Culinary School Blog

More Dinner Guests

Last night, we had Todd and his girlfriend over for dinner.  Todd was one of the guys that built our house three years ago, and is now one of Mark's business partners.  This business endeavor (more about that later) is keeping Mark very busy since we've returned from New York & culinary school. 

Mark started very early Friday morning making the stock part of our dinner - he used veal shanks that I got at Central Market last week to make the Osso Buco, which was our entree.  Once the stock was on the stove & the kitchen was cleaned up, Mark headed off to a meeting & then a round of golf. That put me on "stock watch" to make sure it didn't go above a simmer & that the liquid didn't reduce too much.  Mark also made some carrots and baby onions to go along with the Osso Buco.  He served it all on a bed of risotto, which Todd finished off for him.  Lucky for me, risotto is one of my favorites.  I decided that I was going to tackle making Pistachio Souffles for our dessert.  I was at the meringue stage when our company arrived - a critical step, so Mark and Todd gave Lisa a tour of our house.  I had piped the souffle in the six ramekins & was cleaning up as the tour ended, when I looked over and noticed the yolks which were to go into the souffle amidst Mark's prepped items. Mark and  Todd asked if I could just add them now, but seeing as I had folded the meringue into the base and piped it all out, it was too late.  So, I cleaned out the ramekins, re-buttered & re-sugared them and then made batch #2!  Seeing as I hadn't made a souffle since school, it was good practice.  I had Mark make quenelles with the cherry vanilla ice cream I bought to serve with the souffles, which rose very well.  I think the next time, I'll make a Kirsch Creme Anglaise to go along with them. 

Todd brought a wonderful bottle of '95 Margaux, that he's had in his wine cellar for the last ten years - it was a perfect compliment to Mark's Osso Buco.

We were lazy again & didn't touch one thing after Todd and Lisa left.  Once again, the "Clean-Up Fairies" were a no show & cleaning up pots with leftover risotto is no fun the next day. 

We've also recently had a handful of people ask us if we prepared a major dinner every night - the reply is no, we've had our share of Rotisserie chickens from the grocery store, frozen pizzas & even a bowl of cereal for me! 

Dinner Guests

On Thursday, I went into San Antonio with our friends Bo & Melinda, to look at some kitchen sinks, as they are trying to make a final decision for their kitchen remodel. We made a run to Central Market part of that trip, as well as having a sushi dinner.  Mark & I had plans for the next few weeks for some company in for dinner, so I stocked up on some things.  The choices of fresh seafood, meats & Foie Gras are much greater at Central Market than what we can find here in town.  We usually make a run into Central Market every couple of weeks with an ice chest in the back of the car & then use our Food Saver before freezing the foods, defrosting & using things as needed . Bo & Melinda are remodeling their kitchen & seeing as we'll be building a new home soon, they wanted to show me some of the stores they had found.  The kitchen in our new house will most likely get the most attention in the planning phase of our house, so I was very impressed to see what Palmer Todd had to offer.  I'll be taking Mark back, so that he can also see all the choices.  Before we headed home from San Antonio, we had dinner at a favorite sushi spot of Bo & Melinda's, called Fujiya.  We sat at the bar, where we were given some special attention - too bad Mark wasn't along with us, as sushi is one of his favorites.

On Friday, I made two dozen cupcakes.  I kept one for Mark & one for me, while sharing the rest with our friends that have children.  I find making cupcakes fun.  I also started working on the dining part of our upcoming trip to CA.  We're going to visit family in southern California & then up to the wine country for our anniversay.  I have all our accomidations booked, flights and car rentals taken care of - now the important part of figuring out all the places we'll dine while there. 

