My San Francisco Cooking School Externship and Graduation

So, this post may get a little ranty, you've been warned.

When I initially submitted my application to go to culinary school I made sure to be up front and tell them that I had no desire to work in a restaurant.  I understood that an externship with a restaurant was required to complete the course, but I was pretty clear that I did not want to work in a kitchen.  I kept an open mind through out school, and every time externships were brought up I listened.  My class was told to keep our minds open, and to be flexible.

I decided to do as they said, and go with the flow, after all; these people knew me!  I'd been going to school and seeing them for 16 weeks.  I'd taken about 10 of their recreational classes.  I felt like they were going to help place me in a great spot.  I'd also been vocal about my love of baking - I took a batch of cupcakes to class with me once a week.  So in my first meeting to discuss my placement we talked about the possibility of me working somewhere with a good chance to work with pastry.  I made sure to let them know that I could work any day of the week, any time of the week but that I didn't want to work really long hours (I can get irate when tired.) and I didn't really want/care about making Italian food, and I didn't want froufrou.  

I was surprised to say the least when I was told I'd be working with Flour + Water/Central Kitchen.  Don't get me wrong, these are both great restaurants but I hadn't even considered them because Flour + Water is all Italian pastas/pizzas, and Central Kitchen has some pretty froufrou food. I stewed about it all weekend, as we'd been told on a Friday.  I was angry, confused, and felt like I'd been betrayed by the school and the people who were suppose to be taking care of me and looking out for my best interests.  I went in early that next Monday so I could talk about the choice.  I wanted to know why they thought these restaurants would be the place for me.  I was told that I was placed there because I could do whatever I wanted there.  This was appealing to me, but at the same time I was sad that I wasn't going to be playing with a place known for their desserts.  I talked myself into the externship and continued on with school.

On May 7th I started at Central Kitchen.  No one knew I was starting that day, despite my having worked it out in advance.  Even the guy in charge of me had no idea I was even starting at all.  (That's always a great feeling.)  I butchered 25 chickens on my first day of my externship.  I butchered another 25 that Friday.

I really enjoyed everyone I worked with at Central Kitchen/Salumeria - I never made it over to Flour + Water but that was my choice.  I reported to Travis Day, the resident butcher and one of the sous chefs, who is pretty fantastic and let me plan my own schedule.  Pat Evans, the other Sous Chef, was always awesome and helped me with anything I needed.  Together Pat and I pickled a bunch of beets and various other vegetables.  I think one of my favorite things Pat said to me, which happened to be while we were pickling was, "We're just going to punch it down until it pisses out all the liquid."  That statement was in regards to a batch of "Spring-chi" or a weird mash-up of kimchi if-you-will.

 Chicken feet! These get boiled and then added to stock. 

 This is a pig heart. Every Wednesday Travis would break down a pig.

 

 I got to help with Off The Grid in the Presidio!

Emily, Aly, Brian, Bryan, Nate, Garrett, Armando, Eric, Kevin, Chad, Freedom, Alex, Andrew, and a whole raft of other wonderful people helped me finish my externship, and make it through relatively unscathed.  The people at Central Kitchen are great and were very happy to be working in such a great place.  It was the people who made my externship enjoyable.  It was the people who kept me going back and actually finishing my program. I respect anyone who works in the food industry, it's a labor intensive long haul; that said, I didn't need to work in a restaurant to know that.  I'm glad that I went in honest and let Chef Ryan know that I was there to get the job done, and then be on my way.

I finished my 240 hours of externship in five and a half weeks and on Sunday June 29th I graduated from San Francisco Cooking School.

 In the beginning.

 Six months later.

Since the end of school I've helped with a couple of classes at the school, and have been trying to finish up my extracurricular classes.  Each student is/was suppose to complete 30 hours outside of class whether it be TAing, Volunteering, or taking other "approved" classes.  (This is where things get really ranty.)  I have no idea how many hours I've completed, I have an idea but am still not sure if everything is done.  I have a sneaking suspicion I have more hours, but honestly no one has let me know what classes I could take, or if there's a spot available.

