almost done...

So im almost done with school! can you believe it?!?!?
next wednesday is our last day. In the mean time we have still been going at it hard.

 Pasta Primavera. Everything from scratch!! It came out so good!! (vegetables:bell peppers, zuchinni, yellow squash)

I made the Mussels! Cooked them in some Garlic, shallots, little cream and white wine, tossed in some lemon zest, lemon juicem diced tomatoes and parsley, basil, and mint and served!! I didnt try them, im sorry but the texture was too much for me but everyone went in on them and said that it was really good!!yayy=]

Deuce.

<3

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God is so Good.

Yall know I was worried about where I was going to extern at. I had to repent because I was praying for something yet I was worried at the same time. But what I Finnally came to realize is that if I pray and still worry it means that I dont have that God will work it out. So lately I have been praying and having COMPLETE FAITH. And I have been seeing God work TREMENDOUSLY. So the blessed news that I have is.....*drum roll* I GOT MY EXTERNSHIP!! WHHOOOPP!!! =] AND its at the Westmoreland Country Club!! I am BEYOND excited to start!! I know that I will be able to learn and grow there. Ready to get in the Culinary World and use the gifts God blessed me with. this is going to be fun=]

Thanks for to those who were praying for me!!

Deuce.

<3

The other day we made a Chicken Galantine and a Pork and Mushroom Terrine. Both came out so good!

With the Chicken Galantine, I first skinned the whole chicken. I layed the chicken skin flat, and with the chicken meat (besides the chicken breast) i ground it up (seasonings and cream). With the Chicken breast I pounded it until it was pretty flat. then laid it on top of the chicken skin. Then spreaded the chcken mixture on top, put chicken tenderloins and pieces of ham in the middle, anndd thennn......

 Rolled it up.....I wrapped it in foil then basically "poached" it.

Today, with one roll i plopped it into the deep frier..YUUMM!! I cant even explained how good it was, but of course everything fried is good....right? ;)

 This is how it looks. It was nice and crispy on the outside...

 With some slices of the other galantine i breaded it (flour, egg, breadcrumbs) then deep fried it.

 We had made a platter using gelatine. First a gelatine with milk (the bottom part) then after decorating the platter with carrots and fennel poured the gelatine (with water) on top.

 Chiken Gelantine and Pork & Mushroom Terrine. The Terrine reminds me of a really fancy meat loaf, haha. (not to down grade the dish or anything). But I had fun decorating this. The meat here wold be served cold, it actually wasnt bad! But I still, as you see, had to have something HOT.

Time is moving so fast.
Im just trying to enjoy these last few weeks of school, ready to Extern SOMEWHERE!! Still praying and looking for a place.

love yall'!!

Deuce.
<3

HEY!!

So ive been gone for a minute but im back.
Sorry for being MIA. School, work, and a lot of God/Church has been keeping me busy!!

Im in my catering and buffet class now. Its kind of hard taking pictures because we are learning how to cook in bulk. But i must say this class is fun and im learning how to really have a sense of urgency to cook and serve.
yesterday we had to do a mini banquet. i was in charge of the crab cakes, i also made a vinaigrette for the salad (which was so good). My classmate Judy made the red bell pepper couli sauce. SOOO GOOD!!!

Mixed up the crab cake mixture, made little patties, breaded in breadcrumbs...

 Vinaigrette and spring salad mix....

 Plating for the crab cake, red pepper couli sauce, and spring mix salad lightly tossed in vinaigrette =)



I shall be posting again soon. Hope you all are doing well. Im still searching for a place to extern at. Sigh.......I dont know where i want to go...pray for me yall!!!

Deuce.

<3

Almost At the End!

So today was the last day of Cuisine Across Cultures Class!! *TEAR*
That class was so much fun and im so glad that Chef Mike Riley was my instructor. Next class is buffet class so that should be interesting!!

Venison Goulash

 Chile Relleno

 Chile stuffed with chicken/cheese

 I battered it after i stuffed it then fried it. The Sauce is Mole Sauce. So good!!!

So today for the last day we had to just come to school and cook with whatever we had. Basically like the show CHOPPED or Iron Chef. We were given a whole chicken and there was just ingredients everywhere. I literally was praying and asked God to just cook with me.  This is what me and God came up with =]......

