Here we are again. The end of another month in New York and it just dawned on me that it's about to be fall. My schedule is so focused on school and house guests that I almost never know the date, just if it's a school day or one to be spent preparing for the arrival of a good friend. Today is both as I have class tonight (on flans and custards) and my BFF Donna arrives at the crack of dawn tomorrow on a redeye from San Diego. Mike and I are equally excited about her arrival as she is like family, having lived in the apartment across from us for nearly 4 years in San Diego. We spent several nights a week preparing and eating dinner together and we can't wait to do more of the same here. I expect a fantastic weekend of eating well with a little karaoke in the mix. Mike's excitement level probably just dropped a notch. With that said, I will now share the gems unearthed and pearls of wisdom picked up in my most recent 30 days in New York.
1. My latest regular guilty food pleasure is a ham, cream cheese and mushroom crepe from the crepe window downstairs from our apartment. It has replaced the pain au chocolat from Amy's Bread, which replaced a daily salt bagel toasted with cream cheese from pretty much anywhere.
2. The steps to our apartment are brutal, but at least it allows me to have guilty food pleasures. (Just now realizing I would probably be a size smaller if I didn't allow myself guilty food pleasures. Nah, not worth it!)
3. Pastry has been fun in class, but the measuring and precision are so not my style. I like to be able to fix things if I mess them up by adding a little seasoning (or a stick of butter). With pastry, if you mess up, it goes in the trash and you start over.
4. We learned how to make puff pastry dough in class on Wednesday (my first attempt ended in the compost bin with a sticky thud), which we froze and will use in class on Monday. I am interested to see how it turns out and if the difference between the commercially prepared stuff is considerable. Roll, turn, roll, turn, rest, roll, turn, roll, turn, rest, roll, turn, roll, turn. No thanks.
5. French pastries have too many egg yolks. Our ladyfingers tasted like eggs, our eclairs tasted like eggs, and quite frankly, I don't like it. To be fair, once you soak them in Marsala or fill them with pastry cream it works, but I say dial it down a notch on the egg yolks already.
6. Lunch at Jean Georges is seriously the best fine dining deal in the city. Well given that I've been to probably .05% of New York's restaurants, I am basing this on what I know so far. I've been twice now with guests and am planning on taking Donna there this week as well. It's a perfect, perfect, perfect dining experience.
7. On a completely different scale of what makes a good deal, Mamoun's falafel is my new favorite bargain. $2.50 gets you a pita stuffed with lettuce, tomato, tahini sauce and the most perfect falafel I have ever tasted. If you've had the crusty, dried out variety and think you don't like falafel, you've got to try these. They are perfectly crispy on the outside, moist and tender inside, and flawlessly seasoned and spiced. YUM.
8. We stumbled on a food cart in Washington Square last weekend that is a revelation and I am thrilled that it is 2 blocks from our apartment. $6 gets you a dosa, a delicate, lacy crepe made of rice and lentils then filled with spicy potatoes and veggies. I will be visiting the Dosa Man now regularly and it just might take my cream cheese laden crepe's spot on the regular guilty food pleasure list although it would be minus the guilt.
9. The Union Square Greenmarket is THE BEST! I am kicking myself for not getting there sooner because it is huge and full of the seasonal deliciousness that gets Mike & I all excited about home cooking. I am definitely taking Donna there this weekend to inspire us for whatever meal we decide to make as "a family".
10. The most consistent thing about the weather here is that it is totally inconsistent. This is an adjustment coming from the land of perpetual sunshine.
11. The brutality of high heat humidity seems to have waned for the time being leaving me to wonder how long the nice weather will last before it either becomes unbearably hot or unseasonably cold. These are new emotions and I would prefer not to have them.
12. I love thunderstorms. They happen so frequently here but I am not tired of them yet. We like to sit on our window ledge together and watch the show. One of my friends here put it beautifully saying that it's one of the few things that make NYC feel small.
13. I have become a night owl. Between not getting out of class til 11pm and needing 2 or 3 hours to wind down and the post class camraderie, my schedule is out of wack. I sleep late then stay up late and can't figure out how to break the cycle or even if I really need to.
14. I just figured out that instead of spending an hour handwriting recipes on index cards for class, I could shrink them at a copy shop and glue them to the cards. Thank you Korean Spiccoli for saving me 84 hours of wasted time over the next several months. I am a moron for not doing this sooner.
15. I miss my nieces and nephews so much. My eldest niece started kindergarten this week and I am so sad that they are growing up 3,000 miles away. Luckily, we will see two of them over Labor Day on our visit to Buffalo. Sigh.
16. Mike found Charger fans here in Manhattan and we are so excited about it! I don't know what this says about me, but one of the things I knew I would miss most in San Diego was Football Sunday, either going to the games or watching them with our fanatic friends. Mike found a spot where 40 or so fans get together to watch the games every weekend, complete with Charger banners and custom beer pong table. YAY!
