Monday, May 23, 2011

Externship

It's been a while since my last update, for which I apologize. It's apparent that the CIA is obviously hard to infiltrate!

Currently I am on my externship at Solbar in Calistoga, just 10 minutes north of the CIA in St. Helena, but before I dig to deep into that, let me sum up the final months of my first year at school.

The last update was right after Skills 3, which marked the beginning of my second semester at the CIA. After Skills 3 I had Cuisines of the Americas where we learned about how cuisine here in America has evolved and also cuisines of South America. It was great because we got to work in pairs rather than teams and concentrate on one dish for two days. The disappointing part of the Cuisines classes was that each person did not get to make every dish, but saw everyone's dish and tasted it. I had two chefs for that class because another class was taking it with us and Chef Tucker was one of those chefs. It was a great class and I have a bunch of recipes and techniques that I learned from it.

Possibly my favorite class thus far was Cuisines of Asia, the class after Cuisines of the Americas. We worked in teams again, but it was the first time we were given a menu and told to get it done before a specific time. It was great to work on something without having Chef peer over your shoulder every couple of minutes, but he was there if we needed help. This class' final was also my favorite part of the course. We did not take a written exam, but only an identification test and we had to lead cooking demos. It was great to lead a quick 15 minute demo for my classmates because it is definitely something I would consider doing in the future. Chef said I did an amazing job, "the best presentation he has seen in a very long time."

After Cuisines of Asia, I took Breakfast and Lunch cookery, both of which we amazing. Breakfast was hard to get up so early from, but it was extremely rewarding to work action stations and cook breakfast for all the other students in the school. Lunch was the same way and since everything was made to order, it gave us plenty of practice to showcase our serving and cooking abilities.

The last class of the year was Garde Manger. This class was all about sausage making, smoking, cold foods and appetizers. It was a fun class and a good way to end of the school year because it was slower paced. In the middle of this class I had my second term practical. This required test had to be passed in order to go on externship so the tension was high throughout the class. Students were very nervous about passing or not and I had a little case of the jitters as well. After everything was out of my system, I just relaxed and had a great time during my practical. I made beef stew, mashed potatoes, chicken consomme and vegetables for my test and passed with flying colors. After my practical and Garde Manger were over, I finally started my externship.

Solbar, Calistoga's premiere California cuisine restaurant, is a Michelin Star rated restaurant and serves amazing local, fresh California cuisine. Chef Brandon Sharp is a great chef that calls it California Soul Food. It has been a great experiencing, tough, but finally rewarding. I had to do prep and some banquets work for the first couple of weeks, which was difficult because I wanted to cook more, but now I am on the lunch line. This week I will be working the grand opening of our pool bar and am very excited about that. I have been there one month now and have two more to go, so things are going in full swing right now. I will update more as time goes on, I promise I will be better at it.

I have no special culinary ideas for you this time, except a quote from one of my favorite chefs, Julia Child.

"If you're afraid of butter, use cream!"

Until next time, happy eating.

Monday, January 10, 2011

In Review

Skills three has been the best class since school has started. It has also been the most difficult class. Any idea or notion I had of this school is represented in this class. We are basically cooking everything that we went over in Skills one and two, but now we have to create at least 20 portions of all production in the same amount of time, with added sauces, soups and veggies. It is also fun to finally work together with a team because it is more representative of a restaurant setting. Last week Chef kicked our butt by pushing us to work faster, harder and cleaner than we ever have. I talked with one of my classmates last week, Big Rob, and he said that the previous year of culinary school at a different school was never this busy or difficult. This class finally dips into how the CIA is different than other schools. I am having the time of my life.


Here in Napa, life is treating Korina and I very well. We are truly blessed by our good God with each and every bill paid, good night's rest and every bite that goes into our bellies. It has been such an amazing first semester that I would not trade it for the world.


I was asked a lot over break how my first set of classes went, but it was difficult to say because I change classes every three weeks. I will try to summarize some of my favorite moments here at the CIA so far...


-The time that the butter exploded! Murphy and I still joke about it, but it was pretty scary. Let's just say that every time I move some butter across the stove, that is the first thing I think of.


-Chef Tucker in Meat ID and Fab quoting Talledega Nights more often than we were and making fun of cats and how silly dinosaur arms are.


-The time in Skills one when Chef Tod asked me what I had put into my dish that made it taste so different than all the other students. My response: “It's called passion chef.”


-When Murph and Alex decided that it would be funny to put their toques together in interpersonal communications to make one giant toque attaching them by the head. These are the professionals of the future.


These are only some of the memories that I have created so far and I cannot wait for more to come.


Next on my list of important topics to discuss is my externship. I am meeting with the career services advisor on Thursday to discuss my resume and cover letter. I also want to talk to her about tips regarding applying at certain places. I have decided that I am going to stay in the area and hit up one of the numerous restaurants in the area with a Michelin star. So far some of my options include the French Laundry, etoile, Terra, Redd, Auberge du Soleil, Ad Hoc, Solage and Bottega. Google the names and you will find some more info on each other them. All of them except Michael Chiarello's Bottega have a Michelin Star. Anyways, I am hopefully going to put some letters in the mail here within the next two weeks and we will see where God takes those.


I thank you for following along with my journey into the things I am most passionate about. I hope the good Lord continues to bless you as this new year begins. Happy Eating!

Daily Bite: Contrary to popular belief, putting oil in your pasta water while it is boiling is counterproductive. The oil does not mix with the water and will only coat the outside of the noodle causing the noodles to be oily and not absorb the sauce as much. Next time you make pasta, put on at least one gallon of water on for every pound of pasta you are making. Salt the water until the water tastes slightly salty, boil your pasta, do not rinse when it is done and add the hot sauce to the hot pasta. If you rinse your pasta, the starches on the outside of the pasta will wash away, causing the sauce to not adhere to the outside of the noodle as well.