Cooking, Aquaponics, and other geekery

Wine tasting class with real bad uncorrected grammar and spelling.

2011-10-03T10:39:00.001-07:00

Rhone region is the most consumer friendly region.
Hungry's only wine is the Tokaji.
Spain-fusion of foods, sherry-many regions but one stands out is Northern Portagal.
Loire valley-muscadet, sancerne.
Champagne- bordeaux:
Graves
Sauternes
Margaux
Wine tasting:
Pinot noir-has a cherry notes
3 October
Cotes d Rhone (slopes of rhone) 60% granach 40% syrah. Easy drinking, not too intrusive. Cherries, oak, slightly musty.

Bordeaux/medoc(Northern Bordeaux) blend 06- long legs, slight spice, cherry/plums, not too acidic slightly sweet yet dry finish.

07 Tuscan (super tuscan) 90% sangiovese, 10%, Merlot. very fruity, very nice.

Zinfandel-aka primitivo in Italy. old vine. Nicely balanced, very berry hints, with some vanilla and cherry. Long legs. 14.5 abv.

White wine:

Pinion Greagio, butterscotch, musty. Not my favorite. Pears perry flavor without the sweetness.

Sauvignon blanc: madavoie (robert) vineyard fuma blanc grapes. Madaovie put their own label on their grapes. Good with most white sauces and some light red sauces. Really good with valoutie sauce. Granny smith apples.

Chardonnay: every common all over the world due to the hardness to the grapes. Org. From burgundy area. Tropical fruits light fruits. Same area they make champagne with pinot noir grapes. Good for light sauces and deglasing. oly fish, pasta, etc.

Riesling;
Piesporter, light citrus, best white so far. Mostly from germany and france. Al sais.
Australian Rieslings are different styles and flavors. Germany riesling generally sweet to cut the strong flavors of sausages etc. Oz. styles are very dry and mineral flavors.

Moscato: sparkling wine with a grapefruit note. Sweet and fruity.
Late harvest.

Japanese

2011-10-03T09:41:00.001-07:00

Su meshi~ prepared sushi rice
Nori ~seaweed but it is actual alge
Gari ~pickled ginger
Nagiri ~hand formed with a piece of fish on top.
Maki sushi ~general term for rolled sushi
Hosomaki~ thin roll
Futomaki~ big roll
Uramaki ~inside out, California rolls is an example.
Temaki ~rolled by hand in a cone shape.
Gunkan ~battleship.
Surimi ~crab sticks
Chiriash sushi ~ scattered sushi.

Buckwheat noodles and dipping sauce.
Cold somen noodles
Seaweed salad
Cucumber salad

Sushi rice rinse 3 times, and let it dry (so the correct amount of water is used) equal amounts of water and rice.

South asia

2011-10-03T09:40:00.001-07:00

India, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh,

Rice, yogurt,(raita)(savory or spicy yogurt. Naan, curry, pigeon peas, lentils, dall (yellow split peas), chutney, andoori means bbq. Rub, sauce, wet bbq.

Curry is a sauce, or gravy. Curry leaf looks like a bay leaf and is used like a bay leaf to give you a base note in flavor.

Rice Eryn
Raita Rob
Chutney Eryn
Tandoori Heather and Wendy
Saag paneer Heather
Vindaloo must be spicy Rob
Curry Wendy

Work

2011-09-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

A lot of stuff has been going on with work and school, I had to be chef for our luncheon a couple of weeks ago and it went of fairly well. I need to learn how to delegate better and be more organized. I don't think the customers knew of the hiccup in the prep line but we got it out.
This past week we had advanced pastry class, all week we worked on different items that led to making a wedding cake. my team mate Heather and I are quite pleased with how it turned out.

We also made lovely poached pears. I brought some prickly pears and made a simple sugar with it as you can see in the picture it really made it stand out.

Chef Sandy was in charge of this week and I think we wore him out.

On Saturday we had a huge catering gig at the Grace with over 500 people, I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked but here is a few of us prepping.

The onion gang.

Hospitality supervision:

2011-08-09T12:58:00.005-07:00

Supervisor obligations are to the owners, customers, employees. server or hospitality training can run up to 2 to 3 thousand dollars per person to train so take care of your employees and they will take care if you.

First line supervisor manages hourly workers.
Working supervisors
Nonexempt employees -hourly wages
Exempt employees , salaried

Go over organizational chart which would include chain of command.
Always go through the chain of command.

Go over functions of management.

Scientific management, look up fredrick taylor, go back to making happy employees.

27 july

2011-08-09T12:58:00.003-07:00

Confit terrine
Braun
Rillette
Liver terrine (shredded liver)
1Item of choice

North African cuisine

2011-08-09T12:58:00.001-07:00

Today we made:
Harisa
Rash al Hanut
Preserved lemons
Chermoula
Harira
Carrot salad
Tunisiam Couscous
Hummis bill hanad murazzad
Chicken Taqine
Morocan fish stew

Bocuse d' Or

2011-08-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a stressful couple of weeks prepping for the Bocuse d' Or. We were randomly given partners and I drew Max. We had to prep a menu using two proteins, two beg, a sauce and a pastry. We also had to make a menu in the style of an actual restaurant.

We did ok in our eyes but we are not sure how well we did until Monday.

The Dates were overcooked and I didn't get much cheese out of them. First time I mess up the dates it had to be for validation. lol The Dark Chocolate balsamic caviar turned out well and fun to make.

The rest turned out pretty well I think. It was at least tasty. After looking at the pictures I see a couple of things that we are going to get gigged on. Hopefully we passed.

