Recap!!

Phew! I am SO sorry! It has been way too long and I thought I could keep this up. It's funny, because I had been reading other blogs from fellow CIA students and they would have huge gaps in their blogs and I would get so frustrated. Now, I get it. :)

Anywho, things have been happening so fast so let me bring you up to speed.

I finished my 15 weeks fundamentals course along with my 'Baking Ingredients and Equipment Tech' class, First Year Seminar, Culinary Math, and Gastronomy classes.

Then we jumped into the culinary world, in Cafe Savory for 3 short weeks. In this class we made stocks, broths, and soups from scratch (i.e. boiling a chicken carcass with herbs and veg in water to create a stock.) We made sandwiches, pastrami (sooo good), salads, dressings, vinegarettes, smoothies, stuffed burgers, and so much more. This class was pretty nuts. We had our ups and downs adjusting to a new Chef and a new field. Everyone (myself included) was happy to get out of that class.

During this class and the next class we took Intro to Management and Menu Development. Menu Development is a class that we are supposed to take after we return from our externships, but a few of us decided to take it early because we had transferred out of College Writing, so we decided to take it early. It was a tough tough class, but I pulled it off and learned a lot. I, and my two teammates built a business plan, labor costing packet, and a prototype menu for a Wine & Dessert Bar we created. It was so great to learn the steps in creating a business.

Our next class was Principles of Design (3wks). This. Is. NOT. An. Art. Class..... Guess what kiddies, it's an art class. We came in, put sweatshirts on, plugged in out headphones and worked on 'design' projects by either: drawing, coloring, airbrushing, cutting and gluing paper, or sculpting. It was awesome! The Professor was an interesting character but aside from that, it was great. I love being able to sit down and do what I do best. My two favorite projects were to sculpt out of clay a little figure that could be used to make a chocolate truffle. I made a baby Hedgehog and named him Frankie <3

My other favorite project was the Menu Design project. The idea was that you picked a theme of your choosing and created four desserts for that menu. I decided on 'A Christmas Story' Theme: it is both my and my boyfriend's favorite Christmas movie. The front I hand drew Ralphie with his Red Ryder Rifle. The inside I drew Ralphie in his pink Rabbit pj's and named the dessert 'Aunt Clara's handmade strawberry Panna Cotta with a Cotton Candy Top', Flick's tongue stuck to the pole with a 'Tongue numbing Christmas Spice Ice-cream' with an orange-cranberry compote, Ralphie spilling his dad's hubcap screws with 'Fuuuuuuuuuuuudge' shaped like Oldsmobile hubcaps, and The leg lamp with 'The Fra-gee-lay' a Tiramisu layered in a wine glass. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of the inside, but I gave it to my boyfriend, Tom so I know it is safe. :)

Basic & Classical Cakes (3wks): This is our first class back in the Bakeshop in 6 weeks! We were dying to get in there and do what we came here for. We have been making cake after cake, tarts, pithiviers, eclairs, cream puffs, etc etc. I have been refining my cake frosting skills and getting much more confident in my abilities. Our Chef is 85 and was born in the Alps; he knows everything. He is a great instructor and I have learned so many tricks of the trade from him.

What's next? Individual Pastry Production and Hearth Breads & Rolls. I have found my Externship site at Max Downtown, in Hartford CT. I will be living with my boyfriend and in father during that time. I am so excited to get that started :) :) :)

Life Without a microwave

Yes, I have no microwave. There have been many ocassions where I was very close to caving in and buying one, but I haven't :) Here are some of the upsides to not having a microwave:

• I instantly walk by the microwave dinner section at the grocery store because I can't wake them. This is good because those meals really aren't good for you. Processed goodness right there!
• When I am actually home and not eating the pretty well rounded meals at school, I make my meals. I don't just microwave something. I have to actually construct something.
• Those spiffy new recipes for microwaved cakes in a mug? Can't indulge in those either. 
• Can't reheat leftovers from take-out or restaurants. (I mean, I can with an oven, but it's less convenient, therefore, I don't do it)

Basically what I'm getting at is I don't have that easy way of zapping my food. I can't partake in the convenience of microwavable meals or desserts in seconds. I also can't take my indulgence from the restaurant home because I have no easy way of reheating it. I actually have to think about my food, which is pretty big.

Downsides to not having a microwave:

• Can't reheat anything quickly (I just made a big thing of scalloped potatoes, and have to reheat in the toaster oven for like 20 minutes.)
• Can't soften butter quickly. Hello cold butter on toast.
• No microwave popcorn (well, that really isn't a big deal)
• I can't have a jousting competition between two peeps!

