Graduation was on December 20. What fun! Above is a pic of our whole class on Dec. 19 with our final exam judges. Below are a few shots of us in different groups. My mom flew out from CO and Carnet flew in from Japan. Carnet was a super champ, as I made him …
Category: Cooking School Diary
Day 120: All ends well!
This is our class and our judges after we got the news. We all passed! Of course, Mark and I pulled #1 (we plated simultaneously and first), and we pulled the harder combination: fresh pasta with fennel cream and roasted mushrooms, and a rack of lamb dish with braised artichokes, polenta with goat cheese, a …
Day 119 – Last day prior to the final, some fun with the boys, and a new knife!
I love my new Kikuichi slicer! It was a present from Bobbie and Mark. Ahhhh, so nice of them. But, you're not suppose to gift knives because it severs the bond between the knife and the knife owner. So, I had to give them each $1 in exchange for my Christmas gift. The knife is …
Continue reading Day 119 – Last day prior to the final, some fun with the boys, and a new knife!
Day 118: Goulash, “stuffing” dumplings, and Perfect Edge Cutlery
I have to say my favorite things about this last week of culinary school have been the "off" menu items Chefs Udo and Jae have taught us/made for us. Today, Chef Udo made some nice and spicy goulash and some sort of dumpling made of bread (forgot the German name) that resembled stuffing mix when …
Continue reading Day 118: Goulash, “stuffing” dumplings, and Perfect Edge Cutlery
Day 117: 3 days and counting for Team Moustache
It was another pasta day for me, and a very successful one. I really like that dish and it's pretty simple once you get comfortable making fresh pasta. I have to say that Chef Udo's method of rolling out pasta works for me and I'll follow that far into the future. Using semolina to dust …
Continue reading Day 117: 3 days and counting for Team Moustache
Day 116: One last practice on fish, making a ladyfinger cake, and learning we have 8 potential dishes on the final
Today was a good day of cooking! Although I don't like monkfish, I hope one of the dishes I pull for the final is the monkfish. It's super easy to prep and it's hard to overcook that fish, as it's not one you want to undercook. The chances are 1 in 4, since we learned …
Day 115: 4 days left of school!
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. - often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson And, I don't mean leave a trail of food on the floor, as I was doing today. Still working on flipping ingredients inside the large sautee pan. I'm excellent at flipping …
Days 112, 113 and 114: Jaegerschnitzel, spaetzle, and the restaurant heats up
I'm bummed I didn't take pictures, as the process of making spaetzle was really cool, if not a bit difficult for a first-timer. Chef Udo said he would help us make a couple of German dishes for our class family meal on Wednesday. So, he had Tomas make jaegerschnitzel and the dough for the spaetzle. …
Continue reading Days 112, 113 and 114: Jaegerschnitzel, spaetzle, and the restaurant heats up
Day 110: 2 weeks left of school and the importance of breakfast
I'm back on desserts for 2 days. Everything went just fine with my dessert today, save my ice cream wasn't quite as frozen as I would have liked it to be for service. That's not what irritated me. I'm not going to rant on why I'm irritated as I already "caused a commotion" (as my grandmother …
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Days 107 and 108: Monkfish (ummm, on the Monterey Bay seafood watch list!) and Wild Mushroom pasta (yeah, a vegetarian dish other than salad)!
Yesterday, I was on monkfish. I'm not sure why that's on our menu. Is it cheap? Seems awfully silly to put monkfish on the menu in California when, 1) it's on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List, which means do not buy or eat!, and 2) it's from the Atlantic. We can't get any …
Salty Apron 