Over the past two weeks, I tried to prevent myself from being bored to death by looking for a new weekly ritual to fill the void of action I was getting at home. Recently, my dad got me this cook book from the very famous Anthony Bourdain about his methods of cooking in a New York city Bistro known as Le Halles. When I opened that book, I felt like a kid in a candy store with all the stews, steaks, and appetizer recipes that is top quality in restaurant standards. My first dish from that book was his beuof bourguigion, a classical french stew which involves stew meat, red whine, and some other french goodies. The interesting thing about this stew is that you don't need very expensive wine to make this stew amazing. My parents actually got this red wine at Whole Foods for only three dollars for a bottle and it tasted a lot more better then any other stew I had ever ate.
Of course the new tradition of Bistro Night first started out last night when I made a beer braised pork shoulder with mushrooms and mushroom soup. It might sound a little redundant but it worked out pretty well in the end. While I was preparing dinner, my sister was having a "giving her stuff away" party and a few of my younger cousins was their. When I finished making the soup, one of my cousins came in and wanted to sample it. I gave her a sample and she was in haven. She also wondered if I wanted to cook at her house sometime and I was pretty amazed that a girl from middle school wanted to eat bistro quality food. I always thought that students from middle school to high school just wanted American style food (just like my brother) but after I gave her that sample ,I believed that the American teenager diet is starting to change into a more sophisticated matter that I didn't think was possible. Besides that it was fun to cook for the family, but I must warn you that it took forever to make it. In fact, it took me about four hours to sear the shoulder, braise it and bake it too get the right crust and the right temperature. It was moist, tender, and somewhat satisfying to eat with my family after so many hours on the stove top waiting for the pork to cook.
I am also planning to go up to Canada at July 30th for this camp program to teach me how to live on my own. So after July 30th, I would not be able to post more blog posts until the fall but its only for three weeks so it would not be too long.
Thats all I have for now. Until next time, I bid you a-do.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Semester 2, Final Week and My First Year of College
As of May 11 at 7:30 P.M, I have ended the second semester with flying colours and high expectations. I have also finished my first year in college. With that in mind, I acctually learned something truly magnificent.
What I learned was that the culinary arts is like music. There is ingredents as the notes, cooks as the musicians, chefs as the composers, and resturants as the stage as the shift is going on like a sympany concert in a grand hall. I also know now whey there is so much pressure on satisfying the customer and how you can fix a problem with better results. I just wish I have a chance to truly experience what it means to be a cook but for now, I would focus more on with the next year and beyond.
Durring my final week, I have went through trials just like the Indeana jones did and thats because there was a lot of action involved with cleaning and finishing projecs at the last second. On monday, I have to clean the oven of terror and when I mean "oven of terror," I mean an oven that has not been clean since last year with grease and surgar from the entire year. As I scrub in the maw of the beast, I was scrubing out all of the things I saw inside. I truly belive in that moment that I was tested to see if I have the grit or mental toughness to live this life. I think I passed nut I still need a lot to learn.
Tuesday has more insight than anticipated because we saw a film known as enemies, a "play" about a waiter and a guest who talk about there life's and how the waiters life is better then the guests. The reason being is because the waiter has a happy family with a piano and owns about twenty percent of the profit the restaurant is making. As for the guest, he was a successful business man until he was out of the job because of a heart attack and his twenty-year old sons took over his business. Now the reason we watched this was because most people think that servers have a very poor life and stuck at that dreadful job forever. The truth is that servers can have more then one life. In fact, when I read the book "Waiter Rant" I realize that serving can be tough on the mind and body, but it can really satisfy the server inside of us.
Wednesday was my biggest adventure yet. When I arrive at the college, I was told by a friend that I needed a menu to pass the improvised final project. With my laptop at the ready, I brought out my best recipes and typed it faster then a caffeine crazed poet on a sugar buzz. As I looked for a computer with a workable printer, I rushed to library as fast as a could and printed it out as fast as I can go. When I returned to the dinning room, I went to the storage room where serving trays marked with nail polish was drying all over the floor and I jumped, ran, and carry heavy equipment all over to make the most elaborate table setting I can think of. The most astonishing thing to me is that I did this on the fly and I made it through with high marks of praise.
As my first year of college comes to a close always wonder if I really can make it out there in the world of the restaurant. I believe I got a good start, but I still have a long way to go until I truly can unleash my best work. As for next semester, I think it would be a little tougher but more interesting as I go. I am also going to be in summer school in about a month, so I would start a new chapter known as the Summer Chronicles with adventures in barbecue, rederic English, and more serving. So for the final time until the Summer Chronicles start, I bid you a-do.
What I learned was that the culinary arts is like music. There is ingredents as the notes, cooks as the musicians, chefs as the composers, and resturants as the stage as the shift is going on like a sympany concert in a grand hall. I also know now whey there is so much pressure on satisfying the customer and how you can fix a problem with better results. I just wish I have a chance to truly experience what it means to be a cook but for now, I would focus more on with the next year and beyond.