The only irritants are that it's more of an event to reheat something, and I have to remember to take the butter out before I toast something. 

All in all, I believe it has been pretty beneficial for me to not have a microwave. Sure, it is sometimes an annoyance, and I am sure when I live with someone, he'll want a microwave. But for now, I think it is pretty nice to not have one.

I know this is a weird post, but I wanted to talk about not having a microwave :) hahaha

-Megan

Touche! 

Finished Week Nine at The Culinary Institute!

Hello readers,

I apologize for the long wait for news on my adventure; it has been quite crazy here! My last post  stopped at week three, so I will give you the low down on the what has happened since then:

Week Four:
During our kitchen class we made eclairs, pastry cream, and spritz cookies. Oh my goodness, spritz cookies are so addicting. The bad news is... they are VERY easy to make! We made all of these as individuals versus with our station partners. I love working with my partner, but I am especially excited when we can do things on our own. The spritz cookies were a lot of fun, because I was able to show off my piping skills. My eclairs were generally ok, but I do need to practice consistency in the thickness in my eclairs.

This week we started talking about Group Leader. Every class requires a Group Leader (a student), who is virtually a mediator between the class and the Chefs. The Group Leader makes sure that no one is falling behind in class and the also make sure every student understands all the resources they have if they are having issues. A great benefit to being Group Leader is that it is a great thing to have on your resume, and it is placed on your transcript. Seven students (myself included) ran for the position of group leader, and we had a Q&A session before the voting. We would all vote the following week.

Week Five:
This week we had a theory day where Chef demonstrates what we will learn/do later on. This week was chocolate tempering. I've done chocolate tempering before, and let me tell you... It's not my favorite. For regular class, we produced a genoise sponge cake, a roulade sponge cake (which we made into a jelly roll the next day), a chiffon cake, and lady fingers. This whole week revolved around the foaming method. We did everything with our partners except the genoise sponge. Everything turned out very well in our group. The lady fingers were a little too thin, but not too bad. :)

I was elected as Group Leader, which is very exciting :) Perfect timing too, because finals are next week, so I was able to plan a bunch of study groups for the exams.

Week Six:
We had our Math Final this week (I know! Already!?). I received a 24/25 on my final, so I received an A in the class. My other classmates had their Food Safety Final (I already took Food Safety in Comm. College, so it transferred over). In our kitchen class we made: biscuits, pie dough, and pie filling (Cherry, Blueberry, Pecan). The following day each made an a cream pie (I made a chocolate cream pie), and as partners we made, 1 apple pie, 1 pecan pie (sooo good!), and either a blueberry or cherry pie (Jasmine and I made a blueberry pie). So in all as a class we produced 52 pies! The pecan pie was my favorite but we couldn't take any home because Chef was going to save the pecan pies. However, we DID take home the equivalent of one pie (eight slices).

Week Seven:
 This week we started taking Gastronomy (Study of Good Eating), and Nutrition. I have transfer credit for nutrition so don't have to take it. Gastronomy is a very interesting class; a lot of discussion versus lecture which is welcoming for a class at 9am. In our kitchen class, we learned about Frozen Desserts in our Theory Day, and for our regular kitchen classes, we made puff pastry dough, angel food cake, apple strips, and palmiers! This week was HELL!! Not because things were difficult; not at all actually. The weather, however was like I was in Hell. The temperatures reached to the hundreds and the humidity was almost unbearable. Having to wear your chef whites and pants definitely was adding to the torture. There was a point where I was sitting outside completely covered in sweat, and I just accepted it. That week I took a shower twice a day. I also stopped working out (which isn't positive), but there is no way I could even think about purposefully sweating. and then coming back out to the heat to sweat some more. This week was a terrible week to do puff pastry dough. Puff pastry has to remain cold so the butter doesn't melt. There was no way we would be keeping the butter cold in our bakeshop... Lucky us, our AC was on the fritz so the room itself was 90 degrees. KILL ME NOW!! We baked off our apple strips and palmiers (puff pastry based) and assumed the worst. But, we managed to keep our butter somewhat cold because we still have beautiful layers of dough, and they rose quite nicely. 