Christina & Ruben came over for dinner Saturday night.  It was an enjoyable and interesting evening, as Ruben is originally from Cuba.  Mark prepared Foie Gras, Porterhouse Steaks with a Bernaise Sauce, veggies & a risotto.  On the "lighter side", I made an Apple Tart for our dessert.  We finished off dinner with some espresso & Zaya Rum, which Ruben brought over for us to try.  The rum was wonderful, so smooth!  After Christina & Ruben left, we put away the leftover foods which needed to be placed in the refrigerator & left the rest of the mess for the morning.  When we woke up on Sunday morning, Mark wondered out loud if the "Clean-Up Fairies" had been in to clean up - alas it wasn't so. 

The cupcakes were a hit with our wee dinner guests

We had a friend and her two little boys over for dinner the other night, they are 2 & 3.  We made the  boys Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, as well as chicken tenders, while the adults had Mostacholi, Ratatouille & salad .  I decided to make cupcakes for dessert, as I thought they would like this - the night before I made Strawberry & Cream filled Vol-au-Vents for other guests - which is not very kid friendly.  The boys each had two cupcakes, so I would say they were a success.  I think it was lost on the boys that the cupcakes were made with a French meringue or that the icing was made with an Italian meringue.

The recipe made 12 cupcakes in all, and seeing as Mark & I didn't want any extras left for us, I dropped a few off at another friend's house, who also has two boys.  She "sampled" one of them & described it as a fairy cake.

The self imposed baking strike is over......

We were back home about a month from NYC, before we headed to our house in the Keys for six weeks.  Mark was in dire need of a fishing fix & he also fished both the Hawley & Gold Cup tarpon tournaments in Islamorada. We're happy to say that he was 2nd runner up in the 12lb division of the Hawley.  We stayed at The Moorings Village for both weeks of his tournaments.  We ate well while in Florida - as always.  While in Islamorada we went back to dine at Pierre's , Kaiyo's, Uncle's, & Marker 88.  We found a new place that's quite casual & eclectic called Coco's Cabana near our house, as well as our two favorites:  Square Grouper & Mangrove Mama's.  We only ventured into Key West for dinner one night this trip & enjoyed Cafe Marquesa as always. 

We've been back in Texas since July 1st and just recently bought some land to build a house on.  We're enjoying being back home, even though dining out in our town is sometimes challenging.  A few new restaurants opened while we were gone, so we've tried those a few times.  And we even got a movie theatre in our town!

We ordered a new mixer a few weeks ago, the DeLonghi DSM7.  The maiden voyage for the mixer was a white cake, with strawberry filling & an Italian Buttercream Frosting.  It has a 7 quart bowl, so Mark will be able to make breads much easier with this mixer. 

DeLonghi Mixer

White Cake

We've been home a few days now.....

We've been home a few days now & it's so good to be back home.  Let's just say that after our stint in the loft with the "bed", our bed has felt wonderful & we're both sleeping very well. 

Sunday we spent most of the afternoon, unpacking the boxes that had already arrived and the four suitcases.  This led to Mark cleaning out his side of the closet, to make room for some stuff.  I did the same with all the new cookbooks & other stuff.  We had a quick run to the grocery store in the morning, so we could make Frank & Carmen breakfast, which wound up being more like brunch. There was a distinct difference with our grocery store experience - less choices, but a checkout person that was pleasant to us.   There seemed to be a bit of a problem with the omlettes Mark was making - some muttering about the pan & the uneven distribution of the heat.  There was another "problem" that occured - Mark's car wouldn't start.  My car started right up, but his was dead.  Frank & Mark tried to use jumper cables, but that didn't work, so we called in AAA.  They got the car started, we let it run a good long time & then took it out for a drive.  We got around the block before it died on us.  Early in the evening we met some friends for a cocktail party & got to catch up.  Our lack of food in the house came back to haunt us - I had a bowl of cereal at 11:30 pm, while Mark made a BLT with left over bacon from brunch.  It's a bit different here, in that there's not really any place to call for delivery on a Sunday night at 11:30 - we're o.k. with that!

