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Weeks 11-14 of cooking school have come and gone, as they took place in November.  Any parent knows that once the first holiday of the season hits- October 31- it’s full steam ahead! To say that the time between Halloween and just before Christmas was crazy busy is an understatement.  It’s always a fun, but busy time of the year, but this year pushed my limits! Thankfully, the holidays are over and I’ve had a few weeks of R&R. I’ve had a chance to reflect on the last few weeks of cooking school, including my final exam and Restaurant Week, as well all the fun I had with my classmates.  I miss them all so much!

Looking back on November- it was FULL of awesome food.  Food that I knew I’d love, but especially since it was food that didn’t involve any butchering of large animals.  To begin the month, we had a fun Cheese Workshop with Juliana Uruburu from Market Hall in Oakland- and what an amazing cheesemonger she is. We worked through the different textures, styles and animal/milk profiles of 13 kinds of cheese.  I didn’t even know you could do a cheese tasting without wine or bubbly- apparently in school, to take it seriously, it is done with a water glass and a full water pitcher. I look forward to hosting a cheese tasting with family and friends, with wine or bubbly, and chat about the cheese with just a little more cheese knowledge than I had before.  Not a bad idea to eat something light and healthy beforehand and wear your cheese pants for such an event.  

We tasted 13 kinds of cheese

In November we also made pasta, lots of it. It’s surprisingly easy to make at home and very satisfying to eat the result.  Who doesn’t love pasta?? Basically, we made two types- semolina and egg. Semolina is great for making all kind of fun shapes by hand- farfalle, orecchiette, cavatelli, etc. and includes only semolina flour, all purpose flour, water and salt.  Easy and fun to do with kids or a group of friends. Egg pasta is not much more than flour, egg yolks, olive oil and salt. It is made by hand on a board, kneaded and then rolled out in a pasta machine to make a noodle such as fettuccine, or a sheets to make stuffed pasta like agnolotti, tortellini or mezzelone.  All fun to make and delicious to eat!

Beautiful spinach fettuccine

Handsome squid ink farfalle

Agnolotti dal plin

Handmade orecchiette- so fun to make!

In between several days of pasta production, we took a detour and did Steak 101.  Admittedly, I don’t buy a lot of red meat and when I do I have to ask the butcher for all kinds of assistance.  Grass fed ground beef is what we buy the most for chili, but when it comes to steaks, I’m pretty lost. We did a taste test of unsalted, pan seared steaks to get the true flavor of each cut, both conventionally grain fed as well as grass fed.  Hands down, the grain fed was preferable in flavor to nearly everyone, except me. I actually prefer the brighter, grassy taste versus the meaty flavor that comes through on the grain fed. This could just be my inexperience of eating much meat.  Either way, there was no argument on how tasty the steak was in a baguette sandwich with horsey mayo- yum!

Grass-fed and conventional steaks

Charts help those of us that are visual learners

Hard to beat a nice steak sandwich

One of my most favorite days in November was our Food Panel Day.  We had four guest speakers come in to tell us about jobs in the food industry that did not have to do with working in or running a restaurant.  They were food writers, recipe developers, cookbook writers, and food innovators. I listened, asked questions and was inspired; a perk to cooking school beyond making delicious food that was unexpected.  

November also brought us a very fun Bread Workshop with Michael Kalanty.  I’d taken a few of his classes on wild yeast breads and croissants at a local cooking school, so I knew we were in a for a treat.  He’s funny, frank, and so talented. His sourdough starter is 30+ years old and I have a bit of it in my refrigerator waiting to be fed.  

Baguette

Pain au Lait (Milk Rolls)

Whole Wheat Boules (Rounds)

To keep things light (ha!) before Thanksgiving we did a Thai Workshop and Fried Chicken Day.  These were fun days because it was full of food I knew not much about but learned a ton. In Thai cooking, you season with fish sauce, not salt.  Despite how many times we were told by Chef, many of us reached for the salt when tasting our dishes and finding a lack of seasoning. It was cooking school- we had just learned the importance of salt when bringing out the flavor in a dish! But not in Thai food, you season with fish sauce.  

Tom Kha Gai (Lemongrass Milk Soup w/ Chicken)

Thai Beef Salad

Pumpkin and Tofu Red Curry

Green Papaya Salad

Fried Chicken Day was heavy, as expected.  I learned the difference between a deep fry and a shallow fry, and when to use each.  In the end, I realized that it’s the sides that go with this type of meal, not the fried chicken, that I really enjoy.  I’ll take an asian slaw, chive mashed potato, and miso-glazed delicata squash over a piece of fried chicken any day.

A feast- just training for Thanksgiving

Miso-Ginger Glazed Delicata Squash

Korean Fried Chicken

Garlic and Chive Mashed Potato

Asian Pear Slaw

Chicken Kara Age (Japanese Fried Chicken)

The end of November concluded with two great days- one of which was a great recipe development class with the school’s founder, Jodi Liano.  She has written several cookbooks of her own and for Williams Sonoma, so when she spoke about how to develop a recipe, I took good notes. We practiced with a fun exercise on how to make a grilled cheese.  It definitely reminded me of my teaching days and trying to get my 3rd grade students to write clearly using descriptive words. If you don’t specify putting the butter on the outside of the two slices of bread, where does it go??

