Trin Trin and Tobago

All big events/accomplishments deserve to be celebrated and it’s for that exact reason I decided to treat myself to a little vacay before I entered a world where vacay's would be almost non-existent. Destination of choice was Trinidad and Tobago! A fellow classmate (JWU peep) calls Trinidad home, and what a better way to see a country than with your very own personal tour guide. This trip quickly turned into a food and "beverage" tour, and well who am I complain, I am on vacation after all. My trini tour guide, Ms. Quan Kep, did not disappoint! It was some of the best food I have ever had followed by some of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen.  From the moment we landed it felt like we were on a eating and drinking marathon. Everything served with a side HOT pepper sauce, and although I found it hard to eat to salt fish and roti for breakfast I still enjoyed every moment of it. Here is a little recap on what we ate and ehhh hmmm drank; Doubles, Carib, Roti, Crispy Pork (the best pork I have ever had), Carib Carib, Shark and Bake, Carib Carib Carib, Instant Coffee (blah although quite delicious when made by Ms. Quan Kep), Pickled Pineapple, Sour Cherries, Coconut Cake, Carib Carib Carib Carib, Ripe Mango fallen off the tree (from floor to mouth), Puncheon, Salt Fish, and Ohh Carib! Below are some pics from my trip - Enjoy!

Fancy Cocktail

Pickled Plums, Cherrys, Mangos, Pineapple

Ms. Quan Kep's Pork

Fruit Stand

Corn Boiled in Coconut Milk

My Best Friend - Carib

Beautiful Beach in Tobago

Sunset in Tobago

Trinidad's Food Truck

Hot dog topped with cheese and garlic sauce

DOUBLES !!!

Cashew

Me and Travel Companions !!!

A Chef Trying To Make It

Ok, so its been a while since I have done a post and I know the 4 fans(you know who you are) have been itching for some more, so here we go, I'm back! I should tell you that the direction of the blog is going to change a bit, I should probably change the heading from "a chef in the making" to "a chef trying to make it". I have recently graduated from Culinary School and am nearing the end of my internship, now is the time I need to decide to stay and stick it out in relatively successful company slaving away at nights, scarificing my already non-existant nightlife or try to make the move into a smaller company where my work/life balance might be a little prevelant. None the less, I will try to bring you some exciting posts on me and my life in the process.

Stay Tuned !!!

Hey - It's been a while !

Now that I am on "Spring Break" (wheres my bikini top?) I have had a few minutes to myself which means I can actually do a few blog posts. Trimester two is officially over, I have one more trimester of labs and then I'm off to my muy importante internship and I'M DONE !!! There have been quite a few new and exciting things that have happened lately, so stay tuned for those cheeky blog spots coming your way.

Here are some pics of my last class Intro to Baking - not only did we learn the importance of scaling but we also learned how much butter goes into some pretty damn good cinnamon rolls !!!

Challah Bread (Top to Bottom - Three Knot, Four Knot, Five Knot, Six Knot)



Chocolate Cookies (we added Bacon)



Crossaints (Mmmm Mmmm Gooooood)



Cherry Pie (Before)

Cherry Pie (After)

Did Someone Say CHOCOLATE !!

Chocoholics Unite ! Last weekend was the Fairchild Tropical Gardens International Chocolate Festival, and I was lucky enough to volunteer and participate in demo's with some the best chef's in South Florida. Fairchild Tropical Garden's has been hosting this event for the past four years, where they invite South Floridians to come and immerse themselves in all things chocolate, coffee and tea. I had the pleasure to work with two great chef's this past Saturday. Chef Andrea Curto Randazzo, a Top Chef Season 7 contestant and chef and owner of Creative Tastes Catering. She demoed a double chocolate cupcake with a malted buttercream topped with a bacon toffee - ummm everything is better with bacon !!!! Next up was one of my favorite chefs in SoFla - Pastry Chef Hedy Goldsmith from Michael's Genuine. I have engorged on her desserts at Michael's twice now and can still remember the taste of her famous chocolate cremosa dish. Needless to say I was uber excited to work with her. Her, and her mini entourage, were nothing but nice. She, of course, drew the largest crowd and I would be lying if I didn't say that I snagged a piece of her dish for myself to taste later. She decided to make a double chocolate biscotti infused with orange paired with these chocolate jellies (that were almost fudge like). This event would satisfy any foodies dreams, well recognized chefs are like celebrities to the 1% of the culinary community (shout out to La Castra). I was truly in heaven, both chocolate and foodie heaven!

