donuts...

We made donuts today in class. I was really excited about this. My very own donuts. From scratch. Warm and fluffy and filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate. Or so I thought...

My partner and I were assigned to make filled donuts. Great, no cutting of holes in the middle of the donut. It should have been easy enough right? No... because you are basically making a fried pastry, you need to make sure you aren't handling the dough too much. If you knead or work the dough too much, then gluten develops and what you end up with is a lead bomb in your tummy! A greasy, oily, carb-loaded bomb. Not appetizing right?

So what we ended up with was a very sticky, soft dough, that we couldn't flour too much. (Because who wants to eat a floury fried piece of dough?) This is when my lack of patience usually rears it's ugly head. If I was doing this at home, by myself, with no one around, I'd talk myself down. I'd say, "It's all good. So what if the dough just stuck to the rolling pin? And your fingers? What other options do you have? Go figure it you while you wash all that goo off your fingers." But instead when I'm in class working with someone, I freak out a little and usually say something like "This stupid dough." and then huff and then my partner decides to flour the dough generously and press it into a flat layer so she can cut circles out of it while I wash dishes until I'm in a better place. So I'm guessing all my partners probably think I'm a hot head and I wonder if I wouldn't be better off on my own. But I'm usually glad I have a partner because then I realize if I knew everything about all the recipes we make, I wouldn't be in the class.

So overall the donuts were a bit of a disappointment. They were a little too greasy and the room mysteriously smelled like fried fish with the 4 pots of oil bubbling away. I did make a pastry cream in the 15 minutes before class started (by myself - see I can get things done quickly and without fuss when I'm focused), so I filled a few donuts with that and made a chocolate glaze and smothered the top in the glaze and said to myself, "If it was just a little less greasy, I'd say this is way way way better than the Dunkin Donuts' Boston Creme donut." But mine was just slightly warm and a little crunchy on the outside edges, and the chocolate glaze was so much better, so I guess it was good...

And just so you know, the other donuts that were made were raised doughnuts (made with yeast - just like the filled doughnut dough), sour cream doughnuts and chocolate sour cream doughnuts (both made with baking powder).

I'm holding out for brioche tomorrow! Endless possibilities there! I think I've been too afraid to ever try making brioche (although I've collected and researched recipes) because I didn't think I could ever create anything as wonderful as I had while traveling around Europe years ago... I'll let you know how it turns out!

commuting commentary

I see the weirdest things commuting in NYC. Way weirder than I ever would have in Boston.

The day before Thanksgiving, when I got off the train at Hoboken, there were bunches of men in camouflage and blue uniforms with semi automatic guns. They were passing out fliers that the color of alert had risen to yellow. I don't think I should have to look at guns until after I had caffeine. I think that is fair.

Today I saw a woman on the train that looked like she had so much plastic surgery that she was wearing a mask. You know how you can't believe what your eyes are seeing that you find yourself just gazing back when you know should just move on? How is it her wrinkled hands look 60, but the skin on her face looks like a 20 year old models'? Also, is the sun out in some part of the northeast where I could still get a tan? Oh, she must not be telling where it is... maybe it only shines on the balcony of her condo.

Every now and then I see a little girl and her mom on the train at the end of the day. The little girl is maybe about 2 years old and is always snacking. She's super cute and so content just shoveling food into her face at the end of a long day. But the poor kid seems to inevitably dump her muffin or cookie or whatever on the floor of the train. If she wasn't strapped in her stroller she'd definitely just get down and eat off the floor. I always feel so bad for her. I think her mom must anticipate this because she always has a little store of what the girl was eating to replenish a little tupperware cup. Otherwise she fusses and cries, but not too much... she stops after she gets her sippy cup.

a 27lb turkey with a side of g.love

I guess I've been a little busy lately... busy enough that I haven't found the time to update this lovely little thing!

I finished the first quarter of my schooling about a week and a half ago. If you can believe that! Right now we've started doughs. This includes everything from breads to doughnuts to pies. So far the silliest thing I've had to do is care for 2 starters (one rye and one sourdough). This includes feeding them and since I forgot to bring them home a day early, they also had the pleasure of going to the G.Love concert with me on Wednesday night. I think they had a good time. I certainly did! They also got to take a road trip to RI for Thanksgiving. These starters will definitely have a unique taste!

Thanksgiving saw 18 people, three dogs, two cats and a bird gather together for a fun filled evening of incredibly, precisely roasted, juicy turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, roasted root veggies, mashed potatoes, too many different kinds of beer and wine to count, lots of laughs and translation of french and english! My middle cousin recently was engaged to a guy she met in France (and has been dating for about 2 years) and his parents came to meet the future inlaws and celebrate a distinctly America holiday! It was fun to have them, even though I had no idea what they were talking about! :)

I'll try to fill in the time between the beginning of November and the end of November with a few blog updates, because I have a few stories... We'll see what happens!