I desperately tried to take the "Summer Preserves" class, as it would really go great with my cupcake baking, but I was told that it would not count as we had pickled vegetables in class and it's the same thing.  It is absolutely NOT the same thing, yes it's about preserving but pickling and canning are two completely different techniques.  It was really disappointing to not be able to take a class like that as a credit.  Don't worry, I took the class anyway and it was great, taught by Kim Laidlaw, and learned so many things.  It's mostly disappointing that classmates of mine were able to take an ice cream class that counts for credit when we made ice cream on a regular basis during our program, but that I couldn't take the preserves class.

In retrospect I wish I had been more pushy before graduation to learn what was available for me in the future as a class credit option.  I understand that the school is not only a school but also a business and that they need to make money, but I feel as a student that as soon as I was done with graduation I was no longer any of their concern.  I don't expect hand holding, but I do respect honestly and reasonable answers.

I'm happy I went to culinary school.  I had a wonderful time in class with all my classmates and the great Chef Catherine Pantsios.  I was able to expand my culinary knowledge and technique, and every day was a food adventure.

Currently I'm in the final stages of setting up my own cupcake catering business.  Thanks to California's Cottage Industry laws I can bake out of my home.  I'll keep you posted on how things are going.

:)M

Week 15/16 at San Francisco Cooking School

The last two weeks of school were spent preparing for our last exam/practical, and then deciding what we'd make for restaurant week.  Good news, I passed the exam and practical with only a couple of small snafus here and there, mostly on the practical.

The restaurant week menu was pretty easily decided.  We'd all liked many of the dishes we made in class but there were some definite hits in our minds and we came up with an easily executable and delicious menu.  We had Annie Stoll, from Delfina come in and teach us about working the front of the house, or in other words waiting tables, and preparing tables. 

The class was split into two teams.  On the first restaurant day half of us were front of house, and the other half cooked the food and then it flipped for the second day.  I worked front of house the first day, and I got to be the hostess with the mostess.  The next day I was in charge of the soup appetizer, and two desserts.  It was very straight forward and I managed to get everything up and ready with out a problem.  I did throw a bunch of shaved chocolate on the ground, but that only slowed me down a moment.

Bob, Mary, Mary's Dad, and our friend Katie came to restaurant week the day I was cooking in the back.  I wanted them to know I was touching their food.  I was in charge of plating our cold soup, and two different desserts - the affogato, and a chocolate hazelnut mousse.  Over all the two days of feeding people was a success.

When everything was said and done we enjoyed some well deserved pizza and drinks and then headed off in our different directions to begin our externships.

I worked for Central Kitchen/Salumeria since May 7th to June 13th (240 hours), but that's another post.

Week 14 at San Francisco Cooking School

I've made it to week 14 with all my fingers, and no burns.  I'm considering myself super lucky to have not injured myself horribly during this experience.

Sacha Lauren, from Winters Cheese Company, visited our class and taught us how to make Ricotta, Mozzarella and Burrata cheese!  We started off with Ricotta because it's really straight forward and super easy to make.  Mozzarella on the other hand requires exact temperatures and pulling.  You have to stretch the cheese curds to make the mozzarella smooth but you can't stretch it too much or it will become tough.  Burrata is really thinly pulled mozzarella with a cheese and cream filling, you want to stretch the mozzarella so thin that you can't even tell it's a separate cheese.  We enjoyed the fruits of our labor with a caprese salad for lunch. YUM!

 Cheese, we made that!

We learned about tuiles this week.  Excuse my language but tuiles are a bitch to make.  They're really thin crispy wafer things that you can mold.  The trick is that you have to mold them while they're still hot.  Many fingers were slightly singed and many a tuile was tossed out.  I am not a fan of the tuile.

Lace cookie, tuiles.

But don't worry because we also made Brioche!  Apparently brioche is in my wheel house.  The dough is super sticky and you have to throw it down on the table to knead it.  Nic, my partner this week, managed to throw his down on the table with such force that some of it ended up on the front of me.  We made brioche loafs, knots and various other delicious bites.  We saved some of the brioche dough to make flamiche, which is like a quiche but with brioche dough.  I was quite pleased when I asked Chef Plue (SF Cooking's resident - and super awesome - pastry chef instructor) if "on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being awesome and 1 be the most horrible thing she'd ever seen, how she'd rate our brioche knots," and she said, "3." I'm pleased because it wasn't a 1!

 Brioche knots!

 Ham and cheese flamiche!

