à la minute

New digs

2009-08-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

I know it's been quite a while since I last posted here, but settling into our new apartment on the UWS has occupied most of my time for the last month. I hope to make my return to blogging in the next week or so, but, in the meantime, here are some pictures of the new apartment.

An official New Yorker

2009-05-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

I finally bought a bicycle a few weeks ago, just in time to avoid the wretched stench that develops in the subways as the temperature climbs and summer arrives. When Aparna moves here next month, we're planning to live in Manhattan, so I'll be able to ride to work everyday. In addition to cutting down my daily commute time significantly (from about 50 minutes each way to < 10 minutes), it will

Eight more weeks

2009-03-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Working for free really sucks. I know it comes with the territory, especially when you're trying to get your foot in the door of renowned kitchens, and maybe it makes sense in Europe where there's a robust public support system (i.e. the government provides everything), but in the U.S. it seems ridiculous to me. That said, it'll be nice to actually start making some money soon. That's as close

Headphones

2009-02-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

It seems like everyone in New York wears headphones when they ride the subway or walk from place to place. I've never really seen the appeal of it; the only time I wear headphones is when I'm running or exercising. I decided to see what I've been missing these past couple days.Listening to music definitely transforms the commuting experience. It's surreal...I kind of feel like I'm in a film or

Back on track

2009-02-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

After taking a four month hiatus from running, today I went running for the first time since the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon last October. I'm too much of a wimp to run outside in the middle of winter in Chicago, so I opted to run on a treadmill on the 48th floor of Aparna's apartment building overlooking Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline. Not a bad second option.The verdict: it was

A stand mixer of my very own

2009-01-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

After several years of wavering about whether or not I should buy a stand mixer, my mom put an end to it and bought me a KitchenAid Artisan Mixer, under the guise of a gift for Groundhog's Day. It arrived a few days ago, and I've already started to put it to use.This one's for you, Taylor. I'm reliving the glory days of Baking and Pastry! Yesterday I made a batch of soft rolls for dinner,

After much delay...

2009-01-29T08:25:00.000-08:00

...I'm finally getting around to another post, a month later. It's been a whirlwind eight weeks so far, but I finally feel like a cog in the per se machine. What amazes me most about the past couple months is how singular my focus has become during this externship. I have hundreds of unread articles in Google Reader, a stack of The Economist magazines that have never been opened, a dozen phone

Push!

2008-12-24T11:18:00.001-08:00

I think I've heard that statement more in the past two weeks than in all of the rest of my life combined. You know that frantic pace you assume when you know you're behind and you won't be up in time for service? Well, working at per se is all about embracing that pace and making it normal and sustainable. But with everyone else also operating in that mindset, there's a definite unspoken

The Big Apple

2008-12-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

After leaving the Bay Area, I flew to my parents' house near Pittsburgh to pack up my furniture to take to New York. Sunday I loaded up a moving truck and drove to New York with my mom. We got a bit of a late start, so we didn't end up arriving in Brooklyn until after 8PM.I was promptly greeted by the 20 degree cold like a punch in the face. Monday was the first time I've used chapstick in two

Commencement

2008-12-10T08:08:00.000-08:00

Last Friday was our graduation commencement from CIA at Greystone. It was a bittersweet celebration to say the least. While we're all really excited about moving on to our externships, none of us were prepared to leave the people with whom we've basically spent every waking hour for the past 15 months.Nonetheless, graduation commenced, and things went pretty smoothly. I was elected to give the

A visit to Frog's Leap and Honig

2008-11-17T22:43:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I did some wine tasting with Tim, Wendy, Daisy, Andres, and Tom. I finally got a chance to visit Frog's Leap Winery as well as Honig, so I thought I'd post some pictures from our visit.We finished off the evening with some great French country fare at Angele Restaurant in Napa. We had all the classics including cassoulet, blanquette de veau, and ratatouille.Less than three weeks

World of Flavors 2008

2008-11-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

This week the CIA hosted its annual World of Flavors Conference at Greystone. The theme this year was "A Mediterranean Flavor Odyssey," so chefs from all around the Mediterranean descended on the Napa Valley for the three-day event.Unlike last year, our class did not have the week off this time since we're currently in the restaurant. I still volunteered, but only in the afternoon and evening.

