Week Eleven - Fifteen

Well, here we are. You and I made it to the last few weeks of my cooking class. I will have a big, sappy goodbye the end..
but for now here is how I closed out the semester.

Week Eleven 

Potatoes, patadoes

• Oh mashed or fried, potatoes have a way of making anyone's heart flutter. And that is exactly what they this week. Chef Mark taught use some new ways to cook these nearly circular roots.

Flipped and Flopped

• So, today it was only me and one other in my squad, Yanni. (She is adorable) And we were tasked with making Rösti potatoes - which is a fancy way of saying a Potato Patty. And.....um....let's just say I should have paid more attention on temperature control day.
• In the words of my really good friend, Dax, it is caramelized, not burnt. Haha. 

• The recipe is in Recipes, but for a quick summary here is what you do
1. Boil whole potatoes, skin and all
2. Peel skin off boiled potato
3. Play real hot potato because the above step is painful
4. Shred potato with cheese grater and your fingers should be nonexistent at this point
5. Layer potato shreds in the following order in a pan
• Hot oil
• Potato shreds
• A Paula Dean's amount worth of butter
• More shredded potato
• More butter
6. Flip and bon appétit

Potatoes are a beautiful root, and deserve to be appreciated.

So, please watch this in respect of them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7uyKYeGPdE
(I'm not sorry)

Unleash the Beast

• So, at the end of class today, we all presented our final potato product and went to town on the food. It was feeding time in a Jurassic Park movie. But, I managed to keep all my fingers

I Knead, You Knead, We Knead for Tortellini 

• Second day of class was im-pasta-ble to forget. (I'm turning into Chef). We learned how to make pasta the Italian way and I understand why people who do this are strong.

Rolling into Sheets

• So, of course we made the dough, put the was the simple hard - kinda.
• Well, sort of have to make sure all your measurements are correct or you will make an inedible doughy rock...put my squad knows how to measure ingredients
• And kneading! Oh my Mario, I don't know how restaurants who make pasta fresh everyday do it. We only needed to knead for at least 7 minutes and my and my squads arms nearly broke off. The strength of a thousand men was needed

#lookaflickadawrist #limpnoodle #impastable #thatcraneisbrighterthanmyfuture #jk #imsorry #notsorry

• Rolling the dough out into sheets was a fun but you needed to focus. You need a steady hand and NBA basketball player wrist flicking skills. 
• First, you needed to make form the dough into a rectangle so it could roll through the crank (will explain in a bit) smoothly

History Lesson

Back in the Golden Age when all foods were made of fresh ingredients and natural substances (not the processed, fatty and unearthly colors we have now), people rolled out fresh pasta - even after they the pain inducing kneading - with a good ole rolling pin

But sadly, do to those lazy and ungrateful millennials, they created machine to do it for you 

• Once the dough was flat as most of my jokes, you then had to cut it into the desired pasta of your choice. My squad had tortellini, so we not only have to cut our pasta but then had to fold it into our shape.

Now today was a horrid day due to the fact that my tables had to make pasta the week before prep day because it was going to be to much to do next week. 

• But, Imani, why was this so bad?

Well, chickadee, because our pasta went up in a hellish fire of dry pasta and not even our tears could bring it back to life, so it was just sad....

But that didn't keep us down 

OMG Moment of the Week

1. Potatoes come in all shapes and sizes and can be transformed into the most wondrous and deliciously beautiful things - just like all food. 
2. Again, cooking is the art of creation and patience and temperature control is a skill you need to master (hopefully sooner than later)
3. When making pasta, air is the Devil.

Week Twelve

Prep Day the Third

• Guess who didn't prep anything on Preparation Day because they wanted their food to be the freshest as possible? Right Table 5! and 1, 4  6 and us (7). The highlight of this day, however, was my squad of ragtag females and Table 6, made mozzarella!

Since it is the last issue, I feel we can finally admit that Table 6 was Chef's favorite

and who can blame him

There is a process to make this and involves major temperature control and constant attention...but, my attention was rolling out dough so I can not personally tell you anything. I have some pictures of what my squad and that's it.

