but I feel like I'm not really excelling at anything yet. Granted, I've made lots of progress since the first day, so maybe I'm judging myself a little harshly. I don't know. I still think I'm going to like chocolates; apparently it requires patience. For the most part, patience is something I have lots of.
As an escape from school, Other Half and I have been watching the dvds of Battlestar Galactica. I didn't get into the show until the third season, and we've since discovered that Other Half didn't start watching regularly until almost the middle of the second season herself, so this has been a fun journey. The final 10 episodes start on Friday. We won't be finished watching the back episodes, but I know that I'll have a much better understanding of the goings on than I did before.
Check back tomorrow or Friday for pictures!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Holy Chocolate, Batman!
Okay, first things first: I really want to know why I seem to wake up on the klutzy side of the bed on Wednesday mornings. Could it be the 12 hours of class on Tuesdays? So, this morning I get to class and put my belongings (toolkit, notebook and binder, formulas book, apron, side towels, water bottle and travel mug) neatly under my station. Someone in class had very graciously filled soap and sani buckets for my table, and put them on the outside edge of the shelf next to my station. This is not where we ever keep our buckets. Surprise! There is such a thing as gravity, and it works really well to make sure that the slanted cover of a three ring binder is not the best place to keep one's apron and side towels. Hello, wet apron and towels and a big puddle of soapy water all over the floor. Chef just looked at me and shook her head. I wonder what she thinks when she watches me do stupid stuff like that.
Today was a great day for chocolate. We had to make a chocolate LSS (liquid shortening sponge cake) for our practical tomorrow, and a flourless chocolate sheet cake for a yule log. We finished the German Chocolate cake we started yesterday. We also made a jelly roll sponge, and a huge batch of Italian Buttercream. tomorrow we'll finish the yule logs and the practical cake. We'll also have our written mid-term. Then, two weeks of break! I'm looking forward to break, and to getting back East to see friends and family. But I am going to miss cakes class. I really love Chef C. She is awesome! And she told us today that we are one of the best classes she's ever taught!
Most of the baked goods that we produce get sent to the storeroom every day, and the folks there distribute them as needed to diningh rooms, the main dining hall, university events, or the freezer for use at a later date. I found out today, though, that the cakes are different! The cakes that we make (my class typically produces around 40 cakes a day, and the afternoon advanced cakes class at least another 20 cakes on top of that) get dontated to Project Angel Heart, which provides meals to people living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. So, that makes me feel good, that we're making desserts that will be enjoyed by people in the community as well.
I need to go do some studying... wish me luck tomorrow!
Today was a great day for chocolate. We had to make a chocolate LSS (liquid shortening sponge cake) for our practical tomorrow, and a flourless chocolate sheet cake for a yule log. We finished the German Chocolate cake we started yesterday. We also made a jelly roll sponge, and a huge batch of Italian Buttercream. tomorrow we'll finish the yule logs and the practical cake. We'll also have our written mid-term. Then, two weeks of break! I'm looking forward to break, and to getting back East to see friends and family. But I am going to miss cakes class. I really love Chef C. She is awesome! And she told us today that we are one of the best classes she's ever taught!
Most of the baked goods that we produce get sent to the storeroom every day, and the folks there distribute them as needed to diningh rooms, the main dining hall, university events, or the freezer for use at a later date. I found out today, though, that the cakes are different! The cakes that we make (my class typically produces around 40 cakes a day, and the afternoon advanced cakes class at least another 20 cakes on top of that) get dontated to Project Angel Heart, which provides meals to people living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. So, that makes me feel good, that we're making desserts that will be enjoyed by people in the community as well.
I need to go do some studying... wish me luck tomorrow!
Monday, December 15, 2008
I fought the cakes and the cakes won...
Not such a great day for cake decorating. We had a pistachio torte and a flourless espresso torte. I had issues with crumbs in my buttercream for the pistachio, and the glaze was too cool for my espresso. Oy. But, we were actually able to have class.
A little background on that: last night hit a record low in Denver of -18F. Brrr. The labs aren't kept terribly warm anyway, but our lab room was 32F at 6:30 this morning, and the pipes were frozen. You can't run production if there's no running water. So we turned on all the ovens and jacked the heat up. Finally, around 8:30 we got water in the dish pit, so we got started with finishing our cakes. But, the water would change from hot to cold in seconds. It was just a chilly day in class. My feet are still cold, and I've been home for over an hour.
