School Again.

January 4th came way too soon.

School started for me this morning - bright and early at 7:30am. Definitely did not want to wake up this morning. Today was just an orientation day for the first quarters, so all of us second quarters had to make the food. I was a little slow today, def not back into the swing of things - but A LOT better than some. =] I made Chicken Yakitori today, which is traditionally any part of the chicken grilled on a stick. I believe Andrew Zimmern did a show on Japan or China where they put the feet and brains on a stick with the sauce - NO thanks. Mine was just chicken breasts though, don't worry! Very good, and very easy!

Chicken Yakitori
Yield: 8 Servings

Soy Sauce 8 oz.
Sake 8 oz.
Granulated sugar 2 oz.
Chicken Breasts 2 lbs. (I served 1 breast per person, so for this recipe you would need 8)
Cornstarch 1 tbsp.
Sesame Seeds 1 tbsp. (toast them for more flavor)

Combine the soy sauce, sake, and granulated sugar in a bowl. Reserve 8 oz of the mixture in a separate container.

Brush the chicken breasts with the reserved 8 oz. of soy sauce mixture, and grill until done - 165 degrees or above. (I also marinated them before hand in half of the liquid for more flavor.) Should have good grill marks without being burned on the outside. You can also spray some foil with vegetable pan coating and set it on the grill to cook the chicken on, so they won't burn the outside after they've been marked.

To make the sauce, mix 2 oz. of the remaining soy sauce mixture in the cornstarch to make a cornstarch slurry. Heat the remainder of the soy sauce mixture in a small saucepan over medium heat - bring it to a boil. Add the cornstarch slurry, and bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. It will thicken up pretty quickly. Serve warm with the chicken, and cooked white rice.

I sold out within the first hour of opening, so I guess it was good? Tomorrow I'm doing some sort of breaded and fried cod. Have to do some brainstorming tonight - but I was thinking of serving it with a Citrus Vanilla sauce. We shall see what the chef's think. =]

Just got home from work, listened to Jonathan talk about his day, and about to make some dinner. Spaghetti because I feel like some comfort food - but JONATHAN doesn't like spaghetti. How un-American! Maybe he'll just eat a sandwich. =]

More tomorrow!
Elise

Winter Cleaning.

Today was good, busy at work! Been auditing the files so a lot of paperwork and computer time, but it makes the day go by so much faster. =]

After work I came home to clean the house and move stuff around. Adam is gonna move in so I had to "clean 1 of my 3 rooms" as Jonathan put it. So I'm not like disgustingly sloppy and messy. I just have too much stuff and not enough organizational tools to help me. So when I ask Jon for help cleaning stuff and he says no - my "rooms" get a little full of crap. Haha! I try to organize as I go, but I'm just terrible at cleaning my room for some reason =]. So Adam and Jon helped me (Adam without any complaint, and Jon with a lot of complaining) move out stuff and get piles ready for Goodwill! I really hate just throwing stuff away, such a waste. Jon has to go to Goodwill now. Hahaha I'm not very nice am I? BUT I bought the boys some nice dinner for their trouble, (BK Lounge anyone?).

Family Guy is on, and we're watching it of course. I don't think there's been a day yet that it hasn't been on TV at SOME time. Chris is this your doing? If so, thanks for reminding us to laugh buddy.

I want one of those crazy Blackberry charging pads! Those are awesome!

Anyway, Christmas is coming. Not as excited about it this year, probably because I didn't get to go shopping for people. My favorite part about Christmas is buying people fun presents. =[ oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Nothing good on T.V. - Lame.

It's been a month since I've even had time to do this thing. Ugh. Let's see if I remember everything that happened.....

Class went by so fast! I was excited for the bakeshop - but it turned out harder than I thought. You have to do 2-3 desserts everyday, and I made my desserts - buuut others didn't always do so... SO I was running crazy the whole time. I did get to make a gingerbread house that was pretty awesome though. It was on display at the President of OC's Christmas Party. =] It was so fun.


Got to flambe at a catering event too! I made the shrimp Frangelico, and had to set it on fire. A little scary - but fun.

I had my finals! And I rocked them. 100% on 2 of them and 94% on the other 2. I am pretty proud of myself, because I thought I was gonna be done for about a month in. =] Accumulative GPA 3.4 - hell yeah! I haven't had grades that good since junior high.