Nutritional Info

2011-07-25T20:33:00.001-07:00

My fitness pal
June 28, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Cliff Bar - Chocolate Chip, 1 bar 240 44g 5g 10g 0mg 150mg 23g 5g
Cliff Bar - Crunchy Peanut Butter, 1 bar (68g) 240 41g 6g 11g 0mg 240mg 21g 5g
Banana - Banana, 1 banana (126 g) 120 27g 0g 1g 0mg 0mg 14g 3g
Lunch
Appetite - Deli-Style Pastrami and Swiss on Rye Sandwich, 1 Sandwich 395 46g 12g 23g 0mg 2mg 5g 6g
Pop's - French Fries Medium, 1 serving 380 48g 19g 4g 0mg 270mg 0g 5g
Dinner
Generic - Cheese Pizza Slice, 4 Slice 1,200 104g 40g 42g 84mg 1,848mg 12g 6g
Snacks
Nutter Butter - Sandwich Cookies, 6 cookies 390 57g 18g 6g 0mg 315mg 24g 0g
TOTAL: 2,965 367g 100g 97g 84mg 2,825mg 99g 30g
June 29, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Cliff Bar - Chocolate Chip, 1 bar 240 44g 5g 10g 0mg 150mg 23g 5g
Costco- Kirkland - Chocolate Weight Loss Shake, 1 Can 230 44g 2g 10g 0mg 360mg 38g 4g
Lunch
Generic - Turkey Burger on Whole Wheat Bun, 1 Burger 370 29g 8g 17g 59mg 340mg 0g 4g
Snacks
Nutter Butter - Sandwich Cookies, 4 cookies 260 38g 12g 4g 0mg 210mg 16g 0g
Clif Bar - Carrot Cake, 1 bar 240 45g 4g 9g 0mg 160mg 26g 5g
TOTAL: 1,340 200g 31g 50g 59mg 1,220mg 103g 18g
June 30, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Cliff Bar - Chocolate Chip, 1 bar 240 44g 5g 10g 0mg 150mg 23g 5g
Banana - Banana, 1 banana (126 g) 120 27g 0g 1g 0mg 0mg 14g 3g
Lunch
Cliff Bar - Crunchy Peanut Butter, 1 bar (68g) 250 41g 6g 11g 0mg 240mg 21g 5g
Dinner
Generic - Broccoli Quiche, 0.668 of pie 800 86g 100g 64g 712mg 3,432mg 25g 9g
Snacks
Cheerios Honey Nut - 2 Cups With 1 Cup 2% Milk, 4 cups 680 141g 18g 27g 40mg 1,054mg 72g 11g
TOTAL: 2,090 339g 129g 113g 752mg 4,876mg 155g 33g
July 1, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Homemade - Breakfast Burrito - Egg, Cheese, Potato, Bacon, 1 whole 360 37g 13g 33g 361mg 750mg 3g 5g
Lunch
Mcdonald's - Big Mac Meal With Fries and Coke, 1 meal 1,130 151g 48g 29g 75mg 1,320mg 67g 8g
Dinner
Generic - Cheese Pizza Slice, 5 Slice 1,500 130g 51g 53g 105mg 2,310mg 15g 8g
Snacks
Cheerios Honey Nut - 2 Cups With 1 Cup 2% Milk, 4 cups 680 141g 18g 27g 40mg 1,054mg 72g 11g
TOTAL: 3,670 459g 130g 142g 581mg 5,434mg 157g 32g
July 2, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Generic - Fried Egg & Cheese Sandwich (Homemade), 2 sandwich 590 54g 24g 22g 406mg 900mg 5g 0g
Dinner
Greek Gyro - Lamb With Cucumber Yogurt Sauce, Lettuce, Onion and Tomatoes In A Pita, 1 Pita 415 32g 22g 22g 67mg 299mg 0g 1g
Homemade - French Fried Potatoes, 6 oz 260 31g 8g 3g 0mg 266mg 0g 3g
TOTAL: 1,265 117g 54g 47g 473mg 1,465mg 5g 4g
July 3, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Homemade - Breakfast Burrito - Egg, Cheese, Potato, Bacon, 1 whole 360 37g 13g 33g 361mg 750mg 3g 5g
Lunch
Fresh Fruit - Watermelon , 160 oz 920 240g 0g 20g 0mg 40mg 200g 20g
Dinner
Rib Eye - Rib Eye Steak Boneless, 10 oz 1,100 0g 4g 17g 43mg 35mg 0g 0g
Home Made - Green Beans (Frozen) W/ Bacon (4 Strips) and Onion (Med) , 1 Cup 66 9g 1g 0g 0mg 0mg 0g 0g
Breyers - French Vanilla Ice Cream, 1 cup 100 28g 14g 6g 90mg 70mg 28g 0g
Snacks
Generic - Manchego-Stuffed Dates Wrapped In Bacon (Tapas), 6 bacon wrapped dates 651 111g 21g 15g 51mg 270mg 96g 9g
TOTAL: 3,197 425g 53g 91g 545mg 1,165mg 327g 34g
July 4, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Heartland Granola Cereal - Granola (Origninal), 1 cup 480 80g 12g 12g 0mg 260mg 26g 8g
Dinner
Changjong - Bulgogie Marinade, 40 g 60 14g 0g 1g 0mg 650mg 14g 0g
Ny Strip Steak - 6 oz, 6 oz 240 0g 9g 50g 109mg 102mg 0g 0g
Snacks
Cheerios Honey Nut - 2 Cups With 1 Cup 2% Milk, 4 cups 680 141g 18g 27g 40mg 1,054mg 72g 11g
TOTAL: 1,460 235g 39g 90g 149mg 2,066mg 112g 19g
July 21, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Cliff Bar - Crunchy Peanut Butter, 1 bar (68g) 240 41g 6g 11g 0mg 240mg 21g 5g
Cliff Bar - Chocolate Chip, 1 bar 240 44g 5g 10g 0mg 150mg 23g 5g
Equate (Walmart) - Ultra Weight Loss Shake- Chocolate (Correct Off Label 5-12-11), 1 can (11oz) 180 24g 5g 10g 5mg 220mg 17g 5g
TOTAL: 660 109g 16g 31g 5mg 610mg 61g 15g
July 22, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Equate (Walmart) - Ultra Weight Loss Shake- Chocolate (Correct Off Label 5-12-11), 1 can (11oz) 180 24g 5g 10g 5mg 220mg 17g 5g
Cliff Bar - Chocolate Chip, 2 bar 480 88g 9g 20g 0mg 300mg 46g 10g
Homemade - Breakfast Burrito - Egg, Cheese, Potato, Bacon, 1 whole 360 37g 13g 33g 361mg 750mg 3g 5g
Lunch
Homemade - Lasagna- Beef, Ricotta, Sauce, Mozzerella, 2 piece 1,042 94g 20g 88g 0mg 0mg 0g 8g
Snacks
Homemade - Banana Bread Pudding, 1 recipe (127 g) 1,784 359g 18g 48g 210mg 2,096mg 144g 24g
TOTAL: 3,846 602g 65g 199g 576mg 3,366mg 210g 52g
July 23, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
Tommy's - Breakfast Burrito: 2 Eggs - Cheese - Ham - Tortilla, 2 Whole Burrito 1,300 54g 26g 60g 70mg 1,500mg 6g 6g
Tommy's - Breakfast Burrito: 2 Eggs - Cheese - Ham - Tortilla, 2 Whole Burrito 1,300 54g 26g 60g 70mg 1,500mg 6g 6g
Lunch
Homemade - Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread, 2 sandwich 1,000 168g 36g 60g 0mg 1,560mg 76g 32g
Dinner
Amy's - Southern Meal with Cornbread & Beans, 15 oz 510 80g 15g 18g 38mg 1,170mg 17g 12g
Snacks
Coke - 20 oz Bottle, 1 bottle 240 65g 0g 0g 0mg 75mg 65g 0g
Cheerios Honey Nut - 2 Cups With 1 Cup 2% Milk, 4 cups 680 141g 18g 27g 40mg 1,054mg 72g 11g
TOTAL: 5,030 562g 121g 225g 218mg 6,859mg 242g 67g
July 24, 2011
Foods Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber
Breakfast
General Mills Cereal - Honey Nut Chex*, 1 cup 160 37g 1g 3g 0mg 267mg 12g 1g
Equate (Walmart) - Ultra Weight Loss Shake- Chocolate (Correct Off Label 5-12-11), 1 can (11oz) 180 24g 5g 10g 5mg 220mg 17g 5g
Lunch
Homemade - Chicken Salad Sandwich Filling, 4 oz 270 30g 18g 20g 30mg 440mg 0g 0g
Dinner
Beef - Ground, 85% lean meat / 15% fat, patty, cooked, broiled (hamburger), 4 serving ( 3 oz ) 850 0g 53g 88g 306mg 245mg 0g 0g
Great Value - Tator Tots, 20 tots 320 40g 16g 4g 0mg 660mg 0g 4g
Snacks
Cheerios Honey Nut - 2 Cups With 1 Cup 2% Milk, 4 cups 680 141g 18g 27g 40mg 1,054mg 72g 11g
Coke - 20 oz Bottle, 1 bottle 240 65g 0g 0g 0mg 75mg 65g 0g
TOTAL: 2,700 337g 111g 152g 381mg 2,961mg 166g 21g

Healthy cuisine 4

2011-07-11T20:13:00.003-07:00

Risk factors: Cigarettes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity, diabetes, increase age, male agree, family history, drinking.

Metabolic syndrome: abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, reduced HDL, elevated fasting glucose, raised blood pressure.

Coronary great disease, CHD damage fire to the narrowing and blockage,

Stroke: damage to brain due from low blood flow our and arteries

LDL bad
HDL good

TLC diet; low saturated fat (less than 7% total calories) and less than 200 mg of saturated fats.

Need to know the food pyramid amounts for daily use.

BMI body mass index.