And then, the day I'd been waiting for all through this course came, the day Bill Corbett, from the Absinthe Group, came to visit!  He makes some of the most amazingly delicious desserts I've ever eaten.  He is a pastry God as far as I'm concerned.  First we took a little field trip over to the "commissary" where all the prep for the desserts happens before being sent out to the various Absinthe Group restaurants.  They have a steam convection oven!  It was such a great kitchen, and the set up was great.  I'd love to be able to work in a kitchen like that.  After the tour of the commissary Bill came back to school with us and we made a whole bunch of different dessert components.  After everything had been prepared we got to play with playing and combining flavors.  It was such a great day.

 Plating creations! (None of mine are shown as I ate them all.)

To celebrate the end of the week we made cheese burgers and finally used the deep fryer for fries!  Sadly there are no pictures of this marvelous event as we all shoved everything in our mouths so fast.

Next week we plan for restaurant week!

:)M

Week 13 at San Francisco Cooking School

I still have all my fingers!

The end of week 12 (yes this is the week 13 post) saw us making pastry doughs.  The last dough we made was puff pastry dough, or "Pâte Feuilletée."  This is the fancy pastry dough that is used to make croissants and other delicious breakfast pastries.  The pastry is rolled and folded, or "turned," so many times that there are 729 layers to it.  If you're interested in trying to make your own puff pastry I've found this excellent site with pictures and great descriptions on hot to put it all together.  The point is, we rolled out our puff pastry dough at the end of week 12, but didn't get to do anything with it until this week.

We made Napoleons, Jalousie, and Pear Feuilletées and they were all superbly delicious.

 

Pear Feuilletée!

Juliana Uruburu, from The Pasta Shop, came in for a cheese tasting!  Man oh man do I love to eat cheese.  We talked about how different animals milk can effect the taste of the cheese, as well as the animal's diet, the season, and where the animal lives.

 Cheese Tasting Deliciousness!

We were super lucky to have Chef Nicole Plue of the SFCS, teach us about chocolate tempering, and give us a chocolate tasting.  We tasted over 15 different kinds of chocolate.  At the end of the lesson we tempered our own chocolate and made little chocolate drops that we flavored with various items from all over the kitchen.  I think the best chocolates were topped with salt.

Sharon Ardiana, of Ragazza, came in for a special pizza making class.  I aboslutely love Ragazza so this was an exceptionally fun time.  We made really thin pizza and learned how to properly put it in the burn-you-face-off-hot oven.  I still have some pizza dough in my fridge waiting to be used up for a delicious dinner.  Sharon was definitely one of the best guest instructors we've had in class.  She very obviously loves what she does and she was an engaging speaker.  I think she's my chef crush.

I think I ate a pizza and a half all by myself, sooooo good!

We finished up the week with a field trip to Oakhill Farm.  We had a nice leisurely guided tour of the farm and everything that's grown.  We tasted some wild plants, as well as some purposely planted plants.  Chive flowers are delicious, and really cute, I'm going to have to look into growing them in my backyard. 

Chive Flowers

Freshly picked carrots! We dusted them off and ate them.

And then, as if we hadn't had enough food we had a little potluck that Saturday night!  Needless to say, it was all delicious!  Jen was awesome enough to host the party and we all had a wonderful time.

Party Time!

Stay tuned, we're nearing the end!

:)M

Week 12 at San Francisco Cooking School

Week 12 has come and gone, and I still have all my fingers.

We've started working on pastries!  We kicked off the week with more pasta and pastry dough.  We made a savory tart for quiche, and a sweet tart for a dessert tart.  I made an awesomely delicious quiche with caramelized onion, mushrooms and garlic with gruyere cheese, and then I came home and made another quiche! 

Brandon Jew, of Bar Agricole, came to our class and we worked on a duck recipe.  We didn't have an actual recipe, Brandon gave us direction and we filled in the blanks.  We of course got to cut up ducks again.  I was on the team that worked on the duck breasts and we had a really awesome spice combination that was rubbed on the duck.  We then smoked the duck breasts and while that was happening we worked on quick pickling some tokio turnips.  It was an interesting day to say the least.  Everyone got to through in their ideas and opinions about what kind of spices we should use and the best way to combine everything.

Sonoko Sakai came to class to teach us more about umami and introduce us to dashi.   It was a bit of a chaotic day but in the end everything we made was delicious.

