The Chocolate Box

Tourists wandering around the Pike Place Market have probably explored the shops that face the Pike Place Ave. Chocoholic tourists will have zoomed in on the Chocolate Box, a store that is actually just one sister of the stores that sit next to it. The 106 Pine wine store and Simply Seattle Stores are also related to the Chocolate Box. The result is a perfectly Seattle-style chocolate and wine experience.

The chocolatey smell that wafts around the store occasionally escapes onto the street and usually entices a shopper to wander the store. I was one such buyer. First, when you enter the store, you are greeted by a circular counter top and friendly staff. They maintain glass display cases that house some of the notable chocolates made in the Seattle area, like Frans, Theo's, and Oh! Chocolate. They also have Claudio Corallo Chocolate, my personal favorite chocolatier at the edge of the South Lake Union neighborhood.

You can purchase individual chocolates, packages of chocolate selections, and gift packages. The prices range from less than $1 to quite a bit more. Each employee has his or her favorite chocolate, so if you're trying to find a gift for someone, you'll definitely receive plenty of suggestions and ideas.

In addition to shopping, you can order some of their sweet temptations and enjoy them there.

Truffles, chocolates, and a few other sweets are available a la carte.

They also serve gelato, a rich and creamy ice cream-like dessert. The flavors are often creative, like nut and fruit flavors, chocolate, and some unusual ones, like chocolate hazelnut, pistachio, and tiramisu. My mom and I like getting gelato when I'm in Colorado, so I always note when businesses offer it. Okay, Mom, we have to go here next time you're in town! If gelato isn't your thing, there are also pastries and cakes that probably have your name written on them.

Since The Chocolate Box is adjacent to 106 Pine, a wine retailer and tasting room, you should buy a few chocolate samples and ask the wine stewards to provide you a glass of wine to complement the selections. This way, you'll get to enjoy another treasure of the Northwest: wine. Is there really a better pairing than chocolate and wine?

Guest Post on CSN Stores' Blog

The blog writing world could seem like a lonely one, but if you start telling others that you're a blogger, you might find it's a lot less lonely than just you and your computer. For example, I've gotten to know Keren Brown through...well....the courage to write her after reading one of her posts. Keren is the Frantic Foodie and the founder of Foodportunity, a public event that gathers foodies, bloggers, chefs, and professionals together and enables them to network. It's pretty darn cool. There are several bloggers at the culinary arts program too, including Anne Livingston, the author of Bring to Boil, and Kim Cozzetto Maynard, of Kitchen Collaboration. In fact, Anne and Keren are good friends, and Kim and I just got together to bake pies for Tuesday, July 5th's Pie Party, on Facebook. The world is small....and it's full of foodies. 

Writing has also afforded me some cool and random opportunities. I've gotten connected with CSN, an online store that sells everything from books to patio sets. They have a decent collection of cookware too. If you've read my blog for very long, then you'll know that a few readers have won some prizes from answering questions on my blog. I've also gotten to demo some fun things. 

Well, this time, I guest blogged for CSN's blog. They wanted to to write a piece about their bakeware. Pretty easily done. But this time, I wrote about the importance of mis en place. I know, big surprise, right? Well, it's really true. Anyway, if you want to see the post, you'll have to go to their site and check it out. Enjoy! 

CSNBlog

If you'd like to have me guest blog for you, or better yet, if you'd like to collaborate on a cooking project, just contact me! 

Second Quarter Student Entree Projects

From SCA website

One thing I really enjoyed about Chef KG's kitchen is the ability to choose our own entrees to prepare for classmates. In typical form, I decided to do things that were a little bit above my pay grade. Why not? I'm learning, and if I crash and burn, it's better to do so in an area with a lifeguard (Chef KG) to save me. Or roll his eyes and shake his head. 

So, knowing this, I decided to make a rice biryani with saag paneer (Food network recipe), a braised leek, porcini, and chicken on pappardelle pasta (inspired by the Herbfarm), a vegan spaghetti bolognese (for my vegetarian classmate Lyle), and snapper en papillote (inspired by Andre, a 5Q student, and an Herbfarm recipe).  I researched at least two versions of each recipe, except for the Herbfarm recipes, and I had cooked each of the items, in some form or another, before trying it at school. Then I gathered input from my chefs at school and from classmates whose food I trusted. 