The other fun day was a Creative Cooking Class with Chef Catherine Patsios.  Chef Catherine was the former head instructor at SF Cooking School until she retired just prior to me starting school.  She has owned her own restaurant and been with the school since it opened 6 yrs ago. Like something you’ve seen on tv, she made a list of ingredients that we were allowed to use, and the 14 of us brainstormed ideas on how to use these ingredients.  There was white pepper but not black pepper; cayenne but no chili flakes; and yellow potatoes, not russets. It was, however, a pretty extensive list of ingredients, so it was pretty fun to come up with an appetizer, a first course, a main course, and a dessert. This day, as I would come to understand about a week later, was to prepare us for Restaurant Week later in December.  The end result of our Creative Cooking Class was pretty impressive. I think even our head chef instructor was pretty impressed with what we came up with. I think she had a newfound respect for the 14 of us and had to have been impressed with how far we had come.

Nice brainstorming!

Impressive Final Menu

Gougeres Stuffed with Mushroom, Blue cheese and Thyme

Scallops w/ Potato Cake, Persillada, and Lemon Aioli

Chicken, Egg and Lemon Soup w/ Crispy Brussels Sprouts

Poached Apple w/ Candied Walnuts, Whipped Cream and Candied Lemon Zest

Well, that was a lot of info and food! Cannot wait to try these at home…

Cheers,

Christina

It’s easier to write when your sweet hubby places this decicious Espresso Macchiato in front of you!

It’s no surprise, but weeks 9 and 10 were full of many fun experiences and tasty dishes.  There were at least two days that I declared, “this is my favorite dish we’ve made,” only to be trumped by a dish two days later- “ok you guys, I lied, THIS is my favorite dish we’ve made so far!” I can hardly wait to find the time at home to make these dishes.

Braised Pork w/ Poblano Cream Sauce- declared one of my favs!

Burmese Coconut Chicken Soup- the soup of my dreams

The highlights of the past two weeks include: a fun cake workshop with Chef Robin, Turkish Savory Pastries with Chef Nick Malgieri, a lovely savory flan, pasta making and tasty treats from our Pro Pastry friends!

Chocolate Blackout Cake

High Ratio White Cake w/ Italian Meringue Buttercream

Chef Nick Malgieri

Kuzu ve sebze pide (boat shaped pie w/ lamb and veggie filling)

Savory Butternut Squash Flan w/ Mushrooms, Lardon, Pumpkin Seeds and Micro-greens- a very impressive 1st course for Fall

Semolina dough to make these pasta shapes

Tasty treats from Pro Pastry! 

Pro Pastry had some extra ice cream to share with us- my favs were Mango Chili Sorbet and Earl Grey

The lowlights: really only one of them, Exam #2.  A fast paced, three course meal delivered at specific times- a skill that every professional cook needs to be able to do.  I am happy to say that unlike my first exam, there were no tears this time. (In case you’re just joining us, exam #1 included my house alarm going off during my exam, many phone call interruptions to figure it all out, and left me sitting in the corner of my couch with family members delivering me wine for the remainder of the evening. I passed just fine, but the added stress was more than I could take.) Exam #2 was a different story.  Although I was just as nervous, taking an exam at week #10 was very different than week #5. More experience, more organized, more confidence, no phone in my back pocket! = better performance overall. I’ll take it.

One of the fun parts of being a culinary student at San Francisco Cooking School is that you get a chance to participate in their Curiosity Crawl.  It’s basically a scavenger hunt around the Bay Area eating, seeing or finding food items or food-related items. Our school’s pastry Chef Nicole read somewhere, “Burnout is the absence of curiosity.” This makes so much sense! Visiting chefs and our instructor chefs often tell us the key to staying fresh and engaged is to continue learning all the time.  #staycurious

Today, my family took advantage of the extra hour we were gifted and drove up to the very impressive Marin Farmer’s Market- fun finds included duck eggs and local honey.  Then we headed to the city to check off some of the items on the list. Highlights included dumplings at Wing Lee Dim Sum with steamed BBQ pork buns as big as your entire hand and delicious Salted Caramel Ice Cream from Bi-rite Ice Cream.  What a fun day!

Pork and Shrimp dumplings

This week begins week 11.  I hear that we have a guest chef with a cheese tasting on the schedule.  I’ll put my cheese pants on and be sure to pass along any good info I learn!

Cheers,

Christina

Happy weekend, friends and family!

I hope you all had a great week!  I am so glad it’s the weekend because I’m not sure I had another 6-hr cooking day left in me.  In the past 2 weeks, my San Francisco Cooking School’s Pro Culinary class had some pretty exciting guest instructors for specialty workshop days. In addition, and as a supplement to our regular curriculum, we got an in-depth and hands on experience in several cuisines.  It was so much fun!

