Ms Jones' Kitchen

back in action

2009-03-10T06:42:00.001-07:00

ok, so lets bring everyone up to speed on the stuff that's gone down since february of last year.

at that time, i was about a month and a half into my externship at A Voce. Between working at Dolce Italia full time, school 3 days a week, and externing on saturday nights, I was pretty much running myself into the ground. But seriously, if you know my style, that's precisely how I wanted it. The time spent externing was kind of a whirlwind. Getting to know everyone in the kitchen, getting to know Josh Gripper's dishes, getting to know myself as a cook, really. I could see a change in my work habits not only there, but in each other kitchen I was in. My focus was more intense...everything was a little tighter, little cleaner, a little more thought out. I fell in love with the pace of restaurant work. There is nothing quite like service pressure or the pressure of knowing that you've got 200+ on the books that night and sooner or later, its going to rain down on you, hard. I think that the toll that restaurant work takes on you didn't hit me until around April though....

Back to school for the time being. During the middle of February and I was coming off of the restaurant review assignment, where we had to go out for dessert and critique everything about the menu, restaurant, and dessert itself. As I was saying before, certain practices that used to feel awkward when we started were feeling more natural. I could see it too...as my work got progressively better. Basically, I could feel myself morphing into the cook I wanted to be. I noticed my chefs pushing me a bit harder and I also found that I pushed myself a lot harder because I felt confident I could do it. Being someone who's naturally insecure about most things, to have the knowledge and gut instinct to say, 'Yes, I can get this done and do it well,' is a really big deal. I was cannon-balling instead of just poking my toes in. Plus, everything I was learning at the restaurant was really helping me excel in the right areas in class. There was one particular day after class where the Chef said he was really taking notice of all the extra work I was doing and he appreciated it. Then he asked if I wanted him to make class harder for me. I laughed a little bit and said, "Chef, I want you to make this as hard as possible for me." It was just another example of the caliber of instruction we got at FCI. Chef's who wanted to see you succeed and push you to your limits.

From there on out, it was kind of a whirlwind of projects and assignments...Individual desserts, sugar show pieces, evening of desserts, menu projects, wedding cakes, and at long last, the final project. A couple of highlights....the dessert my partner, Holly Burrell, and I made was the biggest 'seller' of the 'evening of desserts' night...i convinced Chef Tom that cake with made with tofu can be delicious...recreating Quentin Blake illustrations with cocoa butter paints...and everything else was kind of blurry up until the actual graduation ceremony on May 30th.

My folks and lil brother came over from Ohio to watch me receive my toque and Grand Diplome. I ended up being one of 5 graduates 'with distinction,' which means that I finished with a 95% or higher for the course as a whole. Plus, I was the only student out of a class of 14 with perfect attendance. After the ceremony/reception, we headed off for an amazing night at A Voce....couldn't have asked for a nicer time...totally worth the pain of walking around in heels all day...

So A Voce....right....i am back tracking about a two months before graduation from FCI here....but I was having a talk with Josh Gripper and he offered me a position, part time until schools end and full time afterwards, as the pm pastry cook. i did some soul searching and some consulting with trusted sources...and accepted the position. It meant I would officially start in a few weeks and that I would have to quit Dolce Italia. Don't get me wrong, I loved the bakery in Astoria. Every second...every customer (haha, minus the guy who called me questionable things in German)...it gave me a good foot into this world and I am really grateful for all if it. I learned what to do and what not to do, what to expect and what not to expect when having a place of your own. I learned to never stop loving what you're creating and the people you're serving it to. Once that love is gone, you're sunk.

However, i left on a good note and started the next day learning everything that I didn't get a chance to during the externship. In my time there so far, I had never had more than a handful of interactions with the man himself, Andrew Carmellini. But my first night working dinner service solo...he made it a point to welcome me specifically and point out that this was the first night in A Voce history ( i think ) that the number of females working on the line/gm/pastry outweighed the number of guys. It blew my mind to know that this culinary giant knew my name and went out of his way to make me feel like this was my home. kind of warm and fuzzy, right?

Once i transitioned into full time, there was no time to look anywhere but forward. Two weeks after I started, I was told that Gripper was leaving...and that was only the start of the forthcoming changes....very soon, AC would be gone...then Luke would be gone as well. But in the present, my only concern was being super new and given the encouragement to stay on the team and hold down the fort with my then-partner-soon-to-be-chef, Kierin. I don't think I could have gotten acclimated to everything so quickly without her (and Nanina's) guidance and training and support and hard work. Most times were insanely busy...with the weather being all nice and the product we were making being pretty damn good, too.

But I'm not going to lie...the first few months were totally mentally, physically, and emotionally taxing on me. There were a lot of nights where I questioned whether or not I would really 'get it.' Whether or not things would just click and I could do service in my sleep and I wouldn't freak out if there were 6 tickets for 4-7 tops on the board all at once and I had 5 min to get them all out. I left feeling totally unprepared for the next day and totally inadequate. then on the other hand, there were days where i felt super confident that I was on the right track and on pace for where i should be in my career. Working in places like this is a total psychout. if you can keep your cool, you'll be ok. Just keep your head down, push harder, and work faster.

It was during this time that AC had quietly departed and the buzz surrounding the future of the restaurant was pretty loud. We held it down for quite a while until it was time for me to make a transition to AM and to bring in a new cook, Tammy. Chatty and sassy...that pretty much sums her up. The three of us made quite a pastry department. We got shizz done....and numbers were still remarkably good. Defying her claims that she wasn't ready for cheffin'...Kierin was bringing wonderful things to the table. Luke transitioned out of the place and we were left in the capable hands of our c-d-c, Ron. Despite losing some of our biggest players, the team was still strong as ever. Even stronger still because shortly after AC left, we unfortuately lost one of our own. I distinctly remember the sunday that ron and luke were in the dining room to talk to everyone as they arrived for the day...our friend and co-cook, Dennis, had passed away over the weekend. He was supposed to work garde manager that night directly to my left....i think all of us, especially those that knew him better than i did, hunkered down and our circle got tighter. we pushed on through the craziness that is nyc with great weather....

summer ended and fall started off with news that we were going to be getting a new executive chef. If i am not mistaken, Missy Robbins came in september...I had never experienced something like that before...a pre established crew and a chef who doesn't know any of them or the way they've been working for the past couple years. everyone was tiptoeing around for a couple weeks it seemed....More changes started...Kierin would put in her notice...which gave Tammy and I a month to get our things together before we were sans pastry chef...then Tammy put in her notice as well. SO three weeks after K left, Tammy would be gone too. I was kind of 75% freaking out and 25% excited to tackle this new situation that was put in front of me. i became a production monster because I had to and because I wanted to. K was gone, Tammy was checked out, and i still had a spell before the new pastry chef started in. God bless Emily Iguchi for holding down service for me while i placed the crap out of pastry station. I know it wasn't how she wanted to spend her last week there, but I am ever grateful that she did. The saturday after she left, I was flying solo and we did 208 that night. After my last ticket came in, I sat in the corner between my speed rack and my upstairs low boy and tried not to cry. those 6-14 days were a true testament to the training i had received. I've always thought that times where you were pushed to the extreme make you 10 times stronger and more competent. that was like, my official 'clicking moment.' I can do this job. and I would be able to work with the new chef, no problem. The day after that, I went for a trail over at Sullivan Street Bakery, just to scope things out and get a feel for what a bigger bakery pace was like. I enjoyed it so much that I accepted a part time position a couple weeks later. I would be going over there on my days off from A Voce. Full time was offered, but i didn't think it was my time to leave the restaurant yet...i felt and still feel that i have some more growth potential there and i wanted to see what was to come with the new pastry chef....

Jennifer McCoy started as pastry chef a short time after the 208 night. I had met her once before when she was in to do a tasting for Missy, but we didn't get a chance to talk more than just short 'get to know you' things. We both possess the enthusiasm and energy that i think i necessary to keep a consistently good flow in a department. After acclimating her to the station and to the restaurant, it was time to search for a PM cook and we found that in Carmen Lopez. She was finishing up an externship at Le Bernadin when she joined our crew....so being with us was a definite change of pace. Christmas and New Years came and went and it was looking like we were on a good pace. We had changed the whole dessert menu and almost hammered out a regular schedule for all three of us. Business was slow, but it was slow everywhere...the beginning of the year, coupled with a crap economy has made things tight all over the city and we are still feeling it. About 6 weeks after Carmen started, she turned in her two week notice. Some people find out very quickly that the restaurant life isn't one for them. ANd that was the same with c-lo. there's no ill will, i am simply glad she did what she believes is best for her and got out when she did. she's a lovely girl and i am glad to have worked with her and gotten to know her.

In her time there, more old school A Voce crew had departed. As it stands right now, there's only two of us who were a part of the Carmellini days...but the people they've been hiring have been really great. Fresh, inquisitive, and just good people. I still see all the cooks pretty regularly, but getting to know the new faces is kind of blowing my mind. i find new reasons to be madly in love with my job every day. Specifically getting to know Jenny as a person and as my chef has been really vital to my development as of late. Not too long ago, we talked about things that were on her mind and subsequently, things that were on my mind. Certain things I do/did...like being unnecessarily perpetually early...and elements of focus were called into question and i explained myself in a conscious effort to be more communicative. Everyone has their 'off' times and I recognized the fact that I try vrey had to achieve perfection, but its quite difficult for me to admit mistakes. i have to learn to start realizing that its ok...everyone slips up every now and again...but they happen less frequently if you always double check to make sure you're taking the time to do it right. I think being put in the postition i was put into so early on forced me to make certain decisions for the department that i don't have to make anymore...but often, its hard to let old habits die. I am used to making sure that I have enough time to get my work done...but now I know I can do everything in a shorter amount of time with the same end result. the conversations were very eye opening to me...and resulted in my asking her if i was in a proper place on the 'career path' for only being a year or so into the field. because when you start in the culinary arts, there is no set path to take...it winds, stops, spins, and spirals down. I was kind of freaking out because I wasn't sure if the extra responsibility i had taken on earlier would eventually hurt my career later on down the line...but i was reassured that i am beyond where i should be at this stage in the game. and if i stay on this pace and keep learning as much as I can, i will be able to go as far as i'd like to go.
However, I need to learn not to bear unnecessary burdens, lighten up on myself, and just concentrate on being a cook and producing the best product possible.

The past couple weeks at work have been busy...we're running specials on regional prix fixe menus at lunch, which has given a new twist to my usual morning routine. ALso, as of yesterday, my hours shifted from 8-5ish to 11-7ish. this is going to give me better time to focus strictly on production and also the chance to work more one on one with Jen. Spring menu changes will be here before i know it, as will the new location of A Voce in the Time Warner Center. i am hoping most of you saw the photo of the broken marble on facebook....after three years and countless kilos of donuts...the mighty marble has been defeated by my own two hands....

Sullivan is going well also. Its a new experience for me and i think it keeps my mind fresh overall. I am learning things I never even thought about doing before...for example...

that's a pork shoulder. dressed, rolled, tressed, and roasted by me. keep in mind that's the first time i've done that....who'd have thought that a pastry trained cook would be doing that...let alone one who doesn't eat pork at all. i get to make dough in a hobart mixer that is just as tall as i am. i plastic wrap my entire arm to fold meringue into a mixture of chocolate, butter, sugar, egg yolks, and bread crumbs. If you've ever been to 'wichcraft and had an apple turnover, there's a good chance i've had my hands on it. each lesson i learn is valuable and i don't see that trend stopping any time soon.

My new partner, Jeannette, started last week. THe winds of change are picking up kids.....and you can rest easy knowing that i'll be here to document them....

that's about all i can think of for right now...it feels nice to be back. sit down. have some cookies....

xx--

over one year

2009-03-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

since i've updated in the 'kitchen.' and i can't even begin to tell you how much has transpired over the last 365+ days of my life...but i am going to give it my best shot....tonight....'the kitchen' is back!!!!!

<3

Nougatine

2008-02-19T20:03:00.001-08:00

**for those of you reading...this was a blog entry that became a class assignment. The assignment came before I went to Nougatine, but I thought it would be easier for me to write if I was writing it first here. enjoy :)

I entered Nougatine at Jean-Georges around 1:45pm on a Sunday afternoon. The less formal cafe-style front room to Jean-Georges at Trump Towers (Central Park West at Columbus Circle), Nougatine boasts around one-hundred seats stationed around clean, modern decor. The largest table area was directly in front of me and my dining companions as we walked in. Off to our right was a lengthy bar, lined with stools for guests to enjoy a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. Beyond the bar, at the bar of the rectangular shaped room was the kitchen. I really liked the fact that you could see straight into it. Your food wasn't a mystery, like it seems to be many other places. A refreshing amount of light flowed through the floor to ceiling windows and properly lit the entire dining room. The first thing I noticed, though, was the shade of wood used not only for the flooring, but also the chairs, and wooden table elements. It was all honey colored. Strikingly similar to, well, Nougatine. Brunch is served on Sundays until 3pm, so I think by the time we had arrived, most of the crowd had left for the afternoon. However, there was about six or seven tables of people still enjoying their meals. Just as we were seated at a window table for four, our waiter, Jeff, was kind enough to place our menus in our hands for the feast to begin.

First and foremost, the entire staff at Nougatine is top notch. Attentive, welcoming, and definitely eager to meet customers needs. Not to say that quality is a rarity in upscale establishments, but more often that not, the staff is discouraged from interacting with clientele beyond "yes sir, no ma'am." Everyone that waited on us was courteous and more than happy to answer questions we had. As we browsed the brunch menu, Jeff was quick to point out that there was plenty of other options that were not listed on the menu. Its by this piece of information alone that we were able to get particular items added to our meal. Personally, I believe that brunch is the best meal of any day. In fact, I've think that 'breakfast' and 'lunch' should be eliminated all together and restaurants should have brunch every day. We made our meal choices and no more than ten minutes later, our brunch had arrived. There were four of us at the table and two of the party chose a waffle with roasted bananas and the other two of us had omelets. This was the only part of our dining experience that wasn't shared between everyone, so while I cannot speak for the others in at the table, I will say that it was the freshest egg white omelet I have ever had. I could tell from the first bite that they used fresh whites, as opposed to pasteurized boxed egg whites. There is a distinct taste difference between the two and I was even more happy that there was no greasy aftertaste in my mouth or residue on the plate. It was served with mesclun greens topped with a sweet vinaigrette dressing and a circle of roasted, thinly sliced, potato medallions

I also enjoyed a side of fresh fruit with the biggest blackberries I had seen over the past 6 months and superbly ripe pineapple, mango, and cantaloupe.

We didn't think our experience could be any better, until we realized why we were all around the table at Nougatine in the first place: DESSERT.

The dessert menu at Nougatine consists of six dessert choices, a selection of ice creams and sorbets, and a chef's selection of four cheeses. The ideas for the individual desserts are the handiwork of Jean-Georges and Nougatine executive Pastry Chef Johnny Iuzzini. Iuzzini, a 2006 James Beard Award winner and one of Forbes.com's 'Most Influential Chef's' of 2007, is an chef who is as plainly talented as he is innovative. We were able to reap the benefits from some of his work in molecular gastronomy as we ate our way through all of the six individual dessert choices. Now I'm sure you're thinking, 'six desserts?! But there was only four of you at the table!' You would be correct, too. In fact, we only ordered four of the six, but one of my fellow diners is also an exceptional pastry extern for Jean-Georges and Iuzzini. This meant we got all six desserts even though we only ordered four. Knowing the right people definitely works in your favor sometimes.

On to the desserts. I originally ordered the Crisp Warm Apple Tart with Honey-Ginger Ice Cream and Date Puree. It was basically an apple tart tatin with puff pastry. The flaky puff pastry itself was perfectly prepared and baked, as were the apples. The particular apple they used was well balanced with sweet and tart flavor. There was a hole cut out of the middle of the puff pastry to serve as an anchor for the Honey-Ginger Ice Cream, which seemed to have actual bits of crystallized ginger in it that melted on your tongue. The ice cream topped tart was placed on a smear of Date Puree, which was spiced and actually almost tasted like cinnamon applesauce. Seeing as the apple is my favorite fruit and food, I was in heaven. The only criticism I had was that it wasn't warm ENOUGH for me. I would have like to have seen a bit of steam coming from the apples themselves.

Another dessert we tasted was the Sweet Grape Vacherin with Black Sesame, Shiso, and Toasted Almond Ice Cream. A Vacherin is layers of meringue and cream. In this case, it was a Sweet Grape cream and Black Sesame Meringue. Shiso is a member of the mint family, also known as Chinese basil or Perilla. The Shiso was painted across the white plate and the Vacherin in the center, surrounded with toasted almonds and sweet grape slices. The Almond Ice Cream was on top of the Vacherin, which was so cold that it created a small frozen layer of the ice cream that you had to crack through to get into the heart of the dessert. I was really surprised with its mild taste overall. When I think of grapes I think puckeringly sweet. So to have something this smooth and flavorful that didn't make your face scrunch up while eating it was amazing. The black sesame meringue was sweet and light, and shockingly still crisp! It confirmed my belief that black sesame should be used more often in pastry overall. Vacherin is something I had never eaten before, but I would order it again if it tasted like that.

Next up was the Dark Chocolate Brownie (or 'best brownie ever' as they call it in the JG pastry kitchen) with Frozen Stout, Salted Pretzels, and Chocolate Paper. Dark chocolate was swept across the plate using the same paintbrush technique used in the Vacherin. The thinly sliced (and that's all you needed) round of Brownie was placed in the center of the plate and the Frozen Stout looked like a beer souffle on top of it. Bits of Salted Pretzel (made in-house), beer powder, and the Chocolate Paper finished off the plating. The Brownie was decadent and chewy, as it should be, and the Chocolate Paper was literally paper thin. It is made by THINLY spreading out chocolate pastry cream and putting it in a food dehydrator. It was delicate and delicious. My favorite thing, though, was the Frozen Stout. I was pleased to get a smooth beer flavor that wasn't overwhelming by any means. I was concerned that it might be too strong for my taste, but it really wasn't. I think using a darker brew really made a difference. It made me think of a bar serving chocolate covered pretzels as opposed to the normal peanuts and pretzels during happy hour and I kind of wanted a chocolate stick to dip into the Beer Powder, too.

Beth, one of my table-mates, ordered the Citrus Semi Freddo with Margarita Gel, Almond Sponge, and Dehydrated Grapefruit. Semi Freddo means 'half cold' in Italian and refers to a partially chilled or frozen dessert like cake, custard, creams, or fruit. In this dessert, it was a citrus flavored custard that rested upon a cool slice of Almond sponge cake. It floated in a bright-tasting Margarita gel, which enhanced the flavor of the grapefruit which looked fresh because it soaked up moisture from the gel. With many citrus desserts, you have to watch and make sure that it doesn't come out tasting like lemon household cleaner smells. This semi freddo was well balanced and light, perfectly complimenting the moist sponge cake beneath it. They were gracious enough to toss some citrus confit on the top to complete the dish. Excellent use of seasonal ingredients.

The Bitter Chocolate Cream was served with a Crispy Praline Crunch, homemade Graham Crackers, and Milk Sherbet. It looked like an upscale S'more with 'kisses' of the cream on top of the Praline Crunch and Graham. A thin layer of Dark Chocolate was topping the Cream kisses, caramel mou was painted in strips on either side of the main attraction, and the canele of MIlk Sherbet was served in on chocolate crumble with a chocolate cigarette across the top. The cream was a velvety cross between a custard and pudding. Not too rich and just bitter enough to please the milk and white chocolate lovers too. The graham was crisp and buttery and the Praline Crunch tasted like the inside of a Butterfinger bar. Tasting the Milk Sherbet reminded me of the Ice Milk bars my father would buy for us when I was really young. Insanely good and just like everything else so far, the flavors were all really well matched and balanced throughout the whole dish.

I ended the dessert roundtrip with simplicity. Jean-Georges' Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, a standard at most, if not all, of JG's seventeen plus restaurants. This wasn't a flourless cake, but it had a slightly molten center and was baked in a traditional brioche tete mold. Dots of chocolate sauce lined 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock on the plate and a liberal dusting of powdered sugar really made the deep color of the cake pop. I will be the first to say I am not a huge chocolate cake fan. I will opt for spice cake, vanilla cake, or pie most of the time. But I would order this cake again. It was the correct amount of warmth I was looking for, both in temperature and soul-warming quality. The density wasn't light and airy, but it wasn't as heavy as the Dark Chocolate Brownie from earlier. I can definitely see why this has been on the dessert menu's at JG's establishments for so long.