17. The Patriots still get the prize for most annoying fans with the biggest mouths, which is not something new that I have experienced while living here I just wanted to take a moment to share my deep abiding hatred for New England and the droves of donkeys that it produces. Monique, you are not included, we both know that this is directed at Chris. That is if he ever stopped starring at the poster of Tom Brady over his bed to read my blog.
18. Being busy is taking it's toll. I'm either too fried to come up with 30 things that I've learned this past month or I am getting dumber and less clever. I am going to go with fried and called it a day at 18. Plus, Donna has arrived (flash forward 24 hours) and we have lots of things to see and people to annoy. If you've ever spent time with us, you know why some people might find us annoying or just childishly silly (tap dancing in circles).
Happy Weekend!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Pastry, Partners & Potlucks
It's amazing what a difference a day makes, or in this case, a few days. Verging on exhaustion, I spent the entire day Thursday shuttered safely in our apartment, AC set at Hi Cool, snuggling under the quilt my mom made for our new little home. After several hours of garbage TV and leftover tarts from Wednesday's class, I was ready to face the world again. Then I went outside and started sweating profusely and changed my mind. Ugh. I am in no way saying that I look forward to winter, but fall doesn't sound so bad right about now. I don't know what people did before the advent of air conditioning. I cannot imagine living in this city a hundred years ago, wearing an uncomfortably heavy dress and having no reprieve from the heat. Hats off to you, old timers, you deserve a medal for your trials. It's bad enough to arrive at school sopping wet and then head into a 90 degree kitchen, where perspiration runs in streams off your face if it is not mopped continuously with the arm of your increasingly stained jacket. Chef Nic has been regularly sweating through his white coat prompting murmured wet tee shirt contest jokes among students.
This heat wave, as luck would have it, is perfectly synchronized with our pastry lessons, which, if you've ever made tart dough, you know can have a disastrous effect on the resulting crust. All of your wet ingredients (eggs, butter, water) have to be cold when you are making dough because any additional moisture (like melted butter) causes more gluten to form and makes the resulting crust tough and hard when cooked. I know this because it was on our test Friday and Chef Nic has been harping on the dangerous effects of too much gluten, or GHLOO-ten (strong emphasis on the glue sound)as he calls it. Even with the heat, my partner and I managed to crank out some pretty amazing tarts, both savory and sweet. If I haven't mentioned it before, we work at a station with an assigned partner situated directly across from us, with another team of partners on the opposite end of our work station. There are 24 students in the class so all 6 islands of work stations are full. We rotate partners every 2 weeks, I guess to force us to learn how to work and communicate with all different types. I haven't mentioned much about mine so far in order to protect the innocent, but it is such a HUGE part of the experience that I can't not talk about it. My first partner was Go Go Boy, named for his night job dancing in the gay club scene, a very sweet kid. My second, I will call Korean Jeff Spiccoli, because he sounds like a laid back surfer, but in reality is anything but. He is now the measuring stick for my partners because we worked really well together and that was sort of the turning point for when we started to relax and truly enjoy class. My third cohort is a classically trained musician from Canada, meticulous in everything she does and a pleasure to work with. My last partner I call Michael Phelps because she is the fastest person in the kitchen. The first lesson that we worked together I almost couldn't keep up because she works at a blistering pace, but I adjusted and together we may have set some records for speed. The cool thing about working with such different people is that you not only learn to communicate effectively in many distinct styles, but everyone teaches you something new.
In Friday's class, we had a partner lottery drawing for the first time because Chef thought it would be fun to make it random. There was really only one person that I did not want to be partnered with and I have no problem blogging about this because he is well aware of my feelings. He's a loud mouthed Israeli who is "always right" and believes women are better suited to baking. Apparently, I have won him over with my open contempt of his behavior. I frequently tell him to get lost, call him a jackass or tell him to leave me alone, which in turn has earned his respect. The lewd comments are tapering off and I think if he weren't in the class, I would secretly be sad to not have him there to mouth off to. With that said, the result of the lottery was that I was to be partnered with one of two classmates who were uncharacteristically late for Friday's lesson. The only other person without a partner that night was, of course, the aforementioned master of male chauvinist machismo. While Chef spared me the burden of two weeks of his antics (I will be partnered with a guy who Korean Spiccoli calls the "quarterback" of the class because of his much discussed good looks in the ladies locker room), I did spend Friday night as his partner due to the two no-shows. It was actually a really fun class filled with sponge cake, buttercream and insult slinging - a great day in general.
Last night, about two-thirds of our class convened at my girl Jersey's apartment for a potluck get together, which was a riot. I am completely impressed by the skills of my classmates and friends - we had an impressive spread that I think would've made Chef Nic proud. The buffet included peanut glazed duck breast with lychee, moussaka, chicken with couscous, eggplant and tomatoes, spanakopitas, watermelon salad, spicy pulled beef tacos with sweet potato and tomatillo salsa, thai beef salad, a beautiful cheese and charcuterie spread, pesto pasta salad with arugula, a provencal tart, cheesecake and fresh berries, peach and strawberry mojitos and a St. Germain cocktail. I made an heirloom tomato salad with a tomato granita shaved on top, chunks of which I ate curbside while Mike and I waited for our bus back to the city.