We had an exciting day learning all about the Japanese Pantry from Sonoko Sakai. There are many interesting ingredients in Japanese cooking, including the use of buckwheat- a healthy, high protein flour used in soba noodles.  We learned how to make flavorful homemade dashi (broth), fresh cut soba noodles, shrimp and vegetable kakiage tempura, and a beautiful fruit and mochi dessert from Sonoko. Perhaps more importantly, we learned the notion of staying curious, no matter your age, and following your passion. She has a healthy zest for life that I really enjoyed.  

Sonoko Sakai

Hot Duck Soba w/ Ginger and Japanese Herbs

Persimmon and Berry Dessert w/ Agar Jelly and Mochi

Another fun workshop day included Nichole Accettola, Chef/owner of San Francisco’s newly opened Kantine restaurant.  This is a breakfast, brunch, lunch hotspot that serves Scandinavian food.  We learned how to make a Smoked trout spread, Swedish Rye crispbread, and both sweet and savory porridge.  I’ve not been to any Scandinavian countries quite yet, but Chef Nichole certainly inspired me to put it on our short list of travel adventures!

Chef Nichole Accettola making Chicken and Green Bean Open-faced Sandwiches

Trout Rillettes w/ Pickled Onions and Roe; Swedish Rye Crispbread

Three Grain Porridge w/ Orange Segments, Sea Buckthorn and Mint Sugar

Perhaps the highlight of the week was our pig butchery workshop with Taylor Boetticher from Fatted Calf in San Francisco and Napa.  He was awesome. Taylor has an extensive, 20+ year background in both the culinary and butchery world. He loves his work and is not shy about sharing it with others.  We began our day hauling the 135 lb. Red Waddle, pasture-raised, half pig from his car and into the kitchen. Taylor spent hours teaching us all about the primal and subprimal cuts of the pig.  He put the rather large hack saw in our hands and showed us how it was done. Most importantly, he showed us where the bacon was. You may be disgusted by the image of a half pig laying on the kitchen table, but unless you are a vegetarian, or our friend Jack, you get excited when Taylor shows you where the prized bacon comes from.  

Taylor Boetticher, Fatted Calf

Don’t mess- I’ve got a hack saw, and I know how to use it

Pork Day fun

After a refuel lunch of the most delicious grain bowls I’ve ever had (made for us by our Chef instructor Kirstin), we got to work grinding and casing sausages, curing ham and bacon, and wrapping cuts for some delicious pork recipes for Pork Day on Friday.  There was no other way to end the week.

Grain Bowl w/ Skirt Steak and Marjorum Vinaigrette

Maple and Black Pepper Breakfast Sausage

Spanish Chorizo

Grilling up these massive pork chops like a boss

In between the workshop days, there was Risotto Day, Seafood Day, Fish Market field trip and Brunch day, and plenty of delicious desserts to fill in the gaps.  It was a busy week 7 and 8!

Poached Pears soaking in a lovely wine bath

Poached Pears w/ Cold Sabayon and Pistachios

Cheers,

Christina

Hi Friends and Family!

I hope you all had a good week.   Aren’t Fridays the best? Leaving San Francisco this afternoon under the bright blue sky and the Blue Angels taking test flights overhead, I was feeling pretty alright with the world.  Although I’m exhausted from the week, we’ve got a fun surprise for one of our kids this weekend, so it’s bound to be a great weekend!

This week in cooking school had several highlights for me.  It’s days like this that make standing for 6 hours (minus the 15-20 lunch!) each day totally worth it. To begin the week we each made a version of Quiche Lorraine.  You may remember from a post a few weeks ago that brunch is my FAV meal of the day, so this exercise was definitely something that I enjoyed making and eating. The version that I made was very similar to one that a very dear friend made for one of my baby showers years ago.  It had a flaky buttery crust with caramelized onions and leeks, crisp bacon, gruyere and finished with goat cheese dotting the top of the quiche. It was baked in a rectangular tart pan and was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! This rectangular tart pan is getting added to my growing list of Christmas/Bday ideas.  I have a fairly respectable stocked kitchen, but I’m really hoping some of these kitchen toys end up in my drawers come the holidays!

Quiche, anyone?

The next three days consisted of lamb, lamb, and more lamb.  To be completely honest, I was not really looking forward to this part of the curriculum.  I have only had lamb a few times in my life and have never liked it much. And really, the list of foods that I dislike is very very short- I like pretty much anything! But, lamb, gamey birds, veal- all go in the category of foods I “don’t do.”  Meaning, I don’t order them in a restaurant or buy and cook at home. I am always willing to try things and change my opinion, and that, I have.