13 miles of running, 800 miles of driving

2008-10-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I met up with my sister Anita and my cousins Anna & Aakash in the Bay Area for a cousin reunion. The weekend consisted of driving up to Humboldt Redwoods State Park on Saturday to run the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon & 5K on Sunday.In addition to the four of us, my sister's two friends (Katie and Heather) also attended, as well as four of my friends (Tim, Wendy, Andres, and Daisy

The home stretch

2008-10-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

Almost a month has passed since my last post. A lot has happened, but I've been too lazy to post anything. Hopefully once I finish this half marathon in a couple weeks, I'll regain motivation.We're closing in on the home stretch as far as classes go. After this week, we have just nine weeks of class remaining (cooking and waiting tables at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant) before we all

A river runs through it

2008-09-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Clark Fork River, that is. For the Labor Day weekend, I visited my oldest friend Kevin, who lives in Missoula, Montana. I've known him since third grade, and I usually try to visit him once a year if I can. A lot has happened in the past year. He moved into a house with his girlfriend Taylore, and he got a dog. It's the most domesticated I've ever seen him. We spent the weekend riding

A busy month

2008-08-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since my last post, which is a testament to my busyness. I've started training for the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon on October 19, 2008. I replaced my 5-year-old bargain bin running shoes with a pair of Nike's with the built-in iPod pedometer, which I'm really enjoying. As you can see by the new widget in the left column of my blog, I can now track my progress through

ASA 105/106

2008-07-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back in the Napa Valley, ready to resume classes tomorrow. I spent the last week sailing around South Florida and Bimini, Bahamas, on a 51-foot sailboat getting my ASA 105 & 106 certifications. I arrived in Fort Lauderdale last Saturday, and after some classroom navigation work on Sunday morning, we set sail for the Port of Miami. Sunday night we anchored in the Biscayne Bay just

Per Se

2008-07-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

In addition to spending time with Aparna, I had the fortune of dining at Per Se while in New York two weeks ago. I went with Aparna, my sister Anita, and my friends Rahul & Lenka. I made a reservation there exactly two months prior to the date using the typical flash-redial war dialing method, which I began three minutes prior to the reservation line opening at 10AM EST. Despite the fact that

Chez Panisse

2008-07-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

The second I walked in, I knew I was going to love the dining experience. The interior is like walking into a Prairie School home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Elegant woodwork, lots of horizontal lines, highly geometric. I've got to figure out who designed it. On top of that, the food was phenomenal and completely unpretentious. I dined there last Thursday with Mike & Kim before heading

Sailing around SF Bay

2008-07-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, I chartered a C&C 32 yacht and sailed around the San Francisco Bay with Mike & Kim. It was the first time I had a chance to charter since getting set up at Modern Sailing Academy in Sausalito. By the time we left the dock, it was about 2:30PM, and the winds had picked up to their daily norm of about 15-20 knots. Being that I was the only experienced sailor, I decided to go out

Vacation!

2008-06-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the beginning of our three-week summer vacation, and it was definitely a welcome break for all of us. I have an exciting three weeks planned, and it started off with the arrival of my good friend and former manager Mike and his wife Kim yesterday afternoon. They flew in from CLE and drove up to the Napa Valley, and we spent the last two days eating and drinking nonstop.

Your Plate dinner

2008-06-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy couple weeks since my last post. After coming back from my visit to Butler, I finished out the last two weeks of my six weeks in the classroom, and now we're back in the kitchen studying Baking & Pastry.Greystone has a student run program called Your Plate where students can basically set up a mini-restaurant for a night using the Williams Center for Flavor Discovery and serve

A quick trip home

2008-05-22T22:35:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I made a trip to Butler to see my cousin Manisha and her family visiting from India. It's the first time that Manisha and her two kids, Prerna and Pranoy, have been to the U.S. Her husband Nandu has been to the U.S. before, but they've never been here together. Prerna and Pranoy are both eight years old, so Disney World was their first stop before coming to Butler. The weather in

CIA booth at the St. Helena Farmers' Market

2008-05-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

This Friday marked the Greystone Garden Club's third week of participating in the St. Helena Farmers' Market. With our significant increase in production this year, we decided that the farmers' market would be an ideal distribution channel for our produce. Additionally, it's a great opportunity to gain exposure to yet another facet of the food system. The farmers' market takes place every

San Diego

2008-05-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to San Diego to see David off before he makes his return to Cleveland for the summer after an absence of five years. Tim and Tom were also in attendance, so it was more or less a weekend of partying. In addition to staple restaurants such as In-N-Out for dinner on Friday and Aiberto's Taqueria at 2am, we also visited The Linkery, an excellent farm-to-table restaurant in

Second Semester Cooking Practical

2008-04-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

Last week we left the kitchen to spend the next six weeks in the classroom learning about nutrition, management, restaurant law, cost control, and menu development. But before our return to business casual attire, we all had one last chance to don our chef's whites: the second semester cooking practical.The second semester cooking practical is one of two major cooking practicals we will have at