The result: the dishes were all successful! Well, with some teachable moments, of course. 

Rice Biryani with Saag Paneer: Chef wasn't especially stoked about the look of my overcooked biryani (yes, Virginia, you do have to pay attention to rice and water ratios, and they're different for each rice) - "What's that white stuff?" he asked, eyebrows raised. Okaaaaaay, I may be the first Asian girl he met who cannot cook rice correctly.  He also was a little bit skeptical of my handmade paneer cheese, which I made the day before with the advice from Chef Don in the pastry program and Chef Vicky from 3Q, but it was tasty, and he even liked it. Linda, a student from the 1Q, patiently rolled all of the squishy paneer bites in flour to help make them more solid so we could panfry them. Poor kid. I had a deep half-pan full of the cheesy stuff, so she was there for quite a while. The rice biryani I made had almonds, raisins, cumin, cayenne, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, and onions. The saag was made with spinach - 6 lbs of blanched spinach, to be exact - collards, more Indian spices and garam masala, a blend that Anne from 3Q had researched for our papers for Chef Gregg's class. Anne later said that the flavours were well-blended and that the dish was very good. 

My Herbfarm braised chicken, leeks and porcinis were a costly meal, about $3 or $4 per person in food cost alone, but the flavours turned out beautifully. A really great mate of mine had given me his copy of the Herbfarm cookbook, so we'd made this dish before.  For school, I used drummettes and flats instead of the 8-way chicken -- hey, that's what the butchers gave me! -- so the meat was a bit skimpy and there were lots of bones with which to contend. The pappardelle pasta was Dececco brand, and it turned out tender, buttery, and smooth. They soaked up the leek and porcini sauce, so each bite burst with flavour. 

The fish en papillote was also inspired by the Herbfarm, though the idea originally came from Andre's recipe testing. One classmate, whom I admire greatly, said that it was the best en papillote she'd had at the school. That was cool. I did learn that the packets need to be cut to exactly the right size for the food, and that the edges should be tightly rolled, not scrunched. They're also sort of difficult to time, because you can't fork-flake the fish to see if it's done. Fortunately, I had the timing correct, so the fish were cooked but not overdone when I served them. 

By savit keawtavee

The vegetarian bolognese gained its meaty, chewy texture from black lentils. They don't remotely resemble ground beef, so this isn't a dish that should be served to fool meat eaters, but the bolognese had great flavor. I cooked it for about 80 minutes, once all the ingredients were added, so the dish homogenized and looked convincingly like a bolognese. I think it was fairly obviously vegetarian, but it was hearty and filling. I tend to add red wine and balsamic vinegar to my red sauces - I'm not actually sure why other than for the bite and tang - and I also usually add brown sugar to enhance the tomatoes.  I had a classmate who works at Barking Frog taste it. His palate is usually spot on, and after I've had at least two classmates taste my dish, I take it to the Chef to get his nod. He didn't like that my onions were a small dice, and thus larger than the lentils. A true bolognese should be more completely homogenous and less chunky looking than mine, he pointed out. But other than the appearance, he approved of the taste. Works for me!

Second Quarter In Review

Photo by Rashid Gabdulhakov

Well, I wish I'd remembered to take any pictures during school, but this quarter was all about Quantity Cooking, so there wasn't much time to photography.  When I was asked about taking pictures, I wanted to say, "dude, I'm working! Who has time to bust out a camera?!" One manager at Stopsky's Delicatessen told me that if I have time to lean, then I have time to clean. While less poetic, it would probably apply to photo-taking in a kitchen, too. I did snag some pictures from my classmates' Facebook pages, so you'll get some pictures :) Anyway, onto my review of 2Q cooking, sans applicable pictures.

We were responsible for feeding the 150 plus students in the program, and we did this by being divided into groups and taking responsibility for specific items, such as entrees, sides (vegetables and starches), Asian dishes (stir fries, rice bowls, noodle bowls), breakfast dishes, and our own student-chosen entrees. We usually made between 12 and 20 portions of whatever food it was. We also prepared items for The Buzz and for Square One, the coffee shop and bistro restaurant, respectively. Making enough food for 12 is probably not too weird for those who regularly host dinners or find their homes filled with guests around the holidays. Twenty portions can definitely seem like a large amount of food; twenty plates are certainly a large number of breakable dishes to carry around.