Dave the Butcher

I really enjoyed this week.  We had an entire lamb brought in by Dave the Butcher, from SF’s Marina Meats.  Dave is awesome. He drove the lamb- the whole lamb- in the front seat of his convertible Mazda Miata to the cooking school.  In the rain. I’m not kidding. Over the next several hours he told us all about the lamb. He talked about the local farm it was raised at and cared for from a farming family of many generations.  What it ate. How it had a good life and one really bad day. I didn’t think I could stomach this day of butchering the entire carcass of an animal, but it wasn’t really so bad. And, as I mentioned, Dave is awesome.  After 3 hours of butchering the whole lamb, we spent the next 2 ½ days cooking lamb- 12 different ways. I thought about half of the dishes were very good, and the other half were excellent. What a surprise to me! This is the kind of stuff I’m at cooking school for.  To learn as much as I can, especially about foods that I’m not as familiar with and likely never would have taken the time to learn.

Sultan’s Delight- lamb shoulder over creamy eggplant 

Cumin Lamb Stir-Fry

Grilled Lamb Chops w/ Kokkari Dressing

In addition to the lamb dishes, there was homemade Rosemary Focaccia, a Gnocchi Gratin and a beautiful Autumn Salad with Persimmons. The week was capped off by some delicious Asian food as well as Cardamom Pound Cake with Spice Ice Cream and Poached Quince.

Rosemary Focaccia

Autumn Salad with Persimmons and Pecans

Cardamom Pound Cake w/ Spice Ice Cream and Poached Quince- tasted better than it looks!

What a week. I am really looking forward to making many of these dishes at home for friends and family for years to come! Have a great weekend.

Cheers!

Christina

Happy Sunday, friends and family! I have never appreciated my weekends more… getting some rest and relaxation is not just wanted, but absolutely necessary.  People always ask what cooking school is like. Depending on the day I’ve had I use different adjectives to describe it, but the ones I commonly use are: hard, sweaty, exhausting, and challenging as well as satisfying, thrilling, delicious and fun!  If I had one sentence to describe it, I have said a few times that it feels like making Thanksgiving dinner every single day. Yes, that tiring, most days. But tiring and satisfying. Like Thanksgiving dinners are. We always marvel at all the work it takes to put up such a meal, like a Thanksgiving one, but it’s always worth it.  Just like each day at cooking school!

5 weeks down and beginning the 6th week tomorrow.  As a former elementary school teacher, I am well aware of the 6 week marker.  It truly takes a class 6 weeks to gel, to get into a great rhythm. I have to say that my class of 14 is in a great rhythm and is bonding now more than ever.  Last week we had our first exam. It was a combination of a 3 hr. practical exam followed by a 10 question, essay format, written exam. For some of my classmates, this was a chance for them to shine.  And boy did they. The stress of the ticking clock and the vague recipes where the expectation is that you can produce 3 dishes at specific times to be evaluated. It’s about time management, organization, work flow, memorized procedures, and the ability to taste and season correctly.  Some of my classmates absolutely loved this and described it as thrilling and exciting. I cannot wait to go visit them one day in the restaurant that is lucky enough to get their energy and skills in their kitchen.

I’m happy to say I passed the practical just fine, but did not share in the thrill of the stressful environment that some of my classmates did. It didn’t help that at the beginning of the test, while the instructor was giving important information about the test, that my phone in my back pocket was buzzing and my watch was flashing with a phone call.  6 phone calls back to back to let me know that my house alarm had been set off was distracting, to say the least. I tried to ignore the calls just long enough to get the info and then I’d step out to handle the situation that I was pretty sure wasn’t an emergency. My mind went blank and I didn’t hear anything that was said. I burst into tears and wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to gather myself and proceed with my exam, but I did.  It was hard, sweaty, exhausting, and challenging, but I did it. It may not have been my best showing, but under the circumstances it was good enough. Maybe the croutons were cut the incorrect size for the soup garnish, the salad dressing was too salty, and the sauce for the chicken was lumpy, but it still was a meal that most people would consider pretty darn good.

My class really bonded after this exam.  We high fived each other for getting past the dreaded first exam and my tears were met with plenty of supportive hugs. Our group text that evening was a constant stream of how everyone felt and what we were drinking or stuffing our faces with to come down from such a stressful day.  I parked myself in the corner of my comfy couch, my kids proud of their mom for sitting and watching tv, and the wine was delivered to me by my sweet hubby as soon as my glass was less than half full. It was just the evening I needed. I know that the next two exams will be equally stressful, but you can be sure there will be no added stress from any devices on my wrist or in my back pocket!

Now for a little glimpse of the tasty food we made this week.  It was Duck week- so that means breaking down a duck and pretty much using every single part of the duck for some dish.  I have to admit, it wasn’t my favorite food week! But, along with the duck dishes, there was homemade pasta and chocolate souffle with ginger ice cream.  That’s not too shabby!

Cheers!

Christina

Homemade Egg Noodles with plenty of butter

Horseradish Crusted Wild King Salmon w/ Yellow Delta Corn, Cucumber Salad and Green Zebra Tomatoes

Braised Duck Legs w/ Orange, Ginger and Lemongrass

Scallops w/ Almond Vinaigrette

Chocolate Souffle w/ Ginger Ice Gream

Is it the weekend yet?!?  I want to make brunch! Last week was Egg Week and I’m dying to put these new egg skills to good use.  We had a full week of egg dishes, egg based sauces, sweet and savory custards and souffles — and so far it has been a highlight for me.  

