Cacao Boy

I had just been kind of casually searching jobs on the Cabrillo Student Employment site. I was starting to think ahead to summer employment, and I'd put in a few resumes for similar positions, but it was basically just to get the resume out there. I had no real plans of actually working until summer, but this job sounds pretty ideal. The place is called Sweet Pea's Cafe. It's really close and the owner is a really cool guy who seems very willing to accommodate my schedule. The hours of the place will be from 9 to 4, and they're open 7 days a week, which will give me an opportunity to work weekends now, and weekdays in the summer when I have catering class on the weekends. I also like the fact that I'll probably never have to work past 5, which will ensure that I have evenings to relax and/or study.

I'll be starting this Friday. We'll go in and set up the place (the equipment is all there but its all brand new and the shelves aren't even stocked yet) and do all of the necessary food preparations over the weekend, and then on Tuesday (Monday unofficially) we'll be open for business! I'm really excited because I get to start from the ground up and not have to learn "crash course" style where everything is or how equipment works or what the recipes are, and we won't even feature the full menu at first, so I'll really be able to gradually immerse myself in the job.

The place is small, like a Subway sandwich shop or something similar. In the same fashion, the kitchen is located entirely in the front area for customers to observe, kind of like a diner. All of the food storage and dish washing equipment is located in the back area. A cashier will take orders and be responsible for serving soups and other items that don't have to be made to order. Then a ticket will print electronically at the appropriate area and I will make the food. As the owner (Michael) put it, it kind of brings the cook to the forefront and allows the customer to observe what goes into making their delicious food.

Some people have good business sense. Some people have good taste. Some people are kind and treat people with respect and equality. So far, I think my new boss is going to be the type of person who has all of these traits. He already has a successful business in Los Gatos and the menu is really nice: lots of fresh, healthy ingredients, organic produce, and no hydrogenated oils or other processed fats. He also expressed to me that he's glad to have me as part of his start-up team to help get the place going. He really seems to be the type of guy who values the ideas and opinions of others.

Last week, I went to Sacramento. Sadly, I was there attending the memorial service for my newborn cousin Ruby Louise. Although the purpose of my visit was a grim one, I enjoyed seeing my family and got a chance to make dinner with Mom. We went shopping and got lots of fresh, tasty ingredients. We made Sautéed Bacon-wrapped Pork Tenderloin Medallions with mashed potatoes and a lovely pan sauce, as well as some Sun-Dried Tomato Focaccia bread. After dinner, we enjoyed a glass of Port wine and sampled some gourmet dark chocolates! The next day, I went over to Dad's house and he helped me sharpen my chef's knife and I got a chance to see (and hear!) his bike which is an awesome bronze color with the profile of a flaming skull ghosted on, and is also louder than I thought it could ever get!

I guess I should tell about my Chocolate class too! It started two weeks ago, once cake decorating was over. My teacher is a riot! She's so animated and energetic, plus she's really educated and a very accomplished culinarian: a Certified Master Baker! We sampled several different dark chocolates in class including some cacao (pronounced ka-COW) nibs, which are the interior portion of a roasted cacao (aka cocoa) bean from which chocolate is made. It's really fascinating that there is even enough material for them to have an entire class about chocolate, but now that I'm in the class, I can see that there is really more to it than we even have time to cover! I'm sure I'll be bringing home some delicious treats from this class! The second week we made Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Mousse. Our group had a little slip up - we ended up using another group's white chocolate mousse in place of whipped cream in our dark chocolate mousse, so we basically ended up with milk chocolate, or as Alexandra put it, Double Chocolate Mousse! The teacher was overjoyed at our mistake and proclaimed that we had invented something new! I like her! Ha ha ha!

Well, I'll have more info on the new job as I start to work. Wish me luck!

Club on the Cobb

Thank God for Spring Break.

Well, last week was hectic, what with midterms and all. I did pretty well on all of my exams and projects. I have one more project due, and that's my Menu Project for culinary lab. I have to create a lunch menu and provide recipes for two of the dishes, plus cost them out (which means determining the cost of the ingredients for the dish and how much must be charged per serving). It needs to have some kind of underlying theme, so I'm probably going to go with something like Spring California Cuisine. The instructors are supposed to pick one dish from each class to be served on the menu for the final class, so I'm trying to appeal to their seasonal appetites.

