Back to school!

So the snow was here and now it's not.  It lasted through the holidays though, so I wound up driving to pick my mom up at the airport for her visit, which was fine while I was on the freeways - they were clear - but the city streets were covered in snow and ice with big 'pothole' like things in the ice that made for a bumpy ride.  But Mom for in fine and we had a white Christmas with more snow falling as we opened presents, so that was quite nice!  Mom had a nice visit and enjoyed some shopping, but unfortunately since I was on school break, my school's restaurant wasn't open either, so she didn't get a chance to eat the school as she wanted to, so I guess she'll have to come up again another time!  

New Years was fun as well.  The other buildings all around me had people out on their balconies or up on roof tops with all the noise makers and poppers going crazy, but we were all having fun.  There were even some fireworks going off, though I am pretty sure they were illegal, but still nice to watch against the dark sky!  And here I am celebrating the new year!

So back to school it is.  I started back this week (after yet another short snow fall on the Sunday night before!) and we are still playing catch up but it looks slightly like it might be able to happen!  Natalie luckily came back after being snowed in and then sick over the holidays, but it was nice having her back to work with.  Hannah was missing today though, so once again were down to 3 for service tonight, but it was okay and we got it all out fine.  I got my rosettes checked off tonight, which was good because it was one of those "easy" things on my check-off sheet i just couldn't seem to get checked off and it was annoying!  

I am trying to get better at remembering to take pictures of my stuff before i eat it, so here is what I have from this week so far:

This is a fruit tarts filled with pastry cream and topped with pears, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, and a raspberry in the middle.  I shared this one with the ladies at Curves since it seemed like it was the healthiest of the three I had that at home that morning!  :)

This is a lemon meringue tart with lemon curd on the bottom (that you can't see) and topped with meringue that I accidentally got the torch a little too close so it browned quite a bit more than I'd like but was still quite yummy!

This is a ganache tart  filed with a dark chocolate ganache and white chocolate for the design.  The feathering in the design looks better in the actual product than in the picture though.

This tart has fresh apple slices in a sweet custard filling.

This last tart is filled with a poached pear and frangipane, which is an almond flavored filling.

Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of the breads we made this week - I will try to take pictures tomorrow of the ones I have left here.  But we started our bread section and have made olive rolls, baguettes, cheese and dill breadsticks, butter braids (2 strand braid and 4 strand braid), and cheese rolls, with more to come the rest of this week!  I can't believe it is already the end of our first term.  It seems like I started only yesterday, but our first test is on Monday with the term ending that night, so I have to finish all my products by then.  It is amazing to think I should know all my basics by then and will be moving on to more and more complex things from here on!  I am excited but sad to be already one month through the course.  I am really liking my classes and enjoying learning in the kitchen!  

And so my laundry is done, and that means I am off to bed!  Yay!

Will I get out of the snow?

So the snow has been craaaaazy for Portland just this last weekend.  Luckily I got my last two days of school in, because if we had school this week it would for sure be canceled!  The last two nights the city has been shut down to any cars that do not have chains.  I had problems when I came home on Saturday evening with not being able to get back into my garage because there was too much snow on the driveway my car couldn't go up it.  The manager and office people have not been able to come into work, so I am not sure what is going on.  Currently, my car is parked on the street side where I do not have a permit for, but what else am I supposed to do at this point?  I just watched this morning, three cars unsuccessfully try to leave their parking spots on the side of the road, they just spin out the snow.  The street corner to the back of my apartment is a snow trap and I've watched one car, two big guy trucks, and even a tow truck get stuck there!  And I just watched (and took pictures because I am bored and tired of watching movies) of two couples trying to get their cars off the top of the parking deck. 

I think these poor people were just visiting and friend and got stuck.  They were in the visitors parking spot long before their car got snowed in. 

Luckily, they're friend they were visiting was nice enough to let them borrow their cutting board to dig their car out with - how sweet!

The cutting board was soon chucked into the snow because your hands just sometimes work better with large chunks of snow.