Here is what I can somewhat recall:

1. Ally (in Pic 1) is breaking the curds of the heated milk 
2. Yanni (in Pic 2) is straining the mixture with a fine strainer - i don't think we had cheese cloth
3. Then Yanni again is now getting as much liquid out of the mozzarella as possible

Well, that's all for today. See you again at the end of the Yellow Bricked Road

Allez Cuisine

• Watch out for falling houses, evil witches, and the Golden Poppies on your way to the Emerald City. This is Pasta Palooza and we are serving Tortellini stuffed with a ricotta cheese filling and tossed in fresh Pesto. On the side, we have a tomato, mozzarella and basil kabob and Peach Bellini. (If that wasn't the most extravagant sentence I have written so far) 
• Our Emerald City theme was come from the the sheer fact that pesto = green. What else is green = emeralds. What is a theme with emeralds = The Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz. (I wanted to do The Wiz with Diana Ross, but like I am the only one who knows what that is)

Look, in the sky, flying in a bubble, it's Ally the Good Cook of North

but Watch Out

Spilling salt into everyone's pots and pans, Yanni the Wicked Chef of  West

• Today we also did a #MannequinChallenge but I do not know where to find it but it was awesome. Take my word for it. 

OMG Moment of the Week

1. Mozzarella is a process that is way more easy than I previously thought. You just need patience, like with all food. 
2. Waiting until Event Day is stressful and nerve wracking, but every time we do, I am beyond amazed of how well and tasty everything is.
3. Table 6 is an adorable group of females who deserve the praise they get every week, but Chef could spare the rest of the tables and be a little more subtle

Week Thirteen 

Poached, Sunny-side, and Fried

• What an egg-cellent day to talk about - you guessed it - EGGS! Again. First time I told you about eggs, we were only hard-boiling them, but now we are chef novices. We fry, poach and sunny-side our eggs. 

Just Keep Stirring

• Before I explain to about how we crushed cooking eggs, we have an even better segment. Chef Mark taught us how to make the perfect omelet, Americano style. 
• To make what he called - a scrambled egg omelet - you have to cook low and fast at the same time.
• After put your eggs into the pan, you must break up the inside of the omelet to keep it from coagulating together and getting tough. Plus, you don't want your omelet to stick to the pan. 

#cookingwithchopsticks #usetheforcechef #starwarslightsaberchopstick #campomelet #campfirestove #chopsticksongsong

Our C-H-O-P-S-T-I-C-K-S-O-N-G SONG

Order Up!

• Now like I said, we fried up some eggs today also. While poaching is just boiling an egg out of its shell, sunny side uses a certain skill that only a few chefs have mastered...Patience. 
• To fully cook a sunny side egg, you need to let it fully turn from clear to white. That means touching, no poking, no nothing and my Yanni did a great job of that

• After her, it she my turn to flip an egg *dramatic music*, because that is all a fried is. A flipped sunny side up egg. 

At the end we made a pretty batch of eggs and only one - no need to name names Yanni - egg yolk broke.

Look how cute ~~

Girls' Day

Happy almost Thanksgiving everyone! We are a week away from saying goodbye, man...But let us proceed.

• Day two was a special class. There were only girls in here because nearly everyone had left home for Thanksgiving Break. So what does a small classroom - 17 lovely ladies to be exact - do? WE BAKE OF COURSE!
• Today was Bread and Yeast Day and we learned the 1950's house wife duties. 

Public Service Announcement

Dear Future Husband,

If you wanna steal my recipes

I will knock you out and beak both our knees

(Will explain later)

Baking is.....fun?

• As you have learned about me through out this semester, you know that I, Imani Shanice McAlister, HATE BAKING. Like baking is a skill for the gifted. I make Shepard's Pie not Apple Pie. But today, I sucked it up and learned this mundane activity
• Bread, we eat it in its many forms like loaves, tortillas, pitas and many more. But how does flour and water make this light and airy food? You can thank Yeast. 
• Yeast added into the liquid stage of the bread making process because it is a fungus that loves to feed on the sugar. Yeast is what helps make dense ingredients turn into fluff (basically it what makes dough rise) 
• But what if yeast wasn't here, you say? When, chickadee, without this fungus, your bread would be a dense ball that would taste good for about 5 minutes before it turned into a rock hard blood instrument
• But don't worry, there is a 5 second rule for adding yeast in late if you forgot because all foods have back up plans

This be Yeast. Yup. That is a Fungus

• After you mix the bread ingredients together, you get dough that is then needed to rest - because baking needs to be special and rest for hours as if it needs beauty sleep or whatever - and left to rise

After rising from its beauty sleep, the dough is then mercilessly beaten and punched until it is back to the size we original put to rest before hand.