It was quite an evening and so much fun to trade the intensity of the classroom for the relaxed feel of a home kitchen. It's interesting to spend so much time with a group of people sharing the same experience simultaneously. It's also exciting and inspiring being around talented individuals who appreciate the pleasure of good food. I have a feeling that this crew might be in my life for a long time and that is pretty cool. Speaking of cool, I think it's time I polished off the last of the tomato granita before we head out into the swamp for a BBQ and blues festival on the Hudson. Ahhhh....Sunday.
This heat wave, as luck would have it, is perfectly synchronized with our pastry lessons, which, if you've ever made tart dough, you know can have a disastrous effect on the resulting crust. All of your wet ingredients (eggs, butter, water) have to be cold when you are making dough because any additional moisture (like melted butter) causes more gluten to form and makes the resulting crust tough and hard when cooked. I know this because it was on our test Friday and Chef Nic has been harping on the dangerous effects of too much gluten, or GHLOO-ten (strong emphasis on the glue sound)as he calls it. Even with the heat, my partner and I managed to crank out some pretty amazing tarts, both savory and sweet. If I haven't mentioned it before, we work at a station with an assigned partner situated directly across from us, with another team of partners on the opposite end of our work station. There are 24 students in the class so all 6 islands of work stations are full. We rotate partners every 2 weeks, I guess to force us to learn how to work and communicate with all different types. I haven't mentioned much about mine so far in order to protect the innocent, but it is such a HUGE part of the experience that I can't not talk about it. My first partner was Go Go Boy, named for his night job dancing in the gay club scene, a very sweet kid. My second, I will call Korean Jeff Spiccoli, because he sounds like a laid back surfer, but in reality is anything but. He is now the measuring stick for my partners because we worked really well together and that was sort of the turning point for when we started to relax and truly enjoy class. My third cohort is a classically trained musician from Canada, meticulous in everything she does and a pleasure to work with. My last partner I call Michael Phelps because she is the fastest person in the kitchen. The first lesson that we worked together I almost couldn't keep up because she works at a blistering pace, but I adjusted and together we may have set some records for speed. The cool thing about working with such different people is that you not only learn to communicate effectively in many distinct styles, but everyone teaches you something new.
In Friday's class, we had a partner lottery drawing for the first time because Chef thought it would be fun to make it random. There was really only one person that I did not want to be partnered with and I have no problem blogging about this because he is well aware of my feelings. He's a loud mouthed Israeli who is "always right" and believes women are better suited to baking. Apparently, I have won him over with my open contempt of his behavior. I frequently tell him to get lost, call him a jackass or tell him to leave me alone, which in turn has earned his respect. The lewd comments are tapering off and I think if he weren't in the class, I would secretly be sad to not have him there to mouth off to. With that said, the result of the lottery was that I was to be partnered with one of two classmates who were uncharacteristically late for Friday's lesson. The only other person without a partner that night was, of course, the aforementioned master of male chauvinist machismo. While Chef spared me the burden of two weeks of his antics (I will be partnered with a guy who Korean Spiccoli calls the "quarterback" of the class because of his much discussed good looks in the ladies locker room), I did spend Friday night as his partner due to the two no-shows. It was actually a really fun class filled with sponge cake, buttercream and insult slinging - a great day in general.
Last night, about two-thirds of our class convened at my girl Jersey's apartment for a potluck get together, which was a riot. I am completely impressed by the skills of my classmates and friends - we had an impressive spread that I think would've made Chef Nic proud. The buffet included peanut glazed duck breast with lychee, moussaka, chicken with couscous, eggplant and tomatoes, spanakopitas, watermelon salad, spicy pulled beef tacos with sweet potato and tomatillo salsa, thai beef salad, a beautiful cheese and charcuterie spread, pesto pasta salad with arugula, a provencal tart, cheesecake and fresh berries, peach and strawberry mojitos and a St. Germain cocktail. I made an heirloom tomato salad with a tomato granita shaved on top, chunks of which I ate curbside while Mike and I waited for our bus back to the city.
It was quite an evening and so much fun to trade the intensity of the classroom for the relaxed feel of a home kitchen. It's interesting to spend so much time with a group of people sharing the same experience simultaneously. It's also exciting and inspiring being around talented individuals who appreciate the pleasure of good food. I have a feeling that this crew might be in my life for a long time and that is pretty cool. Speaking of cool, I think it's time I polished off the last of the tomato granita before we head out into the swamp for a BBQ and blues festival on the Hudson. Ahhhh....Sunday.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Long Hot Days and Ratless Nights
Is it really only Wednesday? I need a weekend badly and I need it right now. But it needs to be one of those weekends where I don't have anything planned and I can lay on a blanket in the park and stare at the sky. I am definitely going to make that happen. Yesterday afternoon, I put my mom in a cab to JFK after a marathon week of cramming as much New York as possible into her visit. I had some concerns about her visit, mainly centered around the fact that she had both knee and shoulder surgery in the past year and we do a lot of walking. We also live in a 4th floor walk up and I could swear that they are the three steepest flights I've ever climbed. And then there's the weather. You know that vent that pumps hot laundry air out of the dryer at your parents house? The one that makes a small part of your backyard smell like hot, windy Bounce? Well, pretend the sky is a dryer vent and instead of Bounce your mom uses a dryer sheet called Rotten Swill, that's what the weather is like right now.
