Recently I discovered a Panda Express near me, and though I enjoyed the panda in my past, and it brings me back to my time on campus at Michigan State University, I know that it is not the least bit healthy, and I’m pretty sure it is far from authentic.
A few weeks ago, I had a taste for Chinese food.  So, I thought about what I might like to have if I could do something fast, uncomplicated, healthy, and with ingredients that I had on hand, in other words, fast, healthy and cheap, in no particular order.  I came across several renditions of this cauliflower fried rice recipe and decided to finally try the cauliflower ricing technique.  This technique is very simple, you use the small grater and grate the cauliflower head into small rice like pieces of the cauliflower.

Riced Cauliflower photo

I took the bowl of the grated cauliflower and heated it in the microwave for about 4.5 minutes, because I was going to continue to cook it on the stove.  I also sliced up some green onions put a side about one half of a cup of frozen peas and carrot mix.
I heated a frying pan with olive oil and added the white of the green onion and the frozen vegetables and one lightly beated egg

photo of onion and veggies with scrambled egg

Once the egg was partially lightly scrambled, I added the cauliflower, and once the pan ingredients were mixed well, I added the soy sauce (too taste) and also Sriracha sauce, because I like a bit of heat.
And of course everything is sexier with a fried egg on top.  I have decided that this cauliflower fried rice recipe will absolutely be a go to staple recipe for me.  You can’t beat it, its cheap, easy and healthy, and a great way to get a good amount of vegetables in.

Recently I logged into my Instagram page and to my surprise, there was an invitation to tell my story on a podcast.

Podcasts That Inspire

On my commute to work, and really anywhere in the car or in a plane I listen to podcasts. Some of the podcasts are about leadership, some are about health, but most are about chefs telling their stories. Everyone wants to learn about their dreams and passion, but I think I also listen to find stories that are similar to mine.  What I have found in all of the podcasts I listen to is that there are always the stories of chefs starting in the kitchen in their early twenties, or similarly going to culinary school after high school and sometimes right after finishing college. I don’t hear many stories that are similar to mine. The stories of someone finding their passion later and working to transition into food and hospitality industries.

One particular podcast that I listen to and admire is a talented journalist who, while interviewing accomplished chefs, peels back the layers of their stories and probes with deeper questions.  His questions are deeper than, “what was it like being on The Food Network, or what was it like competing on Top Chef?”.  I rarely review and rate the podcasts that I listen to, but one day I was compelled to leave a review for a podcast.  I shared a bit about how I listen and why I enjoy every episode. Andrew Friedman’s podcast on the Heritage Radio Network titled Andrew Talks to Chefs is this thoughtful Podcast.

My Top Podcasts

• The David Chang Show
• Why Food?
• This Woman Can
• The Line
• Follow My Lead
• Jesus and Jollof
• Rants and Randomness
• Speaking Broadly
• Radio Cherry Bombe

Hello Foodie Engineer

Months after sending my review of his podcast, I received a request for an interview with a culinary student. I was both flattered and terrified, but I thought of it as an opportunity to tell the story that doesn’t get shared often (career changers), and since I’m living a life of no regrets these days, a life of “oh wells” versus “what ifs” (thank you Luvvie Ajai she mentioned this on a recent episode of her and Yvonne Orji‘s podcast Jesus and Jollof). I met Andrew at ICE where he set up his microphones in a classroom and we had an awesome discussion about pursuing your passion, and my path in doing just that.

Podcast is Up

I encourage anyone that is unsure about what they have been doing day to day. If you have that tug that won’t go away because you have a passion to do something else, or if you want to hear me tell my story, please listen to this episode of Andrew Talks to Chefs. Something tells me you might listen to more episodes if you are intrigued with this industry like I am. The interview after me on this podcast was really good as well, with another career switcher (Patty Nusser) that was in computer science and transitioned to restaurant life, and now is working as a private chef (super inspiring for me).

Thank You Andrew

I want to thank Andrew Friedman, and reiterate how grateful I am that he reached out to me, for the opportunity to share my story, and to meet him, a true journalist (Author of Chefs Drugs and Rock & Roll: How Food Lovers, Free Spirits, Misfits and Wanderers Created a New American Profession).

Finally, thank you Andrew, for the kind things that you said about me in the intro to the show, it truly made me smile.

I know it has been a bit of a hiatus, but I have been in reflection of the final lessons of culinary school and post culinary school.  In the past months after school, I have been in the Union Square Events prep kitchen every weekend.  More to come on that awesome experience.

