T.G.I.F.

It's Friday! I'm so excited! First, it's the weekend. Second, I took a test today and am starting to get caught up on other school stuff. Third, Brian, Lorie, Lauren and Emily get here tomorrow and will be visiting for a whole week! Yay! Today in class we made fruit tarts using our pate brisee from Thursday. First, we blind baked the tart (means to bake it all the way through with nothing in it) and then we filled it with lightened pastry cream and arranged concentric circles of fruit on top. The fruits are then glazed using an apricot glaze (called "nappage"). We also made some individual tarts, but unfortunately fruit was in short supply, so my small tarts are a little boring.






One of my pastry classmates (Madeline) graduated from Culinary Management tonight, so a few of us from class went to her graduation at 5:30 and then our group of friends all went out in Manhattan. Todd met up with us when he was done working. We had lots and lots of fun! The weather is starting to get nice................ Have a great weekend!

Pate Brisee and Pate Sucree

Today we made lots of things, but no finished product. It was a little disappointing in that regard, but we are definitely learning some great stuff. We each made a batch of pate sucree (translated means "sugar dough") and a batch of pate brisee ("broken dough"). The brisee is not sweet, no sugar, and the butter is left in larger chunks purposefully (flaky dough method of mixing) in order that it will produce a flakier dough. This type of dough is often used in savory pie crusts. The pate sucree is a typical sweet, tart dough. The butter is really smushed in (the mealy dough method). We also made fruit curds (lemon, lime and orange) and frangipane fillings, which are nut-based pastes that often fill tarts. We're going to produce some desserts tomorrow! In other news, I made my first roast chicken today! I usually just eat the chicken breasts, but the meat fabrication classes taught me to appreciate the whole chicken. It was roasted, skin on, with a herbed olivada rubbed under the skin. I also made a wheatberry salad that was awesome. Todd's working on his book and I'm catching up on some schoolwork and studying. Brian, Lorie, Lauren and Emily arrive on Saturday, so I want to be able to spend as much time with them as possible while they are visiting. Here are a few pictures of my classmates (Lisa, Angela and then Angela, Gabriela, Shannon and Marie).

Cannolis

We made cannolis and sfogliatelle today, but I forgot my camera...It was one of the best days, and also one of the most challenging. To get the dough thin enough for both of these treats, it has to be rolled at least 15-20 times through thinner and thinner settings on the pasta machine. I LOVED the cannoli recipe we used - the best I've ever tasted. Here is a photo from home. One of my classmates did snap some photos of us making them, so when I get them from her, I'll post 'em.

Doughnuts and Brioche

We made doughnuts in class on Monday and brioche today. The third picture above is another thing we made with our brioche dough - pain aux raisins. YUM! That will definitely be on the menu at my bakery! We also made our doughs today for tomorrows treats - cannoli and sfogliatelle. Remember that Tuesdays are my long day. Well, today was a little shorter than the norm, as I didn't wake up until 15 minutes before the bus came! Well, that extra hour of sleep was much needed today! After pastry class this morning, Gabriela and I had lunch at this place called Bonobo (named after the ape that most resembles humans), which specializes in raw, organic, vegan foods. I had a nutmeat salad. Nutmeat is this nut, veggie, grain mush that really was quite good. I'm sure my description didn't do it justice, but check out their menu. I will definitely be back. We were initially trying to go to Shake Shack (it's open now!), but the line stretched all the way around Madison Square Park. Photos attached.




It's crazy! We did end up waiting in the line there for dinner and it was also good. Not probably worth waiting an hour plus for it again anytime soon, but definitely a New York experience! Then, tonight we had wine class - the wines of Bordeaux! A nutshell on Bordeaux wines - the reds are austere, tannic wines, mostly Cabernet Sauvignons, and the whites are almost all Sauvignon Blancs, aged in oak, also very austere. Bordeaux does also contain the Sauternes region, which puts out some of the greatest dessert wines in the world. Sweet, but no sugar is added other than that formed during fermentation. (These dessert wines get extra sweetness from the botrytis mold that attacks it on the vine. The combination of sun and fog creates a humidity situation that encourages the growth of the mold.) There is your 2 cents on vino. Next week is a day off, but the following Tuesday - Italian wines! Cheers!

Bagels, Pretzels and Weekend in NC

On Friday we made bagels and pretzels. We did something different with them than any of our other breads - we poached them first (dipped in hot water) to form that skin that bagels and pretzels usually have. My partner and I made Tabasco pretzels and a bunch of different kinds of bagels. Right after class, I took the train back home to pack my bags for NC! Unfortunately, my 7:30 flight out of LGA didn't leave until almost midnight, so it was 1:30 am before I got back here. We had to miss out on having drinks with Megan and Matt (so sad) and we crashed hard once we both got back to the house. It was so nice to see the doggies, but they didn't get to sleep in the bed because they were both stinky.