Our big project is due on Thursday. I'm done with the writing. I just have to do the cake cutting guide and the sketch of my cake.
Three days until break...
A little background on that: last night hit a record low in Denver of -18F. Brrr. The labs aren't kept terribly warm anyway, but our lab room was 32F at 6:30 this morning, and the pipes were frozen. You can't run production if there's no running water. So we turned on all the ovens and jacked the heat up. Finally, around 8:30 we got water in the dish pit, so we got started with finishing our cakes. But, the water would change from hot to cold in seconds. It was just a chilly day in class. My feet are still cold, and I've been home for over an hour.
Our big project is due on Thursday. I'm done with the writing. I just have to do the cake cutting guide and the sketch of my cake.
Three days until break...
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
if today is Tuesday, this must be bake tech...
oh, yes, how I love 12 hours of class in the same day. And being gone from the house for almost 15 hours.
The reason? Bake tech. Every Tuesday from 2:15-8:20.
I had a moment of complete embarrasment this afternoon at the end of cakes class. Kendra had just dropped her frosting tips on the floor, and she was embarrased. Then, I picked up my case, which I hadn't latched completely after putting my tools away. Of course everything fell all over the floor. everything being 3 knives, assorted flat and offset spatulas, my zester, and my melon baller. And a tube of frosting tips. It was a klutzy kind of day today (big surprise, huh?)
In good news for the day, our liquid shortening cakes came out, and my piping is getting better every day. I made some nice roses today :)
The snow has ended, and it's going to be in the 50's the rest of the week.
That's about all from here today. I'm really going to go do homework now....
The reason? Bake tech. Every Tuesday from 2:15-8:20.
I had a moment of complete embarrasment this afternoon at the end of cakes class. Kendra had just dropped her frosting tips on the floor, and she was embarrased. Then, I picked up my case, which I hadn't latched completely after putting my tools away. Of course everything fell all over the floor. everything being 3 knives, assorted flat and offset spatulas, my zester, and my melon baller. And a tube of frosting tips. It was a klutzy kind of day today (big surprise, huh?)
In good news for the day, our liquid shortening cakes came out, and my piping is getting better every day. I made some nice roses today :)
The snow has ended, and it's going to be in the 50's the rest of the week.
That's about all from here today. I'm really going to go do homework now....
Monday, December 8, 2008
Dances with Cream Cheese
Today we made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Yum. But, really, the amount of cream cheese icing required to fill and frost 4 carrot cakes is a lot. And it kind of goes all over when made in a 20 quart mixing bowl. After finishing the cakes, each slice got topped with a little marzipan "carrot". Way cute. Alas, I forgot the camera at home. Maybe Wednesday I'll remember.... We also finished our citrus tortes (torted into 3 layers, filled with lemon curd and frosted with German buttercream, then scored and garnished with buttercream shells and little knots of candied lemon peel).
Things that are good:
1. my piping is getting better, as is my finishing
2. my new travel mug keeps my tea hot all morning long; I made it at 6:15 this morning, and because I kept the lid closed, it was still nice and warm at 12:30!
3. I got some work done this afternoon
4. arriving home to find out that we are having chicken and dumplings for dinner :)
Things that are icky:
1. not getting as much work done as I wanted (thanks in no small part to not being able to find the reference book I needed, getting stuck in 3:30 pm traffic going through downtown on Colfax, not being able to find a parking space at the public library, and having to go back to the pharmacy because they were out of my prescription over the weekend)
2. not getting home before it started to snow, since I was aparently not thinking this morning and left home without a coat (future note to self: chef's coat does not a toasty warm coat equal)
3. altitude adjustments and formula conversions
4. it's snowing out
Things that are good:
1. my piping is getting better, as is my finishing
2. my new travel mug keeps my tea hot all morning long; I made it at 6:15 this morning, and because I kept the lid closed, it was still nice and warm at 12:30!
3. I got some work done this afternoon
4. arriving home to find out that we are having chicken and dumplings for dinner :)
Things that are icky:
1. not getting as much work done as I wanted (thanks in no small part to not being able to find the reference book I needed, getting stuck in 3:30 pm traffic going through downtown on Colfax, not being able to find a parking space at the public library, and having to go back to the pharmacy because they were out of my prescription over the weekend)
2. not getting home before it started to snow, since I was aparently not thinking this morning and left home without a coat (future note to self: chef's coat does not a toasty warm coat equal)
3. altitude adjustments and formula conversions
4. it's snowing out
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