Garde Manger final buffet

2008-04-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday was our last day of Garde Manger. We ended with a Grand Buffet featuring various appetizers, canapes, and hors d'oeuvres we worked on this week, along with leftover smokehouse items from the past two weeks.Every team had a list of required menu items to produce, but we were given a lot of latitude in terms of interpreting those dishes, resulting in a buffet with a wide variety of styles

Garde manger buffet II

2008-04-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today we had our Week 2 Grand Buffet in Garde Manger, which consisted primarily of pates and terrines. This week we focused on sausagemaking, forcemeat preparations (galantines, pates, terrines, etc.), and gelatin work. Tuesday and Wednesday we had enormous sausage buffets. Our team's contributions included Mexican chorizo, Greek lamb sausage, spicy Italian sausage, Bavarian bratwurst, and

Wine tasting with Kim & Brian

2008-04-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

After the CPKelco event, I met Kim and Brian (also ex-Clevelanders) to do some wine tasting around St. Helena. The last time I saw them was over Labor Day 2007 weekend when Aparna first came to visit, so it's been a while. After going tasting with Tom & Tim a few weeks ago, I realized that the best way to plan a tasting around here is to pick a few wineries that are all within a mile or two of

CPKelco returns to CIA

2008-04-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, CPKelco returned to the CIA to host another culinary science seminar for the students. This time they focused on two hydrocolloids: high-acyl gellan gum and low-acyl gellan gum. These chemicals were discovered in 1992, and they are used regularly in commercial food products as a type of gelling agent. The amazing thing about these gels is that they are heat stable, so you can use

Garde manger buffet I

2008-04-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we started our Garde Manger class, so we're (thankfully) back on the afternoon schedule. In this class, we learn techniques for curing, brining, smoking, cheesemaking, sausagemaking, and everything else related to the classical cold kitchen (pates, terrines, canapes, etc.).It's different from our previous classes because it's the first time that we are producing food that won't be

Sailing refresher

2008-03-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Today I took a Sailing Refresher Course at Modern Sailing Academy, a sailing club in Sausalito. It was a great chance to get back on a boat and brush up on some of my skills so I can start chartering. We spent about seven hours sailing and practiced docking, anchoring, navigation rules, man overboard drills, and general sailing in the Bay. Sailing in the San Francisco Bay is much more

Groundhog Day

2008-03-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

As my alarm went off at 3:30 AM today, I had a moment of lucidity when I realized that my life for the last two weeks has been an exact parallel of the movie Groundhog Day. Everyday my alarm clock went off at 3:25 AM, I promptly hit snooze, and then my blackberry alarm went off at 3:30 AM, at which point I got up. I followed the same routine in the bathroom--brush my teeth, shower, shave--and I

My house smells like eggs

2008-03-27T15:15:00.001-07:00

I just cooked 18 eggs over the past half hour to practice for our egg practical tomorrow in Breakfast Cookery. I cooked two rolled omelets, scrambled eggs, two egg-white omelets, and six fried eggs over-easy. Now my house smells like eggs, but at least I can flip an egg with my left hand.

A three-star encounter

2008-03-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Before dropping Anastasia off at the airport this afternoon, we had lunch at Bouchon in Yountville. After lunch we stopped next door at Bouchon Bakery for a caffeine fix, and who walks in but Thomas Keller. I was too chicken to say anything, so I just gestured to Anastasia with my eyes to acknowledge his presence, and we went about our business. As she put it, it was a nice ending to her

A Carneros wine tasting

2008-03-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we met up with Tim and Tom (my college friend I met in Model UN with whom I recently reconnected) to do some wine tasting in the Carneros region, which is located in Sonoma County, southwest of the Napa Valley. Before meeting them we stopped at the Oxbow Market in Napa for lunch. It's very similar to the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco, which is no surprise since it's

Martini House

2008-03-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend my longtime friend Anastasia came to visit. After watching a farm tractor till our new student garden plot Friday morning, we toured around the Napa Valley for the day, and then had dinner at The Martini House. Chef Todd Humphries is known nationally for his use of wild, foraged mushrooms, so I chose the four-course Mushroom Tasting; Anastasia had the four-course Chef's Tasting.I

More land for the student garden project

2008-03-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

This year we are expanding the Greystone Student Garden Project to include an additional 50' x 100' plot off Deer Park Road that's owned by the CIA. It's in the same location as the fruit orchard. The land actually used to be a garden in the past, but the CIA stopped maintaining it a few years ago. We will only be cultivating one subsection of the of the entire garden plot. There are three 50

3:25 AM

2008-03-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

That's what time I have to wake up every morning for the next week and a half. We're in Breakfast Cookery, so we're serving a la carte breakfast from 6AM-8AM. That means we start class at 4:30 AM, so we have enough time to set up our stations and get everything in order for service. On the up side, we're out of class at 11AM, which gives us the whole day to do what we want, except for the fact

Sold.