At the same time, this couple decided they would come dig their car out too.  They were smart and left their wipers up so they wouldn't ice to the car - smart people.

Their weapon of choice for the ice was a dust pan.

It seemed to work better on the soft snow than the cutting board, but not as well on the ice.

At one point, it looked like couple #2 was going to give up and head back inside, but I think they were motivated at how couple #1 was doing with their car.

While couple #1 did indeed unearth their car from the snow, the man did even get in and turn on the car to warm it up and start the defroster, but then he close the driver door to finish pushing off snow and the door froze shut.  Put your shoulder into it!  He finally had to climb through the back seat and he managed to wrestle the door open from the inside.

Couple #2 was also having issues with the ice around the door as well.  Where is a good chisel when you need one?

Once inside, the man did make many good attempts to back out of the space, though none were working.  It seemed to me that once he got going, he would brake and get stuck in the snow, whereas he should've just keep on the gas and could've gotten further along, but he didn't.

Couple #2 watches couple #1 in their failed attempts to get their car to drive out of the snow.

The unsuccessful attempts were soon ended and couple #1 went inside to return the cutting board and (hopefully) have some cocoa.

Couple #2 was slightly more successful in their attempts to leave the parking deck, they got their car all the way out of the spot and turned so they could back towards the ramp.  I was very hopeful for them at this point!

But then something fell out from under the car (the guy in green is holding it in his hand).

I don't have a clue what it was, and I don't think they did either.

So they finally gave up as well and headed back in side to (hopefully) have some cocoa too.

I am not looking forward to having to dig my car out, but hopefully the weather reports of some high 30's temps will be true and the snow will melt just enough to make it drive-able since my mom is flying in on Christmas Eve.  The trains are working - sometimes - when the switches aren't frozen, so hopefully at the very least we can take the train from the airport.  One way or another, I'll make it to pick her up though!  And while the snow is yet again shutting down stores anywhere from 2pm on, I do still love watching it.

The street corner on the right is the one that is a snow trap.  This is where I watch many a car go spinning their wheels trying to drive up it.

The parking deck after I woke up - before the attempts to free the cars were made.

I do love me some pretty green trees with bright white snow!

I usually can see the lights from these houses at night from my window, but last night I couldn't see them at all and even the other buildings close by were cloudy in look from all the snow falling.

The same with these trees.  Though in the morning, I got to enjoy the beautiful trees covered in snow!

And here is a guy using what is currently the best (and safest) method of transportation here in town.  Obviously, I need me some skis.

I hope everyone else with snow is enjoying too!   :)

Pies (and other yummy desserts!)

So here are my pictures from foods on the last day of school.  The pies are super yummy and I'm trying to freeze some of them so my mom can try them when she comes up for Christmas.  The other desserts are some of the desserts we plate every night for the restaurant, though while to me they still look yummy, the look much yummier when they are all decked out with their pretty plates and scrumptious sauces!

This the caramel nut tart, which is usually served with decorative fruit sauces, caramelized bananas, and whipped cream.

From left to right, there are the brownies for the brownie sundaes, the chocolate dream torte (a flourless cake), and the cheesecake - which is actually a lunch dessert.

The apple pie.

The rhubarb pie.

Winter break time!

Well, we ended up having class yesterday and with it being the last class before break, things were quite busy.  Luckily, we only had one more item added to our "to-do" list and the rest of the time was just for us to (try to) catch up.  So we had a tiny lecture, a demo on pumpkin pie filling, how to roll out pie crust, and how to make a chocolate pie.  We got to taste the baklava that we had made on Thursday and then started on our own goodies.  I had come in early to try to get a head start on my pies, so I had scaled out all of the ingredients for both my apple pie and my berry pie - which I was making with rhubarb, which yes is not a berry but is able to be part of the berry pie pies.  So the pre-scaling was definitely helpful and I felt much more prepared for the day.  Since our group had to go plate desserts for the restaurant tonight, we also felt a little more pressure since we would be leaving early, but luckily Chef said we had until 10pm tonight (instead of the usual 8:15) to get things checked off, so that helped a lot! 