This week I've been cooking like a madman. I have so little time between class and homework that I rarely cook anything very involved anymore, except on weekends. Sometimes. But this week I have all the time in the world, so I've been making the most of it. Monday night we had Pasta Primavera with Banana Pudding (from scratch) for dessert. Tuesday night, we had Cobb Club Sandwiches which were incredibly good; cold chicken breast sliced thin, crisp bacon, avocado, tomato and hard-boiled egg slices on toasted buttermilk white bread with bleu cheese mayo! Just like a Cobb Salad on toast! They were so good, Alexandra requested another one for lunch on Wednesday!

Last night, I made Chicken Marsala with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Garlic Green Beans. The chicken was delicious, and even this morning the aromas are still lingering in the kitchen. The pan sauce didn't turn out quite like I hoped... a little thin compared to the photo in Cook's Country magazine (from whence I took most of these recipes). It's possible that I didn't let the wine reduce quite enough before finishing it with butter, but I think that next time, just to be safe, I'll use a beurre manié to thicken it. Then for dessert, I made some fabulous Boston Cream Cupcakes. You guessed it... miniature Boston Cream Pies! Wow, they are delicious! We brought some over to our friends' house to share, and they were a big hit. What creative ideas people have with food!

Tonight, we're having Fajitas and Tortilla Soup. Should be quite tasty! I wish I could post some pictures of my finished dishes. I'll put one of the magazine pictures up and you'll just have to believe that it came out looking relatively like the photo. Maybe I should add a digital camera to my wish list...

Having the whole week to prepare meals was brilliant. I was able to poach chicken breasts for the sandwiches and soup on Monday, as well as hard-boil some eggs and blanch the green beans too! That saved me oodles of time and allowed me to focus on other important things (like dessert!).

Well, I'm off to prepare the Tortilla Soup and once again fill the house with savory fragrance! Until next time!

Leek O' The Irish

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I've been busy cooking!

Wow, so much news to tell. Since the last time I posted, I have made Shanghai Green Onion Pancakes, Mixed Greens with Raspberry Vinaigrette, Danish pastry and Croissants, Orange-Currant Scones, Chocolate Chip Muffins, Puff Pastry including Apple Turnovers, Apple Pie, Cheddar and Leek Soup, and Shamrock Sugar Cookies! I have also managed the dining room once and waited tables once! No wonder I've been lagging on the ol' blog!

The things I'm most excited about are actually the things I did at home. I feel like I am really learning when I can take home what I've been taught and apply it to something new. When we did the apple turnovers in baking class, we ended up making way more apple filling than was needed, so at the end of the class, the teacher offered it up to anyone who wanted to take it home. I jokingly accepted, but somehow ended up with it anyway. One of the girls in the class suggested I make a quick pie out of it using a pre-made crust. People frequently bring in their own creations to share with the class, especially those folks who are currently working in the food preparation and service industry. I decided it would be nice (and a good way for me to get a little practice, as well as a kind of benchmark on my progress) to make a pie crust from scratch since the filling was already prepared. I am happy to say that the pie came out excellent and was a big hit with the students and the instructor! I even got compliments specifically about the crust!

For St. Paddy's Day, we were invited to Alexandra's dad's house for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Alexandra suggested that we make some sugar cookies and get creative with colors! We made two different recipes from The Joy of Cooking and colored half of each batch of dough green. I found some three- and four-leaf clover cookie cutters and we used them to designate which cookies were made from which dough. Then we made a couple of different shades of thin green icing to just coat the surface of the cookies (I took that idea from the tasty roll cookies at The Buttery bakery in Santa Cruz) and they turned out fantastic! They were a big hit with the Urbick clan!

I also decided to make some soup to bring to the St. Patrick's Day dinner, but thinking that only the immediate family members would be there (which wasn't the case) I only made about a quart and a half of soup. So we ended up just saving it and eating it ourselves, which afterward we were very thankful for! I made Cheddar Cheese and Leek soup from a recipe in my Culinary textbook. I must say that having learned the fundamentals of stock, sauce, and soup making really paid off while making this recipe. I felt confident the entire time I was making it and the outcome was splendid! It is a thick soup cooked with aromatic vegetables (onion, celery, carrot and in this case, leek) and thickened with a roux (flour cooked in an equal amount of butter), then simmered and strained. I garnished it with some fresh chopped parsley and buttery garlic croûtons. We loved it!

