Poor Wilbur...

Last week was all about pig and who knows how many little Wilbur's we went through.  I absolutely love pork the succulent smell and sweet savory taste that over whelms every taste bud in your mouth, yum yummerz.  Here is the array of dishes I made.

Spinach and feta cheese stuffed pork with a curry sauce served with lentils and italian zucchinis and red bell pepper

Pork chop with sherry vinegar sauce served with white rice and spinach.

Pork Goulash and brussel sprouts

Seared medallions with winter fruit sauce and served with rosemary potato cake and green beans

Tis the season...

It's that time of year when it's acceptable to be a little ghoulish and creepy.  People don't stare at you quite as much because you choose not to look like them or you look like you decided to prance around town in a "costume".  When you go to a store and find new goodies to use as year round decor for your house and see things that remind you of your closest friends. 

Last night was a rarity for me since I stayed out late on a school night but, it was well worth it.  It's was so nice to sit around a table in a dim lit room gutting a pumpkin and enjoying a glass of wine with friends that always make you laugh and remind you how silly you really are.  Since my creative side doesn't shine in the carving department, I decided to relax and relieve some stress by cooking my friends a quick meal.  I made my take on shrimp scampi over spaghetti for everybody and they seemed to actually enjoy the meal. 

Too much, Too fast.

I feel like the last few weeks have flown by and I didn't even get a chance to look back on them.  Everything from a skin allergy, family drama, daily routine and non routine things coming up I couldn't get myself to set down and write something.  Life is life and no matter what it is grand.  Although things have not been picture perfect my passion and dedication for school has not been swayed.  Lately it is the one certain thing that makes me me.  So, to sum up some of the things I made the last few weeks enjoy these pictures.

Patience is a virtue?

Last week was pretty uneventful. 
Today only being Tuesday has already been a long week in school.  Nothing to do with what we are doing in class but, all about me learning to be patient.  My super partner has become not so super.  I don't know what has happened to cause such a change.  I'm not the only one noticing what is happening but, I am the only one getting the wrath of his bad attitude and big bark.  I am getting little comments from fellow classmates about being Chef's "favorite" student and how they are doing things "Chef Ortease's" way.   I am trying really hard to ignore them and keep doing what I am there to do.  Patience is suppose to be a virtue but, it sure is getting hard to practice it.  So, tonight I am going to relax with a pink rose lemonade martini and hope tomorrow will be better.

Panza Llena, Corazón Contento.

The week ended will and the weekend was even better.  On Thursday in school, before the infamous black out, we were able to make a super creamy and delicious New England Clam Chowder.  We topped it off with little crunchy bits of bacon.  While everyone was freaking out on the black out I spent the afternoon with the amazing Ms. Ilse and then fed my family this amazing clam chowder.


On Friday the majority of us showed up to school ready to learn something new, not even phased by the events of the night before.  Chef taught us a very American dish that most people believe is Mexican, chicken tortilla soup.  Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy this soup.  It's just not Mexican, like the burrito and chimichangas.  The soup we made was several notches above what you get at places like Acapulcos or Islands.  This soup had a thicker consistency achieved from the roasted tortillas we turned into a flour, which we used as our thickening agent.

Saturday was a perfect day.  Woke up just at the right time, 7:00 a.m.  I drove down to El Cajon to meet with my beautiful Sister.  We went to the gym and then grocery shopping so, I could make clam chowder for lunch.  We got to her house and to my surprise she had a very very limited selection of pots.  It was a surprise because my Mom taught us to always have the right tools in the kitchen.  I figured I would make due with what she had and got started.  While I was cooking all I could think about was what Chef had told us in class, "the pot matters, it makes a difference on the evaporation".  Sure enough the pot matters.  The soup did not thicken the way it should even after using slurry(corn starch and water mixture).

Later that evening we went out to dinner to a place she was very excited to introduce me to.  It's a little place in Ocean Beach called Bo-beau by the Cohn restaurant group.  It is a very inviting atmosphere with beautiful French inspired dishes.  I was extremely satisfied with every selection we made, except for the dessert.  We started with the crispy brussels sprouts topped with fresh shaved parmesan cheese and the croquet madame tartine.  The croquet is a bread topped with pork belly, parmesan reduction, gruyer and a fried egg; yummy.  My main dish was the boeuf bourguignon and it was superb.  If you don't know what it is, look up Julia Child.  I washed it all down with one of their drinks, Le Romantique, a pomegranate-rose petal nectar champagne based drink.  Dessert was ok, nothing to write home about.  We all agreed with our very Mexican saying "panza llena, corazón contento".
One more thing...
What about them Chargers?!

Long weekend, short week!

This three day weekend was exactly what I needed after a busy week.  I enjoyed time at the gym, a pedicure, family time and a fantastic happy hour night with the amazing love doves.  Hey, a gals gotta cut loose and have a little fun here and there.  If you don't, you just might go crazy.  Knowing that this week is a short one makes me smile a little more.

We had our first written test yesterday.  Because of my lack of being able to remember some of the terminology, I received an 82%.  After our test we were taught to make French onion soup.  I was pretty disappointed because I am truly not a fan.  I love onions and I love soup, I just don't like them together as a soup.  Chef informed us that it was considered the French's "poor man soup" and that is exactly what it tastes like to me.  Over cooked onions cooked in broth.  Chef and a couple of my fellow students said it was good.  Eh, I thought it was blah and that is why I didn't even bother to take a picture.

Although we were all dying from the abnormal heat today, we were all so happy and excited to finally make...Gumbo!  You would think with all those ingredients slowly simmered to perfection, you wouldn't be able to differentiate what is what.  Absolutely wrong! Every piece of spicy sausage, chicken and shrimp sustains itself against that beautiful, brown, thick sauce.  We served it proper like with a perfect scoop of white steamed rice.  Don't forget that all you need to make a flavorful steamed rice is, a little salt and butter.  I walked around the class and just watched everyone smile and nod as they enjoyed every spoonful of perfect spice in their mouth.