My mom doesn't do well with humidity and I know this firsthand. She came to visit us when we lived in Buffalo back in 2002 and there were a few key similarities between that situation and our current one that alarmed me. 1. We lived in a 3rd floor flat that had steep stairs. 2. It was June and beginning to get warm and a little muggy. Let's just say that our most vivid memory of that visit is my mom fanning herself and acting like she was going to melt. And I say that with love mom. So fast forward 7 years, add a flight of stairs, raise the temperature by about 15 degrees and mix in a pile of garbage. I'm sure you understand why I made sure to remind her in every conversation we've had since she booked her flight that the weather would be awful and that the stairs would be hell. I think it worked because she was a trooper. We walked all over the place, up and down countless sets of stairs all the while drenched in sweat and she did it with a smile. It was the sort of smile that said "See? I'm not complaining!" but it was a smile nonetheless. And to her credit, she actually was melting this time. It was brutally hot and humid, probably the worst weather we've had all summer.
Despite the heat, we had a great time and we did SO much. Perhaps I should have been more concerned about my ability to keep up than hers as I am thoroughly exhausted. We hit the ground running when she arrived Wednesday morning with a sightseeing cruise around Manhattan. I went to class, Mike took her to Arturo's for authentic New York pizza. Thursday started off with a classic New York experience: a trip to Target in Brooklyn. Okay, so it's not in any way a cool NYC thing to do, but we always go to Target together, it's our thing. Some mothers take their daughters to afternoon tea at the Ritz, mine takes me to Target for household goods, cheap sundresses and a bucket of popcorn and I love it. After our popcorn breakfast I took her to my school where we attended a demonstration by Aaron Sanchez, of Food Network's Chopped & Chefs vs. City. He also has two restaurants in Manhattan: Centrico & Paladar, which I will definitely be trying after sampling his cooking at the demo. He's charismatic, engaging and very proud of his Mexican heritage, which made the food even more delicious. We were given small plates of seared scallops with a charred corn salsa, duck breast with a chili and orange infused dulce de leche sauce and some ridiculously good pork belly tacos.
Friday, we slept late,then saw Julie & Julia before I headed off to class. Saturday, we did some shopping at my favorite place in SoHo, The Market NYC. It's a bunch of young designers in a church gym with table after table of cool, unique accessories and clothing. The three of us then headed to Brooklyn to the Botanical Gardens and a stroll through Prospect Park, which I think she loved. We gave her a brief tour of Park Slope that ended with a much needed mani-pedi before we hopped the subway back to the city to get ready for dinner at L'Ecole. L'Ecole is the restaurant at FCI, which I will eventually be cooking at during levels 5 & 6. We had a 5 course meal that was truly delicious.
Sunday, we headed to Times Square hell to pick up tickets for a matinee of "In the Heights", a fantastic musical about life in Washington Heights (the barrio in Manhattan). In the remaining days, we also managed to get her to Ground Zero, took a stroll along the Hudson through Battery Park City, toured Central Park and then lunched at Jean Georges, which deserves its own blog entirely, made a short visit to the Met to find that the three things she really wanted to see were closed, took her to Chinatown for dumplings, ate a Gray's Papaya hot dog and her first falafel. I think the only thing that we didn't get to see that she was disappointed about was a rat. Some people would be delighted to not encounter a rat in New York City, not my mom, she was actually bummed about it.
A week can be a long time with family in close quarters, but there was no (major) bickering or meltdowns. We had a really nice time and I'm happy to have shared our new city with her. It was a week that I will not soon forget and this time my most vivid memory will not be of her fanning herself. Well, maybe of her mopping her brow but doing it with a smile. Love you Mom!
My mom doesn't do well with humidity and I know this firsthand. She came to visit us when we lived in Buffalo back in 2002 and there were a few key similarities between that situation and our current one that alarmed me. 1. We lived in a 3rd floor flat that had steep stairs. 2. It was June and beginning to get warm and a little muggy. Let's just say that our most vivid memory of that visit is my mom fanning herself and acting like she was going to melt. And I say that with love mom. So fast forward 7 years, add a flight of stairs, raise the temperature by about 15 degrees and mix in a pile of garbage. I'm sure you understand why I made sure to remind her in every conversation we've had since she booked her flight that the weather would be awful and that the stairs would be hell. I think it worked because she was a trooper. We walked all over the place, up and down countless sets of stairs all the while drenched in sweat and she did it with a smile. It was the sort of smile that said "See? I'm not complaining!" but it was a smile nonetheless. And to her credit, she actually was melting this time. It was brutally hot and humid, probably the worst weather we've had all summer.
