Experiments with the Boy Scouts

A couple of weeks ago, Chef Gary came up to me with the opportunity to teach a few boy scouts a cool new trick. Knowing I wanted to pursue education in the near future, Chef let me teach the boy scouts that were here for the weekend how to bake outdoors out of a cardboard box oven. All you do is wrap the box in tin foil at least four layers so that the box doesn't burn. Then create shelves out of more cardboard wrapped in tin foil held up with some green wood so that it wouldn't burn as easily. Lastly, the coal is placed at the bottom of the oven, with each coal bricket representing about 45 degrees of heat.

It was really fun to not only teach the scouts how to make it, but to also educate them on healthier pizza toppings like broccoli, peppers, and onions which made the lessons that much more important. The best, and worst, part was when the green wood turned to black wood and started to burn, causing the oven to smoke. I then turned the culinary lesson into a fire safety one, explaining the importance of doing this away from dry plants and having water near by.

Not Urinal cake...urinal Cake, theres a big difference

So the story behind this one starts with me currently working in New Jersey as a cook and baker at a Boy Scout summer camp. Last night, a urinal disconnected from the wall, causing flooding in the entire cabin for an hour. The water just wouldn't stop coming. And of course my room was right across from the boys bathroom, pumping at least 20 gallons of water into my room, and even with me wringing it out the window with towels, it stayed at about an inch of water. So because the scouts and I worked so well together to clean up the mess, I wanted to celebrate it.
Since that stupid urinal made our house float on water, I wanted to make the urinal float on water. The scouts loved it, gave me a standing ovation, and even awarded me with a Urinal cake as a sign of gratitude. I love it here. :D

Coach Purse Cake

My second ordered cake. Becky, my Mom's boss, was throwing Sara a baby shower, and Sara was being given this Coach Purse to the left. Becky wanted me to make this purse out of cake as a surprise for Sara. I was nervous because I have never made a purse cake before, but I was excited. You can see me working on it, as well as the finished cake. I took longer then I thought, but I was glad my parents helped me cut out those friggin C's. I am very happy with it and learned many new techniques because of it. Inside, I put two bottles and two suckers for added effect. Everything is edible

GRADUATION!!!!

These past two years have gone by so fast, but graduation has finally come. But before that, I was nominated for a University Award. This was the day before graduation, and since my parents came in the day before, they would be there. I wasn't sure if I would actually win anything, but as soon as I walked in, I saw these beautifully shiny plates, and I wanted one. As they called out awards, I became more and more nervous that I would not receive one. Then I finally got one, and it was a shiny plate!!! I received the Apprenti Cuisinier Award - Baking & Pastry. There are five categories (Traditional, Garde Manger, International, Dining Services, and Baking & Pastry) and one student is chosen for each category that best represents it. My family and I were so honored that I was chosen by my chefs to receive this award. And to top it all off, I was inducted into The Who's Who Among American Universities and Colleges. That was really awesome as well. Then graduation came the following day, and I was again extremely honored to represent the College of Culinary Arts by holding our banner at the beginning of the graduation. I felt truly blessed this entire weekend. Thanks to everyone that showed up and supported me, I love you all.

2nd Annual Extreme Cake Competition

So the theme was "A Pastry Chef" and my group, Lindsay Daniel and myself, chose Yannis Janssens. He was just chosen as one of the Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America. After doing some research, and going to the Fontainebleau to meet him, we discovered that he has worked at the Viceroy Hotel, The Setai, and The Ritz Carlton. Instead of doing a cake that he has done, or anything to literal, we tried to include small details from his past, so the cake represented who he
was as a chef. From the top to the bottom - The top is a sugar blown sphere that changed colors because we put a special light on the inside. The top blue tier represent his award. The following black tier is a hexagon and has bamboo on the edges to represent the Asain theme of The Setai. The next white tier has antique paintings of the Ritz logo going around the outside. Hanging in the middle is a sugar pulled spike ball to represent The Viceroy Hotel logo (A Sunburst). The next blue tier has a collection of Common Red Poppy Flowers, the national flower of Belgium, Chef Yannis' home country. The bottom tier represent where Chef Yannis is working now, The Fontainebleau, and has a monogram of his initial going around the rest of the tier. The cake is floating on a bed of truffles to represent Chef Yannis' home country again.