WooWee!

This week just flew by.  WooWee! It's Saturday morning and I actually got to sleep in until 7:00 a.m, and I feel great.  I can't remember  being this happy and ecstatic every day of the week.  I am so glad I made the decision to go to culinary school.  It is the best decision I could have made for myself.

This week in school was all about soups.  The first two days were dedicated to making our stock and veloute' sauce, which were the bases for our soups.  On Thursday we made an amazing cream of broccoli soup.  It was so flavorful and smooth but, didn't have that heavy and over filling feeling.  We also made a lentil puree soup but, I didn't take a picture of it because it honestly looked like vomit.  I promise it absolutely did not taste like vomit.  I garnished it with some pieces of crispy bacon which made the flavors just explode in your mouth and you got a slight little kick of pepper.  It was so yummy. 

Yesterday we made minestrone soup. To be quite honest I never tasted a minestrone soup like this one.  I actually never really liked ordering it at restaurants because the tomato based soup was to acidic and had that over processed feel to it.  The soup we made had a light broth that allowed you to see all of the beautifully, uniformed cut vegetables and the pasta and beans.  I absolutely fell in love with this soup.  I can see it being a great lunch or dinner I could not feel guilty after eating it and still feel very satisfied.  One of my class mates used beef bacon which gave it a lighter flavor and could be a lower fat substitute with out feeling like a diet food. 

My first week of school is all wrapped up and it couldn't have gone any better.  I have a great partner in class which, we team up and kill it in the kitchen.  Lets just say that we are always the first ones done and Chef likes what we've made.  I'm still doing my Italian CD's on the way to school and repeating the lessons on the way home.  I'm still putting in the effort to go to the gym 3 to 4 times a week so I can get some endorphins pumping to keep me energized all week.  I'm staying positive that I can keep it going.

My plan for the three day weekend is to finish my homework, get some chores done, have some gym time, hang with the fabulous people in my life and get a little dolled up and ask, "Duvet il bar?".

The First Day of Many to Come

Last night I believed I had prepared myself mentally for today.  I had one of my fabulous friends over, Ilse, for a proper baked mac & cheese dinner, a couple of bellinis,  and some Jersey Shore.  It was a perfect evening with lots of laughs and positive juices flowing.  I didn't stay up too late and felt prepared for my big day. 

It was 4:59 a.m. when I excitedly got out of bed this morning.  As I got ready my nerves started to get the best of me.  My stomach was in so many knots that I had to force myself to vomit, yuck!  I couldn't believe how nervous I felt all morning, and this dreaded heat didn't make matters any better.  I was a hot, sweaty mess.  Although I got out of the house on time, my nerves started kicking in again when I hit some traffic on the freeway.  I distract myself a bit by popping in one of my new Italian CD's and started my first lesson.  Before I knew it the traffic was flowing smoothly and I was happily repeating some simple Italian phrases all the way to school.  I absolutely have to set up some kind of camera to film myself because, I can only imagine how funny I look and sound.

Things got started a little slow in class today but, what could I expect on the first day.  After the Chef gave us a little chat about what we should expect and what he expects from us,  we had to watch an hour of a video tape, from the 90's, about safe serve.  Once that torture was over we got to take a break and sample some of the mini cakes the the baking class made.  Let me just say that they were little bites of sweet heaven and what I consider a perfect breakfast.  Who doesn't love cake in the morning?  Will, I actually only know one person that would disagree... Sanna! 

Our first lesson was on knife technique.  The correct way of holding the knife and we started to practice cutting a potato and carrots "Julian".  You need to cut the item perfectly cubic approximately 1/8".  Let me just tell you that this is no easy task.  Needless to say I did not master the technique in class so, I will be practicing tonight with my big bag of russet potatoes.  Mashed potatoes anyone?

Another thing I felt quite proud of myself for was, I made it to the gym.  I was so tired after class and felt so sleepy on the way home I didn't think I could do it.  I talked myself into it and I actually went.  I feel like this is going to be one of the most difficult things to accomplish every day.  I do hope I can do it.  Keeping my gym routine is important to me because, I absolutely don't want to gain weight while I am in school.  We'll see how it goes.

If someone were to ask me how my day went today.  I would reply with a simple "molto bene!"

Life as I Knew it...

A few months ago my life changed quite significantly.  My life as I knew it no longer existed.  Like many others, I lost my job.  As the weeks passed I did things that I wanted to do with my time.  I cooked dinner more often, went to the gym, ate at places I love, spent time with my friends and family, went antique hunting, slept in, cleaned and then cleaned some more, redecorated my house, went to shows and anything else that came up and I wanted to do.  I started to feel more like my self again, I felt like I was actually living my life and not just going day by day.

While I was as out enjoying my life I asked myself time and time again, "What is going to be your new career?".  I knew it had to be something I have passion for, something I never get bored of, something that would challenge me everyday and make me feel like I succeeded at something.  It became quite obvious to me what would be a very natural thing to do.  That is to Cook.  Every person that knows me knows that I have a slight obsession with food.  Not just any food to fill me up and suppress my hunger.  The food that makes you smile when you see it, your mouth water when you smell it and your taste buds feel enveloped with so much flavor you can't believe that bite just made you feel the way it did.  Yes, food can do that and I think we've all experienced it.  It's almost like an orgasm in your mouth.  When your mouth explodes because it tastes sooo good.  I want to create the dishes that make people feel that.

With that decision made I enrolled in to culinary school and will start tomorrow at 7:00 am.  Wish me luck on my first day and I'll let you know how it went.