Menu

For the last couple weeks I have been working a menu that I will present at the end of my Senior Project class, so far I have come up with all the courses that the menu is going to consist of, now all I have to do it is sit down and make it! easier said than done! Not only that I have to make a food cost percentage chart or something that will help the audience further understand the behind the scene of menu making.

blogs!

I haven't blogged much lately and its not that I don't want to, its that I've been so busy between everything from baseball to work that I just haven't found any time to actually sit down and think things through and blog!

LIttle Tuna!

This week Darien and I, went over the menu and finished it up, after that I basically cooked for the remainder of the time, there is no better way of learning then actually getting some hands on work!

senior trip week

All this week our senior's took a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Fl, I chose not to go, but I enjoyed myself. Monday was a regular day for everyone, and Tuesday I attended my sponsor and spend my day cooking, what fun! Wednesday I slept in and took a nice drive around and hung out with some of my friends and spend some quality time enjoying nature. Thursday I just slept all day, lazy I know, but I was in need for some serious sleep, but Friday was just too fun for words. Some of my baseball buddies went on a journey to find this one lake that nobody has ever heard of, but to be honest just the wrong turns and the U-turns was fun, not to mention the random act of stupidity. We finally found this mysterious lake, which was located some where in Winslow township, it was called Picasso Lake. From the looks of it, it use to be some kind of paintball place. What a week!

WEATHER!

Darn weather, because of all the spring showers our baseball schedule as been put on hold, and it as effected me in many levels! Not only do our games get canceled, I have to let my job know that I' m unable to go. And if I miss a lot of days at work I can get fired! I know that my head is suppose to be in the game and nothing else but I cant afford to lose my job over a baseball game, but I don't really care cause I want to make it to the playoffs, and set a new school record in wins.

Countdown!

With the impending senior trip, the end of baseball in two weeks, the prom in three weeks, my senior project presentation in four weeks, and the last day of school in a little over five weeks, time will truly past a lot quicker than I wanted it to. Don't get me wrong I have senioritis as much as the next senior but man, life starts in just a few short weeks! No more mommy and daddy there to hold your hand, it'll be time for the cubs to fend for themselves! To be honest even though high was crap, I will truly miss it, not sp much the building itself but people that made the building what it was. I'm just hoping that in the next fives weeks and I hang out with as many friends as possible!

Anecdote

You know, growing up my parents would tell me that I should do something productive with myself; they would suggest becoming a doctor or lawyer. It wasn’t until just a few years ago, when I found myself home alone and hungry that my friend Will and I started throwing ingredients into a pan and found my passion for the kitchen. I can’t say that the chicken and mashed potatoes were that good then, after my years of practice I know that I can whip up some mean chicken and mashed potatoes. After that, I found that the kitchen and I went hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly.

Haddonsfield!

Today we played Haddonsfield, which in case you didn't know are rated number six in all of New Jersey, and we won! To be honest I thought that we was going to lose, not to be negative or anything but I was just playing realistic. Since Lindenwold doesn't have the reputation of being a strong ball club, people don't take us serious but not no more, we came out today looking for blood, and we got what we were looking for but our thirst isn't quenched just yet! We are looking earn a spot in the playoffs!

little tuna!

With the project coming up soon, Darrien and I having been talking about how I shall go about it. At one point we came up with the one of the dishes that I'll be presenting. Since it is going to be summer when I present, I've decided to go with a pretty simple summer salad, and this way I can use the audience in my presentation. After discussing all that, it was time to get to down to business in the kitchen. With in just a few moments, the orders just started swarming in. It was just two hours of quality practice!

Playoffs!

Our school hasn't really been known for our accomplishments in baseball, but this year we have a chance of going to the playoffs. Last week we won two games, that put us on track for the playoff cuts. Today we go up against Camden Central High School once more, we played them Thursday and came up victorious. We are hoping for another win against them. Even though we need to win six out of the eight games we have left till the playoff cut off date, I believe if we play with determination we can definitely upset some people.

Summer Weather!!

This weekend was one of the best weekends that I have had in a long time. Friday night we won our game versus Woodrow Wilson high school, and after that I headed out to Coney Island in New York! The weather made it great to just stroll the board walk and go swimming. Since Coney Island is said to be the birth place of the hot dog, I couldn't resist hitting the board walk and trying the world famous Nathan's hot dogs! Great weather, great food, and great friends call for good times! But all good things must come to an end, unfortunately I had to go to work Sunday. I was stuck indoors all of Sunday when I could have been enjoying the great weather, but at least I enjoyed myself Saturday.

