Baked Goods!....I love to bake!

Yummy Cinnamon cookies!

Cheddar Corn Jalapeno Muffins
-a little explanation for why they're wrapped individually: everything we make gets sold in our school's cafeteria...pretty smart on the art institutes part...sell what the students make...hmm nothing like paying to be a work horse hehe jk

Yummy granola bars with dried cherries. Got lots of compliments on these from my co-workers.

My personal favorite of the week...Lemon Poppyseed muffins. They were so good and moist. One of my favorite types of muffins.


Blueberry cobbler....yum! I think i'll be making some of this for christmas.

Just call me the sausage queen.....

Lamb sausage.....my new favorite sausage

Putting it in the casing was quite an adventure because the casing is smaller than pork casing so it required a woman's small hand hehe. This was the most awkward part of class i've ever had...if you want to know why i'll tell you later.

Here's the lamb sausage plated on a bed of couscous with grilled veggies


Hot Italian sausage with penne pasta & veggies with basil garnish




Bratwurst with sauerkraut, boiled potatoes and a dijon mustard sauce



Saved the best for last....
Breakfast burittos with chorizo, eggs, pico de gallo, guacamole & sour cream........YUMMY!

Sausage making is an art and is very time consuming. I got frustrated very easily while i was trying to get the meat in the casing because the lamb casing was very thin and got torn very easily...which is why it needed a woman's touch hehe. I'll be honest with everyone though...now that i know how much actual fat goes into sausage i'll be a little more hesitant before i eat more than one or two bites from now on.

More Garde Manger!...

The beginning of a terrine...yes that's ham

The pate meat being put into the terrine mold....

The beginning of a pate en croute...same as a terrine but it is incased in the pate dough

The pate en croute finished and made all pretty with dough roses

Here's the chicken gallantine salad

Needless to say i'm pretty tired of looking a anything with gelatin or big chunks of fat in them. Being able to make all this is obviously an art. All these things are big in nice hotels, country clubs, and in europe. I guess i've never been anywhere that nice since i haven't seen or tasted any of these things...and honestly that's ok with me haha.

Garde Manger overload...beware!

Here we have shrimp mousse...

I must say i didn't try this but i love shrimp and i like jello so i guess it'd just be a very savory shrimpy jello...

Here's we have gazpacho...yum!

Here we have Gravlax on potato pancakes

Gravlax is a cured salmon...very tasty!


Ham & lentil salad with cherry tomatoes....also yummy!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls!

-and yes i rolled that myself...it was a little tricky!

Baking day!

Our Yummy French Rolls

Spritz Cookies w/ raspberry preserve in the middle

My delicious Blueberry Muffins....MMMmm!

The pumpking pie...before it went in the oven

Hors D'oeuvres & Mini Sandwiches

My favorite day of Garde Manger so far....

Here we have to Gravlax Mignonette. (Gravlax is a cured salmon)

Here's the Shrimp Canapes with fish eggs & chives for garnish



Here's the Ham Mignonette with dill butter & french pickle on top

My personal favorite...The cucumber cup with corn salsa & carrot handle


Close second: Celery boat with blue cheese filling & sprig of dill and red pepper diamond for garnish

The Finished Platter

The Mini Sandwich platter. It has tuna salad sandwiches, roast beef, ham, and chicken salad (on the cute little muffins that my team made)

Sausage Making Day!!

First Step: Place the tin foil circle in the bottom of the "d" machine, and put gloves on for sure!!


Second Step: Place Casing on the "d" machine and inspect for holes

Third Step: Fill the casing with the sausage, use toothpick to punch a couple holes and tie up the ends.

Fourth Step: Twisting the sausage into links

Last Step: Place the sausage in the "hot box". In the bottom of the box there's wood chips, you then activate the hot box on the oven top for 5 minutes then place in oven, and repeat this activation step up to 3 times

Salads Galore!!

Last week we worked on 4 different salads and being able to make 10 of each in a responable amount of time. It was fun yet hectic. We make these salads in this class and then they are sent downstairs to our deli/caterteria to be sold...can you see how smart the Art Institute is....having students making things for their profit...it's all part of the program though. Students are learned the importance of Product, Quality & Production....still feels a little odd paying to be a little work horse hehe.

Here's the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with croutons & dressing

Here's the lovely spread of cobb salads

Here's the whole spread of Chef salads

Last but not least...my personal favorite...The Greek Salad!

Fall Quarter = BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!

This quarter of school is extremely busy. I'm taking 2 lab classes: Garde Manger & Baking. Garde Manger is also known as "cold kitchen." We make all types of salads (tuna, chicken, greek, chef etc), sausage, any kinda of appetizer you can think of basically that doesn't require cooking. It's pretty awesome. My chef instructor in this class is so silly and i feel like i can totally joke around with him. My baking class is also amazing. The chef instructor is strict but also jokes around. He's into the science of food and he's big into culinary math, which i like because i'm a big math person too. He suggested a book for me to read so i'll have to check it out...when i have extra time of course...ugh what's free time haha? I'm also taking a "classroom" class called Management by Menu. In this class we basically get to lay out our plan if we were to open up a restaurant. It's a great class because once we're done and if that is the path you choose to go down, you could absolutely just walk into a bank and be like i need a loan for this and just hand over ur plan. I'm not sure that's the route i want to go but the whole management of a restaurant might be something i'm interested in. I've always been the one to be bossed around so obviously the thought of me bossing someone around and having people do things my way just sounds amazing but we'll see...let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet haha....

now for the good stuff....pictures!