Despite the heat, we had a great time and we did SO much. Perhaps I should have been more concerned about my ability to keep up than hers as I am thoroughly exhausted. We hit the ground running when she arrived Wednesday morning with a sightseeing cruise around Manhattan. I went to class, Mike took her to Arturo's for authentic New York pizza. Thursday started off with a classic New York experience: a trip to Target in Brooklyn. Okay, so it's not in any way a cool NYC thing to do, but we always go to Target together, it's our thing. Some mothers take their daughters to afternoon tea at the Ritz, mine takes me to Target for household goods, cheap sundresses and a bucket of popcorn and I love it. After our popcorn breakfast I took her to my school where we attended a demonstration by Aaron Sanchez, of Food Network's Chopped & Chefs vs. City. He also has two restaurants in Manhattan: Centrico & Paladar, which I will definitely be trying after sampling his cooking at the demo. He's charismatic, engaging and very proud of his Mexican heritage, which made the food even more delicious. We were given small plates of seared scallops with a charred corn salsa, duck breast with a chili and orange infused dulce de leche sauce and some ridiculously good pork belly tacos.
Friday, we slept late,then saw Julie & Julia before I headed off to class. Saturday, we did some shopping at my favorite place in SoHo, The Market NYC. It's a bunch of young designers in a church gym with table after table of cool, unique accessories and clothing. The three of us then headed to Brooklyn to the Botanical Gardens and a stroll through Prospect Park, which I think she loved. We gave her a brief tour of Park Slope that ended with a much needed mani-pedi before we hopped the subway back to the city to get ready for dinner at L'Ecole. L'Ecole is the restaurant at FCI, which I will eventually be cooking at during levels 5 & 6. We had a 5 course meal that was truly delicious.
Sunday, we headed to Times Square hell to pick up tickets for a matinee of "In the Heights", a fantastic musical about life in Washington Heights (the barrio in Manhattan). In the remaining days, we also managed to get her to Ground Zero, took a stroll along the Hudson through Battery Park City, toured Central Park and then lunched at Jean Georges, which deserves its own blog entirely, made a short visit to the Met to find that the three things she really wanted to see were closed, took her to Chinatown for dumplings, ate a Gray's Papaya hot dog and her first falafel. I think the only thing that we didn't get to see that she was disappointed about was a rat. Some people would be delighted to not encounter a rat in New York City, not my mom, she was actually bummed about it.
A week can be a long time with family in close quarters, but there was no (major) bickering or meltdowns. We had a really nice time and I'm happy to have shared our new city with her. It was a week that I will not soon forget and this time my most vivid memory will not be of her fanning herself. Well, maybe of her mopping her brow but doing it with a smile. Love you Mom!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Potatoes: Chunks are for Chumps
Beginner. Newbie. Neophyte. New kid on the block. These terms no longer apply to my culinary school status as I have officially completed Level 1 of the program and am one lesson in to Level 2. And although our first lesson was essentially an extension of our concluding session on braising in Level 1, everyone seemed to walk a little taller past our former kitchen into the "sophomore" kitchen next door. We smiled knowingly as we observed the new group nervously assessing each other and awkwardly adjusting their starched white coats. It's actually quite amusing given that was me just 6 weeks ago. I am, first, stunned at how quickly the time is passing and second, amazed at how much I have not only learned, but improved. The program is organized in a way that as you learn new techniques, you continue to practice and perfect old techniques, and practice really does make perfect with French cooking.
For example, we have learned the French technique of tournage (turning vegetables), which is essentially to take a chunk of vegetable and carve it into a faceted little oval barrel about 5 cm long (called a cocotte) with a paring knife. (Apparently, a diced potato or a chunk of potato is too pedestrian for French cuisine.) When we did this the first day, my hand cramped from the awkward motion and I produced what can best be described as potato turds that looked nothing like Chef Nic's perfectly straight spud gems. But we have done them so many times in class (and for homework) and prepared them in so many different ways that I actually got the ultimate compliment on my potato homework today.
Chef Nic: "Mmm...is good. Mmm...not bad. Not bad at all. The size is good. Sides could be a little straighter...but is good, no?"
Me: "No? I mean yes. Yes, Chef. Thank you, Chef."
As an aside, tournage creates a massive amount of potato trimmings that can be used for soups, mashed potatoes, gnocchi - if you use them relatively soon. You have to store them in water so they don't brown and if you wait too long, the water leeches the starch out and you get a weird texture. I have a hard time throwing away literally pounds of potatoes, so the soup stockpile continues in my freezer, although I did make four quiches last week with various vegetable trimmings and leftovers. Gnocchi is on the agenda tomorrow, but I think it will be a carrot-potato gnocchi since I have some carrot trimmings as well. I still don't see the value in having oval potatoes, but that doesn't mean I am not going to continue to crank out my best cocottes. If nothing else, I have become the queen of repurposing scraps.