1st Birthday

I have a lovely little niece and it is her 1st birthday today. She is the cutest little munchkin to walk the earth... I'm lucky to be her auntie! Here is a picture of her showing off her 6 new teeth. She's such a little ham, she knows that she's going to get the oooohhs and aaahhhs and soooo cuuuuutes when she does stuff like this. How can you not fall in love with this face?

Here she is with her mother"ship" when she was a little pirate for Halloween. And yes, from the reports I'm receiving she's standing on her own and taking a few steps before she plops down and waits for her Grama D to start applauding her performance!

mmm... ice cream...

This week marked the end of the most boring (although extremely important) part of culinary management... sanitation. You have to memorize all these rules, temperatures and procedures that are vital to keeping your customers (and staff) healthy and alive. Thinking about all the possible points at which contamination might happen is just frightening. It makes me not want to ever own a place of my own. I know there are so many shortcuts that are taken in kitchen, chefs and cooks often don't follow these guidelines... and sometimes it is at the request of the customer - like cooking a steak only until rare. Anyway, we had to take a test that, if I pass, will certify me as a "food handler." Necessary in my line of work...

We are finishing up marketing and starting costing and supervision. Two new topics that I hope will bring us out of the classroom and on a few field trips! I'm seriously jealous of the other management class that started about 1 month ago and has already visited Daniel, Blue Smoke and Shake Shack... owned/operated two of the most successful restauranteurs in NYC - Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer. I've threaten my friends and family that if I don't get to see these places I might flip out. I'm serious about this.

In baking and pastry we are still learning the basics - eggs, sugar and the combination of the two - meringue, confectionery, custards, puddings, creme anglaise, ice cream mix. The other day we made fudge - on a marble slab! We basically made our own sweetened condensed milk then added chocolate and at the right time (and temperature) turned the mixture out onto a marble slab, dotted it with butter pieces and drizzled on vanilla and then when it reached another much lower temp, worked it with a bench scraper until it was thick. This is called recrystallizing the sugar. But you have to do it at the right moment because if not you could end up with dry fudge or fudge with sugar crystal crunch and let's face it, that is just not as good as a beautiful smooth, creamy, chocolatey fudge. I must say, what I ended up with was delish! Luckily, my lovely friend Renee gave me a marble slab as a moving gift. I honestly almost wanted give it back to her because it was one more HEAVY thing for me to move from Boston, but now I'm sure glad I have it! Thanks Renee - if I make some fudge you might get some samples this holiday season!

We made a nice creme brulee and I got to use a torch for the first time. My Chef had a great torch but it kept crapping out on us, so we used the little butane type and although they took longer, I liked the result a little better than the propane tank torch. I was pleasantly surprised by a creamy, deceivingly light, bread pudding that we made with a little rum and a few golden raisins and about 8 eggs, 6 yolks and milk & cream. I had some for breakfast this morning and it was good. Today we made cheesecakes and ice cream mix. My partner, Janine, and I made a sour cream cheesecake and Cocoa-Nut ice cream. We had a little cheesecake batter left that wouldn't fit into the two 8" cake pans, so I put it into a little metal ramekin and baked it up. It was tangy, and airy, and creamy when I got to taste in still warm from the oven. I had an opportunity to taste the mascarpone cheesecake (that was also baked crustless in metal ramekins) and I felt that it was richer and a bit more buttery. I think I actually liked the mascarpone better. Janine and I decided on an ice cream mix of chocolate and coconut. I'm glad she likes those flavors. The mix has to sit at least overnight to cool and continue to set - basically so the milk fat molecules become distributed through out the mixture before the churning begins. We have Monday off because the staff has an in-service day, so we won't churn the mix until Tuesday, but I'm completely looking forward to tasting ice cream (each group made something different - pistachio, cinnamon, praline, etc.) and all the cheesecakes that have been cooled!

We had our mid-module reviews with our Chef today. Because I missed 2 days, it is completely reflected in my grade right now, but I've done really well on both my quizzes and her suggestion for improvement was "keep up the good work" so I'm quite happy about that. We got to see another classes' chocolate showpieces. Today is their last day of class and their graduation party. They display their chocolate showpieces (their class decided on a theme of "travel destinations") and (possibly) their wedding cakes at the party and tempt their friends and family with an amazing array of chocolates they worked on before their showpieces. For our class we are like little kids when we go to see what they are working on in their advanced lessons. We "ooohhh and aaahhh" and say, "I can't believe that in a few months we'll be at that stage!"

In other news, I decided to apply with the special events department at ICE for a server position so I could earn some extra cash during the time when I'm in school. I figured the holiday season might offer some good opportunities to make some quick money so I can afford to take myself out for $100 dinners every few weeks. I'll just have to remember to try to sit at the bar and hope for a good looking male bartender that is heavy on the pours of wine and forgetful when it comes to adding those to my tab! Then it won't be too expensive! Next on my "must eat at" list... Cafe Gray... and Gramercy Tavern... and wd-50... okay, I'll just stop now!