So I first started with my quiche because I had most everything ready to go from the day before and just had to roll out my dough and shape it into a tart pan and pre-bake it partially.  While my dough was baking, I started cutting up my apples for my apple pie as well.  Once my shell was out of the oven, I filled it with cheese and half of the quiche custard Michelle and I had pre-made, and got it started baking.  I finished up cutting all my apples and mixed up my cornstarch with some water so it would be ready to go.  I cooked up the apples, adding the sugar and spices (it smelled so yummy!), adding the cornstarch to thicken, and adding brandy and vanilla at the end.  Once it was all mixed up, I spread it in a sheet pan and put it in the fridge to chill.  My quiche had come out by then and it looked super yummy to me, though I need to put something else with the cheese next time, because all the cheese came to the surface and locked the quiche shell to the tart pan - a problem to take the quiche out to be sorted out later as I still had another pie to make! 

On to the berry pie.  My rhubarb had been thawing and draining by this point since before class started, so I then just needed to add a little extra juice to it because the rhubarb didn't give out that much juice.  I cooked up the juice with some sugar and then added a cornstarch-water mix to thicken it.  Once that got thick, I mixed it with the rhubarb fruit (this method keeps the shape of the rhubarb better than cooking the rhubarb with the juice) and then spread that mix on a sheet pan and placed it in the fridge to chill as well.  I then took out two pieces of dough and rolled them out to fill the bottom of two pie pans.  I set those back in the fridge to chill as well, and then rolled out one more to make the top of the apple pie.  I then filled one chilled pie shell with the apple pie filling, placed the top crust on, cut air vents, and pressed the edges together, and started it baking.  By now it was almost time to go to service, so things were getting rushed and we still had to clean, but I still to fill my berry pie and put a lattice top on it (like a basket weave) and get it started baking as well.

Well, we got all cleaned up and into service and luckily only had 15 people in the dinning room tonight.  That made things easy, since while Hannah was back to class, we were still missing Natalie and so things could be a little rush, but in the end, no caramel nut tarts were ordered, so we each had one dessert to concentrate on and it all was done smoothly.  Once we got the desserts set out, I set to work trying to pry my quiche from the pan.  With a little help from a solid toothpick, I managed to get it out, yay!  I then wrote my #'s 1 through 5 for my last chocolate filigree and went back to Chef Hall to get those checked off!  

Once we cleaned up the service kitchen and gave away all the extra desserts that wouldn't last through the break, I went back and helped clean up our regular kitchen since there was extra stuff to be done for the break, but I also had Chef look at my pies.  He checked off both of them, so that was great, and now I don't feel so behind!  When we come back, I will have to still make my chocolate pie, my crepes, and my whipped cream rosettes, but that doesn't sound as bad to me!  I think I am going to try to come in that weekend before class and start my chocolate pie and make my crepes, so I can just get them checked off when we come back in January.  But then it will still depend on the weather if the school is open that weekend either!

So pretty much I am on break for two weeks, so now I can ENJOY my snow!!!  :)  It has been snowing again since last night, and I have yet again become a pro at scraping off my car windows with a school id card (or a credit card), some thing I haven't done since cold college mornings.  But hopefully I will get to enjoy the snow over break and when I get back to school it will be back to the rain and no more ice on the sidewalks so I can walk to school again.  For now, I will just enjoy the snow and have fun with friends and family coming to visit over the holidays!

Time crunch!

So today was kind of crazy.  Since we missed class (again) yesterday, we were now short another day and still trying to play catch up from the first one we missed!  So we had a lecture, then a demo, and then were left to start our work.  On today's list of things to do was help with the class baklava, make in teams of 2 a quiche custard, and make on my own 2 types of pie dough, an apple pie, a berry pie, and a quiche, while also making a strudel and churning an ice cream with my group for the restaurant.  