Meeting!

Yesterday we had a meeting with Mr. Vick and Mr. Paul, wasn't as enlightening as I thought. Most of the things that they said I kind of knew. The only things that I learned was the cover page and what as to be on it. But now that I know almost everything that I need, I have to start actually sitting down and start my drafts!

Little Tuna 4/7

New day, new recipes! Today Darrien decided to reiterate last weeks lesson. He further demonstrated how to "en papillote" by making Tilapia with fresh herbs and veggies, such as rosemary, basil and tomatoes. He also added lemon for a bit of tang. After making the Tilapia, Darrien and I spoke about the next step in the senior project class. I told Darrien about the ideas I had and the different themes of menus that I had in mind, he found my idea about the world menu a little bit too complex "The menu should be a simple, and easy to read." Taking that into consideration, started to think really hard of what type of food my menu will consist of, I was drawing blanks everywhere. After a while of hardcore thinking, Darrien suggested we should meet up on his day off from the Little Tuna and sit down and begin the ground work for the menu, not only that he said he knows a few techniques to help me maximize the time for the final presentation. After all the thinking was said and done, we got back to business. In addition to the Tilapia recipe, he taught me a real simple but elegant dish, Fried Penne.

Making fried Penne is very simple. What you do is start by making Penne al dente, then shocking them. When penne is shocked then you take a skillet and add butter. When the skillet is hot then add the Penne to the concoction as the Penne is slowly cooking away you will start adding bread crumbs to add some crunch to the penne. When the bread crumbs stick to the penne and the crumbs turn a golden color then add some marinara sauce, and cheese, then put it in the oven until the cheese is melted.

Little Tuna! 3/2

Well today was like any other day. Darrien and I helped Marcus with the preparation of a catering he had to do later that day. Luckily by the time I got there the chaos of bins everywhere was long gone. But the task was not done yet, I had to help out with the few last bins of food that were going to be taking. Even though the time there felt like another Tuesday it was actually a Thursday, and to be honest I thought that it would be more if a trraffic jam in the kitchen.

Research paper!

FINALLY! I handed in my paper today and I know its still a little rough but man does it feel good to get such a weight of my chest. Now we get to start forming our ideas about the project portion into a physical product. I head is filled with a ton of ideas, from creating a cook book to creating a restaurant. Even though that my paper isn't as polished as I want it to be, I have to hand it what I have Mr. Abrams is allowing us to take some time and revise it and turn it in later next week.

little tuna- 3/24 S.J hot chef week

This week I had was a new adventure, like every week. This week just happen to be "South Jersey hot chefs restaurant week." Restaurant week is basically a group of independent restaurant owners getting together to promote business by offering sweet deals like, a 3 course meal for as low as $35, not a mad price. Like any business, one must be prepared for the task at hand. When I arrived I found Darrien and Fidel slaving away at the kitchen while they tried to get the kitchen ready for the traffic jam ahead! I did my best in helping, I folded napkins, helped with oncoming orders, and even counted stock in the freezer. Not what usually do, but hey if they the help I'm down. On the cooking aspect of things I had a pretty easy day, simple wraps, salads, and basic entrees. One piece of exciting news is that Darrien asked me to drop by Thursday night to see the kitchen in full swing! Can't wait till Thursday!

Weekend Warrior!

This weekend we celebrated my mother 37th birthday, old I know, just kidding. But even though I had baseball practice and work, I had to play with my schedule so I can dedicate some time to her. Her Birthday was until Sunday but who honestly parties on a Sunday? So we threw her a nice little family only get together Saturday night. Chef Jose a friend of the family and I got kitchen duty of course. My grandma took my mother to the mall as we slaved away. Before actually cooking we sat together and planned what to make using her favorite meals. My mother enjoys anything shrimp. So to start off the meal we decided to make fried jumbo shrimp with dijon mustard dip. As the main course we went with something real close to home, a childhood meal that is made in most carribean homes, "Paella." Paella is a seafood rice dish that may contains shrimp, crab meat, lobster, clams, pieces of salmon, and basically any type of seafood you want. To top of the night we got another friend of family to make a traditional puerto rican style cake. You should of seen her face my mother almost cried. Sunday morning her official birthday, my siblings and I made her a nice breakfast to start her big day off. Unfortunately I had work at noon so I didn't spend the whole day with her, but so I've heard my dad took her to eat at a restaurant and stuff.

My own Critique!

