#111 - Continuing education (aka Toys, toys and more toys!)

Kitchen toys
Williams Sonoma opened their first store outside of the US.  Of course I had to check it out.  They have different things in the store, but the really great part is that they have my brand of cleaners which I was having a hard time finding (Murchinson Hume, if you're interested).  They have a cooking school with pretty stations so I had to check that out too.

Class - because you never stop learning...
Class was on a Sunday - a seasonal dinner party class.  I was hoping it would help with timing.  I'm not sure if the dishes we did would work for me, personally, since risotto always seems to be a bit tricky to serve correctly if you're doing more than 4 portions.  It was good for things like alternatives, variations and seasonal ingredients.  I have to say, the classes are a perfect way to sell their products, from kitchen equipment to ingredients.  They offer a 10% discount on anything you buy on the day of the class - an incentive that I believe a few people took advantage of during the break.

I got there just a little after class was supposed to start, but luckily they were still setting up for coffee / tea and the last station.  This is a sample of one of the stations.  People worked in groups of 2 but since there was an odd number of people, I got to work alone.  It all worked out really well because one of the girls was tiny so they swapped us around the stations after we made breakfast.

Breakfast
We worked at this station (above) for breakfast.  They had us make breakfast - an organic polentina which is like a more runny polenta-ish porridge but made of organic corn, served  with bananas and honey.  Gluten-free, since it's made with corn so definitely something to keep in mind for my gluten-free family members.  I'm not a huge fan of how sweet it is with the banana (my own food prejudices are alive and well) but it was pretty good.  Also another example of how you have to think about plating before you start spooning things on the plate.  The honey was really runny, but delicious.  It's the polentina which was a bit problematic - a bit too runny and loose to make a good quenelle.  The leftovers came home with me so tomorrow will be an experiment - frying the leftover polentina in a tiny bit of butter and brown sugar for breakfast.  I'll be skipping the bananas.

There were also some nutritional tips, so I felt like the time was well spent, in that respect.

Kale chips for snack (I was still waiting for the dinner party bit).  Not my favorite thing to eat ever, but a healthy snack and possibly an inspiration for variations.  I know it's supposed to be really good for you and apparently it's expensive to buy at the health food store so I'm happy to make my own at home if people want it.  Some were a little burned where the oven was uneven.  Smoked paprika, salt and olive oil - very simple. 


Lunch
Then "the real work" - risotto and fruit salad with a red wine vinaigrette, which might sound weird but the vinegar is hardly noticeable.  The teaching chef demonstrated the lamb shank (and made it - we didn't cook it, sadly enough).  It was a  straightforward pumpkin risotto and fruit salad for the last little while, then eating what we cooked.  It was a bit of a luxury not to have to weigh out ingredients, but it felt wrong somehow.  I think because I'm used to having to do all the prep as well, but our fruits and veggies were already washed and ready to go as well.  Leftovers are currently residing in my fridge, but slated for tonight's dinner.

The current courses are geared towards people who might not be used to cooking a couple of things at once.  I quite liked having the risotto to stir while I sliced the fruits for the salad (they caramelized the onions in bulk after everyone chopped their own) and I peeled a couple of grapes because there was time while cooking the risotto.  They like more butter to finish it (it makes it a little more creamy) but personally I like it a little less rich.  Especially since the lamb shank was still to come.  Love the lamb shanks with gremolata - the smell of the red wine in the sauce was mouth watering.  I have a feeling that it was part of the reason why store shoppers were coming to the doors and looking into the kitchen.

A great class for those who want to learn how to multi-task a bit more and the chefs said Williams Sonoma plans to add advanced classes so I'm interested to see what those might be like.

Until next time - happy cooking and eating!

#70 - Happy (belated) New Year

End of the holidays
The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur.  Somewhere in the midst of many departures from the islands of those who migrated here temporarily to be with their families (and in some cases, to escape grim, gray and cold weather) and the occasional computer issue, I have fallen woefully behind.  Hopefully you have all had happy and safe holidays.

Back to the basics
New Year's eve was a relatively quiet affair, for which I thank the various children in attendance.  Who knew you could still be tired after sleeping for almost a week straight?  We had dinner chez sister and brother-in-law with several babies (tears at various points in the evening since it was past their bedtimes) and lots of parents.  As always in any Hawaiian gathering, there was obviously not enough to eat...most of the food was take out, but we did prepare a couple of things at home.