Monday, I started out the day with my morning walk, taking my usual route.  There's been some changes while we've been gone on my route.  The majority of the my day was more of trying to organize being gone for the last seven months & finding homes for everything today.  We tried to jump Mark's car last night & again this morning, but still it's not budging.  I went for a massage to work out those last kinks from the loft bed - I was so happy to see Debbie, who is one of the best - I was sore, but it was a good sore when she was done.  Mark was back to his workout routine & then had meetings all day. His car was taken in & it needed a new battery, so all is well again.  We also grilled a real dinner - it was great being back in our well equipped kitchen & to be able to grill again!

Today was more of the same - but with no boxes having arrived for two days - we had been hopeful they would trickle in at this pont.......  I did unpack all my tools from The FCI & found a home for them.  We had a shrimp pasta dinner outside tonight & I've already gotten my first two bug bites of the season - oh boy!  We also have our first Chicken Foot game tomorrow night & a few dinners set up with friends of ours in town over the next few nights.  There's a new restaurant in town that opened, so we'll give that a try.

We're going back home!

It's finally time to head back home - the final box was taken to the post office this morning.  We did our final "check-out" with Sebastian the owner of the loft - all went well.  Mark's parents will be at the airport in Austin to pick us up & take us home. 

Our dinner last night at Daniel was a lovely way to end our stay in NYC.  We both really enjoyed our dining experience.  There was a bit of screw up when we got there - arrived via cab at 8:00 for an 8:15 reservation.  They showed us to the lounge, as they needed to set up our table.  We ordered drinks & relaxed.  There were other parties of two that came in & were shown to the lounge, but then were seated prior to us.  After this happened for the second time - we were asked if we were still waiting for the other people in our party.  We explained that it was just a party of two & they apologizied and got us to our table quickly.  We were well taken care of, as were all the other guests the rest of the evening.

Mark ordered a bottle of Kistler Pinot Noir, to got with our dinner.  Once again, we opted to have the three course meal & not the Chef's Tasting Menu, due to me.  I had the Peeky Toe Crab Salad as my starter & Mark had the Tuna Tartar.  I then had the Black Sea Bass, which is one of their signature dishes & Mark had the Rack of Lamb.  Mark ordered the Mango Granny-Smith Tarte Tatin & I ordered the Chocolate Fondant for our desserts.  When our waiter came back to our table, before dessert, he asked if we were celebrating a special occasion & I told him we were celebrating that we were leaving NYC in the morning after being here 7 months.  This then lead to some questions as to why we were here & we explained that we had been at culinary school - he also questioned as to why we didn't have the Chef's Tasting Menu - I confessed it was due to me.  When our desserts arrived, there were two additional desserts that were sent compliments of the pastry chef.  That was then followed by Petit Fours.  The final "dessert" served at Daniel is Madelines, which we opted out of, seeing as it was getting close to 11:30 - ah, next time.

I've had a book on my bedside table for the last few months - just no time to read it.  The funny thing is, it's called "The Fourth Star" & it's about the restaurant Daniel.  I started reading it on the flights home - rather interesting, as we'd just been there.  Our flights back were delayed - late leaving Newark due to weather in Chicago & then late leaving Chicago as we had to wait for a crew.  All & all, we arrived 20 minutes late.  As we flew into Austin, we could see how pretty it all looked, green & the rolling hills. 

We got home around 8:00 pm & noticed the numerous boxes, the stack of mail & the quiet!  We're both very happy to be home!

Our last day here

Today is our last day here....... it meant disconnecting the Tivo, more boxes to pack & trips to the post office, as well as collecting a few things - prescriptions, dry cleaning, etc........ the final tally on the boxes appears to be 18, not sure where we put it all in the loft & we have four full suitcases to take on the plane with us tomorrow - I'm sure we'll be over the weight limit on a few of those suitcases.

We're off to Daniel tonight for dinner, so we're looking forward to that.  We went to one of his other restaurants a few weeks ago - DB Bistro - and enjoyed it.  I realized today, that in my zeal to pack, I packed shoes that I needed for tonight and they're on they're way to Texas - oh well!

