Trippin

Make a photo album

Where does the time go??

Another photo album by Smilebox

Always hungry...never satisfied

So I've either been super irresponsible or super overwhelmed. I'm going to go with overwhelmed, because that doesn't sound as bad.

Just an update: I've graduated from my culinary program and I'm currently interning at the Center for Culinary Development. Developing and testing recipes for Fortune 500 companies is a whole new world, filled with modified food starches and nutritional requirements, a far cry from my boutique cooking school, which was typically filled with butter and heavy cream.

Apparently my BA in Media Studies and professional chef's certificate are not enough, because more school is in the near future. Come September I'll be leaving SF and trekking across the country to Boston, where I will study Gastronomy at Boston University Metropolitan College. I am hopeful that the new location will inspire writing, photography, cooking, and most importantly eating. And even though I've been pampered by San Francisco's progressive culinary world for the past 5 years, I'm looking forward to new farmer's markets and corner stores, stocked with East Coast produce and other delicious locally crafted concoctions.

And lastly, in 2 weeks I will be leaving for quite the European Vacation, while I cant promise to write very much, I'll post photos as frequently as possible, as I eat my way through Spain, France, and Italy!!

Penelope packed big flavors and personality!!

Make a Smilebox photobook

another photo montage... week 3

Fish & Shellfish w/ Steve

Two Weeks @ Tante Marie's

At this point I’m pretty sure I don’t have many faithful readers, and if I exclude family members and past professors/classmates, maybe no one else is reading this but me. Anyway, it’s been a little more than two weeks since my last legitimate post—the one claiming I would post daily— and clearly that just isn’t a possibility right now. Between cooking school, work, a demanding GRE prep course, physical therapy, and going to the gym (only to off-set my twice daily serving of delicious things poached in butter or smothered in cream), I barely sleep or shower. Hopefully, as the course goes on and I get used to my rigorous schedule I will be much more diligent about posting.

It’s only been two weeks and I’ve learned (using that term loosely) upwards of 60 recipes. Week one was relatively basic. I spent hours working on knife-skills, chopping what seemed like every fruit and vegetable under the sun, in every shape and size. For example— rough chop, fine dice, mince, slice, julienne, chiffonade, top and tail, etc. I also learned a handful of classic French soups including, French Onion, Cream of Lettuce, Butternut Squash, and Garlic Potato.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, our class cooks a complete menu, which we eat for lunch. Each student is assigned an appetizer, entrée, side dish, or dessert; and with fourteen of us cooking it’s an incredible amount of food. The dishes on these days are created by a few people, this way we are able to taste and discuss how slight differences in method or ingredients can make a huge difference in the end result. Much of the day is spent tasting dishes and ingredients and layers of flavor. I’ve realized very quickly that knowing how a dish is supposed to taste as opposed to just liking the way it tastes, is much more important in learning about and understanding food. 

Monday and Friday are workshop days, on these days all the students work on the same thing for example, breads, soups, preserves, custards and caramels, mother sauces and so on. Before each workshop Frances, instructor and head chef, gives an afternoon demo on the steps for each recipe and tricks on how to not f*ck it up, providing us with the knowledge we need in order complete the task ourselves. Fridays are also wine tasting days, and although we were spoiled with a trip to the Wine Country our first Friday, the remainder of our tastings will be done at school. Each Friday we taste two different wines made from the same grape, usually a California label and always a French label, last weeks grape was the Gamay. Amazing!

This post doesn’t even begin to shed light on how much I’ve learned and all the things I’ve experienced, in the few short weeks since school began. Over the next six months, between photos and text, I’ll do the best I can to brighten the picture for you.