At Nougatine at Jean-Georges each dessert made sense. The plating was gorgeous and the items themselves, for the most part, tasted as I expected them too. Some of them even surprised me with how good they really were. At a restaurant that has a great menu, Nougatine's desserts complete and compliment whatever you may choose for a main course well. They obviously make a point to work with seasonal ingredients and are pushing the normal limits on creativity with technology. At $9 per dessert, the prices were really fair for Manhattan and you got a great amount of food for that price. The really great thing about the flavors was that nothing was TOO heavy. One could easily finish an entire portion after a full meal and not feel sugar sickness afterwards. Iuzzini is really in touch with creating a selection of items and tastes that appeal to the pickiest of eaters. The Nougatine staff went above and beyond for us and for the rest of the diners as well. Would I go back to Nougatine for dessert? All signs point to yes.

Starting Jan. 5th

2007-12-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

A Voce
this is where Ms Jones will be spending her Saturday nights. I may need a couple more chefs coats kids....

Happy Sweet Potato accident

2007-12-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

At school, we're in the middle of the second part of the Viennoiserie (bread) unit. Making everything from challah to oat bread with blueberries and walnuts, to stollen, pannetone, and fruitcake, cornbread and croissants of every kind. We've even gotten into one of my favorite breads of all time: brioche. The eggy, sweet, teensy rolls that are good with sweet or savory filling. This week was the class I had been waiting for since I first saw the syllabus for the whole first unit of class: Sweet Potato Brioche.

Those of you who have talked to me both during the fall and during the spring/summer grilling season know my LOVE LOVE LOOOOOVE of sweet potatoes. When I saw that we could make one of my favorite breads with one of my favorite root vegetables, I was 100% sold. Soooo it figures that this is the day we throw something off.

Thursday we were making a few different things. One of them was Pain Ordinaire (regular bread dough). This dough is a direct mix, which means that everything is combined at once and mixed, then set aside to ferment and double. Normally doughs are made in stages (12 to be exact) which include adding the yeast and salt after an autolyse process, then proofed a couple times before being cut and pre-shaped, bench rested, shaped and final proofed. Not the case with Pain Ordinaire. We had made that dough and then put it in the proof box to double in size.

It was also the same color and size (but not texture) as the sponge we had put together for the base to our Sweet Potato Brioche. THe sponge is used to pre-ferment the yeast and cut down on how long the dough has to be allowed to rest before we can work up the rest of the gluten structure. When we went to put together the rest of the sweet potato brioche, i stepped away to wash dishes or something and there was what was supposed to be the ST sponge. Not thinking clearly, I did question whether or not to add it to the rest of the mixture in the Hobart. I think I even said 'I'm nervous about adding this in...' But in the end, i threw it in and finished the rest of the brioche dough and worked it to a great consistency and smell.

It wasn't until I went over to the proof box and found a bowl labeled 'ST Brioche Dough' with our names on it did I realize I should have trusted my intuition. We still had a sweet potato sponge, and now, a brioche that had a ton more yeast in it than usual, etc. However, we would have to wait until next class to find out.

Once we had our pre-shaped 'brioches' egg washed, we noticed that the only difference between our dough and everyone elses was the color. Ours was a slightly less orange-y hue. We popped them into the oven and hoped for the best. What we got was a surprisingly great result! Sweet Potato dinner rolls. AND because of the decreased (overall) amount of sugar, we think that it made the flavors we seasoned the sweet potatoes with really pop out.

All in all, not a bad result to a potential disaster. I was lucky enough to get some of the rolls (real ones) and they live in my freezer.

i'm a updating machine....

Dessert Overload

2007-11-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

Now how can you read that and expect to find out about something bad? It HAS to be scandalously good. So most of you should be able to realize by now that Ms Jones has been so busy in the kitchen(s) that she hasn't had time to even finish updating you on all that's going on! For example, the last FCI class recap was from Day 10? Yeah, we just had day 46. I am way behind on that. However, there's some exciting things that have gone on here in the past few weeks that I couldn't allow the fatigue deter me from telling you at least a little bit about.

The 10th and 11th of November, I was fortunate enough to be a part of the NYC Chocolate Show 2007. It was the 10th anniversary of the show and everything was taking place at the Metropolitan Pavillion & Altman Building on West 18th between 6th and 7th Ave's. Laissez-vous aller a votre passion chocolat! Basically 40,000 sqaure feet of indulgence for the who's who of the chocolate world and the people who worship it. On Saturday the 10th, myself and a couple others from the FCI went over to have a look around before we all worked the show later in the weekend. Booth after booth of free samples, chocolate for sale, and the actual chocolatiers themselves! Seeing people like Fritz Knipschildt from Knipschildt Chocolatier, Lee Zalban from Peanut Butter & Co, Ilene Shane from SweetBliss, Jeff Shepherd from Lillie Belle Farms, and Jacques Torres himself behind their stations interacting with the consumers directly and on such a personal level was amazing. We got in and passed by the City Harvest booth and went over to the first chocolate art display area to see the 7-foot tall chocolate statue made by Chef Kir Rodriguez and others from the FCI. Making our way around, smelling and tasting, we attempted to check our our Dean of Pastry Arts, Jacques Torres, for his demo in the Viking Kitchen, but it was way too crowded for us to even see! I was able to get a couple photos though. Overall it wasn't a big deal because he's so closely tied into our curriculum and our programme that our paths will cross soon enough...Lucky for us the E. Guittard booth with right next to the stage so we took full advantage of trying the darkest of their dark chocolate: Nocturne 91% extra dark. THe only thing darker tasting than that I had all afternoon was the actual Cacao bean I tried over at Romanico's. How could something be bitter and smooth at the same time? Briliant. As the afternoon went on, we made friends with the worker at the ChocoVision technology booth...now I might be considering getting a tabletop tempering machine someday...but our purchasing took place after we went to the Viking Stage again for the Peanut Butter & Company demo at 5pm.

Lee Zalban was making Peanut Butter Buckeyes, something I was all too familiar with, being from Ohio. It was a favorite recipe from the Peanut Butter & Co. cookbook, which I ended up purchasing and having personalized by Lee himself later on in the evening. Lee didn't really want to get too down & dirty, so he stressed that this was a fun project to have your kids help out on. Therefore a 12 year old boy named Henry, who I later found out had been going to the Chocolate Show since he was 6, and who was also volunteering that weekend, was asked to dive right in and mix the dessert components with his bare (and clean) hands.

After the demo, we 1) ate a buckeye and 2) continued our rounds of the show. I purchased two truffles from Oliver Kita: White Peaches & Cream and Espresso; a pumpkin Bistro Bar from Chocolate Moderne, and Eve's Secret Truffes from Romanico's. These things are insanely good and only 38 calories each because there are no preservatives in them at all. 38 cals for a dark chocolate truffle with an actual hazelnut in the middle! After that, we headed to check out the Chocolate Fashion show and the Chocolate Lounge, where I almost didn't get let in because they thought I was too young. Nice. We made one final stop at the PB&Co booth to get our cookbooks purchased and autographed. Those antics laid the groundwork for the next day, when I would be actually be working the show at the Viking stage.

My shift started at 2pm and I got there with enough time to allow me to change into my chefs coat and checks. Almost ran into Keegan Gerhard when I arrived backstage to check in and get started. Right away, the supervisor of the backstage area, Sarah, was going to have a few of the volunteers who had been there for a while show the new arrivals where to wash dishes, etc. I struck up a conversation with Henry (the 12 year old) to tell him what a great help he was during the demo yesterday and as a result, I was put in charge of monitoring him the rest of the afternoon/evening. Derrick Tu Tan Pho from Barry Callebaut was finishing up his second demo of 'Cappuccino Ebony' of the day. We tidied up after he was finished and got prepped for the next demo, which was from Quady with CocoaVino. They prepared a dessert called 'Drunken Figs' as a part of their demo on Explorations in Dessert Wines: Figs & Chocolate. As volunteers, we were there for set-up, sample distribution, and clean-up for each demo that took place during the amount of time we were there. As Henry's 'keeper' I was also asked to make sure recipes for the demos got properly distributed as well as a couple other things that needed to be passed out to the audience. For the Quady demo, we passed out a sample of the wine that the figs were cooked in, the cooked figs which had been cooled and lightly coated in chocolate, then a white dessert wine to compliment the figs. As we cleaned up after that, the next demo, which was essentially a lecture by DeAnna Radaj, took place. As people learned about Chocolate and Feng Shui, Matt Gennuoso from Chez Pascal in Providence, RI showed up for his demonstration at 5. Henry had gone off to walk around the show, which left me free to assist Chef Gennuoso with his prep for Spicy Black Bean Chocolate Soup and Pork stuffed Piquillo Peppers (a small roasted red pepper from Peru). What I was basically doing was putting a bit of a mixture of fennel and onion (cooked in a duck broth) and then placing one of the Pork (and chocolate) sausage stuffed piquillos on the top of that. They had been cooked prior to coming to the show to save time and we were reheating them before plating them. It saved even more time to reheat them exactly how they were going to come out on the plate. I think I prepped about 150 veg & pepper combos. Once that was finished, my 'partner' Henry and I were set to reheat the Spicy Black Bean Chocolate soup (made with mole). We headed up the stage range with our soup filled stockpot and talked with Chef Gennuoso while we waited for 5 o'clock to roll around. Once the clock reached time, I darted behind the side curtains while Henry helped out Matt and at a certain time during the demo, it was my responsibility to grab the 3 trays full of peppers and veg out of the ovens behind the main range so they could get plated and served hot to the audience members. A teeny cup of the chocolate black bean soup was served on the side of the pepper (on the same plate) with a small dollop of creme fraiche. In the end, all the soup/peppers went out looking and smelling great. From what I heard, it tasted out of this world too.

Clean up ensued while the team from Donatella & DavidBurke finished putting together their individual desserts of Chocolate Domes for Parties & Such. They had two different versions: one dome was covered in cocoa powder and had a slight coffee flavor to it. The center of the dome was a vanilla custard. The other was covered in toasted coconut and the center was fresh grapefruit! Really bright and fresh tasting! It went really well with the cheesecake lollipops they served alongside the dome, which was additionally topped with a chocolate lace pistole. Each cheesecake lollipop was nestled in a rosette of bubblegum, yes, bubblegum, whipped cream. The first thing I thought when I tried it was straight Bubble Yum. However, the gum flavor melted away and you were left with a gorgeous whipped cream taste in your mouth. Gustavo Tzoc really knows what he's doing in creating such a subtle flavor.

The rest of the night was spent cleaning and consolidating kitchen equipment. The actual kitchen set itself had to be disassembled double quick because the people from Viking were coming to physically take it away! All the cabinets, shelves, and fridge compartments were emptied onto tech tables so the Viking guys could swoop in for the takedown. We separated the Kitchen Aid products from the Oxo-ware...the full sheet pans from the half sheets...the spatulas from the whisks, etc. After each piece was cleaned off, they were grouped together either in their original boxes or in rubbermaid totes, then labeled for later identification. Once everything was labeled, organized, and stacked for placement on the trucks, it was time to say goodnight. We were lucky enough to get a few things from the chocolate vendors (ahem, boxes of 72% Valrhona bars...and Oxo cooking utensils) and an immeasurable experience. Where else could we eat our way through exhibits one day and then get to work with world class chefs the next? Everyone I came in contact with was amazing. Sarah, the Viking kitchen supervisor was so professional and down to earth. I thanked her 1,000 times over. At this point, I'm just dipping my foot into the baking and pastry arts world...I can't wait to dive headfirst.

Coming soon...encounters with duff, hot pink Evian leotards, dancing men, and Ron Ben!

FCI Week Three

2007-09-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

The FCI Pastry 1 - Week 3

Tuesday 08/28

DAY 7 - Today started off on a rather high note. The ladies of TTS Pastry I adore Chef Guido. He's funny, charismatic, Italian, and his biceps look like someone shoved a tennis ball into them. Up to this point, he's been the only Chef-Instructor we've had for all this Serv-Safe information. On this particular Tuesday though, we had Chef Tim. Apparently Chef Tim is the normal instructor for all the sanitation stuff, but since we're at an awkward time during the week, Chef Guido had been taking his place. I think all of the class (maybe minus Karim) just stopped when Chef walked into the room. In speaking with a couple of the other women after class and beyond that day, Chef Tim's got what is referred to as the 'Mens Health' look. Taller, in great shape, salt & pepper hair...think Bruce Willis or Cal Ripken Jr. That's all I'm going to say about it though because this is a COOKING BASED BLOG after all. But there was a good amount of giggling from grown women. Sort of like those old Diet Coke commercials where the ladies are watching the construction worker through the window...teehee.

We finished all the lecture on sanitation and did a mini-review/practice test because the actual exam was going to be on Thursday. With that out of the way, we could get started on the itinerary for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Just two main projects to work on: Tarte l'Oignon and Fig Newtons.

We thinly sliced (and I onl cried for a little bit) two large onions each to prep the filling for the Tarte l'Oignon. They were placed in a large saute pan over LOW heat with a small amount of butter to start the cooking and caramelization process. Its important to use low heat because you don't want the butter or the onions to burn at all. Slow and low makes the results perfect in the end. The onions took a good amount of time to caramelize, but they turned a beautiful golden brown color. Once they were finished, they were turned out to cool on plastic wrap for later use.

Both our Fig Newton filling and dough were already prepared from last class. Remember we had softened the figs by simmering them in a sugar, water, and lemon juice mixture? Of course you remember! Our dough split between table-mates then rolled out to about 6x24 inches or the length and most of the width of a half sheet of parchment paper. We prepped a basic egg wash (1 egg, 1 egg yolk, and a pinch of salt) and brushed the border of the dough (about an inch and a half in) with it. Half of the the fig filling was placed down the center of each dough sheet in a straight line and then the edges of the dough were folded up around it. Sort of like making a long sweet fig burrito. The egg wash acted like a glue to keep the dough together. The roll was coated with the egg wash and then put back into the refrigerator to chill for another 20-30 minutes. This step is important because if we baked these right away, the dough would melt and expose the fig filling.

While the onions were still cooling and the figs were chilling, each person had a bit of time to make a batch of Pate Sucree for next class. We are really getting quick at these doughs and super quick at tidying up our stations after each section on the daily outline. With our sucrees divided into two, wrapped, labeled, and in the fridge, it was time to assemble Tarte l'Oignon.

We grabbed our chilled galette-style doughs we rolled and decoratively hand edged last class. The cooled caramelized onions were placed in a even layer on top of the chilled round. We sliced roma tomatoes into medium medallions and those went over the onions. Next was a layer of chopped walnuts, followed by a sprinkling of bleu cheese. Any other tangy soft cheese could be used instead, but the bleu really compliments the other components exceptionally well and it melts nicely in the oven. The tart was seasoned with salt and pepper (or in my case, just pepper) and put into a 350 degree oven where it would stay for about 10-15 minutes or until the galette crust was browned and baked all the way through.

The final task for the day was baking off the Fig Newtons. We held off on putting them in the oven with the Tarte l'Oignon so there would be no possibility of scents/flavors mixing and invading each other. You don't want your sweet figs tasting like sweet onions, right? Oven temp for the logs was also 350 and they only took about 10-15 minutes as well. Since the figs were already cooked, the main thing you want to look for in these is a nice brown crust on the dough. When they were finished, they were sliced, while still warm, on a diagonal into equal parts. The dough on these cookies is so crumbly that if you were to wait to slice them, you really run the risk of ruining the look of the finished product. That being said, it is probably the best tasting dough I think we've made so far. Extremely tender and perfectly sweetened. Figs are a unique taste all on their own, so their flavor just went hand in hand with the simple crust.

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Thursday 08/30

DAY 8 - The first item on the outline for the afternoon was supposed to be the big Serv-Safe sanitation exam. A wrench was temporarily thrown in that plan because a Chef-Instructor to actually administer the teste to us was nowhere to be found. Good thing though, because it gave everyone a chance to roll out the sucree dough that we had made on Tuesday. One portion of the dough was rolled into 4 tartelette shells and the other half of it was rolled out into one large tart ring. Chef Guido was finally tracked down by the time everyone had their dough rolled and put back into the fridge to relax the glutens before use.

The Serv-Safe exam was 90 questions, but supposedly 20 of them don't count. You can miss some and others are test questions to gauge what students are really learning from the course book and lecture sessions. There's really so much minute detailed information in the lesson plans that many of the questions are really common sense. I only had to go back and re-assess my answer on two questions. We all kind of gathered in the lounge after finishing until all the tests had been turned in. There MAY have been more giggling about Chef Tim...MAYBE.

Once we had all regrouped and decided the test was ten times easier than we thought it would be, it was time to get down to business. We had to turn our attention to Spritzkakor or Scandinavian Butter Cookies. This was going to be our first attempt at piped cookies, meaning the dough is actually placed via piping bag and a star tip to be baked. Often you'll see these types of butter cookies with a maraschino cherry, nut, or preserves in the middle of them. The one that was in our original curriculum called for butter, powdered sugar, salt, lemon zest, eggs, vanilla extract, Chef Cynthia didn't particularly care for that recipe, so we got another one that used almond paste, granulated sugar, butter, egg, egg white, and a considerably smaller amount of cake flour. Other optional ingredients include a pinch of sat, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. The almond paste and sugar are creamed to a very soft consistency, otherwise the dough would be too stiff to pipe. A bit of the egg can be added to aid in the creaming process if necessary...to ensure total smoothness. The butter was creamed in next, followed by the egg and egg white. After all those ingredients were well combined, the optional salt, vanilla, and lemon zest could be added. And the flour was mixed in last just to combine. With a piping bag and a simple twist of the wrist to make a double rosette on the baking sheet out cookies were placed and then we pressed a tiny well in the center of each one. I know personally, I had to try a few times to get the paper coronet rolled just right to squirt raspberry preserves into the dent, but once the rolling and folding had been mastered, the coronet had been filled, it took no time at all. They went into the oven at 350 until they looked like this:

When the Spritzkakors were in the oven we prepped the tart and tartlette shells for cuire a blanc. The large shell would go for the Claufoutis later on in the evening and the minis would be used during next class for Tartelettes Aux Citrons.

Claufoutis (Klau-Foo-Tea)Aux Cerises Limousin was point five on the itinerary, so we all mis en place'd for that. When our pre-baked shell was finishing cooling, we made a simple custard using milk, heavy cream, vanilla, eggs and sugar. Traditionally, Claufoutis was made with un-pitted black cherries, but this evening, we had blueberries to use. Claufoutis can also be made with flour to create more of a batter filling that is poured into a baking dish over fruit. Chef Kir Rodriguez had a recipe like this that Chef Cynthia made last class and it turns out to be a more cake like consistency. Scratch that, like a round blueberry muffin. That's what it reminded me of. The version we did just had us place the fruit in the bottom of the tart shell, then pour the custard slowly over it until it was filled. It went into the oven at 250 degrees for about 25-35 minutes until the custard was set around the fruit. The thing I noticed about this tart was that the custard didn't pull away from the fruit it was baked around like it did in the Tarte Alsacienne. I'm not really sure why, but it behaved itself more. Perhaps it was because the apples in the Tarte Alsacienne had other ingredients on them which prevented the baked custard to completely adhere to their sides. At any rate, once the custard was set, this is what our Claufoutis looked like:

Lemon Curd was the final task for this Thursday afternoon. We just had to make it and wrap/chill it for use on Saturday. Sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, eggs, and butter are all placed in a bowl over a bain marie. We also had a couple sheets of gelatin (for thickening) that were soaking in cold water. That mix is cooked over medium heat until it reaches a hollandaise consistency. The gelatin is added off heat at that time then once the sheets have completely dissolved, the curd is strained. This catches any bits of lemon zest or curdled egg that might have remained in the curd. Its then placed and wrapped on a plastic lined sheet pan. When we all had our curds sealed and ready to chill, we could clean up and call it a night. I think it was a nice easy way to end the evening by making something that wasn't that messy.

Haha, I just wish it meant that I wasn't the last one in the classroom again...every night! My OCD gets the best of me. Thankfully its the kitchen cleanliness that really reaps the benefits...However, it also makes me feel like I am not working fast enough. I completely get that school is all about the learning process. Learning to do things well in an efficient manner to meet the time demands of the culinary industry. But for some reason being the last one out of the classroom gives me this overwhelming sense of incompetence. Hopefully that will pass in good time.

Now might be a great time to mention the blogs of two of my companions on this FCI Baking and Pastry Arts journey. Nancy's blog can be found here: http://www.nancy-loves-sweets.blogspot.com/ and Tara's is over here: http://pastryfluff.blogspot.com/. They are filled with amazing photos and useful information. Definitely check both of their sites out and wish them the best of luck on this adventure! I am so glad to have such wonderful people to share this time with.

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Saturday 09/01

DAY 9 - This Saturday's class started off with a good rolling of Pate Sucree that we had made ahead of time. It was to become the base for one of the projects, the Tarte Aux Noix, that was to be completed later on in the morning/afternoon. Nothing like the sound of wooden rolling pins banging on metal tables to 1) soften cold dough and 2) wake you up in the morning.