Marinated some chicken breast, grilled it, made jasmine rice, and diced up some apples and cooked them in some hot paprika and sweet paprika and butter, pinch of sugar and salt. This actually came out good!

 With the thigh i deboned it, sauted some mushrooms, red bell pepper, garlic, onion, and parmesean cheese..stuffed it in the chicken, pinned it up with some toothpicks and put it over a mirepoix (celery, carrot, onion) some water, chicken stock and white wine. and cooked it in the oven covered in foil Then I made some green beans, sauted in butter pinch of salt and a lot of pepper, pinch of red chilli pepper flakes and made some small slices of ginger. And had rice, sprinkled with celantro. This came out gooood too!! But it needs a different color in there.

Well, almost done with culinary school. seems like just yesterday I was tryna think of a name for my blog to start posting things on here. haha! time flies!! and I have no idea whats next. But, God is good, and I know Im just gonna keep on going UP from here!!!

Deuce.
<3

Leggoo
MISO SOUP:

 KALBI RIBS w/ Steamed Rice and BAN CHAN (The spinach and bean sprouts.)

 HIYAYAKKO-cold tofu salad
I took time trying to come up with this plate design lol but its cute i think.

Deuce.
<3

  

Chicken Tameles!!!! and salsa =]

Papusas!!! and some pickled cabbage and carrots. With feta cheese sprinkled on top.

Another successful day. Whoop Whooop!!

Deuce.

<3

PASTA!!

I LOVE PASTA! I mean, who doesnt?? I feel cool that I know how to make it from scratch. WHOOP!!
Dessert First! We made Cannolis! (ka-no-lee) Very interesting mixture (goat cheese, pistachios, dried cherried, and chocolate) was stuffed into the fried dough but this was reallyy good. Which reminds me of ONE of the reasons why I love cooking. You can add in something that seems totally odd with something else, but yet they go perfect with each other. Dont judge a recipe by its ingredients!! haha. =]

 Making the pasta.....

 I made tortellinis also. YUUMM! They are so cute. They look like little belly buttons=]

 Carbonara Pasta. DELICIOUS isn't the word. Everybody in class immediately destroyed their dishes after making this dish! It was So Goooood! And yes, I made the fettuccine pasta noodles from scratch also. So happy they came out good. I was FOCUSED=]

Again if you want the recipes on ANYTHING I post, feel free to let me know and I will be more than glad to send it to ya'!!

..Please continue to pray for me yall! only two months left and I still dont have a place to intern at. But, God is good and I know where ever I go will help me grow and be the best that I can be!!
=]

Deuce.

<3

Shoo-Maii!

Today we made some Chinese Food!!

Won Ton Soup : The filling for the won tons is shrimp, ground pork, green onion, s&p, light soy sauce, sesame oil, just a little bit of beaten egg (tsp), and pinch of corn starch. The soup is just Chicken stock that I cooked the shrimp shells in for a while then strained. Then Just poached the won tons, then put them in the soup!! Came out good!!

 Hong Kong Style Noodle Cake with Seafood Sauce : Too Good! and easy to make. the stiry fry had squid, shrimp, crab meat, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, s&wp, cornstarch, and veg. oil. with Baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, green onions, ginger, garlic, snow peas. After being sauted, tossed it in a sauce that I made with Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken stock, sesame oil, and a little corn starch slurry to thicken it up. I had cooked the Honk Kong style egg noodles, then let them dry, then put it together in a flat circle and fried it. You can Kind of tell by looking at the bottom it is some what like a noodle "cake". It was So Good!!

 Siu Mai (Shoo-mai) : These were just steamed pork dumplings. The filling is with ground pork, shrimp, water chestnuts, soy sauce, Rice wine, sugar, sesame oil and cornstarch. These were really good too, along with the won tons!

Well, I just keep on cookin' and keep on praying and believing and searching for a place to work/intern at. I have to start interning somewhere by April 9th, so i need to find something no later than the middle of March. AGH!! I want to stress, but there is no need because God is always on time and I know something will work out where ever I go!!

Hope you all are doing well, and enjoy the dishes I make!! =]

Deuce.

<3

...and if you like Shrimp and Grits and all em'...