We're both ready to head back to TX at this point - we'll miss some things about the city, but we're looking forward to where it's a bit more quiet.

Packing boxes to head home

Today we packed up four more boxes – two going back to TX & two going to FL.  We had a reservation for lunch at Il Mulino, a recommendation of Julie’s.  It’s one of those places that it’s hard to get through on the phone for a reservation, but well worth it. 

When you’re seated, they immediately have a zucchini dish on the table for you to eat, as well as some wonderful breads – one of which is just soaked in olive oil.  They then bring you bruschetta, salami & garlic bread.  We were pacing ourselves, as we heard that you could easily get full here.  We had a bottle of a Super Tuscan with our lunch, Fattoria Uccelliera – Castellaccio.  Mark had the Tuna Carpaccio for his starter & I had a pasta starter.  We both had the Langostino Risotto, which was a special for the day.  After having such a good Italina meal, we did what the Italians do, we walked around a bit after lunch. 

We took the four boxes to the post office & then packed up three more.  We probably have one to two more to pack tomorrow, so the count should be around 20 in total.  Our friend John who's been staying at our house, sent an e-mail yesterday, saying the boxes were piling up there.  We'll be home on Saturday to start sorting it all out. 

We were due to have dinner at Cru tonight, but Mark wasn’t feeling up to it, so we stayed in. 

What we thought of our dinner at Per Se

Last night we went to Per Se.  Our overall experience was good, but both of us walked away not being thoroughly blown away.  We’re not sure if it was too built up for us, we both felt that it was very good meal, but we’ve been more impressed at other restaurants we’ve been too.

We had a 9:00 reservation, and seeing as it was a long day for Mark, he was yawning 10 minutes after we sat down.  We opted to have the five course menu.  I ordered a French Martini to start off with, but the waiter came back & said that they wouldn’t be able to make that, as they didn’t have Chambourd, so I ordered a Cosmopolitan.  When the waiter returned with our drinks, he poured Mark’s drink into my glass & didn’t notice until he was almost done.  He apologized & took his tray back to the bar to get us another set of drinks.  We had a lovely bottle of Pinot Noir from Burgundy with our meal.  Mark’s main course was Cobia & mine was Halibut.  That was followed up by each of us having our “cheese course”, which was ricotta & pecorino ravioli – we both thought this was the best course.  Mark had a chocolate dessert & I had a cherry, chocolate & pistachio Tartufo.  That was following by a tray of Petite Fours & they also sent us home with macaroons. The food was very good, but I guess it lacked the wow factor of unique combinations…….

The maid arrived around 10:30 this morning, so we packed up to kill about 5 hours.  We went to Starbuck’s first, so Mark had an internet connection, while I read IBD.  We then went down to the Lower Eastside, so I could show Mark a few of the fabrics I found.  We walked around a bit & found Guss’ Pickles.  I got two of their sour pickles for $1 – what a bargain – and they were really good to boot. 

Lower Eastside

We then headed up to Midtown, near our first apartment to go to Bridge Kitchenware – a store that someone had told Mark about.  They had a lot of neat stuff, but we decided at this point, it’s best to contact them once we get home & have them ship directly.  We then went to Serendipity 3 for lunch & to try their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate.  Mark & I shared one – I really liked it, he thought the whipped cream on the top was the best part. 

We met Beau, one of Mark’s classmates for a drink at Merc, which is in the SoHo area.  He told us about a good restaurant not far from where we were called Dos Caminos, which serves Mexican food.  We walked over there, Broadway/Houston, but it was a really long wait.  We then wandered over to Greenwich Village & wound up having seafood at Fish.  The weather today was perfect, so it was very pleasant walking around. 