When that round was rolled, fitted, and back in the fridge chilling to relax the glutens, it was time to prepare the Creme d'Amandes we would need as part of the filling for the Tarte Aux Noix. The first Creme d'Amandes we made was almond cream with almond paste. We used butter, almond paste, eggs, and pastry cream powder. This Creme d'Amandes we were going to use for the Tarte Aux Noix was more traditional, using butter, sugar, almond flour, eggs, and pastry cream powder. Basically we were making our own almond paste for the cream instead of using pre-made paste. Judging from the smell and texture of this traditional Creme d'Amandes, it was well worth the maybe 30 seconds of extra labor it took to get these different ingredients together. With that set aside to use later on, we could move on to Confit de Citron.

It may sound fancy, but Confit de Citron is really just candied citrus peel. It could be orange peel, lemon peel, grapefruit peel, the process is the same regardless of what citrus you're using. You can cut the PITHLESS citrus peel any style you like (we julienned) then place it in a saucepan completely covered with cold water. Bring that mixture to a boil and then strain. This process, called blanching, is repeated three more times before bringing the peel to a SIMMER in a saucepan with granulated sugar and corn syrup. The simmering only lasts as long as it takes to get the peel translucent and tender. The (in our case lemon) peel was dried on a cooling rack until it is tacky-like in feel and then you can roll it in powdered sugar or use it unpowdered. It will keep a GOOD LONG WHILE when refrigerated, as long as you store it in its cooking syrup.

Next up was a short lecture on meringues. Because we were using a meringue for the finish on our tartelettes aux citrons, it was imperative that we learn what kind of meringues there are and how each one is properly prepared and used. Meringues are a mixture of egg white foam and sugar. What differentiates the types boils down to the consistency of the sugar, when its added, and temperatures. There are three types of meringue: French, Italian, and Swiss. French meringue is the most delicate kind of meringue: raw sugar is beaten into egg whites. Its mainly used in cake and cookie preparations because it MUST be baked. This is due to the potential of salmonella to exist in the raw egg whites. The egg whites are foamed in a mixer until frothy and then the sugar is added little by little at medium speed when the whites are at soft peak stage. Its continued to be beaten at medium speed until just before it done, a process called searing, which prevents the meringue from deflating immediately once the whipping action has stopped. For an Italian meringue, wet sugar is cooked to softball stage (around 238 degrees farenheit) and then is beaten into egg white foam. The whites of the egg poach the sugar, which provides for a good amount of volume, but also good stability in the overall mix. Italian meringues are used for the bases of many mousses and buttercream fillings. Since the egg whites are heated by the hot sugar syrup, there is no need to bake the meringue after its made. The egg whites and sugar in a Swiss meringue are heated and foamed over a bain marie to about 130 degrees farenheit. Once that temperature is reached, they are finished whipping in the stand mixer. This technique results in less volume and lightness to the meringue, but its definitely more stable than the French would be. Swiss meringues are often used for baked meringue decorations and it was the Swiss meringue that we used to finish our tartelettes with later on that afternoon.

We had a French Nut Tart to deal with first though. We had already rolled pate sucree shells for this Tarte aux Noix. A thin layer of raspberry jam was spread in to the bottom of the unbaked and undocked tart. Toasted, sliced almonds were sprinkled on top of the jam and then we put the shell back into the fridge while we prepared the rest of the filling. The creme d'amandes we made earlier was paddled until it was smooth. Egg whites and sugar were then whipped to still peak for a French meringue. The meringue was folded into the creme d'amandes along with hazelnut and almond flour to make a batter. This heavenly smelling batter went on top of the jam/almond layer of the tart shell and the whole thing went into the 350 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes.

Each person in the class made a full recipe of pate brisee for next class and then it was time to move into the tartelettes aux citrons. Using the lemon curd that we made in the previous class and our prebaked tartelette shells, we spread a bit of the curd to fill each shell. They were set aside in order for each team to make their first official attempt at Swiss meringue. Not too shabby for novices! Our meringues were then piped onto the tartlettes in our choice of decorative patterns. From there, we each got our hands on a communal blowtorch to brown the tops of each meringue, taking extra care not to burn them. Some of the confit de citron that was draining on racks from earlier was used to finish the decor. At this point in the process I could tell you how good they looked...or I could show you:

By this time our Tarte Aux Noix were out of the oven and waiting to be finished on the cooling racks. The tops of these tarts are traditionally finished with powdered sugar in a pattern. Many of the class did snowflake-esque designs or hearts. I on the other hand, HAD to put my spin on it. So Week 3 at the FCI for Ms Jones ended with a crossbones pattern of my own:

Next week: Chocolate, caramel, chocolate, caramel, a smidge more chocolate, a teeensy bit more caramel, Linzers, and a sprinkling of cheese...

FCI Week Two

2007-09-04T08:27:00.001-07:00

The FCI Pastry 1 - Week 2

Tuesday 08/21

Despite the consistent downpour that was happening in NYC this Tuesday, I managed to get to school only slightly dampened as opposed to completely soaked. Storing my umbrella and rain boots securely, I got dressed and headed into the Pastry I Kitchen.

Day 4 of the Classic Pastry Arts program was probably the most jam packed so far. Each day is outlined on the front board and the one for 8/21 had TEN main tasks to accomplish in 5 hours. We started in with the Gingersnap cookie dough that we had made in class on day 3. The dough was cut into 20g pieces. Once those were in their 350 degree home, it was time for clean up and pressing onto the next task. (Each person made up their own individual tray with rows of 3 and 4 cookies...totaling 28 cookies per sheet, therefore 28 cookies per person. Each team did end up having extra dough, which we could take home to finish baking, etc.) Each 20g piece was rolled to lighten the consistency and ultimately the color of the dough itself. Once rolled, each ball of dough was then coated in granulated sugar and placed on a parchment lined baking sheet to go into the oven. They were staggered to allow proper air flow through the pan, therefore giving even spreading during the baking process.

Oh SNAP its the SNAPS!:

Clean up followed, then it was onto the Creme d'Amandes (almond cream with almond paste). Almond paste is essentially 50% almond and 50% sugar. It is also used to make marzipan. The almond paste is creamed together with butter (the process is called 'Blanchir' or to make white), then eggs are incorporated. Next, the pastry cream powder dives into the mix and you also have the option of adding rum or other alcohol for flavoring. Once everything is combined, the Creme d'Amandes must be refrigerated. It was super simple to make and smelled incredible!

**There are substitutions for the pastry cream powder if none is readily available to you. Try flour or cornstarch, but the amount you add should be increased (from the amount of pastry cream powder in the original recipe) by one-third.

With Creme d'Amandes in the fridges, it was time to move on to poaching the pears for our Tarte Bourdaloue. First task was to quarter the recipe used in the coursebook. Because each team was making their own seasoned/poached pears, there was no reason to make such a giant amount of Liquide de Cuisson. This poaching liquid was equal parts water and white wine, sugar, vanilla bean, and lemon juice. We were also allowed to make our own seasoning for the pears out of a myriad of spice choices. My tablemate trusted my judgement to create the mix, so I returned with a blend of cinnamon stick, ainse, fennel, pink peppercorns, cloves, and juniper berries. Pears themselves are a mild fruit that takes on what its cooked with quite well, so I thought that the combination would be amazing. Once all the ingredients of the Liquide de Cuisson were brought to a boil, the pears were added cut side down and the heat was reduced to a simmer. The ideal temperature for a poaching liquid is around 180 degrees farenheit, or just before boiling. This is because you want to cook the pears slowly and allow them to really absorb all the flavors from the spices you've added. The pears were turned cut side up after a few minutes in the 'hot tub' because we really wanted the sides that would face up on the tart for presentation to be spot on. They turn a lovely speckled fall shade of beige and brown. Testing for doneness involved a paring knife inserted into the middle of the fruit and very little resistance occurs. When the pears are cooked, they are set on a cooling/drying rack to settle before they are used for the Tarte Bourdaloue topping.

Pears are cooling and we are moving on to baking our pre-rolled Brisee shells for Tarte aux Fruit Fraiches. Some of the Creme d'Amandes that was made not too long ago was going to be used in this as a baked filling. When dealing with tarts or desserts in general that have a fresh fruit topping, this is common practice. The creme browns nicely in the oven and actually resembles cheesecake filling after its baked. The perfect round baked ring in the middle of the tart looked good enough to eat even without the fruit topping on it!

After those got slid into the ovens, it was onto our first baked custard: Pots de Creme au Chocolat. A couple of the processes in this (particularly for the finished product) were some of my favorites for the day. But first, lets talk about what a baked custard really is. Simply put, a custard is a mix of liquid and egg that thickens when heated (due to coagulation of egg proteins) The consistency of a custard is related to the amount of eggs in the mix. For baked custards (one of the three types of custards), the liquid (milk and heavy cream) is scalded before the addition of the eggs. It reduces cooking time overall and helps the custard cook more evenly. The actual baking takes place in a bain marie (or water bath) at a temperature no higher than 300 degrees F. As in any custard, too much heat too fast could have an adverse effect on the finished product. Here a higher temperature increses the chance of curdling. For our Pots de Creme, we melted chocolate into the boiling milk/cream mixture then added it with egg, egg yolk, sugar, and salt. The entire thing was strained through a chinois to eliminate any lumps that might have occured. To save time, we all strained our mixes into communal pots then poured ourselves 2 ramekins per table of pots de creme. Sometimes there might be a foam that develops on the surface, which you never want to bake because it just doesn't look right...that is easily skimmed off the top with a piece of plastic wrap or paper towel. Once the custards are baked, they are immediately removed from their water bath and put somewhere to cool off. If they were left in the bain marie, they would just continue to stew and become over cooked. And lets be honest, no one wants overcooked chocolate custard. Highlights of the day: The use of the ramekins really excited me because I like the idea of individualized desserts. The bain marie is close to my heart because I use that when I'm 'cheesecaking.'

Pots de Creme ready to go and we were cleaned up and getting right into finishing our Tarte Bourdaloue. One thing to keep in mind readers: when you see Bourdaloue, automatically think of pears and almonds. We took more of the creme d'amandes we from earlier and used that as a filling. Our cooled poached pears (5 halves per tart) were then sliced across the core and fanned in a star pattern on top of the creme d'amandes. Any open spaces were filled with raw sliced almonds. By the time the Bourdaloue's were ready to be baked the Pots de Creme were out of both the oven and their water baths. A rosette of Creme Chantilly and chocolate shavings completed the presentation.

My Bourdaloue!

As for the finish for the Tarte aux Fruit Fraiches, we had free range as to how we could decorate with Orange supremes, sliced kiwis, and fresh strawberries. Peeling and slicing fruit can be not only a tedious, meticulous task, but quite a messy one as well. Nothing compares with the job of extracting orange supremes or the de-pithed segment of orange in between membranes. I'm not sure the de-pithed is really a correct term to use...but its my blog, ha. Again, I apologize for the tardiness of the photo postings all. Once another copy of FinePix viewer makes it to my hands, the photos of the deliciousness will be all yours! With the last few minutes of time left in the day, everyone whipped up another batch of Pate Sucree to use next class. We're getting pretty good at the doughs now simply because we've been making them over and over again. The only one we haven't delved into yet is the Pate Sablee ('sandy' dough) which is more of a shortbread than anything else. In then end, both the Bourdaloue and Tarte aux Fruit Fraiches were topped with the Apricot nappage. Yet another night where Ms Jones had her arms and backpack full with things to bring home.

Finished Tarte aux Fruits Fraiches:

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Thursday 08/23

DAY 5 - Another HUGE itinerary awaited myself and my fellow Pastry I classmates today. Two large tarts, batches of both Brisee and Creme Patissiere, Vanille Kipferls, and a lecture on conversions.

First up, Pate Brisee. If I haven't mentioned this before, making Brisee is one of the most tedious processes we've encountered in the Pastry I kitchen. However, the end result of Brisee, if done correctly, it worth all the labor that goes into the dough itself. After sablage, frisage, division, wrapping, chilling, and cleanup, everyone whipped out their recipes for Vanille Kipferls (Viennese Vanilla Crescents). These remind me of the crumbly butter cookies covered in powdered sugar that you see running rampant around the holidays. High flour content, ground hazelnuts, and held together by butter and powdered sugar. **You can get ground hazelnuts as hazelnut flour OR just toast, cool, and grind your own in a food processor.** When the dough was mixed, it was left at our stations to sit at room temperature. Since it was to be hand rolled later, we didn't want it TOO cold to handle.

From this point on in the day, it was really about preparing for finishing works in progress. We rolled out the two rounds of Pate Sucree we had made at the tail end of Tuesdays class for 1 large tart ring and 4 tartelette shells (which were to be saved for use next class). We also took one of the chilled mounds of brisee that had been formed first thing that afternoon and gave it the good college try to roll that into a large ring as well. Each brisee shell had to Cuire a Blanche, and that took place after it had been rolled and filled with baking beans.

When they were CAB'ing, we were wrist deep into our second go at Creme Patissiere. Again, the real key to the texture you want out of your pastry creme is the whisk action. If you are not constantly and consistently whisking you'll end up with lumps from coked eggs. After 2 minutes of circling (ie: when your hand/wrist feels like its going to fall off), the creme was left to cool in plastic wrap on a baking sheet. The cuire a blanche was done on the brisee shells and they were cooling as we geared up to assemble the Tarte Alsacienne.

Many of the tarts we had done before had shells that needed to be docked to allow for steam ventilation during crust baking. Not so with the Tarte Alsacienne. The filling for it was quite runny so anything we put it into before baking had to be sealed properly. If it wasn't, then there would have been custard all over the inside of the ovens. It would have smelled great, but clean up would have been horrendous. The filling had two components: caramelized and flambeed apples and a custard out of egg, sugar, milk, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Apple slices were first browned in butter on the stovetop, then sugar was added and caramelization began. Once they had turned a nice rich brown color, brandy was added to flambe the apples and allow any liquid in the pan to thicken up. Flambe is truly an art. The hand have to move in time with the arms and in harmony with the alcohol and heat source. Definitely not for the faint of heart. The apples were then set aside to cool as the custard was prepared and pushed through a strainer to make sure it was smooth and sleek. We took our pre-baked brisee tart shell and arranged our apple slices in the bottom of it. Once they were places, the fine custard was poured in and filled the inside the rest of the way. It was then put back in the oven an 250 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. With custards, time and temperature are very important. The cook time on this would have been much longer and, consequently, the custard would have been overcooked, if we didn't pre-bake the shell. This wasn't one of my favorite projects but that's just because when the tart cooled, the custard began to pull away from the sides of the appled. This left gaps everywhere and I'm not sure how they could/can be prevented. The finished product is beautiful right away, but I think this is one that should be served immediately simple for aesthetic reasons.

Creative control was give to us once again as we shifted gears to the individual Tarte aux Fruits. This particular shell was docked, then filled with creme patissiere and topped with graham cracker crumbs. Cake crumbs could also be used if you had them readily available. The supply list for the day apricot halves on it, therefore, that's what we used. Each half was split into thirds (after they had been freed from their aluminum jail and thoroughly drained) and placed round side down in a sort of bulls-eye formation on top of the graham crumbs. It was then baked at 350 degrees until the shell was completely baked through.

WIth the Tarte in the oven, Vanille Kipferls kept our hands and minds busy. Balls of dough were hand rolled and shaped into 20g crescents. The hand rolling really aided in the dough softening process, which was much needed because the texture was so crumbly to begin with. Each student made 20 crescents each and they were sent off to the 350 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes. As soon as they came out of the oven, they were rolled in vanilla sugar and left to cool. Its imperative to roll them in the sugar when they are still warm, otherwise whatever you're rolling them in will never stick the way its supposed to.

They came out right after our Tarte aux Fruits were done too! This tarte was particularly difficult to glaze with apricot nappage just because no matter how long you baked it, the graham and the apricots were definitely not securely rooted down. It was the same way with the almonds on the Tarte Bourdaloue. It takes a light touch and an even lighter glaze to do the job right.

Tarte aux Fruits:

Day number 5 was rounded out with a lecture on US-Metric volume, weight, and temperature conversions. AND we received our first real homework assignment. Converting all the US volume/weight measurements in the recipe for Chocolate Heaven Cookies into metric so we could bake them for the next class.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday 08/25

DAY 6 - Shorter itinerary due to more sanitation lecture! But despite the less labor intensive beginning to the class, then rest of it held Chocolate Heaven Cookies, Fig Newtons, a 'galette' brisee dough, and Tartelettes aux Fruits Frais.

This Serv-Safe portion of lecture covered Food Safety Management Systems, active managerial control, the HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) philosophy, standards for water supplies, plumbing, sewage, backup control, cleaning and sanitizing equipment, and Integrated Pest Management. While I'm sure you're all dying to know the 5 steps in Active Managerial Control focusing on controlling the CDC's 5 most common risk factors responsible for foodborne illnesses, and the proper balance of chemicals in 3-compartment sinks...I'll spare you those details. I will tell you that while we were getting our brains filled with rules and regulations, our tartlette shells we rolled out on Thursday were being Cuire a Blanc so that we could fill them later on in the afternoon. Those came out of the ovens, lecture was over, everyone did a quick round of calisthenics (ok, that part is a lie...lol) and it was into Chocolate Heaven Cookies.

Doing the actual US to Metric conversions wasn't difficult at all. One just has to keep in mind that volume is different than weight. All ingredients have different densities and it is important to pay attention to what type of amount is used in each recipe. For example: in VOLUME 1 fluid oz. is equal to 29.57 milliliters. 1 pound is equal to 454 grams. In WEIGHT 1 ounce is equal to 28.37 grams. Yadda yadda yadda. This particular recipe is as close to a flour-less cookie as we're probably going to get here at the FCI. only about 43 g in the whole thing! The main ingredients were three different kinds of chocolate (regular, unsweetened, and chips), sugar, butter (again, a small amount), eggs, and pecans. Also small amounts of coffee and vanilla extract, salt, and baking powder. The regular and unsweetened chocolate as well as the butter were melted over a bain-marie on the stove. That mixture was then folded into the light and fluffy mix of eggs, sugar, extracts, and NaCl. Lastly, the chocolate chips and pecans were folded in. The job of placing these was definitely one of the messiest we've had so far. I honestly thought they were going to spread alot more just because of the runny texture to the main dough, I mean, there's only so much stability added by chocolate chips and nuts. Much to my delight, they barely spread at all and the final product was crisp on the outside and chewy inside. The best part about the cookies is that they weren't overly sweet. The different kinds of chocolate really gave it a more bitter taste and as far as chocolate goes, the more bitter, the better. I would eat all chocolate desserts if they were prepared with 85% Cacao or more. Anyway, all's well that ends well in the land of Chocolate Heaven Cookies.

Two prep processes were then completed for our homemade Fig Newtons. The dough was different than the sucrees and brisees we had been dealing with up to this point. It was its own delectable entity. Pretty basic: butter, sugar, egg, salt, and flour. But there was something different about the texture of it...and paired with the fig filling...I couldn't wait to see how they would turn out! Anyway, the dough was done super quick. Blanchir the butter and sugar, then add in the eggs slowly, mix the flour and salt just to combine. The filling was made in a similar manner to the poached pears in that the base was water and seasonings. This time around, the figs were simmered until tender in a mix of sugar and lemon juice. I had never cooked with figs, dried or fresh before, so I was very interested to see their 'cook-down' process. The smell was incredible and the cook time was efficient. You just really had to make sure that everything was tender. Chef(s)said the easiest way to tell was to actually squeeze the figs and even taste one. No one complained about either of those. Both the uncooked dough and cooked filling were set aside to chill until we could use them (ie: Tuesdays class).

Just two more tasks to complete and that would be a wrap on week two. We grabbed one of our Pate Brisee doughs from the refrigerators and proceeded to roll it out 'galette' style. Ms Jones you say, what in St Honore's name does that mean?! Galette style means rustic, free form, or plainly, not using a tart ring. Think thin crust pizza style. Then we hand (or finger) folded the edges into themselves using an egg wash as a 'glue' to hold the edges down. FYI: basic egg wash is 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, and a pinch of salt. The galettes were hotel wrapped and put back into the fridges to chill so we could use them on Day 7.