Healthy cuisine 3

2011-07-11T20:13:00.001-07:00

Yesterday our team made quick kimchi, tofu sliders topped with kimchi, sobo noodles topped with squab and spaghetti squash with fresh tomato sauce. Kimchi was well liked, we forgot the bean sprouts for the sliders, piece out the squab instead of servingit whole. Don't cook these beets with the squash so it restrains the squash color. We incorporated beets in all our recipes

Chapter 9
A meal consists of 800 calories our less.35% our less.
Chapter 10
Marketing,
Today we made gluten free and lactose free items, Jake made a mayo yellow cake with candied bacon big winner, sobo noodles need work, Leray's pizza came out well, and so did his chocolate brownies. My creme brulee separated from the coconut milk chocolate silk pie was good and the gluten free crust came out nice and crispy. Over all it turned out well.

Learning to be a self sustaining chef

2011-07-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

This is my new AP project, it is a 1200 liter "tote" which used to hold Hawaiian Punch concentrate. As you see here I paused to show that I am cutting the top of it off. The image below you can see where I had to add a support to hold the bottom up since the organization I acquired these tanks from cut a huge hole the full length of one side. probably to empty it quicker. I had to measure it just right so I could fit the fish tank done the narrow cellar stairwell.
I was able to bend the tank enough to get it in the cellar.
I then had to cut the top rung off of the top of the cage to house the main grow bed and then cut another row out so I could fit the metal cage down the stairs.

My metal stand left over from my homebrew store (we used to use this stand hold the barrels of malt extract) and it was almost the right size and I am happy with the construction. Thanks again Nick!

I did have to add a couple more supports as it wasn't wide enough.
I had to buy a pond liner for the grow bed and after sizing and cutting the plumbing screwed right down to the liner and sealed with silicone.

The next few images are of the lid and the plumbing I added.

You can see the plumbing coming up through the pond liner. At this point the lid is screwed tight to the bottom of the grow bed.

I now need to stop posting AP stuff and go back to studying for my test tomorrow. Here is a good site and found it while researching recipes.

Healthy cuisine

2011-07-07T06:23:00.003-07:00

On our salad with the dressing choose to use avacoda in the salad our the dressing.
Use wasabi in the potatoes and stock.
Use stock in the freekeh next time.brown the sweet potato fries more.
On the burger roast a tomato crush it and apply out to the outside of the burger then dry fry in the pan allow the tomato to take the brunt of the heat.

Healthy cuisine, week two

2011-07-07T06:23:00.001-07:00

Calories
Calories from fat
Total fat
Cholesterol
Sodium carbs
Protein

Chapter 5:

Protein-learning objectives:
Structure of protein 9 essential 11 inessential
Polypeptides protein fragments ten our more
Animal foods are complete proteins
Plant foods are mostly incomplete usually have to be paired to make complete
(Study the slides)

PEM, protein energy, malnutrition mk
Kwashiokor
Marasmus

RDA .8 be/kg or .36 g/lb body weight
AMDR Acceptable, Macro-nutrient, Distribution, Range.

Chapter 6
13 vitamins
RAE-
Vitamin ADEK oil soluble. Rest is water based
UL upper level is two grams of vitamin C
Thiamin, riboflavin, niac.

Chapter 7
Need to know the major minerals. Calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulfer.
Trace minerals. Chromium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, zinc.

Notes: South America western side.

2011-06-22T22:03:00.001-07:00

Notes:
Recipes:

Noquis.
Arepas
Tacu tacu
Salsa Criouax
Pulpo al oliva
Lomo saltado.
Chupe de cauarones.
Buenels
Kuchen

Influences Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese, African.
Foods known for the area.
Terms:Aji chili pepper
Cazuela clay cooking vessel
Chupe stew
Mariscos shellfish
Patacones aka tostones fried plantains
Lomito loin typically pork
Quinoa high protein grain
Quesillos little cheese, in Columbia. In Venezuela it is a type of flan dessert
Manioc starch yucca, cassava, tapoica.
Chifas Chinese restaurant
Chalufan stirfry
Charqui lama jerky
Guasacaca avacado salad
Hallaca tamale with different influences
Camarones shrimp
Pulpo octopus
Pescado fish
Almejas clams

Notes: South America.

2011-06-22T22:02:00.001-07:00

South America influences Afro

Carne Asada
Quiso de carne y pappas
Black beans and rice Eyrn more liquid
Red beans and rice Eryn more liquid so the starch will bind.
Ticos served family style I had to make and serve the tacos.
Tres leche Eryn
Sacocho Wendy
Yucca frita Wendy
Ceviche Group fish was too big and inconsistent cuts, used the wrong chili powder.
Baleaela with mandatory black beans cheese egg
Refried beans

3:20-3:25 plate up.

Notes: Caribbean

2011-06-21T09:27:00.001-07:00

Sofrito Eyrn make sure all items are cut the same size. Flavor real good.
Picklese Rob
Coo Coo Wendy
MoJo Wendy bad recipe.
Picadillo was well liked good that I used the coconut water instead of stock.
Alcaparrias Wendy cook longer, good presentation with the banana leaf.
Jerk Chicken Wendy best of the day. Picklese next time.
Fish Tacos Rob watch presentation and drain out the day
Mangos red onion relish Eyrn
Pineapple red onion relish Eyrn
Dunkanoo Rob follow the recipe next time. Do not deep fry.
Arepas Eyrn
Beignets de banana Rob too heavy but it was from adding the egg too late. Good with the Mexico creme.

Notes: Mexican cuisine

2011-06-16T04:44:00.001-07:00

Corn tortallas turned out well
Tamales malfunction with the steamer and it didn't make it to service.
Mole: turned put pretty light may need to use more or different chilis
Soup, chicken, squash blossoms. I would use stock but the recipe called for water, it may of tasted better if I used al fresh squash blossoms instead of canned.
Empanodas use a stronger cheese next te
Carnitas Mark made the carnitas and of course it was outstanding.
Salsa same as yesterday.
Tikin xic (grilled fish) made with Annato paste, onions, peppers, wrapped In a banana leaf and cooked on the grill
Shrimp paste: next time use just smear (smaller amount)
Agua fresca (horchata) rice cinnamon almond next time use a cinnamon stick for garnish.

Notes: American regional Texas, southwest Rocky Mountain

2011-06-16T04:43:00.001-07:00

Quesadillas, chili lamb shoulder,potato and Poblano soup, chili, relanios, raspberry chicken.

Texas, native American, Spanish, French, Mexico, southern cooking especially side dishes. Biggest influence in Texas of the rolling plains which brought ranching and cattle. The Spaniards brought cattle which also brought mesquite trees. Texas of cuisine is originated from a campfire, gave us chili, tortillas which was more like a gordia so the had to change it so it would last all day without breaking. The differance between TexMex. Ranch style cuisine. texmex has over 7,000 varieties of chilies. Texmex is a fusion of Mexican cuisine and local ingredients. Burritos is not a Mexican dish.
Refritos is texmex not a Mexican dish, it is probably another campfire invention. Salsa is Mexican relish but Salsa has changed and many different alternative ingredients are used and it is more of a texmex item.
Tamale is from the northern Mexico but is probably from the indigenous Indians from masa.
Fatajia orgfinally from the Rio Grand area which we couldn't sell that piece of meat so ranchers would eat them.
Chili reonios is Texmex stuffed poblanios stuffed with cheese and corn
Spanish rice Mexican and Spanish not Texmex usually served with pico.
Grown wild here is cumin, cilantro, anchos, chipotle.
Official dish of Texas is chili is from Texmex but changed to make what we have today.
Lot more sugar used in bbq sauce in Texas. The other sauces in the south use more vinegar and pork is used more than beef unlike Texas uses beef.
Italian food community in Houston like Fredericksburg has German food Community

