Thursday, October 29th

The bad news: We were not able to log onto the website that administers our sanitation test this evening so we have to wait until Monday to attempt to take it...

The good news: I got a 98% on my exam today! Baguettes (yet again) and my Challah!!! Sorry for the funky angle. You will also see the mini challah's I made with the left over dough as well as the Epi I made. We also piped for the first time in chocolate today.

I have scanned my test and posted it below so you can see what they look like, although I'm not sure you'll be able to see it... For the two breads we were graded on texture, flavor and recipe knowledge. The Chef makes comments to the right. Each catagory is worth 15 points.

Wednesday, October 28th

Happy Lee Butcher's Birthday Day!!!

Thank you to everyone for expressing such sincere sadness caused by not getting to read my blog for the past two days (and when I say "everyone" I mean Sue... my sister). AHEM...

Before you start working in a "real" kitchen you are required to be certified by SafeServe in Sanitation so Monday and Tuesday evening were spent in a class room from 6pm-10:30pm (after a full day in the kitchen) of learning not to cut veggies on a cutting board that just had raw chicken on it, not to put your hands down your pants and then prepare food, and that if you have diarrhea, you shouldn't come to work because you could potentially give someone a very serious disease like jaundice... I have to stay after class again tomorrow to take the actual test which has 90 questions on it. To quote my mother "Oh joy. Oh bliss."

Monday we made whole wheat rolls with a honey wash which I found to be totally boring so I gave mine to Kimberly to take to her church group meeting that night.

Yesterday we made Ciabatta bread which was SO good. Its totally messy to make, but completely worth it. We also made a pre-ferment (part of a dough that must sit overnight or sometimes longer in order to obtain flavor) for our fruit and nut bread (with currants, raisins, pecans and hazelnuts) which we baked today.

After the fruit and nut bread (which I unloaded at Rhea's doorstep on my way home tonight), we made Pain de Campanion which I found to be boring as well so I gave that to Kimberly for her PTA meeting tomorrow morning (and she manages to be peppy and friendly EVERY DAY!)

And then we made what Monica HOFFBERG and myself, Maryn SILVERBERG (the only two Jews in the class) like to call Jew Day in the Le Cordon Blue baking program: we made Challah and Rye Bread. The rye bread wont be baked until tomorrow, but we did the challah (mine was a bit under-proofed which means that I didn't let the dough rise enough before baking it. The main sign of under-proofing is splitting which is what mine did down the middle). Tomorrow we will be tested, yet again, on baguettes as well as the challah. By the end of the day tomorrow, I will have taken three tests this week which seems like a lot...

Friday, October 23rd.

Well, we had our first practical yesterday: baguettes and pain au lait. I won't know how I did until next week but I manged to unloaded all the bread on Mel and Julie because if I even consider eating one more piece of bread, Gail will fly out here and pull me out of school.

And while I managed to slice open my thumb on my right hand with a rather sharp serrated knife and singe the finger prints off my left pointer finger, Chef neglected to give us the equivalents test... P to the H to the E to the W.

Thursday, October 22nd

So... black pepper and asiago cheese bread sticks aren't as easy to make as I thought they would be... But soooooooooo addicting. After making those, and receiving what feels like 18 degree burns on two of my fingers, we made a loaf of white bread and with the dough that we had left over, some rolls.

Tomorrow we have our first test of the module - baguettes and pain au lait. Oh, and Chef decided to add a section on equivalents because she doesn't think we know them. Aaaaaaaand shes right.

Who wants bread? Seriously. I'm almost on carb overload.

Wednesday, October 21st

Dear Bread,

Two things:

1. I adore you.

2. Could you please not go directly to my arse? I would really appreciate it.

Love,

Maryn

Today we made wheat pita and Pain Au Lait which translates into "milk bread." Both were very good - the pita puffed up and was nice and crisp on the bottom and the pain au lait came out golden brown and shiny.

Tomorrow and Friday we have Chef "Cooking Vessels" Cook and I'm stoked not just because she will be our substitute, but because we are going to be making black pepper asiago cheese sticks. Jigga what?!

I have yet to meet a carb I don't like...

Tuesday, October 20th

Happy Rosemary, Onion and Olive Focaccia day!!!!

In my haste to get out the door this morning to start making what I do believe to be the tastiest Focaccia ever made in the history of focaccia, I forgot my camera so please excuse the mobile photos...

Yesterday we had lecture and made our baguette dough. Today we learned how to cut it, measure it (each baguette is about 13 ounces), roll it out (too much futzing with the dough and it will tighten in which case you have to let it rest), then actually let the dough rest or "proof" so the dough can rise, cut the slashes in it (they must be long, not too deep, and done quickly with a serrated knife), flour it, bake it (20 minutes in a still oven), brown it (about 10 minutes in the convection oven), and take the breads temperature (it has to be at least 200 degrees)...