Today our Spanish department had a field trip to "El Taller Puertoriqqueno" it wasn't as fun I thought it would be, but hey at least it was a day out of school! After the our tour and mask making we headed over to the Bourse center to grab a bite to eat. That place was packed! The lines were chaotic, people cutting in line, bad orders, Argh! At first I had trouble choosing a place to eat out of the handful of restaurants. But after about 10 minutes of hardcore thinking, I chose Chinese! We all know that we're all visual eaters and boy did that Sesame chicken look good, but there is a difference between looking good and actually being good! In my opinion, the rice was tasteless and dry. Now the chicken was pretty good, but there was way to much sauce on the chicken; it over powered the it. The veggies in the rice were cold, the egg roll tasted like it was sitting on the counter for hours and then preheated! If you ever go to the Bourse center don't get the Chinese food!

Little Tuna- 3/17

Even though I've learned a handful of recipes and techniques, nothing prepares you like a little pressure. Yesterday I was basically thrown into the kitchen with my basic knowledge and was told to prepare an Asian inspired meal, and a regular meal that I was told about prepare the previous week. To add pressure, Darrian was going to judge it. The regular meal was a simple pistachio crusted chicken with a pesto basil sauce. The first meal was a walk in the park, simply because I had a week to think about it, but the second one was a spur of the moment meal. I had to make a chicken dish Asian inspired. I don't have much experience cooking an oriental food, but I had to referrer to past knowledge of either t.v or past meals, but I had to pull something out of my magic hat to prepare. So after a good 10 minutes of hard core thinking, I just decided to make a chicken lo mien. Chicken lo mien is a simple dish seen in a lot of Chinese restaurants. But since I wasn't in a Chinese restaurant, I didn't have all the ingredients needed to make the dish accordingly so I add to improvise! The greatest weapon in a chefs artillery is the ability to past knowledge and reshape it to make something new or even modify it. When I was done, it was time for judgement! As I presented Darrien looked at me and took his first bite. Nerve raking when as he chewed it. Turns out it wasn't bad, on the contrary it was pretty good, but with a few minor flaws. For instance, I clashed Asian with Kasian. Something as small as adding jerk season, a kasian season, can clash with a meal.

Lions vs Glassboro!

Friday was our scrimmage against Glassboro, to be honest I didn't think that we would be that good. With only haven a week, our team looked darn good! Kevin, our ace pitcher, on the mound, we put away a lot of potential runs. Even we looked upon as the weak team from last, we came out and proved ourselves a worthy competitors. We came out like a bat out of hell! Scoring in just the first inning, and taking the lead. We kept shutting their offense down, with skillful pitchers, not to mention our incredible defense. Coach Shannon kept telling us "9 vs 1" meaning 9 of us on the field versus the 1 batter. With that in our head, we proved that 9 can definitely kick the 1 batter's....

Lent!

With Lent in full course, our family doesn't eat meat on Fridays. So that means, that I had to put together a quick seafood meal to satisfy my picky siblings! With only a short period of time to work, I decided to go with a quick Asian inspired sauteed shrimp with dirty rice, pretty simple to make. You can basically make anything your making Asian inspired, by adding spices like ginger, teriyaki sauce, lemon grass, and over dozen more spices. For the shrimp I simply sauteed the shrimp with a little bit of ginger and white wine. When the shrimp began to turn pink I added a little more white wine, and pineapple teryaki. I let the shrimp simmer in the pan for maybe another 5min, so it can absorb all the flavors! As a side dish I took white rice and put it in a wok. In case you don't know what a wok is, it is a deep pan mainly used for stir-frying. Well I stir-fried the rice with some some finely chopped onions, bell peppers, garlic powder, lemon grass, and some soy sauce. I just stirred it for a little bit till the rice adsorbed all the flavors and dinner was ready to be served! Please feel free to try at home, just don't get burned!

Pi Day!

Today was an important day in the math world, well technically its not till tomorrow 3/14. But hey its fine with me, as long as I get to eat pie! With today being Pi day and all, our school showed off our dedication to the math department by either making pi t-shirt, quilts, and some even step up to the plate to either recite a song about pi or recite as many pi digits as they can. In my opinion, I think it was a huge success. I actually had fun! From eating pie, to watching teachers get pied. Which by the way, some pies were not so good, well it could also be that I am not much of a pie eater, but the cake! YUM!! Mr. Davidson, with his cat like relax, dodged like three pies throwing at him from Symone Robinson. But finally he was ambushed by our very own Sam Messner! Overall, very exciting event, wish I could do it again!