Southwest cuisine is part of Co. Nevada, NM, Arizona, Nevada, Utah. Biggest influences are indigenous. Spanish and hunters. Influenced by game meats and native dishes. Arizona is known for the desert but the have a lot of rivers which include trout, and antelope.
Nevada one of the last places to populated of the whites. The food is mostly influenced be the indigenous. Las Vegas grew due to the legality of gambling and whoring. Big buffet town where that make it big but it is now dying due to the costs. It is now becoming the culinary capitol of the world. Celebrity chefs are moving to LAs Vegas. Sanation is a major issue with buffet so the public isn't into them anymore
Utah mormans brought a lot of root Veg. And the dutch oven from PA where John smith was kicked out of as well as Idaho and Missouri.
Santa Fe is known for the Navaho cuisine. Spanish had to adapt with the natives and they wanted to convert them. Old fruit water, Aqua fresca. Dandylion is used a lot original for dyes but the Spanish showed them the culinary aspects of it. Another wild herb is epazote and is used in a lot of Mexican cuisine. The natives didn't use it as a yfresh herb until the Spaniards showed them. Salasa verda made with tomatllos. Quail is used a lot and the Spaniards showed them more ways to prepare. Pumpkins were a big crop. Corn squash and beans the trinity that is usually grown together as companion crops. Green chili are grown all over the southwest.
Colorado rockies and the region has a lot of the same cusine due to the big game animals.
Wyoming and Montana, known for their fish which includes black bass, trout, perch which grew well in the rivers.
California cusine
Montana trout is king and the black bear big sky country
Wyoming is known for
Idaho is known for potatoes aka the gem state. Lots of berries in the northern part.

California especially southern part is influenced Mexico and even more by Spain, there is also an Asian influence from the gold rush era. The earth in California is very nutrient rich due to the ancient volcanic soil so they found that everything grew well there in combination of weather. Since everything grew well the cusine reflects it. Alice waters brought the thought of only buying local. Peta is trying to stop the eating of duck. Grapes is the largest fruit grown and the next is Avacado is the next largest fruit which California grown and supplies 95 percent of united states uses. The desert area grows a lot of dates.
Cobb salad 1934 it was introduced.
Chipano is a fish stew made with tomato, usually make with the fodder parts nobody wanted, it has since everything changed and they use quality parts of meat.
Artichokes. Sourdough started with Louis Bourdine which was made by mistake due to the starter sitting too long and it is usually made with grapes added to the starter. Green goddess salad dressing invented by George Araliss anchoves
French dressings.

Menu for the day is:
Chili; stop using French onion bowls.
Quacamle
Grilled quesadillas roasted peppers and casio
Fajaties needed to be cooked a little more they are a bit to rare.
Poblano and potato soup peppers can use a better roast for more flavor use the grill instead of the propane torch.
Lamb shoulder with red chili pesto with pumpkin seeds, lamb was good and is cooked just right the peppers mellowed out nice.
Chili relanios little more salt is needed.
Sopapillas; over worked the dough so they didn't poof up.
California Coppino; Raspberry chicken more cream is needed add more color and plating
3:45 is plate up.

Notes: Front of the house service and Mozzarella from Serigo

2011-06-16T04:40:00.001-07:00

Make sure that the tables are uniform, and make sure you don't place them to close and when choosing chairs make sure you choose one that will sit a wide range of body sizes. Should leave napkins just in case of an accident. Wait until all people are finished before pre-busing so you don't make them feel rushed. Everyone's duty to fill ice, water other small duties are usually tasked out to one person but if it needs done do it. Pivot points are important so other servers know where or who gets what at any table.
Modifiers are additional items on or off the plate. So on your ticket make room for any modifcations. cya when you take an order with kitchen and back wait staff. Teach servers the cook times. Today we have a guest chef showing us how to make mozzarella. Fresher the curd -lower temp mozzarella.

Florida and Caribbean, Louisiana cuisine.

2011-06-10T09:05:00.001-07:00

Notes: Key lime pie, too close of a race but I think ours was the best and mark hates to bake.
You will see mostly black and red beans and not usually the white beans in the keys. Conch is a keys sea snale
Grouper is a large fish that is used in Caribbean cuisine, white flakey fish.
Corn and Jaciama salad. We didn't make.
Mojo's- wet maranade or rub. Used with fish and or pork.
Avacado aka alligator pear.
Corn custard came out too wet so it needs an extra egg and some flour next time. Adjusted.recipe.
Cuban pork with black beans made with a holy trinity. Pork loin. Combo cooking on the pork they liked all of ours about the same.
Rice and beans #2 close running tho.
Benites room temp. proofed did better the the one in the fridge, the one dough performed perfect the next day for breakfast.
Shrimp cervisa liked our presentation the most, #1 fav of C-Denise.
Etuffee I need to use stock instead of water and use the holy trinity next time.
Jumbilia cook the rice with a everything instead of adding it afterwards. #1

Update 6 June 2011

2011-06-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have been slacking on this blog since our trip to Dallas, I will be keeping up with it from now on.

I wasn't at school on Monday and missed out on the North East but today we did Hawaii and the Pacific North West.

There are a lot of Asian influences to both areas, a lot of fusion with the native population and other nationalities. For Hawaii we were tasked out to make a dipping sauces, Poke, Rice,

Malasada, Spam Musubi, and Spring rolls.

For the PNW we made Brussel sprouts, Carmelized Salmon, Chocolate flour-less cake,

with a coffee creme anglais.

Peas soup,

Pear hazelnut salad,

and Soba Noodle Salad.

Notes:
Good presentation, spam was seared just right and good presentation on the Musabi, Pea soup was good and the mint and crab came out just right, (will need to process the peas a little bit better as one of the chefs got some skin). Pear salad was good and the greens were tossed alone with the dressing and the toppings added later was well liked. Soba noodles were a little over cooked, asparagus could use a smaller cut but was cooked perfectly, Poke maybe a little smaller but but cook well. (I found it a bit salty but Chef coby said it was correct). Watch out for whole peppercorns in the food, May need to crush it further. Instead of filling up the plate with multiple portions of cake just go with one piece. Malasadas topped with a coconut milk glaze but it was a bit thin and the doughnuts should of given more time to proof. Over all my team did a great job.

Notes: South America

2011-06-02T05:16:00.001-07:00

Two land locked countries in South America, indigenous peoples didn't use any form of fat until Spain showed up in through 1500s. The produce of SA changed the way most of the world ate. Introduction of fats changed the way most natives ate as well. Then came the slave trade and that also introduce other cuisine that was fused and change do to the wealth of produce.
Customers liked both of my items I made which were Flan, and the Brazilian blackbean soup topped with Mexican creame and lime.

time, research, school

2011-05-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time lately to post, we had a huge storm here a couple of weeks ago and I've been spending most of my time cleaning up, thank goodness the insurance has allotted us money to get a huge dumpster. I also have been researching for one part of my capstone project. I only have 6 months left to get it/them ready and I am sure it is going to take that long to complete. Math is still my biggest obstacle and I need to finish it up so I can focus my time on the capstones.

This week we are still in Europe and on Thursday we are going to take our test with a mystery basket. Should be interesting.

Ah Briton

2011-05-24T05:08:00.000-07:00

There is something to be said about the food from that area, You will like it if you like your food cooked in some kind of fluid. It seems that most of the foods in the area you are either boiling or poaching. Yesterday we made Scotch eggs, Scones, Crumpets, Fish and Chips, Lemon Curd, Yorkshire pudding, and Chicken Tikka Masala. Of course it was all pretty tasty. I undercooked the eggs but I meant to do that and I am not a huge fan of a lot of sausage so I made it real thin. I will be making them for when family gets together. I can't wait to try it with quail eggs. Scones were right on, Lemon curd was perfect, crumpets were a bit thick due to the batter, Fish and Chips the batter was too salty so we added some sugar to the batter which in turn made it brown too much. Sugar can't change the salt, remember that. lol Chicken Tikka Masala was a little more spicy than I thought it would be but I do like the heat. Oh yeah we also made Shepard's pie. I think it is the first time I had an actual Shepherds pie without adding American flavors to it. It is still good comfort food and I had the left overs for Dinner. Today we are doing Espania, the sofrito is ready and waiting and EM is bringing some of her sofrito so it will be interesting to taste the difference. Today unlike yesterday I will try to remember to take pictures.