(Haha. Put back to rest after we put it to......nevermind)

We Ain't Muffin Around

• At the end of class, we made muffins! MUFFINS! So, if you read that poem earlier, you will understand it now. 
• We made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. A recipe that Chef Mark (see home page for photo) STOLE from his wife
• And here's how.......recipe in Recipes

 

• Now the reason why I despise baking is because everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Now I'm not saying every time I bake I set my oven on fire, I;m just saying why is everything DEFCON 1 when you bake
• If I forget salt or rosemary when cooking, it is a mistake, add it, move on, but if you forget the 1/2 of a teaspoon of mint when baking and the whole kitchen burns down

• At the end of class, everyone got a bunch of muffins, I took home and pie and applied for a TA position with Chef Mark (P.S. I didn't get the position)

OMG Moment of the Week

1. Chopsticks are the best and cooliest ← (if you can't pronounce that word, go watch Drake and Josh immediately)  to cook. I don't know what it is. I think it is the delicate way you have to handle them, which in return you have be just as delicate with the food you are cooking with them with
2. Baking is a taxing and tedious activity, but through all the precision and triple checking, you can make a very wondrous dessert 

Week Fourteen 

This is it

• Well, we are here. The final week of class...But we have no time to mope. It is Prep Day!! Sweet Endings is approaching and we have some things to do. 

• But this is no ordinary Prep Day. Oh no. We are collaborating this week. We made so many friends and memories this year, so when better way than to go out as a team.
• For our Final Event, my squad, Squad 3 and Squad 4 decided to have a connected theme
• So, together we made decorations and food to wow the tasters one last time.

Squad 3

Squad 4

Allez Cuisine and I love yall

• Welcome to Candyland little one! Here you can travel around this wonder land and meet the people who inhabit it. Go down to Gumdrop Village for a crepe or two. Me the guest of honor at the Cupcake Castle and eat with royalty. Climb up the slopes of Mount Eclair and pick out your favorite. Or go meet Peppermint Dax in the Peppermint Forest for some warm chocolaty hot cocoa.

It has taken me a whole 14 weeks, but I finally have the videos and pictures I promised 

• Yes, you read that correctly. One theme, 3 tables, 11 chefs-in-training, and one common goal : Let's Rock This Joint. 
• We connected our tables with streamers and balloons and had different colored paper tiles on the ground to resemble the actually game board

Our Table was the cold and creamy top of Mount Eclair

We served Banana Cream stuffed Eclairs with Chocolate Glaze drizzle and topped with your choice of Whipped Cream, Cherries and Sprinkles

You could then to the left and enjoy some Peppermint Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Dax

• The whole class was hilarious and a really great way to go out and I enjoyed every bit...

But

Did I mention we won Best Presentation!! 

Woah!! Last last Event, last class, and we won. A three-way win for Candyland!!!

OMG Moment of the Week

1. This was probably the smoothest week we had. We learned how to time manage and got nearly everything done and down to a T. We had a big goal and it came out better than I could even imagine
2. Do not let the boy who burnt food make the shared drink that everyone has to use. Yes, I'm talking about you Dax

You Haven't Seen the Last of Me

*Before reading said closing remarks, I suggest you go to YouTube and play 

Little Wonders by Rob Tomas

in the background

Here is also a link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VYhnFRUKiw

Oh boy. What a semester it has been. I learned so mush about myself and what I wanted to do with my future. And with all the jokes aside I really can't believe how far I've come. 
When I started class, I thought it was going to be a breeze, a nice walk in the park, but no. The kitchen is not like park where you shoot the breeze, you work and sweat and sometimes cry. You are a part of a well-oiled machine that is going to work with or without you. Put in what you want to receive and just watch in awe on what you can create.
 You make memories. You make friends. You make allies for the future. And you definitely make delicious food. This isn't a battlefield. This a home, a safe haven, paradise for some (Me!). I have become better, stronger, and will go on to spread the world of food making and preparing to the world.

My name in this class my be dust in a few years. My participation will be forgotten, but what this class has given and taught me will stay with me forever.
Hell, I haven't put seasoning on my food until it is cooked since Week 3. I marinate meat now, and it taste unbelievable. I can even breakdown a whole chicken in 10 minutes, instead of 30. Haha. 

So, I say, Goodbye Demo Kitchen, the hilarious Chef Mark Molinaro, our beautiful TA Caitlyn and my squad. 
But trust and believe, you haven't seen the last of me.

Peace be with you
Love Imani!

Oh yeah, here are some stats I promised Shellby

Selfies (Only me ) : 83

Pictures of just Shellby : 15

Me and Shellby : 21

 Just Dax : 24

Me and Dax : 6

Me and Rebecca : 4

My squad (3 or more) : 7

Just Ally : 21

Just Yanni : An unsettling amount (43)

Just Majestic : 17

 Catie: 15

Me and Catie : 8