2008-03-15T17:07:00.001-07:00

Well, after a month or so of wavering, today I sold my Ducati. I listed it on craigslist last Saturday, and someone bought it today. They drove up from San Francisco and rode it back.It was just bad timing with school and all. Two insurance payments with no income kind of sucks, and I wasn't riding it nearly enough to justify the expense. The main obstacle to riding it more often was simply

One Night in Bangkok

2008-03-08T16:09:00.000-08:00

For the last day of our Cuisines of Asia class, instead of having a practical exam, we set up a mini-restaurant. We were each allowed to invite 2 guests (I didn't invite anyone), in addition to extending an open invitation to other students and faculty. We decided to go with Thai cuisine, and each team set up action stations to prepare one dish à la minute, in addition to contributing several

Yesterday I ate a cricket...

2008-03-07T11:58:00.001-08:00

on purpose.As part of our Cuisines of Asia class, we've been presenting reports on various aspects of Asian culture. Yesterday my classmate Garrett presented on the rituals of eating snakes, bugs, and reptiles. He fried up some crickets (which he sourced live at a local pet store) to serve along with the presentation. One batch was seasoned with just salt and pepper, while the other had cumin

Khandvi

2008-03-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

We're currently studying Indian cuisine in our Cuisines of Asia class, and the menus are heavily dominated by typical North and South Indian favorites: chutneys, dal, rasam, naan, tandoori chicken, raita, curries, etc. I was talking to my mom, and she suggested that I augment the menu with a Gujurati dish (she's originally from Gujurat). Gujurati cuisine isn't as well known on the international

Photography Seminar

2008-03-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday I taught a photography seminar at school to give other students a crash course on basic photography, digital cameras, image editing, and food photography. We had a pretty good turnout of people--about 15 or so, which is enough to fill a classroom. It ended up lasting about 2.5 hours, about two hours of which I spent presenting/teaching. After those 8-hour SAS classes I

A Sunday exploring San Francisco

2008-03-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, I made my way to San Francisco to hang out with my cousin Anna and her husband TJ and my friends Tim & Wendy. Aside from visiting everyone, I had a dual motive in going to the city.First, I wanted to see the Autumn de Wilde exhibit Pictures of Me at the Queens Nails Annex in the Mission. It was a collection of rare photographs of Elliott Smith that she recently published in a book.

Signature Lounge

2008-02-21T23:41:00.000-08:00

After dinner at Alinea, Aparna and I stopped at the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the Howard Hancock Building. I recently visited Top of the Mark in San Francisco with my cousin Anna, and it really reminded me of the Signature Lounge, so I wanted to revisit it while in Chicago. The entire place is surrounded by glass windows offering views of the Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan. The

Alinea

2008-02-21T23:33:00.000-08:00

I visited Aparna in Chicago this past weekend, and, I finally had an opportunity to dine at Alinea (after several failed attempts to get reservations in the past). We chose the 12-course Tasting with wine pairings for eight courses, which translates to a 3.5-hour dining experience.THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARYAs I've already told many people, the integration of modern culinary techniques with the

Raised garden beds

2008-02-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

After a few weeks of planning, today we built two 4' x 8' raised garden beds at our student garden site. In the end, it ended up costing about $70 per bed, which is pretty reasonable considering that they're over 2' deep and constructed entirely of 2x4s and 2x6s, rather than plywood. Right now our plan is to use them for herbs, microgreens, and anything that might require a more controlled

A sea of yellow

2008-02-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

After the grapes are harvested in the Fall, the scenery begins to change around the Napa Valley. The lush green vines turn red and then brown before the leaves fall off. Then we have a few months of brownness before the rains begin in December. At that point, the valley reawakens with bright yellow mustard and orange poppy, which are planted as cover crop between rows in the vineyards. I was

The Mission

2008-02-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

On Friday we visited the Mission District of San Francisco as part of our Cuisines of the Americas class. With its large Hispanic population, the Mission is scattered with Taquerias and Mexican markets, along with beautiful murals spanning the alley walls.We walked around for a few hours, checking out a meat market, a produce market, a papuseria, and some murals before having lunch at a Mexican