Le Cordon Bleu!

Well after the interview, the rep granted me acceptance, I was a so excited! But it wasn't 100% sure yet. After a week of faxing paper work to her, I finally got the last word. She sent me a letter, I was a little nervous to open it. I told myself whatever the outcome was, I gave it my all. As I slowly opened it, my heart fiercely pounded, and my hand grewn unsteady. My mom at my back tell me to hurry! As I read the lettter I found out that....I GOT IN! Woo-hoo! I can now officially call myself a college student. In the peacket she sent, it included jacket sizing, and all this other information. But I kid you not, when I read that I got in, I was speachless for a moment. As I kept reading, I also found that, I will be starting school August 17th, the day before my birthday.

Little Tuna 3/10

With an over filled plate, its been hard to take the first bite. Even though i found myself extremely tired, I managed to find the enthusiasm to keep going and have fun. Yesterday Fidel, Darrien's Sous chef, fell ill once again, and Enrique had to come to the rescue! Even though it was too busy, we still our fair share of cooking. We didn't really go into anything new, we just revisited and put into use what already has been thought. A lesson that I learned today was, always communicate. With an order that was not in the menu, Darrien decided to accommodate the custumer and make her, a shrimp wrap. In the menu any wrap includes a side of fries. As I put the fries in the deep frier, Darrien put the shrimp on the skillet, and I was put in charge of watching over them, pretty easy task. When the shrimp is almost done, we put it in the oven to finish it off. Darrien was cooking something else, and he went to put what he was cooking in the oven, and I guess he didn't notice me going for the oven with the tongs, and he open the 500 degree oven door and from reflex I put my hands on the door! Ouch! Even though it hurt I had to finish off the wrap. After we the dishes at hand we just practice on some other dishes, such as summer salads and how to use past experiences to help you prepare unexpected dishes!

Time!

Over the weekend I didn't do much but rest my aching body! Since the official kick off of spring happened last Friday, baseball season started. Our first practice wasn't hard, but it was still painful. We started out with plyos and cardio workouts. Practice never seemed so painful, not to mention all the bat swinging! Man my hands are blistered, dried, and hurting! This is the time of the year that I have to sit down and manage my time, so I have time to attend baseball, but at the same time make time for cooking and school. Since I have to keep my culinary skills sharpened, I'm afraid that with most of my time dedicated to baseball, I will rust off during the season. Hopefully, the restaurant will keep my skills sharpened and quenched my appetite for new recipes. But only time will tell!

Article!

Sorry to keep my loyal audience in the shadows about my latest culinary adventures! This week has been chaotic, between sending a crap load of paperwork to "Le Cordon Bleu," work, and baseball my schedule has not been the easiest to keep up with. But I did the opportunity to read a rather interesting article. Did you know that cubed cut steaks are back in style?? Well neither did I, and to be frank, I don't even remember them being in style; I guess it was before my time! Anyway, while reading this I couldn't help but to notice how the different cuts of beef attract different audiences.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/dining/04steak.html?_r=3&ref=dining

3/03- Little Tuna!

Today, in my opinion, made up for last week! With a cook absent from the kitchen Darrien was a little under staffed, so I tried to help out as much as I could. I was put in charge of the fryer and the skillet. Another task that I had to do was the tickets. I've never knew how to arrange them in the order that it's suppose to go, so Darrien during the slow time showed me how to properly arrange them. Today was the day that I had to put my knowledge of "timing" to the challenge. One of the orders was Blackened Salmon and chicken parm,well the chicken takes longer to cook than the Salmon, so in that case I had to put the chicken in the oven first then then toward the end stick the Salmon in there; it's easier said than done. Everybody makes mistakes, even the pros. When an order for stuffed Salmon came, Darrien accidentally made stuffed flounder. Oops!
Well nonetheless Darrien fixed things, I would have helped but he was working a little faster than I am use to. "What doesn't kill you make you stronger" I have been burned a lot but doesn't matter how many time you get burned it always hurt about the same! While taking the chicken parm out of the oven I accidentally lifted my hand a little too high and the unforgivable oven left his mark on me!

best snow day evER!!

The good days just keep on rolling! Today we got our first official snow day, and you better believe that I made the best of it. A couple of my friends and I hit the hills and went crazy! We got a couple of sleds and made chains to go down the steep hills, not to mentions the barrel rolls we did without sleds. Yes, we did end up getting hurt, but thankfully nobody got seriously hurt. My friend Luis and Mike slid into a tree and almost broke their leg, but they didn't, which is good, but they still were in pain! Bhagesh, another one of my friends, showed off his fearless skills when he and I rode together down the steepest hill and hit a bump and actually got airborne for a split second and then ran into a very skinny tree, but it still knocked the wind out of me! ArGh! After a day like this I am glad I get another day to sleep in late.