YUUUM!! This whole week, this whole class is just YUUMM!! Every dish is just different, full of flavor, and DEE-LII-SHUSS (Madea voice lol) Im learning so much about the different cultures and getting a little sample taste of how they do things in the culinary world on their side. And Im LOVIN it!! Hope you do too =]
          SHRIMP & GRITS

 Rabbit Jambalaya

Sounds crazy, but after  I blocked out my thoughts that it was rabbit, it was really good, and spicy just like i like it!! Lil Rabbit Tasted like Chicken!!



If you want recipes to try any of the things i post on here, feel free to hit me up and let me know ill send it to ya!! I encourage yall to go and try some of the things I put on here. Most of it is easy to make but real good. Take a step out the norm and go on' head make some rabbit jambalaya =]

Deuces.

<3

Shrooms!

Today I cooked with a lot of MUSHROOMS! I personally dont like mushrooms, BUT, when I cooked with them today it was soooooo goooodd!!!!! Let me show you!!

WILD MUSHROOM BRUSCHETTA: This was sooo good, I can only imagine how mushroom lovers would feel about this. It's wild mushroom mix (cimini, shiitake,chanterelle, portabella, and a couple others) sauted in butter, olive oil and shallots. Added white wine and a little water and cooked au sec (dry). Then melted in some parmigianino reggiano (parmesean cheese). I toasted some of the bread  then put some mascarpone cheese on it (yuumm!!) then just topped it off with the wild mushroom mix!! A bite of this gives you so many different flavors, all soft and not over powering each other. I was surprised the shrooms even had flavor. lol

 POLENTA PASTICCIATA: This is Polenta and its layers with (Pasticciata) which is sweet italian sausage, carrot, onion, celery, garlic, porcini mushrooms, red wine, cut up tomato, (salt, and balsamic vinegar for taste)and topped with rosemary and parsley. on top is sliced melted fontina cheese. This was good too! Polenta reminds me of a softer corn bread, and the meat mixture went well with it, had a lot of flavor. The green stuff on the side is BROCCOLI RABE: just broccoli rabe, with onion, garlic, anchovy, red pepper flakes, s&p and evoo.

 Farro Risotto. Just Risotto but with FARRO which is a yummy grain!! I put a little too much cheese in mine (I know, how could there ever be too much cheese!?!?!) but if I would have added a little less it would have been just right. But the flavor, texture of the farro came out good!

today was successful!! Everything came out so good, and I thank God for always BLESSING my food!!

Keep me in your prayers. I have no idea where I am going to be doing my intern at =/ Im praying for direction! 

 have a good day my little criminis!!

Deuces.

<3

wooahh kimosabe!

Today we made SUSHI!!!! && today i struggled =/  It was kinda hard to roll it. I wish we had more rice, I wouldve practiced more. But I was limited. But overall it came out pretty good and I was proud of myself.

 I had made California Rolls, Spicy Tuna Rolls, (Left) w/ raw Tuna, (right) Salmon. The Spicy Tuna roll was mixed with chili paste, mayo, cilantro, and a dash of soy sauce. It was good! I was nervous because of the raw tuna but it was reallly good!

Check out my little leaf I made with the Wasabi =D

This brought back memories of when me and Athenna tried making Spam Musabi back in the day. LOL TOTAL FAIL!!! but we still ate it. Now that I have a little experience making/rolling it the right way Im going to have to make some for her when I go back to cali!

Deuces
<3

Some Mo' Samosas Please!

Very pleased with the outcome of todays dishes!! Yesterday we learned about the Indian culture. I was excited to cook today because ive never had Indian food before, just a thought of what it might be like. (SPICY and FULL of flavor!) & Todays dishes was just that.

TURNIP, POTATO AND GREENS CURRY: This dish was simple yet really good, definately full of flavor. We used Spinach, turnips, potatoes, ginger, green chile, mustard seeds, Cumin seeds, curry leaves, turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, s&p, and tomatoes. As you can see the spices used are strong ones! But this dish was so good. I served it with Basmati Rice and Pickled carrots and celery I had made (from vinegar, salt, sugar, cumin and a little bit of pepper. That came out good too (if you like pickled things....I do!)