Brunch is my favorite meal to prepare, eat, and entertain with.  99% of the time brunch means at least one of the following: 1) It’s likely the weekend or you’re on vacation.  2) You have a casual day ahead with friends or family. 3) You drink delicious adult beverages before noon. 4) You have permission to settle in for a guilt-free afternoon nap.  These are some of my favorite things in life.

Last week there were so many dishes that I’ve always wanted to make and I finally had the chance to learn the right way.  It began with the most delicious Eggs Benedict with lemony hollandaise sauce.

Eggs Benedict with Tomato and Bacon and Hollandaise Sauce

I have only ever made hollandaise sauce once before and it wasn’t very good.  If made incorrectly, it can break and turn into a clumpy, separated mess that nobody wants to eat. It is, however, one of my favorite things to order in a restaurant and I’ve always wanted to perfect it.  I learned so many tricks to making this delicious dish and really it’s pretty simple. The sauce can be (and usually is) made ahead of time and kept warm in a thermos- brilliant! And, have you ever ordered a poached egg in a restaurant? It was likely made hours before and kept in a tub of water and then reheated in hot water just before serving.  You’d never know- I practiced this technique over the weekend and it’s nearly impossible to tell which poached egg was just pulled out of the simmering water and which one was cooked ahead of time and then reheated. Restaurant secrets are fascinating to me.

Other tasty dishes we made include 4 types of savory souffles.  

Salmon Souffle

These were fun to make and even more fun to see just as they emerged from the oven. Never did I think that I’d be among a group of people who get as excited about a dish coming out of the oven as I do.  People who have their cameras ready to catch the rise before the fall, and then quickly whip out their tasting spoons to grab a bite of the puffy, airy dish.  As my Chef instructor says, “Souffles wait for no one.”

And what’s Egg Week without deviled eggs? 7 types to be exact! Even though there were some really creative and interesting flavor combinations, my favorite remains the classic flavors of cornichons and capers; although the Blood Mary version came in a close second for me.

Deviled Eggs- Bay Shrimp and Dill, Classic, and Bloody Mary

There was also Roasted Halibut in a Fig Leaf with Braised Artichoke and Bearnaise Sauce, Sauteed Chicken with Tarragon Sauce, Creme Caramel, and Creme Brulee.

Creme Brulee

Creme Caramel

As yummy as all of those dishes were, there were two welcome additions to lighten things up a bit- a most delicious soup and salad.  The soup was a Sun Gold Tomato Gazpacho that was smooth and creamy (no cream!) and one of the best food things I’ve had in recent memory. I’m not sure if it was just a welcome relief to all the heavier dishes we had or if it was because tomatoes are currently at peak season and little nuggets of tomato candy.  

Sun Gold Tomato Gazpacho

All I know is this recipe from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc cookbook has been sitting on my shelf since roughly 2011, and I did not know this recipe existed.  What a great excuse to bust out that cookbook and reminisce about the year that my cooking club did a deep dive on this book and made some pretty incredible, albeit complex and challenging, meals.  Perhaps the dive was not deep enough because I don’t recall this recipe at all!

The other fresh and healthy dish from the week was a Citrus and Shaved Fennel Salad.  This was particularly special to me because it used both navel and blood oranges- my brother and his family have a blood orange orchard and with harvest just around the corner, I was excited to share this dish with them to add to their growing repertoire of blood orange recipes.   This one is a keeper!

Citrus and Fennel Salad

And finally, with all the great recipes that I’ve gotten my hands on, a big part of cooking school is to develop the ability to taste.  I’ve always been pretty good at finding and following recipes. But this is what I went to cooking school for- to know how to season so that all the intended flavors come through. How adding salt or some acid can drastically transform a good dish into an excellent dish.  I’ve learned so much and yet I have so much to learn.

This journey continues to be rewarding, challenging at times, and no doubt the opportunity of a lifetime.  I’m grateful.

Cheers,

Christina

Last week at cooking school was a blast! We started the week with a super fun Taste Workshop by the fabulous Barb Stuckey.  I read her book Taste What You’re Missing over the summer and had no idea our curriculum included a taste workshop with her.  It was a fascinating few hours. We did a test to determine what kind of taster we were.  

Our tasting references and tools

Based on a strip of paper on our tongue, I determined that I am a “hypertaster,” which is one that tastes intensely.  The opposite of this is a “tolerant” taster. Neither of these are better or worse- it just means what may be very very bitter to me (IPA beers and black coffee) isn’t to someone else.  There is a reason why some people prefer red wine over white. Our anatomy (partly how dense our taste buds are on our tongue) and genetics play a huge part in what taste experience we have.  I learned that “bitter is the taste of health.” Those brussels sprouts that our kids don’t want to eat can be bitter. In fact, they have the right amount of bitter to make them healthy. The way to get your kids to eat them even if they don’t like bitter food things? Add salt.  Salt knocks down bitterness. If that doesn’t work, also try adding a squeeze of lemon or balsamic vinegar to add some freshness. Either way- get them to eat those brussels!