So, here begins the next chapter in my culinary education and I have no doubt that it too will fly by with its conclusion bringing even more growth. To be honest, I want the whole process to slow down a bit. I am, for the first time in my life, enjoying school and all that accompanies it. I am forming friendships with classmates that I know will far outlast this 9 month program. (It's easy to bond over broken sauces, excessive sweating, and wearing rubber finger cots over cuts that look like miniature condoms and provide a whole host of opportunities for tasteless jokes that break the pressure and intensity of the kitchen.) I am enjoying the perks of being a student at FCI: the free demonstrations by world class chefs, the club events (I'm taking a tour of the Food Network later this month) and the library, which is stocked with every cookbook, magazine, and food related tome you can imagine. I don't want it to end! I know there's no reason that life after culinary school can't be just as sweet, but I am not ready for it just yet and plan to savor every moment.
Some of the moments I will be savoring this level are in fact not savory, but sweet. Our first four sessions wrap up our instruction on protein (including offal, or organ meats for the uninitiated, and eggs, which the cooking of is said to be the measuring stick of a good chef), before we spend the next 7 lessons learning pastry and sweet treats. After the last few weeks preparing hearty lamb, veal and chicken dishes with rich sauces in the heat of summer, I am ready to change things up and pastry could be the ticket. Level 2 also covers lessons on nutrition (which is hilarious after we've been taught to "add a little bit of butter" - picture a whole stick being added to a sauce pan), as well as food costing, menu planning and a whole lesson devoted to one of the other loves of my life - CHEESE! If you know me well, you know that cheese is my desert island food, the one I cannot live without. But I can wait on the cheese lesson, as it comes near the end of Level 2 and right now, I am in no rush, even if it means savoring kidney and tongue. The plus side is that it will probably be bathed in butter, the downside is that it will undoubtedly be accompanied by those damn potato cocottes.
For example, we have learned the French technique of tournage (turning vegetables), which is essentially to take a chunk of vegetable and carve it into a faceted little oval barrel about 5 cm long (called a cocotte) with a paring knife. (Apparently, a diced potato or a chunk of potato is too pedestrian for French cuisine.) When we did this the first day, my hand cramped from the awkward motion and I produced what can best be described as potato turds that looked nothing like Chef Nic's perfectly straight spud gems. But we have done them so many times in class (and for homework) and prepared them in so many different ways that I actually got the ultimate compliment on my potato homework today.
Chef Nic: "Mmm...is good. Mmm...not bad. Not bad at all. The size is good. Sides could be a little straighter...but is good, no?"
Me: "No? I mean yes. Yes, Chef. Thank you, Chef."
As an aside, tournage creates a massive amount of potato trimmings that can be used for soups, mashed potatoes, gnocchi - if you use them relatively soon. You have to store them in water so they don't brown and if you wait too long, the water leeches the starch out and you get a weird texture. I have a hard time throwing away literally pounds of potatoes, so the soup stockpile continues in my freezer, although I did make four quiches last week with various vegetable trimmings and leftovers. Gnocchi is on the agenda tomorrow, but I think it will be a carrot-potato gnocchi since I have some carrot trimmings as well. I still don't see the value in having oval potatoes, but that doesn't mean I am not going to continue to crank out my best cocottes. If nothing else, I have become the queen of repurposing scraps.
So, here begins the next chapter in my culinary education and I have no doubt that it too will fly by with its conclusion bringing even more growth. To be honest, I want the whole process to slow down a bit. I am, for the first time in my life, enjoying school and all that accompanies it. I am forming friendships with classmates that I know will far outlast this 9 month program. (It's easy to bond over broken sauces, excessive sweating, and wearing rubber finger cots over cuts that look like miniature condoms and provide a whole host of opportunities for tasteless jokes that break the pressure and intensity of the kitchen.) I am enjoying the perks of being a student at FCI: the free demonstrations by world class chefs, the club events (I'm taking a tour of the Food Network later this month) and the library, which is stocked with every cookbook, magazine, and food related tome you can imagine. I don't want it to end! I know there's no reason that life after culinary school can't be just as sweet, but I am not ready for it just yet and plan to savor every moment.
Some of the moments I will be savoring this level are in fact not savory, but sweet. Our first four sessions wrap up our instruction on protein (including offal, or organ meats for the uninitiated, and eggs, which the cooking of is said to be the measuring stick of a good chef), before we spend the next 7 lessons learning pastry and sweet treats. After the last few weeks preparing hearty lamb, veal and chicken dishes with rich sauces in the heat of summer, I am ready to change things up and pastry could be the ticket. Level 2 also covers lessons on nutrition (which is hilarious after we've been taught to "add a little bit of butter" - picture a whole stick being added to a sauce pan), as well as food costing, menu planning and a whole lesson devoted to one of the other loves of my life - CHEESE! If you know me well, you know that cheese is my desert island food, the one I cannot live without. But I can wait on the cheese lesson, as it comes near the end of Level 2 and right now, I am in no rush, even if it means savoring kidney and tongue. The plus side is that it will probably be bathed in butter, the downside is that it will undoubtedly be accompanied by those damn potato cocottes.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Another (Really Sweaty, Often Butter Laden) 30
I am just sitting down to blog (and take a cleansing breath) after what has been an insanely active couple of weeks. I don't really like going this long between blogs because then I don't know where to begin or how to edit myself. I mentioned previously I am much better at detailing the minutiae than I am at summarizing our weekly activities. I think my best shot at keeping this from being a 50,000 word entry will be to bullet point and since it's been another 30 days, I am going with the previously used 30 in 30 format. So without further disclaimer, here are the things that I have learned, done and discovered in our third month as New Yorkers.