I was supposed to go to the WSCA Meeting tonight in Seattle, but I have a really bad headache. Kind of mad, would've been a good experience, but I would probably have been miserable there.

I'm making cookies again this year for people, since I don't have any money for present buying. I hate that... I feel cheap. Haha. WHATEVER. My cookies are awesome. =]

Also making ornaments for people, pictures to come! I'm off to Costco to get pictures.

Crying is for wimps right?

Today was a good day because I made good food at school, got 100% on my test (AND a gold star), and looked up recipes... But I cried today, ugh. I never cry.

Driving home Avenged Sevenfold came on, and I just started crying. The one thought in my head was Christopher, and how he was a bad-ass. I miss that guy. =[

Other than that, today I made gnocchi BY HAND. Which took me about 2 hours. Just to let you know the process......

You have to boil potatoes, then bake them to dry them out. Then you have to rice the potatoes in a ricer or through a food mill (basically a cheese grater with a hand crank, it takes a long time!). Next you mix in eggs, salt and pepper, nutmeg and flour. Since gnocchi is usually pretty bland tasting I added lots of fresh sage and nutmeg to give it flavor. So then you have to knead out the dough, while adding flour. I then rolled out the dough into logs and portion out 1/6oz dough balls. You use a fork (well coated in flour!) and smash the dough balls on the back side of the fork, and then roll the dough forward and pinch together the ends. Looks kind of like those little green squiggly magic bugs from James and the Giant Peach. =]

Anyway, they took FOREVER. So if you ever want a good idea for a family meal - do that! And have everyone help! But they look really nice, and taste pretty good too. Normally they're served with a pasta sauce that gives them flavor, but as I spent all my time making the damn things - I opted to saute them in butter and melt fresh Parmesan cheese over the top. It looked really fancy! Everyone kept telling me how professional it looked - yay for me! ha ha

I've been working on my notebook for school (a collection of all my recipes), and it's huge. I have so many recipes, because every time I see one in a magazine or book I steal it! Ha ha... all I have to say is that I'd better get a good grade on it because that thing is packed.

Haven't been up to much lately. Going to move to the bakeshop on Monday - YAY! This is the station I've been waiting for. All my cake baking will have paid off, because now I get to sell my cakes instead of eating them!

Going to make a dinner either Sat or Sun night. Making a Caesar salad, homemade sage ravioli with a ricotta-cream cheese filling and tomato sauce, then a cheesecake with pomegranate sauce. Oh yeah this isn't an everyday thing for me, it's Jon's and my anniversary this weekend so I fig I'd make him a nice dinner =].

Sometimes I wish I was enthusiastic about life as Rob Dyrdek, where does he get it all?

Oh man. Totally crazy week. Started off with a 340 person catering on Monday. No school, but I still had to go in at 6:30am! We all worked on plating everything. There was croissant chicken salad sandwiches, with pasta salad, and kahlua tiramisu for dessert! It turned out really awesome.Def need to get that recipe - it was so good! (We also covered 4 other tables just like this, most dessert I've ever seen!)

So after THAT crazy day, had to go to work all week of course. But we also had to cater to the Washington Accreditation Board, who was using our conference room and Fireside Bistro while they were doing their "accreditation" thing.. We served them from Wednesday to Friday, and it was a lot! I was in the Bistro kitchen and did a ton of different stuff. A lot of good food! Did my first fruit platter too.. Also got to make a breakfast menu (not fun getting there at 6am, but fun to make the food!) I made a hazelnut cream cheese stuffed french toast with a blueberry syrup, uhhmmmmm amazing? We also made a smoked salmon eggs Benedict which was phenom. We all got to sit out on the loading dock and eat it =].

Chef Plemmons' fruit platter... Pretty awesome!

For lunch we made a pumpkin white bean soup, a northwest salad with peaches and feta cheese, and a cranberry dijon chicken. Thursday we had two caterings, (I know .. so many) which we had to make a dish to send to the president of the board. We made seafood louie (sp?) that had crab, mussels, and shrimp - did I tell you I love seafood? Find the recipe for this, it was AMAZING. Then we made ratatouille en croute, and a pork tenderloin with a apricot veloute sauce. Then today we had the Bistro Four Course, and we switched stations - so I am now in the Bistro service. Wow lemme tell you, I'm glad I never had a serving job before this because it's much better to learn first. Had 34 covers today which normally on a busy day we get 20. Had to serve for an hour and 40 mins, and then one of my team members decided to walk out because she was mad that it was busy? Not sure exactly why she got so mad but then I had to take over her tables.. Super awesome. It's a school, so don't yell and get all pissed off, because you have to spend the rest of the year with those same people right? Whatever. People are amazing!