Yesterday at the Pino Alto room I was the Pantry Chef. This means that I prepared the salad and the dressing, and then went out to wait tables! It was my first time ever waiting tables in my life and I was very nervous before hand, but it turned out to be a relatively slow day and all of the patrons were very patient and kind. Plus, it really helps to have a great kitchen staff who all want to help out.

Oh! Guess who teaches Italian at Cabrillo and eats regularly at the Pino Alto room? Teresa Mohamed, Aunt Terrie's sister-in-law! Alexandra has even taken her class! I knew that she lived in Bonny Doon and I've probably been told before that she taught at Cabrillo, but nonetheless it was quite a surprise to see a familiar face at lunchtime!

Well, hopefully this will fill you in on what has been keeping me so dang busy lately. I promise I'll try to start writing more often after this week, which is mid-terms. Lots of projects to complete! So far my grades are reflecting my hard work, so bear with me and I'll tell all about it real soon! Thanks again for all the support I've received from everyone!

Eating Plastic

Now that I'm awake...

Wow, yesterday was fun! I was a line cook, particularly, the saute chef. For anyone like myself who had no idea what "line cook" or "the hot line" means, the hot line is the area of the kitchen where all of the ovens, ranges, broilers, fryers, and other means of preparing hot food are placed, usually segregated by a long island in which hot food is kept warm and prepared for presentation. Believe me, it is HOT! I had a lot of fun making the Chipotle Chicken w/ Apricots, and it turned out, despite my skepticism, to be a delicious dish! In fact, everyone in the class was leery about the whole "southwestern" theme of the menu, but every single dish was absolutely to die for! I had a really hard time deciding what to eat for lunch myself, but ultimately I went for the Skirt Steak Wrap (which I believe was billed on the menu as a "sandwich") and it was just amazing.


I got some more A's! One on last week's culinary lecture quiz and one on my cake decorating homework. Our homework in cake decorating consists of frosting a Styrofoam dummy cake round and then practicing various embellishment techniques using our pastry bags and decorating tips. So far we've learned borders, flowers including roses, writing, and other fancy side embellishment techniques like Swiss dots, basketweave, and cornelli lace. I didn't really think I was going to enjoy that class very much, but now that I'm starting to get the hang of it, it's beginning to get really cool. Last night, we made Dark Chocolate Plastic! It's very easy to make and forms a pliable, edible substance that can be molded into just about any shape. We made roses out of it and they looked (and tasted) great!

Next week is my first final! "What?!? Finals aren't supposed to be five weeks into the semester!" I know, but my culinary lecture class is actually a series of three classes that can be taken individually if desired. Therefore, the teacher has to give a state-mandated exit exam after every five weeks. This is good, though, as it will solidify my grade for the first third of the class. We're starting the chapter on soups and stocks next week. Up until now, we've only been studying basic principles of cooking like safety, sanitation, equipment, menu planning and food costing, and a little culinary history. I'm excited to actually start learning how to cook! Better.

Still Thursday?

Did I say Wednesday was a long day for me? Oops.

Thursday is a really long day for me. I start at eight o'clock in the morning and I finish at about eight thirty at night. There's only a single two hour break in there. Not enough time to go home, especially with gas prices near three dollars per gallon! I'm pretty tired, so I'll write more about today... tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, I didn't realize people were having to sign up for an account just to leave comments. I've changed it so that now anyone can leave comments. Thanks for all of the encouraging comments I've received so far!

Now, before I fall straight out of this chair, good night.

"Rolling-In" Dough

Wednesdays are long days for me. I start the day with nutrition class at eight in the morning, and I end the day at about nine-ish with culinary arts lecture. I have several hours in the late morning / early afternoon at home in which I can do some cleaning and feed pets and whatnot, but there's a study group at three that I always go to because there's a quiz every week in culinary lecture and they are HARD!

The study group is organized and conducted by a woman who took the class before and, I believe, went through the entire culinary program at Cabrillo. She also has a Ph.D. and teaches at Stanford. This is impressive to me, not just because she is a highly educated person, but because she obviously could be doing other important things in her life and that she chooses to do this out of the goodness of her heart in order to help other students succeed. She came to the first class and gave a speech about how this class is probably the most crucial culinary class we will take, and how important it is not only to pass, but to retain the information so that we have a proper fundamental knowledge of cooking that will benefit us throughout our careers and lives. I admire her for doing it, and I am very thankful because there is a lot of material to know and it can get really confusing and overwhelming.