1. Brunch is big here. Especially fixed price brunches that include unlimited Bellini's, mimosa's, bloody's and screwdriver's. You know, all the drinks that make people feel like it's okay to booze it up before noon. A word to the wise: don't plan on having any other plans after meeting friends for brunch. And if at all possible, do brunch at like 2. The exception would be if you are the person whose first thought upon waking up is "How can I completely waste this gift that is today?".
2. I have moved on from a daily bagel to a near daily chocolate croissant (pain au chocolat) from Amy's Bread. OMG. They also have a cheese biscuit that is TDF. I don't know if that is an actual text acronym, but it stands for "to die for". If it's not, I am trademarking it.
3. I have become proficient at making use of every scrap in my fridge and pantry and wasting very little. It's drilled into our heads in class to waste nothing lest we want to put our future employers out of business for trimming too much off a carrot. I also have to give credit to our old roommates (& benefactors) Emmy & Curtis. They had a regular "Clean Out The Cabinet" night, as they called it. It's exactly what it sounds like and usually ended up being incredibly delicious, if not interesting.
4. I am regularly practicing my knife skills on unsuspecting carrots, turnips and potatoes at home. Classical French cuts generate massive amounts of waste in the form of trimmings. We currently have a stockpile of what I like to call Clean Out the Fridge Soup in our freezer. And I have a batch simmering now, although this one has Parmesan rinds and mushroom stems for variety. Although it sounds like garbage, it's actually quite delicious.
5. I can only fit so much more soup in the freezer. I have got to get more creative.
6. People weren't kidding when they told me the city is disgusting in the heat of the summer. I've been to humid places before, but there is usually an ocean or a pool nearby to help you deal with the oppressive wet heat. And you usually go from an air conditioned car to an air conditioned building, you don't walk every where always carrying a load of something. If you have never experienced a Manhattan summer, let me paint you a picture. Imagine walking out the door of your AC chilled apartment, freshly showered and dressed. By the time you are down one flight of stairs you have a sweat mustache and a halo of moisture beads. By the time you hit the street, sweat is running in streams down any part of your body that forms a natural canyon. It is pooling at the small of your back and soaking your undergarments. By the time you reach the lower platform of the subway you are pretty sure you know what it feels like to be inside someones mouth. A layer of frizzies form simultaneously with the disappearance of the efforts of your curling iron, all synchronized with carefully applied makeup sliding off your face. And then you feel it. The beginnings of a breeze. You throw your arms wide, close your eyes and relish the wind generated by the subway powering into the station, cooling the moisture on your skin. This moment is the sad equivalent to jumping in the pool at my old place in San Diego each night to cool down. I can't tell if a tear just rolled down my cheek or if it was sweat.
7. Two of our favorite people, Nate & Melissa spent a week here recently and we had a great time, see pictures below. We also learned a few things, see #'s 8 - 11.
Playing "7's" at Brooklyn Brewery
Checking out the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn Heights
7. Positioning of the sofa bed just a few inches to the left can result in nearly being trapped in our bedroom and unable to reach the restroom in the middle of the night, save for a creative sideways shimmy. A few inches to the right, no problem.
8. Near trapping incident led me to imagine inventing giant suction cup shoes and walking on the walls to the bathroom. I concluded that I did not have the agility or coordination to make suction shoes work.
9. I am considering issuing a travel warning (like the ones by the US Department of State) to all of our upcoming visitors (and there are many) describing the conditions they can expect during their stay. It would include key phrases such as "lacks space and range of motion", "packing light is advised", "hospitable and welcoming hosts", "outdoor rat sightings likely", "home cooked meals probable". Nate & Melissa were stellar house guests and seemed appreciative to not pay $300 a night for a 150 square foot hotel room, rather than worry about the lack of amenities. I write this not to deter guests in any way, we LOVE hosting friends and love even more that they want to visit, I just want to make sure the expectation is set and no one feels like they got a bait and switch. 500 square feet people, 500.
10. We did so many great things with Nate & Melissa: we ate well (Telepan, Jean Georges, Chinatown dumplings), we drank well (Brooklyn Brewery, Rattle N' Hum, BrookVin, Clover Club) and we covered a lot of ground (from Central Park all the way to the World Trade Center and pretty much everything in between, with a few days in Brooklyn. Nate & Mike even took the train to Westchester for a brewery trip, shocking, I know). Basically, we had a wonderful time and it only made us miss them more.