Saturday morning we got up in time to take them for a walk and then Todd took me to meet a bunch of girlfriends at the Piedmont for brunch. It was fantastic to see everyone and we had a great time!



Todd and I did some exploring in downtown Durham after that - I continue to see great things for downtown Durham and would love to have my shop here one day. Saturday night we met Stephanie, Brian and Felix out for dinner in Raleigh and got to meet the new baby (Gwynnie) and see Carlisle too. Everyone seems to be doing great and I was so excited to get to catch up with my friends. I miss everyone a bunch!

Rat Video...back by popular demand

I'm not sure what happened to this, but here it is again!

Pizza!

Well, we did pizzas today and foccacia bread. My partner, Clarence, and I made the Puttanesca pizza first. (That was our "assigned flavor," and we got to make our own individual pizzas once we were done.) I also made a meat lovers and a white pizza with chili-garlic oil, goat and ricotta cheese, sundried tomatoes and fresh basil. They were all pretty darn good!

More Breads

Today we made our rosemary breadsticks, some soft rolls (the first "non-lean" bread we've made, meaning that it has egg yolks in it, in addition to the basic 4 ingredients in lean breads - flour, water, yeast, salt). I actually like the lean breads better. The soft rolls we made today were pretty, though, and they brown up very nice on top because of the egg wash. We also made about 20 pounds of pizza dough per team, so tomorrow is day 1 of pizzas! My sourdough starter is lookin' good - I've been taking care of it, feeding it, loving it... (ok you get the picture) for the past 5 days and soon, we'll be making the sourdough loaves. I also had an interview this afternoon at Agata & Valentina, an Italian specialty store and restaurant on the UES. I met the recruiter briefly at our career fair a couple weeks ago and she called me to come in and talk about externships. I had the rest of the afternoon off, so I stopped in to a salon to get my hair done. I got some lowlights to go with my highlights - I like it. Had leftovers for dinner with Todd and now he is asleep on the couch. (He was out late last night with a friend of his, so I don't think he got enough sleep.) Todd wants to be a guest blogger - stay tuned for an entry from him in the near future!

More Baguettes, Meatpacking District Field Trip

It's Tuesday, so that means a REALLY long day for me (for the next 4 Tuesdays anyway). In Pastry class this morning, we made another batch of Amy's Bread Baguettes. This time we used the dough that we prepared yesterday, so they had a little more fermentation on them (which is GOOD for flavor). I liked them a lot better. Here are some pics of the loaves - the recipe made 40 baguettes, so we had A LOT of bread! We also prepared some breadstick dough, which is fermenting overnight in the fridge (cold slows yeast) to use tomorrow. We make pizzas and calzones later in the week and donuts are on for MONDAY.



After class, a group of us walked the 10-15 blocks or so to the Meatpacking District for a class field trip to Debragga & Spitler, a fine quality wholesale meat purveyor for the Manhattan area (but they ship all across the US).




We toured the different meat preparation rooms, saw a butcher cut two racks of lamb and french them in under 5 minutes (pretty much unheard of speed and precision) and spent 20 minutes in the beef aging room, which is about 20 minutes longer than I'd ever like to spend again. Dry aged beef is supposed to bring out the quality of the beef and really develop the flavor and, if you've ever tried it, you'd definitely notice the more "mature" taste as compared to wet aged beef (typical beef you'd get even in a nice steakhouse). Most steaks are wet aged (aged in their own juices), but dry aging is becoming more popular. Let's just say that once you've smelled dry aging beef, you won't ever mistake the two again! I was really fighting a battle of the senses in there and had to distract myself from getting ill. Enough of that. We did learn a lot and managed to have a nice time, despite the different smells and the very cold temps! From Debragga & Spitler, a group of us broke off to do a side project - investigate 5 very different establishments in the area (Hogs & Heifers, Little Pie Company, Pastis, Hog Pit BBQ and Old Homestead Steakhouse) and discuss their general concept, how they all coexist in the same location and whether or not our own concept would "fit" there. These places, as you can tell, are all very different and THAT'S what is unique about the Meatpacking District in NY. It's an area that used to be all about meatpacking and butchering, but many of those old warehouses have been shut down, abandoned and the area has been transitioning to a new, hip, nightlife spot in the past 5-10 years. It's unique in NYC because it's one of the only "destination" areas in the city. There really isn't a residential population there and not many people work there, but a lot of people want to hang out there. So...these many different restaurants, bars, lounges can all exist down the block from there because their patrons travel to get to them! We ended up having to do tequila shots at Hogs & Heifers, because the bartender wanted to throw us out if we didn't order a drink. "This isn't a damn museum..order a drink or get out," she said when we walked in, so we sat at the bar and showed her we meant business. Ha ha! All in the name of a school assignment, right? (FYI - Hogs & Heifers is the actual site of the infamous Coyote Ugly movie. The bar, the customers and the bartenders are just like you saw it in the movie. If anything, more crude...And we were there at 3:30 pm on a Tuesday. They really don't serve water there - don't ask! - and no limes.) Some of us (Gabriela, Annastasia and I) had wine class at 7, so we took the long walk back to school and sat through 2 1/2 hours on the wines of Burgundy. I can now identify the two main grapes of the region (white - Chardonnay, red- Pinot Noir) and tell the difference between wines from different parts of the region. For comparison, we also tasted a New Zealand Pinot Noir, which ended up being my favorite of the night. Now, it's bed time! GOODNIGHT! :)

