Graduated!

I finally graduated from the Art Institute of Salt Lake City with Associate degree in Culinary Arts. It had been long year, I was in school for a year and half. It had been great experience in this culinary field. I have learned a lot of new stuffs and tasting everything. I have learned how to cook Asia, World (Greece, Middle East, and India), European, and America. I have started to discovered my skills by what I am really good at. I am good at Asia, Europe, and America, and also I have found out that I am good at bakery as bread, rolls, and french bread.

It is the funny thing, at the start of my first quarter of school year, My tasting palate wasn't that great but the time goes by, it began to expand more and became more familiar with the tasting. That explain why I started don't like the foods that are product from the company or factory. I have noticed that I am getting picky on the food and product. But I am still opened to taste many different foods.

While I was in school, I have tasted so many different thing. I mean I ate octopus, oysters, lamb, veal, alligator, frog legs, and fois gras. I find those things interesting. I never thought that I would eat them unless if I was focus to do. Also my cooking skills have been improved a lot more and also gain my knowledge in this culinary field. I never thought that I would love to cook and have people really enjoy my foods with amazing flavors in it.

So now, I am going to seek for the job and hope for a better future.

I had Mexican dishes all day long...

I had Mexican dishes all day long...why? Because I had my morning class which I take Latin America, we were focus on third week of Mexico. In my class, we learned about two to three weeks of different countries. So I had Mexican dishes in the morning but lucky I didn't eat that much. Anyway, I made one dish called "Pot" Bean. I do not mean that literally. It mean bean soup, or whatever is that. Anyway, I realized that I had a lot of beans so I decided to take it home to make refried bean for dinner.

After class, I went to the grocery store. I was hoping to make Pork Mole Verdes. The key to this dish is the tomatillo. I wasn't sure if they were in the season. But lucky, I found one so I took 7 of them, they are like 84 cents at my store. I am sure you wondering what I am making for dinner. Well, I am making Pork Mole Verdes with homemade refried beans and Spanish rice. One thing about Spanish rice, I was too lazy to do homemade so I make from the box, just simple. I decided to share the recipe, it is so simple and easy to do.

This recipe is called Pork Mole Verdes which mean Green Mole. The green mole is coated the pork. It is really good.

Ingredients:
1 to 2 lbs of Pork shoulder, cut in cubes
1 or 2 bay leaf (dried or fresh)
Small onion, 1/4 inch dice
Salt
3 TBSP sesame seeds
1/4 cup Almonds
5 green onion
2 garlic cloves
7 fresh tomatillos
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cilantro (fresh or dried)
1/4 tsp chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Direction:
1. Put the cubed pork, bay leaf, and onion in large pot filled with 4 to 6 cups of water. Boil at first, then quickly add salt. Turn down the heat to simmer and leave there for 45 min to 1 hour.
2. While the pork is simmering, toasted the sesame seeds and almonds, they should be near to golden brown (do not burn it!), and then add to blender. About 15 minutes later, take 1/4 cup of cooking liquid from the pork and add to the nuts. Blend until little smooth, little chuck is okay.
3. Don't worry about cutting up the green onion, garlic clove, tomatillo, and cilantro, because you will add in the blender. Read Step 4
4. Add onion, garlic clove, cilantro, cumin, cilantro, chili powder to the nuts and then add 1/4 cup of cooking liquid from pork. Blend all together to almost smooth. For the tomatillo, peel the husks and if it is dirty, just wash them. Cut off the top and bottom and cut in quarter to make it easier for the blender. Then Add tomatillo in the blender with the rest of them, and blend until smooth. Correct the seasoning with salt, pepper, and seasoning.
5. After the pork is finish cooking and it is already reach to 175 F degree for the meat, drain out the cooking liquid and discard the bay leaf. Put the pork back in the pot. Then add the tomatillo mixture to the pork and then warm it up. Correct the seasoning.

Sound good? if you have any question, feel free to ask me.

For the refried bean, it is little tough but if you are up for challenge. Here is the recipe...this recipe will take you about three hours of doing homemade refried beans.