2012
Cooking still requires some careful handling of various utensils and a lot of time so I went back to the basics on NYE.  We went up the hill to see the fireworks.  Apparently the crackdown on aerials has worked - they have been illegal for at least 15 years, possibly 20 but that hasn't always deterred the naughty pyromaniacs from setting them off.  This usually resulted in a number of fires so the fire department was kept busy unless it was a rainy year.  Not so this year but the only ones we really saw were the official ones:  Ala Moana and Aloha Tower Marketplace.  We got a good view of both, then the diehards who were still present were served fruit salad.  Yes - that fruit salad from basic Patisserie.  Luckily this time it didn't take 2.5 hours to make and I didn't have to submit the fruits for inspection by the chef.

Sunday morning we managed to get ourselves up and down to the water.  Brunch time!  The usual chef at the made-to-order omelette station was promoted so he wasn't there.  However, I had fun chatting with the new chef and even better, I got to have my omelette the way I like it - most likely overcooked by LCB standards but perfect for me.

Beef roulades with Asian salad
Outrigger Canoe Club -
got a new chef a few months ago
and the menu has changed accordingly,
mostly for the better)

Then it was the last minute flurry of catch ups with friends before they left town.  It occurred to me that I was pretty busy for someone who didn't have to do anything.  I love catching up with all my friends but sometimes it seems like a year (or several) between catch ups is a long time.  Somehow communication loses a lot of its immediacy when reduced to emails or text messages.  I think this is especially true since writing leaves out a lot of nuance while allowing the reader's own moods to creep in, sometimes to the detriment of the communication.  But again, I digress.

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea was at the Kahala Hotel.  I liked the savory options and the flourless chocolate cake - the remainder of the tea left me rather uninspired and I can't tell if I am being extra critical because I don't like sweets or because they weren't executed well, which is entirely possible.  Strongly disapproved of the scones (I like mine fluffy) and the clotted cream (it wasn't clotted cream).  There was quite a lot of yuzu jelly / cream in the pastries - a nod to the Asian influence in using the citrus, although it tasted a bit strange to a palate only just getting used to it.  At present I still find it indescribable beyond the citrus tang with a bit of sourness/bitterness behind it.

Then more cooking - baby steps...
I tried poached eggs and Hollandaise again.  We have a friend who cannot have gluten or dairy so I made vegetables for her instead.  The quenelles were just for the presentation so she would have something pretty.  All bets were off for the second serve and everyone dug in - much better for family dining but it's nice to be able to place something pretty in front of your friends and family.  Poaching eggs was interesting - mainly because I got a request to have the yolks fully cooked through (success and no gray ring, but there was a moment of annoyance when I thought I had overcooked it).  No English muffins so we used toast instead.  As always, I held my breath as I brought the sauce back to temperature because this is usually when my sauce splits.

The week ended with sunset and dinner by the water with friends and family.

So until next time, may your holidays be as drama-free and happy as mine have been.

REAL Day 1 - Patisserie - Fruit salad, syrup and sugar decorations

Recipes/photos/etc.
I don't think I can put them up here.  The school has copyright over recipes and photos and I have to ask their permission first - so it is safer for me not to do anything that might cause problems.  I will share any tips I pick up though...

Fruit Salad
I hear you wondering, fruit salad?  That was my first reaction too, when a more advanced student saw us scrambling into the remainder of our uniform to get to our practical class today.

I thought, geez - all this way and I'm doing fruit salad.  Which sounds so easy until you get the chef's feedback:  your orange segments are uneven, that melon ball has a flat spot, this strawberry is not happy...I'm paraphrasing here, but you get the idea.

It all looked so easy in the demonstration.  They even had time to lecture us about all of the items in our equipment kit (yes, it actually comes with a lock, which I eventually figured out) and the different types of cuts, different temperatures for sugar work and what they are commonly used for as well as the fancy cuts for special fruit platters and the sugar caramel netting baskets and spirals for decorations.

And then we got upstairs.  Chef's first remark to me when I walked in:  You're not even dressed!  I hadn't put on my apron because I couldn't tie it and still walk (FYI, it reached from the bustline down to my ankles - it was like wearing a long pencil skirt over clown pants).  Then when I asked him how to tie the neckerchief, I got the withering answer:  You don't wear a neckerchief in Patisserie.  You only wear it in cuisine.  The result:  "Zero."  Another zero for not having my safety shoes yet (we have until Monday to get them).  Another zero for not having my scale (we have until Monday to get it).  Another zero for whoever was supposed to sous-chef for today's practical - on our induction packet class list, going in alphabetical order (so luckily not me!).  The word zero has actually ceased to have any meaning, at least for the next 24 hours.  Evidently none of us met his sartorial standard because there was a lesson in apron tying.