Week Eight: 
We had a VERY long conversation about cannibalism today, which I find to be a funny morning conversation. Also, I would like to say that this woman has ruined me with drinking milk. I will not say what she said because I'm sure you would think twice about drinking it. And to not freak you out, it wasn't anything dangerous, it was just what she called it. I really miss drinking milk :(  For theory, we watched chef build and frost a buttercream cake. This was a quick demonstration because we had an externship* prep seminar we had to go to. For our kitchen classes we produced creme caramels and attempted to temper chocolate. The weather has still stayed up there along with the humidity AND our AC was still not fixed. For chocolate tempering, you must keep your chocolate between 88-90 degrees. That is hard to do when the room is at 94 degrees... So after about an hour of 'tempering' chocolate, Chef decided to call it quits until tomorrow. He wasn't going to be with us on Friday, so invited another Chef to oversee our work. This Chef was rather funny, so I'm excited to have him in the future. We constructed our butter cream cakes ( in super hot conditions) and 'tempered chocolate' again.... We sat there for like two hours trying to temper chocolate when ANOTHER chef walked in and instantly told us we were in no way going to temper our chocolate. So we were allowed to stop and go home at 9:15pm.

*Externship: As a part of our cirriculum during our first semester of our Sophomore year, we must complete an 18 consecutive week externship with a CIA-approved site. So we must go out and find a job in the food industry and work there for 18 weeks.

Week Nine:
Last week before our 3 week summer break! We took a midterm in Gastronomy and had our Midterm in our Kitchen class. This is called a Skills Verification. For the test, we made a Genoise sponge, eclairs, and pastry cream. There would be 2 shifts so everyone would have their own station to work on. I went during the first shift. I wasn't really nervous because I knew that I understood the methods and I knew that my time management was good. All in all, I did well. My pastry cream and sense of urgency/cleanliness were perfect. I lost 5 points for under-folding my oil into my cakes, you could see a slight oil mark, which really wasn't too bad. I also lost 5 points because my eclairs were slightly different thicknesses. So I received a 90/100 on my first Skills, which is fine by me. I was then able to leave and start my Vaca!


So all in all, I am learning a lot and am having a lot of fun. I've gotten pretty close with two of the gals in my class and we constantly go on Starbucks runs. :) The weather is calming down some; much less humidity thank god! I invested in a mini AC unit which has been awesome. Just last night my room finally got down to 69 degrees which was a relief.

That's about it. I have a potential suitor who I very much like, and we are really enjoying each other's company. You won't get much out of me this month because I really am not doing anything. If I do, I'll be sure to inform you :)

-Megan

Skills Verification!

Finished Week 3 at The Culinary Institute of America

Hello all! I have been working hard lately and have been unable to post about my exciting adventures. But I did warn you on my previous post that this could happen so you can't get mad :)

I have completed my first 3 weeks at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and feel great. Next week, a new batch of students will be starting so I am no longer the newbie! Here is the low down of what I have done at the CIA thus far:

Week 1: Orientation.

So if you ask most if not all CIA students about orientation, they will warn you that your ears will be talked off and you will drown in a sea of information. Yes, this is true, there is A LOT of information. HOWEVER, it is information that you will be glad that you have so listen up! It is mentally draining to listen to several speakers for eight or so hours a day, but believe me, you will get past it. :) Day 1 involved some pre schedule testing and registration. We got out ID cards, parking permits, mailbox keys, etc etc.

Our ID card is very important! This card allows me to get into the gated parking area, lets me into the Rec Center, AND is my meal swiper. Through my tuition, there is a mandatory meal plan you must pay for. This pays for 2 meals a day, which you use your ID card to get. You get your meals from a student kitchen in Roth Hall (The main building). I always use my 2 swipes for lunch and dinner because they have a continental breakfast every morning. This is like the breakfasts you find in hotels (yogurt, bagels, muffins, cut fruit, whole fruit, cold cereal, waffles). This is PLENTY for me, so I don't waste my swipe for breakfasts.

Here was the meal plan during orientation week (M-F) Breakfast was optional; being off campus I decided just to have breakfast at home until I learned of the AMAZING continental breakfast my second week. Lunch and dunner were both in the East Dining Hall. This is not the typical dining hall the students eat in. We eat in Farquarson Hall; a HUGE room that looks like the dining hall in Hogwarts (not kidding). The East Dining hall is in another building and is a 3 course meal. This dining hall is actually a class for students to learn to waitstaff. To ensure that the students have people to practice on, they have the orientation students come in. The service takes up to 2 hours so you have to be patient, but my god it is worth it. I remember my very first appetizer and I will never forget it. The appetizer was a puff pastry with green beans and mushrooms in a mushroom cream sauce. At first I was very skeptical because I am not a fan of mushrooms; I love them now. I could have eaten everyone's appetizer it was so good! A main course follows, and then a dessert. The meals were very nice and the service was promising.