13 Cooking methods

2011-05-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

1. BAKING-Cook w/dry heat.
2. BOILING-Cook in rapidly bubbling liquid.
3. BRAISING- Food is first browned, and then cooked tightly covered in small amount of liquid for a lengthy time. Combination of steam and simmer.
4. BROILING- Cook food with an overhead heat source.
5. DEEP FRYING- Cook food submerged in hot liquid fat.
6. PAN FRYING- Cook w/moderate amount of oil/fat over med to high heat.
7. GRILLING- Cook with heat source beneath food.
8. POACHING-Cook food gently in flavored liquid @ about 160-180 degrees.
9. ROASTING- Surrounding a food with dry, heated air in a closed environment.
10. SAUTE- Cook food quickly in small amount of oil/fat in pan over direct heat.
11. SIMMER- Cook food gently in liquid @ about 185 degrees.
12. STEAM-Cook food on rack over boiling or simmering liquid in covered pan.
13. STEW-Cook food barely covered in liquid and simmered long time, covered pan.

Field Trip to Dallas

2011-05-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

Over all the trip to Dallas was educational, The highlights for me were going to different restaurants the first being Chuy's

a Mexican restaurant chain out of Austin for tacos. We had the bar manager answer all our questions for our homework and he was very happy to do so. I have to say I like going to small franchises as they usually have well trained staff and very energetic. You can tell Chuy's is a fun place focused to the younger crowd but it is still family friendly. It is a busy atmosphere and surprisingly clean. Everything is reasonably priced and everyone seemed to the food. Elaine and I ordered and split the fish and shrimp tacos with re-fried beans and rice (I didn't like the rice) and like most Mexican places they supply you with a bowl of chips and what appeared to be fresh made salsa. Ok running out of time so I will have to post more on this later.

lunch

2011-05-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Gourmandise cheese, white Italian bread, Jamon Serrano ham, Ramps, kalamara olives and article hummus.

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This week

2011-05-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

A little French, German and Swedish Meatballs. Enjoyed this week as we made some European cuisine. I can't find my notes so I will post pictures.

I will get with my team to remind me.

Bri, who likes to make sure everything is clean.

Hypnotizing lobsters before their final swim.

Almost all my pictures came out as black images. This one came out and it was quite yummy and the wife loved the left overs of the Rouladen, and the Duck Cassoulet. This is all I have time for. I will post more soon.

AP system

2011-05-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

First test which was about 2 weeks ago
PH 7.8
High range PH unknown
Nitrites .50
Ammonia .5-1.0
I added filtered city water, approximately 50 gallons last night and I found my fish gasping this morning and there is a fishy smell coming from the tank. (That is why I added more water) Water is very cloudy and the algae could be blooming in the extra water. Reintroduced the air stone just in case it was low O2 in the tank since adding the 50 gallons. The return water is just above the fish water and it isn't being agitated enough. It appears the fish were getting enough O2 without the air stone and the natural cycle. An hour later they are not gasping. I am not sure what is causing the fishy smell but it seems to smell like the Tetra Cichlid fish food so it could be extra on the bottom of the tank and I could be over feeding them. Isn't that what the craw-fish are for? I just ordered some trap-door snails

and they are suppose to eat up what is left over from the craw-fish and fish waste.
Today's test 8 May 2011
PH 7.2
High range PH 7.4
Nitrites.25
Ammonia 3.0-4.0

my new spice jars

2011-05-08T07:14:00.001-07:00

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This looks good

2011-05-03T19:19:00.001-07:00

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2009/09/29/julia-childs-beef-wellington-with-our-brioche-crust-filet-de-boeuf-en-croute

http://www.oprah.com/food/Lobster-Thermidor

http://familystylefood.com/2009/08/julia-childs-bouillabaisse-recipe/

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/lifestyle/2002/11/10/2002-11-10__a_perfect_winter_warmer__tu.html

Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems

2011-05-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems

storm

2011-05-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

So I get home from a catering gig around 0330 Sunday, and I finally fall asleep around 4 something. The next thing I remember is my wife yelling at me to help her as the front door flew open. There was a freight train running through the front yard and taking out our trees and front porch. We lost one non-bearing mulberry and half of another, top half of a pecan (lucky it fell the way it did or we would of been trapped in the house) and my favorite peach tree. Peeled the roof off one of my sheds and lots of shingles off the man-shed. I was able to fix the roof of the shed before I got the call my dad was in the ER. The Doc said he wasn't sure what the problem is but he ruled out anything serious so thank goodness for that. But now I have to skip school because I need to get the insurance guy out here and I need to cut down and tear out the dangerous hanging porch and limbs today. Joy I just want to go cook some french food. Oh the AP survived but the water is pretty yellow due to all the pecan tassles and shells that flew in it.

Whine

2011-04-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

Er... I mean Wine, we are also studying wine from France, Yesterday we cooked foods of the NW region of France and then studied the wines as well. I didn't study as much as I would of liked due to the math homework but I got to read a bit this morning. Thanks Elaine. (gotta love dropbox)

I usually like to credit the images but I'm not sure where this one came from.

French Cooking

2011-04-27T04:31:00.000-07:00

Just some interesting stuff about French foods and their regions. We are going to be studying this for the next round of school.

plating

2011-04-21T12:19:00.001-07:00

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In the presence of a master

2011-04-21T03:47:00.000-07:00

In the presence of a master

what I learned today

2011-04-20T18:03:00.001-07:00

Make sure that the sides (parchment paper)are flat on the pan before baking, interesting mistake tho. Also when doing a sponge cake make sure you don't grease the side of the pan, it will never rise if you do.

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Wine and Food Summit

2011-04-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

It will be hard to beat this catering gig.

Today's headlines

2011-04-19T20:18:00.001-07:00

Apr 19, 2011 ... Skynet Becomes Aware

Fruit carving, and the Food and Wine show.

2011-04-18T05:36:00.001-07:00

Butchering

2011-04-14T05:05:00.000-07:00

Yeah, we got the chance to butcher a couple of feral hogs, it was a good refresher for me. Em and I had a chance to dress one out a few days before.

I finished with an 89 on my validation. Again I was worried that I would even pass. This week is buffet, Pantry chef and today is fruit carving. I am looking forward to shooting our creations.

chefpics.blogspot.com

2011-04-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

New link I forgot to post
http://chefpic.blogspot.com/

I am changing the location of my blog.

What I have planted

2011-03-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Testing out different plants that will grow well here.

Strawberries
Artichokes
Watermelon Radish
Mantanghong Radish
Saint Pierre Tomato
Basil
Celery
Asparagus
Blue Cabbage
Fractal Broccoli
Leeks
Yellow onions
Yellow carrots
Purple carrots
Pinto beans

Fractal Broccoli is the only one I've had issues with but they were pretty weak when I transplanted them.

I have the 15 gallon tank and bed going inside with some plants added. I hope I don't kill them as the bell siphon isn't draining properly. I think it is a lack of drag for the siphon to start.

Aquqponic wow!

2011-03-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

Ten days ago I put my AP system together, eight days ago I put in some 2 year old root stock of asparagus and today the wife and I just snacked on a stalk. I am so impressed with this setup and I don't even have any fish in it yet. Once I have it established with fish I can add more grow-beds. I wish I looked into this setup sooner. The left over nightcrawlers took to the bed quickly and I hope the potato peels will do no harm to the system before the worms get to them.

I think my duck weed is doing well, at least it looks like it is. This is the fish food I will be growing in a separate area or in my test system. once I get my worm beds going I will greatly reduce my costs for fish food. As for my test system MGM is digging it.

That is the test grow bed I have on there now, I have the new one almost ready to replace it. can you guess what I plan on planting in it? That's right the rest of my asparagus root stock. I can see I may have an issue with the cats thinking the grow bed as a litter box. I may have to put a cover on it.

