Auberge du Soleil stagiare

So this is a fun story. I just finished a stagiare at a resort in Rutherford, which is about 10 minutes south of St Helena. A stagiare is where you work somewhere for free just to get the experience. It's what you do in the culinary world to get real world experience in a kitchen. Auberge du Soleil is a very nice resort with a very expensive menu. I got to work in the pastry kitchen today. My current chef instructor used to be the Executive Pastry Chef at this restaurant a few years ago, and is friends with the current pastry chef. He helped in setting it up for me. Chef Lemieux is a very nice man and very helpful. It was a great first experience in a really nice restaurant kitchen with a high class and expensive menu. That is somewhat unusual though, because most kitchen's like that have very intense chefs and very high expectation. That means lots of yelling...

Today I got to prep and bake off puff pastry bouchons (?), pumpkin pie in small square molds, English toffee, Foster sauce, and cheesecake. The pumpkin pies were served today. And their plating is just absolutely beautiful. I'm glad he trusted me with things that were going to be served to people who paid a lot of money to be there... :)

I'm glad I did this. I was nervous a little bit because you never know what it's going to be like going into a new kitchen. Especially when it's so small, which is the norm in the restaurant industry. At Auberge it isn't really the norm because they have a separate area that is just for pastry and it's temperature controlled! It was a nice working environment. It's a busy busy kitchen with a lot of people around. But they put out a really beautiful product. I had a great time today

Auberge du Solieil

Bellwether Farms

There is a lovely family farm located in Petaluma, about an hour or so away from school, that farms sheep's milk and makes wonderful cheeses and yogurt. They also make some cheese from cow's milk too. We got the opportunity to go visit their farm and take a tour, which is very unusual. They don't usually do that. It's a small farm, and they make and ship everything from there. Their product is just outstanding. Their cheeses are so good, and they just came out with a sheep's milk yogurt a year or so ago. It's been really well received around the bay area. They also ship to other places. In fact, I've seen some of their product at Liberty Heights Fresh in Salt Lake City. It's worth every penny. The old couple that owns the farm are just the nicest people, and so gracious. I was so happy I got the chance to go.

Bellwether Farms



That guy had just made some new cheese (their San Andreas cheese) and he was turning it, which is part of the very long process of making cheese.




This is the aging room, where it's damp and cool (like a cave) and where the cheese is aged for weeks. It is a process of turning periodically and watching to see when it's ready to turn. It takes a very skilled person to see when. Also, that other picture is where the milk is pasteurized.




This is where the ewe's are milked. And the other picture is a close up of the cheese in the aging room.





This is the barn; and the other is where they let us taste some of the cheese. SO GOOD. The back white container is fresh, warm, sheep's milk ricotta. It was one of the most amazing cheeses ever....you have no idea...



And this is where we got to stop off and have a nice lunch at park. Aren't the leaves beautiful?

The Yankles

Matt's movie The Yankles finally premieres tonight! He was an actor in this movie and it was shot two years ago and now it's finally finished. yay for matt!

www.yankles.com

proof

Here's proof emeril was here (not that I think you need it or anything). I snapped a picture as discreetly as I could. This is one of my chef's, Chef Brown, filming a demo on making trifle...

So let's see... aka butta-cream

If I were you, it would be really annoying that I haven't posted in a while. After all, this blog is in it's culinary school format and I'm 7, wait- 6, weeks away from graduating. I've decided to just pick random things to show and talk about since my original plan hasn't been working. Although, I have taken pictures of everything I've done thus far so at least I have that. Like I said though, the posts will not be in any particular order relative to my program. I'm just going to start posting before it gets any more ahead of me.

Alright. So this exciting. I will post about my last class, which is decorated cakes and confectionary art. This is what most people think when you tell them you're in a baking and pastry program. We had several cakes we got to decorate. A lot of them where with buttercream which isn't easy to get perfectly smooth and pretty. Especially when it's August and the kitchen gets very warm... but, maybe that's a good thing. It forces you to get good at it. Nevertheless, I had a great time in this class. I could have sat and done this for hours and hours.

We learned how to shape marzipan roses, pipe buttercream roses, and make perfect corners on a square cake. FYI-it's definitely NOT easy to do that. We also learned floodwork, fondant, coloring fondant, coloring marzipan, and making and coloring sugar to make sugar pieces. Whew-busy busy class. It was incredibly fun...

Here are some buttercream cakes:




First time...





Hm-let's see.... I'm pretty sure this buttercream was mixed with a blood orange puree...it turned it pink. AND-if you want an example of what not to do, just take a look at that over whipped buttercream and know that it shouldn't look like that...not my best cake. Oh, and that's chocolate decor my chef demo'd for us that morning.



So this has colored marzipan pearls and roses on it...I love coloring. Out of this cake came some of my best layers yet...I was so happy to see improvement.