The final project for this Saturday afternoon were the Tartlettes auz Fruits Frais. The four tartlette shells that were rolled and chilled on Thursday, and cuire a blanch this morning had sufficiently cooled enough for us to handle them. We took some of our Creme Patissiere from Thursday and also made a Creme Fouettee out of some heavy cream. Again, that process involved a lot of wrist grease I suppose you would call it, to hand whip the heavy cream with a balloon whisk until stiff peaks form. The Creme Patissiere was smoothed out through whisking and lightly flavored with liquor. It all depends on your personal palatte. The type of liquor or even use of liquor in general is totally optional as is the case in many of the recipes that include some sort of spirits. The Fouette was folded gently into the Patissiere to make a Creme Legere. The Legere was placed in a pastry bag and then piped equally into the four tartelette shells. Decoration was free range again with a selection of fruits including orange, kiwi, strawberries, and blueberries. The most important thing about the decoration though was that each tartelette had to look the same! I fashioned a topping of all the fruits that looked like a blossomed flower. Pictures are on their way, lol...I promise! Each tartlettte got a nice apricot nappage on top and they were ready to transport home. If you were going to serve them right away, no nappage would be necessary, but you could dust them with a bit of powdered sugar.

Tartelettes!

Carrying everything home was and still is a daunting task. Although I must say I enjoy seeing how wide people's eyes get when I pass them with a plethora of sweets in my scrawny arms. I am still on a high each time I leave the FCI building. I know my heart and mind are in the right place.

Week Three is next...Onion Tarts, Sanitation Exams, and giggling over Chef Tim...

Week One at the FCI

2007-09-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

I know this is a bit behind gang...

Tuesday 08/14

-DAY 1-
Basically when we got there, we were assigned a locker. From there we changed into our uniforms, then headed straight to the classroom. Chef Cynthia was going over some policies as it relates to dress, etc. I can't wear my labret stud, but
i'm ok with that. Just a health hazard and I guess they don't allow any facial jewelery at the school overall. SO i can do without it. We got explanations that we can start coming in the room 1/2 an hour before class actually starts, so for us that's 3pm Tuesday and Thursday and 8:30am on Saturday. Depending on our cleaning/organizing duties for that particular day or how long it takes us to get our things in place, we might need that whole 1/2 hour. Because we start PROMPTLY at the class scheduled start time.

So we went around and got to know the kitchen a bit, weekly duty descriptions, table numbers, etc. Went over our tool kits, which has just about everything we're going to be needing. Actually, most of the things I already have at home, so it was nice to see things that I was already familiar with. I've already marked mine with green and white stripes. teehee.

A quick bathroom break and tour of the school (including where we pick up family meals if we want) and we went straight into demo/lessons. There's a demo part of the class, where the instructor actually makes what we're making. Then we split off and make it either individually or in teams of 2.She talked about the flours we use and why we use them (ie: 'bread flour breaks and cake flour cakes' - relating to gluten content) She made her Pate Sucree and then we had a couple minutes to get our Mis en Place (things in place) and make a batch of our own. Its like reading and regurgitating with cooking really.

After clean up from Pate Sucree, she demo'd the apple compote. Every day when we come in they'll outline the day on the marker board. Just so we know which recipes we need to have studied and what tools we'll be needing so we aren't digging for things constantly. Another huge factor in the kitchen is organization. So once her demo was done, we got out MeP and did it ourselves. Clean up was after that and before I knew it, it was 9pm. Whew.

I really like our Chef instructors. The Sous (Chef Toni) learned everything she knew about pastry after she got her classic culinary degree at the school. She learned under Jacques Torres and the woman who is the main pastry chef at Bobby Flay's restaurants. She reminds me ALOT ALOT ALOT of Dr. Bailey on Grey's Anatomy. Super intense, but teaches insanely well.

Chef Cynthia after years of bouncing around in restaurants, taking time off to have a family, doing catering and cakes for Caroline Kennedy's wedding and all her children's christenings...then starting her own custom cake business, started teaching at the school 3 years ago. She's a bit more passive than Chef Toni in demeanor, but will also be such a great person to learn from. Her website is http://www.cakeline.com

Thursday 08/16:

-DAY 2-
Thursday's class ran over time as well, but it was well worth it. We started off class rolling out the pate sucree dough into tart shells and then left them to chill in the fridges. That day was also heavy on the lecture, because we had one of the Italian studies instructors (Chef Guido...yes that's his real name) come in to start in on the Serv-Safe training. This is different than the Food Protection course for NY State, so thankfully I'm working my way through that as well. Its really interesting learning the biology behind food borne illnesses and that the biggest disease carrier is the human body itself. More importantly I'm glad to learn how to prevent things like those from occuring. Kind of like the method behind the sanitation madness. So that lasted from about 4 till 6. When the lecture was done, we had a demo of Pate Brisee (Broken Dough). This is really a shortbread, really crumbly texture when its mixed together. We actually made it by hand, no mixers or anything, which was super fun. I like being able to watch things come together. Cold butter is cut into cake flour, sugar, and salt until the crumbs are the size of small lentils or peas. Then a minimal amount of water is added just to bring the dough together. It looks like damp sand, but when it it refrigerated, the crumbly flour is absorbed by the butter and it will turn out a workable dough.

I noticed that it took me longer than just about everyone else to do my dough, but I think that the time I took really helped me understand what its supposed to look like. Baking is not a race and the people that were hurrying when they are just learning ended up with horrible product.

After our dough was made and chilling, we did a demo for filling the apple tart. We took the shell, put the apple compote in the bottom of it then thinly sliced apples for the top and center. After they were placed, which was a task in itself (like stacking a house of cards) we sprinkled vanilla sugar on it then it was ready for baking.

After the tarts were ready to be baked, we demo'd the Creme Patissierie. Its really not a difficult thing to do, but it takes
perfect timing and speed to do it right. We had to boil whole milk, sugar, and vanilla on the stove, then combine our other ingredients (sugar, eggs, egg yolks, and pastry cream powder) well JUST BEFORE the milk came to boil. Now the cold mixture had to be added with the hot...but because there was eggs in it, we had to temper it. Meaning part of the hot liquid had to be added to the cold mix while whisking constantly. once the cold was brought up to temperature, it can be added to the hot and put back on the stove. I finished the cream by bringing the mix to a boil and whisking constantly for 2 straight minutes on the stove. When the 2 minutes were up, the creme, which looked just like fresh vanilla pudding, was put to cool on a sheet pan in plastic wrap.

So by that time and after clean up, it was time for the apple tarts to come out and then they were finished with an apricot nappage, or apricot preserve glaze. The final product is
Its a little smashed on one side because I'm clumsy. BUT still not too bad for a novice first try.

I didn't get home till around 11pm, but it was totally worth it. That's how I've felt each time I leave school. I know its the best
thing for me. AND i'm having a blast.

Saturday 08/18:

-DAY 3-
Saturday I was up at 5am to workout and get ready because I had to be ready for class at 8:30..meaning I had to leave my apartment around 7 to make it to the building by 8 and then change and get my stuff together.

Before things started 'officially' at 9, I had one more Pate Sucree dough to roll out and chill because we would be using it later on. It was more sanitation lecture for the first couple hours...then we went straight into baking the shells we rolled out. After those were in the oven, we demo'd and then made dough for Gingersnaps. So the gingersnap cookie dough was made..then it was straight into the filling for our banana cream tarts. Nothing like whipping cream by hand to strengthen your forearms, lol. Once again, I was the last one to finish BUT my banana cream tart looks great:

Someone on the street addressed me as 'chef' when I was carrying it home...i giggled.

Up next....Week TWO!!!!!!

The Whisk & Ladle wedding....

2007-08-19T19:14:00.001-07:00

**Before I start this entry, I'd like to thank the people at The Whisk and Ladle AND Harold McGee and his wonderful book "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.' The entry wouldn't be here if it weren't for them.

http://www.thewhiskandladle.com

My roommate, partner in cooking crime, and eventual 'Tompkins' co-owner Anna works with an array of interesting people. One of them is involved with a Supper Club called the Whisk and Ladle. TW&L operates out of a loft apartment in Brooklyn. Normally they do weekly or monthly dinners for reserved guests and small parties. However, a friend of the people that run it asked them to cater their upcoming wedding. When you're feeding 120 people, its going to take more pairs of hands to get the job done. Luckily for Ms Jones, Anna was asked to help out and to bring me along to put my idle hands to work.

After taking the train, a bus, and walking a number of blocks (because we got off the bus too soon, haha) through some beautiful park areas of the city, we arrived at TW&L house around 11:30 am. The apartment itself was unique, or at least in terms of the places I've seen since I've been in the city. It was a bit cluttered due to the size of the task being undertaken, BUT here's an idea of the layout. A staircase splits the main living space as soon as you walk in. On a 45 degree angle to the right side you see a huge island in the middle of the kitchen. This island is topped with a cutting friendly surface and book-ended with more counter space (looks to be added on by the residents of the place itself). Adjacent to the island is literally a wooden swing suspended from the ceiling. Beyond the kitchen is a table then a bar space with stool seating. At a 90- degree angle to the right of the front door is a foyer type area with a full bathroom in the corner. To the left of the staircase is more foyer space and then at a 45 degree angle to the left is the living room. Couches, etc. Beyond that living area is a dining area. Separating the bar area on the right from the dining area on the left is a free standing boxed in room. I'm not sure what/who resides in said boxed room, but on top is storage and a few seats. If you go up the staircase, there's the rest of the living quarters.

Its in this space that the Whisk and Ladle holds its Supper Club dinner and parties...but this particular day, the focus was prepping and cooking for the evening wedding reception following a late afternoon wedding.

I had gotten an idea of what was going to be served from Anna a couple days ahead of time, but wasn't 100% sure of all that was already done OR what still needed to be done. We arrived and were introduced to most of the people that really make up the core of Whisk and Ladle staff.

Right away we were put to work. I was given the task of peeling and pressing a TON of garlic for the 'Trio of Guacamoles' and Anna was in charge of splitting, pitting, and scooping the flesh out of ripe avocados. Pressing and avocado-ing led to small talk and from there we were able to determine more of the dishes that were going to be served for dinner.

In talking with TW&L staff, they said that with a group of people working to come up with a menu, there were alot of great ideas brought to the table for this event. However, the bride and groom were able to weed through the list they were presented with and put together a simple, elegant, and most importantly, LIGHT menu with complimentary flavors.

Appetizers would be laid out and ready for the guests when they arrived around 4:30. This consisted of beef or vegetarian empanadas, an amazing ceviche, and the guacamole trio. The empanadas were all handmade and I had the pleasure of sampling a vegetarian one. It was sweet and savory, filled with sweet potato, peppers, a couple different kinds of squash, and onion. The dough was crispy on the outside and not too dense throughout. A peach salsa was served on the side, but I really don't think it was even necessary. Three different kinds of guacamole were prepped as well: regular, mango, and a black bean and beet version. Served with corn tortilla chips and plantain chips, all three were great! Well balanced, no ingredients overpowering each other, and the beet guac had an amazing burgundy color similar to borscht. I was really impressed with the flavor of the mango because I had tried mango salsa before, but never mixed with avocado. The textures went well together and again, balanced each other out when it came to flavor. Sweet and smooth.

My favorite of all the appetizers HAD to be the ceviche, which had been prepared by the time we got there and was ready to go in a GIANT container. For those of you who don't know, Ceviche is a dish that has it origins in the northers coast of South America. Small cubes (or thin slices) of raw fish are 'cooked' by immersing them in citrus juice and other acidic liquids. Onions, chili peppers, and other seasonings are usually added to the mix and the whole thing is left to marinate for at least a few hours, depending on how much one wants the texture and appearance of the fish to change. As it sits in the acidic bath, the muscle tissues' proteins denature and coagulate and the fish's normally gel like and translucent tissue becomes opaque and firm to the touch. However, it exhibits none of the flavor changes that high temperature cooked fish does. Sounds bizarre when you explain it a-la-Harold McGee, but essentially, the acid in the marinade cooks the fish. Its a giant vat of cold fish stew that you can literally throw it all together and have it all set in a few hours. This particular ceviche used mild white fish (you never want to use something that you wouldn't eat cold and something that takes on flavors particularly well...i've seen it work with lobster and shrimp), lime juice, red onion, and fresh strawberries. Brilliant and refreshing. The fish was soft and melted in your mouth, but was still firm to the point where it didn't flake off the fork. The berries took on the tang of the lime juice exceptionally well...almost like a sour strawberry candy that didn't make your face scrunch up in pleasure (or pain if you are crazy enough NOT to love sour candy). The bar also opened up during the appetizer portion of the night and we watched glasses of chardonnay, homemade sangria, and mojitos empty as the evening went on.

As for the main courses, three pots full of coconut rice were on the stove cooking away when we got to the apartment and Nick was cleaning and cutting Tilapia filets, which would eventually be put in the oven to bake. The rice and TIlapia would be the main fillings to the 'Make Your Own Fish Taco' bar in the middle of the buffet lines at dinner. Other taco toppings included a homemade yogurt-cilantro sauce, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and red onion. Shells would be skillet-warmed corn tortillas.

On either side of the central M-Y-O Fish Taco bar would be salads and two kinds of enchiladas (steak and veggie). The first salad was roasted tomatoes, onions, and avocados on top of field greens. Have I mentioned how much I love the buttery texture of avocados yet? Because I do. The second salad was a crisp and fruity sweet corn and jicama slaw. Jicama is one of those root vegetables that I think everyone should try even if they are skeptical. Lets be honest here, I think everyone should try everything once! Some foods are sorely underappreciated...expand your minds and stomachs people!

Going into Harold McGee mode again, jicama is the swollen storage root of Pachyrhizus erosus (a South American member of the bean family). The highlight of its character is a sturdy crispness, which it even retains after cooking. If i had to compare the crunch of jicama to something, it would probably be along the same lines as Oshiniko (as seen in Japanese cold appetizers and maki rolls) , or a less nutty water chestnut. The spherical root veggie can keep for long periods of time without discoloration...although once you taste it, I'm sure you won't let it sit for very long before devouring it all.

Back to the slaw. The julienned jicama was tossed with diced mango, sweet corn, cilantro, and I even discovered grapefruit in the mix. Needless to say, the color was as vibrant and bright as the taste. The third was a black bean salad with onions and tomatoes. Balancing out the jicama and corn slaw, this bean salad had a a vinegary taste and smell to it, kind of like a black bean relish. Still wonderfully light for the amazingly humid and sunny afternoon/evening. I cant say anything about the enchiladas because I didn't sample them. But everything I heard from folks was that they were a huge hit.

SO that was the first and main course of the whole meal. Dessert was done in the perfect manner. Light and simple, just like everything else that had been done that afternoon/evening. Guests had their choice of one of (or both, lol) homemade Key Lime Pie with fresh whipped cream and Tres Leches cake topped with fresh blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. If you look up Tres Leches (cake of three milks) up on Wikipedia...this is what you'll find. And I quote: "A Tres leches cake, or Pastel de Tres leches cake is literally a cake soaked in three kinds of milk: condensed, evaporated, and either whole milk or heavy cream. Since butter is not often used in in the cake itself, tres leches is a very light cake, with many air bubbles. This distinct texture is why, although it is soaked in a mixture of three types of milk, it does not have a soggy consistency." If you read further, you'll discover that this cake has origins in (or disputed origins) Mexico and Nicaragua and is quite popular in many areas of Latin America, which makes it a no-brainer for this wedding menu. The air pockets in the cake absorb all the liquid and makes it taste so rich while being gentle on the stomach. I'd liken it to a super moist, but not soaked, pound cake. Fabulous. The Key Lime pie was amazing as well, playing off the bright, crisp flavors in each part of the full meal.

Judging from the faces of the guests, they were unbelievably happy with the entire day. A beautiful wedding day just made that much better by sharing an amazing meal with the ones you love. Rather touching I'd say. Again, thank you SO SO SO much to everyone at the Whisk and Ladle for allowing me to be a small part of a hugely successful undertaking. They are so passionate about what they do and it really shows. They are completely professional and on top of their game and you saw that from the start of the day to the very end. If there's anything similar to a Supper Club around your personal area, I highly encourage you guys to check it out. They're like diamonds in the rough, you know?

ps - **I may have gotten a couple ingredients wrong here...because some of the prep work I wasn't able to actually see...

Next up....the good and the bad about school at the FCI.....stay tuned!

First NYC eats Reviews

2007-08-07T15:46:00.001-07:00

Now since I've been in the city, I've had the chance to check out a few places around where I live and a couple further out. The first night I got into town, I swung by a place called Soho. Its directly next to a 24 hour gym and caters to that crowd ALOT. Fresh salads, custom made to order, breakfast served all day, killer wraps, and fabulous healthy options. I had a grilled vegetable wrap with roasted red peppers, portabello mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, and mesculun greens. All this was grilled then tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette on a garlic wrap. I was totally impressed at the freshness of the ingredients and the HUGE selection they had catering to people with different dietary needs. Breakfasts of egg white omelets, fresh oatmeal with an array of fruit toppings, whole grain pancakes and waffles...it pays off to be connected with a fitness center. They even offer free delivery and a smoothie bar. The owner, Peter, is super nice too. I have been back there twice so far. Once for a salad after a late night out and once for breakfast when my father was in town. Chances are, that place will be my best friend after school lets out at 8:30pm.

The roommate and I have also been making frequent trips to Kumo, a japanese restaurant on Ditmars. Cash only, but they offer a huge selection of sushi and sashimi at incredibly reasonable prices. This is one of the rare japanese places where you can say you really got what you paid for. I've had the wakame, veggie rolls, lobster roll, yellowtail scallion roll, and found my hands down, favorite roll: the Angel Roll. Black pepper tuna & crunch inside with eel, salmon, avocado, and tobiko on top. 8 giant pieces for $8.25. They also do free delivery and check out their lunch specials if you can.

My first friday in the city, Anna and I had reservations at Les Halles on John St. Yes, Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles. Now before you start thinking everything has to be out of this world haute cuisine and exorbitantly priced...Les Halles is a Brasserie. A Brasserie is a café doubling as a restaurant with a relaxed setting. In the laid back atmosphere, it serves single dishes and other meals. The service is profession though, and they do have printed menus (unlike a bistro, which may have neither). Typically, a brasserie is open every day of the week and the same menu is served all day. The word 'brasserie' is also French for brewery, by extension, "the brewing business". All these principles hold true to Les Halles. They are open 7 days a week, serve Lunch and Dinner nonstop from 11:30am - midnight, and now even offer breakfast Monday - Friday at 7:30 am. Walking inside was inviting. The lights were low, but not too low as to where you couldn't see your meal or the person across from you. Dark woods, matching walls, and tiny white cloth covered tables squeezed so close even Anna and I had to move them to get into the back seats! Our waiter was more than patient as we debated between mussels and pommes frites...even more helpful once he noticed (from licenses) that we were from Ohio. I had the Salade d'Avocat et Crevettes (grilled shrimp and avocado with a lemon vinaigrette) and a side of legumes grills (duh, girlled veggies). Anna went with Les Halles Fitness, which was a selection of 5 vegetables as well as 6 oz of your choice of beef, chicken, fish, or shrimp. I think the simplicity of Brasserie food is what you really have to look at. Its not hard to prepare, but its delicious if its done well. Here, it was done well. The vegetables were crisp but not undercooked, the shrimp were great sized and tender, and my lemon vinaigrette matched the creamy texture of the avocado topped with the crunch of frisee and a bit of mixed greens. Anna's 'Fitness' had about 6 french fries on the plate, which Les Halles offers with most of their meat courses and even with the full orders of mussels. We were actually a little disappointed with their texture and taste...BUT really...they're french fries. So we liked it for the mood that was set inside and the artwork on the walls, and the simple dishes done well. Doubt we'd go out of our way to go back again, but we're such Bourdain freaks that we had to investigate at least once. Next time, if there is one...we'll do brunch for sure.

Just a short walk from Les Halles was our next stop: Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Anna and I are both loyal fans of Wow Cow softserve, which is hearbreaking news to the Tasti-D stores in the area. Its also the reason we've got a Cuisinart soft serve machine in the pantry and actual Wow Cow mix to make whenever we please. But we've started a new tradition in our new place, we're going to treat ourselves big time once a month. Now this culinary treat might be going for pancakes or a slice of Juniors Cheescake (maybe in September, haha), but this time it was REAL hard-pack ice cream. There's standard flavors at CIF as well as rotating new creations and sorbets. They even have Taro and Lychee flavors! I went with a scoop of Black Cherry Pistachio and a scoop of the new Zen Butter. This was peanut butter ice cream with toasted sesame seeds mixed in. Anna went with the Zen Butter and the Almond Cookie that had pieces of fortune cookie throughout. We take our ice cream very seriously since we don't have it often...and the Zen Butter really gave us that moment of Zen. I don't think either of us 1) said a word to each other and 2) looked up to see where we were walking because we were so engrossed in ice cream heaven. Worth the splurge? Most definitely.