Aquaponic update

2011-03-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Updates on my system. After about a week I have a strawberry ready to eat. There were a few small white berries when I bought the plant and I am surprised how fast the plant grew and how fast the berry ripened and w/o fish in the tank. I was impatient and added some craw-fish and gold fish the second day of cycling and. they lasted about two days. So now I am just waiting for two weeks for the PH to level out and then I will be adding some fish. Right now I am growing duck weed in the large system as it makes good fish food. I hope it grows well because I don't want to buy a lot of fish food.

Artichoke

The system I should of started with.

16 crappie and they all seem to be doing well. There were only suppose to be 12 but the guy at the bait shop was too lazy to get the others out I guess. I feed them some duck week and they loved it.


Temporary GB I will be adding a stainless steel grow bed that fits on top soon.

I made this setup to see if the smaller bell siphon would work. I am currently using a tall shot glass as the siphon and it seems to be working as long as I get the pump to pump fast enough. Some minor tweaking needs done.

Beer yeast bread

2011-03-20T21:04:00.001-07:00

1 cup of water

6oz of (beer yeast bread starters)
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp DME
1 cup of flour

Let sponge set for a hour and then add:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon DME
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups bread flour close to it, add flour until it ball feels right.

Knead until smooth and elastic, or about 5-10 minutes.
Place in oiled bowl, turn dough to coat all sides, cover and let rise until doubled.
Punch down and divide in half. Shape dough in 2 slender loaves.
Pizza stone with cornmeal.
Cover and let rise until doubled.

I like to do a thinned out egg wash after the loaves have doubled.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Grossed the ladies of the house out with the smell of funky beer yeast but the bread turned out real well especially the Hefe.

Fisherman's Pi

2011-03-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Made this on Pi day:

Fisherman’s Pie


Pompano

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1kg cut/diced potatoes
• 1 carrot
• 2 sticks of celery
• 150g good cheese (I used Sottocenere)
• 4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 300g fish fillets, skin off and bones removed
• olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400°F/gas
Roast the potatoes until brown.
Grate the celery, carrot on the coarse side of the grater and add to a casserole dish
Along with finely chopped parsley.

Drain the fish and cut into bite-size chunks and add on top of the celery, carrots and parsley, add about a tbs of olive oil and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. (I like to layer) Make a mornay sauce with the Sottocenere (flavored with truffle oil, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, licorice, fennel, anise and clove) and add the roasted potatoes
40 min @ 400

It was quite tasty I have to say. Good comfort food.

Beer yeast bread starters update

2011-03-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Fed the bitches 50g of water and bread flour stirred, covered and back on top of the fridge. The Hefe smelled a bit sweet, the Belgium had a cheesy smell, and the Chico had a clean and the best aroma but all three had a strange yeast smell, somewhat like a sourdough starter and not like your everyday bread yeast. I hope it carries over into the bread.

Pizza dough made a better pizza today, even the kids liked it.

pizza dough

2011-03-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

I decided to go back to a basic pizza dough recipe and not use the one with malt extract and beer as that one was a bit too chewy and I need a base recipe to start off so I can adjust it. I haven't made this one yet so I will post and let you know. I also like to slow ferment the dough overnight for that beer taste.

Ingredients
7g active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Mix well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and doubled
Form dough and bake in preheated 500 oven until.

Crusty dough bread

2011-03-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

2 cups of water take out half of the water for the sponge
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp DME
1.5 cups of flour

Let sponge set for a few hours and then add:
Rest of the water and
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon DME
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups bread flour close to it, add flour until it feels right.

Knead until smooth and elastic, or about 10 minutes.
Place in oiled bowl, turn dough to coat all sides, cover and let rise until doubled.
Punch down and divide in half. Shape dough in 2 slender loaves.
Lightly coat with pan spray and then sprinkle with cornmeal 1 cookie sheet.

Cover and let rise until doubled. I like to do a thinned out egg wash after the loaves have doubled.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

pizza dough

2011-03-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

Makes Ten 14g pizzas, each measuring 6 inches in diameter
starter 200g moderately hopped beer
200g bread flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon malt extract

2 1/2 cups water
335g AP
14g Unbleached whole wheat
4 teaspoons K salt
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Knead around 5-8 min

Portion and let rest in the fridge overnight if possible.

Beer yeast bread starters

2011-03-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

As a home-brewer who hasn't brewed in a few years I had some old yeast kicking around in the fridge and I thought I would make some mother starters for bread. I've never done this before and I'm not sure if it will work. If anything I will have some sort of sourdough starter when I'm finished.

Beer yeast and flour starters for bread.

Belgian B
• 100g of bread flour
• 3g Light dried malt extract
• 1 vial of Belgian Saison WLP565 White Labs expired May 16th 2007
• 3 vials of R/O water aprox 90g

Yeast was actually carbonated when I opened it and is showing a lot of activity. The cake was marbled and I am expect the most from this batch.

Chico Mother
• 100g of bread flour
• 3g Light dried malt extract
• 1 vial of WLP001 California Ale White Labs Expired Nov. 20 2006
• 3 vials of R/O water aprox 90g

No activity from the vial I have it in a bowl and wrapped in plastic wrap and rubber-band

Hefe B
• 100g of bread flour
• 3g of Light dried malt extract
• 1 vial of WLP320 American Hefeweizen Yeast White Labs Expired June 29th 2007
• 3 vials of R/O water aprox 90g

No activity from the vial I have it in a bowl and wrapped in plastic wrap and rubber-band

I will also make a control starter with 1 tsp active yeast, 3g of Light DME and 100g of flour and 120g water.

After 3 hours and not much going on I decided I will put them on top of the fridge and check them tomorrow. I am getting some bubbles from all three and the Chico seems to be the most active. The control took off like crazy so I am going to use it for a dinner bread.

Aquaponics

2011-03-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

The start of my AP system. If you ever decide to do this, make sure you clean your growing medium before adding them to the grow bed. I knew it would be dirty but I didn't expect it to be that bad. 4 bags of pea-gravel/river rocks and 1 bag of slate. I just finished removing all and cleaned them as well as the fish tank. Three and a half hours later I have the medium in and now I am doing the siphon adjustments which are different w/o the medium added.

Now all I need are some fish. If anyone wants to donate some catfish let me know. LOL

Didn't do as bad

2011-03-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

as I thought I would. Made an 80, would of received a 91 but I am a bit of a dork and didn't look something up. LOL I will know for next time.

Going to go eat some CFS at the parental unit's house so no baking for me tonight.

Validation

2011-03-09T11:31:00.001-08:00

I think I will have to redo since I did the wrong cake. I am such a dork. Sourdough turned out good.

Validation

2011-03-09T04:32:00.000-08:00

Today I find out if I can bake or not. Or at least find out if I've been paying attention. lol This part of culinary school I haven't been too worried about because baking is what got me interested in cooking in the first place. I practiced a lot last night and I feel better about taking this test. If I get cookies, pancakes and custard I will ace it. hehehe. Ok time for a cup of coffee and review.

3 March 11

2011-03-08T05:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we baked custard and croissants, Justin and I tried our hand at an avocado custard, we should of omitted the sugar and went the savory route. So we had enough time to make another batch of vanilla/nutmeg and they both cooked out perfect. Our croissants turned out

nice but I think the oven was too high. Also while folding the dough I didn't turn it properly so the layers all went the same way thru half of the croissants. They still tasted good. I'm having two for breakfast. Today Jane Goodall is coming to the school for Q&A for the Grace so we will be in the kitchen all day.

The Benefits Of Eating Insects » Cookwork.com

2011-03-07T04:29:00.000-08:00

The Benefits Of Eating Insects » Cookwork.com

Bell Siphon for an aquaponic set up.

2011-03-07T04:23:00.000-08:00

My new research project.

More baking class

2011-03-02T17:12:00.001-08:00

Baking Class

Bread

2011-03-02T04:41:00.000-08:00

Baking bread today and I know at least one of them is going to be a sourdough. I am reading the sourdough section in On Cooking this AM. Did I mention I like this book?