The final weeks at ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) included our lesson on fermentation, curing, charcuterie, and hors d’oeuvres.  We made so many things that I have always been curious about but never had the nerve to order on a menu.  I was always curious about the charcuterie plates of various forcemeat and sausages.  Forcemeat is a mixture of lean meat and a fat emulsion, so if you have had a terrine, or even a pate, then you have had forcemeat.  Oh sausage typically counts as well.  I will be making my own sausage for my recipes that call for sausage soon.

We tea smoked chicken and marinated fish and smoked it.  I have to say, I didn’t think I would like the smoked fish but, I really enjoyed it.  I want to try it on my own very soon.  Smoking is a great healthy way to eat your proteins.

Pairing this Apple Fennel Salad was amazing with the smoked fish.  The salad was a simple mix of sliced up head of fennel sliced up or julienned tart apple, olive oil and lemon juice.  I know, its so simple, but amazing.

If you are looking for a way to prepare duck, besides confit, or pan roasted, making it into a pastrami is a really cool way to have duck.  The Duck and all of the smoked items are a lot of work for likely a delicious sandwich, but delicious nonetheless.

I look forward to practicing charcuterie trays on a smaller scale for dinner parties.  One of the final lessons we had in the culinary school was remaking famous and super talented chef dishes, using all of the skills that we had been learning and practicing in class.
We made dishes from Thomas Keller, Marcus Samuelsson, Anita Lo, Eric Ripert, and David Waltuck.

Plated Perfection

We made a play on the Thomas Keller Per Se Salmon tartare with creme fraiche and sweet red onion cornet, and it was funny because just like a week or two prior, I treated myself to a dinner at Per Se, so when we got to make 1 of the several courses of the dinner, it was like I was in on a secret of the restaurant world.

I was introduced to the sous vide technique in making some really tasty dishes.   We learned a lot about plating and making multiple plates to look exactly the same.

One of the trickiest things to learn was to prep the food, without over cooking it, and keep it hot for plating and serving.

We learned the magic of a waffle chip in making this duck dish.  This dish had duck sausage, duck breast and duck confit, a nice light dish.

Chef Anita Lo’s fois gras dumplings were rich and delicious.

Making the meatballs and arancini, and pork buns made me feel like I was cooking for a catering event, so that was really exciting to prepare, since I want to grow my skills into high end catering.

We had the chance to be mad scientist and play with chemicals to make spheres with fruit purees.

Final Practical Exam

The final practical exam included a fish dish and cooking a filet medium rare, I impressed myself by being on temp.  It was awesome bringing everything that we learned together

Graduation

It has been quite a ride.  Thank you for joining me on this journey, it is only the beginning, but I have enjoyed every class, every early morning, every exam, and practical.  The chef instructors were great, and the facility at ICE was outstanding.  I have no regrets, except that I did’t take this leap sooner, but everything is a lesson, and I am grateful for the opportunity to pursue my passion.  Some people don’t realize their passion to have the opportunity to pursue it.  I have more to share, I spent a few months working with a great team in one of the best catering  kitchens in New York City, and I will share that awesome experience.  Until then, follow me on instagram.

 

It has been a long time since my last post, my 8:59:59 job has been very demanding. What is an 8:59:59 job, I’ve mentioned it before, but I get the term from Sunny Anderson, she said it in a 2015 VIBE article that I think about often.  It refers to the procrastination of going into a job you don’t want to go to every morning, and waiting until the very last minute to go in.  So that job has required a great deal of attention, and has been exhausting.
One of the final modules of school was pastry.  I really didn’t think that I would enjoy it so much, but I loved it.  I would love to attend the pastry program in the future.  We made a ton of pastries, and my co-workers loved this module, they had a sweet practically everyday.

We made pizza dough and used the hearth again.  I totally need one of those hearths lol.

I was so shocked at how easy it is to make croissants, and I was so excited I asked the chef if she could show me how to make the Kouign Amann, pronounced queen amon.  It is the best laminated pastry, in my eyes.  I  fell in love with it when I went to get the famous cronut, and decided to through one ing the bag.  Thankfully chef said I could split my dough and make half croissants and half kouign amann.  The Kouign Amann is a laminated square of dough similar to the croissant, however the layers have sugar sprinkled on the butter, so tasty.

Kouign Amann

Chocolate was highly technical, but I didn’t hate it.  I think I need to try it again, to decide if I want to experiment more with it.

I even made my own chocolate bar with hazelnuts, pistachios and salt.

Cake decorating is something I definitely want to do more of, my mom took classes to decorate cakes, and I really want to take the cake decorating class at Institute of Culinary Education

This was a super impressive cake and I would pay for it, if I liked chocolate cake.