My father and his culinary ambition arrived a few days after I did, but he came with the rest of my worldly possessions. Once all was unpacked, we just took it easy and hit up Kumo because we knew it had to be good. The next morning, we went to the much hailed Mike's Diner on Ditmars for breakfast before heading to Yankee Stadium. Mikes is open 24 hours and you can get breakfast anytime you want. (Which you thankfully see alot here. Seeing as breakfast is my favorite meal of the day...) Along the same lines as Soho, lots of healthier options when it comes to morning meals. Egg whites, fruit, waffles, etc. They also offer things like a Mediterranean Breakfast, which is waffles, pancakes, or french toast topped with greek yogurt, honey, walnuts and fresh fruit, Their french toast is made with either Challah or Multi Grain bread and for those a little less worried about what they're eating, have the traditional Irish Breakfst with black & white pudding. gulp.
A full lunch, dinner, and dessert menu is offered as well.
Dad had the 'Lumberjack' with 3 pancakes, two eggs, and breakfast meat. He also ended up eating my potatoes that came with my breakfast, even though I asked them not to put them on the plate. I had the garden omelet with my choice of fillings. (i chose broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, and zucchini) with a dry english muffin and fruit on the side. The fruit was decent sized for $3.50 and had citrus fruits, grapes, pineapple, and melon. The omelet was HUGE and there, for a change, were recognizable chunks of my vegetable selection inside of it. Impressive and hot sauce rounded everything out nicely. Taking a look at the potatoes that I pawned off on Dad, they were chunky and pan fried as well, with peppers and onions. And they smelled terrific as well. Thumbs up for Mikes Diner. I went there recently for dinner and picked up the Veggie Breakfast Wrap with egg whites, peppers, onions, tomato, broccoli, and mushrooms. Thankfully they were able to cram that all into a fresh tortilla.

Another stop on my culinary tour with Dad was Charley O's in the Hells Kitchen area near Times Square. We went there after browsing the area a bit with Jessica and Joe Carter (not the baseball player). Its got two locations (we went to the one on 8th Ave and 45th Street) and has been around for over 50 years. Because of the area it was in, it was more expensive than any place I've been in the city so far. Not usually my style, but it was decent for what it was. The waitstaff was super helpful and my salmon just fell apart. It was served on sauteed spinach and topped with green olives, capers, and tomatoes. My dining companions had pasta dishes with meat, so I can't attest to their flavor but nothing was sent back. The only complaint my dad had was there was too much (what?!) mozarella on his fried eggplant. Was it that or the fact that the meal itself was HUGE?! Hmmmm...

Later that night, we hit up a comedy club with the Carters and Joe was able to get the dessert he had been wanting all night. A slice of Juniors Cheesecake. I referenced it earlier as a possible upcoming splurge for the Ms Jones Kitchen staff, and it will be well worth it. The slice was gigantic, browned in all the right spots, and the crust was moist, but not mushy. Personally, my favorite part of any cheesecake is where the cake meets the round edge of the pan. You know, the part you run a knife around before popping the sides of the springform pan. A golden brown color lined this part of the slice, so you knew that it was going to be perfectly cooked. Creamy, decadent...Juniors makes a whole line of specialty and seasonal cheesecakes as well as pastries too. One of these days, we'll be reviewing their Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake, which is yellow cake encasing layers of whipped cream and fresh strawberries and a center of strawberry cheesecake. Its like my two biggest dessert indulgences had a high calorie baby.

Dad's final full day in NYC was a great one culinarily (is that even a word) speaking. We got our breakfast at Soho (egg white omelet, english muffin, and fruit for me. Omelet, toast, taters, and banana oatmeal for Dad) then set off for more sightseeing. In the middle of the day we grabbed snacks at Chelsea Market...I recommend the Semolina Sesame rolls from Amy's Bread...and continued on our way. We were supposed to make reservations at L'Ecole (the FCI's student run restaurant) but because of the horrible weather and a change to Anna's work schedule, we cancelled them. I think it was for the best 1) because I want my folks to experience that aspect of my school together and 2) we went to Taverna Kyclades instead. I had watched the lines at this place be consistently out the door each and every night since I moved to Astoria. Anna went there with her mother once and said there's a good reason for that. We only had to wait about 15 minutes for the table and the service was amazing from the start. Very helpful waitstaff and they brought piping hot bread to you along with your drinks. Taverna specializes in Greek cuisine with special attention to seafood. Lots of Mediterranean appetizers, like the Lima Beans in Tomato Sauce that my father ordered. Their sides are unusual as far as regular restaurant sides go, but the norm when referencing Greek style cuisine. The Roasted Lemon Potatoes are cooked to the point that they look like mangos when they are brought out. Other options are Steamed Dandelions and Sliced Beets. Anna and I decided to split the small Peasant Salad (which was like a meal in itself) with cucumbers, Kalamata olives, onions, tomatoes, and (2 GIANT blocks) of fresh feta. For entrees, she ordered the Grilled Whiting with Dandelions (basically just like collard or mustard greens) and I decided on the Broiled Scallops and Beets. To come after his giant plate of Lima Beans, Dad got Grilled Baby Shark with Garlic Dip and rice on the side. I'm not sure how he finished it all honestly. Anna and I ended up having enough food for two days afterwards. The only part of our meals that she and I finished were the beets, which were served with whole garlic cloves. Each piece of seafood was perfectly cooked and melted as you chewed. No fancy seasoning was needed, just a little vinegar for the Dandelion greens and we were in heaven! At the end of the meal when we thought we couldn't eat any more, the waitress brought us two surprises. Over the course of waitress/customer conversation, it was established that none of us had been there before and Anna and I were really new to the Astoria area. So she brought all THREE of us huge Taverna Kyclades coffee mugs to take home AND complimentary dessert. It was hard to figure out what it was and she wouldn't give away any information besides the fact that there was semolina in it. In dissecting my mound of sweets, we discovered that it was encased in a few sheets of phyllo puff pastry dough and drizzled with cinnamon and honey. The filling was warm and to the naked eye it looked like a custard-like cream but it actually had the texture of cream of wheat (where the semolina comes in). It was light, but none of us (except Dad) was able to polish that off after a stellar feast like the one we had to take home with us in doggy bags. Taverna Kyclades is open for lunch and does free delivery. http://www.tavernakyclades.com

Since then, we've mainly been cooking at home. Broiling tomatoes, grilling fresh fish...its so nice to have produce and fish markets literally at the corner of every street so you can grab what you need on the way home from work. We did go to one Japanese restaurant, Mottsu, on Mott Street in Soho before going over to Crash Mansion for a show. The highlight of that trip was the Nolita roll. Roasted red peppers, olives, and garlic. Little Italy in seaweed. We'd rather go to Kumo for the taste and for the value really.

Other cooking adventures had in our rumpus room so far have been experimenting with the Cuisinart and Wow Cow mix. First trial run was with Angel Food Cake flavoring. Its never going to compare with the commercial grade machines that work hard at Mr Freeze, but after mixing (or maybe over mixing) and allowing more set up time in the freezer, we had our Wow Cow feast! Its going to take a couple more trial runs to get the consistency right, but we are well on our way to homemade guilt free frozen yogurt anytime we want!

So far NYC food has done nothing but excite me. I have one more update to get to before diving headfirst into the Classic Pastry Arts program at the French Culinary Institute (ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!). This will come in the next day or so and its going to cover the Whisk and Ladle SupperClub's take on a wedding feast.

Any suggestions for spots in the city I should taste and review? Let me know!

Last Days in Eastlake and Ohio...

2007-07-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hello from NYC! So now that much of my entire life has been picked up and relocated to the city (and that many of my kitchen utensils have been successfully unpacked) I can start to tell you about my culinary adventures over the past few weeks.

Our story begins in Cleveland for the Rib Burn Off 2007. The lovely Mrs. Lindsay Bierman and myself made up Team Delicious in the competition. But more about that in a few. Personally, I made a couple dishes for everyone to enjoy and one in particular for a single guest. The Texas Cole Slaw from the Memorial Day 2007 feast made a comeback appearance for the festivities because its a total crowd winner. Here's the basics of it:

SLAW:
1 head Napa cabbage, chopped
4 large carrots, shredded
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
8 oz toasted pecans, chopped
2 Granny Smith apples, thinly sliced
*the original recipe had a garnish of fresh mint...we didn't use it in this batch*

DRESSING:
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp hot water
1 tsp sugar
4 oz sour cream (you could use creme fraiche instead...my version used fat free sour cream)
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1 orange, juiced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp caynenne pepper
kosher salt & pepper to taste

Super simple and really great all together. The dressing has just enough sweetness to balance the tart flavor of the apples and onion flavor and the cayenne pepper hits you at the right moment after swallowing each crisp clean bite!
I also ventured into the realm of Key Lime Pie. The couple that lives next door to my parents in Ohio, Sue & Denny...are absolutely amazing folks. The RBO '07 wouldn't have happened and the RBO tradition itself wouldn't have started if it wasn't for them. Sue's dad LOVES Key Lime Pie. So the last time I saw him, a couple weeks before the big party, I promised him his own pie. As the event drew closer and closer, I realized that it was was more feasible for me to make that pie rather than do the entire BBQ themed cake I was going to attempt. The time didn't allow for alot of fuss and it wasn't really worth it for me to unpack all of my kitchen supplies to make a cake at this point before the move. I actually ended up making this pie twice, because the first time it was with condensed milk that had been in the cabinets for a really long time. Now condensed milk doesn't 'go bad.' It just looks that way over time. So the milk from the old cans had a caramel color to it and so did the resulting pie filling. IT still tasted great, but just looked like a caramel custard as opposed to a Key Lime filling. So the second time through, new cans of of the Borden's were used and the filling was a lovely light yellow. The crust was a basic graham cracker:

1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c sugar
4 tsbp melted butter

This bakes in a 375 oven for about 15 minutes and will really brown up and make the whole kitchen smell like cookies.

The filling was quick to prepare as well:

2 14oz cans condensed milk (note: condensed milk always comes sweetened. I didn't know that)
1 c Key Lime juice
2 whole eggs

*You could have used regular lime juice as well, but I think the Key Lime juice is a bit more pungent and adds more of a punch overall to the pie. All you really need is elbow grease to whisk the condensed milk smooth with the eggs and lime juice. It is balanced out with the topping:

1 c sour cream (again, I used the fat free variety)
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsbp lime zest

This looked just as good as it tasted! I was going to use Splenda in the crust, but I'm glad I didn't because I don't think it would have held up as well as it did with regular sugar. The only wait time involved in it is the time you need to chill the baked crust before you put the filling (not the topping) the shell and the minimum of 2 hours the filled shell needs to chill in the refrigerator before putting the topping on. You are also supposed to chill the whole thing, topping and zest and all before serving, but I think its sturdy enough for you to go right from topping to table.

I gave Sue's dad the pie. He hid it from the rest of the party guests and took it home. I got the empty pie plate back about 2 days later. I think he liked it.

Onto the Ribs. The Missers and I took 3rd place in our debut year, so this year it was time to expand and improve our repertoire. This time around, we got a gorgeous rack of pork spare ribs at Rudy's Meats in Willowick. Thanks to the fast mind and hands of Lindsay, we had decided on a pineapple flavor for the ribs and we also went with a 24 hour brine of kosher salt, black pepper, and water. The sauce failed its first test run, we're not quite sure why, but it may have had something to do with eyeballed measurements and I'm thinking the addition of teriyaki sauce. No worries though, the second go round is what we went with.

1/4 c brown sugar
1/3 c flour
1/4 c white vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
14oz crushed canned pineapple (we used no added sugar pineapple chunks that we crushed in a food processor)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt (we used regular table salt)
1/8 tsp black pepper

It might have seemed disconcerting to the eye because it was more of a rose color as opposed to the deep hue of regular BBQ sauce. However, the sweet heat was super prevalent. Note to those of you who don't want to use the juice that's in the canned pineapple - 14oz is the entire amount of pineapple in the large can! Or 1 3/4 cup of fresh crushed pineapple. Who knew Ms Jones could do math!? The best thing about it was the peppery aftertaste that even just 1/8 tsp left you with!

We brined the meat overnight, then baked it for a little over 3 hours in a low heat oven. Missers added a bit of teriyaki in the bottom on the baking pan to aid the steaming process. The ribs were finished with the sauce on the grill, allowing the brown sugar and pineapple in it to slightly carmelize on the meat. They smelled insanely good and once again, were good enough to get 3rd place overall. Out of 7-8 competitors (seasoned professionals I might add) that's not too bad for us. At least we could go to bed knowing that we placed two years in a row. That doens't happen very often in this contest!Most of the time, those who place are first timers or regular participants who have a good year. We were pleased to take home another ribbon. But next year, we've got our eyes focused on the trophy and jacket!

The rest of the spread at the party was standard Eastlake Heights picnic fare. Lots of fresh salads and slaws (the Memphis style cole slaw my mom made was to DIE for! The heat was totally unexpected but hit like a ton of bricks), roasted potatoes, homemade baked beans, pulled pork sandwiches, Sac's egg rolls, a huge fruit tray, Lindsay's mom's 'Poke Cake' (which gets devoured the moment its put on the table), various cookies, brownies, finger desserts, and Tyler's mom sent him with an apple pie. And as usual, we were standing outside at around 1:30 am grilling burgers and hot dogs because the round 4 or 5 munchies had set in. At that point in the night it was raining and most people were feeling the effects of fatigue and alcohol, so there was alot of smoke and a lot of laughter surrounding the grill. I think my mom had to step away, American cheese in hand, because she was giggling uncontrollably. We all went to bed that night stuffed to our eyeballs. What a culinary note to end my residence in Ohio on.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this entry...live from New York...

Coming soon...

2007-06-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

A review of Kitchen Confidential: The Series

They only aired about 1/3 of the episodes they produced, so I have about 8 episodes that not even I have seen yet. But rest assured loyal fans, they will be viewed and commented on in full.

Also on the way from Ms Jones, full reporting live from the Eastlake Heights Rib Burn Off 2007. This time 'round, Missers B and Ms Jones are gunning for Sally, Ron, and all the other past first-place winners. Last year, we were 3rd in our first go-round...things will change this year for sure.

xx--

Pampering for the Face

2007-06-08T13:34:00.001-07:00

AND for the stomach!

Ms Jones recently attended a 'Body Shop at Home' party thrown by a lovely friend named Dawn. While I was making my final purchases, I chose a random prize box which held a small piece of paper saying I had won my own 'BSAH' party! So the date was set and that meant one thing in my mind...what the heck am I going to serve to my guests?! Menu planning started right away.

On the invitiations, I said that 'refreshments' would be served. Now in my mind, that means stuff to snack on. BUT, as its been show throughout the years, and most recently show on Memorial Day, I'm always overprepared. So I wanted to make sure that I stuck to my guns this time and only soent the time and money that was NECESSARY to provide 'refreshments.'

If you couldn't tell from earlier posts, I live for Mediterranean cuisine. Its light, heart healthy, and full of fresh ingredients and flavor! Therefore, it was only natural to choose to stick with that theme. My homemade hummus is in high demand at social gatherings (or at least in my mind it is) so that needed to be on the menu. Since we were going to be testing face cleansing and moisturizing products, I wanted the guests to be able to have things that easy to pick up and eat. One of the first things that came to mind was mini spanakopitas. But phyllo dough is very crisp and crumbly when baked and I wanted to avoid as much of a mess as I possibly could. It would save my guests AND myself from alot of heavy clean up. In searching for alternatives using the spanakopita filling, a light bulb went off in my brain. Wonton wrappers. I would be able to bundle the filling up neatly and keep it sealed, while providing a crisp wonton corner for the attendees to hang onto as they eat.

I used a filling recipe from a June 2001 issue of Cooking Light Magazine:

1 (10-ounce) package fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

To prepare filling, place spinach in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Place over medium heat; cook until spinach wilts. Place the spinach mixture in a colander, pressing until barely moist. Combine the spinach and cheeses in a bowl; set aside.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the green onions; sauté for 2 minutes or until soft. Stir the green onions and the next 5 ingredients (green onions through 2 egg whites) into spinach mixture.

It made a substantial amount of filling and the original recipe used phyllo to make 20 teeny bundles. Using the wontons and half of the regular filling amount, I was able to use all of the wrappers and ended up with 48 bundles.
Now, to save myself time, I bundled and stored them in an airtight container the night before. Next time, I will fill them and promptly bake them. The filling was very moist despite the fact that I squeezed the life out of the spinach. I think they would have crisped more while baking if I would have tossed them in the oven right away. They had more of a wet ravioli look to them after sitting, filled, in the fridge over night. They were also a bit stuck together, making placement on the baking sheet rather time consuming.

Every techinique I came across for baking filled wontons (instead of frying them) called for a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. When I was perusing my latest issue of Cooking Light, they suggested spraying the wontons with nonstick cooking spray and baking for 4-5 minutes. But that was unfilled and straight from package to oven. So the former suggestion was going to be my best bet.
I probably could have left them in the oven for the full 20, but they browned and crisped on the edges after 15 minutes. The moisuture in the filling caused a bit of puffing in the middle of the wonton from steam release as well.

As an accompaniment to the hummus, I made a small veggie tray of celery, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, sweet onions, and sliced cucumbers. One of the guests was also nice enought to swing by South Side 6 in BG before coming over to pick up a couple bags of the best pita chips in Wood and Lucas county.

For dessert, I wanted to keep it light and simple. I didn't really stick with the Mediterranean theme here, because, quite frankly, bakalava, burma, birds nests, and rice pudding are really hard to make. I was going to throw together some sugar free Angelfood Cake with a topping of crushed pineapple, Cool Whip Free, and SF vanilla pudding mix, but all the stores around me were out of the sugar free cake! So when I was pillaging my way through the shelves at my local Giant Eagle, I came across a tart shell shaped pre-made Bavarian Sponge Cake. 1/4 of the cake was only 164 calories, so do the math to serve 10 slices of the cake, and that comes to only 65.6 calories for the cake par per serving. Still a calorie conscious alternative! So I put together the topping I was going to use on the Angelfood cake and just flopped it in the middle of the sponge cake. It was garnished with a fanned whole strawberry.

I'm sorry I don't have any photographs of the 'refreshements' posted this time...I was a bit preoccupied with entertaining the 9 other people in my apartment, haha. But duty calls. Everyone raved about the taste and presentation. That made me feel like there's a ton of great supper clubs in my future.

Coming soon, cookies for a golf tournament!

Memorial Day Feast!!

2007-06-02T08:15:00.001-07:00

Lots of people choose to relax for their Memorial Day weekend. People like Anna & myself choose a different kind of relaxation. Like getting together a bunch of good friends and cooking for ALL OF THEM! You saw the menu in my last post, but here's the thoughts, reviews, and even recipes for our picnic.

Prep began the night before in the Goodwin's kitchen. I arrived @ 6:30 and I think we made it to the store a bit after 7:30. Because it was more cost effective, we decided to get just about all of the produce at Monnette's Market. This way, we could ensure freshness and save ourselves a few dollars in the process. For those of you who don't know about the more recently remodeled Bowling Green, OH Kroger store...its incredible. I lived in BG for 4 years and shopped at said Kroger for the same amount of time. When I walked in, it was a completetly different layout. I felt lost, but was really impressed with it overall. A good fresh salad bar, sushi, and 'Natural' food section. THe two complaints I have overall:

1) Starbucks. come on now. There's one in the student union on campus and directly off exit 64 on Wooster. We don't need one in the grocery store. I love my Italian Roast as much as the next extra bold fanatic, but seriously.
2)The aisles. They run in a way that hinders traffic slow in the store. Just positioned awkwardly.

I'm sure being the self professed foodies Anna and I are, we could have easily spent about 2-3 hours just poking around in the new layout. However, we were on a time schedule and thankfully, with a list. Therefore, we only spent about an hour gathering our menu ingredients. From there, it was decided to make a jaunt down Main Street to South Side Six; quite possibly the BG 'Diamond in the Rough.' Its a teeny party store that sells offbeat beer as well as the normal libation selection. However, the most fantastic thing about it lies behind the cash register. A small food prep area where they make (right when you order) Mediterranean food! Fresh made pita chips, using Soybean oil, oregano, garlic salt, and black pepper...Hummus that's to DIE for...and we think, one of the best falafels we've ever eaten. It was later in the evening though, so it was light salad time. They were gracious enough to make us Fatoush without dressing and lemony smelling Taboulleh. We also picked up three freezer bags full of pita chips and hummus for the picnic while we were at it. Reasonably priced too. I think we may have spent about $80-$90 on food total in BG.