We received our knives the other day with the exception of our chef knife. I keep wanting to buy one but I know I shouldn't and I am refraining from doing so but it is still fun to do the research. I like these knifes because they are so sexy. Fusionwood Knives. Tempting isn't it.

1 March 2011 Time management

2011-03-01T20:38:00.003-08:00

Onion Ring Loaves - Fail I didn't let it proof long enough the second time around. The whole point of time management. lol

5 min scaling
20 min proof
35 min Bench
15 cooking
10 cool

t/96

Spiced Oat Meal Cookies - Mat took this one and did well, a little under-cooked at first but he put them back for a couple more min and they came out just right.

5 min gather and scale
3 to cream
5 to shape
12 to cook
10 to rest

T/35

Crepes - I think they came our real well but when I reheated them they were a bit like sheets of rubber.

5 min to gather and scale
2 to mix
5 min to cook
t/12

Fudge Icing - Added a squeeze of orange and the flavor waw good, we used it on the cake and it was too sweet.

10 min to gather and scale
5 to mix
t/15

Pineapple Coulis

5 to gather and scale
15 prep
5 production
sorbet 12 min.
t/37

Strawberry Gelee- Mat did another good job on it.

5 to gather and scale
20 Production
t/25

American pound cake Texture was perfect but I think it was cooked a little too long. Chef C said it was good and we will use it for bread pudding. hmmm yum.

10 to gather and scale
5 to cream
75 min cook time
15 rest
20 to ice and fill

t/2 hrs 5 min

High Ratio yellow cake in cake pan Perfect texture, bad choice of icing another good job Mat.

15 min to gather and scale
15 to mix
35 production
15 to cool
30 to cut and ice
t/1 hour 15 min.

When gathering items, gather for more than one recipe.

Example:

Standardized Recipe- 20 servings
Exe Chef first made it and it takes 60 min. (multi by 1.5) = 90 min
$1.75 per serving/food cost

Sous Chef makes 15 an hour it will take $22.50 to make divide by 20 (servings)= 1.11
add 1.75 to each serving = 2.86 x.35 = 1.01 =3.86 + 2.86 (double labor and cost) = 6.73 around up to $7.00

.35 per serving is an average of other costs to cover in shop.

Food cost 30%
Labor cost 20%
utilities 15%
Rent 10%
Taxes 14%
unknown 5%
unknown 6%

28 Feb 2011

2011-02-28T11:05:00.002-08:00

American style butter cream

.5 lb butter
2 pinches salt (iodized)
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1. Cream butter,
2. Sift salt and sugar,
3. Add vanilla and beat until it is smooth and light.

Basic Sugar Glaze

4.25oz Sifted powdered sugar
1 fl oz milk
.5oz Butter
1oz vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients stir until smooth add milk after smooth

Chocolate Ganache

1lb Bitter sweet chocolate
.5pt of heavy cream
.5 fl oz coffee extract

1. Chop chocolate
2. Cream to a boil, add chocolate stir to a liquid form.

2011-02-28T11:05:00.000-08:00

2 Bear Claw - filling with cream cheese and brown sugar. Cut a square and place filling as a rolled log.

2 Pinwheel - Dried fruit and cream cheese maybe sugar, square dough cut co

2 Chocolate croissant - roll out thinner than you normally would to add the chocolate.

Danish Blueberry - roll dough cut slices on both sides and interlace dough.

Pizza dough - 6 to 1 All Purpose to High Gluten

Icings - higher butter fat
Butter-cream 3 types French (egg yokes) Italian (egg whites) American (lightly salted butter, powdered sugar. rich but light smooth fluffy.)
Fondant - Cooked mix of sugar and water.
Foam - Hot simple syrup added to whipped egg whites. Very hard to do suppose to be light fluffy and sweet.
Fudge - Sugar, butter, milk or butter.
Glaze - powder sugar and a liquid
Royal icing - uncooked mix of powder sugar, egg whites which makes it hard brittle when dry.
Ganache - melted chocolate and cream. Whipped or poured.

Laminated dough

2011-02-28T04:48:00.000-08:00

Today we are going to be baking up our dough that we (Heather) prepared on Thursday. That should be good. I'm not sure what else we are up to but I'm looking forward to it. Baking after all is what got me into cooking. I understand why most cooks/chefs don't like to bake. (If you have issues with controlling every aspect of a dish) It is process you have to go through and hope you got every bit of the formula right. As for cooking you are able to tweak to save a dish if you didn't do it exactly like the recipe is written.

I usually try doing my own homework on what we are doing in class but this weekend I was prepping my garden and visiting friends. I did make some biscuits last night for dinner using bread flour (I thought that is all we had) and I did laminated the left over dough to see if that would help with leavening and it did somewhat but still some nice hockey pucks were had.

Hopefully today I will get to set up to take some more pictures. Who knows maybe I will be doing something with media and food for my capstone.

Photo site

2011-02-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

I should of been doing other stuff today but I wanted to update my photo site. Y'all check it out.Vidhead

Today we are making

2011-02-24T08:00:00.001-08:00

a sour cream coffee cake, english mufffins, oatmeal chocolate cookie, flour-less chocolate sponge cake and starting a laminated dough.

Baking

2011-02-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

I was trying out a different way of blogging and lost my whole post so I think I will stick with blogger for a little while longer. Here is a link and picture of what we did yesterday. Boring post I know but I need to get ready for work now.

Baking

2011-02-22T08:08:00.000-08:00

Our new block is baking, we finally got to spend some time in the kitchen.- We had to make five items, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sugar cookies, Southern biscuits, Focaccia, Baguette. Chocolate chip cookies formula is made with shortening instead of butter or other fat. I made a change to the formula and added half butter. Didn't make that much of a change other than crispy edges. We did over proof our bread but that was my fault I didn't follow up on where it was placed while it is proofing and my partner had to test out on the bar setup. It was totally disorganized and chaotic and fun. Today we are talking about pies- Pate' Brissee (Un-sweet dough, Flaky) inbetween with less flaky- more flaky. less flaky is considered mealy or short. Pate' Sucree is a sweet flaky IE tarts. Pate Sablee IE. Short bread.

Capstone

2011-02-21T04:33:00.000-08:00

I keep obsessing over this project. It is exciting but I need some crucial information before I can continue. Regardless I will still be making a test project. On another note, what is every-one's favorite fish to eat? I personally like "pan" fish. IE blue gill, crappie.

Capstone

2011-02-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

I think I have my Capstone project. More information may or may not come later if it proves to be a viable project. I am a bit obsessed with the thought and possibilities. I think it could be big.

New fruit trees are in

2011-02-19T05:36:00.000-08:00

Five of them, which means I need to dig 5 holes this morning. 3 peach and 2 apples. Just one more cup of coffee...

Clean Slate

2011-02-18T07:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, New Title of blog and site. Clean Sink. I think I will stick with this one. All links have been fixed.

Happiness is a..

2011-02-17T05:22:00.000-08:00

Cleansink

Name change

2011-02-17T04:57:00.000-08:00

I need to come up with a better name or title to my website and this blog. I thought about Foodspotting but that appears to be taken by quite a few different foodie blogs and sites. Since movies have been a huge part of my life the past 20 years I was trying to incorporate it into the title. Any suggestions?

Cream of Artichoke and Leek soup

2010-11-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

3 whole artichokes
2 leeks, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1.In a steamer or in a colander over boiling water, steam artichokes 45 minutes, until tender.
2.While artichokes are steaming, heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute 1 leek in oil until translucent. Saute additional leek and with the water pour in broth and cook 30 minutes.
3.Scrape the flesh from each artichoke leaf and place in the pan with the leeks. Scrape the prickly choke away from the heart of the artichokes, chop the hearts and add to the leek mixture. Return to medium heat and stir to combine. Slowly stir in milk, but do not boil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Video Expo closing

2010-07-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

Rob Gwilt the owner of Video Expo store since 1994 has decided to close the shop due to his father retiring and will be taking over Reel Action Video in Clyde. Economic hardships, illegal downloads, coping and pirating and sharing copies of new theateral movies has caused the store to be less profitable than it once was. Taking over Reel Action Video is a family friendly and a long time buisness in Clyde and since Rob lives in Clyde it will eliminate the almost daily round trip to Abilene.