I enjoyed the practicum part of the program - the hurry and cook for your classmates portion. There was always a crunch for time, but as long as your mise en place was ...en place ... your lunch would be successful. The concept wasn't difficult: cook lunch. The practice could be made complicated if the dish for which you were responsible was more difficult or more involved than you expected or if your preparation was. So, the lesson that many students learned in the kitchen: "read your ___ recipe before you start!" Duh. I can't tell you how many recipes I messed up or dragged out as a kid because I didn't think through my process all the way. Oh, my poor parents.  Imagine doing that with a somewhat harsh, definitely critical (in a good way), intense chef breathing down your neck. Yah, I didn't wing it often in Chef KG's kitchen.

My kitchen partner, Derek, winged it much more often. Whereas I wrote plans of actions for my plans, Derek would saunter into the kitchen bearing his Ipad and his knives. He'd zoom around at his Derek pace and bust out a great tasting meal that usually sold out before noon. Uh huh.  Figures. He is a great cook and has a strong intuition for foods that taste great. We were great foils for each other, because I tried to track our assignments, and Derek helped ground me and prevent me from getting too wrapped around the axle over transient things, like "Oh no, the 6 ounce ladle is being used! What should I do!" (Say this in a high wailing voice while looking panicked) Derek would smartly say that we could probably eyeball the portions after we measure the first dish.

In addition to cooking, we took the theory of cooking. It was the "why" part to most of what we did in the kitchen. In first quarter, one of the cool things I learned was the differences in starch content of potatoes and their subsequent effects on different dishes.

In second quarter, I learned that butter is the best insulator for sandwiches, not mayonnaise. I learned that compound butter is raw butter mixed with practically anything. Provencal indicates that garlic has been added to a dish, and Polonaise is a breadcrumb topping browned in butter and mixed with chopped egg and parsley.  I learned that a composed salad better not get mixed together, thus making it a mixed (and sloppy) salad. I found out that a William Potato is shaped and breaded to look like a pear. And I learned that some students really like to have one-on-one conversations with the Chef while the rest of us listen to the back-and-forth like Wimbledon viewers. I also learned the names of different types of sushi, different donburi bowls, and that Chef KG is a blackbelt and extremely dangerous.

The lectures were similar to Chef Gregg's lectures, but we used the textbook much less. The exams were based mostly on the lectures and offhand asides that the Chef would make. I tried to write down everything that he said, basically. His exams weren't difficult per se, but sometimes the questions asked and the answers provided were a little bit out of sync. I usually ended up writing long sentences or near-paragraphs to answer his questions to see if I could get the keyword that he considered the most correct.

In addition to lecture and kitchen time, we also had Purchasing, Costing, and Management courses. These classes were all taught by Mr. Tom Dillard, the front of house management instructor. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute, and he and his wife have both had turns at restaurant owning and teaching at SCA. A former student compared Mr. Dillard to a well-known late night television comedian, and I'm inclined to agree. He is really funny. He does this look-over-the-glasses face whenever he catches us doing something boneheaded. He is really animated and has a witty sense of humour.  His class wasn't difficult, though apparently my calculator and I had some input differences. It was mostly a class in which if you were somewhat attentive, you were going to do just fine. I mean, it's restaurant management, so several of us had some type of experience, such as closing a register or costing food. Besides, if you crash and burn in the theory of management or restaurant book-keeping, do you think restaurant management would be a good career choice?

The continued benefit of doing an end-of-quarter field trip is usually something I enjoy. One classmate suggested that we eat at Re:public, a newish restaurant in the newish South Lake Union district. While the dishes were creative, I was generally disappointed in the portions and felt that the flavours fell just shy of delicious. I think if we had been served more than four courses, it may have felt more substantial. The Restaurant Week lunch portions were larger - and cheaper - than the items we were given. In addition, some of the combinations seemed too opposing to complement each other well, such as the green onion puree on the short ribs.  I wasn't sure how well the chef had been briefed about our field trip's intentions, because we didn't get to tour the restaurant, and the chef didn't seem to know much about our program. The chef did come and speak with us for a few minutes, and he was very personable. In addition, the kitchen hadn't been informed that we had two vegetarians, so they had to work last-minute to create some items for them.