I also got in a little trouble when Chef caught me taking my grapes to wash at the sink.  "What, you think we would give you dirty fruit?"  Um, well...the fruit still had stickers on them so even though I didn't think so, I wasn't sure.  Plus it seems awfully spoiled not to have to wash our own fruit.  And how do I know they washed the lemons and oranges?

On the other hand, I did note that the production kitchen which makes sure the ingredients for classes are ready seems to have done a lot of the work for us (i.e. stocks, etc.).  Also, Chef F told us yesterday that usually kitchens don't have windows or as much space as we have in the various kitchens.  And we don't necessarily have to beat all the cream and eggs by hand first (thank goodness for the Kitchen Aids)!  So really, we are beyond spoiled...

Basic knife skills
What I learned today:  most accidents occur when you are cleaning/taking out/putting away your knives.  We heard this in the demonstration, in the beginning of our practical and right after someone cut her finger taking out her knives for our class.

I admit that I had a tiny run-in with my peeler, but as Chef put it, my fruit salad was still vegan.

Also, when your orange segments are uneven because some segments are naturally smaller than others, you leave out the small ones.  I wish I had known that before I put in all the segments into the salad.  I was also glad that I didn't like some of the fruits so I didn't get marked for them.  Chef checked our cutting by going through our bowls and showing us what was good and what wasn't (pith on orange segments- not good; pieces being uniform size - good; flat spots on the melon balls - not good).

According to Chef, when you remove only the green part of the strawberry stem (instead of cutting of the stem end) - you are either being punished or you are really bored and lonely.  If they tell you to do this, evidently you tell them to do it themselves.  If I weren't so tired, I might know whether or not this was a joke, but since I can't keep my eyes open...which is also my excuse for any grammatical and spelling lapses in this post.

By the by, I will put up photos of my knives because they are so pretty.  Unfortunately the school gave out the card for only one engraver, with the result that he has 32 pieces (or so) for each student. He claimed today to have missed only one item in the time that he has been doing this, but to bring back any items he missed - so I will take him my spoon sometime soon.  At least 20 people got their sets yesterday and we all have to have our knives for class, so he has been very busy.

The patisserie students get to lighten the load by taking some of the knives out of the kit (for example, the meat cleaver is not required in patisserie).

Sugar work and hand testing
We did an infused syrup and a caramelly syrup (whose technical name I can't remember at the moment because I am brain dead and my notes are in my locker).

We left the cardamom out of our infused syrup but used the vanilla, cloves, orange and lemon peels, cinnamon and whatever else my teammates put in it.  It tastes amazing - and I have some of it in the fridge along with my fruit salad in which there is no banana or mango because I don't like them.  Ah the advantage of making your own - you only put in what you like.

You may wonder what hand testing is.  It was really freaky the first time I did it and I got scolded for lifting my hand out of the melted sugar solution too fast and for not getting enough of it in my hand.  So - you put your hand in a bowl of ice water, then smoothly and in motion, quickly dip your hand into the melted sugar syrup (3 parts sugar, 1 part water and boiling by now) and grab a bit, then back into the ice water.  Yes, sugar has a very high boiling point.  Yes, it is creepy.  Yes, it is also really cool to have the sugar in your hand turn into a little ball (soft or hard, depending on the temperature of the sugar in the pot) and then to play with it.  Also cool to be able to do this and not have to use our thermometer, although you can if you want to.

We didn't really turn it into caramel, much less turn it into pretty nets/baskets/spirals  because we were running out of time, but at least now we know the theory.

Dinner!
So that was our first day.  We finished just after 8pm.  There was a group of us (six) who were starving and none of us had anyone anxiously waiting for us to get home, so we went out for dinner at a Morrocan Place on James Street, near St Christopher Place.  I think the general misconception is that we are cooking all day so we wouldn't need to eat at home because we would eat what we cooked.  Well, not quite.  There's just enough time to set up, prep, cook, clean and get feedback.  Depending on the day, there might be another class (!) - and you're not supposed to eat in a demo.  You don't have time to eat in a prac unless it's to taste.  So we took home our fruit salads.

Note to self:  pack (large?) clear tupperware to take to class and a plastic bag to carry our food in.

So until next time, happy eating.  Hmmm, I've already brushed my teeth but now I am thinking about that fruit salad - especially the sauce.  Who knew that a syrup could make fruit taste so good?  Ugh, never mind.  I'd have to get out of bed and it is so comfortable here...

Oh - and last tip re tomatoes.  Chef F told us that tomato skins are acidic, which is why he likes to peel tomatoes before putting them in salads.  I'm sure there are people who already knew this, but it was news to me.