Here we have just a simple salad. We thinly sliced carrots lengthwise and marinated them in the dressing so they'd hold that ring shape. We made some tomato petals, and that wonderful cheese crisp you see..it was quite tricky, because we got little explanation on the procedure haha. The dressing is an emulsified vinaigrette and the darker garnish dressing is just a balsalmic vinegar reduction. So the point of this class is to take cheap ingredients and turn them into this wonderfully looking expensive salad. CHA CHING!

Belgian Endive Salad. We had to taste several different types of lettuce and let me tell ya this was my least favorite. So bitter and just yuck! you have to have a great dressing to go along with this one for sure. Needless to say i didn't taste this salad but it looks pretty haha.

Here's the yummy banana nut bread we made in the first day of baking. It was great. I'm in awe of all the amazing equipment in this kitchen. The huge oven, the stacked ovens, the proof box, and i just love the wood work tables. I think wood makes me feel more at home. The only bad thing is the way you have to clean it but ehh i can overlook that.

Well that's all the pictures I took during week 1. Week 2 is over but i can only do a little at a time. I'm practically a zombie monday thru wednesday but I'll try to be a little better about updating.... : D

Aloha from HAWAII !!

Welcome to Hawaii! I must admit this American Regional class has turned out to be my favorite by far. I love learning about all the different styles of cuisine that make up our great nation.

I have a new found respect for calamari. We had to clean and prep the squid. I admit I was a little freaked at first but I told myself to get a grip and to have a new experience. Cleaning the squids seemed like it'd be easier because they're not that big...boy was I wrong. Needless to say, I am now grateful that I know the proper way and am able to have a better understanding and appreciation for calamari preparers : D




Here we have the Asian Pear & Macadamia Nut Won tons. These aren't tricky at all. This is obviously before we fried them and put some powdered sugar on top. They were delicious and I'm now motivated to try different varieties of won tons because they're easier than I thought.


Pineapple Fritters with Mango dipping sauce. YUMMY! Did you know pineapples aren't actually grown in Hawaii, they have to import them for Tahiti. Always love to add a little trivia for you. These were excellent as well. The acid from the pineapple along with the sweetness of the mango sauce made the dessert amazing.



Carmelized salmon w/ Japanese steamed rice, Stir-fry vegetables, a balsalmic soy glaze, lemongrass beurre blanc, and fried basil leaves for garnish. This salmon was so delicious. The glaze and the butter sauce really put this dish together nicely. I had a mishap with the steamed rice on my first try and totally scorched it. Luckily I had plenty of time to start another batch. "Sticky Rice" requires so much care and attention to make sure it's just right. Overall i thought the dish was great and one of the more healthier dishes we've made minus the lemongrass beurre blanc (butter sauce).



Sesame Seed crusted Tuna steak, vegetable tempura, Japanese steamed rice, with wasabi mayo, pickled ginger, and sweet soy sauce for garnish.

Here's where it got yummy....

I loved making this dish. It was truly amazing and turned out better than I thought (visually). I love to pay special attention to my plating. I'm lucky enough to have a chef instructor that shows us how he would plate it and then either let us copy or create our own. I'd like to say this is a healthy dish also but not with the veggie tempura and that rice. The tuna is healthy though ha ha.

Next week is finals (done individually not as a team this time) and after that i'm on to the next chapter of my journey through culinary school. Wish me luck, I will post pictures of what I end up doing for my final next week. I'm thinking of doing just a good Caesar salad and the same salmon dish but with chicken (since they obviously can't afford to have tuna or salmon as an option for finals).

Deep South

I think i've found my favorite region of cuisine. The Deep South! Pictured above is the Carolina Pulled pork sandwich w/slaw and fried green & red tomatoes w/roasted red pepper sauce. The thing about Carolina style sauce also is that it's not sweet and has more of a vinegar taste. The rub made for the pork was amazing and had a perfect kick of spice. The best word to describe this dish... "YUMMY" I absolutely loved and ate the whole plate. We fortunately had enough pork to take some home so I could share this wonderful yumminess with my parents. Two thumbs way way up!

Here's another favorite. I almost didn't want to eat it because it was so pretty but i did. This dish is called Shrimp Perloo w/ hushpuppies. I'm lucky enough to have an instructor that goes outside the box and doesn't always go with the curriculum and throws in special stuff for us to learn such as this dish. It was really easy, the typical one pot meal. I peeled the shrimp, started the rice and my favorite part was the fact that you just cook the rice til it's done and then throw the shrimp in there so that the heat from the rice cook the shrimp. So easy yet so delicious. I added a little extra red pepper flakes because i like things a little spicier and it made it so perfect. My instructor told me this dish would be perfect to make if i am put on the spot by a potential boss.

Up next week...the Hawaii region...which means sushi...which means a happy Whitney!!!