Week #9

Whoo-hoo! Back from spring break and back into classes.

I gotta share my food trip over spring break. I went to Napa Valley and had a BLAST! The food...the wine...the FOOD! Heaven! Tapas at Zuzu; foie gras at Bouchon; Fish and sake at Go Fish; and a tour of the Culinary (time to transfer?!) Time of my life! (and no...couldn't get into the French Laundry in case you were wondering! )

This week for basic, we did some tasty beef dishes. Our team made beef stroganoff. Sadly, however, we were forced to use FILET/TENDERLOIN! Have mercy! Don't get me wrong...it was the best stroganoff you could ever have due to the tenderloin meat. But it was equivalent to seeing a Porsche hauling around plywood strapped to its roof. Gets the job done...and gets the job done in STYLE...but somehow you know deep down, it was just wrong. But still very tasty.

For Garde Manger, we finally got to see our cheese roulades that we made two weeks ago. And we also made various items for hors d'oeuvre. We made salmon roulade, wild mushroom tartlets, and artichoke bottoms with herbed cheese. Pretty tasty stuff. Although we didn't make this cake, I have to mention the Roquefort cheesecake that another team made. It was such a unique dish and flavor that I just had to mention it--even better with the balsamic reduction.

So, one week of food followed by a good week in classes...What a great fortnight! LOL...vocab word I learned from 3rd grade or so. Cheers!

Wild Mushroom Tartlets:


Hors d'oeuvre Platter with Salmon Roulades, Mozarella Roulades, Artichoke Bottoms with Herbed Cheese, Roquefort Cheesecake With Balsamic Reductions


Platter II