Today I got the ice cream and the strudel done (since they were for the restaurant, we get them done first) and my 2 pie doughs made, annnnnd... that is it.  Aaaagh!  It is so hard to be trying to get so much done but knowing we are short on time and still need to get it all done!  But looking back on it now, I do feel pretty good about getting as much done as we did, because yesterday we were missing Natalie from our group and today we were missing both Natalie and Hannah, so I feel like Michelle and I did pretty good doing our group things with only two of us.  

So class started off with us starting the strudel fixin's that have to rest before it can be completely made up, so instead Michelle and I took the time to fight with the ice cream machine.  The ice cream base was already made, so we just added the coffee extract to it and went to churn it in the service kitchen, trying not to get in the culinary student's ways while they start to prepare for dinner.  Well, we got it all churned just fine and were in the process of cleaning it (which is more of a chore than the actual mixing of it) and one of the seals wouldn't seal right, then the front door wouldn't close right, but a culinary student who made a lot of ice cream last term was nice and helped us out!  

When we got back to our kitchen, Chef Hall helped us stretch the strudel dough though, because you really do need at least 3 people to help stretch it, so that was nice to have an extra set of hands helping.  I did get my pie doughs all mixed up and in the fridge though, so tomorrow (if it doesn't snow) hopefully I will get my pies done.  Michelle and I scaled out our quiche custard for tomorrow, so we can get started on that quickly we hope.  

So all I got checked off tonight were the oatmeal cookies I had baked off after class on Tuesday, but Tessa and I's cannoli's are still waiting to be filled - hopefully tomorrow.  Chef did say that tomorrow will mostly be a catch up day, so hopefully I can get a lot done before I have to go to service.  Hopefully the other two girls in our group will be back, or else Michelle and I will be on our own plating all four desserts, which is definitely doable, but I was hoping to work on my chocolate filigree and whipped cream rosettes during that time as well since it is the only thing we can really work on during service.  We'll see what I get to though.  As of tonight, we will not be shortening our break to try to make up the lost days, but we will be coming in early and staying a little late the week we come back to school, which will be helpful since we still have a bunch of things to get checked off before the end of term on January 12th.  It sounds so far off, but it will be here before we know it!

Snow Day x2

So no pies for me today, class was cancelled due to the snow and ice again.  It has been snowing on and off all day and I do love it but hope it stops soon.  While I remember loving snow days when I was at UNCA, these snow days just aren't as great.  Yeah, it's nice to have an extra day to myself, but the streets are crappy to drive on with people sliding all over the place and half the residential streets by me being blocked due to way too much ice plus a steep angle to them, half the stores are closing early due to the weather, plus this means that IF we have school tomorrow, the day will be crazy full of things to learn/practice/bake or else we'll have to make it up on a day most likely over break.  Classes only got cancelled just before noon, so I took advantage of the extra day off to get to the post office though, and while I expected it to have crazy long lines (since I decided to go at lunch time), I was surprisingly happy to find only one person in line and I was out of there super fast, yay!  

Well, hopefully I'll be back in school making yummy pies tomorrow since the snow is turning to ice too fast to make proper snowmen outside of my apartment and that is no fun!  :)

Yay for good snow tires!

So school was back on today, though the ice was still out in full force on the sidewalks and streets, so I choose to drive to school instead of sliding up and down hills on foot.  All I have to say is thanks to my dad for choosing good winter tires for me in MT and that I have them on my car now!  My tires did NOT slip and slide and I made it perfectly safely around town yesterday and to school today!  I hear all night long and listen all day long to cars spinning their wheels going up and down the street beside my apartment.  I've watched numerous cars, minivans, trucks, and taxi cabs trying to get up the street, while also watching random people trying to make snow angels in the parking lot behind my apartment as well.  :)

So class was a bit jumbled today after missing yesterday.  We had to catch up on a double lecture and a double demo (or try to) AND still do all of our own baking in one evening as best we could.  Plus, for my group, we were the bread group today and had to make most of our breads today for use today (instead of being able to prep them the day before in the special group as usual) and we were one member short, so that put us in a rush.  We didn't have time to proof certain breads (they proof for too long), so we decided to make olive rolls, whole wheat rolls, biscuits, corn muffins, and finish the cheese rolls made over the weekend.  We got them going and got them all out, though our baskets were a little late getting out, but at least they were all done correctly.  