The indestructable camera

2008-01-29T09:45:00.000-08:00

I just bought an Olympus 790 SW digital camera so that I can start taking pictures in class. It's the first point and shoot digital camera I've ever owned, so I'm still getting used to things like shutter lag and the lack of creative control, but so far I like it. What distinguishes this camera from others is that it's waterproof when submerged up to 10 feet deep, shockproof when dropped from

Elyse Winery

2008-01-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

As part of my plan for 2008, I intend to visit at least one local winery every Saturday and take advantage of the Napa Neighbor Program while I'm here. Then when I leave, I'll have a database of all the wines I've tasted with notes for reference. As part of that mission, last Saturday Tim and I visited Elyse Winery, a small family-owned winery in Yountville. They bottle 25 different wines, 22

Skills III Practical

2008-01-24T08:13:00.001-08:00

Last Friday we had our final exam and practical for Skills III. It was all stuff we'd seen or done before, but it still managed to unnerve us given that 50% of our grade was at stake. After the final exam (at 3pm), we drew lots to determine which menu we'd prepare. Beef Stew concerned us the most because in order to achieve a desirable result, you have to braise the beef for close to three

I thought I left Cleveland

2008-01-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning, and my room seemed slightly brighter than normal. I looked out the window and thought I was dreaming...Sure, it's kind of pathetic by most standards, but it's still snow!

Interdependent livelihoods

2008-01-13T15:40:00.000-08:00

Last week we started our first week of Skills Development III class. Unlike Skills I & II, which emphasized individual production, Skills III focuses entirely on team production, so there are no individual menu components on which you're graded; the daily menu is executed as a team. Accordingly, my grade is directly affected by the performance of my teammates, so it's in my interest to help

In the name of productivity

2008-01-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

After years of eschewing all analog organizational tools, yesterday I broke down and bought a white board. Measuring about 2' x 3', I hung it conveniently above and to the left of my desk. Make no mistake, I have no intention of phasing out the PDA and reverting to slips of paper in my pocket. I see the white board as an intermediate organizational tool, fusing the gap between ideation and

A Festivus for the rest of us

2007-12-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday (12/23) we hosted our annual Festivus dinner party in Cleveland. I think we're on to our third year at this point, but a number of factors made this Festivus notably different from the last two.The prior two were held at David's parents' house in Hinckley, Ohio, with a guest list comprised mostly of his family's friends. This year we shifted that dynamic and hosted the party at Tom's

Last day of Skills II

2007-12-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the last day of Skills II class. We have a two week break for the holidays, then we're back on January 7th for Skills III. We didn't have a practical in Skills II, but we did have a final knife tray. It's amazing how quickly your speed deteriorates if you stop practicing for a couple weeks. In Skills I, we had a daily knife tray, so we got faster and more accurate with each

Big Trees

2007-12-15T22:52:00.000-08:00

Aparna's first semester ended a couple weeks ago, so she came to visit me last weekend. We relived the glory days of NASCAR driving back from Oakland Airport on Friday as I made it back to St. Helena in 80 minutes, just in time for my 2pm class. I'm pretty sure I warped my brake rotors in the process because now when I brake at highway speeds the car shudders, but I made it to class on time,

CPKelco comes to CIA

2007-12-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, the food chemical producer CPKelco came to Greystone to present a seminar on the culinary applications and functional properties of hydrocolloids. Hydrocolloids are a group of compounds that alter the behavior of water to create different textures and consistencies. Some hydrocolloids such as starch, gluten, pectin, and gelatin have been used in traditional food for hundreds of

Just when I thought tourne potato was difficult...

2007-12-05T22:12:00.000-08:00

...today we started fluting mushrooms. When was the last time you saw a fluted mushroom at a restaurant? Probably never. Nonetheless, it's a knife skill that we will learn. Watching someone who can flute a mushroom well is pretty impressive. It transforms an ordinary mushroom into a work of art. Check out this image from DKImages to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Redd

2007-12-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, we ate at Redd on Saturday night. I was really interested in seeing what the restaurant was all about, so we opted to do the five-course tasting with wine pairings. Instead of bringing us all the same five courses, they brought David & Wendy one set of dishes and pairings and Tim & me another set. This was an ingenious idea because it enabled us each to try

A Saturday of work & play

2007-12-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning David & I had the opportunity to do some gardening at The French Laundry culinary gardens, directly across the street from the restaurant in Yountville. They recently hired a new head culinary gardener, and he redesigned the entire 1.5-acre plot, which will support about 60 different crops. Since there's only two of them working in the garden, they needed some help digging beds