Ingredients:
2 cups Pink bean or Pinto bean
1/2 cup White onion, 1/4 inch dice
2 TBSP Pork Lard or vegetable oil (Cisco will be okay)
1 TBSP Salt
To taste - salt and pepper

Direction:
1. Rinse beans in cold water and check for and remove small stones that floats
2. Cover beans with hot water, add onion and lard, and bring to boil.
3. Reduce to simmer: cover and cook until they are just soft and the skins are breaking open, 1 1/2 to 2 hours
4. Add salt and continue to cook until the beans are soft and the liquid is somewhat thick
5. Draining out the cooking liquid but leave 1/2 cup in it. Split the beans in 1 cup
6. Put 1 cup of bean back in the pot and start to cook. Then start to mash them until almost to puree. Then add another 1 cup of bean and continue to mash.
7. Continue to cook for 10 to 15 minutes until they are dry out
8. Correct seasoning

So that all for it. It is sound a lot of work, it will be nice for family time if you need help.

For the Spanish Rice, I make it from the box so no homemade for this one.

So Enjoy!

Going to Graduate in December!

Since the Summer is ending and the fall is beginning, I mean literally the temperature is dropping slowly as which mean I have two weeks left of school quarter to be done with summer quarter. This summer quarter, I only took two classes. One of my class had 9 credits and three days and plus it was evening class. Other class is only once a week and it was in the afternoon. Then after that, I will have one last quarter to be done as I will be graduate this December with Associate degree in Culinary Arts.

This class is called A La Carte Class and it is called Restaurant class. This class is where we do serve to real people in the real restaurant. It is more likely private restaurant. We served 6 courses from price range $18 to $20. Those six course is Amuse, Charcuteire, Soup, Salad, Entree, and then Desserts. Many people does enjoy the foods. This class had three days. We prepared the dishes as chopped and cook, etc on Monday and then we serve on Tuesday and Wednesday. I do enjoy this class a lot and plus it was challenge because it was due to the communication but it wasn't big deal because I had interpreter with me. I still have no idea how real world work like that but I am not too worry because I can figure it out.
Anyway, this class had two teachers, one is in charge of front of the house where you social with clients, and other teacher is in charge of back of the house which is the kitchen. The teacher in back of the house is really tough because this person can be very blunt with you and have to do their way. It was tough because every time, I suggest the idea and then this person does not like it. This person is very modern with food and make it very strange things. I am totally opposite that way, I like to make it simple with a lot of flavors in it. I don't need to decorate in strange way as I prefer to keep it simple. Here is the example of what I took in the class with those 6 courses.
      

Left to right, first row: Shooter - Citrus Apple with Vanilla form, Amuse - Watermelon sushi, Charcutiere - Swiss chard wrapped in cold smoked mozzarella, Drunken goat cheese, Biscuits, felino, and bacon jam.
Left to right, second row: Soup- Cherry Soup, Salad - Beet with mixed green, and beet vinaigrette, Entree - Bison with pesto orzo and fried onion with corn/peach salsa
Left to right, third row: Dessert - Sorrel (herb) gelato with beet cake, pink peppercorn crumb, and elderflower creme, Petits four - Kaffer lime, honey comb chocolate truffle
(Sound good?)

The other thing about this class, I have been learning a lot of new stuffs and taste new food. I mean, I have ate very exotic and strange things. I have ate frog leg, alligator, antelope, and new foods that I never had before. Also I have learn about how to kill alive lobster in many different ways. I do enjoy this class.

The other class that I took is called Intro to Baking Science. It is baking class where you can purpose to screw it up and figure it out why you did it wrong and how to fix it. I felt like it was start over in Intro to baking and pastry. It was the most easy class I ever took.