Yep. A thermometer... In the bread.

And you thought it was as easy as going to Ralph's and picking up a loaf.

In the picture you will see two classic baguettes and then Epi baguettes which I prefer because they are pretty and crunchy.

The Focaccia... Oooooh, the focaccia. I used more olives than I was supposed to and a little more olive oil we were supposed to and Y to the U to the M. Its almost indecent. After the dough is made, you have to let it rest in a warm area (but not too warm because at 138 degrees, yeast dies), form it in your pan, add the remaining toppings, let it rest again, then bake.

So far, I think this module is going to be the most dangerous. Cream Puffs? Meh. Eclairs? Okay. Devil's Food Cake? Sure. ROSEMARY OLIVE FOCACCIA?!?!!? GET OUT OF TOWN AND COME RIGHT BACK!! I think I have to make it again but this time with a little Asiago or Parmesan on top. I'm just sayin.

Friday, October 16th

On Friday, my first module came to an end.

The past three weeks have been totally eye opening. Its been stressful, fun, different, and totally new, which has been strange, but completely awesome.

Friday we cleaned for two and a half hours straight. Gooooood times. Then, Chef returned all of our homework, practical final exams and written exams...

On both the written and the practical, I got a 94%.

Overall in the class, I received an A (they don't give A+'s at Cordon Bleu).

HURRAHHHH!!!

On Monday I begin the second module, PBK 111: Introduction to Baking Principles and Ingredient Function.... Mainly, we are going to be making different kinds of breads... Needless to say, I can't wait... We will be making French Baguettes, Focaccia Sponge, Rosemary Olive Focaccia, English Muffins, Pita, Pain au Lait, Sourdough, Black Pepper Asiago Breadsticks, Rye Bread, Ciabatta, Braided Challah, Bagels, Brioche, Cinnamon Swirl Bread... I meeeean.

Am I the only one drooling?

P.S. I have some CRAZY AWESOME news to share that had me crying after seeing Couples Retreat today in the middle of the Grove's movie theater lobby - but I'm not allowed to tell ANYONE until tomorrow, so stay tuned!!!!

Thursday, October 15th

Finals. Are. Done!!!



After our written exam and finishing up our desserts, a few of us headed to Barney's for a beer and some snacks while Chef graded us, then headed back to class to clean. Tomorrow is clean up day and even though I'm probably the most compulsive and OCD person you know, I'm oddly not looking forward to it.

A few important notes on unrelated topics:

1. I was up at 7am, with eyes wide open, because I saw Paranormal Activity last night.

2. I can't decide what I love more:

A. So You Think You Can Dance hopeful Ryan Di Lello who looks very similar to my hilarious friend David Craze...




Or:

B. Vampire Diaries...."Crosses? Ornamental."

Discuss...

And since I don't have an injury of the day (thanks to the sickos who think its funny), I have a:
Purchase Of The Day: Clorox Bleach Pen (so I can attempt to get the chocolate and piping gel stains off of my uniform).

Wednesday, October 13th

After all the studying and equivalents flash cards, we got to class all psyched up only to learn from Chef that the school... wait for it... was completely out of paper.

Yep.

So, we started our practical exam and got a lot done. Everyone finished their tarts for our fruit tarts, the Creme Anglaise, Lemon Curd and Sponge Cake and I think that everyone even got theirs rolled, which is great. So today we take the written exam, complete our two projects, present, take a piping practical exam (and we have all seen just how utterly brilliant I am at piping) then we have to leave the classroom at 3 to be graded, return at 4, clean, and leave.

Tomorrow is a deep clean day which happens every few months where we basically clean the kitchen from top to bottom - scrub the bottom of the ovens, wash down the walls of the walk-in, etc.

I. Can't. Wait.

Tuesday, October 13th

Happy Tuesday evening from the fantastically rainy City of Angels! It hasn't rained here in what feels like months... probably because it has been.

So... Cardamom smells and looks A LOT like Nutmeg... Sigh. And did you know that heavy cream is called Manufactures Cream? Well... now you do... I wish I did before the test today. But I am pleased that I got all my white powders correct. After the quiz we made Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache (Y.U.M.) and Creme Anglise. We also presented our Genoise and Swiss Rolls. While Chef said that my Genoise was over-whipped (eat me), she said that my Swiss Roll looked great as did my Creme Anglise...

After class I walked with Pharyn, Vicki and Kimberly to Bucco for a bite to eat and some study time. After eating, while we were going over our notes, we were approached by a guy asking us to join his table of friends for "some female company and we will buy you dinner, or dessert, or a drink...... with no strings attached."

.......

Well that just made me giggle.

We didn't accept the offer, mainly because we felt crusty, sweating in the hot restaurant in our poly-blend butch uniforms, hat hair and stale make-up.