Once we got the breads out, I paired up with Tessa from a different group because both of our groups had only 3 people in it and we had assignments to do in groups of 2, so we paired up together instead.  We got started on our cannoli dough, which we needed to let rest for an hour, and then we made the cannoli filling (which has marscapone cheese, powdered sugar, pistachios, lemon zest, and chocolate in it) that also needs to rest for an hour as well.  While all this stuff was "resting" I started the crepe dough to use for tomorrow.  Once the cannoli dough was ready, we got to put it through a pasta machine.  We press it thinner and thinner and thinner and as it gets thinner, it gets longer, so to keep it going by ourselves, we put the ends together like a fan belt (described as so by Chef Hall) and keep it going round and round and round.  That was as far as we got before it was almost time to clean up, so I worked on some chocolate filigree and got my initials checked off, so just one left to do!  Tessa and I decided to stay after class to cut out and fry our cannolis and we will fill them tomorrow to get them checked off.  

Tomorrow we are going to be doing a lot though - we will be making crepes, making a berry pie, a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie, an apple pie, a quiche, and we will make baklava as a class as well.  So much to do, let's hope we don't have anymore snow days, or we won't be able to keep up with all we need to do!

Snow Day :)

So school is cancelled today due to the snow and ice from yesterday.  It didn't seem like that much snow fell to me, but perhaps there was more than I thought, but the sidewalks and streets sure were icy last night when I walked to Walgreens around dinner time!  Cars were sliding all over the roads and not many storefronts had iced the sidewalks.  That was probably because most of the stores had closed around 4 or 5pm due to the weather.  I went out around 11am to go shopping and at that time stores already had signs up saying "If the weather does not get better, our store will be closing at 4pm" or "Due to the inclement weather, we will be closing tonight at 5pm" or such.  I didn't think the weather was that bad, PLUS it was the second to last weekend for holiday shopping so it shocked me that the would close early during the rush of shopping!  I thought there were still quite a few people out!  But today, there is no more snow falling :( though they are saying it might happen.  Instead it is just sunny but suuuuuper windy.  The ice has not melted any on the sidewalks either and I need to go to the grocery store, so perhaps I will venture out in my car... perhaps.

Happy nature!

So the other night, the sky was beautiful as the sun was setting.  The colors on the clouds was gorgeous to see out of my windows!

And then today, whoopee!  It snowed!  It was snowing when I got up, and he wind was crazy and blowing it all over the place.  Not a ton, ton of snow came down, but it was still nice to see snow since I thought I was going to miss it all back in MT.

Unfortunately now the streets and sidewalks are icy, so tomorrow I would have had to figure out how best to get to school, but I just looked for school closings and it looks like OCI is closed tomorrow!  I'll have to double check in the morning, but if that is the case then whew, that makes it one less thing to worry about!  Yay!

Tada! Food pictures!

Okay, so these aren't the best pictures, but I have finally gotten up pictures of (some) of the food I made the past two weeks!  And here they are...

Here is the yummy pizza that I made with Tessa the first week.  This is the bottom half of our Christmas Tree shape.  It was super yummy!

This is a mix of some of the foods I made this last week, though not all of them!  From what I did bring home, this is it minus the Toll House cookies - they were gone by the time I got around to taking the picture!

This is the leftover breads from bread night.  There are some baguettes, some butter braids, some biscuits, and some corn muffins.

This is half of a loaf of sourdough, which makes super yummy PB&J sandwiches!

These are the cranberry shortbread cookies.

And a close up - suuuuper yummy!

These are the almond biscotti.

And the coconut macaroons.

These are the PB cookies.

Here are the yummy pound cakes.

And lastly, the macadamia nut and cranberry scones!

So there are my yummy food pictures for now!  :)  Yummy!