Back to the kitchen in Perrsyburg to eat then get to really cooking for the party.
Pie crusts came first. Using the HG Recipe for Topless Cherry Pie, we processed the Fiber One in a minichopper. Next time, just to save minutes and to get a finer crumb, I think we'll use a larger processor. Mixed the crumbs with lite butter and egg substitute and made two crusts that went into the 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. While those were baking and cooling, we decided to get the Strawberry Short-Cup-Cakes out of the way. They involved the most amount of prep time and bake time. Being the health conscious folks we are, we decided to use tofu for this recipe instead of oil, water, and eggs. We also made two batches of cupcakes to accomodate the amount of people we were expecting.
I pressed the blocks of Silken Lite Tofu for about 10 minutes, then crumbled them into a large bowl. I then blended in two packages of white cake mix with a hand blender. The only other item added to the batter was about 1/2 cup of water (necessary for a smoother texture for mixing. By pressing, I drained some of the natural moisture out of the tofu). After I reached the consistency I wanted, Anna had finished dicing up 16 oz. of fresh strawberries. We had mulled over the ideas for these Short-Cup-Cakes considering baking full strawberries inside or even a puree center, but we really like the idea of looking at the cupcake itself and seeing little bits of berries all over. They went in at 350 in the oven for about 30 minutes and we had golden topped Strawberry Short-Cup-Cakes! That was the perfect time for them to go in at because it baked the cake all the way through and left warm strawberry pockets throughout. A slight browning on top also gave the cupcake the appearance of angelfood cake that had just come out of the oven.

My lovely sous, Anna, was hard at work making the filling for the two pies we were preparing. One Cherry and one Blueberry. Once the filling had set up properly, we left it to cool for @10 min before putting it in the cooled pie crusts that smelled amazing!
That night, all we wanted to get done was complete by about 12:30am.

The next morning, I went straight to the market about 9:30am to buy the rest of the produce we needed for salads, etc. Overall, I spent around $30 on a laundry basket full of fruit and vegetables that probably would have cost us twice as much if we would have purchased it at the regular grocery store. I'm sure the gang at Monnettes is going to miss me when I'm in NYC and not shopping there every Sunday morning. With my basketfull of produce, we got the big cooler packed with the other items we purchased, then headed to BG for the rest of the day.

After some necessary catching up with guests, it was time to get down to business.
We started in on chopping the ingredients for the Grilled Sweet Potato Salad.

Just to make things easier on ourselves, we modified the recipes for the salads, etc. slightly. As far as this recipe is concerned, we didn't use the peanuts or cilantro AND in the glaze, no cayenne or cumin, butthanks to a delightful measuring booboo, maximized the cinnamon to 2 tbsp. Overall though, it made for a GREAT smell and taste! We planned for more people than we had as well. We bought for a double recipe of everything, but only ended up using half that. We did notice that cooking this in the oven takes WAY longer than right on the heat of the grill. Roasting in the foil packet has a effect of the texture of the end result. Everything is tender, but still really moist and flavorful. No dry potatoes here! The sweetness of the onion, mango, potato, and red pepper meshed together so well!

Once that was all prepped and in the oven, it was time to dive headfirst into the Texas Cole Slaw.
Again, we bought enough for a double recipe, but this time, used 3/4 of what we had. So a 1.5 recipe yield. The salad part couldn't be easier to prep. Napa cabbage, Granny Smith apples (which is the reason we chose this recipe in the first place. Anna and I LOVE the tartness of the apple and thought it was a brilliant addition to the slaw) shredded carrots, toasted pecans, and red onion. We decided to leave out the mint...probably because we couldn't find any in the store, haha. The true modifications were made in the slaw dressing. No cumin or cayenne and Fat Free Sour Cream. It made a wonderfully light and creamy (didn't think that was possible...but probably because of the citrus) dressing which we were able to use sparingly to just lightly coat everything. A little went a long way, which was a good thing because normally, I avoid cole slaws because of the way the dressings weight down in your stomach. The slaw is bright in color and in flavors and its something I WILL be making again.

Rounding out the sides portion of the feast was the gloriously crispy and tangy South Side 6 pita chips and their house hummus. We also prepped a salad bar with mixed greens, stuffed olives, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, and red onion. All these items could also multitask as burger toppings. We always think ahead like that. A giant seedless watermelon was sliced and plated alongside everything. Check the slideshow for photos and let me know if you want individual photos of things for a closer look.

You can also see photos of the dessert table in the above show. Aren't the Short-Cup-Cakes adorable? The frosting was made using a Dannon Light N Fit vanilla yogurt cup, 1 package of sugar-free Strawberry Jell-o mix, and 1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip Free. I found that this provides a super light texture and flavor to the 'frosting' while still having a more substantial consistency. We didn't want to do a buttercream or anything like that because Strawberry Shortcake generally uses a whipped cream frosting. Not to say that you can't go all out and use whipping cream and confectioners sugar, haha, this is just our calorie counter friendly recipe. This version held up marvelously in a little bit of heat and piped really well through the pastry tip.

The pies were a hit as well. The Fiber One crust was slighty sweet and chewy. Really like a granola bar-esque feel in your mouth. We only ended up cutting the blueberry pie, which left everyone with purple toothed smiles afterwards. The cherry pie was saved and brought back specifically for Anna's dad to eat.

The standard BBQ meats, i.e. hamburgers (or Anna's dad's special Donnie Burgers) and hotdogs, were unphotographed. For the ovo-lacto-pesca veg crowd, we tossed some portabello mushrooms on there as well. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boca soy burgers...but there's nothing like the taste of a fire-grilled mushroom cap. With a little of the sweet potato salad on there...C'est Magnifique!

At the end of the night, everyone left with their bellies and hearts full. It never going to cease to amaze me how good food can bring friends together. Toss a bit of alcohol, dice, and a basketball game in there, and it makes for the perfect Memorial Day picnic.

I'd like to thank Anna for brainstorming this WHOLE thing, supplying the ingredients, and being in town for a lil bit. For that weekend, I was HER sous :)

If you want/need any of the recipes or further photographs, just ask. Ms Jones always aims to please.

Next up, the SPA munchies...

Review

2007-05-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

So apparently the shortbread was QUITE the hit at the Olli house. I even got a cute lil note with it saying just how much they enjoyed it! This makes me feel confident that when i make it tomorrow, it will be just as good.

Anna and I have been talking a BUNCH about the upcoming Memorial Day feast and things are in pretty good shape. We plan on prepping most of the evening on Saturday, then doing the final prep between 2 and 6 on Sunday at the BBQ house. There's alot to be done and alot to be bought, but I think we're going to be able to pull it off without any major hiccups.

We've also been discussing the future of this blog when I move out to NYC. Its not only going to contain my rants, raves, and reviews, but also thanks to some sweet technological capabilities, instructional cooking videos! *A has so sweetly taken on the responsibility of being Ms Jones' Sous Chef. So its going to be quite the adventure watching a pastry chef in training paired with a sous in training. What it really boils down to is neither of us really have a grasp on what we're doing, so its going to be interesting documenting both of our progress right here in Ms Jones Kitchen.
Also under discussion is the eventual start of Sweet Cuppin Cakes. I think we're leaning towards our home base location in the Cleveland area. But the biz won't be officially started until 1) I've been able to pay off a good portion of my student loan, 2) I get enough experience post graduation under my belt to feel more confident in my own skills, and 3) we have enough capital to really do this on our own.

I have also been thinking about cupcake recipes...specifically ones using Marscarpone cheese. When I was fortunate enough to have cable TV access this past weekend, Giada DeLaurentis...as much as her pronounciations grate on my skin like a Microplane zester...had one that I really would like to try:

1 box white cake mix
2 egg whites
8oz softened Marscarpone cheese
scant 1/4 cup oil
1 cup water

So this, after the Memorial Day Feast and my spa party 'refreshments' are done, will be the first priority in Ms Jones Kitchen. Its time to be more creative.

Tonight, its recipe prep after making Tilapia.

I was also pleased to see that this blog is reaching people I never thought it would. I was contacted by a person who works for Fox Network, after she read my post talking about Anthony Bourdain's 'The Nasty Bits.' There was a short lived TV series on Fox not too long ago spun off his book 'Kitchen Confidential.' Apparently that series is now on DVD and this person wants me to review the set and post it on here! So that's something to look forward too :)

I have to email Lora Brody and tell her the shortbread was a supreme success!

ps - if you live in the Toledo area...EAT KATZ SISTERS CHEESECAKE!!!!!!

Puffs, the Birthday and the Raisining

2007-05-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hello again faithful readers! Ms Jones back from another dry spell. It seems like I'm always apologizing for not updating you on the goings on in my kitchen. Regardless, its time (ie - slower day at work) for me to fill you all in.

The last time I was posting, I had just been to a Pampered Chef party and finished baking my first ever Friendship Breads. Alot has happened since then...I've made my first sets of Cream Puffs, Pastry Cream, a second round of Cream Puffs, more Friendship Bread, an incredible birthday dinner, and most recently, Oatmeal Cranberry Dark Chocolate Chip cookies and my first Shortbread. So shall we get to talking and photos? I hope you're all snuggled up in blankets with hot cocoa or tea reading with your eyeballs wide open.

Cream Puffs. I found the recipe I used from a recent 'Today' show segment and figured, it sounds simple enough...why not give it a go. When I start school in August, I'll be making these, so I may as well get a head start. I began by going to Cake Arts Supply to get a sturdy pastry bag and the largest round piping tip they had in the place. For those of you who aren't aware...the pastry used in Cream Puffs (and eclairs and gougeres,etc.) is called a Pate A Choux. Its different than most pastry doughs because it is cooked, then baked. You add flour to boiling water or milk and butter, then add eggs until you get a paste-like consistency. From there, you can pipe it onto baking sheets in a variety of shapes and when its baked, the liquid in the dough creates steam, which causes your pastry to puff up and become hollow in the middle. Using the recipe, i made small army of dough balls to be baked. I found the dough was relatively simple to make, just keep in mind to add the eggs one at a time. This egg addition process can't be rushed because you want to add each egg to the same consistency of dough. Adding more eggs before the others are fully incorporated could leave you with watery dough. You want the dough soft, but still stable enough to hold whatever shape you may pipe into.

Anyway, this recipe made an ARMY of quarter sized puffs and a few eclairs as well:

The end result was a perfectly hollow, lighty, buttery, and smooth pastry shell. My only mistake was leaving them sit out for too long. This dough is also pretty tempermental. It WILL dry out if you leave them sit for too long. Once they are cooled, which doesen't take that long because they're hollow, I highly recommend storing them in ziploc freezer bags OR in an airtight container until you are ready to fill them. If not, they'll become hard as a rock. This is why I had to toss 90% of these small ones and make a whole other batch of puffs to fill with my pastry cream. I also recommend serving them within 2-3 days of making them, if you're not serving immediately.

The pastry cream was also fairly simple to do. You just have to work quickly and really have your mis-en-place when you start to boil the whole milk and vanilla bean. Milk, when boiled gang, bubbles up QUITE fast. I almost had a crisis on my hands after turning my back for a split second. There was one ingredient that escaped me though. Coffee extract. I couldn't find it at any grocery or specialty store around here. So upon a tip from a WIlliams-Sonoma employee, I used instant coffee...1 tsp grounds per 1 tbsp boiling water. It actually turned the cream a coffee color, which was brilliant to match a slight coffee flavor. I also recommend using this within 3-4 days of making it.

I used the pastry cream to fill the new (and larger) cream puffs i made a few days later. As is the case with most projects in the Kitchen...it was easier to make said cream puffs 2nd time around. They didn't puff as much as I would have liked them too. I think they require a bit more baking time because of size increase...and the weather was really humid outside..so that played a factor too. But I snapped a couple pics before they were all eaten at work:

All feedback on them was positive. One got the top eaten off of it, and then there was a salesperson who asked if there was hummus inside of the puff. I laughed. Its not far fetched for a savory Pate A Choux to be filled with a hummus like substance...but not in this case. Wouldn't have gone well with the powdered sugar.

So the 12th of May was Ms Jones' big quarter century birthday celebration! For the big 2-5 a kind hearted woman at work, Anita, was nice enough to make a cake for me!!

Just how I like it. Plain white cake with a layer of strawberries inside and Vanilla BetterCream whipped frosting. And of course, more strawberries on top. Many of you don't know this, but Strawberry Shortcake is my ultimate favorite dessert. I LOVE anything simple with fresh ingredients...so this cake was perfect for my birthday! Murph, the morning show guy over at 106.5 and KC were nice enough to also get me a 4 inch personal Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake from Katz Sisters. Now the strawberry cake was cut up and made for sharing...but I took the selfish route on the cheesecake. A decent cheesecake is easy to find...cheesecake like Katz Sisters...you keep all to yourself.

The problem with my birthday is I like so many different types of foods, that I can never fully commit to picking a birthday menu. This year, it was a rough decision between sushi, fresh fish, and falafel. It must have been the day, but I was totally feeling the falafel. SO, I rallied up the Robers, picked out a complimentary salad recipe (thanks to Heidi's genius) and got the best falafel in town...Rumors. South Side Six is the only comparable place around here, but that's technically in BG. and the only thing i required was their homemade pita chips to compliment the hummus I picked up from Rumors as well. One dozen falafels there is only $6...so I spent about $10 for an amazing main course. The rest of our meal was a fresh zucchini, tomato, watercress, and sauteed mushroom salad. We seasoned the mushrooms with a bit of cumin and that perfectly played off the peppery taste of the watercress. It was served over field greens and then a touch of Heidi's signature 'House Dressing.' The dressing had mustard and a touch of sugar in it too. Things were prepared with my lovely birthday gift...a new 7-inch Santoku knife! Thank the culinary gods for friends who consider you stable enough to give you a giant knife for your birthday :) and despite the fact that we stuffed ourselves silly, we still managed room for cake. jRo put it best 'whether is fish or falafel...' we always end up with a great meal when we get together to cook.

Memorial Day weekend, my fellow foodie and partner in Sweet Cuppin Cakes crime will be back in town on vacation from NYC. Ah yes, NYC...that's another issue to be talked about soon enough. Apparently the kitchen in our new apartment is prime space for supper clubs...so those will be discussed as they get closer to happening. Our first SCC supper club though, will be held this Memorial Day weekend for Anna's visit in BG. We've been menu planning and this is what we've decided on:

APPETIZERS
Hummus - SS6 to save time
Salsa - homemade, of course
Pita Chips - SS6
Kale Chips - Homemade
Relish/Cheese Tray

SIDES
Sweet Potato Salad
Texas Cole Slaw w/Granny Smith Apples
Salad Bar

MEATS
Hot Dogs
Donnie Burgers
Black Bean Veggie Burgers

DESSERT
Strawberry Short-Cup-Cakes
Cherry Pie
Fruit Salad

Ice Cream

We love the idea of keeping simple, but also healthy. So alot of these things will not only be good, but super great for your body! For example, the cole slaw isn't made with mayo, the Cherry Pie is an HG recipe...SCC is going to be all about simple, FRESH, ingredients and taste. More on the Mem Day feast as it draws closer! Also more on the plans for SCC...we've got a number of brillant ideas already brainstormed, I can't wait to finally get them all down on paper. HINT: our signature giant cookie will look like THIS

Thursday night, I felt the itch to bake. It was time to whip out the cookie recipes. Something again, simple that 99.9% of people like....Oatmeal Raisin. This is a recipe I can do in my sleep and it turns out wonderful every time. I love the minimal amount of flour (1 1/2 cups) to the 3 cups of oats! Plus, the variety of add-ins is tremendous. This time around, I ended up with Oatmeal Cranberry Dark Chocolate Chip cookies:

Keep in mind too, there was also an oven full of them when I took these photos. Normally, I would have made them slightly larger, but I wanted to max the quantity, so I used my 1 tbsp. cookie dropper to made each one. I like the consistency of the ones that I had on the bottom rack more so than the top rack. Always a winner :)

I also decided to use a recipe out of Lora Brody's 'Basic Baking' for shortbread. I've said it before...Lora is a genius. Buy this book for your cooking collection:

BUY THIS BOOK! BUY THIS BOOK!

I gave this shortbread to a co-worker and am currently waiting to hear how it turned out. Looking at the actual result closely, you could see the teeny pockets of butter...so I'm thinking it worked out well. I'll let you all know whether it got the thumbs up or down as soon as I hear them. It wasn't tough to make either, all it consisted of is butter, flour, confectioners sugar. Couldn't be simpler. I just hope that it was pressed down well enough to hard together once its pulled out of the baking dish.

That's about all the updating I can give at this point my faithful few. I will be posting photos and final menus/reviews from the upcoming memorial day 2007 feast.

I'm making a list of cooking books that I want to have in my personal library:

Basic Baking - Lora Brody

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen - Harold McGee

The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen - Jacques Pepin

The King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion

The Produce Bible : Essential Ingredient Information and More

Mastering The Art of French Cooking - Julia Child

La Technique - Jacques Pepin

The Professional Chef - CIA

The French Laundry Cookbook - Thomas Keller

Larousse Gastronomique Recipe Collection

Les Halles Cookbook - Anthony Bourdain

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver

Nick Malgieri's Perfect Pastry

All of the America Test Kitchen Cookbooks

Anyone want to donate a cookbook to La Bibliotheque de Ms Jones? Let me know :)

more to come ...

Ms Jones and the Pampered Chef

2007-04-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

So this was the product for the Baby Shower at church the other week...it took me a while to post them just because I was trying to keep things together at work, etc. But nevertheless, baby shower cake. It was rough to finish this because it was really humid the particular day I decorated it...which means as I was warming up the frosting when I was holding the pastry bag. I even had to put it right in the fridge onece it was finally done. Not my best work...though everyone at the party loved it. Inside was cinnamon swirl. Once again, impressed with the look of the basketweave pattern. Still can't understand why more people don't like it. Its old school and I dig it.

This week, I had a torrid affair with the Pampered Chef. It was actually the first PC party I had ever been to and thankfully walked out with most of my money still in my checking account. I did purchase a couple things for other people but I didn't over do it for my personal collection, which only consists of a springform pan set that's actually my mothers, haha. I'm considering hosting one even though my apartment is teeny and it would be a tight squeeze.
Anyway, at said party, the PC woman made a chicken and broccoli braid and a Banana Cream pie thingy. Pretty simple stuff. Here's my purchases:
1 can strainer
1 mini measuring cup set (ADORABLE for liquid measures up to 4 tbsp!)
1 pair of Bamboo Tongs
1 8 inch serrated Bread Knife (quite a steal for the price..and its lifetime guaranteed)
1 2-cup capacity stoneware oval baker
1 Citrus Peeler (it was like .75 cents and I was still using my fingers to do that crap!)

So overall, I was happy with my selections...could have bought WAY more...
Being who I am, I couldn't go to the party empty handed. So, I decided to bring the friendship bread I had finally gotten around to baking the night before. I made a loaf of Banana Walnut and also a loaf of Pumpkin Raisin.
If you've ever made Friendship Bread, you know its a 10 day process that you can basically add anything you want into it. Both loaves turned out great and my oven was quite accurate as far as baking time goes! I can't express how nice it is to have an oven that behaves!
The Banana Walnut was slightly drier than the Pumpkin Raisin, but that's a direct result of add-ins. I DID pull an America's Test Kitchen trick out and press the pumpkin before I put it in. I think the bread would have been way mushy if I didn't. Same principle that's used in the Pumpkin Cheesecake I love to make so much. And it turned the bread a warm orange color.
I was pleasantly surprised with the taste of both breads, because I used Splenda instead of sugar. In the whole recipe, there was about 1/4 cup of real sugar because I used 1/2 cup of the Splenda blend for baking. The rest of the additional sugar was substituted. I was concerned that it would be TOO sweet, an unfortunate side effect of sugar sub products...but it worked out well. Again, I partially attribute that to the mix ins I used.

I have one more batch of bread that I'm on day 4 of...I'm thinking about the Pumpkin Raisin again...maybe using chocolate as well for the 2nd loaf. Any suggestions you all have would be amazing.

I'm also looking for baking projects. So consider this a challenge to you all to give me one to work on. I haven't got ALOT of time on my hands...but the spare time I do have, I'd like to spend it making things for you all to read about :)

get to it! challenge me!!!

ms j

Ms Jones on vacation

2007-04-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hello from New York City!! Well...Ohio right now...but think like I'm still in NYC. I'm trying to imagine that I'm still in Astoria typing while staring at the street and fire escapes because, quite frankly, typing while being enclosed in my office just makes this whole thing lose its zest. So imagine I'm still in New York...awash in a sea of culture, hustle, bustle, and FOOD!!! How could I go to a place like this and NOT share the amazing finds with all of you?!

First of all, I'd like to thank my NYC roomie for the week and partner in foodie crime and eventually the Sweet Cuppin' Cakes company, Anna. Having someone along for this culinary ride is always a joy. Plus she's wonderful company!