The rest of the week was dedicated to menu classes where we put up a three course meal.  We made one of the most amazing appetizers ever, a scallop salad with fava beans and turnips in a lovely buttery sauce.  Sooo delicious.  (Pictures courtesy of my classmate Mandy.)

We used our sweet tart dough for a strawberry tart and man was it beautiful.  I can't wait to see what we do with the rest of our yummy pastry doughs.

We're kind of worked into a rhythm in class, it's wonderful to be able to rely on everything to get things done.  We're so much faster and more efficient than we were in the beginning.

:)M

Week 11 at San Francisco Cooking School

We kicked off the week with BEANS!  Chickpeas, pinto, red lentils, cannellini, and more.  My teammate, Jules, and I got to make the Balkan Bean Salad which was definitely the best bean salad I've ever eaten.  Our bean salad had cannellini beans, fire roasted peppers, red onion, kalamata olives, garlic, and sliced chorizo (that we'd previously made in class).  Soooo delicious.  The perfect salad to take to a BBQ.  It was so delicious that I didn't get a picture before we'd eaten it all. :P 

 Corn, bean and pumpkin stew

We also made butter and creme fraiche this week.  It turns out it's much easier than you'd ever imagine.  We had a butter tasting to compare textures and saltiness, and baked some delicious Irish Soda Bread and scones so we weren't just eating butter. 

Fresh pasta was also on the menu this week.  We made all kinds of stuffed favioli, and then the next day we made tortellini, cappelletti, tortelloni, ragu and fettuccine.  I got to make pasta using the kitchen aid attachment as well as using a hand crank machine that attaches to a table.  Both pasta makers have pros and cons but I think if I were going to buy a pasta maker I'd get the manual hand crank.

 tortellini with prosciutto and cream

We had an awesome day when Tori Ritchie came to our class to talk about recipe development.  At the beginning of class Tori had us write down recipes for how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We had to write down the name of the recipes, a little information about the recipe, how many people it serves, the ingredient list and the instructions.  A few people read their recipes aloud and what it showed us all is that everyone has a different idea of how their perfect pb&j is made, and when writing a recipe you can't assume that anyone knows what they're doing.  After that little exercise we split into teams and had to create a recipe using celery root and celery.  My team made celery root chips with a sour cream, cumin and celery dip.  The dip was pretty fantastic, but sadly our chips did not turn out properly because we oven baked them - and we didn't have enough time.  One of the teams made the most amazing celery salsa, it was sooooo delicious, and they fried celery root chips.  So delicious.

We de-boned a chicken and stuffed it with sausage - chicken ballotine.  Pretty delicious, and it was awesome pulling all the bones out of the chicken and then wrapping it back up.  Now I could make my own turducken if I want - which I don't.  And I had brought in my first attempt at whiskey brittle, and we put it on our dessert!

Chicken Ballotine

Caramel ice cream with apple fritters and whiskey pecan brittle.

But the real high light of the week, at least for me, was my birthday!  My classmates are seriously the bestest!  They surprised me with champagne and so many wonderful baking gifties!

 Julia, giving me a happy birthday kiss and my awesome bag o' goodies! 

 Net week will bring about more pasta, and some excellent guest instructors so stay tuned!

:)M

Week 10 at San Francisco Cooking School

Week 10 brought about our midterms.  Good news, everyone passed, whew.  We were also lucky enough to get the next day off of school, which was a really nice break.  I managed to walk away from our practical exam with only a small burn on my right hand.  I grabbed a pot off the stove with my towel and as I was walking back to my work station my towel slipped enough that my palm was touching the hot handle.  In my mind I was thinking, "f@#k, f@#k, f@#k," as I made my way to my area - it wasn't like I could just drop the pot.

Matthew Dolan, of 25 Lusk, visited our class on Monday to teach us about Russian caviar service, blinis, oysters and sabering champagne.   I was one of the lucky people who actually got to saber champagne AND there's video.  Scroll down to be amazed!

 Russian Caviar Service - sadly I had already eaten my buckwheat blini.

Found the cork!

This was also the week of RICE!  That's right, get excited, there were all kinds of rice.  We started off with Risotto and worked our way into: regular white rice of varying grains, brown rice, sticky rice, red rice, bamboo rice, basmati, and forbidden rice (black rice).  We cooked a bunch of different rice and then we had an awesome time creating our own bread puddings and rice fritters!  One of the teams was super creative and made a tarragon and ouzo rice pudding.

