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?".