We also spent quite a bit of time exploring how our other senses affect the taste of food.  Did you know a noisy room dulls the flavor of your food? My husband and I managed to get out for a date on Friday night and while we enjoyed our time together, the food (which we have previously enjoyed from this restaurant) didn’t seem to meet our expectations.  On this particular night we sat in a part of the restaurant where we’d never sat before and the acoustics were so poor that the noise in the room was literally hurting my ears. I had read this fact months earlier, so I don’t think it was the recent workshop that put this in my head- neither of us enjoyed our food OR drink! Crazy.  Who doesn’t enjoy their cocktail after a long week?!?

Post-workshop lunch: Cream of Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese and Fresh Peach

Speaking of things we enjoy- I’m wondering if anyone craves pizza like I do.  I don’t just like pizza, or love pizza. I crave it- and now I know why. Pizza is an “umami bomb.”  Umami is one of the 5 basic tastes. Umami was discovered from seaweed and is the “taste of time.” Think: salami, dry aged beef, parmesan cheese, etc.  Pizza is full of ingredients that are aged- fermented dough, slow cooked tomato sauce, aged cheese, aged pepperoni, salt and fat. Yum to all of that. It’s good to know my childlike cravings have a reason! It was one of my favorite days in school yet.  

Roasted Brassicas (Cauliflower and Broccoli) with Herb Yogurt & Golden Raisins

Later in the week we worked on cooking vegetables using dry and wet heat methods.  For two days I had an entire lunch of veggies cooked different ways- think Thanksgiving plate sized servings. Braised, roasted, grilled, fried, stewed, etc.  It was absolutely delicious and I could eat that way every single day, so long as there are still Pizza Fridays.

To end the week we did our first Menu Day.  It was our first time with all 14 of us working in teams to make all parts of the meal- appetizer, entree, and dessert.  With plenty of guidance from our Chef instructor, we had to figure out timing, order of tasks, plating, and serving. We’ve all done this at home before, but with 14 commercial burners, 14 cooks, a few ovens, several refrigerators, all new super sharp knife sets and dozens and dozens of pots and pans- you can imagine how hectic it can get! We are still all learning how to work together and it’s always a bit of a dance to accomplish what needs to be done.  Despite the fact that there were several errors by the group (at least 3-4 by me personally!), the meal was ridiculously good and even our instructor complimented us on the final dishes. It was a good way to end the week.

Caponatina with Grilled Bread

Chicken Milanese with Arugula Salad

Compressed Peaches with Cardamom Honey Syrup (Bonus: the leftover syrup came home with me to make a tasty Ginger Cardamom Moscow Mule!)

I spent this past weekend reflecting on my past two weeks in cooking school.  It would actually be easier to never have applied for this program. If my kids were sick, I was always available to stay with them.  If someone needed their laundry done or a friend’s birthday gift purchased last minute, mom to the rescue. But, because of my schooling, everyone in my house is having to not only take care of more tasks, they are helping each other out to make sure everything is getting accomplished- I call this a win for all of us.  I may have later bedtimes and earlier mornings than I’d like, and busier weekends trying to play catch up or get a jump on things; but I am proud that I made the leap to follow a passion that I have. Each day is tiring and challenging, but it’s also rewarding and delicious. I cannot wait to see where these new skills take me!

Today marks week 3 and it’s Egg Week.  My Chef instructor told us on Friday that we’d need to put our “egg pants” on… she wasn’t kidding.  Today was Eggs Benedict with tomato, bacon, and Hollandaise sauce, along with roasted potatoes and a green salad.  All delicious. And then we made Creme Brulee…

Cheers!

Christina

Happy Labor Day, Friends and Family! I cannot think of a better placed 3-day weekend on the calendar than this one.  Kids are back in school, weather is still nice here in CA, and it’s a great day to relax outside or a productive one inside getting ready for the week ahead.

After a lovely day biking on Angel Island yesterday, I’m playing a little catch up and reflecting on last week.  I am happy to say I made it through the first week of cooking school! My feelings were all over the board, but last week went a little something like this:

Monday morning- Where am I going to park? How much traffic will there be? Will I like my instructors? Who are my classmates? What if I’m the oldest or only one with kids?  Will my uniform fit or look dorky? 

Class Photo (missing two people somehow)

Monday afternoon- Parking and traffic was fine.  My instructors are awesome. My classmates are younger AND older than me.  There was a cool mom of 4. My uniform fit just fine and after a few washings will be less crunchy. I learned how to make a French Omelette, something that my kids can do better than me. But, at the end of the day, I felt overwhelmed.  I got in my car, turned off the radio and felt like crying… there was just so much information to take in that I began to doubt my decision of going to school. What did I get myself into? Bedtime 8pm, if I can make it that late.

Tuesday morning- Today is a new day. It cannot be as overwhelming as yesterday and I can do this.  I know where to park. I know how to put on my uniform. I know a few people’s names. My instructors taught me so much yesterday and even made me laugh.  I’ve always wanted to know the best way to roast a chicken and make homemade stock.