So the first day I arrived here, we decided to check out a place recommended by Rachael Ray on 'Tasty Travels.' Good Enough to Eat offers breakfast till 4pm, along with lunch, dinner, and 'inbetween' meals. Such a cute cottage-y interior and the whole place smelled like sugar and cinnamon. After taking a while to decide what we were going to order...I settled on the homemade granola with low fat yogurt and fresh fruit. Anna chose the smoked salmon sandwich on whole wheat toast with cucumbers, goat cheese, tomatoes, and watercress. The granola was sweet, but not too sweet...and toasty like it just came out of the oven topped with fresh strawberries and banana. The yogurt was unflavored, nicely chilled, and it perfectly complimented the belly-warming quality of the granola and the sweet tooth satisfying fruit. What I really loved about it is that it wasn't sugar laden. Often, you find granola and you can't really taste the actual components other than the sugar. You may even find clumps of it passed off as a real part of the cereal. But this had a beautiful oaty, nutty, and cinnamon flavor. My only complaint, haha, was that we didn't get some to take home with us! Of course, I had to try the smoked salmon too. A great crisp to the whole wheat bread and there was just the right amount of goat cheese for a creamy flavor. Paired with the cool watercress, cukes, and tomato...a brunch sandwich to eat anytime! The wait staff was casually attentive, refilling coffee when needed, but giving patrons a nice amount of space (in a small restaurant) for personal conversation. A+. Next time, I'm going the Irish Oatmeal route...perhaps pancakes...

Hopped on the N train from there to Canal Street to find the French Culinary Institute HQ so I wouldn't get lost going there for my tour on Friday. We stroleld along the Broadway/Grand Ave area popping into little shops every now and again. A small bi-level Asian foods store caught our eye right away. Virtually any product you could want/need for an Asian feast was inside, including reasonably priced fresh produce and pre-made sushi and even take home Omirice! A huge selection of yam noodles..and the elusive Shiritaki Noodles in both the spaghetti and fettucini shape! So, we picked up a couple packs of each, as well as some broiled tofu, and wakame salad in preparation to cook at 'home' Thursday night.

As the day went on, our hectic schedule only allowed for a couple Nature Valley PB granola bars until around 11pm, we were finally able to find a spot for dinner. In exploring the area surrounding the apartment, we were considering just heading into Key Foods to pick up some groceries for that night and for the rest of my visit, until we saw Pinocchio's Parlour on 30th Ave. Glanced and the menu outside and saw large sized Horatiki salad and we were sold. Cute atmosphere, LOTS of 'extended family' of the place in when we sat down. Flatbread straight out of the oven was brought to our table and we ordered a couple big salads to get our veggies in. Everything was fresh and filled us up properly. No artichokes on my Horatiki though...slightly disappointing...as was the fact that there was lettuce in it. Traditionally, there's none. BUT at that point in the night, it was satisfying and light enough to eat before heading to bed. Our waiter was eating on the job...but it didn't bother me like it normally would because of the time of night and nature of the patrons in the place. He did take his sweet time bringing us the check though...
After we paid, we stepped outside and were shocked to see a corner produce market open. Therefore, we browsed through and picked up some fruit...PEACHES!!! of all things...were plentiful, surprisingly. But these would be used for breakfast on Saturday.

Thursday morning, Anna went off to work and after my workout, I was left to scrounge up breakfast for myself. She suggested a place right up the street from her apartment, Euro Cafe, which serves a GIANT selection of sweet and savory crepes, omlets, and brunch-y type foods all day long. Plus, they have really great coffee. So I set out in that direction when I was ready for the day. Not really knowing when the next time I was going to eat was, I searched for a hearty breakfast crepe to set me up for the rest of the day. I passed by the spinach and southwestern ones, and my eyes stopped at the 'To Your Health' crepe. A whole wheat crepe (who knew?!) with plain yogurt, walnuts, honey, fresh bananas and strawberries. Now I'm not sure how 'healthy' it really was...but it was delicious! Thankfully, there was more of the fruit inside than the other components...but it was dinner plate sized and hit the spot. Service was slow, but maybe that's the vibe they were going for? Honestly, service doesn't really matter to me as much as the quality of the food I am consuming. So I'm willing to make that sacrifice of a couple lost coffee refills for good eats.

My crepe kick started my day of walking around the city, which included a stop my Macy's Kitchen Demo center downtown to catch a cookie decorating presentation by Eleni's NYC. Got to meet her after the demo, which was nice..because hopefully, I'll be working for her when I relocate out there at the end of the summer. But back to the food!
I had to meet Anna around 5:30 so we could go the gym and I was running on no fuel. Thankfully, the cheerleader to my Thompkins was packing a Luna Bar. She might not know this, BUT it was the first Luna I'd ever had. Thanks to that s'mores bar, I'm addicted.

We went back to that open market in Astoria after our workout and also went to Key Foods. I wasn't expecting to find the selection that Key Foods provided! Hard to find Fage greek style yogurt, Better N Eggs substitute, and a great boxed grocery items. We ended up spending about an hour or so in the store...thankfully, Anna has the same grocery store habits that I do. Haha. Back home for me to cook dinner and expose Anna to the glorious world of Shiratki!
I made stirfry with snow peas, onions, broccoli, tofu, and mushrooms. Just a baby step into the Shirataki realm, but it worked! We topped off our homemade Chinese with amazing decaf Chocolate Raspberry Coffee. I'm not sure where she said she acquired it from...but it was insane!
The only other thing breaking from the norm for me that night was Gerber graduates strawberry apple snacks in my yogurt that night. They're the consistency of Alphabits, come in a good variety of flavors...when I got back to Toledo, I snagged the Sweet Potato and the Strawberry Apple. Now I know what you must be thinking...toddler food?! Look, there's no rules against that. I draw the line at the pureed baby food...but everything else is fair game. Case in point: I LOVE Cream of Wheat and rice cereal...and if the baby aisle at the grocery store is the only place I can get it...Gerber me NOW!!!

Friday morning, I decided to take it easy on myself and make my standard yogurt, fruit, and cereal for breakfast. Plus, I wanted to conserve since Anna and I had a dinner reservation at L'Ecole that night. Went back to Macy's for a lesson tempering and decorating with chocolate by the Master Chocolatier Thierry Muret and we got samples of the new products they are launching in honor of the 80th year of Godiva. Midnight Bliss, White Chocolate filled with a white ganache, and Milk Chocolate filled with Almond Praline. Saved those for later, grabbed a Luna Bar (I told you, I'm officially addicted) and some baby carrots and went to the FCI for my tour and class audit.

The school was everything I dreamed it would be. Over 15 amazing kitchens...4+ floors...a beautiful Culinary Theater where demos and guest speakers are held...being there was surreal...and I got the same feeling that I did when I first visited Bowling Green. Its just the right place for me to be. More of the mushy school spirit to come in my other blog. This one is all about the FOOD! When the tour was over, I was given a chef's coat to wear and took my seat in the corner of the Pastry I kitchen to observe students in action. They were making Lemon Chiffon cakes, buttercream frosting, and lemon curd filling. Once they had all their mis-en-place...it was a whirlwind of activity from there on out. Only stopping a couple times to get instruction from Chef Rebecca and Chef Kir. When I was sitting and watching, Alain Sailhac (Master Chef and Dean Emeritus of the FCI) just walked in and started chatting with me. I think I had a heart attack. Before he left, he made sure that I knew they used alot of butter at the school. The class was fast paced, but the instructors were good about letting the students really do things on their own. If they needed help, they were more than willing...but very hands off for the most part. That's one of the many things I loved to hear when learning about the school. Chef's aren't there to dictate. They offer guidance and instruction and end up becoming more like mentors than simply teachers. They really seem to develop personal relationships with the students that can be continued outside the classroom. The class was very systematic. Finish one project to the right point, clean up...start the next assignment...clean up...tie up loose ends...clean up. Everyone helped each other, especially the students that seemed to be progressing at a faster rate than others.
Reluctantly, I left the classroom around 8 to make my way back up to L'Ecole, the student run restaurant of the FCI for our dinner reservations. Anna was a bit late, due to an incident involving throw up on the subway, so we got started on the 5-course Prix Fixe meal around 8:40ish...Our attentive waiter was kind enough to explain the options for us that evening, as well as give us the vegetarian options, considering neither of us eat poultry, pork, or red meat.
FYI, all these courses were generously portioned for a 5 phase meal. Extremely great value for the price the dinner normally costed.
For our appetizer, we both smartly selected the Salmon Tartare over Cauliflower Salad. It came plated as a perfect circle, Tartate on top of the salad, which had a bruschetta feel to it, just with the addition of marinated cauliflower. Quite savory(thanks to the capers), and thankfully, not oily at all. Sometimes I worry with a salad that it might be runny with dressings, but not this time. Fantastic way to start things off.
Second course was the fish course. Since we were going to be splitting everything from there on out, we chose the Poached Sole Fillet in a Lemongrass Broth and the Fillet of Cod in a Tomato Sauce. (I really should have been smarter and wrote down the real names) The first thing we both noticed was how tender the fish was. In our experiences, properly cooked fish should flake off...but every time I've cooked it, there seems to be a bit of dryness in the dish. Not this time. Poaching the fillets was the solution to dry fish. Both the cod and sole flaked tenderly and melted in your mouth! The sauces weren't overpowering either...not even the lemongrass broth. And it didn't taste like Sea World! (Those of you who shy away from fish because of the smell know what I'm talking about.) Each was served with a sprinkling of legumes and carrots. Anna's even had teeny potato balls! We were in HEAVEN!!!
Third course was typically the meat course, but we opted for the veggie options. A Puff Pastry filled with mushrooms, spinach, and feta and a Grilled Eggplant Roll, which was filled with rice and veggies. The eggplant had a spicy sauce drizzled over the top of it, and both courses were served with a baby greens mix. The pastry was flaky, rich, and buttery as it dissolved when chewed. Filling was again, savory, but didn't make you reach for your water to wash down the salt. The sauce on the Eggplant roll reminded me of a favorite of mine...Rooster Sauce...and heightened the natural spicy flavor of the eggplant itself. The sushi rice filling cooled things down properly though. I could see us eating a whole tray of those instead of regular sushi rolls anyday! Lets move on.
Just when we thought that the baby greens mix was the salad course, our waiter brough us another plate with mixed greens gently drizzled with oil and vinegar as our 'digestive salad.' By this time, we couldn't even make it through the whole salad, but we were bound and determined to get to dessert and finish it ALL!
Anna ordered Lutèce’s Warm Chocolate Tart with Caramel Ice Cream and I selected the Panna Cotta with Strawberry Rhubarb compote. We also could have chosen Snow Eggs (simple meringues) with Honey and Pistachios. But we went for the gold on this one.
The tart filling seemed flourless...and had a rich, velvety texture, and a hint of orange flavor. Candied orange peel shavings went on top and the creamy homemade caramel ice cream made our eyes pop open and roll with excitement. The Panna Cotta (which essentially means 'cooked cream' and is the only dessert in the custard family that doesn't contain eggs)was more of a neutral vanilla flavor that was heightened with the tart quality of the compote. It was also served with a couple of crisp cookie triangles drizzled with chocolate sauce.
I think when we were done, they should have gotten oompa loompas to roll us to the juicing room. A good strong cup of coffee ended our feast...which left us pleasantly full. An amazing gourmet meal like neither of us had ever experienced before. Normally, this meal is $40...an insane deal for the amount you get and for the quality! I'll be taking those that come to visit me there for sure. We didn't look for it, because we had to get going to the Mercury Lounge for the Enon show, but there's usually fresh baked baguettes in a basket for patrons taking on the way out. The staff was unnervingly attentive to whatever we needed and they cleared our tables and brought new silverware and place settings between every course. I will spend the last 200 hours of my program cooking for this place, and its going to be an honor. They are open for Lunch, 4-course dinner, and 5-course dinner after 8pm. Reservations are suggested.

Saturday, after a good hour of spin class, I made HG's patented Peach & Cottage Cheese Cinnamon Kugel and won my NYC host over again with the brilliance of the Shiratakis! The fresh slightly underripe peaches I used didn't hurt either. We decided to make the whole rest of the day about getting to see places that we noticed earlier in the week, but didn't get a chance to go to. First was Kee's Chocolates. Kee is a 2000 grad of the FCI Pastry program and her unique flavors of truffles were named one of the best in the world. My FCI advisor/tour guide was kind enough to give me a card for a free truffle. So I picked out a Honey-Saffron one, while Anna chose Green Tea. I didn't get a chance to eat it until the next day, but it was immaculate. The honey saffron really didn't hit you until you were just about done chewing. Very sneaky...but I can see why people rave about this tiny broom closet sized shop. Headed over to Jacques Torres' Chocolate Haven from there...to sample chocolate covered cranberries and raisins and purchase their new 'Sunflower Brittle.' Again, the sunflower seed flavor was very subtle until you really got to chewing it. But it was covered in rich dark chocolate...I even broke down and bought a Torres' Chocolate Fork for mixing and tempering. It was so nice outside, we walked down the streets, checking in with Dean and DeLuca, where we bought teeny cranberry walnut and 7 grain rolls to tide us over for the afternoon. We made our way to the Eleni's bakery in the Chelsea Market after that, where I got to see the backrooms, etc. Its actually right next to the Fat Witch Bakery, which is famous for their decandent brownies. Also in the Market, besides the Food Network Offices, is a wine shop, Sarabeth's Bakery, Amy's Breads, a kitchen supply store that had everything you could possibly want OR need, a small grocery store, Italian gourmet shop, a couple other eateries, and a fresh fish market. Everything was so cute! And all the walking made us famished...so we decided to head over to Union Square where we would meet up with Kyle for dinner.

After about an hour or so travel time, which included a couple gourmet food stops, *ahem WHOLE FOODS*, and arrived at Kyle's dinner suggestion: Red Bamboo. I think we were even hungrier after walking through the middle of the NYU campus' street fair, which was laden with Funnel Cake and corndog vendors. Even a Southern Dessert stand with tiny bread puddings and sweet potato pies!
Red Bamboo is a Vegetarian Soul Food restaurant. There's probably no more than 15 tables inside, but always a line out the door to get in. We got there at a perfect time, right before the dinner rush, and were seated about 20 minutes after putting our name in. The thing about this place, is that they serve things like BBQ Chicken and Beef Kabobs, but all the 'meat' is really soy protein that looks and tastes just like what its supposed to be! The selection is HUGE, as are the portions and value. We started with Collard Green rolls with vegan ham. It came with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce. Kyle ordered the Crabcakes with Pineapple Salsa, Anna requested the Mango Shrimp served in a mango shell, and I opted for Salmon Teryaki with steamed veggies on the side. I don't know how they really manage to pull it off, but this was the greatest faux meal I've ever had. The 'salmon' was steaming when they brought it to the table as if it had just been seared on the grill. Kyle got 3 GIGANTIC crabcakes covered in fruit salsa that had an amazing zesty flavor to it. Anna's 'shrimp' were tossed with mango, and tricolored pepper slices. It was clear to me now why people wait for this. THe nice thing about it was the food came fast, which allowed them to move people in and out quickly. There was plenty of Vegan options too and they also do carry out. I have a feeling this will be a regular stop for me when I move out to the city. What a phenomenal last supper of my vacation.
We stopped for a treat back at Whole Foods (Gelato and a parfait) before going to the movie theater, which was right across from Max Brenner's Chocolates. I was less than impressed with the staff there...possibly because it was crowded, but the atmosphere was really cozy.
Later on that night, Anna and I tried a Wasabi sugar cookie one of her co-workers had brought back from Japan. Take it from me, they would be better tea cake sized. Some things just take more getting used to...

Its taken me over a week and a half, but that's my abridged version of eating my way through New York over 4 days. The thing that impressed me the most, or excited me the most, was the price of things. Not exorbitant at all. Even if you go to the grocery store...everything is very similarly priced to what you would find here in Toledo. That makes me more comfortable about budgeting for my big move.

That's right kids...as of 5:30 this past Tuesday, I am officially a student at the French Culinary Institute. My Classic Pastry Arts Program runs from August 14, 2007 to May 28, 2008. I will be relocating to NYC where I can fill you guys in on EVERYTHING that goes on on an more regular basis.

The freshness of ingredients in the city is immaculate too. It has to be. Otherwise, no one will come into your restaurant or buy items from your store. Thanks Zagats.

If you have any questions or comments on what I've posted here...just ask. Chances are, I did forget something. And I did leave some of the fun fluff out of this entry, just to save some time. This was possibly the best eye opening vacation of my life and I look forward to sharing my trials and tribulation at Pastry School with you all very soon.

More to come later this week on the Baby shower cake I made when I got back to Toledo. Tonight El Zarape round two...maybe Mr Freeze.

my hands hurt. LOL

ms j

Fiesta Friday

2007-03-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sort of. So the Kitchen has been a bit lonely as of late because Ms Jones (and yes, I'm referrring to myself in the third person) has been a little busy. So no fun unnecessary projects have been going on. But hopefully, a few creative dinners will come over the next week in my attempt to eat myself out of house and home before I go on vacation starting on April 7th.

Last night I went out to dinner with a few friends of mine at a classic Bowling Green restaurant El Zarape. Normally, I'm impressed with the eats there. Totally worth the money and you leave adaquately fed. Not the case last night when I ordered the Zarape Salad. Basically a green salad with grilled shrimp. No big deal...but what I was expecting and what I got were two totally different things. At any given time, I can pretty much be expected to pack away my body weight in veggies. This left alot to be desired. I think about 5 teensy shrimp and a couple cups of iceberg coupled with a few pepper slices and onions. I would have been 10 times better off with the veggie skillet. So if you go there and are expecting a good sized meal out of the Zarape Salad...think again and go with a Vegetarian combo.

Tonight my father is in town and has his heart set on Fujiyama for a giant plate of sushi. I'm going to try to get him to switch to the new Bistro Wasabi in Levis Commons. Keep your fingers crossed gang. Sushi Saturday for all.

Sunday most of my day will be spent at Ford Field for the totally cooking unrelated Wrestlemania. But you can bet that I'll have a field cuisine report on your desktops early next week.

I think I require more coffee...

xx--

The Kitchen

2007-03-29T11:12:00.001-07:00

Its incredible

2007-03-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Just how much you can create in an hour and a half. Little known fact about me, until yesterday, I had really never made any of this candy business in my life. Overall, I think that I amassed a hefty amount of product because I was the only person who showed up for class last night! But it was nice, because the Cake Arts owner, Dorothy, Pam (one of the cake decorating teachers), and I just did our own thing in the kitchen for the entire time. A bit of instruction from Dorothy for me, who was just starting out...but other than that, we just had free range to do what we wanted. Everything, like most things I've done so far, was alot less complex than i thought it would be. All this is what I ended up with:

The stuff that fit in the box
What didn't fit.

So lets get into a bit of detail as to what the heck these monstrosities are. First the picture above this sentence. Its called 'breakfast cereal.' Essentially, its fruit loops (or any cereal of your choosing), m&ms, caramel bits, and mini marshmallows mixed with white chocolate. You can pretty much do this with any combination of candy...even dried fruit and nuts. Just spread it out on a parchment covered baking sheet to cool in the fridge and break it up.

These are by far, my favorite thing that I did yesterday. Deviled Eggs. A Half egg of solid white chocolate, topped with a mix of yellow chocolate and crisp rice. Sprinkle some red sugar 'paprika' on the top and just by looking at them, you can't really tell the difference between them and real thing.
White chocolate covered Marshmallows. Without the milk chocolate drizzle, they're 'Bunny Tails.' The graham crackers are dipped in Mint Chocolate. The log-esque thing in the middle of the photo is like a Clark bar...peanut butter inside, milk chocolate outside.
Self explanatory. Underneath the chocolate is caramel twisted around the pretzel.

This is more of the really fun stuff. the dark discs are Ritz crackers covered in mint chocolate. The cordial shapes are actually raspberry filled milk chocolate truffles. More 'Clark' bars and there is also one chocolate covered coconut ball to the right of the 'Clark.' The filled truffles were super easy to do...and there's a plethora of filling options like Black Walnut, Strawberry, or Cherry...they'd be the best (because of my love of it) with Dark Chocolate. They are time consuming though because you use a specific mold. You have to paint the bottom of the mold, let it set for a few minutes in the fridge, then re-paint and re-set until you hold the mold up to light and can't see anything through it. Then press a ball of the filling into the cavity and fill the rest level with the chocolate. Totally worth the extra wait time...or at least I assume so...I haven't actually tried anything besides the 'Breakfast Cereal' yet. Just to pretty to eat AND I'm going to try to make what I'm saving for myself last as long as it can. The sugar buzz I'd probably get would be insane if I went to try everything in one sitting.
More of the grahams, coconut balls, Thin Ritzs, 'Clarks,' some mini chocolate covered pretzels, and white chocolate ducks!