Durring my final week, I have went through trials just like the Indeana jones did and thats because there was a lot of action involved with cleaning and finishing projecs at the last second. On monday, I have to clean the oven of terror and when I mean "oven of terror," I mean an oven that has not been clean since last year with grease and surgar from the entire year. As I scrub in the maw of the beast, I was scrubing out all of the things I saw inside. I truly belive in that moment that I was tested to see if I have the grit or mental toughness to live this life. I think I passed nut I still need a lot to learn.
Tuesday has more insight than anticipated because we saw a film known as enemies, a "play" about a waiter and a guest who talk about there life's and how the waiters life is better then the guests. The reason being is because the waiter has a happy family with a piano and owns about twenty percent of the profit the restaurant is making. As for the guest, he was a successful business man until he was out of the job because of a heart attack and his twenty-year old sons took over his business. Now the reason we watched this was because most people think that servers have a very poor life and stuck at that dreadful job forever. The truth is that servers can have more then one life. In fact, when I read the book "Waiter Rant" I realize that serving can be tough on the mind and body, but it can really satisfy the server inside of us.
Wednesday was my biggest adventure yet. When I arrive at the college, I was told by a friend that I needed a menu to pass the improvised final project. With my laptop at the ready, I brought out my best recipes and typed it faster then a caffeine crazed poet on a sugar buzz. As I looked for a computer with a workable printer, I rushed to library as fast as a could and printed it out as fast as I can go. When I returned to the dinning room, I went to the storage room where serving trays marked with nail polish was drying all over the floor and I jumped, ran, and carry heavy equipment all over to make the most elaborate table setting I can think of. The most astonishing thing to me is that I did this on the fly and I made it through with high marks of praise.
As my first year of college comes to a close always wonder if I really can make it out there in the world of the restaurant. I believe I got a good start, but I still have a long way to go until I truly can unleash my best work. As for next semester, I think it would be a little tougher but more interesting as I go. I am also going to be in summer school in about a month, so I would start a new chapter known as the Summer Chronicles with adventures in barbecue, rederic English, and more serving. So for the final time until the Summer Chronicles start, I bid you a-do.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A Weekend of Homemade Jelly
Recently this past Saturday, one of my followers invited me to make jelly ,with her mother, to teach me the art of making jelly. Now for some readers who don't know what exactly is the difference between jelly and jam; jam is made from the whole berry or fruit crushed in and jelly is only made from the juice of the fruit. What we made was actually from her backyard, literally the freshest thing I have seen in the Chicago land area.
As we discuss about what I do at the college and what life of a culinary student is like, the sweet smell of grapes cooking on the stove top like a sweet garden in the summer sun. For those who don't know how jelly is made, I would tell you about the experience I had of making is very simple and very delicious thing creation. The first thing that they do is that they warm up the frozen juice (that has been frozen for sometime for proper storage) and heat it up until the liquid is nice and warm. Then they add the juice to the stock pot on a high heat and add surgar until incorporated. Then after a minute of a roaring boil, we added a gelitinizing product known as pectin. After we added the pectin, we wait for another minute of roaring boiling, we take the pot from the heat and remove some of the foam for presentation. Then we added the jelly to glass jar, when it was sanitized in hot water for about an hour. We poured it into individual jars, seal them and lid them. After they cool off for about fifthteen minutes, the jelly is ready to serve.
In the end we made two batches that adds up to fourteen jars of jelly and with the cost of all the juice, the lids ,and jars at under $2.00; it is the most economical and most pure tasting jelly I have ever tried. So if you need jelly, the best thing to do is make it and it is worth it after all that hard work. The taste is just pure sugary, berry goodness. It is almost impossible to resist its fruity aroma and firm texture as you bite in with a piece of bread smeared in fruity goodness. The best part about this is that the jelly can last for about a year. So you can make one batch and be set on jelly for an entire year, give or take the amount of jelly used daily. In the end, I would highly recommend making your own jelly and try it for yourself.
As we discuss about what I do at the college and what life of a culinary student is like, the sweet smell of grapes cooking on the stove top like a sweet garden in the summer sun. For those who don't know how jelly is made, I would tell you about the experience I had of making is very simple and very delicious thing creation. The first thing that they do is that they warm up the frozen juice (that has been frozen for sometime for proper storage) and heat it up until the liquid is nice and warm. Then they add the juice to the stock pot on a high heat and add surgar until incorporated. Then after a minute of a roaring boil, we added a gelitinizing product known as pectin. After we added the pectin, we wait for another minute of roaring boiling, we take the pot from the heat and remove some of the foam for presentation. Then we added the jelly to glass jar, when it was sanitized in hot water for about an hour. We poured it into individual jars, seal them and lid them. After they cool off for about fifthteen minutes, the jelly is ready to serve.
In the end we made two batches that adds up to fourteen jars of jelly and with the cost of all the juice, the lids ,and jars at under $2.00; it is the most economical and most pure tasting jelly I have ever tried. So if you need jelly, the best thing to do is make it and it is worth it after all that hard work. The taste is just pure sugary, berry goodness. It is almost impossible to resist its fruity aroma and firm texture as you bite in with a piece of bread smeared in fruity goodness. The best part about this is that the jelly can last for about a year. So you can make one batch and be set on jelly for an entire year, give or take the amount of jelly used daily. In the end, I would highly recommend making your own jelly and try it for yourself.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Semester 2: Week 13 & 14, As the Clock Ticks Down, I Prove My Worth
For the past two weeks, I have been working nearly non-stop to finish my projects. I was writing papers and making presentations to get the grade I so dearly wanted.
