Week 15 and Week 16

Week 15-17 are Garde Manger class, which is the cold part of the kitchen. In this class we are making things like terrines of foie gras and pate encroute, and huge buffet platters of itty bitty canapés. It’s a fun class where we get to make tiny little knife cuts and turn food into art. My teacher is Chef Tom Wong from Hawaii and has cooked for some pretty cool people in a resort hotel in Hawaii where he was the exec chef. He cooked for Elvis Costello and Diana Krall and tons more. He is a great instructor who demands perfection, and pushes us to be creative. In this class we present food every three days so on day 3, 6 and 9 we put up food. The other days are prep for our presentation days. Day three we were to present very common foods in the style of a canapé (one bite) small plate (3-4 oz) and an appetizer (4-6 oz). Our group had to make chicken and biscuits, cod cakes, and shao mai (which is dim sum). It was fun trying to make chicken and biscuits in one bite.

On day 6 we made duck confit salad with potatoes, scallops and lobster tabbouleh. These its are pictures (mine was the duck confit) The canapé is a fried potato cup with greens, and a roasted shallot vinaigrette. The large platter, which is appetizers for four people, is potato gnocchi tossed in the vinaigrette with greens and duck confit. The point of this is to take the ingredients of the recipe, and make them into something totally different. I loved this challenge so I took some photos.



Day 7-9 we made sausages, which was interesting. It makes you look at sausage differently when you watch it be made…icky, slimy ground meat and fat. But, as Chef Wong said, it’s better to know what’s in it, and know its quality ingredients, than not to know. Day 10, Friday, we did cheese and caviar tasting and cooking. I got to pick out 8 of the 20 cheeses that we had. Chef wanted some different ones that the school couldn’t get so I got to pick cheese from Dean and Deluca. It was fun and both AM and PM ACAP classes got together on Friday, so people could make their flights home. It was nice having different people to talk to.

Other exciting things in the last two weeks, David turned 29, and is doing well coping with the fact that he is knocking on 30’s door. We went out for a nice diner and wine tasted on the 10th to celebrate. Yesterday we had the day off and went to the Petrified Forest, which is in Calistoga. We had a great time looking at the trees transformed to rock. Last night I practiced for my big test on the 30th. It’s a semester exam and I need to pass it to keep going with school. We will draw 4 possible menus and have 2 and a half hours to cook them. My goal for the week off is to cook all four menus for David as kind of a dress rehearsal. Last night we had French onion soup, roast chicken, fresh pasta and green beans and turnips. I made it all in 2.5 hours with time to spare. Yum Yum.

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving week! I know David and I will be eating well. ☺ Love, Abby