Our final exams begin tomorrow and will last two days. We begin with a written portion comprised of fill in the blank, multiple choice and short answer ranging from French to English translation "Bain Marie" = Mary's Bath, "Creme Patisserie" = Pastry Cream, etc., what are the three things needed to form gluten, list some acids that are necessary when making something with baking soda (lemon juice, buttermilk, honey), what are the steps to making Genoise (meise, then whisk eggs with sugar over a simmering double boiler, move mixture to mixer with whisk attachment, beat for seven minutes until indefinite ribboning, etc). Then we begin the practical portion and must make the dreaded fruit tart (pate sucree) with pastry cream and fruit as well as the Swiss Roll we recently made with lemon curd filling. And lastly, dreaded conversions which I am off to study now... three teaspoons in a tablespoon... one tablespoon in half an ounce...

Monday, October 12th

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Today we made sponge cake that is rolled with a lemon curd (mom's favorite) filling and a Genoise cake - both of which we are to present tomorrow...

As for the results of last weeks first practical exam, the comments on my blueberry muffins were, and I quote "great job!" As for the Creme Brulee, the texture was "dee-vine!" and my recipe knowledge was "a little dark around the edges" meaning that when I torched the sugar it got a little dark, but I'll take it! Our normal Chef did not grade us as she was out of town on a book tour last Thursday and Friday (our sub, British Chef Cook, called pans "baking vessels" and I loved her), so I'm more nervous for the THREE exams I have this week (mainly because our Chef makes me nervous and I'm way too eager to please and I don't think she really appreciates sarcasm... ahem...)

Our test tomorrow is product ID which means there will be between 20-25 items set up and we have to identify each one which of course looks fun and interesting on Top Chef... Not so much when its for real and I have to be able to tell the difference between cake flour, pastry flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder, corn starch, salt, sugar etc. which all, of course, are white. Then I have my finals on Thursday (written exam) and Friday (practial exam... again). I'm not gunna lie - I'm a bit nervous.

Sunday, October 11th

Friday, October 9th

Today we had our first “practical” test which means that we had to bake two things that we have learned so far… sour cream blueberry muffins and crème brulee. We walked in a little before noon to prepare and when noon hit, we were not allowed to speak except for “kitchen safety” i.e. “behind you”, “hot” etc. At 3, we were kicked out of the class for an hour so the teacher could grade us so nine of us took it upon ourselves to go for a drink at Kabuki where me, Vicki, Pharyn and Jessie did sake bombs and then we all sauntered back to class, slightly buzzed, to clean up. We won’t know our grades for a bit… sigh…

Thursday, October 8th

Today: Piped the cream puffs and filled the éclairs. Sour cream blueberry muffins (when you make anything with blueberries, coat them in some of the flour that the recipe calls for and then the juices wont bleed) and pound cake (which I turned into a lemon pound cake that the Chef said came out nicely, but I thought it was dry. Injuries sustained today: a burn to the top of the pointer finger of my left hand. Important item on weekend shopping list: oven mitts.

Wednesday, October 7th

Today was a 0 star day and as The Mammacita says, “you have to have the two star days in order to appreciate the four star days…” Well, Gail, what do you say to NEGATIVE star days?!!? On Wednesday we baked our Crème Brulee’s in ramekins that were placed inside a cake pan for a water bath (known in French as a Bain Marie translating to Mary’s Bath), then placed on a sheet pan. Evidentially, my sheet pan was dented because all three of my Crème Brulee’s came out slanted which really became a problem when we started to torch the top of our custards and the sugar on mine slipped to one side and proceeded to burn while the other side remained uncolored. I got yelled at by Chef for keeping the hard caramel part of my Flan on the custard instead of throwing it away and she yelled at me, in front of the class “I SHOULD MAKE YOU EAT THAT!” Today we were to make Cream Puffs and Eclairs. I had to make the pastry cream for my cream puffs THREE times. The first time, I neglected to put the corn starch in. The second time, the girl I don’t love in class messed my meise tray up so the corn starch I needed got shifted and replaced with the confectioners sugar that I didn’t need until later so I had to start all over, yet again. THEN the piped out batter for my cream puffs and éclairs didn’t rise, so I did it again and they didn’t have enough time to cool so I didn’t get to present them which means extra work for tomorrow (filling the éclairs with pastry cream and then dipping them in chocolate and then piping the cream puffs with Chantilly cream which is basically a fancy term for whipped cream (yes Mom, you were right)). THEN I got to my car and it had been keyed. As Lisa says: “Fuck the Flan.” Injuries sustained today: Three burns. One to my ego, one to my thumb on the left hand and one to the middle finger on my left hand: how appropriate.