The greatest taco truck in San Francisco

2007-12-05T00:31:00.001-08:00

My friend David visited town from San Diego last weekend. He arrived in San Francisco Thursday night, so I drove down after class to meet him. We stayed at Tim & Wendy's apartment Thursday and Friday night, then came up to the Napa Valley on Saturday.I'm pretty sure I'm still experiencing residual effects of exhaustion from the weekend. Thursday we stayed up until 5am playing Nintendo Wii. We

Final day of Skills Development I

2007-12-04T23:58:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday was our final day of Skills I Class. The day consisted of a cooking practical, followed by a huge garde manger buffet put on by the ACAP class for dinner. For the practical, we had to cook the following items in two hours: Chicken consomme with brunoise vegetablesBroccoli HollandaiseFreshly made fettuccine with pestoGlazed tourne carrots We were allowed to do a lot of prep the day

Thanksgiving week, part III: Butler

2007-11-24T12:02:00.001-08:00

This Thanksgiving I took the opportunity to practice some of the cooking I've learned in my Skills I class over the past few weeks. I put together a seven course (lacto-ovo) vegetarian menu, since my younger sister Anita is vegetarian.Aparna had some work to do while I was in Chicago, so I used that time to design the menu and compile recipes. Some stuff is really basic, while other stuff is a

Thanksgiving week, part II: Cleveland

2007-11-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

I left Chicago on Tuesday morning and headed to Cleveland for the day. I finally got a chance to see Tom's new place in Chinatown. It's a live/work loft converted from an old warehouse. The previous tenant used it as a photography studio, so they have an enormous green screen in the middle of their living room. The good news is that they can now use that for video production as well.We're

Thanksgiving week, part I: Chicago

2007-11-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

While at other schools you might get a day or two of vacation over Thanksgiving, at the CIA Greystone we got the entire week off. Given that it's the one U.S. holiday centered around food, I think it makes sense. After all, we only get two weeks of vacation over Christmas and New Years, while most colleges get a month off.I took the opportunity to do some traveling, stopping in Chicago last

Stocks, soups, and potatoes

2007-11-15T23:46:00.000-08:00

In the past couple weeks of Skills I class, we've been entirely consumed with making some of the fundamental building blocks of classical cuisine. As we begin to pile things on and multi-task, it's becoming increasingly busy & hectic. But we're all starting to do the dance, and the kitchen is starting to hum. I think we all thrive on that energy; my group, which consists of Lindsay, Colin, and

They probably think we're stalking them

2007-11-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

This morning I met Laura and Ruthie for coffee and a croissant at Bouchon Bakery and saw them off before their day of wine tasting. As we sat down at a table on the patio, sitting across the way at a picnic bench were none other than Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, reading the newspaper and enjoying their baked goods. Apparently we have similar (similarly good, that is) taste in food.

Ad hoc experience, chance encounter

2007-11-12T02:05:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I met my former sailing crewmate Laura and her friends Ruthie and David in Yountville this evening for dinner at Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller's temporary-turned-permanent family style restaurant. The essential concept is they take comfort foods you've eaten a million times, such as minestrone soup or beef stroganoff, and they perfect them. They feature a

My Plate

2007-11-12T00:33:00.000-08:00

Several months ago, a student here at Greystone started a club called My Plate. The premise is that once a month one student gets the opportunity to showcase his culinary talents by designing and implementing a restaurant/menu concept, culminating in a multi-course dinner served at the Williams Flavor Discovery Center (which can seat up to 40 people), funded by the school. It's an excellent

The joys of turning potatoes

2007-11-11T23:59:00.000-08:00

Friday we started turning (tourner in French) potatoes in our Skills Development I class. For those of you unfamiliar with this specialty cut, it's a classical cut used for potatoes or root vegetables such as carrots. A tourne is a football-shaped cut with flat ends and 7 equilateral sides. The size of the finished vegetable is typically about 2" long by 3/8" wide at the ends. Next to fluting

INTJ

2007-11-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

For our Interpersonal Communication class we had to take a Myers-Briggs test today. I've taken the test at least a couple times since college, and my results have stayed pretty constant. Like before, I am Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging.I love reading the various descriptions of the INTJ personality because they always succinctly express some facet of my personality.For example, here are

Who needs dental insurance?

2007-11-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

Apparently I do. Between a prophylaxis, x-rays, and a few minor fillings, I've spend over a grand in the last week on dental care. My total time in the dentist's office did not exceed 2 hours. That's not a bad hourly rate.

Remember when you thought $420/oz. was expensive?