Video Expo is where you went to get something a little more obscure than the general new release. They carried Hong Kong and other Asian favorites, cult classics, Anime, TV series, and is well known for their 5 movies 5 days 5 dollar daily special. Chances are you may not find those little known favorites at the bigger chain stores, but you generally could at Abilene's niche and oldest video store Video Expo.

The plan is to have the store closed by August 20th 2010 and will be selling off all merchandise starting sometime around July 19th 2010. Everything is for sale; if it does not have a price, please ask, long time Expo employees Elaine 15 years, Mickey 14 years and Phil 13 years are going to be organizing the store to sell common genres like comedy, drama, action, seperate areas of the store for $5.00 each. New releases and more unusual titles will sell for $9.00 on the other half of the store as well as Blu-Ray for 9.99 each. Adult movies will start at half off the set price. Series and Anime sets will be priced as marked. Video Expo will also be selling racks, registers, DVD players, and other Misc. equipment.

Hollywood Video, a chain of movie stores with locations across the country closed it's doors earlier this year and several other video-rental stores in the area have closed recently because of the changing market

We are really disappointed that we are closing amd the hardest part will be not visiting with our friends who come to visit on a regular basis. The closing of Video Expo leaves just one independent video store left in Abilene, Box Office Video on Judge Ely and we encourage everyone to support your locally run stores.

To all our dedicated customers, we thank you for your support and love of great film and making work an enjoyable experience these past 16 years.

More and updated information will be posted at our website http://www.vidhead.net

HTPC setup so far

2010-04-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Rosewill Wind Knight Case with pre-installed 2x 120mm Fan

ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Mother.

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 32-bit.

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive.

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel

AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor

COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus

ASUS ENGT220/DI/1GD2(LP) GeForce GT 220 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0

to do list

2010-04-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

To Do List, not prioritized yet or complete.

Garage clean and prep
Bathroom (kids)
Garretts room
Carport
Front porch (clean and repair roof)
Book shelves
Entertainment center
Kennel
Change office around
Fix kennel walk way
Ceiling (lights and replace)
Bathroom (ours)
HTPC
Trim trees
Garden

Kitchen/house

2010-04-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, my last post was in October, which coincidentally is when I started my new job. Since then, I haven't had time to really work on the house other than trying to clean up the yard and put my sorry excuse of a garden in. (I should be mowing now instead of posting on this blog.) I did order and finally start to build our Kitchen/HTPC. The plan is to have a touchscreen PC in the kitchen to use as a central point for receipes, weather, security, surfing and controlling media content for the rest of the house. Last year while I was researching for the kitchen PC, there was hardly anything out there. A year later, it appears that a lot more people have had the same idea as me. Touchscreen computing. (lots of links)

While remodeling, I made sure I ran cables from one side of the room to the other including, HDMI, VGA, speaker, coax and ethernet--just so we can run the media center on kitchen PC and to channel media to the big screen. Yes, I know there is thing called wireless, and I am sure I will be integrating more wireless as I go As this projects keeps going on, it keeps morphing into different ideas. We were thinking traditional kitchen setup with table and that's it, but now we are thinking more of an internet cafe look and function. The west wall now has sheetrock up, and now we are going to make the whole wall a bookcase. Between the wife and me, we have tons of books. Right now, though, they are all in storage, and we would like them available. In front of the west wall, we will be building a bar/computer desk that will hold at least two computers; the bar/kitchen table will have the kitchen computer with the touchscreen. The idea is to have retractable screens and keyboards so we can all sit around for dinner and also use it for our media-centric family.

Just a small update for now, and I will be posting more since I now have my computer up and running. I will post more pictures as I go. But for now, I really need to go mow some grass.

TV

2009-10-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

Pocket door is in, sheet rock is up, painted and TV is hung. Now I have to figure out how to make an entertainment closet/center. Small update on what I've done.

I still need to sheet rock the west wall and paint and decide on what to do with the ceiling. Panels seem the most obvious choice, but I may put up more sheet rock.

Oh hold

2009-08-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Home repair has shifted, mother has taken over all space to fix up the kids rooms. I've managed to add some sheet rock over the pocket door frame and above the door. The girls room is coming along real nice tho and the boy child is next with a new bed and dresser. Pictures coming soon via the wife.

Twitter

2009-06-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

Finally started using my twitter account. Posting about movies and other reel stuff...

Cabinet Drawer

2009-03-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

As you've seen in the previous post I made a drawer from the kick area of the cabinet. See lots of wasted space...

There are a few plastic pieces that hold the front of the kick board on so I cut them and glued the kick board down flat for more support. Make sure you only use 1" screws, 1 1/4" will go all the way through. oops...

I am not going into detail how I made the actual drawer, but here it is with the slides attatched.

BREAK TIME

mmmm

yum brownie anyone?

Ok, almost finished project, I just need to put the face and handle on it.

The other ones I made.What a pain this one was...

Intro

2009-02-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

I am starting this blog so I can keep up with what I have have and haven't finished yet. We started to look for a house before the housing market crashed, and every time we found a house we really liked, I knew we should not get into another loan. So we decided to start fixing up the house we already own. The kitchen is where we started, as there was no joy in cooking in the existing setup: only one person could be in the kitchen at the same time.

From kitchen

When the side-by-side refrigerator doors were open, it blocked the entrance. When we were doing the dishes, nobody could get through or open the cabinet doors to put away the pots and pans, and the open dishwasher door took up about half the floor space. The next post is an original post on my myspace page a year ago, February 26, 2008

Endless project

2009-02-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

Remodeling, not the Laundry... Particle wood sub flooring is not a choice I would of made when putting floors in a house. A leak under the house caused some pretty bad damage to the kitchen and dining room floor. After fixing two other holes in the house I finally decided to claim this one our insurance. Since it happened in two rooms we got enough coin to tear out the old floor and replace a 6'x6' POS sub flooring with real plywood.
It started as a small hole and as I pulled up more carpet we found out it went further under the sink where there was obviously an older leak.
So, after tearing the sink out I had to replace the whole area with new sub flooring and relocating all the plumbing. I didn't take pictures of the huge hole but here are some before pictures or the dismantling of the kitchen.

After all of this I placed the sub flooring in and started with the Laminate flooring, We've been buying it for awhile for this project and the rest of the house but it turns out the flooring we were buying and used for the kids bathroom, hall and living room they quit selling it and we were unable to find it so we had to go with a different style that almost matches.

Not too noticeable and it transitions from the living room to the kitchen area just fine.

hmmm lovely wallpaper...

From kitchen

Nice looking cabinets, no?.. (particle wood with contact paper and plastic molding...niiice)

Brought in the new sink cabinet and after much struggling with the plumbing I finally get it all working including the new dishwasher and a couple of other new cabinets. Oh yeah, before I could continue I had to fix the wall were we are moving the sink and counters to. The previous owners had an air conditioner in the wall and when they removed it they did a half ass job repairing the wall, missing studs flimsy paneling etc. Don't worry we are adding a splash board and hanging cabinets to this wall so we won't have to see such lovely paneling and wallpaper. Meanwhile I got a 30 inch cabinet and modified it so the toe kick could be used as another drawer. I always felt that is was a waste of space not to have a drawer there so I built one in.

I plan on doing a step by step how to on my next cabinet I buy so I can show how easy it is to do this. Yes, I'm a geek and I've spent all kinds of time on the net trying to find other ideas for hidden storage. If anyone has any ideas I would like to hear them. Until next time..