Always One Short Of A Full Deck

Well yes I am finally back writing about my adventure up in this wonderful place. I know it has been two week since the last one but Cookies and Petit Fours wasn't all that exciting, ie: limited pictures.



First off I got away for the day yesterday. Need to leave the dorm, the campus, the city; strangely enough I got tired of see the same things over and over again. May be the place is starting to bore me? Mind not the education..the place. So on that note I decided to go to Newport (like going south for a day), that is Rhode Island's most scenic city on the Atlantic Ocean. I packed my bag, had lunch and caught a bus down. Some one and hours later I was there. First off, it was cold and bloody windy; I had to put on my glove just to feel my hands. After spending some time in the visitors' centre, I got directions to the "Cliff Walk", according to the guide 'a rather beautiful 3.5 mile walk along the coast amongst some of Rhode Island's most picturesque mansions.



The "Cliff Walk" was good. Good stuff ok pictures of some beautiful looking mansions, most of all I got away from Providence and JWU and their annoying ass students. Finally got to be on my own. And that was the best part.



Now back to the BPA (Baking and Pastry Arts), I finally switched over to a new segment: Hot and Cold Desserts. Who says I SCREAM FOR ICE-CREAM. Yep ice-cream, sorbet, sherbet and gelato for an entire nine days. Heaven, right!? The new chef is the one who is 'one short of a full deck'. In between her crazy antics she introduces herself and mentioned that she went to the other school, code name for the CIA here, to which everyone replied with a grunt. Oh I have finally met someone more anal than mother. She is stickler when it comes to sanitation, which has already annoyed everyone because they do it so slowly that what should take 30 minutes takes them 3 times as long. Anyway I am a scientist for 9 days, I left out the 'mad', 'crazy' and other synonyms because well I figure I need not admit that I am, because we can basically try any flavour that pops into our tiny little heads. SUPER COOL!! I have already made Passion Fruit Blackberry Ice-Cream, can't wait to try it. To top it off we get to take pictures of our plates, yes we are finally plating some of the some we make. HOORAY - sexy pictures to come.

I also took time to visit the career fair that JWU hosted on campus. I spoke to a chef from Disney and the summer internship that he was offering me was sweet. Paid and your own place plus work like a dog in one of the 12 bake shops producing over 7000 covers. Dude? Where do I sign up? In addition I got some insight into more the research side of things in the pastry world. Some gentlemen from International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) where there and they pointed out that there is a need for research chefs, not food scientists but research chefs especially in the baking and pastries department. Possible switch in major? One will do more digging on this topic to see how much of a need.

Anyway it is early in the morning and my fingers are cold. I am going to do some laundry and hop back into bed.

I Am Going To Be Late..I Am Going To Be Late For Tea

Yeah I find that title fitting for this blog posting. LOL. It kills two birds with one stone. I have started my cookies and petite fours segment and I am quite late with this posting, but I do have reason. Oh wait I should not have to explain myself.

Anyway moving onto better things. Indeed I have started my new segment: Cookies and Petite Fours. First things first petite fours are ridiculously small but super cool because most of the petite fours are served at high tea parties.

It is tea time!!!

But for now in the segment we have done the traditional American Style cookies: Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin and um...ah white chocolate macadamia nut. Oh we also did brownies (yes, brownies are cookies) and some other types of cookies. Next week we start looking at the more traditional tea cookies then onto the petite fours. What I am really excited for is the French Macaroons. I have tried it once and they were an epic fail, so it would be nice to see it done properly.



Outside of class I have been a busy boy. Since it was a long weekend I decided to cross a few things off my to do. And while I was opening my bank account the teller suggested a good sushi place. Now I have had a bad experience with sushi back home so I was a bit cautious. I gathered a few potential liming bubbies and ventured forth. Long story short we ended up at another sushi eating two large platters of pieces. I think the total was 64 pieces of sushi in all. AND IT WAS GOOD!!!

There were some minor adventures that happened, but nothing serious. Went shopping for more winter stuff with Colette. She is in the lead for becoming an actual liming bubby. She too funny to watch...very entertaining.

There is also the potential for me finding my ass a job, working in the Harborside Gym on mornings. It pays decent too; $7.40 US per hour for 4 hours, Mon - Fri. That is serious coin.

I plan to do more shopping tomorrow, since it is Columbus Day on Monday there might be deals.

Me signing off. I hope the weather is hot because it is getting cold here!!!!

Tart On This!

Pies and tart segment is coming to an end. :( :(!! Sad faces and 'awhs' all around. I have my second practical exam coming up so I am super psyched about that especial the decorative aspect. That has always been my weak stop. But before I delve into the delicious, scrumptious menu that I have put together. I will dive into the AWESOMEness that was last night.

Okay so there is a club called BCA (Bridging Culinary Arts) and well basically when you really think about it we are the free labour the university uses for functions that they host here, at least on the Culinary campus.

AND IT IS AWESOME!!!!!!SWEET!!! RAD!! COOL!!! Whatever other synonyms that you can come up with.

Last night was a function for the induction of one of JWU's chefs into the Order of Golden Toque. What is the golden toque you may ask? And I quote "The Honorable Order of the Golden Toque is the highest acclaimed recognition a Chef can receive in America."

So I volunteered my time in the pastry plating department, of course, and I got to spent the evening with the head chair of the Baking and Pastry Department. SWEET!!! :D. Got to ask him about every dessert and pastry question that crossed my mind and even bounced idea off of him to see what he thought of them. He specializes in plated dessert, my weakness, and he gave me some tips about making a proper plate.

But wait.....the night gets better!! Yep it sure did. The building in which the event took place was four floors tall. Why this detail, right? Well each floor was a different region cuisine. So after I had dessert, which was French Macaroons, Assorted Petite Fours, Orange Curd Tarts and Sea Salt Truffles, I made my way to the apps., New England Calm Chowder and Lobster Bisque (I shied away from the Bisque as I started to scratch after tasting). On the second floor it was South American themed, which featured Mexico cuisine. I had grilled octopus with pinto beans and avocado stuffed hearts of palm. On the third floor and may be the best floor; Asia featuring Korean cuisine. There I snacked on mock sushi and crispy skin pork. Italy was the European country themed on the fourth floor; there I had prosciutto wrapped scallops and mozzarella balls, beet sorbet and grilled pizza topped with tomatoes and spinach and prosciutto. And CHEESE. The best Gorgonzola I ever tasted. And OLIVES!!! The night was well worth walking up and down stairs and lifting heavy ass tables and chairs and everything in between.

OTHER UNIVERSITIES AND THEIR BORING ASS LECTURES HAVE NOTHING ON CULINARY SCHOOL....I LOVE CULINARY SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!

So after everything settled down, I hit the hay. Yeah Friday night ended that boring. No girl invited me back to her place nor did she come to mine (even those there is a cute chick in the club)nor did I go get drunk with anyone after we closed off the building.

Saturday however was most uneventful and rather annoying. I spent most of it waiting on a bus to take me to Walmart.

Oh almost forgot the menu for the exam; Rustic Apple Pie, Chocolate Chiffon Pie, Lemon Meringue Tartlettes, and Chocolate Buttons Tartlettes. Enjoy. And try not to drool over the computer after reading that bit of food porn.