Snow Day!

A long awaited day, slowly but surely came at last! Our first snow day this year YAY! Tomorrow I will enjoy the extra hours of sleep and try not to get hurt performing my dare devilish skill in sliding!! Not to mention that tomorrow I also do not have work, so after a glorious day of enjoying the great outdoors, I get to come home to the glory of my kitchen! I still don't know what to defrost to cook for tomorrow but I am sure that something will creep into my mind sooner or later, preferably sooner, so it'll have time to defrost thoroughly! Anyway enough of that, no school equal happy campers! though I can't help but to feel bad for the juniors who have to take the HSPA's on Tuesday because they don't have the extra day to have one on one time with their teachers. They will have to their test with their questions unanswered!

Le Cordon Bleu- interview!

After rigorous months of filling out college applications, I finally got some positive feed backs from one of my primary choices! Le Cordon Bleu in Miami called me last Thursday and request an over the phone interview with me to see if I was a good match for them, she set the interview for Saturday at 11:30 am. During the interview she asked me some pretty intense question and some not so much, but overall I think I did fairly well. When the interview was almost over she asked a question that I didn't see coming, "Why should I allow you into acceptance in our school?" wow that one really caught me off guard! I answered it as thorough as I could, and she liked it! After everything was set and done, she had to go speak with her superior but before she did she asked for a simple task, which was to construct a quick three course meal. It took her about five minutes to review her notes and speak with her superior. When she came back she asked me what I had come up with? I told her as an appetizer I choice stuffed shrimp dusted with old bay, as on entree Chard Asian Salmon and finally as a dessert blue berry tart, by the sound of it she liked the meal. After that she told me that she liked everything and I was basically a shoe in, and granted me acceptance! I was jumping out of my seat when she told me this, but its not that simple because over the next couple month she will be giving me various tasks to complete.

Baseball!

With baseball season within days, I haven't felt this excited in a while. I feel with all the work that most of our team mates have put in on the off-season will benefit our season. I know every time I attend the throwing nights I see my team mates giving 110% during our exercises. I know that when the season starts we will be ready and this year is going to be our year! This year we will go the distance and making it to the playoffs! A far fetched dream for some, but not for me! I know what I have seen and I feel it, a winning season for the Lions! T-minus 8 days!

Little Tuna 2/24

This is, what, my fourth time going to the Little Tuna? Today I learned the down time in the restaurant industry. Like always Darrien and I talked vocab, and to be honest I can't even repeat the words, simply because they were in french. I do recall one word that was fairly simple, Mise en Plas, which means to gather your ingredients. After that we got our hands dirty. We prepared a delicious pasta dish with a creamy cheese sauce. We also did a scrumptious fish entree, did not really catch the name, but I will surely get the name for it next time. The fish entree was very simple to make. Basically we took the fish seasoned it with blacken seasoning and seared it, and finished it in the oven, fairly simple, and the best thing is that the fish can be matched up with almost any side dish. After the cooking I got to experience the business side of the restaurant industry. Darrien had to do the weekly inventory. In this process, he checks for any shortage in supplies. For example, they count how much meat they have, clams, spices, herbs, vegetables, and any other supplies they will need, not a fun task, but necessary .

Fun weekend!

Well this weekend was a little more exciting than most for me. I got chance to get in the kitchen with a fellow Culinarian and cook side by side. Chef Jose, a friend of the family, came to visit us this weekend from Puerto Rico, and he had heard rumor of my culinary curiosity and asked me to join him in the kitchen. It was a restaurant kitchen or anything, it was my own, but we made seem professional with all of our fast movements and roaring flames coming from the skillets. We didn't make anything too fancy, we ending up making Parmesan crusted chicken with mash potatoes. This meal is very simple but if plated well can look very profession, on top of that it is delicious. To make this meal you will need boneless chicken breast, seasoned flour, egg, and of course parmesan cheese. First you take the chicken and wash it of course, then you take your chicken and roll it in seasoned flour (which all season flour is, is flour and whatever seasoning you want and mixed together) and then dip it in the bated, and finally breaded with grated parmesan. Then as your breading the others, have a skillet on the stove top just lightly drizzled with oil screaming hot, and also preheat the oven at 500 degrees. After you have a couple breaded, start dropping them into the screaming hot skillet just until the cheese has browned. Then pop them into the 500 degree oven for about 10 minutes to finish them off. The potatoes are very simple to make, you can even buy instant potatoes. But if you want to know how to make them just ask!