Roasted chicken with high heat

Tuesday afternoon- I’m beginning to know my way around the kitchen.  I learned how to dice a carrot (harder than you think!). Rather than my usual lunch at home of almond butter on a banana and standing in the kitchen, I sat down to a simple and delicious meal of roasted chicken, butternut squash and apple soup, salad and warm crusty bread.  And talked to people- adults! I’m tired but it was a good day. 

Wednesday morning- Feeling comfortable with the commute, I take the time to call my sister on the east coast to tell her “thank you” for inspiring me to follow my passion.  Sister went back to school in her early 40s to become a nurse and I know seeing her do that as a mom allowed me to consider such a crazy idea for myself. 

Wednesday afternoon- Highlight of the day was a talk by a guest Chef, Craig Stoll.  He is one of the early deans of the cooking school and chef/owner of the Delphina Group in the Bay Area.  What an honor it was to listen to his experience in the food world and strong work ethic behind his successful restaurants.  He tells his chefs that you “lead by inspiring,” and that’s just he does. Feeling inspired by the talk, I called my mom on the way home to tell her about my week.  I also was sure to tell her how she inspired me- my mom went back to school to get her master’s degree in her 60s and now is a licensed Marriage Family Therapist with her own practice.  Needless to say, I come from a strong group of women in my family and they continue to inspire me each day. I think I’m going to do just fine in cooking school. It’s in my genes.

Hat or bandana? Still trying both out

Thursday morning- Mac and Cheese today.  Now this is going to be fun!

Thursday afternoon- An afternoon walk is not a bad idea.  That Mac was no joke. My partner and I decided to use our new skills of making a bechamel sauce and make Mac and Cheese with smoked cheddar, roasted poblano pepper, scallion and baked with a parmesan panko topping.  

Mac and Cheese with Poblano and Scallion

Comfort food at its best. How did our chef instructor know we all needed a little comfort food this week? 

Friday morning- Earlier start than usual so that the pro culinary (my class) and pro pastry class could have a Granola and Omelette Social.  During my elementary school teaching days, an early Friday morning meant a box of donuts or bagels and that made us all pretty happy. But to begin a Friday morning with the sole purpose of tasting the 10 varieties of granola the pastry class put up all week? What a treat.  It wasn’t all chatting, there was work, too. Our class had to teach them how to make a rolled French Omelette. I was impressed by their first hand at it! This a great group of people and I am excited to go through this journey with them.

Friday afternoon- In true Friday fashion, we got to do a fridge dive and clean it out by making a few things without recipes.  Under some expert guidance of our instructor, my

Results of cleaning out the fridge- I’m inspired to do the same at home!

partner and I made a delicious roasted carrot hummus and another team made a tasty fresh pea, mint and pecorino spread- all enjoyed on some toasted bread (crostini).  

To finish the day, we had a butter tasting, a salt tasting and a peppercorn tasting. Have you ever eaten butter on a spoon?? Our family jokes that my mom likes some bread with her butter, so she would have likely enjoyed this exercise.  I already knew that one of my favorite things about a good quality restaurant is the bread and butter. It’s either memorable or it’s not. Lazy Bear in San Francisco has bread and butter that you cannot easily forget. As for the salt and pepper tasting, let’s just say that if you still have that blue little canister of salt with the lady and umbrella on it, get up and throw it away right now. It’s gross and leaves a chemical taste on your tongue.  I threw ours out over 10 years ago and magically (not) my cooking changed for the better. Diamond Kosher salt is the favorite of chefs, cheap and will change your cooking immediately if you make the switch. And, you will use less salt that you did before. As for the peppercorn tasting, black peppercorn is the most widely used. White pepper is used in foods where the black may stand out like mashed potatoes and white soups. I tried a Szechuan peppercorn and all I can say is it left my mouth feeling a bit tingling and numb with the faint taste of anise (liquorice) flavor.  I was kinda glad it was the end of my day because my tongue had fallen asleep!

What an exhausting and exciting week.. A 3-day weekend is just what the doctor ordered, but I cannot wait to go back on Tuesday!

Cheers,

Christina

This is the “I don’t have time/talent/energy to write a food blog” blog. With that said, here it goes!

Many years ago, before I had kids, I was an elementary school teacher who loved organizing my classroom and planning for 20 or so little people to walk through my classroom door each morning. Clear goals, good intentions and purposeful planning wasn’t a convenience, it was a necessity. Who would want to be caught off-guard with 20 sets of eyes staring at you each day?! I used to love filling my calendar with goals for each day and lessons to match. I began each day with a sense of calm as I posted the daily schedule on the board each morning and wrote down everything that I could possibly plan. And because unexpected events happened throughout the school day, such as a fire drill, last minute assembly, arrival of a new student, etc. I learned to always write in pencil, erasable pen or dry erase marker. Life’s plans shouldn’t be written in permanent ink.