Final Exam & Graduation

Well the culinary school adventure is finally complete.  I had my final written and practical exam yesterday and all went well; everyone, as expected, passed and some did outstanding work under the pressure.   The day started with a brief written exam.  It was really just a formality and I am sure that Chef Pascal made it easy to get everyone into the kitchen in the right frame of mind.  After the written exam, we all drew numbers out of a hat (actually an ice bucket from the restaurant) that would determine our recipes for the final and the service times for those plates.  Each person would get 2 recipes for the final; there could be an appetizer paired with a meat/poultry dish or fish paired with a dessert.  Four servings of each are required.  There were 16 recipes in total and the different combinations would be prepared by the class; 4 appetizer/4 meat + 4 fish/4 dessert.  They were:

Appetizers

• Warm Shrimp & Charred Squid
• Tuna & Scallop Ceviche
• Asparagus & Leeks in Puff Pastry
• Rose-hued Chicken Consommé

Fish

• Fillet of Red Snapper with Mussels and Chorizo
• Cod & Smoked Salmon Wallet
• Fish Stew with Garlic Mayonnaise
• Sautéed Sea Bass with Glazed Belgian Endive

Meat/Poultry

• Sautéed Breast of Duckling
• Broiled Lamb Chops
• Braised Blade of Beef
• Beef Tournedos with Artichokes, Mushrooms, and Marrow

Desserts

• Tea Flan and Madeleines
• Warm Chocolate Cake with Apricot-Cognac Sauce
• Individual Caramelized Pear Tart
• Panna Cotta with Strawberry and Rhubarb Compote

I drew the Red Snapper with Mussels and Chorizo and the Pear Tart with service times of 1:42 PM and 2:38 PM.  The dishes were one of the easier combinations but the services times sucked because it meant I was one of the last to go out.   This was bad because there was TOO much time to get ready, it allows you to second guess yourself and that the judges are tired and full by the time they got to my dishes.   

I had tried to think out the possible combinations during my study/prep for the exam and knew that if I drew the tart I should start the ice cream that is served with it first.  That went well.  I then got my puff pastry dough ready and cut it into the pear shape that it needed to be in and then started poaching the pears.  Once the pears were started, I switched back to the fish. 

The snapper itself really requires no time at all to cook.  It is pan sautéed at the last minute but the other ingredients take some time to prep.   The mussels have to soak for a while in salt water then they are steamed in fish fumet and white wine until they open. The steaming liquid is reserved as the base for the soup/sauce on that dish.  The potatoes had to be cut and pan sautéed to golden brown (my favorite color for the past few months) and then reheated at service time.  Then sweat some cabbage, onions and garlic, bacon lardons and that is it.  As you can probably tell, there is too much time for this.  The potential problems will come at plating and service time. 

We had been coached by Chef Pascal for weeks that we should start our plating early even at the risk of the plated food being served a little cold.  Well, I thought that I started early enough but I was sending my plates out right under the wire.  I was so rushed that I forgot to put the potatoes on the plate.  I did not know this until 10 minutes later when Chef Pascal come back into the pastry kitchen where I was working on the pear tart, and asked me if I forgot anything - he then told me about the missing potatoes.  I thought that it would be a huge deal and was bummed, until I saw my grades.  It apparently was no big deal to the judges, since in their words, everything else was cooked “perfectly”. 

After we are finished serving and cleaning up our area we get a few minutes to change into a clean chef’s jacket and then back into the restaurant to hear the judge's critique. There are 3 panels of judges with 4 judges each.  The judges are other chef’s that have volunteered to judge the final exam.  It is pretty darn hard to sit in front of this panel with 7 – 8 of your classmates and have the judges pick apart your dishes.  Even for those who got good reviews the judges had to make some “constructive” comments.   

As soon as the critiques were delivered, we took a class picture and then marched upstairs to the auditorium for the graduation ceremony.   

There were awards for: 

Best Creative Menu Project – Mark Zitelli, Looney Tunes
Highest GPA - Mark Zitelli. 

Attendance – Beau Harris   

The class had the most students ever graduate with honors ( GPA of 95 or higer).  The Honor Students were: 

Edwin Alderman

Meg Colleran

Jay Devlin

Mark Hallman

Lulu Kalman

Sandy Lee

Mark Zitelli