So that is my Summer quarter class but with this last quarter, Fall quarter which mean I am taking much more classes in order to graduate and plus will be very busy to get it done. I am taking four classes this Fall quarter. Those classes are Capstone, World Cuisine, Latin America Cuisine, and Art Culinaries. I will be more busy because of this Capstone class which is more of homework than the other three classes. But I will be doing fine because I have done this before while I was in other college. When I was in CSU, I did took Senior Capstone while I was volunteer in theatre in Denver which it was not easy thing to do. So this time, I can do it. I am ready to be done with school and hope to get career in Culinary in the future. Wish me luck!

My Fingers are sore...

My fingers are sore from the cross-stitch. I either cross-stitch in cold or hot, that cause my fingers to become tired. I am just saying that I have complete my part 4 of cross-stitch. It is just short version of the part. Then I will be starting the second row. So I am just keep it short and see so that you can see the progress as meaning the complete progress of the first row. I start this on June 16 and finish today, June 23.

I am going to take a break for a while. I might not start for a while because I believe it is the best for me to take a break.

Hope you all have great summer.

As the Summer begin...

       So the summer began as for me, I am on three weeks break from school. I really need a break from school because my brain had been fried. I am serious. I started school on the first week of Jan and continue until third week of March. Then I had one week break. Then the school start on first week of April and continue to second week of June. So my brain was fried because it had so much homework to do. This school gave me a lot of homework then I was in college. I mean, I have to handwritten the recipe every week, about 6 to 15 recipes to write for my classes. Also I have learn every day. So most of time, I get tired. It is nice to have three week break to let my brain rest.

         So anyway, last Spring quarter, I took Intro to baking, Asian Cuisine, and English. Let me talk about one class that I didn't like at all. It is English class. I know everyone don't like English class. But I am saying that this English class is the one worst class I ever taken. I have learned nothing from this class. I mean this teacher always have public debate on many issues. I felt like I am in Political Science class, not English class. I have learned nothing from this class. So I don't have much to say about this one.

       This class, Intro to baking, is not my favorite class. Yes, I do enjoying baking that only happen at home, not in the field. In this class, you just make and mix, and then you bake. All you have to wait while it bake. So most time, you clean. Also I am not that kind of person to stand around and waiting. I am glad that I picked the right field into Culinary. This teacher in this class is very strict and organizing. I do enjoy his teaching style but it is little annoy over little things but not too bad. I enjoy this class as I learn a lot. I learned a lot of new styles of baking and understand how things works that I cooked differently from home. If I own a restaurant, I would hire baker/pastry to do those desserts for me. Anyway, I learned how to do the cookies, bread, pies, ice cream, and the fancy desserts. Here is the example that I learn and did my best.

 

 Whole Wheat Bread                       Spritz Cookie (my best of all)            Eclairs (My family love this)

     

Fresh Fruit Tart                                                              Sacher Tort (Chocolate Cake)

 Candied Orange Browne with Homemade marshmallow and Honey Almond Ice Cream

Do this look delicious to you?

              Let talk about my most favorite class which is Asian Cuisine. I really love this class. At first, I wasn't sure about this class. I thought that it would be tough class but it seem not to be. I know this Asian Cuisine have a lot of ingredient to make one dish. But still, I love this class. I finally found this class that I am really good and love their dishes. I learned about Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam cuisine. I like Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam the most. But I would like to try more. Since in my class, we have limited resources because we live in Utah. If I live in California, then we could cook more dishes. But I enjoyed this class. This teacher is the best one I ever taken. I can see why many students like him. He is laid-back teacher and took his time to teach us, but he is also strict too. I really like this class a lot and I will miss this.

           Red-Cooked Duck (East China)         Seafood Hot Pot (Korea)           Pot-stickers in Egg Wrapper (North China)

            

Nigiri (Japan)                                        California Rolls

Look good too?

So that all that I did in Spring Quarter. Enjoy!

Start off...

I am start off with short and sweet blog...I am just here to update with you, for the part of my Seaside lighthouse cross-stitch. I did start on May 17, 2013 and then I was able to finish today, June 15, 2013. It is not quite easy to finish it before that deadline. But I am able to finish it. I know that I need to stop and focus on school first. But sometime, you finished all of your homework and have nothing to do for the day.

