Tsunami in Japan

I can't believe it's been over 10 days.

On March 11, 2011--Magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit off the coast of Japan, sending tsunami that wiped out an entire city. Due to the lack of electricity from the damage, the cooling systems of all the nuclear power plants shut down. Within a week, half them were on the verge of meltdown, and just two days ago, the officials announced a level 5 crisis. Only the Chernobyl explosion would top this. The people there are suffering from severe shortage of food, clean water, healthcare...pretty much everything. Especially fuel--people all over Japan wants to help those in need by donating, but they don't have enough fuel to transport the donations. The winter weather doesn't help the matter, as they endure nights in sleep-robbing cold.

On the news in TV Japan today, the officials discovered spinach and milk contaminated with radioactive materials. News in UK are speculating that sushi (and probably Kobe beef too)may go off the menu across US, since many import fish from Japan. They also found a trace amount of radioactive iodine in Tokyo's water supply. Their already short supply of food and water is being taken away.
And yet, there's no looting in Japan. People are waiting patiently for 3 hours in line to receive their share of food and water. Although the mindset has caused tragedies in the past (i.e. kamikaze and seppuku) this deeply embedded sense of community prevents them from engaging in such behavior.

While our family and friends were, fortunately safe from the tsunami (they live on the west coast of Japan), they're still experiencing earthquake aftershocks...and now a possible nuclear crisis.

What can we do to help? I feel sad, knowing that my family, friends, and people are suffering, while I'm clear across the globe away from them--and there's not a whole lot I can do except donate money and pray.

Prayers and money will definitely help the cause. But I also think that being appreciative of life, being grateful for everything we have would get us in a proper mindset to build a better future for everyone.

Rants, Raves, and Dad's Birthday

...I've noticed that all I talk about is school and work, and not a whole lot of what goes on in my actual life--that is, if it exists. I've been having some personal issues at work. Nothing major, just little things:

A few weeks ago, the managers and the line cooks had a meeting about the menu. I wasn't invited, which was OK with me at the time--I figured they're talking about lunch/dinner menus, and not about desserts. But then, after the meeting, one of the line cooks comes up to me and announces that he wants 'us' to start making clafoutis for dessert. He's gonna bring in a tart pan, bake a crust, and we can use whatever fruits we want, and it'll be delicious!!!
.....OK, first of all, if they were planning on talking about desserts, why wasn't I invited to the meeting? And if I'm considered not too important, that dessert menus are up to the line cooks and not to me, then why is my name on the dessert menu as the Patisserie??

A week later, sure enough, the new guy comes in with a tart pan and baked a peach clafouti.

I was very skeptical. This is the same guy who makes creme brulee that looks like this:

....This is the picture before being bruleed. Notice the very browned/burned top. Notice the custard pulling away from the sides. He had apparently baked these babies at 400F. The inside was nicely curdled too. I wonder if he has the "brulee" part confused. I do hope he knows that "brulee" means they're "burned" after being baked and not during.

So he baked the clafouti, cut a slice, and took it to the owner. It looked fine, just like any regular clafouti. I took a small sample.

.....EW

I totally should've taken a photo of this crap. The crust itself tasted OK, but the filling was very bland, almost like he didn't put sugar in it. The amount of filling was very skimpy, almost as thick as the crust. The out-of-season peaches were tasteless.

At this point, I decided to quit my job. I just didn't feel needed there.

Either way, my priority is school. I found out that school next quarter is going to be hectic--A la carte kitchen, the school restaurant, three days a week, 5 hours each. There was no way I can work and totally concentrate on school.

But before I left, I baked a sample dessert:

Caramel flan. Much easier to serve, no brulee-ing required. I gave this plated one to the owner and he seemed to really like it.

Goodbye, Naked Fish!

So that's what's been going on at work. Now back to my home life...

We have a Bible study at our house every other week, and I serve desserts for the people. I like to use whatever fruits/ingredients that go on sale that week. Last time, strawberries were on sale, so I made a strawberry & cream layer cake (a.k.a. Japanese strawberry shortcake).

I also had some fun with the strawberries; just carved a section out from the sides, and piped whipped cream and melted chocolate for the eyes. I can't tell whether the berries are singing or screaming in terror.

And of course, little Hugh and Sophie left the berries til the end. Kids tend to save the 'cute' part of a cake til the very end (they often do this with marzipan figurines)

Then, it was Dad's birthday the beginning of March, so we invited a few of our family friends over for a party. I baked a chocolate-banana layer cake...

Chocolate chiffon layered with chocolate cream, banana slices, and chocolate-covered nuts--decorated with chocolate garnish, bananas, pearl dragees, and chopped chocolate.

A few people noted that the crosses make the cake look like a 'graveyard' LOL. I quickly explained that the theme is 'ocean bottom'...see the fish/ichthus and the pearls and the waves of chocolate??? :P

Advanced Restaurant Desserts Week 8 & 9

For Week 9, we talked about 'mignardise' (meen-yar-deez). It's a sweet little bite of cake, cookie, confection, etc. given to the diner with the bill at the end of a meal. It's to show hospitality, a little "thank you", and acts as a finale. Kind of like a fortune cookie we get at Chinese restaurants. Our assignment was to come up with a mignardise on a whim--and we are allowed to use any component that we've made so far in class.
Now for the plated desserts...in Week 8, my group made raspberry gelee, a pistachio cake, lemon sorbet, and lemon chip. Week 9, we made chocolate beignet, which is chocolate-stuffed doughnuts, milk chocolate ganache, and hazelnut glass for garnish.