So I thought I did pretty good, but I do need practice at serving. Oh well! Everyone has to learn sometime. At least I got some tips to take to the bar with me tonight! It's Julie's 52nd birthday week and we're going to the Sidebar for happy hour! Good I need a drink. =]

Have to work tomorrow, boooo. But it's rainy so maybe it won't be too busy? Who knows! I'm hoping for a relaxing weekend.

My computer sucks, just typed out a post - and it CLOSED THE WINDOW. Ugh. Let's try again!

I finally got to the shop this week, and had a huge pile of receipts waiting for me! Jon showed me his new ride too..

Last weekend I went to run errands with Jon and De. We went by Sportsman's Warehouse (Outdoor Outfitters Wholesale Sports? Stupid) so that they could find new gun holsters. I was informed that searching for a gun holster is the same as me looking for a purse, so I was sympathetic to their quest. But while they were shopping I wandered around the store, because I like wandering. I stumbled upon this little beauty..

Not only funny because Jon was in the store when I text him this picture, but you also had to buy the special funnel adaptor to fit your butt. Yuck. But I did find this really nice filet knife for my Dad. It even came with leather cover that had Indian designs on it. I'm definitely getting one for myself!

So school this week was okay. Fun because I started in the Bistro kitchen, but sucked because I was sick and had to miss school and work. Had a pretty high fever (100.4) and couldn't really do much about having to miss school.. Still felt like a slacker though! Anyway, Fridays are 4 course meals from different countries in the Bistro restaurant, so this week it was Chilean cuisine.

First course: Soup

Crema Fria De Palta
(Chilled Avocado Soup w/ Sour Cream Garnish)

Second Course: Entree
Zenzero Achiote Sea Bass w/ Pineapple Salsa

Third Course: Salad

Ensalada a la Chilena

(Chilean Tomato and Sweet Onion Salad)

Fourth Course: Dessert

Baked Apple Ice Cream w/ Caramelized Chilean Apples

Everything tasted really amazing. I helped plate some of them, but the "salad" plate was my responsibility. I made tomato "flowers" with tomato petals and a green salad dressing on the plate, then put the salad in a mold and put it on the plate with a chopped cabbage garnish. It was really fun to plate - I love the creative aspect of it. But I was kind of bored because I was done with all my stuff so fast. Haha dang, guess that's what I get for being uberproductive. The dessert was TO DIE FOR. I recommend it highly! I am going to buy an icecream maker just so I can make that icecream.

I also took three tests this week, which I got an A+ and an A- on two (haven't gotten the third one back yet). So I'm pretty proud of my study regime, even though I don't have free time for anything else during the week. At least I'm getting good grades right? =]

Off to watch Food Network, and work on my recipe notebook! <3

Sweet Cherry Pie!

Busy day! I filet-ed a giant halibut today. LOTS easier than filet-ing salmon. Then I poached it in a court bouillon and served it with a sauce made from it! Also came with a pineapple orange salsa! I love cooking seafood, it's really easy and tastes amazing. Def going to have a lot of seafood at my restaurant =]. I move to the "Bistro Kitchen" on Monday, which is a "real" restaurant. We make food for orders in the Fireside Bistro Restaurant. I'm pretty excited because I'll get to learn a whole bunch of stuff. And we have a whole day dedicated to prep! Ahhh so much easier =]

Been cooking all week at school, then coming home and making stuff too! Last night I made chipotle pork fried rice, uhm, YUM. It turned out pretty good. Also bought these mini pots de creme bowls and made mini apple pies with creme anglaise.. I used apples from the tree in the yard, and they were really tart so I had to use a lot of sugar. They turned out good though! So def using a different kind of apple next time. And the creme anglaise was really good on it.
Here they are!





I also started to make a present for my Dad for his birthday. I usually make him cherry pie, but I wanted to make something that would last a little longer. So I made a little slice =]



How cute! I had a lot of fun making it. Plus I think I'm going to paint a plate to put it on. Fun and easy gift to give! Lemme know if you have a birthday coming up! =]