We practiced a bit of gastronomy with spherification.  This is not an egg yok, it is actually a sphere of mango puree.

Plated desserts was a really cool section of pastry, I love making things look fancy.  This was a yogurt panna cotta with a basil foam, grapefruit, and basil seeds, and an avocado cream.

My final dessert was this tart, and it was for my practical exam.  The practical exam is the test in the kitchen, we had to make a tart with a pate brisee crust, a smooth pastry cream, and top it with fresh fruit.  This was very well liked by the work crew.

Pastry has shown me that, I can be a well rounded cook, and several of the pastry chefs that taught the lessons in the modules, asked why I wasn’t in pastry, and honestly, I hope that I can explore that gift more in the near future.

We spent a few weeks cooking Italian Cuisine.  Pasta, and heavy meals for days.

Hand made pasta with fresh pesto, so simple, but so delicious.

Fluffy gnocchi was so good, that will be a game changer for a dinner party

This was squid with a shrimp stuffing, another entertaining option for the adventurous eaters

Though this is not as photogenic, it was one of the best dishes we had.  Polenta topped with a flavorful sausage blend.

These were fried potato cheese yummies, I think they are good for anytime of day.

White fish wrapped in prosciutto.

The Feast of Italy

And of course cooking Italian cuisine would not have been complete without a tasty pizza with a simple sauce.

I realize it has been a few weeks since my last post, my next post will share a bit of what I have been experiencing.  Nonetheless, I am still going strong, and am getting great grades through my culinary school experience.  I’ll share with you what I learned about plating, and what is next as culinary school comes to a close in the coming months.

Last week we began cooking through France.  But before we began french cooking we had more lecture on our Externships.  We discussed a few key topics regarding the Externship.  We discussed:

• What to Bring and wear
• What a typical trail includes
• Why you should always taste

The highlight of the lecture was that we were able to have the dialog with a chef that has decades of experience of owning a restaurant and having hundreds of externs throughout the years.  Chef David Waltuck was the Chef and owner of the famed Tribeca restaurant, Chanterelle.  What a treat to hear it straight from someone that hired people like me in industry.

What To Bring

For the trails, we were instructed to show up in street clothes, never your chef whites.  WE are going to work in a clean kitchen, and wearing the clothes that you have worn through New York City, on the buses in the cabs, you get the drift.  We were told not to bring our entire kit of over 80 items (me estimate).  Instead, only bring the most common items, because you want to be prepared, but you don’t want to bring so much that you can’t keep track of it.

• Chef knife
• pairing knife
• peeler
• honing steel
• bread knife
• note pad
• pen sharpie
• thermometer

What a typical trail includes

• A typical trail included showing up on time, not too early so that you are not in the way, but not too late, that you don’t have time to change clothes and still be on time
• Write down instructions when given, so that you don’t have to ask them to repeat it, throughout the day.  However, always ask for clarification, to confirm you know what the chef is asking for
• Follow the instructions, whether it is to just observe, or peel potatoes.  Do as you are directed as best and efficient as you can.
• Work Clean
• Thank the chef after the clean up and the end of the shift, and discuss the possibilities of an externship

What a typical trail includes

Always taste the food.  We are cooking, and you don’t know how it tastes unless you taste it.  When the chef has you taste something, they are not having you taste because you look hungry, they want you to taste so that you know what dishes are supposed to taste like.  So picky eaters need not apply.
After the great lecture on trailing and externships we got into french cooking.  Module 3 is all about international cooking and we are starting with France.  We started with Normandy and Brittany with heavy dairy dishes.

Homard à l’Américaine (Lobster Stew in a ring of Rice Pilaf)

Côtes de Porc Normande Pork chops with Calvados Cream Sauce

Souffles d’ Alenconen Timbales ( Cheese Souffles with mushroom sauce)

Alsace, Lorraine, and Champagne

Then we headed to Alsace, Lorraine, and Champagne where the dishes are heavy in pork.

Choucroute Garni was the kitchen sink dish with all types of sausage and saurkraut

The region is also has fresh water seafood, so we made a trout dish and since it has a heavy German presence due to its location we made Sautéed Trout with Riesling Cream Choucroute and Späetzle, the German pasta.

Tarte Flambé (Pizza dough with onions, bacon, and a cream sauce)

Quiche Lorraine was delicious and I was proud to be the person that made the crust of Pâte Brisee.

 

Tarte aux Pommes de Terre

Midi Region

Next stop the land of duck and game meat

Cassoulet was super heavy with beans, lamb stew, pork, duck, and sausage.  And yes, that is duckfat,a and finally we topped it with bread crumbs.