Fast forward five or so years when I was pregnant with our first child. Just like most expecting moms, I began thinking about and planning for those busy days that lay ahead and the possibility of holding a cranky baby while cooking with one free hand. I decided to try one of those meal preparation services, Dream Dinners, I think it was called. These businesses have the great idea of presenting a recipe, with all the ingredients ready and measured out, placed it in a plastic bag or foil container, with a premade label on it such that you could make it and pop it in your freezer for a rainy day. Brilliant! I came home with 4-5 semi-homemade, freezer ready meals with easy-to-follow directions and was so happy when I could pop one of those meals out of the freezer and cook it up like a boss.

I was pretty happy doing that off and on for a few months when I realized it wasn’t the cheapest meal around (diapers were expensive!) nor was it the healthiest with many premade sauces that seemed pretty high in sodium. The one thing that these pre-made dinners provided was a weekly dinner plan… frozen lemon chicken on Monday, pasta bake on Tuesday, leftovers on Wednesday, etc. Yes! Like a set of lesson plans and a daily schedule – just like how I ran my classroom! Being a new mom and now juggling a part-time teaching job, any chance to make life easier, more organized and a little less chaotic was exactly what I needed.

I printed off a basic blank calendar and wrote out my plans for dinner for the entire week using up those premade frozen meals. I continued the calendar long after I ended going to Dream Dinners to prepare our meals. And because you never know how your daily or weekly plans might change, I learned to always use a nice sharp number two pencil.

The meal planning idea became even more important when babies two and three arrived… While I stuck to a meal plan each week, I experimented with planning dinners for the next 2-3 days and as long as 2 weeks ahead of time. I cannot say that either of those was ever really great. Even today, it seems best for me to look at my weekly calendar on a Sunday, see what we had going on that week, then plan dinners accordingly. If my husband was traveling that week, was it really the best time to try that new recipe from Bon Appetit with three toddlers as my taste testers? Probably not! If we had a late afternoon pediatrician appointment where I could probably expect cranky babies wouldn’t it better just to plan for leftovers that night? And if planned out correctly, I might even have time to prep a dish during their morning nap and pop it in the oven after the doctor’s appointment. It was a weekly routine I enjoyed – and I have to believe it made us saner and healthier (not to mention saving a few pennies too!).

As crazy as it sounds, I have over ten years of these meal calendars in a file folder sitting right next to my favorite cookbooks. TEN YEARS! For quite some time, the calendar printed off the Internet was simple and worked perfectly fine. Then one day, I had a little fun using a clip art program and began printing off seasonal calendars that looked cute hanging on the refrigerator or sitting out on a cookbook stand in the kitchen. It wasn’t necessary by any means, but an October calendar with a picture of a big ‘ol pumpkin sure put me in the mood to put butternut squash soup and a fall salad with persimmons, goat cheese and candied pecans on the menu. Yum!

Anyone that has been to my house before is familiar with my posted schedules, chore charts, and calendars. Once a teacher, always a teacher! My meal-planning calendar is no different and is easy to spot in my kitchen. It gets a giggle or two every time someone asks, “Is that a calendar for food? Did you make all that? Do you do that for just dinner? How do you plan that far ahead? WHY do you do that? How many times a week do you go to the grocery store?” All good questions… I frequently giggle with them, show them how many times a month I “meal-planned” leftovers, pizza delivery or a reservation and we all instantly feel better. J

The truth is, I can look back on my many years of meal calendars and so much of our life is evident on those calendars. New babies, new houses, new jobs, birthdays, celebrations, houseguests, illnesses, vacations, etc. I love looking back on previous years to see how food at dinnertime shows what our life looked at that time. New baby in the house? You better believe there were plenty of easy to make meals, freezer ready meals, and thankfully plenty of delicious homemade dinners delivered to us by loving friends and family. New job or celebration? A tasty dinner and dessert to honor the special person that surely took longer than 30 minutes to prepare. Packing to move to a new home? Lots of outdoor grilling, paper plates and pizza delivery. Trying to lose those last 5 pounds before a Hawaiian vacation? Low carb meals! It’s all evident on our calendars and it’s my kind of scrapbooking.

Beyond the fun memories these past meal calendars provide, they are also a great resource of meal ideas when I’m planning out a new week. If I’m tired, have a busy week ahead or don’t feel like trying any new recipes, it’s fun to look at previous calendars for the current month and choose a few meals for the week, throw in a night or two of leftovers and a pizza delivery or date night and I’m done! That’s right, I try to plan for pizza delivery or leftovers so that we don’t have to scramble when everyone’s starving or coming in and out of the house from evening sports, school meetings, etc. Planning for these busy nights, even when it means delivery, has made dinner in our house that much easier.

This blog is lovingly created for my friends and family who over the years have asked for a copy of my meal calendar template, have been curious about what is in my dinner rotation, or just wanted a copy of the recipe from something I’ve made that they have enjoyed. I’m beyond flattered and humbled by the interest and I hope that together we can enjoy sharing those tried and trued recipes, meal planning tips, and all things related to Food, Family and Friends.

Attached is a calendar for the month of August. You can print it out and give it a go. It’s a new month so let’s get planning!