Walk Down Main Street

Today was Day 3 of breads and we made a big batch of baguettes from Amy's Bread (a really famous bakery here in NY). The batch made 40 full-size baguettes, so we all had plenty to take home. I forgot to take pictures in class, but I did snap some as I was walking down Main Street on Roosevelt Island on my way home. This is where we live. It's snow covered right now, but you'll get the general idea. Main Street Roosevelt Island is a little like "Generica," with the exception of this rather pretty church (1st picture). The walking path by the river is a lot nicer, with great views of Manhattan. The blue plastic covered windows in the high-rise across the water is where that baseball player crashed his plane last year. And the last pictures are of our "back yard," complete with igloo and playing kids.

Happy Saint Patty's Day!

It was great to sleep in a little today and be lazy. Around lunchtime, though, we went into the city to meet my friend Greg (and HIS friends) at this Irish pub. Todd could only stay until 4:00, since he had to leave to catch a flight to DC tonight for a meeting tomorrow morning. It was sad to see him go... Some of my friends from school met me out, though, and we ended up having a very festive day. Of course, I wore plenty of green so nobody would PINCH me! Tomorrow I am planning on a day in the apartment, cooking corned beef and cabbage for dinner tomorrow (Todd flies back in around 4pm), doing laundry and working on school stuff. Now, I am going to the land of tir na nog. :)

Bread, Day 2 and Todd's Birthday!

Today was our second day of breads. The first picture below is of our 80-quart Hobart mixer, the second is a great sticky-hands photo. This is one of the reasons I love making breads! Third is of my nicoise loaves on the peel getting ready to go in the oven. Fourth is my friend and classmate, Jennifer, with her loaf, shaping and proofing in the banneton (the basket). Last is my finished nicoise loaves (leavened breads with olives and rosemary)...






As soon as I got out of class, I was supposed to meet Todd at The Palm for an early dinner. It was sleeting like mad outside and probably the messiest weather I've seen in a long time. I had changed at the school into some new heels and a dressier shirt, but when I got downstairs I quickly saw I'd need my snow boots. So, I went back up to the school and changed, then tried to get a cab - no cabs, as everyone is taking a cab! I was late meeting Todd, but no one in NYC eats dinner before 8:00 anyway, so we had no problem with still getting our table. I had early reservations for dinner so we could get to some evening activities. We each had a nice steak and split a bottle of wine. After dinner, we caught a taxi to 25th Street to a spa to get a couple's massage. Aaaaaah. How nice! It was great! The spa also had a jacuzzi and steam room and sauna, so we hung around for a while after the massage for some more relaxing. Yay! We then hopped on the train, out of the weather, to the UES (Upper East Side from now on) to get dessert at Serendipity, a cafe known for its frozen hot chocolate. What a great day!

Beginning Breads

Today was the first day of Module 2 - breads and pastries. To start, we have a new chef! His name is Chad Pagano - some of you may have seen him competing on the Food Network's Pastry Challenge for sugar showpieces. He seems like a great teacher and we are all excited about going into some less sugary stuff for the next couple of weeks. In this module, we'll cover all breads (including pizza, bagels and foccacia), pies, tarts, other pastry doughs (such as Puff Pastry), cannolis, etc. It's going to be lots of FUN! Here is a photo of Chef Chad teaching us how to round out our semolina rolls, a photo of the rolls in the deck ovens, my rolls in the box.