 Rice!

 Various Puddings!

And then, as if the week couldn't get more exciting, we also introduced GRAINS! Bulgur, quinoa, millet, kasha, barley, and farro.  I gotta say, I love farro because it's got a nice texture and combines really well with other flavors. 

Grains!

Due to so much extra rice being cooked we got to experiment a bit more with re-purposing rice and each team in the class, there are typically 6 teams, got to create a new dish.  My partner, Jules, was a damn genius, and we made brown rice fritters with green onion, peas and curry powder.  Our fritters were soooo delicious.  Another team, Mandy and Sam, made kimchi fried rice which was also phenomenal.  Sadly no pictures were taken of the delicious fritters.

Overall week 10 was a little high stress but ended on a creative high note!

:)M

(Thanks to Harriet and Mandy for all the lovely pictures featured in this post.)

Week 9 at San Francisco Cooking School

I still have all my fingers and haven't burnt myself, at least not in class, so I'm calling week 9 a win. 

Taylor Boetticher, the owner of Fatted Calf, came to class to teach us a bit more about charcuterie.  It was a great afternoon of meat grinding, brining, and dry rubbing.  I worked on getting the pancetta in a dry brine and letting it sit.  We'll get to eat that delicious pancetta in about 3 weeks.  I also helped stuff and wrap basque coils.  (Sausages rolled in a little pinwheel.) 

 

Basque Coil making!

We also had a visit from Amanda Haas, who runs the test kitchen for Williams-Sonoma.  She's helped write multiple cook books, and runs her own blog called One Family, One Meal.  She spoke to our class about other options outside of working in a restaurant after culinary school.  Much to most of my class's disappointment it's pretty hard to get a job in a test kitchen.   

There were quite a few menu class days this week.  A menu class is where we have to get all the parts together for a three course meal and plate everything by a certain time.  I kinda like these days because you can see what's coming, and everything knows what to do for the most part.

This next week we have another practical and written exam, but we'll be starting the week off with a visit from Matthew Dolan from Twenty Five Lusk.  Keep your eyes peeled for awesomeness.

:)M

Week 7 at San Francisco Cooking School or The Silence of The Lamb (singular)

I still have all my fingers and managed not to burn myself.  Hoorays!  We also did something pretty amazing this week.  We butchered a lamb!

This lamb is HUGE!

Dave the Butcher, of Marina Meats, came to our class with a ready to butcher lamb.  Just like with filleting fish last week I discovered that I enjoyed it much more than I ever thought I would.  We used a bone saw to cut through large bones to break down the lamb into more manageable pieces.  Dave had an awesome knife holster for all his knives, it was pretty badass.  We spent 3 hours taking apart the lamb, and every one had a chance to do a little something.

 Meat!

 Dave's awesome knife holster.

Here's a video of my classmate Jen using the bone saw to split the back end of the sheep.

I learned that working with sheep/lamb left my hands super soft.  Sheep fat is actually called lanolin, and it's a waxy substance that feels amazing on your skin.  It's gross, but I kinda wanted to roll around in it.  ("It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again." - Silence of the Lambs)

We also butchered rabbit, and squab.  This is going to sound psycho, but I honestly really love butchering.  The movements are precise and you have to be focused, it's very zen.  On Friday we ate the squab - grilled, and sautèd.  We also have rabbit legs browned with a dijon cream sauce, and rabbit loin wrapped around kidneys and hearts and browned.  Rabbit legs have the same texture as chicken, and rabbit loins seem to have the same texture as pork.  I still don't enjoy kidney.  We also ate a delicious lamb shank that my team made, slow cooked in veal stock with cilantro and garlic.  Everything was really delicious.  We finished off the day with profiteroles - ice cream filled dessert puffs covered in chocolate.  I borrowed most of the pictures on today's post from my classmate Mandy, so I can't take credit for how beautiful they are.

 Squab!

 Rabbit!

 

 Profiteroles!

I was lucky enough to TA for Chef Nicole Plue this past week.  I was there for the 3rd night of her Pastry: Breakfast & Brunch recreational course.  It was a really great experience.  Nicole is so patient with her students and everything she had them bake was delicious.  We had popovers, egg stuffed brioche muffins, pancakes, olive oil muffins, orange julius, and so much more.  There was also a butter tasting!  Did you know there's such a thing as goat milk butter, because there is and it's amazing!

