well, you guys.  i spoke about ten hours too soon.  [see my post from yesterday evening if you have no idea what i’m talking about.]  this morning when i left the house at 8 am, there was a steady dusting of snow floating down from that gray sky that we’ve seen all too much of this winter and a light accumulation of white pretty stuff building up on the sidewalks.  i hadn’t checked the weather for days, so it snuck up on me!  i was so surprised!

the roads were already getting bad, but i went in to work because today was moving day for me – i moved cubicles! – and since it was a big switcheroo with quite a few other people involved, i didn’t want to leave anyone cube-less.  [think domino effect:  i’m the missing domino who stops the whole train.  and yes, the whole move was that elaborate.  glad to have it behind me.]

anyway, i spent the morning getting settled in my new space, and the snow kept coming.  our vp brought in lunch for our department because they were just starting to sand the roads and he was worried about us driving to get lunch, but the food arrived almost an hour late because traffic/the roads were insane, which scared everyone even more [we probably didn’t even get an inch, but this is texas, after all!].  my last meeting of the day ended around 2, so after that, i ventured home [carefully!] and worked from my couch the rest of the day.

so i’ll definitely have to start complaining about how we get no snow more often. ;)

but enough about that.  the purpose of this post is to bring you part dos of advanced food prep.  remember part one that included my marathon of an essay about my mean little asian tiger chef who turned out to be not so bad after all?  yeah, that one.  there’s not a whole lot of other things to say on that topic except that we made some pretty cool dishes, stuff i’d never made or even eaten, for that matter.  here’s the second half of the semester:

{i hate to start with a downer, but the first picture is foie gras, basically a force-fattened duck liver.  it’s huge, and totally inhumane, i know.  i literally can’t think about it or i get really sad.  the picture on the right is what we served it on – tournedos rossini topped with pâté foie gras, plus potato pancakes on the side.  i did have a taste of the pâté foie gras on the entree, because i believe in taking advantage of all opportunities of culinary school while i’m here, and because i know i will never order it in a restaurant or make it at home.  i just tried not to think about it too much.}

{getting ready to butcher and fabricate a strip loin}

{grilled strip loin steak with chimichurri sauce and hungarian potatoes}

{i got to try bitter melon for the first time!}

{checkerboard cookies + an awesome strawberry-cream-filled cake, from the bakeshop}

{a chocolate cake + banana chocolate coconut walnut bread, from the bakeshop… see what i’m up against??}

{grinding beef}

{grilled bacon-wrapped chopped beef “steaks” with marjoram – a.k.a. bacon-wrapped burgers?}

{beef fajitas with guacamole, salsa cruda, and arroz a la mexicana}

{lemon poppyseed bunt cake + raspberry cookies, from the bakeshop}

{apple cake + wedding cake, from the bakeshop.  because in culinary school, it’s not uncommon to have a little bite of wedding cake for a snack before we get to work}  ;)

about 3/4 of the way into the semester, we started appetizers.  instead of all of us making the same dish, each group was in charge of making a different hors d’oeuvre, and then we would have to arrange them on platters and set up the whole hors d’oeuvre table using stuff we had in the kitchen.  the most important thing that we learned about setting up the hors d’oeuvre table is that two dishes next to each other should never be at the same height – one should sit up higher than the other.

on the first day that we did appetizers, we made both a large portion for the hors d’oeuvre table and a small plate/individual portion of each dish:

{shrimp con salsa verde}

{broiled salmon in escabeche}

{grilled mahi-mahi with fruit salsa in wonton shells}

{deep-fried calamari with spicy tomato sauce and deep-fried calamari with aioli}

{individual portion of deep-fried calamari with spicy tomato sauce and aioli}

{crab cakes with roasted pepper remoulade}

{learning how to plate hors d’oeuvres + a plate of yumminess}

{chocolate cookies from the bakeshop}

{lemon tartlets + cinnamon rolls, from the bakeshop}

{more cakes from the bakeshop.  it’s not like we’re about to go eat a four-course meal or anything!}  ;)

{sit-down dinner #3}

{appetizer – shrimp with some kind of avocado cream sauce and tortilla strips}

{salad – spinach and butter leaf salad with berries and cinnamon vinaigrette}

{entree – some sort of steak with fried onion strings and greens}

{dessert – a key lime pie parfait}

{another appetizer day!  this was what i called Brown Food Day.  a.k.a. Super Healthy Food Day.  not.  first up, spinach boreks.  at least they had something green inside!}

{egg rolls on the left, egg rolls + beef samosas on the right}

{chicken & sweet potato fritters + chicken satay}

{some kind of lemon cookie + spicy dark-chocolate-covered homemade pretzels, from the bakeshop}

{black bean quesadillas + spicy meat empanadas}

{cauliflower pakoras + beef teriyaki skewers}

{jerk chicken wings and practicing our arranging}

{some muffins and quick breads + croquembouche – a tower of french creme puffs – waiting for us in the kitchen, from the bakeshop}

{okay, cutest turkey ever.  and check out that huge mound of cake and layers upon layers of thanksgiving-colored frosting.  not my favorite, but it’s pretty.}

for extra credit, you could bring in some kind of unique and different food item and use it in a dish that you cook for the class.  only one person in our class did it, and she brought in different kinds of cacti and made some different dishes.  i had tried fried cactus at the state fair one time, but i had never tried it the ways that she prepared it.  she’s from mexico, so she definitely knew how to do it!  i loved it.

{grilled cactus with lime and salt + chopped cactus in i’m not sure what.  it was so good though.}

{she sautéed some chopped cactus with tomatoes and onions and added avocados, then used it to top tostadas!  brilliant, i tell you.}

{my very favorite was the prickly pear fruit that she brought.  although i’d had prickly-pear flavored stuff before, i’d never had the real stuff.  apparently it turns bright red when it’s ripe and it’s much more sweet than when it’s green, but i was IN LOVE with these green ones.  they tasted like a cross between honeydew, cucumber, and kiwi – a lot like how i would imagine cucumber-melon soaps to taste, if it wasn’t soap.  [haha.]  they were a little sweet but not too sweet, and had a lot of crunchy seeds that i spit out at first before i decided that they were slowing me down too much and began swallowing them.  [i’m sure i have an orchard of prickly pear cacti in my belly now.]  i couldn’t get enough of it though!  i seriously think i ate this whole bowl, which was supposed to be for the entire class.  but no one else seemed as enthralled with them as i was, so…}

unfortunately, i had to miss sit-down dinner #4 for a work trip, which was actually a special one –  guests of the students were invited to come and everyone made a different hors d’oeuvre that people could try.  i was sorry to miss it, but work is always the priority.

{cookies from the baking class’s final}

{and for my final exam:  two identical plates of grilled entrecôte topped with demi glace, served alongside israeli couscous and sautéed spinach with garlic.  i still need to work on my grilling skills, but all in all, a good grade.  woohoo!}

and that was it for advanced food prep!  i survived!

hope you’re all having a great week and are staying warm.

xo