Tuesday, October 6th

Today we made the custards for our Crème Brulee and our Crème Caramel (aka Flan). After baking them, they were set in the fridge and that was that… Not a very eventful day…

Monday, October 5th

Today I made pie for the first time in my life!! Using the dough that I made on Friday, I made two pies – An apple pie (which the Chef said had great color and pretty vent decoration which was enjoyed by me, Jeff and Pong as well as the girls at the table next to us at dinner tonight), and a blueberry pie with lattice work (which Chef said was done very nicely and uniformly, but should have been browned a bit more). Not bad, all in all, for my first experience with pies. Injuries sustained today: one cut to the pointer finger on my right hand.

Friday, October 2nd

Today we designed our tarts. I was NOT thrilled with the outcome of mine – mainly because I used too much nappage (the shiny apricot flavored jelly that covers fruit tarts) because it is very important not just for aesthetics but because if you don’t place the gelatin everywhere, the fruit will rot very quickly. I wanted to challenge myself so I used a lot of berries which are tough to cover because of all their little nooks. After that, we made a flaky pie dough for our apple pie that we will make Monday. This was the first time we had to kneed a dough. You cant kneed it too much or else you start to melt the butter with your hands which completely changes the consistency of the crust. So after completely task two, it was on to making scones. We were told to make scones OR buttermilk biscuits – so, I made both. J We were supposed to make chocolate orange scones, but I don’t like chocolate and orange together so I made mine chocolate and lemon. Chef said that they came out nicely and was impressed that I was able to get both tasks done. I thought, after taking my second batch of scones out, that I completely singed all my eyelashes off… I had Pharyn check and she said I was fine so I made her confirm three more times at which point she stopped taking me seriously. Chef asked what was wrong and I told her it was imperative that I have all my eyelashes. She said that sometimes when you get too close to heat, it will fuse mascara together… PHEW. She said my biscuits were amazing and I have to say that they are what I am most proud of for the week. They puffed up beautifully. I should have taken a side picture and not just one from the top so you could really see how high they got. My commute to school takes about half an hour depending on traffic and to get home, about an hour. Im pretty tired at the end of the day, as you can imagine, since we are on our feet and running around for five hours straight without a break – Its like working at CAA! So that was the end of week 1! Monday is our apple pie and a frozen fruit pie… Stay tuned and let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Thursday, October 1st

Yesterday we prepared to create our fruit tarts so there is no picture for Thursday. This meant that we made our dough for the pie crust (pot sucree) from scratch (after making the dough, you chill it, put it in the oven covered with a weight, remove the weights, and bake the dough until golden… Its tedious because you have to constantly check on what you are making while watching the clock. During this time, we also made our crème patisserie which is the pastry cream that lines the tart. All of these things must either chill or cool so we didn’t have the time to finish them. I think, on an up note, that Im getting a great work out from the 8 pound shoes I hoof around in all day… Pic attached…

Wednesday, September 30th

Wednesday was our first day baking two things at once: peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and Straussburger cookies (pictures attached). My cookies were just okay, and my Straussburgers (which are kinda like the Madeline’s at Starbucks) came out great. We make those by using a piping bag and a star shaped tip. It is super important to use the right amount of butter (or “fat”) so that the batter is thick enough to pipe. When baking cookies, you are looking for a golden brown edge and a whiteish center. J I had been giving things away to other classes as I don’t want to take what I bake home, but want you all to know that should you want to try what I make, bring me some tupper wear and I am happy to put aside a little bit of what I make everyday and you can pick it up whenever you want.

Tuesday, September 29th

Tuesday was our first day of baking. When we walk in, the first thing we do is set up our work stations. This means sanitizing our station, getting out our mixers, writing down what the Chef has assigned us for the day, getting out our tools and our ingredients. Then, the Chef does an hour or so demo (depending on how difficult the recipe or how many things we will be making for the day). Our very first assignment: chocolate chip cookies. We learned one of the EIGHT methods to making a batter – the first of which is the creaming method. So after the demo where we are allowed to ask questions, we are released to begin on our own. After you make your project for the day, you have to sanitize your station again and “present” your project to the Chef (pictures attached starting with day 3) who comes around from student to student to analyze your work. Day 1 was great. J Another part of our day is “meising” for the following days projects. Mise en place is organizing things that you will be using to create something. This means we measure out (NEVER using volume measurement – only weight) our butter, sugar, etc. for the next day. Baking for the day stops at 4 which is when Chef grades us and then starts clean up. Each table is assigned a duty and the tasks rotate tables daily. We have to do a number of things like cleaning out the walk in fridge and freezer – juicing fruit that has been zested, condensing things like egg cartons and packages of butter, etc. We have to sweep, organize the shelves, fill up the bins of dry ingredients, wash all the dishes, clean all the stove tops, check all the appliances to make sure they are clean, etc.