 Butter tasting and jams.

Overall it was a fast paced and fun-filled week.  Get ready for this next week because we're gonna be butchering Wilbur! (That's a piggy for those who haven't read "Charlotte's Web.") 

And lastly, I finished the Curiosity Crawl!  I believe that I am the first student to finish the crawl so I'm pretty pumped.  I'll let you know what I win.

See you next week!

:)M

Week 6 of/at San Francisco Cooking School

I still have all my fingers, and I've managed not to burn myself.

OMG, this week has been amazing.  It's been the week of "FISH!"  I fileted, gutted, dismantled and pureed fish and other fishy sea creatures this week.  I loved every single minute.  I mostly think I enjoyed it because unlike other animals I don't really care about fish so I don't mind ripping them apart.  I fileted rock cod and petrale sole, and I was honestly pretty awesome at it.  Now when I tell people, "Imma gut you like a fish," I actually know how.

I was really pumped on Thursday when we had Thai Squid Salad.  I specifically request that my teammate, Jeff, and I get to make the squid salad because I really really wanted to dismantle the squid.  I was pleasantly surprise when I told Chef that I wanted that recipe and she gave it to us!  Did you know that squid have a spine piece called a quill?  It's amazing, it's like a piece of plastic in the squid.  Check out this video that shows you how to clean a squid, and imagine me doing it and loving it:

Then on Friday Jeff and I made Shrimp Quenelles, which are essentially shrimp balls.  We pureed shrimp and petrale sole with egg whites, cream, butter and some spices and then poached them in salty water to create these light fluffy shrimp ball things.  It was weird, but pretty delicious.

The sexy squid salad.

We cooked a whole octopus too!  My classmate, Harriet, and I asked Chef Catherine if it was "Paul" the World Cup octopus, and then we got to inform Chef about the famous Paul.  (If you don't know Paul, check him out here.)

My classmate, Mandy, found a stowaway in the mussels we made this week!

I really loved fish week.  While I'm not a big fish eater I really enjoyed learning about how to identify a "good" fish, as well as how to filet and cook fish and other sea creatures.  We also had a great field trip to Monterey Fish Company.  We met up at 5:30am to watch the fish being sorted so that they could be delivered or picked up.  

 

Me and some rock cod at Monterey Fish Market.

I had my first meeting with Chef Catherine to talk about how I was doing in class and it went great.  She told me she liked that I could be so loud/excited/energized but could focus as soon as I needed to.  I told Bob what Chef said and he asked," Did you tell her you don't have A.D.D.?" 

We finished off week 6 with a visit from Courtney from Bar Tartine.  We learned all about fermentation.  Jeff and I pickled Kimchi, preserved lemons, and beets.   We made kimchi with cucumbers, I can hardly wait to try it out!

Next week we're going to butcher a lamb!

:)M

Week 5 of San Francisco Cooking School

Good news, I still have all my fingers and haven't burned myself this week. 

Week 5 brought about my first exam!  EEEEEEK!  Chef Catherine took pitty on us and gave us our recipes for the practical exam in advance.  We had to make a salad with supremed oranges and an orange juice vinaigrette, a root vegetable soup, a velouté sauce and sauté a chicken breast and make a tarragon pan sauce.  Of course before we started making and plating all these things we had a vegetable dicing practical.  How fast, accurately could we dice carrots, celery and onions.  Good news folks, I don't suck at dicing.  :P

In other good news, I passed the practical exam and the written exam.  What I've taken away from this experience is that I almost have awesome time management, and I cannot blindly identify spices to save my life.  Seriously, go open up your cupboard and grab spices and smell them with out looking at them.  It's hard.  Whenever I can't identify a spice I immediately think, "this is probably cumin, or maybe cardamom."  It's usually neither.  I can, however; identify cinnamon like nobodies business - then again, so can pretty much everyone.  

Week 5 was also the week of the duck.  That's right, we disjointed and cooked duck like it was going out of style.  I discovered that I like my duck breast more medium done than rare, and that I still don't care for liver. 

Laurence Jossel, of Nopa, came to visit and talk about restaurant life.  He was really awesome.  He was an engaging speaker and he gave us a good idea of what restaurant life is like.  While talking to us he also assembled a lovely fritatta with potatoes, it was delicious. 