Other group's desserts:
Back: Mango fritter, spongecake, cheesecake ice cream
Middle: Parfait, baba-coffee-marsala, peanut brittle, creme anglaise
Front: chocolate chip cookie, as mignardise

Chef thought chocolate chip cookie as mignardise is a great idea, but one is enough per customer.

Other group's desserts:
Back: Macaron with caramel-chocolate ganache, caramel sauce, coconut soil, chocolate garnish
Middle: Chocolate Bavarian w/Chocolate spray, Red velvet cake soil, cocont frangipane, flexible passionfruit curd
Front: salted chocolate toffee, as mignardise

Chef thought the middle plate needed height. The flexible curd can be twirled, bent, and manipulated to add some cool shapes and height to the plate. He thought the toffee would be a nice, crunchy finish to a meal.

Other groups's desserts:

Back: French Baguette, Gianduja ganache, Ocumare chocolate sauce
Middle: Orange-Almond cake, Mango Chiboust, Raspberry gelee
Front: Orange-Almond cake & raspberry gelee 'sandwich'

Chef thought that the French Baguette plate was 'too triangular'; the sauce on the middle plate should mirror the cake, and shouldn't be comma-shaped; the mignardise is interesting but good, nice portion size (mignardise should be one-bite size).

Our group's dessert: Pistachio Cake, Raspberry gelee, Lemon Chip, Lemon sorbet, chopped pistachios

Chef thought it was very nicely plated, good portion size, and flavor on all the components.

Our dessert: Milk Chocolate Beignets, apricot paper, Milk Chocolate ganache, Hazelnut glass spoon

Chef thought the glass and the presentation was beautiful...but the ganache turned out WAY grainy. I had stirred it too vigorously, in hopes that it'll cool down and thicken faster. Over working the chocolate had caused the sugar to crystallize... :(

And our mignardise: White chocolate-covered Orange Almond cake

Chef thought it was a great idea to use up leftover components.

Week 10 is our final. This time, there must be 6 components, at least 1 frozen, and at least 1 sauce. Here's my plan: Five-spice Blanc Manger, Lychee gelee, Coconut sorbet, Coconut frangipane, Almond brittle, and Mango sauce. Hope they turn out OK...

Advanced Restaurant Desserts Week 6 & 7

Advanced Restaurant Desserts Week 6 & 7


Oh Boy...where to begin?

The last few weeks went by in a blur! The Weeks 6 & 7 were the Midterm period, where we made the desserts in Week 6 and plated them on Week 7. The desserts in the pics here were actually made in Week 5, however... We were out of stock on a lot of the ingredients in Week 6, so we postponed the plating.

In Week 5, Chef taught us about incorporating savory elements into desserts. Some of the savory that can be used are:

1. Cheeses


2. Herbs & Spice


3. Meats (i.e. bacon)


4. Vegetables (beets, squash, carrots)

Our projects:

1. Mimic Cheese Plate: Brioche, wine gelee, Blue cheesecake


2. Veggie Dessert (my group): Acorn Squash panna cotta, orange almond cake, candied pecans, candied seeds and poached squash


3. Breakfast Dessert: Brioche French Toast, Peanut butter Mousse, Bacon-Chocolate Ice Cream, Bacon-Maple syrup


4. Herbs & Spices: Olive oil cake with orange zest, Lemon-thyme gelee, Lime-basil sorbet
   

Since we made our Midterm projects on Week 6, there are no pics to post from then...but here are the pics from Week 7.

Breakfast Dessert: Brioche French Toast, Bacon-Chocolate Ice Cream, Peanutbutter Mousse, Bacon and Brioche Crumbles. The ice cream tasted better than the one Barry made in Intro to Pastry last quarter.

Mimic Cheese Plate: Blue Cheesecake, Brioche Croutons, wine gelee, caramel sauce. Blue Cheesecake was... interesting. I think I like the goat cheesecake I made better...

The Veggie Dessert: Acorn Squash Panna Cotta, Orange Almond Cake, Acorn Squash seed brittle, candied squash, Marshmallow Ice cream, candied pecans. I'm not sure about the panna cotta. The recipe that Chef gave us is too spicy, with the flavor of star anise borderline overpowering.

Then we plated our Midterm. I mentioned in my last post that I got assigned s'mores for my midterm. This is what I came up with:

Japanese S'mores: Graham Cracker Semifreddo, Green Tea and Black Sesame Marshmallows, White Chocolate Ganache, Graham Cracker Crumble, Chocolate Sauce, Sesame seed brittle, and Orange-Honey Sauce

I had way too many components. The chocolate-covered cracker was unnecessary, as with the Orange-Honey sauce and there was an unnecessary disk of ganache under the semifreddo. Other than that, the marshmallows turned out really well, and Chef liked the presentation and the concept of incorporating Asian-theme into a very American dessert. I got a pretty good score, and I'm happy about it.
And I also can't forget about my stroke anniversary. Yep, it's been two years since I had a stroke on February 16. Last year, I made Brain Hemorrhage Cupcakes to celebrate. This year, I made Mont Brain--a spinoff of Mont Blanc. Japanese sweet yam paste encased with whipped cream and yam cream, all on flaky tart crust.

The past two years have been such a blessing. I'm thankful for everyone's prayers, love and support, and especially for my parents.