My favorite was the Salade Cévenole a salad of duck confit with red cabbage, chestnuts, walnuts, and watercress.  This dish was delicious and not nearly as heavy as everything else.

 

Poulet a la Basquaise was of the Basque region

This was a late post, but, just when you think you are at full throttle with school, they switch gears, and go into Nitro.  What was Nitro from?  It was one of those car racing games that we used to play on Nintendo, that had you going super fast already, and when the opponent came up on you, you hit the Nitro button if you didn’t use it all.  I digress.  We have started to cook in a brigade, I’ll explain how that looks in the next post.

Next up we have finished up French cooking, and have moved on to Italy, but I will save that for the next post, but, we did get to make several pastas already, and it was a blast. Stay tuned.

I am at the stage in my class work that I have to begin thinking more about the future.  I remember getting a book by Dr. Seuss from a teacher when I was graduating called “Oh The Places You Will Go”, but who knew I would be deciding on what restaurant to go to, to get my kitchen experience in order to complete my dream of earning a culinary certification?  So I lost a lot of sleep researching every restaurant that was on the list that the school provided.  I have a few things that of course creates a bit of anxiety for me.

• The externship must begin in October 210 hours
• I have a fulltime job to work around, so my availability is limited to weekends, and evenings if I can get to the city in time.
• I am selecting a restaurant that is located in New York, so the commute is another challenge
• Finally, I am used to going into interviews confident that I have work history to back up what I say, and in this instance I have to call the contacts that the school provides and set up a “trail” at the restaurant.

A trail is basically working a shift at a restaurant for no monetary compensation, and it serves as an interview for both parties, me deciding if I am interested in working at this restaurant, and them deciding if I am skilled enough to join their team.  Bottom line… its an audition.
I recognize this post seems slightly whiny and not as exciting as the past posts sharing my journey, but I think it is important to share the great moments and the moments of uncertainty.  This is just the reality of making my dreams come true, it is not all fun and tasty food, it is about difficult decisions and discomfort, and just processing and deciding my next moves.  Ultimately I know that I will be where I need to be, and if it were simple everyone would be leaping toward their passion.
I have selected my top 3 places that I would like to get my externship, and now it will just depend on my schedule and the restaurant’s flexibility with my schedule, once I impress them when I trail :).  I know that the reward at the end will be worth the discomfort of a few more months.
This past couple of weeks have been focused on breakfast and sandwiches.  I will share some of the photos from those lessons to end on a more exciting note.

This week was all about gratins, souffles, grains, and legumes.  We started the weekend, with finishing up the poaching lesson.  We made Papiettes of Sole, yup, another french word that I had no idea what it was.  I now know that a papiette is a piece of meat or fish rolled up and stuffed with a savory filling, not to be confused with a papillote, which is the parchment paper envelope that steams protein and vegetables by baking it in the oven.  This dish was topped with a pan sauce made from the poaching liquid of fish stock, lemon juice, sweet french wine, shallots and finished with heavy cream.

Gratin

We started a gratin lesson, and it was really easy.  Thinly cut potato slices are simmered in milk until tender, and then a small amount of heavy cream and seasoning is added and cooked.  Once the simmering step is complete the potatoes are layered in a buttered gratin dish with gruyere and parmesan cheese.

Soufflés

We made carrot timbales, which cook like souffles, surprisingly tasty.  Who would have thought a dish made manily of carrots, eggs and cream would be good?

Someone turned off the oven, so we had to turn it up to 500 and ended up browning the souffle to much, but it was really delicious for a broccoli souffle.

We finally started cooking some healthy dishes, with a quinoa salad, a farro dish with sausage and potatoes, and a wheat berry salad with a vinagrette, the wheat berry dish will not be repeated.

Though not perfect, my risotto, was delicious and cheesy, this is a great impressive dish for a dinner party.

The lima bean dish was really good, I had no idea how much time it took to make lima beans taste pleasant.  All of my life I have turned and run the other way from lima beans, but these beans were so good.

These Cuban black beans, were so good.  We cooked them foe a long time with a ham hock, onions garlic and bell pepper.

The last thing we made was crispy falafel, and a yogurt sauce.  Everything was so delicious

This weekend, we start breakfast cookery.  I can’t wait to cook eggs, every way possible.  Now that I am well into my studies at The Institute of Culinary Education, I have been reflecting on what I am learning and the pressure is on for what my next move will be.  I’ve decided to do an extra post sharing my reflections, and