The Girls and Chef Hedy

Chocolate Jellies tossed in Smoked Sea Salt - Mmmm Mmmmm Goood !!

Double Chocolate Biscotti



Dinner in Paradise ...



A few weeks ago I helped out with an event for school, it was an event I had been wanting to do for a while, needless to say it was rather interesting. The event was held at Paradise Farms, a local, organic, vegan farm in the Redlands;  Twice a month the farm hosts dinners where well respected Chefs come and cook a dish (or two), only usually organic and vegitatrian ingredients (seafood is OK) They have a budget to go spend at Whole Foods and are able to use anything from the from the farm. I will admit I have never been on a farm before and maybe in my imagination a farm would have everything labeled, but rather the farm at Paradise was more of a beautiful disarray of micro greens, edible flowers, and local Florida trees; like avocados and carambolas. There were three chefs participating in this dinner, and it was our responsibility to hold down the front of the house fort. I openly prefer the back of the house and found myself sneaking out back to snag pictures of their dishes, while neglecting my tables and potential tips. All in all the farm was "fun" - if anything it was an experience on a farm I won't forget. Maybe the next time I will be one of the chefs hosting the event !



Lets go to Europe !

My latest class was all about braising/stewing and the Traditional European dishes that have made there way onto some fancy smacy menu's. I'm sure most of you cook with these two methods on a weekly basis but you just don't realize the "too cool for school" technical terms. Braising and Stewing are very similar methods, they both involve tougher cuts /or working muscles and typically take a longer time to cook. The main difference between the two; is that Braising involves a larger cut of meat and is finished off in the oven., Stewing, is more often than not cubed (preferably into 1" pieces) and left on a stove top. The "longer" cooking time comes into play because you are using tougher cuts of meat that need more time to break down and become tender. One of the most popular braised dishes now a days are short ribs. Below is a pic of some short ribs I made over white truffle polenta (it was a great dish to have on one of those rare Florida cold nights).

Here are some photo's from class - where we also learned how to make fresh pasta. The photo is of "shower curtain" pasta, where you take two sheets of pasta and add fresh herbs in between.

 "Shower Curtain Pasta"

 Braised Lamb Shanks

 Beef Stew

 Veal Roulades

Redlands RoundUp !!!

A few weekends ago me and a friend decided to venture out to the Redlands to celebrate "Redland Heritage Weekend". We started off at The Fruit and Spice Market, and honestly that was all that we had originally planned to do. Due to the festival the Spice Market had many different vendors selling fruits and vegetables, fruit and vegetable plants, spices and jewelry (whenever women attend an event there is always some sort of jewelry for sale). We both opted to buy from the Spice Vendor and bought some delicious fruity Strawberry and Hibiscus Tea. Once we had our fill of the Market we decided to "Live and Let Live" and enjoy all that the redlands had to offer. We found ourselves at Schnebly's Winery, doing a tasting and of course buying some wine to take home (I got the GuavaVino and my friend grabbed Category 3- both are delicious), that then lead us to "Robert is Here". This, by far was my favorite place we went, I have been dying to go to a real "farmer market" and this was pretty damn close. Since it was my first time here I tried a shake, something that they are known for. I opted for the Strawberry Key Lime Shake and boy oh boy was it good. This day was definitely one of my favorite days - partially unplanned, enjoying time with a friend and exploring what Miami and the Redlands have to offer.I cannot wait to go back and buy loads and loads of fresh fruits/vegetables and definitely score some of their local/orangic honey!!!

 

 Peppers Growing at The Fruit and Spice Market

 Strawberry Hisbicuis Tea

 Local Honey with the Friendly Bee's

 Strawberry Key Lime Shake - Yum Yum