So here it is!

Part Two of Seaside Lighthouse Cross-stitch

Hello again,

It had been long time since I did the first part of the cross-stitch. I was really busy with school. I even learn more new stuffs. You know that I took Intro to Baking and Pastry class. I do enjoy learning and baking. But it is not for me to do those stuffs because I have no patience. Lucky that I decided to stay with Culinary because I always craving for savory food. Anyway, back to the cross-stitch part two; It took me a while to finish it because I was busy as well.

But I just want to share with you that I have finish the part two of cross-stitch. I started on April 18th and I finish it today, May 16. I am pretty good with that. You know that I cannot always focus on cross-stitch all the time and need to finish homework.

So here it is...

There will be more to come!

The First part of Cross-stitch

Hello!

I am here to tell you about this first part of the Cross-stitch. It did went well. I started this on March 30th. I took my time to get start because I was focus on school too. But with my school, I don't have that much of homework to do and also including looking for job which I am still work on it. But anyway, I start this on March 30 and was able to finish today on April 17. That is pretty much fast work on my cross-stitch. This part was little easier but the more I work on it. It will become more complicated
.

I am just making short and sweet on this one.

Here is the part one...

here is the overall of the image what I will be working on.

Decide to go another cross-stitch because I am bored...

I have decided to go another cross-stitch because I was really bored. Sometime when I am off from school or on break, I sometime have errands to do but sometime you already did it or had finish it. It had been a while since I stopped doing the cross-stitch in order to focus on my school, but sometime I finish all of my homework and have nothing to do. That how it happened when you don't have job and you still looking for one. It will take while for it.

So anyway, I decide to start a little bit of cross-stitch. This one will take a lot longer than you think. But who know when will it happen. I found one picture of cross-stitch that I want to do. Here it is...

For some reason, I always like the lighthouses. I would love to visit one of those lighthouses, I might want to visit all of the lighthouse. I have no idea why I really like lighthouse, I think they are the beautiful thing I ever seen. In some day, I would like to visit lighthouse in East coast or other different places.

For this cross-stitch, I only begin. So keep eye for the future progress...

One more thing, this image that I got from http://www.crosstitch.com/ where you can find different levels of cross-stitch and different themes with it. I hope you enjoyed it.

We still learn everyday that never end...

We do learn everyday as you thought that you stopped learning in school. Even you are finished with school, but no, we still learn everyday by TV, Music, news, and many mores. That how I felt when I am in culinary school. I really enjoyed it everyday. I have learned a lot of new stuffs and my cooking had quite improve a lot but it is not fully there yet.

The first class that I took called Garde Manger. Garde Manger means to serve cold food and to keep. It is like making hors d'oeuver, canape, and many. It was somewhat my least favorite because I cannot stand with the chef teacher. I do enjoy learning but my chef teacher wasn't very good. I mean my chef teacher is not organized at all and it always change like every minute and seem cannot stay track of it. I mean chef teacher always change every last minute. Also my chef teacher does sometime yelled at us if we make any little mistakes. I was like why don't chef teacher teach us the right way so that we can know and learn from it. But thank god, I am done with that class. I have learned a lot of things. I believe for myself in the future, I am not that kind of person to create little fancy foods to serve that so small. I am going to share you some pictures so that you can get the ideas of what I did.

Reuben Sandwich                                                                Cherve Tarts                                      
                                                                                                                     
I chose them because it was one of my best skills that I had.

My second class that I took called American Region. American Region is the different area in USA. We started from New England to Mid-Atlantic to Southern to Floribbean to Creole/Cajun to Tex-Mex to Southwest to California to Pacific Northwest. So that is kind of different area that we learned to cook. This is somewhat of weird class because my chef teacher (different one) had Celia disease which mean allergy to wheat so have to eat gluten-free. Sometime, my chef teacher will give us gluten-free flour and some other things in the food that we can use. It is the way for us to learn when we work in restaurant. It is important for us to know it. But the one thing, sometime we don't use gluten-free and use regular as all-purpose flour, my chef teacher cannot taste it. My chef teacher would ask us, what it taste like. So that is the hardest part of it, but I still enjoyed this class a lot. I am going to share some pictures for you.