Now back to Day 1: After lunch we partook in 'Team Building'. This was a very summer campy part of the orientation but pretty fun. I connected with a few of my fellow baking students and some culinary students. Afterwards we recieved a time to gather out loaner jacket and the rest of out uniforms. My loaner jacket was HUGE so they fit me in a smaller size for my embroidered jackets that I would recieve on week 2.


Day 2:
A lot of lecture and a lot of food :)

Day 3:
For Baking students, this was a day off. Culinary students had Friday off.

Days 4 & 5:
I am FINALLY in the kitchen! I meet my Chef, Chef Utera. He is a great guy and I am looking forward to learning as much as I can from him.

WEEK 2:
Week 2 is actually considered the first week, because I am actually in my classes. I am taking: Culinary Math, First Year Seminar, Baking Ingredients and Equipment Technology, Food Jobs, and Baking and Pastry Techniques. The first week of classes is basically an introduction. 'Hi I'm ____, I've been in this industry for X years. This is what we'll be doing....' Don't get me wrong though, I have already had a TON of homework, but it's been a  lot of fun.


Baking and Pastry Tech (BP Tech) Week 2: This is my kitchen class, so this will be the one you'll be interested in :)
We started by learning the creaming method (if you want to know what it is, look it up or pay an arm and a leg to come learn it ;) haha). Our first project was chocolate chip cookies. We are teamed up into pairs; my partner's name is Eunhye, but she goes by Jasmine. She and I are a great team so I hope we don't get switched up later on. Jasmine is fairly new at baking so I really enjoy showing her step by step how to do something. This helps me retain the information even better than I had it before. We made approx. 45 cookies but only baked 15 each (30 in all). After baking, we were told to take 12 home for homework... haha sure, homework ;) Don't worry, I shared!

Week 3:

This week is a short week because of the Holiday weekend so we have Friday off. Because of this, we put two days into one for BP Tech. Today (Thursday) we continued our creaming method practice by making Marble Pound cake, Steusel Pound cake, and blueberry muffins. We also touched on the Blending method by making corn muffins. Jasmine and I did very well and finished our baking before dinner time! After dinner Chef went through each team and cut into one of each muffin and each pound cake to critique the insides. Our corn muffins had a bit of tunneling (air trapped) and the blueberries weren't completely distributed evenly, but all in all we did well :)

For one of our homework assignments we have to pipe using piping gel. Our first assignment was to pipe 10 straight lines, 10 wavy lines, and 'Happy Birthday'. This sounds easy, but you'd be surprised. We also had to make a marzipan rose. This is due at the beginning of every class (thurs and fri).

So far I am holding on and am not overwhelmed. I am having a lot of fun and am learning so much. Also, I have been expanding my palate by trying new things during lunch and dinner. Since I've been here I've tried: Duck, Duck Confit, mussels/clams, and some other things. It's been great so far so I am excited to see what's next!

Sorry about the lengthy post! I am trying to give as much info as I can!! :)

Megan

The Evening Before it all Begins...

Hello all,

Yes, I know it has been very long since my initial post; but guess what? It is May 6, and my program starts on May 7! I just reread my first post on this blog and I feel like I have accomplished so much already! I don't like talking about finances, so I will simply say that that is taken care of for now. I am currently sitting on my couch in my New York apartment; it's been a lot of fun living on my own.

My mom took the cross country trip with me to help me get settled. That trip took about 4 1/2 days, which really wasn't that bad. But I was very glad when we finally made it to my apartment. I had a lot of issues with U-Haul and their U-box shipping container not arriving when they said it would. My mom had to fly out before the box could arrive so I was left to deal with that on my own (but we did hire a couple of movers to haul the heavy stuff). After being in my apartment for almost two weeks, I finally was able to unpack and make my apartment feel like home. Here is a couple of pictures:

I am very happy with the space I have, and am glad that I chose to live off campus versus on. Marissa (my 16 year old cat) also loves the space and being the only cat. She has free reign of the water, food dish, and litter box which makes her pretty content.