A better view of the ducks. Painting the molds before filling them is yet another task that takes true precision and the right sized paint brush. Patience while the colors set up doesn't hurt either.
I like to call these 'Baby Hueys' Kind of creepy with no black in the pupils. Normally, the beak on these would be orange, but we didn't make any orange...so yellow for everyone!
Birds Nests. Chocolate covered chow mein noodles and jelly beans. Easy peazy lemon squeezy.

This is all living in my fridge at home at the moment. The only thing I'm not giving any away of is the 'breakfast cereal.' I think I'm storing away two of each thing for my personal candy stash...the rest of boxed up and ready to be given away. It was really nice to be the only one there yesterday...a rarity at that place, but I'll take what one on one lessons I can get. I might try my hand at more of this on my own, I just have to get the means to create! Its not that expensive or difficult. It will be especially easy since I've doubled my refrigerator capacity and work space. The wheels for an all chocolate 'vegetable tray' are turning AND I have some great ideas for the Rib Off cake in the summertime. Anyone want to donate to the 'Ms Jones Airbrush' kit fund? They can do lay-a-way at Cake Arts. I accept checks too.

AND if you see something you like on here, let me know if I can ever make it for you. Heaven knows I'd be more than happy to.

Shaping up

2007-03-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Ms Jones Kitchen (version 205) is just about ready to be unveiled. What I have to STOP myself from doing is going to Bed Bath and Beyond and buying the entire line of 50's diner inspired tableware and accessories. I can't guarantee that some of it WON'T happen...but I might be calling a couple of you to talk me down from squandering money on the entire set.

What I did pick up last night whilst running errands was silicon whisks. I'm eager to try them out. I see alot of teflon whisks, but those look like they just wouldn't hold up when whisking cornmeal or farina. Considering I am an avid hot cereal preparer, I was looking for something a bit more substantial. Farberware came through for me. $4 bucks later, I have two small sturdy wire whisks, with the actual 'whisk' part coated in heat resistant red silicone. I even picked up a silicone spoon rest.

Silicone is one of the things in the kitchen, especially as of late, that I have a problem with. I refuse to purchase silicone bakeware. I know its gaining popularity in homes, but something about it just seems wrong to me. There's no way that the end result could possibly be as good as the standard heavy duty metal bakeware. A couple people I know have used it to make bundt coffee cakes with and discovered that the middle of the cake just falls apart no matter what. That could be attributed to heat distribution in their ovens, but I'm guessing its more to do with the pan itself. But, I suppose I'll never know more than what others tell me though, because I will never spend the money to test it out on my own. Nothing's worse than spending money on things that don't work. At least with non-kitchen related items you can get your money back...but if the pans or muffin tins don't perform well, they wouldn't refund your $$ for something you've already baked in. That's like wearing underwear once, deciding you don't like how they fit, then trying to get that $5-7 bucks back. It just isn't happening.

In my non-expert opinion...if you want to buy silicone...do it when it comes to spatulas, potholders/trivets, spoon rests, and coated whisks. None of this bakeware crap.

I did move the coffee maker to over by the dining room table to clear up a bit more counter space. The only things that still need a place to live are my leftover cake boxes and my cook/recipe books. Once those are all happy and put away, photos will be taken and displayed.

Tonight I'll be making candy. What kind, I know not. But you'll all find out soon enough....

Moving

2007-03-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have a whole new kitchen to play in now! Its definitely not 100% put together yet (yeah, like it came in a box) but its really coming together. I think I may rearrange a couple appliances and get some more storage as well. However, it will be dinner party worthy in NO TIME! You'll all be invited, don't worry about that :)

Saturday was a lovely last dinner in #245. Grilled Yellowfin tuna and a simple salad. If you're thinking about getting a tabletop grill/griddle...DO IT! So worth the $$ (actually inexpensive) and such a time saver. I recommend getting a multiple use unit that you can grill and stew in.
Last night I didn't cook in the new place because the fam wanted to go out to dinner. None of us had been to Rumors on Monroe St. in a while, so we basically HAD to go there. If none of you in the Toledo area have been there, do yourself a favor. Like many other places in the city, its Lebanese and American cuisine and the price is GREAT for the actual amount of food you get. My personal favorite (Falafel dinner) feeds me for 4 days straight. Kevin, my brother, had never been there before, but my folks knew what they were in for. Yet, this didn't stop them from ordering appetizers along with dinner. More so my dad and brother though...its impressive and kind of gross the amount they can pack away.
The falafel is probably some of the best I've ever had. Its really a shame that I can only eat one ball of it (bigger than a golf ball, but smaller than a tennis ball in size) by the time I'm done eating the salad that comes with the meal. So now my new fridge smells chick peas and fava beans and spices.

The remainder of the wedding cake from class is sitting in the break room here at work as we speak. I DID keep one slice for myself. The top tier (sunset) went home to be shared between my sister's clan and my parents.

My goal in the kitchen tonight - find a better place for the coffee maker. Pictures to come of the most adorable kitchen table ever tomorrow. Nothing says 'Ms Jones Kitchen' like a pink speckeled table and pastel pink matching chairs. Would a matching clock be overkill? Perhaps not...

until tomorrow....

The Weekends

2007-03-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Are full of culinary possibilities because I usually have time to sit and legitimately cook. Tonight is my last dinner at Apt 245. Its heartbreaking...thinking about all the great (and not so great) things that have come out of that kitchen.

The dinner party I threw the first winter we were in the apartment...Beth making random pots of soup...the fire alarm going off even when nothing was burning...all fond memories...

So the real question is what the crap do I make to mark this occasion? I could do some of my standard favorites: pumpkin oatmeal, vegetarian reubens, spinach omlets, tofu stirfry, fatoush with lentils...i'm sighing with my wooden spoon in my hand.

But I figured why not dress things up a bit. So i have a hot date tonight with my indoor grill and yellowfin tuna. And because its St Patricks Day, i HAVE to eat cabbage. I wish i had the ways and means to whip up more traditional Irish desserts...like Apple & Barley Pudding, Donegal Oatmeal Cream, or a whiskey cake...but the cabbage will be good enough for me.

My new kitchen will hold another world of possibilities...and i can't wait to pack up the Kitchen Aid and get settled there. Twice the counter space will be nice for me, who's all arms and legs when it comes to cooking. I'm a deadly weapon in there...

I'll report on the Tuna finale for #245 on Monday. Gorge yourself on bangers and mash. But leave room for Guiness.

Oooooodles of Noooooodles

2007-03-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know, and can relate to, I'm an avid HungryGirl.com reader. Lisa (HG herself) is the goddess of guilt free cuisine and makes brilliantly witty observations and reviews about new products and old ones that might have slipped your mind. I mean, thanks to her...most of my bowls of old fashioned Quaker oatmeal are chock full of 100% pure pumpkin. But the one product that really intrigued me that she RAVES about is Shirataki Noodles by House Foods. Of course, because its something I want to try, there's no store in the Toledo area that I can find them at. UNTIL NOW.

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through the natural food section at Kroger on Holland Sylvania. Went over to the tofu and meat substitute refrigerator area, where a normal spread of House Foods tofu is usually on the shelf. Imagine my surprise and EXCITEMENT when i saw the noodle shaped Shiratakis on the end of one shelf!!! Thankfully, there were no employees or consumers standing next to me because I think I might have blindsided them with a David Lee Roth style jump kick. I snapped up 4 pkgs of the suckers (didn't want to buy them out all at once) and took them home to let the science experiments begin.

So far, the only thing I can say is every rant that HG made about these noodles are 100% justified. Once they're rinsed and patted dry, you can pretty much do anything with them. Furthermore, because they're tofu...they take on any flavor that you put with them. So far, I've made my own version of Skyline Chili by covering the noodles with Boca Chili, put them with stirfried veggies, and made a cold pasta salad out them. I've also created my own spin on one of my mother's comfort foods 'Beefy Goulash,' by using Shirataki instead of egg noodles. I don't have that particular recipe in front of me right now...but I can post my version compared to the old version tomorrow.
I've also used them in an HG approved recipe for a great breakfast casserole type dish. Peach & Cottage Cheese Cinnamon Kugel. Its basically:

1 pkg Shirataki Noodles (rinsed, drained, and dried)
1/2 c fat free cottage cheese
3 tbsp egg whites (i use two large egg whites)
1 large peach
1 tbsp Splenda granular
Cinnamon to taste

you preheat the oven to 425, combine all ingredients, and bake it for about 25 minutes until the top is a nice golden brown.

Now because of my limited resources (ie - the fact that Kroger here only has the noodle shaped Shirataki) I had to change from the HG original recipe. She used the fettuchini shaped ones in her version. I think that substitution might have led to the small amount of liquid that I have at the bottom of my Kugel when its done baking. I found its also imperative to use a peach that's slightly underripe. The mushier ones tend to leave more liquid after cooking too. I thought it might be a good thing to try to soak up a bit of that moisture left at the bottom by adding a box of Golden Raisins to the mix (overall, it only adds 90 calories to the entire recipe). While it good, it doesn't soak up everything. But you'll be all set if you simply use a slotted spoon to serve this dish out. Its got a mildly sweet flavor that the cinnamon really compliments well and a strata like consistency to it. In all honesty, with the egg whites and the cottage cheese, it really reminded me of the innards (not taste wise of couse) to fayater. Light and airy. In fact, I might just try a spin on this recipe and make it savory using spinach, onion, egg substitute, and a bit of feta and hot sauce. Can you tell its almost dinner time here? Haha.

Next on my list of HG Shirataki recipes to try are her Zucchini Pancakes. And I might attempt a Swedish Meatball-y experiment with the Shiratakis, soy crumbles, and Laughing Cow light cheese. Or sautee up Cabbage (it is just about St Pats Day after all) and have cabbage and noodles...I'll let you know how those test runs go as soon as they're done.

Overall, these noodles get two BIG thumbs up from me. If you're lucky enough to find them around you, pick up as many as you can and just have fun! Here they seem to be perpetually on sale for under $1 per package.
If you're wondering, the entire 8 oz package only runs about 40 calories total. Think about all the calories you're saving compared to 8 oz of regular pasta. As long as Shiratakis are around and readily available...I'll never eat boring spaghetti again!

On a completely unrelated note, I've also made HG's very own Blueberry Scones...another great recipe. I was concerned about baking them because they went in a little watery (next time I might decrease the amount of light soy milk). But they turned out lovely! Perfect for ladies who brunch.

I wrote an email yesterday to Lora Brody, the author of 'Basic Baking' among other titles. That very same day, I got a nice response from her thanking me for the email and asking me to send her best to Christopher Papagni when I get to the FCI. I'm totally going to pass the message along.

Tonights an egg night. Until tomorrow....

Destination Wedding

2007-03-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

Its been over a week since I've been able to get to this...things would be so much easier, particularly for this blog if I was able to do it from home. This way, I could communicate directly from my kitchen. Someday, there'll be a power Mac on one of my kitchen counters for me to get to you guys faster with thoughts that quickly leave my brain when I'm in cook mode. I promised a rant on Shirataki Noodles last week but didn't deliver. That will come, and you have my word on it, by the end of the week.

This week, unfortunately, was my last week of Cake Decorating classes. For our 'finale' if you will, we needed to bring in two stacked, crumbed, and smoothed round cakes. One 8-inch double layer and one 6-inch double layer. So my baking process started on Sunday night. There's so much, like I've said in the past, that goes into getting a cake from just baked to smoothed that I have to start a few days in advance. Plus, its not like I have time to come home and quickly smooth it inbetween leaving work and going to class.
My idea for the flavor to this cake was a direct result of the cake mixes I had at the apartment. Doing a 'tropical' flavor theme, each round cake consisted of a layer of spice cake and a layer of pineapple cake. The rounds were torted and filled with a coconut filling. Essentially making each round: spice, coconut, spice, coconut, pineapple, coconut, pineapple.
I only needed two 8-inch and two 6-inch cakes for class. Due to the fact that it takes 1.5 mixes to make each full cake, I had alot of batter left over. It was compounded because I made an 8-inch and a 6-inch out of each batter mixture...So all in all, I ended up with two 8-inch, two 6-inch, two 9-inch, and 9 cupcakes. And yes, it may sound really complicated, but its not. I simply had a kitchen table covered in cooling cakes. After they had cooled and I had torted, filled, stacked, and crumbed...this is what the dining room table looked like:
and here's everything individually...

The two 9-inch cakes I decided to leave as is for now. They'll keep just fine, since its not too warm out anymore AND i ran out of frosting...its just as well because one batch of the frosting made just enough to stack, crumb, and smooth the main cakes I needed for class. The 9-inches will get sent home to my sister and her family. Know that EVERYONE loves cake, whether its frosted or not. My particular favorite part of the baked cakes are the tops that get cut off pre-stacking and frosting. Especially when they split a bit on top and crisp around those split edges just slightly.
At any rate, the kitchen was awash in a sea of cake.

The first couple days of this week were unseasonably warm. Infact, we reached 70s. Normally we're in the comfy 40s at this juncture in the year. I would mind overall, if the temperature didn't affect the ability of the frosting to smooth so much. I found myself yelling at the cake to cooperate and not getting the response I wanted. I think there might have been a couple times where I almost threw my spatula across the room as I tried to frost. In the end, things turned out alright. If we had more cake friendly weather, they would have looked a bit better. Then again, I am still in the beginning stages of mastering the smoothing technique. Practice Practice Practice.

Got to my class right on time Wednesday and started to formulate ideas for this wedding cake. Probably something I should have taken into more consideration, but it was hard enough for me to be able to hammer out my idea for flavors and fillings. Baby steps. I pereused through the books that the shop had on site for inspiration, finding myself drawn to floral patterns that vined up and over the top sides of cakes. Then I had to take into consideration my limited resources for decoration. Since I didn't really plan ahead for what the cake was going to look like on the outside, I didn't bring much to class with me to help me put it all together. And I didn't want to have to spend oodles of cash for this. Color on wedding cakes really caught my attention as well. Most 'traditional' wedding cakes are pure snow white. While it appropriate for any ceremony/reception...I think that with the more modern feel to weddings that's been prevalent recently, why not add color and a bit of panache to the design. Fondant would probably have been ideal if I was working on an unlimited budget...but then I considered trying my hand at airbrushing again. It was so much fun the first time, why not give it another go, while I had the tools at my disposal.

Taking into careful consideration my 'tropical' theme to the flavor of the cake...I decided to do a destination wedding cake perhaps for a couple who got married on a remote island. The top tier (6-inch cake) would represent the setting island sun and the bottom tier (8-inch) would be the deep blue ocean.

With airbrush gun in hand, I layered yellows, oranges, reds, pinks, and purples for the sunset. The ocean was a mix of hawaiian blue and violet. After that was done (and i had profusely apologized to the woman directly across from me for unknowingly splashing her snow white cake with a misting of blue...) I set to work on the frosting for the tops and sides. Insipired by vine work, i created a coral-esque orange color and piped it in a fashion around the sides of the 'ocean' to look like sea plants. I then made a sandy beach color out of walnut brown and golden yellow gel icing colors and created a private island that would sit on top of the 8-inch and inbetween the pillar stands holding up the top tier. Once the island was formed, I planted a few palm trees for a finishing touch.
Using the same coral orange, I iced the sun on the top of the 6-inch and completed that tier with a few white birds coasting off towards the setting sun. Overall, this is how it turned out:

I think that if I was ever to do a design similar to this, I might try to cover the pillar legs with a wood look to them. ..or make THOSE the palm trees and decorate the underside of the top tier plate with palm leaves.

Having this cake sit on my dining room table makes the whole apartment smell like sugar. Now that class is over, I'm not sure what my next project will be. But I DO know that tomorrow I'll have the Shirataki review I keep promsing and probably post those miscellaneous flower pictures I have in my files. I may take on a baby shower sheet cake challenge in the very near future. My first paying gig. How exciting! Its just a matter of figuring out how I can fit it into everything else...

Still reading Pepin's autobiography, which I enjoy more and more each page turn. I even emailed Lora Brody to tell her how much I enjoyed her Basic Baking cookbook. Its a possiblity that I have become more nerdy than when I started this blog. And its only been two weeks.

Airbrushing a Cake

2007-03-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

So the airbrush gun is a horse of a different color. It takes a very delicate steady hand to produce the color consistency you want. As i've been learning in cake class, most of this stuff takes a patience that is hard to grasp at first. This is especially true for myself, who normally works at a rather efficient rate. But being in this class has taught me to pace myself during the creative and creation process to make sure my pieces turn out the way I planned...There's still a couple of rough spots to the cake coloration...I may have gotten a bit excited at times or the machine may have hiccuped...but here's my first major attempt at Cake Airbrushing:

Not terrible...In all honesty, I hadn't had to bake a cake in two weeks for the class, because we were concentrating on sugar flowers for a spell. But once again the pan insulating strip:

really really did the trick again.

i'm always impressed with its ability to make the cake so level! It really helps too considering my oven is completely for crap in my apt.

Therefore...if you are considering investing in insulating strips, its worth the money! Less waste of cake and it just makes things look pretty!

I've also been doing 'research' in preparation for my tour and class audit of the FCI which is coming sooner than I probably realize. Currently I'm engrossed in 'Basic Baking' by Lora Brody AND I was able to track down 'The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen' by the one and only Jacques Pepin. Brody's book is great information, written with a healthy tongue in cheek dose of 'Dr Phil'-esque kitchen common sense advice. I really appreciate the way it talks about the actual science of basic ingredients and how they work together to produce desired results. Pepin's is brilliant so far and I'm only in the 3rd chapter. I personally love autobiographies, so learning about his mother being a restauranteur in France and his father not being much of a sous chef, but having an extensive knowledge of wine, is fascinating. More to come on this title and a couple other baking essentials books I currently have on loan to come as I trudge through them happily. I'm also trying to work through 'The Nasty Bits' by Anthony Bourdain. But I think I'll finish Pepin's first, since I own 'TNB.'

This coming wednesday is the last class in the Advanced series. Funny to think about how I've been taking classes for the past 9 weeks! The 'finale' is a wedding cake. I have to bring in two double layer cakes: one 8-inch and one 6-inch, already crumbed and smoothed. I'm going for a tropical taste theme here. Each cake will be one layer of Spice cake and one layer of Pineapple cake. Then I plan on torting them and using coconut filling inbetween. I'll post pics of the progress I make there soon enough.

Tomorrow look for my rant on Shirataki noodles and the fact that they're everything the 'Hungry Girl' cracked them up to be. Also, I'll eventually be tossing up photos of sugar flowers that will keep forever! They can even be sent in the mail.

In a week or so, I'll be moving into a new apartment. Here's my new 'Test Kitchen':

it isn't much...but it'll do :)

Random fact about me: Thanks to friends in high places, I have a cookie with Anthony Bourdain on it. I plan on having it shellaced and then cased up tighter than the constitution.

Welcome!

2007-03-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

You're probably demanding an explaination from me. Ms Jones, you're saying, why in heaven's name would we want to read about your failures and triumphs in the kitchen of your teensy apartment? So this is how I would answer you:

Chances you, YOU might not want to read about them...but I do. And I needed a place to spout off about all these mishaps (some being happy ones) without feeling like I needed to add in extraneous information about my personal daily life. Food has become my passion...therefore, my passion needed a new home. Hence, Ms Jones' Kitchen. I'll be posting not only text, but pictures of my culinary adventures, gearing myself AND you up for my eventual dive into Pastry School in the fall. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them here or email me directly.

More information on me personally is in my user profile. I won't go into too much detail here, seeing as most of you reading this already know me pretty well. I'm about to turn 25 this year...and am not completely happy with what I am currently doing with my life. I enjoy working, but there's some sense of true fulfillment that's missing. This is where cooking comes in. I feel really accomplished when I complete a task, which is more than I can say for most of the work I do now. I plan on starting a 9 month pastry program at the French Culinary Institute in NYC in the fall. My facility tour and class audit is the second weekend in August and it can't come soon enough. I have always enjoyed cooking, but for most of my life, I enjoyed eating more. But over the past three years and counting, I've paid more attention to what I was putting into my body. As a result (and a rigorous exercise program) I was able to lose about half my starting body weight and gain a tremendous interest and love for cuisine creation. So when I cook now, I'm usually on the hunt for a new way to decrease calories in food while increasing its nutritional value. Nothing makes me happier than putting effort into a great meal and watching people I care about enjoy eating it as much as I did making it.

I think that going through what I have in the past few years is just a sign that the move to cooking school is a step in the right direction to get what I'm looking to get out of life. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE eating...but its the entire process getting to the final results that really makes my mouth water.

I can't promise this will be very exciting, seeing as how most of the other foodie blogs out there are composed by people with ways and means that i don't have. But I have spirit and a willingness to experiment. So this should be fun. Welcome to Ms Jones Kitchen. Hungry yet? I am...