And, the following is probably one of my very favorite things I made. Just because it turned out how I wanted it. I seriously had so much fun making this. He-Man is mine, and props to my friend Meridith who did a lovely rendition of Babar (I loved Babar as a kid!)



And last but not least, here is my final project for this section of the class. We had to make that cake topper out of pastillage and royal icing. That stuff is so hard to work with if you don't know what you're doing and you don't work fast. It dries out so quickly.





Can you believe that this is only the culmination of a third of one class? That equals about one week, just in case you were wondering. Now you know how busy I am around here. I think I'll do fondant cakes next....





*by the way, it's gotten harder to take stuff home and take pictures with my nice camera, so I have to use a point and shoot. That's why the color and quality aren't as nice as I usually try to do with my pictures. Just so you know...

Arty

So I know it's really crappy that this is a blog about my culinary school adventures and if you even knew the busy schedule I have these days then you would totally understand why I've been non-existent... BUT! the good news is that I've downloaded a bunch of my pictures and I'm almost organized enough to post on a bunch of it... stay with me! I'm posting soon... and now on to better things:



Salt Lake City Film Festival was a very great success. YAY! Lot's of time and hard work from Matt and the staff, and it all paid off because they won an Arty award from City Weekly. Pretty awesome considering it's the first year :)

READ HERE!

I'm so proud

Guys! read this article. Matt is in the Deseret News this weekend for the film festival. And, be watching out for other media in the next few days leading up to the festival next weekend....

Oh my goodness

Ok so get this. You know how Emeril is here with a hole entourage of people filming a series of episodes right? Well, today we are in class rushing around trying to get desserts (Napoleons) out for lunch service, and lo and behold we find ourselves face to camera with the whole crew and Emeril. He continues to go around interviewing random students and random things for filler footage for the show. He came up to my partner and me and interviewed us! It was really fun. He just asked us some questions and chatted with us for a bit. I have to say though, it was quite possibly the worst time for a distraction. We were so late getting stuff out. oooooppss. It kind of threw me off for the rest of the day. But, I could definitely be on the show. Funny huh??
what a day, what a day

bam

guuuuuuyyyysss guess who's here this week??
He's on TV a lot...
He's kind of loud...
He's a chef...

Emeril Lagasse is here :) Seriously he is. We've been eating lunch with him and all the tv crew all week so far. He is filming 11 episodes of a tv show that's going to air in the fall. They plan to incorporate stories about campus life, the students, the chef instructors, the student garden and even places and food producers throughout the Napa & Sonoma area. The shows will air on Discovery's Planet Green channel (channel 201 on Comcast).

In case you're wondering though, it's rather rude to run up to him and ask to take his picture and all that crap. Besides, I'm on a schedule! I don't have time to do that. So, if you were expecting a picture, I probably won't have one...

Salt Lake City Film Festival

So the final poster is done! I wanted to share this with you. A really great, talented and local artist made this for the festival. Neato!

Oh Yeah! and make sure you check out the website to see some official selections for the festival. I hear they're really great...

Up, Up, and Away

I went and saw UP yesterday. Such a cute movie.

Bread and Butter

um. hello? Yeah if nobody is there I totally understand. I've been MIA for about 3 weeks...sorrrrryyyyy. Life is busy!!

Alright, so lately in class it's been bread. Bread and more bread too. Basically we're learning how to mix, ferment, shape, proof and bake breads. It would really suck to have Celiac disease at this point. Breads are one of those things that you can learn what you're supposed to do, but it takes a trained eye to really see if the bread is ready to bake. And believe me, overproofed bread is really ugly, and frankly, it just doesn't quite have the texture and taste it's supposed to either. It's been a challenge to try and learn the technique for recognizing this. I have a test on Friday. We'll see if I know it by then... :)

Below:

croissant, naan, raisin, lavash, ciabatta, potato bread.

Misinterpreted

Just a quick plug for my Matty's new video for the film fest. Btw, new posts will be up as soon I can get my crap together...

SLCFF Misinterpreted

Chocolate Bread

I thought I had posted about this earlier...

These are just a couple of other breads we did more towards the beginning of the program. Those leafy looking things are called 'Eppy', which is a type of roll. It can definitely be in a larger loaf size too though.

Also, these are some of the chocolates that a graduated class made. I am SO EXCITED for the chocolate classes...

Baguettes! Boules!

We made bread today...For something that is only 4 ingredients, there are endless amounts of possibilities for how it can turn out. Phew! It was a stressful day to say the least. I've never made this type of bread before, and we had a shortened class today. So that meant having every step of the process completely planned out. Not to mention, my group had to coordinate with the other two to get our breads in at the oven at the same time. Have you ever heard of a deck oven? Well it's just about the most intimidating thing in the whole bakery. Here, google it....
Crazy huh!? That bread loader is something else. Especially when you're under 6 feet and female... :)