Last night I had basic baking class in which we prepared two different types of "rolled-in" dough. The term "rolled-in" refers to the method in which butter (in ungodly massive amounts) is incorporated into the dough. We'll use these doughs next week to make croissants and danishes! No wonder they're so delicious! Some of the things we will be making to go in them include cream cheese filling, flat icing (just powdered sugar with a little water mixed in), and chocolate! I can't wait! The best part is that we get to bring our finished products home. That way I get to share all my delicious treats with Alexandra and all of my friends.

Next week my lean yeast dough project is due. Yeast doughs include breads, sweet rolls, and the above pastry doughs I mentioned, as well as others. "Lean" yeast dough simply means that there are no (or very little) fats or sweeteners in the recipe. Just flour, water, yeast, and salt. The first lean yeast breads we made were baguettes, and I've made a couple at home since. They've turned out good, but I really didn't have much basis for comparison until yesterday when the first half of the class (alphabetically - sometimes it pays to be at the end of the list) turned in their projects. After grading, the breads were sliced and we could taste them at our leisure. I tried several and, of the ones that were the same or similar recipes to the baguettes I've been making, most tasted bland or very floury. One guy was laughing because his had collapsed in the oven and came out looking like a long, crumbly pancake! The teacher mostly grades on effort anyway, so as long as I follow the recipe I've been using I should do well. That's a bit of relief right there.

I also got the second quiz back in that class, and I was a bit nervous about it because I underestimated how much study time I'd need and didn't get to finish all of the last chapter I was reading. I got an A on the first quiz, but I was afraid I'd be getting more like a B- or C+ on this one... but I got an A! 19.5/20 points! Not bad for a guy who hasn't been to school in like five years. In fact, I've gotten A's on every quiz that's been returned to me so far! That's two in baking, two in culinary lecture, and one in nutrition. I feel pretty good about the quiz I took in baking class last night, and I have the quiz tonight in culinary lecture and an exam in nutrition in... two weeks? I'll have to check my notes on that one. All in all, I am beginning to feel very confident in my classes and soon, that confidence will no doubt follow me right into the kitchen!

Spring Semester So Far

Here's a little background info just in case you need it.

I'd been cooking at home for several months before I started to think about culinary schooling. I enjoy cooking because it brings me instant gratification. I make; I smell; I eat; I enjoy. I only mentioned the idea of culinary school and immediately I was receiving loads of support and positive feedback from everyone I know. Like my sister, who's passion is photography, I decided some time ago not to pursue my musical passion as a career. Music is my creative outlet and my method of stress release, and the more I did it for money, the more of a stress it became. Cooking is different. Although I am passionate about it, it isn't my outlet for stress. Besides, unlike I usually do, I haven't pre-selected the ultimate fantasy career position which I won't be satisfied until I reach. I am just on this path to learn to cook. Better. Wherever it takes me, that's where I'll be.

Okay. Now that you know why I'm doing this, let me tell you what's happened so far. I am enrolled in my first semester at Cabrillo College, a highly regarded community college in beautiful Aptos, California, in their reputable Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management program. I am taking Introduction to Culinary Arts Lecture, Basic Baking and Pastry, Nutrition, Cake Decorating, and Introduction to Culinary Arts Lab. I am also taking a class called Chocolate, but it won't start until halfway through the semester when Cake Decorating ends.

Culinary Arts Lab is the class I'm most excited about. I actually work in the on-campus gourmet restaurant, the Pino Alto Room at the Sesnon House, every Thursday from 8am to 3pm. The restaurant is open to the public and serves lunch Monday-Thursday and dinner Tuesday-Thursday. I plan to start a mailing list soon which will contain the current menu, as well as the coming week's menu for those who are interested. Last week was the first week we served lunch to the public, and it was fun and exciting! The crew of eleven that I'm on is a great one. Everyone works hard and well together and is friendly and courteous. This Thursday, I'll be making Chipotle Chicken with Apricots. Yum!

Okay folks. This is my first post. More to come, I promise! I have baking class tonight. I baked a baguette yesterday and we ate it with dinner. It was delicious! I should have no problem on my upcoming lean-yeast dough project due next week!