Shopping!

Many people go the grocery store to buy their simple day to day ingredients, but not all of us have the ease to find everything they're looking for under one roof. Since my sister has been ill all this week I had to go out to the grocery store and find all the stuff myself versus making a list for my mother. After going to Shop Rite to buy my everyday thing, I had to drive all the way to Cherry Hill to go to H-Mart, which is an Asian mart. I go there to find herbs and spices not found at your local markets. This week I came in search of fresh ginger, chili paste, sweet chili sauce, and of course their fresh seafood. Every time I go there I always stock up on salmon and tuna, which incredibly cheap and fresh!

Little Tuna- A lunch to remember!

Even though there was no school today, I decided to take advantage of my day off and go to my mentor a little a earlier and stay a little later. As soon as I walked through the back doors into the kitchen, I was thrown into the line of fire.Darrian didn't have time to pull me to the side and give his ritual vocab lesson, in fact he did his teaching as we prepped, and cooked. When I arrived the staff was in misted of serving a table of 11, I have never seen such picky eater. We served at least ten Caesar salads with D.O.S (dressing on the side) not to mention the fried calamari that also had D.O.S. One lady was even asking about the hamburger meat, and whether we grounded ourselves or it came like that. After that lunch rush slowed,Darrian and I had more time to talk food. In fact, we even had time to prepare Penne pasta with a blue cheese sauce, yum! Its actually quite easy to make. You simple take your pot, fill it with water like you would normally cook your pasta. Season the water with salt and some oil. Then, and this is very important , let the water come to a boil because you don't want to let the water sit in a pot filled with cold water. When the water in bubbling you put the pasta in and let cook for about 10 minutes or as box suggests. Cook the pasta "Al Dente " (to the bite, that basically when you can bit the pasta and its not too hard nor too soggy), simple because it will keep cooking itself with the heat and if you put any hot sauce on top it was turn soggy. If you do cook it a little to much you can "shock" it, this a process in which you put the pasta in cold water to stop itself from cooking. while the pasta is cooking you can saute the diced tomatoes and the spinach. When you finish sauteing the vegetables add a little bit of half and half to thicken it, and add the drained penne pasta to the concoction. Finally, you can add the cheeses. Jack, crumbled blue cheese, and Parmesan right into the pan with all the rest of the stuff. Feel free to try and enjoy!

Weekend!

Well this weekend was not like I excepted, but if any good came from it; it would have to be a new recipe! Saturday afternoon I went to T.G.I Fridays and I ordered the some nachos like appetizers, as a eat I could easily distinguish all the flavors that were incorporated into them. My younger brother told me that the nachos were "alright" and lacked a little more "zing" to them, at that moment I began to think of ways of taking it to the next level. At first I thought of using a richer, spicier cheese like a jack cheddar, but then I thought it might take away from the nacho. So I thought of adding the spicy cheese and some spicy salsa in between two tortilla chip, that way you can get the richness from both the cheese and the salsa while still tasting tortilla chip.

Valentines Day!

Today, Valentines day, is one of those hallmark holidays that positively effect a lot of business'. For example, couples everywhere rush out to stores to buy gifts, flowers, and chocolates for their loved ones. The one business, I must say, reigns supreme over the rest, would have to be the restaurant industry. Today I ate at least three different restaurants, and they were all crowded and the wait time ranged from 20 to a whopping 60 minutes. Restaurants make a killing off this holiday.

Little Tuna- 2/10

After a week of trial and error in the kitchen, I got a chance to crawl back into a chef's skin. Like every week Darrian, one of the chefs', starts out with our vocabulary lesson. For example, last week I learn Roux and Maitre' D, well this week I was told two words Deglaze and satuee. After my vocabulary lesson, he ask me to do something I did not think I'll be doing for a while, he asked me to cook! Exciting, I know! Well the first thing he had me prepare was Chard Asian Salmon. Which is not really hard to make, but not easy. First we told me what ingredients to put in, then I was left to the task. I oiled the skillet and waited for it to heat up because if you put the salmon on a cold skillet and wait for it to reach the temperture, the salmon will stick to the pan. When the skillet was hot enough I dropped in the salmon, and satueed it for a few minutes. Then I deglazed it, which is adding the sauces around it not exactly on top of it to. I put in chili paste, ginger soy, sweet chili sauce, and a little bit of water, the aroma that came from the pan was mismerizing. At the first whiff you can smell the spiciness, but at the same time you can catch the aroma of the sweet ginger soy and sweet chili.