2007-11-06T21:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not talking about Acapulco gold; I'm talking about real gold. I remember thinking in 2005 that the price of gold, around $420/oz. at that time, was outrageously high. I lamented not investing several years before that, before the tech bubble broke, when investors were less interested in physical security and the price hovered below $300/oz. I just checked the price today, and it's now over

Kid Nation

2007-11-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

What kind of messed up psychology experiment is this? I watched two episodes of Kid Nation online while having dinner last night with Sasha, Jasmine, and Tomasz, and it completely blew me away. It's hilarious, but I can't believe the network is actually allowed to go through with it. It's like a modern-day version of Watson's Little Albert experiment.

World of Flavors 2007

2007-11-04T23:27:00.001-08:00

Yesterday marked the conclusion of the 2007 World of Flavors Conference at Greystone. In four days I worked 52 hours, spending about 95% of that time on my feet. Those of us who accrued 40+ volunteer hours earned credit for a free wine course, which is worth close to $1000.I worked with the India team and had the opportunity to meet some great Indian chefs including Abhijit Saha, the executive

Fruit caviar, take 1

2007-10-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I ordered some food-safe chemicals so I could play around with a few of the preparations being used in modern, conceptual cuisine a la Ferran Adria. Specifically, I wanted to make fruit caviar and mango ravioli. Initially I was going to buy Adria's branded chemicals since they sell them at the Greystone bookstore, but they're very overpriced. The pastry chef Will Goldfarb also sells

A $355 lesson in parking

2007-10-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went down San Francisco to visit my friends Tim & Wendy. While I was down there, I learned a valuable lesson about parking: Don't block the driveway of 158 10th Ave. When I went to leave this morning, my car was no longer in the spot I parked it. Certain that I hadn't parked in front of someone's driveway, I thought it was stolen. After a few minutes of panic, I got a hold of

The joys of crayfish

2007-10-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

They're like mini lobsters, but much much feistier. Trying to work with live crayfish is a pain, literally. First of all, they had crawled out of their box and were all over the floor of the walk-in fridge when we went to get them for class today. And they won't stop crawling away unless you put them in water, at which point they swim around maniacally.Fabricating them is an interesting

A fun week ahead

2007-10-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

We have the entire next week of class off because of the World of Flavors Conference held at Greystone. This year's theme is The Rise of Asia, which will feature cuisine from all over Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, India, Thailand, and China. Chefs from all of these countries will be here, including Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. It's a pretty serious event with lots of clout in the

Last day of Seafood ID

2007-10-25T20:50:00.001-07:00

After finishing up our Meat ID & Fabrication class last Wednesday, we moved onto Seafood ID & Fabrication. Tomorrow is our last day of that class. Together they comprised one three-week block, which is basic structure of the curriculum.Today we had a practical in which we had to straight-cut fillet some trout. Pretty simple, other than the myriad invisible pinbones I had to surgically remove

Chocolate & chile

2007-10-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Last night my roommate invited some of our classmates over for a New Mexican dinner: margaritas, guacamole, New Mexican tomales, and cornbread. I decided to make a fitting dessert to close out the meal: chocolate-chile creme brulee. Chocolate and chile are actually a pretty classic combination in Mexican cuisine (mole), but we rarely encounter it outside of that. I used the recipe linked above

HWY 1

2007-10-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took my first trip ever down Highway 1. Appropriately, I chose to ride my motorcycle. For those of you who haven't experienced it, Highway 1 is everything it's cracked up to be and more.To get to Hwy 1, I rode through the Alexander Valley (another great wine appellation in California) on Rt 128 up to Geyserville, then cut across Sonoma county on this treacherous little mountain pass

A true Californian

2007-10-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

I finally got my California driver's license today. After putting off a trip to the DMV for the past month, the final motivation came in the form of a letter from my insurance carrier (Nationwide) stating that I'd be non-renewed if I didn't furnish proof of a California license by Friday.

