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