 Since my experience was somewhat lukewarm - and I'm not sure that it was due to the restaurant or due to the lack of preparation on my classmate's behalf - I'd be hesitant to return for a happy hour or dinner. The location is definitely ideal - located on Westlake and a mere two blocks to the Amazon campus. I'd love to hear from others who have dined at Re:public to see if it actually is worth a return trip.

Second quarter was physically grueling in the sense of cooking about twenty portions of food in two hours. As long as time management, planning, and attentive cooking are strengths, then success was fairly easy. The individuals who struggled were ones who didn't sleep enough, didn't come prepared, or who didn't ask for help from the correct individuals. That is really the key. I believe all of the students passed, and we shall see how it all comes together when we cook for Square One!

I'm with a new bunch of classmates, with some who have stayed back for one reason or another. This group is young, and they're full of energy and dreams. We're all doing such different things in kitchens, and it's interesting to compare notes and such.  I've met some new classmates who are great cooks, and I hope we get to stick it out through the next quarters.

I enjoyed second quarter quite a bit, but I'm ready for third quarter!

Sources of Children's Calories

From NYtimes website

The October 2010 issue of the American Dietetic Association published a study that examined the primary sources of nutrients in most kids aged 2-18 years old. They found that the major sources of calories are from

- grain desserts -- 138 kcal/day
- pizza -- 136 kcal/day
- soda -- 118 kcal/day

They pointed out that sugar-sweetened beverages that include soda pop and fruit juice contribute 173 kcal per day. They also found out that nearly half of the calories eaten by kids all day come from empty sources, such as solid fat and added sugars.

Empty calorie sources that were found most often in kids' diets were soda, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, grain desserts, pizza, and whole milk.

The researchers conclude that the choices marketed to and provided to children must be changed. They need to be provided with fewer unhealthy foods and more healthy foods that provide fewer calories.

Obesity and overweight-related diseases affect many people in our population, and these diseases are starting to impact the health of children in America. Studies publishing the observations of what children are eating highlight the problem with the food system.

Plenty of focus is being directed on the school food service system, and that is legitimate because it is designed to provide children with 1/3 of their days' nutritional needs while they're in school. However, what about the other 66% of the kids' nutrient intake?

Those are items that we adults, parents, and family members of those children control.  How much of what we allow the children to eat has an impact on their overall nutrition? I argue that even the individual times that we indulge children by allowing them to have one cookie contributes to their higher sugar and fat intake.

Of course, the overall impact depends on the child's health. I am not saying to aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas to prevent kids from eating cookies and desserts, but I am saying to you that you should give your kids healthy foods regularly. If we spend eating 85% of our time eating healthfully and consciously, we can enjoy the 15% of time eating dessert.

Cooking School - First Quarter

Do you remember when you received your acceptance letter to school, and you ran around the house all excited about the upcoming opportunities that awaited you? Then you get to school, get the syllabi, the first 300 pages of reading assigned, and realize that you can't go out that weekend because you'll be in the library. Yep, reality sets in quickly. Well, that didn't happen - not really - with my first quarter of culinary school. I was fearful that it might be the case - what with a textbook that feels like it weighs 35 lbs.

I think the hardest part about culinary school is buying the knives, which isn't much of a hardship. Our chef gave us a few tips about knives, we watched a (very old) video about knife safety, and then Chef Gregg showed us all of his knives. I wish I'd had my camera. He had one of those three-compartment red tool kits filled to the brim with knives, carving tools, peelers, trimmers, knives, and more knives. He had scimitar for carving large cuts of meat, he had pairing knives for making fancy garnishes, and he had more slicing knives than I could think of uses for. Inspired, we students set off to City Kitchens, Seattle Cutlery, Bargreen Ellingson, and the Seattle Restaurant Store and came back laden with knives.

As soon as we had knives in hand, chef coats on our backs, and nonslip safety shoes (took me two tries to find some that are comfortable and still haven't found ones I like) on our feet, we set about to cooking. Well, cutting and chopping anyway. The first quarter students do the peeling, precooking, chopping, dicing, and mincing of the ingredients used by the second-quarter students to cook the culinary school lunch. We were responsible for providing a salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, and a rice pilaf or steamed rice every day. Our groups were split up somewhat randomly so that each of us had a chance to prepare each of those items at least once.