Not for the faint of heart

2007-10-14T20:40:00.001-07:00

I spent about three hours today watching a bunch of assigned videos for my Meat ID & Fabrication class. Most of them were instructional, such as how to sharpen knives, break down a chicken, debone beef shank, etc. Two of them, however, were a little more graphic--a calf slaughter and a hog slaughter. Now, mind you, these were professional slaughters intended to be educational, but there's

Student garden harvest dinner

2007-10-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

To showcase our summer harvest from the student garden, on Saturday evening we hosted a harvest dinner at the Williams Center for Flavor Discovery, which used to be the carriage house back when Greystone was a winery. A donation from Williams (of Williams-Sonoma) funded the creation of the center. It has a private 34-seat dining room and attached professional kitchen.The kitchen was

First day in the kitchen

2007-10-09T23:30:00.001-07:00

Today was our first day in the kitchen. My feet are tired, and we were only standing from about 4-9pm today. That will take some getting used to. We started Meat ID & Fabrication, which consists of a seven-day crash course in beef, poultry, lamb, veal, pork, and charcuterie (smoking & sausages). Today we each broke down 4 whole chickens in various ways, including trussing, 8-piece cuts,

Moto

2007-10-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

As promised, I am posting a brief write up of my dining experience at Moto, the Chicago restaurant at which Homaro Cantu serves post-modern deconstructionist cuisine. In addition to taking notes on a little memopad, I took some low-res photos with my blackberry.Scene: For a tasting menu restaurant, pretty relaxed overall. Biz casual attire. It has a definitely lounge feel, with jazzy music

That toddlin' town

2007-10-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

Nothing like taking a "break" from the Napa Valley and visiting Chicago. I tortured Aparna by making her watch Big Night and at least 5 episodes of the BBC sitcom Chef, the theme song for which I sang the entire weekend. I probably spent more money last weekend than I have in an entire month in the Napa Valley.As I mentioned in my previous post, we visited Oak Park and the Robie House on

Greetings from Chicago

2007-10-06T09:24:00.001-07:00

I'm in Chicago right now visiting Aparna. We had a four-day weekend because our current three-week block of classes ended Thursday, and we're off on Columbus Day. So we start in the kitchen on Tuesday.I took a red-eye out Thursday night. ATA canceled my flight and rerouted me on Delta, so I was able to swindle a first class seat. I got in at 8am Friday. Yesterday we dined at Moto, a

Sushi fix

2007-09-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

Today the CIA hosted a sushi and sake demonstration on campus. Yoshi Tome, a native of Okinawa, Japan and owner of Sushi Ran in Sausalito, brought Master Sushi Chef Izumi Miyazawa to demonstrate proper techniques for cleaning, cutting, and filleting fish. He used sardine, hamachi, and salmon for the demonstration. His knife skills were amazing. He made perfect cuts, wasting no part of the

65 miles to freedom

2007-09-29T23:01:00.000-07:00

My classmate Dan is an avid cyclist, so I decided to go for a road ride with him on Saturday, after tending the student garden in the morning. I rode my bicycle down from Angwin to the garden, which is about 8 miles. Since it's all downhill, I got there in 22 minutes. We left at about 10:30am for what became an epic bike ride, returning at 5:30pm. Definitely more than I bargained for,

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

2007-09-25T17:05:00.001-07:00

Today we took a trip down to San Francisco for my Product Knowledge class and toured the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, which is operated by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA). We met with Julie Cummins, CUESA's Director of Education, who gave us a lot of background information about the market as well as the process for becoming a certified farmers market in

Durian fruit

2007-09-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

This evening I tried durian for the first time. For those of you unfamiliar with durian, check out this NY Times article from earlier this year. I heard about this fruit maybe a year ago, and I've been curious about it ever since. Basically, it's considered the world's smelliest fruit. It's native to Southeast Asia, and most people equate its odor to trash, moldy food, or a dead animal. It's

Oyster heaven

2007-09-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

My roommate (Sasha) and one our classmates (Jasmine) headed to the coast today to visit Tomales Bay. They stopped at Hog Island Oysters and picked up a couple dozen fresh oysters, so we had Oysters Rockefeller for dinner tonight. There's nothing like fresh oysters. And I still have all the feeling in my limbs and full memory.Tomorrow evening I'm headed over to Jasmine's to learn about beer

Technical difficulty

2007-09-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Google's photo hosting service, Picasa Web Albums, is currently having some problems with embedded slide shows, which is why they've all disappeared from my blog. Hopefully it will be back up in a few days.UPDATE - slideshows are back up.

Meat & potatoes

2007-09-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

As a project between my Writing & Culinary Math classes, we had to split up into groups of four and design a four course themed catering menu to be presented orally to a panel of judges this Thursday. For the Math portion, we costed out of all of the recipes to determine menu prices. For the English portion, we have to prepare a written report describing the overall menu and each of the items,

Shellfish safety

2007-09-16T20:02:00.001-07:00

I just finished reading the first 3 chapters of my food safety textbook. It certainly achieved its goal because the last thing I want to do right now is eat raw or undercooked food. The thing that really got me, though, was not the bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi that improperly-kept food can harbor. Those can all be averted through proper food safety within your control -- washing