choices

It's nearly 2am and I am still trying to wind down from a day that began 20 hours ago. I had approximately seven hours of class and an hour of homework. Afterwards, I hurried to my estage(french term for culinary apprenticeship) at renowned Bouchon Bakery. I started working there three weeks ago. I was so excited to get the opportunity to work at a Thomas Keller institution that I did not hesitate when I was told that I would be required to work 8+ hours two days a week, Wednesday and Thursday. It didn't take long before the gravity of my commitment set in.

The first week of my estage ushered in a new era of sleeplessness and a level of exhaustion that never seemed to waiver. I found myself ragged and falling behind in my school work, but I yet I continue to hesitate to dial down my commitments. These last few weeks have forced me to reflect on ambition, happiness, and quality of life.

I am learning so much at my estage yet I feel stretched thin and ragged. Am I merely complaining about a golden opportunity or is there more to this.... I am having difficulty striking the balance between my ambition and quality of life. At the moment, I would be satisified with just some sleep.

just beat it

Finishing the "mis" for the brioche dough.

There is nothing more therapeutic than taking a french pin to a block of butter.

Release of aggression + pliable butter = brioche and a happy belly.

team six's sexy dough

Leslie with team six's masterpiece.

Warning: do not over proof dough. May result in anatomical abnormalities ;)

baking techniques, week one

Chef Brown demonstrating dough division and pre-shaping.

My feet ache slightly and my body constantly craves sleep, but I couldn't be happier since we are finally in the kitchen. I have just wrapped up my first week in the kitchen although it feels a lot longer since we have made an already enormous array of things. The class, baking techniques, acquaints us with basic baking and pastry methods, but more importantly it allows us to get a feel for the commercial kitchen, and the volume and pace of production. Each day of class begins with an hour lecture, which covers the basic principles underlying the methods employed in our recipes and the details of the recipe itself. Immediately after lecture, we scurry to the kitchens and head to our stations, where our (hopefully) completed mis en place awaits.

(left to right) Crumuri with Sesame Seeds, Russian Tea Cookies, two preparations of Almond Spritz, and Crumiri with a dusting of confectioner's sugar.

Section 63 of Baking and Pastry has 19 students that are divided into randomly selected teams of three's and four's. My team consists of Brynna, Chris, and moi. The teams have two day rotations on breads, cookies, cakes, etc for the three week duration of the class. Piped cookies was our first rotation and required us to produce Almond Spritz, Crumuri, and Russian Tea Cookies. I'm not sure whether it was first day nerves or my crazed search for ingredients and tools, but we nearly didn't finish our cookies. We fared better with day two of cookies, which focused on bar cookies: Fudge Brownies, Seven Layer Bars, and Pecan Diamonds. The successful execution of day two was I think in large part, not just having all our ingredients ready, but also taking the time to work on what Chef Brown calls our "mental mis en place". After my shaky first day, I decided to closely look at the recipes to get a sense of the methods, equipment, and timing necessary to complete the tasks. The "mental mis en place" seemed to work, our second day proved to less harried and the products were not only ready for dinner, but were also avidly devoured by our fellow students.

2, 3, and 4 strand Challah sprinkled with Sesame seeds(symbolizing Manna) and Poppy seeds, Sunflower Seed Batard and Pullman loaf.

Days three and four were on lean straight doughs and enriched doughs. I LOVE bread, but the production of bread admittedly was intimidating. It continually amazes me that with a few ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt, a whole universe of bread is borne. The addition of eggs and fats, requisite for enriched doughs, further adds to the endless possibilities. On day one of breads we were to make Baguettes, Boules, Fougasse, and Batards(which, literally means "bastard" in French). The shape of Batards is somewhere in between a Baguette and a Boule, making it a "bastard" child of the two. I walked into the kitchen with a sense of trepidation and this showed in the way I (mis)handled the dough. Surprisingly, our breads looked better than I thought they would(I'm certain no thanks to me). Day two of breads fared better with my hands developing an uncanny confidence in handling the Challah dough. Chef Brown's repeated demo's and entreaties on proper treatment of the dough had finally begun to stick. I enjoyed making the Challah and even managed to crack a few bad bread pun jokes(Holla' for Challah!) in the interim.