I also had an opportunity to go to a demo from Kindred Table.  Nicole Paizis, was a student in the first class at SF Cooking, and started Kindred Table.  I joined some wonderful Junior League members, courtesy of a friend of mine, for a small get-together and cooking demo and had a chance to talk with Nicole.  It was really great to see what she took away from school and how well she's doing on her own venture.  Nicole made me feel like I was actually cooking in her class even though I didn't touch a single thing.  She did such a great job of describing her process and how all the flavors work together that I felt like I had helped make our meal.  If you're in San Francisco and you're looking for a wonderful dinner event I really encourage you to contact Nicole.  The food and the demo are just amazing. 

Week 5 was a little crazy and hectic.  Everyone was happy when the weekend finally came about.  Whew.

:)M

Week 2 of SFCooking School!

Good news, week two is over and I still have all my fingers!  (I also managed not to burn my face off.)

Week two saw my classmates and me delirious and forgetful.  We've been cooking so much we can barely remember what we're cooking.  We made vegetarian onion soup (made with vegetable stock, in place of chicken stock) on Monday, and when we completed it on Wednesday no one could remember when we'd made it - thank goodness we label everything.

On Tuesday Galen Garretson who owns TownCutler came to class for a knife sharpening demo.  We learned about wet stones and how to properly sharpen our knives so we can take better care of them.  A sharp knife is a good knife!  I ended up buying a stone so I can sharpen all my knives at home and take care of my knife kit for school.

 My awesome new sharpening and polishing stones from TownCutler.

My class also got an awesome surprise on Thursday.  There's a friendly little competition going on with our class, the part-time culinary class, and the pastry class.  The instructors are calling it the Curiosity Crawl.  It's a list of restaurants in the Bay Area with specific dishes to try, as well as a list of places to visit, and a little recipe scavenger hunt.  So if you see pictures on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram tagged #CuriosityCrawl you'll know I'm taking names and kicking ass!  Check out the list:

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Where	What
Locanda	Fried Artichoke
Terzo	Hummus
Zuni Cafe	Bloody Mary
Saigon Sandwich	Bahn Mi
Roli Roti	Porchetta Sandwich
Camino	Brunch
Nopalita	Carnitas
Mission Bowl	Burger
Spices II	Fried Fish in Chile Pepper
Old Mandarin Islamic	Onion Pancake
Marlowe	Brussel sprout chips
La Ciccia	Octopus Stew
b. patisserie	Kougin Amann
Craftsman & Wolves	Rebel Within
Z & Y	Chicken w/ Explosive Chili Pepper
Bi-Rite	Ice cream
Turtle Tower	Pho
4505 Meats	Burger
Plow	Breakfast Potatoes
Tacolicious	Tuna Tostadas
Delfina	Spaghetti
Golden Boy	Pizza slice
Primavera	Chilaquiles
Swan Oyster Depot	Oysters
Fatted Calf	Charcuterie
Insalata's	Fattoush Salad
Liguria Bakery	Focaccia
Shanghai Dumpling King	Lion's Head
Acme at the Ferry Building	Baguette
Four Barrel Coffee	Laminated pastry
20th Century Cafe	Honey Cake
Mandalay	Tea Salad
Bake Sale Betty's	Fried Chicken Sandwich

We finished up the week with a plated and coursed meal.  Everyone in the class made braised artichokes, sautéd chicken with a velouté sauce served with glazed carrots and chateau potatoes, and we ended with a blood orange, date, and pistachios in an orange flower, and honey syrup.  My team was also tasked with putting together a veal stock.  It was a hectic but fun end to the week.

I've cut so many carrots, and my hands are so dry from constantly washing them that the carrot juice has soaked into my hands.  I constantly look like my hands are filthy and my nail beds are atrocious.  Oh well, I wasn't going to be a hand model anyway.

:)Margaret

San Francisco Cooking School

Eeeeeek!  On Monday, January 6th, I start culinary school with the San Francisco Cooking School!  I'm ridiculously excited about it and have been waiting for months for my program to start.  I was accepted back in July but opted not to start until now because Bob and I had so many plans already set up for the Autumn of 2013.  But now the time has come!

My hope is that I will be able to bring you all along on my culinary adventure. 

I will continue to work on my personal cooking challenge, but I'll also be intermittently letting you know what I'm up to at school.

Let the journey begin!!!

:)M