In the end, my team WON!!! We beat out over ten other cakes. This was a huge retribution from last year. My partner and I competed in the last Extreme Cake Competition, and didn't place, so this year, we wanted to show everyone that we could not only place, but win, and

we did! :D Also, in the picture the right, this is Chef Yannis, my partner Lindsay, and myself

Here are some more pics of me at the Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival.

Pebble Beach 2011

What a trip! First of all, if you haven't been to California before...GO!!! it is insanely beautiful. Secondly, I love the Simpson Family. They were all the greatest hosts and allowed me to have an amazing experience. I mean, I got to meet on of my idols, MINDY SEGAL!!! I also had the opportunity to work with Emily Luchetti, Claudia Fleming, Gale Gand, and Sherry Yard. All amazing chefs, with delicious food.

DVC WINNER

Tonight I was honored by being the recipient of the Distinguished Visiting Chef Award. This is given to the student that best represents the College of Culinary Arts. I was immensely honored to receive this award. What was even better was that the "Distinguished Visiting Chef" was Kevin Spraga, winner of season 7 of Top Chef and alum of my college campus. He has accomplished so much in such a sort amount of time, and I hope to do the same. Did I mention the award included a scholarship, that was awesome. And the award dinner/Chef showcase was fantastic. Glad to have my mom there for support.






After I put it on, which took forever, I noticed it needed ironing. I wish would have noticed before.

Some Small Sugar Showpiece...alliteration at its best :P

Some quick mini sugar showpieces that Chef Angnardo and I whipped up for an open house. Displays casting, pulling, stretching, and blowing sugar. The base is clear with a rose poured in. Then I stretched the logs by making longs tubes of sugar by stretching it to have holes in it. I also pulled some flowers, leaves and abstract branches. I also poured some sugar into cold water to get the crazy design and blew a sugar ball

Bread Sculpture

This is the team that put together this showpiece. It is made completely out off live dough, which means it is made out of yeast and thus have low control over how much and where is expands, and natural colors (lavander petals for the center of the flower, cheyenne pepper for the petals, and corn meal for the wheat stalks) We also used different techniques and types of bread to put it together, like baguettes, flatbreads, and carving. My group wanted the showpiece to look abstract and beautiful, and also look like on that could compete. This is completely edible.

Advanced Artisan Bread Class

This classes focus was sourdoughs. We worked in groups throughout the class, and we made our own sourdough from scratch.

Green Cuisine Judging

Today I was judged an amazing event. The Fairfield Garden's Green Cuisine Competition. The event pushed high school students to create transform their typical gross, and unhealthy school lunches into not only nutritious, good for you meals, but also vegetarian or vegan. They had a budget of four dollars a meal, and i had to include a drink, main item, and side. These kids came up with some amazing dishes. I loved the vegan peanut butter cookies, that was my favorite item of the entire day, but because it had "peanuts" in it, it could not place. These stay at home moms said it could get kids sick. I say, if you are allergic, then don't eat one. It was kind of weird to be looked at as an adult, but I guess I have to get used to it. It was nice being the youngest judge there, by a lot...I'm sure it made them think i was a bad@$$...or pain in the @$$

Flamenco Pastillage Sculpture

There were three challenges. Either redo one of two already designed pieces, or create an original Music themed showpiece. I based it off of this image.













I wanted to reach into my spanish origins and do a Flamenco themed piece. The woman is made out of pastillage, as well as her guitar. Her face is hand painted, and her dress was airbrushed. Her hairband, fan, dress, clackers and flowers are made out of Isomalt. I learned a very good lesson in the drying time of pastillage and proper structure, because she danced for just enough to be judged and then she was finished. She will always be remembered. :b