I hope that my rants about baking have not scared you and instead have inspired you to go into the kitchen to bake. I'm still figuring out how to link to the recipes for each thing I mentioned, but still no dice. Check back later!

i'm back

I haven't posted for far longer than I care to admit, but I have an explanation. I just started the Baking and Pastry program at CIA at Greystone. During the week I live in St. Helena in a DORM. Eeeek! Thankfully, I have a single room with my own bathroom. The dorm experience deserves a post all on it's own so more on that later.

I am taking two classes, Culinary Math and Baking Science. Class begins bright and early at 7:30 AM(originally they were scheduled for 7AM, but my instructor thought that time was a little "uncivilized", note that she is not a Chef!). We are required to take shuttles to class from the dorms so that means I have to be dressed "professionally" and ready to go by 6:45 AM at the latest if I want to catch a quick breakfast. The next shuttle doesn't come till 7:15 AM so that means no breakfast and possibly being late for class, which they made clear the first day is a big faux pas. So, if you are doing the math, you might have already guessed that my alarm rings at 5:30 AM. For most that's an ungodly hour, but surprisingly I spring out of bed without much fuss.

Back to the classes. I have Culinary Math from 7:30 - 10:00 AM. Relatively unexciting except for the first day of class when one of the Chefs walked into the class and slammed a razor in front of one of the guys and yelled at him for his unacceptable appearance and ordered him to shave immediately. Men are required to be clean shaven and this guy was only 19 years old so he didn't exactly have a lot of facial hair to begin with. That didn't save him and another guy from this Chef's scrutiny. That Chef is infamous for policing students and barking at those who do not meet the very stringent dress and appearance code. Yikes! Which basically means you can't just roll out of bed. Clothes can't be wrinkled, hair unkempt or ID missing. It sounds militant but the purpose of the dress code is to instill students with a sense of professionalism. Historically, the image of the Chef has sometimes been equated with the ruddy, red nosed drunk whose speech is laced with profanities. The CIA aims to change that image with each generation of students.

Culinary Math is followed by Baking Science from 10:00 AM till 1:30 PM with the esteemed Chef Jorin. He has an impressive number of titles after his name and a winning turn at the World Bread Baking Championships in France. It's a tad intimidating when I think of his accomplishments, but he bears a slight resemblance and similar temperament to kooky Chef from the Muppets so that makes him accessible and entertaining. The class covers the scientific underpinnings of baking through readings and kitchen experiments. We made our own butter, ricotta, marscapone, and buttermilk today. Yum!

Here's a link to my classes. If you want to see the nitty gritty of my schedule.

The classes have a ton of reading and homework so my posts may be a little sporadic, but bear with me and I will divulge the inner workings of the CIA in subsequent posts.

Thanks RDR. I needed a little nudge to get back into it.

cantaloupe popsicles

Saturday was almost unbearably hot (a whopping 85F) so I decided to transform my lowly cantaloupe into a refreshing treat. It was ridiculously easy to make and even better to bite into on such a hot day. The popsicles were a departure from the unnaturally hued icy treats of my childhood both in color and nutritional value. My popsicles were three ingredient wonders: cantaloupe, sugar, water(and if you're feeling adventurous), a bit of lime juice. I combined the water and sugar into a simple syrup and tossed that mixture with the cut-up cantaloupes into my trusty new food processor to puree. Once pureed I poured them into my handy popsicle molds(although small paper cups will also work) and placed them into the freezer for about two hours. This may just be my foray into street food. I had brief fantasies of selling my frozen "pops" to the sweltering masses at Dolores Park. The hubby even insisted on calling one of the popsicles the flirtsicle. A nod to the now banned and renamed cocktail favored by my frisky friends. This adultsicle will be a one part champagne and one part vodka with a splash of pineapple juice. It's gonna be a hit! Watch for it at DP on the next SF "summer" day ;)

best ice-cream ever

Ok, so it may sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but that's actually a direct quote from the hubby. He was also overheard debating himself on which was his favorite flavor, Rocky Road vs. Salted Caramel ice-cream. That's right ice-cream so good it makes you a lil' wacky. I am not a food stylist(I wish) so the picture of my latest foray into ice-cream does not do the final product justice. I guess you'll have to come over to try a scoop :)