On the Monday of the first week, I was in a predicament where I couldn't cut the carrots right and I felt like I was failing miserably. Luckily the soup was OK, but I felt really embarrassed afterwords. So after a few days, I started to cut a whole bag of carrots in to peels, sticks and small cubes to re-master this technique and the next Monday, I have finally realized what I had to do. The problem was not the carrots, but it was the organization of how everything was executed. I was disorganized and I needed to take the job one task at a time. When I started to take one task at a time, I realized that I have reached perfection in preparing the chicken with precision and speed. So now I know that to cook professionally, its all about execution. If you take it one task at a time with enough speed, you can truly survive in the world of the restaurant business.
Tuesday on the second week was where I really shined because I made and gave one of the most intense presentation I have ever done. The presentation was about this tea product I made from a made-up company known as Kyle's Tea House and I made this blend to not only sharpen the mind but to also wake-up with mental clarity. After many weeks of testing, typing, and drawing a story board; it was the night I give my presentation. The other students in front of me really had there facts down with profit values, locations, and all these details, and I was getting worried if I did my project right. So when it was my turn, I gave t all I got and explained my product, demographic and meaning of the company with so much movement and passion that it was like reading poetry from Robert Frost. When I was finished and answered all the questions, everyone applauded and I took a bow, like an actor who done his best performance of his life. Then my teacher came up to me and said "congratulations" and I went back to my seat. I felt so tiered afterwords, I fell right to sleep when I got home and slept in until ten o'clock the next morning. In the end, I knew that i truly did something that really meant meaning for me and others about what I did up there that night.
Wednesday of the second week was truly a test that really prove my worth as a server. There were two tables with the families of two very important teachers to the school and I was there server. I meant to serve three tables but the other two families where there at the same time and I was forgetting things and I was afraid that this night would be my down fall. Then a team member from the wait staff deiced to serve the third table because of the magnitude of the other two tables really was really big and she wanted to help me. I went though the two tables with a few mistakes but there were happy and I truly think that I have done everything that really redefined myself as a server and as a person. At the end of the night, the women server who took over my seat was wondering if I wanted the tip from that table. I said "I want you to have it because you really saved my hide tonight." So then she splits the tip with me instead and right there, I knew that with serving tables, sometimes two people are better then one and I wanted to thank her for that.
Next week would be my final week of the semester and after that one week, I will complete my first year of college. When the next week come I will share with you what I have learned during that year.
On the Monday of the first week, I was in a predicament where I couldn't cut the carrots right and I felt like I was failing miserably. Luckily the soup was OK, but I felt really embarrassed afterwords. So after a few days, I started to cut a whole bag of carrots in to peels, sticks and small cubes to re-master this technique and the next Monday, I have finally realized what I had to do. The problem was not the carrots, but it was the organization of how everything was executed. I was disorganized and I needed to take the job one task at a time. When I started to take one task at a time, I realized that I have reached perfection in preparing the chicken with precision and speed. So now I know that to cook professionally, its all about execution. If you take it one task at a time with enough speed, you can truly survive in the world of the restaurant business.
Tuesday on the second week was where I really shined because I made and gave one of the most intense presentation I have ever done. The presentation was about this tea product I made from a made-up company known as Kyle's Tea House and I made this blend to not only sharpen the mind but to also wake-up with mental clarity. After many weeks of testing, typing, and drawing a story board; it was the night I give my presentation. The other students in front of me really had there facts down with profit values, locations, and all these details, and I was getting worried if I did my project right. So when it was my turn, I gave t all I got and explained my product, demographic and meaning of the company with so much movement and passion that it was like reading poetry from Robert Frost. When I was finished and answered all the questions, everyone applauded and I took a bow, like an actor who done his best performance of his life. Then my teacher came up to me and said "congratulations" and I went back to my seat. I felt so tiered afterwords, I fell right to sleep when I got home and slept in until ten o'clock the next morning. In the end, I knew that i truly did something that really meant meaning for me and others about what I did up there that night.
Wednesday of the second week was truly a test that really prove my worth as a server. There were two tables with the families of two very important teachers to the school and I was there server. I meant to serve three tables but the other two families where there at the same time and I was forgetting things and I was afraid that this night would be my down fall. Then a team member from the wait staff deiced to serve the third table because of the magnitude of the other two tables really was really big and she wanted to help me. I went though the two tables with a few mistakes but there were happy and I truly think that I have done everything that really redefined myself as a server and as a person. At the end of the night, the women server who took over my seat was wondering if I wanted the tip from that table. I said "I want you to have it because you really saved my hide tonight." So then she splits the tip with me instead and right there, I knew that with serving tables, sometimes two people are better then one and I wanted to thank her for that.
Next week would be my final week of the semester and after that one week, I will complete my first year of college. When the next week come I will share with you what I have learned during that year.
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