Playing in the Leaves

Daddy had to rake leaves today. Since it was a warm sunny day, Kaitlyn decided to join daddy outside and play in the leaves.

Where's Kaitlyn?

Prior to nap time, we took a bath b/c we were covered in leaves and dirt. Kaitlyn loved it!!

October Fun

It's been a while since the last posting, but here are some fun photos from October.

A tunnel slide at the pumpkin patch

Kaitlyn found a pumpkin just her size (to bad it rotted before Halloween :-( ).

Kaitlyn and Olivia with their pumpkins.

Checking out the store at the pumpkin patch.

Pulling pumpkin seeds out from the pumpkin.

More seeds...they feel weird daddy!


Helping daddy carve the pumpkin.

Here it is...

Snow White by day...
Bunny rabbit by night...

Just love this pic!
Candy!!!

Kaitlyn Singing

Kaitlyn loves to sing and sometimes dance. It's not uncommon for her to sing herself to sleep at nap time or bed time.

She likes to sing the ABC's...


Twinkle, twinkle, Litte Star...


Hail to the Victors (or part of it)...


and many more. Thought I'd show you the three that I caught on video today.

Instant smiles for mommy!! Enjoy!!

Ice Carving

As part of our Garde Manger II class, we carved blocks of ice. We had two ice carvers come to our class and demonstrate the four stages - tracing and chipping the outline, sawing the basic shape, giving it dimension, and finalizing the details. After they demonstrated each step, we worked on our own block of ice. Everyone made the same sculpture - a fish.

While it's by no means perfect, I was pretty happy that my sculpture looked like a fish. It's hard to see the fish's head because of my white coat, but I carved him with a small eye and a mouth. The fish is supposed to be sitting on the wave with his bottom fin curved towards me. Overall, a fun experience, something I would try again even if I'm not good at it.

Garde Manger II

In August, we began the second phase of the cold kitchen and practiced fruit and vegetable carving along with making chocolate shapes.

While I made several fun chocolate shapes for ice cream, fruit, pudding garnishes or decorations on a cake, I couldn't help but make a little something for Kaitlyn. She grabbed Mickey and bit off part of his ears and his smile before I snapped the photo, but you see most of him.




We learned to carve ducks and swans out of apples and melons, which was a lot of fun. It's not as hard as it looks, but not something I can explain online. I recommend checking out some of the videos on YouTube if you want to learn.

The wishing well photo is from my cell phone. However, we were pretty happy with how this watermelon carving turned out given that no one in my group had ever carved a watermelon before. The string for the cucumber bucket came undone as evidenced by the photo, but it looked even better when it was tied up by the handle, which actually rotated.


In the next few weeks, we will learn to make sausage, pate, charcuterie, and ice sculptures/carvings (using a chainsaw). Stay tuned....

Garde Manger I: Vichyssoise (Cold Soup)

One class was devoted to cold soups, like vichyssoise or gazpacho.

Here are links to both:

• http://www.starchefs.com/JChild/html/recipe_02.shtml - a Julia Child recipe
• http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gazpacho-recipe/index.html
  

Vichyssoise soup is a potato leek soup made with chicken stock and heavy cream (sometimes) and served cold. This photo is from a vichyssoise I made with cucumber last summer.

My teammate and I created our own recipe and made an avocado vichoyssoise topped with red bell pepper slices. We think croutons would have added some crunch as well.

Ingredients in our soup:

• Avocado
• onion
• garlic
  
• bay leaf, pepper, kosher salt, cayenne pepper
  
• potatoes
• chicken stock
• red bell pepper
• lime juice

We sauteed the garlic and onion in olive oil until fragrant. Next we added the potatoes (chopped into quarters) to the pan. We covered the potatoes with chicken stock and brought it to a boil. We allowed it to simmer until the potatoes were soft. While simmering, we added the bay leaf, pepper, salt and a pinch of cayenne. Meanwhile, we thinly sliced a red bell pepper to use as a garnish and juiced limes. If you decide to add croutons - prepare them at this point. We did not use cream b/c we worried that the combination of cream and lime juice would cause the soup to curdle - not very appetizing! About five minutes before pulling the soup off the stove, we diced up avocado as we pureed the soup and avocado together to make a smooth, velvety consistency. We cooled it using an ice bath and serve it with the red bell pepper garnish small bowls.

For an original recipe created on the fly, my teammate and I were very happy with how this soup turned out. The chef instructor recommended a few dots of a flavored oil to add a little zest and help with presentation.

Garde Manger: Salads & Mayonnaise

As for salads...

If you ever have the opportunity to try greens side by side - it's a great exercise in flavors. Greens have mild, bitter, sweet, and spicy flavors. I didn't think I liked spinach until I realized that was the green that I thought tasted best... shocking!!

• Spring salad: mixed with sweet greens
• Mezclan salad: mixed with bitter greens
• Spicy greens: arugula (YUM!) and watercress
  

Ideas for salads include bistro beef salad with a red wine shallot vinaigrette, roasted mushroom wild mushroom salad, tomato and cucumber salad.

We made vinaigrette and cream based dressings. One dressing we made was a warm bacon dressing for a spinach salad - it tasted of grease and did not appeal to me at all. Based on where we live, this is blasphemous to say that I actually didn't like something with bacon or bacon grease in it, but sorry folks - it's a no go!!

Last thing I want to share is that we made mayonnaise. It tasted delicious! We tasted the mayonnaise side by side with store bought mayo and it tasted SO MUCH BETTER! If you are worried about the raw egg in it, be sure to buy pasteurized eggs.

The mayo* we made had the following ingredients if you want to look for a similar recipe:

• egg yolks, pasteurized
• salt
• white pepper
• dry mustard
• white wine vinegar (good WW vinegar)
• salad oil (not canola, but actual salad oil)
• lemon juice

You whip the egg yolks on high speed until thick and lemon colored. Then you add the dry ingredients and half the vinegar and whisk to combine it all. You VERY slowly add the oil one drop at a time into the mixture until it thickens and starts to emulsify. Then you add the oil in a slow stream. If you want to thin it out, add a little vinegar. Continue whisking until oil and vinegar are incorporated. Add the seasonings and lemon juice to taste. Refrigerate until needed.

Our group made it using a stand mixer while another made it by hand. Both tasted great and for sake of ease, I recommend a stand mixer if you have one. We in turn used the mayo to make a variety of sandwich dressings - pesto mayo, green mayo (sauce vert - basil, parsley, spinach and chives), and roasted red pepper mayo.

*I didn't give amounts above b/c the recipe I have is for an insane amount of mayo. However, you can use these to find a suitable one online.

Like I said... these were some of the highlights from the last month of class. Hope you enjoy reading!