Food trial 2!

Over the weekend I got the urge to go into the kitchen and try something new. At first I sat there and dazed into space, I had no inspiration. So I decided to turn to channel 231, which is the food network in my house, I started to watch "Guy's Big Bite" and on one of his off topic chats he mentioned some kind of stuffed potatoes or something of that sort. Right then and there my mind began to conjure up every possibility that I could think of. First I thought of making like a stuffed mash potato with ground beef in the middle, breaded and deep fried. After trying it, it was good but not the flavor that I wanted. So I tried took it to the next level and used rice instead of mash potato and mozzarella in substituted for the ground beef. Now there was a flavor not tasted everday.

LIttle Tuna- Day 2

Wow! wow is an injection mainly used to show an exclamation of surprise, and I have to say the kitchen is...wow! Today I finally got the chance to step into a "real" kitchen and between the cooks moving frantically about the kitchen, the 500 degree oven ,and the flames roaring from the sauteing vegatables; it can be wild, but in my opinion it was like a well organized chaos. After talking to Marcus, my sponsor, he decided I should start with the foundation; which is the plate. I learned how to properly wash the plates and the chemicals involved in the process. After getting soaked washing plates Darrien, Marcus' right hand chef, was teaching me some of the Culinary terminology that they use on a day to day basis. For example, they might use words like roux, maitre'd, au gratin, etouffe, plat du jour, and other fancy words that must be known. As a cook you must be willing to try every and any food that is made. After my terminalogy lessons I was put before about four ratakins with different food samples, and I was told to try all of them. Another lesson taught that day was, always trust our supriors they will never steer you wrong.

Pain.

With baseball season around the corner, it's time for me to start working out. Yesterday some of my team mates and I decided to hit the weight room after school. After going through our lifting regiments Coach Shannon decides to show us a new plyos workout, at first I was excited to learn something new,but little did I know it was excruciating. We started with lunges, which is are not hard if we didn't do them repeatedly until my thighs were burning. After that we just kept doing other tormenting exercises. My body could not keep up and I just regurgitated everything I ate that day. Believe it or not we were not done yet, we did the lunges again and to finish it off we did wall sits for 60 seconds, after all that we did my legs were screaming Uncle! But I had to keep going against all odds even if my legs were shaking and ready to give out on me. The workout wasn't the worst part, the worst part was the next morning when I could barely move my legs, it was a pain so unbearable that I was forced to walk like if I was hit my a car. Just hoping all my hard effort pays off at the end.

Food Trial!

After reading the book that my Sponsor gave to me, some of the recipes in it grabbed my attention. I made Filet mignon, which is made with steak cut from the tenderlion of the steer, a pretty expensive item at a $17.99 per lb, but well worth it. I did exactly as the book said.

I left it out until it was at room temperature and then seasoned it with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. The book said to turn the heat on the griddle on high, so you can literarly hear the it scream when anything touches its surface. When it is ready to go, you just put each steak on the griddle and do not touch it, which is by far easier said than done. Depending on how you like your steak, you will leave it on there for roughly three minutes on each side, and the steak will come out medium rare. When you flip it on the opposite side, turn your oven to 450 degrees. When it has been about three minutes, you're going to take the whole griddle and place it in the oven for seven minutes to finish it off.

The Little Tuna: Day 1

1/20

After a gruesome weekend of caring for my sick siblings, I had time to drop by my sponsor's restaurant. I met with Mr. Severs, or "Marcus" as he likes me to call him, to discuss how everything is going to work out. I spent a solid 45 minutes discussing our time line, and after telling me about his childhood and how he came to have such a lovely white cloth restaurant, he asked me a series of questions on why I wanted to join this life sucking business! We went back and forth for a while, as a departing gift he gave me a college Culinary Art text book to browse through and come back next week with a handful of questions. Overall I had a great time, and I have to admit I am looking forward to coming back next week!

Restaurant Psychology!!