I really enjoy being in New York. For those of you who don't know, this is the farthest east I have ever been. I didn't really research the area before moving here so expected New York to be this highly urban area with no trees or grass, graffiti everywhere, and gunfire at night. Yes, I am aware that this is a stereotypical view, but that is what I expected. When I got here, I was genuinely shocked at how green it was. Being a Northwestern native, I feel I know green, and I felt that no where else in the United States could even compare. Oh God, I was so wrong! It is so beautiful here, and not nearly as much rain! So, I get the same green as I had in the Northwest, but without the depressing and constant downpour. :)

The environment has been my first comment when I am asked how New York is. Here are a few things I have noticed since being here that I feel I should mention :)

In my observations, I have noticed that no one checks their blind spots when driving. I have had many close calls with some people (knock on wood that my luck continues) throwing themselves into my lane without stopping. Being here, I have had to learn to be extra quick on my feet and to not be afraid to honk my horn. I've never been one to honk unless it was completely necessary; it's always necessary here.

Speed limits aren't used unless there is a cop blatantly in sight. I drive on Route 9 (the main highway I use) and the speed limit on the main stretch is 55 and then 45. If you go these speed limits there will be a train of 30 cars on your behind and they will not switch lanes.

Gas pumps don't have those little plates that hold the gas pump for you and clicks shut when you're full. I know this is a weird one, but I am used to it doing it for me; now I have to hold the gas nozzle and guess how much gas I need (I am always a little under so no overflows yet) :)

Apparently, I have an accent! I went to the pharmacy and gave my street name and pronounced Albany with an A as in apple. He asked me where I just moved from and afterwards he told me that no one pronounces it that way; they say it with an A like Auto. The New York accent is definitely all over, but there are different levels. My neighbor has a pretty typical New York accent (like the ones in the movies), but a lot are very slight.

There are a TON of graveyards. I see at least two no matter where I drive! I suppose if you think about it, the East is a lot more established, therefore more dead people. The headstones are all very old and many are very large and ornate. I guess this would be cool; and it is, but it still creeps me out. There are also a LOT of Funeral Homes. Not even exaggerating, there are two funeral homes on the same street one block away from one another.

Aside from the eerie aspects, Hyde Park is beautiful. Apparently it is a historical town, which I like a lot. Franklin D Roosevelt's home is here, and the Vanderbilt Mansion. (Both have group tours). There is a drive in theater, and a small, old theater called the Roosevelt that has $5 Tuesdays for brand new movies! Both my mom and I saw The Hunger Games for $10 all together! There is a roller rink (have not been yet) and a cute breakfast cafe which I know I will be a regular of.

Being from Washington (home of Starbucks) I am used to having several Starbucks within walking distance of one another. Over here, that is Dunkin' Donughts. My closest Starbucks is about a 10 minute drive, and the next one is another 10 minutes from there. I actually enjoy coffee stands and am not tied down to Starbucks, it is just totally different than I am used to.

Being in a historic town, there is no graffiti. The place is well kept and feels like a quaint small town, which is great.


That's all I have for you for now. I have orientation tomorrow at 7:45 am until 5:30 pm so it'll be a long day. I will be taking a Math Challenge Exam of 25 questions to see if I can transfer my college math class for Culinary math, which they just started doing. I don't mind taking a math class, but I like the idea of being exempt from it if I take and pass a 25 question test. This wouldn't lessen my tuition costs but would open up my schedule. For this Semester, I know I have transfer credits for Food Safety and Nutrition, which is two classes (tests and homework) I won't have to worry about, so adding math to that list would be nice for my first semester here at the Culinary. We will also be registering vehicles, probably touring the campus, etc etc. tomorrow. Orientation lasts for four days, so I'm sure I'll be well informed by the end of this week!

I will keep you posted as much as I can. I have read blogs from other students and have noticed that they get too busy so miss a couple of weeks of posting so please be patient :)


Megan <3

Welcome!

Hello,

Most, if not all of you already know who I am, and also know my other blog; http://baileycakescompany.blogspot.com/

But if not, here is a quick bit:

I have been accepted for the Bachelor's Degree for Baking and Pastry Arts Management at the Culinary Insitute of America in New York. To be frank, I am scared shitless to go; I have never lived on my own and here I am, going to live in New York (On the other end of the country) for four years!  But, I am extremely excited and beyond ready to finally take that next step into being a full fledged adult. My program doesn't start until May but I am already planning on what I am taking and am looking at places to live (just to get a feel). This blog is to keep my awesome friends and family involved in my thrilling adventure into the unknown. Why the name? I don't know, I am just currently obsessed with The Gossip. Check them out if you wish; my favs? Dimestore Diamond, Heavy Cross, and many many others. :) Just saying, this doesn't pertain to my blog but I enjoyed the name and it was availible. Thumbs up to that!

That is all the news I have now, I will keep you involved up until the end; its going to be a good ride.


-Megan

Aerial View of Campus (Google image)