11. There are a few things that we had to see when we moved here because they are New York icons that actually have little redeeming value other than checking them off your list. Now that we have seen them, I am going to start a list of places that I could never go back to and be thrilled about: 1. Times Square. 2. I can't think of anything else at this point, but will let you know when I do.
12. We just returned from LA/Santa Barbara for our pals Jen & Dustin's wedding. We got to see most of our LA friends and some of our San Diego friends (and a whole slew of people that I haven't seen in 15 years from my hometown). This trip was a double edged sword for me. But I have to interrupt myself and wonder how well a knight does in battle with a single edged sword. And wouldn't that just be called a knife? Anyway, visiting California and spending time with our friends made me miss it for the first time and them even more. It feels like home, but I love New York City. I have to either figure out how to make enough cash to be bi-coastal or convince a significant portion of my friends to move here.
13. J & D's wedding was spectacular. They had one of those no detail left unattended to kind of events that was beautiful, fun and touching all at once. The highlights for me were: the location (Santa Barbara Zoo with mountains as a backdrop and Pacific Ocean below, paper lanterns and lights strung over the tables and dance floor), seeing friends (especially wine tasting time with J-Mo, Jenn Mora to the non softballers), and the feeling that everything was so them (the music & dancing, the next day softball game, the long winded speeches that are characteristic of D and his side of the family). It was perfect!
San Diego Softballers: Burnsy, Funk, Mike, Dustin, Jen, Half of My Head, Scott, J-Mo
14. We also spent an evening with our LA friends and the best way I can describe it is like having the most amazing chocolate cake put in front of you and having a few bites and then having it taken away. I miss my Jill ferociously and seeing her was divine and saying goodbye was awful. I know it will be the same when I see Donna later this month. It's the same sort of feeling with many of my girlfriends that are scattered across the country. There is so something to be said for good girlfriends in your life and I will count myself blessed to have people who I miss and miss me. Sniffle.
15. Speaking of girlfriends and friendships in general, we are making friends here. I love my classmates - they are a seriously fun bunch and there are a few who I feel like I've known for a lot longer than 6 weeks. One of them is the New Jersey version of me (complete with Italian name and Jersey accent) and we might be trouble together.
16. I finish Level 1 of my program at the end of the week, complete with big test and practical exam. I will no longer be a newbie, but I still get to keep Chef Nic (and his constant reminders that he doesn't want to see any mooshy wegetables) for one more level.
17. Chef Nic loves butter, duck fat, cream and a sprig of thyme. I am thinking for my menu project later in the program that I will deep fry sprigs of thyme in duck fat and serve it with a cream and butter sauce. It will go over like gangbusters. And I will be carrying a defibrillator instead of handbag.
18. I am finding French technique to be invaluable in truly understanding food and preparing it.
19. I am finding French technique overly fussy (and fattening) and am developing a better sense of what kind of a cook I am.
20. I am a cook who likes fresh, clean flavors with simple, straightforward preparations.
21. I am convinced my arteries are getting smaller every day.
22. Rats on the subway tracks are cool to see, rats on the street are creepy.
23. Cockroaches anyplace = BLLECCCHHH
24. I always thought that I would take extreme heat over cold any day of the week. I am now questioning that sentiment. Time will tell.
25. Maintaining a pedicure in this city is no easy feet (pun intended, hardee har). Walk, sweat, grime, repeat.
26. If anyone can answer this for me, I will send you a prize (that will most likely be something doused in butter). Why would someone fashion a bike helmet out of plastic grocery bags instead of just wearing the real thing? I mean, it looks just as dumb but it serves no purpose. Especially when that someone is a rather large woman with balance issues likely induced by the flask of Jim Beam nestled in her cleavage. And said woman has a habit of falling in slow motion off her bike in Washington Square. I am not kidding, I picked up this woman's "helmet" after witnessing what must have been one of many spills that day, judging by her condition, and realized that it was actually a replica made from grocery bags. And a damn good one. If you have enough money to get drunk, you can afford a helmet. And you probably need one more than the sober bike riders out there. And if you are talented enough to make art out of garbage then you should do that instead of getting drunk in the afternoon. Unless you are at brunch, then it's perfectly acceptable.
27. Creepy people aren't as creepy when there are a hundred other people that look normal in your vicinity.
28. Making eye contact with a normal person and doing the head shake/half smile/shoulder shrug (as if to say "Who KNOWS what's up with that guy?!") when a creepy person does something creepy happens at least twice a day.
29. Creepy people = bonds with strangers.
30. I am considering eating leftover veal in cream sauce at 2am because I am still wired from class and now a little hungry. (Trying to picture my arteries closing). Hopefully that fends off another meal of fat cooked with a bit of meat and more fat. I'll return soon with a more digestible and coherent blog. But it will be covered in butter and heavy cream.
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