 Creole Jambalaya 

 Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Pork Flautas with Guacamole and Salsa

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Feel free if you are interesting to know about those recipes or other one. Just let me know and I will be more happy to share with you.

Short Story of becoming Chef

I am just here to tell you short story of my overall of becoming chef as study in Culinary Arts school. I just want to tell you how I did and what I have learn in my classes that I took last year. I have learned a lot of new stuffs in school and help me improve my cooking. Also I have ate some really weird food that no one is willing to try. I mean like, I have taste octopus, oysters, and goat meat. I do have the guts to eat them because I have to taste them. Also I have put my hands on the seafood that none of my classmates would be willing to do. I will tell you more as we goes.

I took four classes in Fall Quarter 2012. I have three in-class and one online class. I took Portfolio class, it is nothing interesting because it is all about prepare your portfolio and prepare your resume and interview. It was the one of easiest class ever.

The second class that I took as online is Menu Management  That where we created our own menu for our "future" restaurant. We do a lot of discuss online which I really enjoy it a lot. Because we get more involved and give each other feedback more than in class. Also this teacher who teach online class, he had ask my permission to use my menu design to show to the class. I was surprised that he ask me because he really like my menu design. I am glad that I do have creative styles.

The third class that I took is Classic European Cuisine. This class, I really enjoy the most. I mean, I have learned a lot and help me speed up my skills. This is the only class that I cooked a lot of weird food. I mean, we cook many different regions. I learned about British, France, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia  This class, is that I have taste oysters, octopus, and goat meat. One time, we were prepare the Italy cuisine. My team that we share the table together, did not want to do the seafood, because it had octopus, squid, and shrimp with potatoes. I was willing to do it because it did not bother me. I cooked it up and serve to my teacher. She like the flavor of it and the overall of everything.

This is Octopus, Squid, and Shrimp with potatoes.

I want to share with you with one of recipe that my teacher love the flavor and ended up ate the whole thing. I was surprised with that. I am glad that I did it well. Check the recipe on the bottom of the page.

The fourth class that I took is Fundamental Class. This class is more of beginner as the progress how things works in the kitchen. We learned about the knife skills, the scale of the ounces to cup, making the stock, and many different things. However, I was little ahead of them but I still learn a lot of new stuffs. It is fun because I have this odd teacher who is not organized and always change her mind many time. But I still enjoy her class which I am taking her class this Winter quarter. I hope she is better in the morning than at night time.

So that is the overall that I took. I really enjoy it a lot. I got all As in those classes and I am on President's Honor Roll. I am glad that I did it so well.

Here is the recipe of Tomato Bruschetta (This is the one that teacher ate it all)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup Red onions, shaved very thin
• 1/2 cup Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, 1/8 inch (I recommend you to boil tomato for 1 minutes, it is easier to peeled the skin off)
• 1/2 cup Yellow Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, 1/8 inch (I don't peel it, because it was too hard, but cut it 1/8 inch)
• 1/4 cup Shallot, finely diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 8 Basil sprigs
• 1/4 cup Olive oil
• 1/2 tsp Red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
• To taste = salt and pepper
• 8 of 1/2 inch slices bread

Procedure

1. Soak red onions in ice water 1 hour; drain and dry (the reason to soak because red onions had strong flavor, it is the way to reduce it)
2. Combines tomato, shallots, and garlic; toss
3. Remove 8 nice basil leaves for garnish. Finely chop remaining leaves and combine with tomato mixture.
4. Add the oil and vinegars; correct seasoning with salt and pepper. Let marinate at room temperature at least 30 minutes. 
5. Lightly grill or toast the bread slices. Cool it.
6. Add red onions to tomato mixture and correct seasoning
7. Set bread slice on plates and top with tomato mixture.

Hope you enjoy it!