                                              

 This is the same thing, except the pinkish stuff is RED BEET RAITA. I was pretty surprised at how much I liked this!! Its, Red beet (I roasted it in the oven first thing), with a mixture of yogurt, sugar, salt, cumin, sesame seeds (i didnt use that today), Scallions and cilantro. I saw some fresh mint leaves and imagined it going well with this mixture so I put some in there, and it went OH.SO.Well (yayya). The beets are to be folded into the yogurt mixture after being cut and not so much that it turns pink. I forgot to add LIME (which really adds a good kick to it) so i had to mix more than I wanted to. But it doesnt hurt, it just looks more pretty with the white and red swirls=]

   Me Preppin for the Samosas *Big Smile*

 This was http://thebombdiggidy.com/

SAMOSAS

Sooo easy to make. And so DEE-LISH!!lol the Filling is...Cumin seeds, ginger, serrano chile (or jalapeno or what ever chile you prefer, i say the hotta' the betta'!) Shallot, Russet potato, sweet potato, salt, green peas, and cilantro. The dough was very easy to make too. Just flour, black pepper, turmeric, ghee (very clarified butter) baking soda, warm water and a pinch of salt. Just knead it for about 5 minutes, let sit for about 30min, the roll out!!=] The Green stuff is Green Chutney (serrano chile, shallots, lime juice, mint leaves, cilantro, fresh ginger, sugar, yogurt, and water and salt as needed) This was SPICY!! but GOOD!! It went too well with the Samosas. I want some more already!!!

Hope you all are enjoying the different cultures of food as much as I am!! I get to learn to make SUSHI next! I can not WAIT until i get to coook for family and friends!

Love&Peace

Deuce.

<3

HEY!! =]

todays dishes consist of:

Pastelles de Yucca: this is ground beef, ham, with onion garlic achiote paste, onion, mild green chile, cilantro, raisins, spanish olives and capers...its all wrapped in a yucca and potatoe mash, wrapped in a big banana leaf.

You roll it and tie it. Then put it a boiling pot of water and cook for 45 minutes.

Plate & serve. It was hard plating this dish, it was kind of soft.

It came out alright. I dont like bananas at all and the banana leaf really did give off banana flavors lol but i think i would have liked it more if i didnt wrap it in the banana leaf.

Bobo de Camarao with fried Yam Chips: This was really good. all it really is is Cassava (yucca) boiled and cooked until tender, then mashed liked potatoes, then mixed with coconut milk, cream, and cilantro, all cooked until flavors develop. i had made a "shrimp stock" with the shrimp shells after i peeled and devained the shrimp. i sauted the shrimp in onion and garlic in the pan, then after the cassava creamy mixture was strained i put the shrimp in and cooked just for another minute. Also, I just cut up some yams with the mandolin and then deep fried them. Came out good!!



Everyday, I have no choice but to progress and grow. I have a million and two things going on in my mind, just about everything. But I am staying strong in prayer and in faith.

Deuces

<3

SPICE World

So we learned a little about spices and Moroccan food yesterday. Today we made a few seasonings/sauces, and cooked with Beef, Scallops, && Quail. It all came out sooo good! Enjoy=]

 The Top beef skewer was marinated with a Chimmichurri sauce that I made. Everyone used it up before I was able to decorate my plate *sad face*. But it still came out good. The bottom beef skewers were seasoned with a Southwestern Chili Powder that i made. It was a pretty good mixture of spices! and Spicy, just like a like it ;)   (im not gonna list all the ingredients, its soo much!!)and its decorated with Saffron Israeli CousCous.{ My beef looks over done but i promise its not.It wasnt that dark. Its the camera on my phone (lol) My chef said it was cooked perfect. yay.}

These are Moroccan Skewered Scallops. On the left, it was marinated with Charmoula. (another sauce i made). On the right, its seasoned with Ras el Hanout (all the seasonings and sauces/marinates i had to make). And then also the Saffron Israeli CousCous.

 Poor Quaily.

They were so adorable.

 Quail Yakitori

Yakitori is a Japanese glaze, and its usually applied at the end of cooking (so it wont burn). First I seasoned the quail with Shichimi Togarashi (A Japanese 7-spice seasoning I made). Then glazed it with the Yakitori at

the end. I only tasted a little piece because I felt bad for the lil fellow but it was really good.

This was seasoned also with the Shichimi Togarashi, but I made a Peanut Sauce with this one. My Peanut Sauce came out soo good I was happy becuase I love me some good chicken skewers with a good peanut sauce, so I was happy i got to make one (and now i have a recipe! yee!)

Deuce.

<3.