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!