Restaurant color psychology In my quest to learn more about the restaurant business, I ran across these interesting findings. Blue and purple can make you lose your appetite: usually the subconscious mind anchors blue or purple to toxins. If they want you to come back, then they don't really paint the walls blue nor purple. Yellow would make people stay less at your restaurant: yellow is an irritating color. Some fast food restaurants paint their walls in yellow in order to let people order food and get out!! Green for relaxing: green is a relaxing color. It's anchored in our mind with nature and that what makes people comfortable and want to stay in a room painted in green. Red is an appetite stimulator & eye catching color: red is a very eye catching color and this makes it useful in case that you want to draw some attention to your restaurant, but do not be fooled red in a double edge sword, by that I mean too much red and be bad! It’s a good idea if they use some red to catch the eye if your restaurant lies in between many other ones. Red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing and it stimulates appetite. A lot of the recognized restaurant use red in one way or another. So the next time your at a restaurant, take a look around and pay attention to the colors they use.

Future!!

Imagine that you are twenty-eight years old, and you're writing to a cherished teacher whom you haven't heard from in ten years. Tell him/her about your professional life. What do you do for a living and how did you get there? Consider the following: What schools did you attend? What special training and degrees do you have? Where do you work and what is the name of your company? What do your coworkers and boss think of you? What professional successes and awards have you enjoyed since graduating from high school.


Yo! Coach Hanford, it's been like ten years! How's it going? Where are you teaching nowadays? I just turned 27. Isn't that exciting? Well, after attending Johnson and Wales University for two years, I decided to study abroad in Italy for the remainder of my school years. When I came back to the states, I got an opportunity to work with one of best culinary master minds in the world!At first I was the executive chef at one of most prestigious restaurants in New York, but after learning all that I could, I opened my own restaurant in South Beach, FL called "Ambrosia." Last year I won the Michelin Award!! So far I have accomplished some of my goals, but I have a lot more to go!

Everybody's a critic!

After reading a few of my classmates blogs, I feel that I can make many connections to them. For example, I read Aliccia’s blog and I found out that she is an adrenaline junky like I am; we should definitely go bungee jumping together!!!....Sam I also share love for Architecture and Italy. One day I hope to study abroad in Italy. It doesn’t really matter where. The food in that country is great everywhere. Turk, I can’t really connect to you on your level, but I can relate to you in the creativity level because as a chef you need creatively construct a visually appealing platter, thou I have to admit some of those clothes are OUT there!! You know, even though people tell me that I am outgoing and seem to be fearless when it comes to interacting with new people, they’re wrong. At first I thought I was the only person in this class that had a low self-esteem, but I see I was not only person, so Jamie if you ever need a little boost please come to me and we’ll boost each other up!!! Briana, I am not the “clingy” type but I can see where you’re coming from. I have a significant other and even thought we see each other a lot I always seem to get “love sickness”. My palms sweat like crazy, my heart exhilarates, and my muscles get tense like I am lifting three times my body weight, its crazy!! but your right, everyone has an ideal partner.

Grab & Go!!

I always loved going to amusement parks and local fairs, though I was never a lover of roller coasters, but one day one of my friends persuaded me to accompany him on a ride call "The Dueling Dragons" I was terrified but I did not want to act like a coward so agreed. After riding the "Dueling Dragons" I became an adrenaline junky. Something I have wanted to do in a long time is go Sky diving! I believe that is the ultimate adrenaline rush, falling from over a mile high and over 100 miles per hour and knowing that if the parachute doesn't open your dead! When I told the same friend that persuaded me to ride a roller coaster, to go sky diving with me he started he began to act like a coward.

Over the summer, one of of my co-workers actually had the privilege to take lessons in sky diving and he went up to long island and dove out of a plane at over 10,000 feet in altitude, that is amazing! I can't even begin to imagine the rush that he got falling. As of right now I'm hoping to take lessons over the summer, so I can go skydiving for my 18th birthday!

Expert!!

If I were to become an expert at anything it would be in the field of Human anatomy. Human Anatomy branches off physiology and biochemistry, to go into depth on the structure of the human body. Human body is to this day is still a some what of a mystery, scientist still can not tell what causes the human body to produce bad cell or what cause the body to do the things it does. I believe if I were to become an expert in human anatomy, I would dedicate myself to helping people. Dr. Andreas Vesalius, Belgian anatomist, was the founder of modern human anatomy, with his dissection of the human body took a revolutionary step towards what we know today. His curiosity for the human body is why we today have made such improvement in medicine and we our on the erge of finding more ways of curing the body!

how the blogs should be graded!!

In my opinion, i think that the blogs should be graded a different criterias, such as correct grammer use, details, and creativity. Also, the it's only fair that it should be check at least twice a week! It should be that hard to sit in fron of a computer and instead of heading to myspace or facebook, you head to blogger and write your porgress.