Steak with Red Wine Reduction Sauce

Truly amazing what deglazing a pan can do.

Chicken and Rice

Hungarian Goulash

My family loves it!

Sweet Potato Hell

Last week in class Chef challenged us for homework to julienne one pound of sweet potatoes. He told us it would be good practice for Friday. It took over an hour, but I do admit it was good practice.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Friday Night I made Stuffed Green Peppers. They were outstanding.

Another Blue Day

Many consider blue a beautiful color. There are blue skies. Blue waters. Blue eyes and blue bandaides. Today was my day for blue band aids. Once again I managed to nik myself a couple of times. What I learned? I am going to slow down and become accutely aware of my surroundings.

Friday was all about "mise en place". It is french for everything in its place. Our team started out really good, and lost focus. Not only did we loose focus, we all got really dirty. We failed to clean as we were working. Goal next friday is to clean as we work.

Tonight I am going home and will be preparing Stuffed Green Peppers.

All about the Egg and the Knife

I really enjoyed the first 7 hours of Culinary Foundations. I will call the first 7 hours all about the EGG and the KNIFE. I learned how to cook a fried egg, over easy, sunny side up and how to clean the flipped egg out of the gas burner. Once we mastered that, we moved on to French Rolled Omelet. The demonstration by Chef Tim made it look so simple. Piece of cake I thought. (eventually one of our instuctors will prove me wrong about the piece of cake thing I am sure)
It took several tries to make an omelet that was almost picture perfect, except for the stuff running out of the middle, no I did not try it. Let me tell you about the last part of class and what I learned the most. Take my time, do not be in a hurry. At least not yet. I will always take the time to ensure that there are not any dangerous items in dishwater that I have not prepared or cannot account for the contents.