We started cooking at 10:00, and our rice, fruit salad, and garden salad were due at 11. Sometimes, depending on how many other things we had to prepare - such as baked potatoes, diced, chopped, minced, or blanched other vegetables - our food was ready by 11. Sometimes we struggled a little bit. It is surprising how long it takes to slice so much fruit and cook so much rice.

In addition to preparing tomorrow's ingredients and today's salads and rice dish, we also practiced specific knife skills. I learned how to supreme an orange, make tomato concassee, and mince onion correctly. I was fortunate to keep my finger tips intact too. I actually didn't have a knife blooper all quarter.

Our final exam in the kitchen class was a timed knife competency where we were tested on performing 10 different cuts on specific vegetables. We had to batonnet potatoes, cut potatoes into a medium dice (to specific measurements), brunoise carrots, supreme the orange, mince garlic and shallot, dice an onion, finely chop parsley, and we had to do all that in 30 minutes. Yep, it was a heck of a timed test, but really, it was a lot of fun, too. I certainly didn't chop as quickly as Martin Yan or as accurately as... uhm... anyone else, but what a rush. Then it was over with.

Remember the story told about Julia Child who worked so hard to get her cuts correct that she chopped onions for hours and hours until she got them right? Well, that's sort of what I ended up doing. I bought 10-pound bags of onions, potatoes, and carrots. I also bought lots of tomatoes, garlic, onions, shallots, and oranges. It took me a while to figure out what to do with the oranges, but I also made lots of mashed potatoes, potato casseroles, tomato sauce, and even a roasted, pureed carrot bisque. Pretty tasty, all around.

When we weren't chopping vegetables. boiling potatoes, or getting ready for the next day's menu, we were sitting in culinary lecture, the Theory of Cooking. That class was probably the most academically challenging, and it wasn't actually too bad. The reading assignments were essentially full chapters, but they were on topics like Chicken, Fish, or Potatoes. I mean, how bad is it if you have to read about the best ways to braise chicken, mash potatoes, or select fish for chowder? Okay, I still did the college procrastination, but I did eventually read the chapters before the exam. And again, how bad is it when you're really into the material?

One of the most interesting lessons we had was about the effects of time, temperature, and pH on certain foods. Some foods' colors become enhanced when they are cooked in acid, and some foods' colors turn "off," such as becoming duller or completely different. Chef Vicky McCaffree was substitute teaching for Chef Gregg because he was in Italy for the Slow Food Conference. She is teaching the 3rd quarter class now, because Chef Greg Atkinson has left to pursue some other work. Chef Vicky prepared four different types of vegetables - orange, white, green, and cabbage green - four different ways - correctly, for too long of time, with vinegar (acid), and with baking soda (alkaline). The results were amazing. Our whole class got up and watched while she cooked the ingredients, and a few students even helped out.

The lectures we had were so interesting. The chef instructors gave us the facts about cooking - the correct temperatures to cook foods or the things we look for when selecting fresh food - and they also told us stories about their experiences, both good and bad. Chef Gregg showed off the induction burner, which heats the metallic molecules of pans and cooks the food, and he demonstrated how to cook eggs, meat, and other foods. We had some interesting quotables in the course of the lecture as well, and maybe someday I'll actually write them all down.

Because we're in culinary school, we get to participate in various catering events. Two classmates of mine, Rob and Kevin, and I were invited to help out at the Museum of Flight, which was hosting a special event for Boeing. Chef Takeyuki Suetsugu, the owner and chef of Bistro Satsuma in Gig Harbor, was hired to cater the traditional Japanese dinner, and he brought one chef, two assistance, a team of servers, one culinary chef instructor (Chef KG) and three culinary arts first quarter students. Crazy? Maybe. Fortunately, he already had most of the food cooked, and "all" we got to do was slice and plate. The catered event lasted about 4 hours, but it really felt like 15 minutes. That was so fun, and he was so organized that it was easy.

I hadn't catered Japanese food before, and it was incredible. The attention to detail was amazing. The plated dishes were incredible. More on that on a different post. Whole fish, prawns (pictured here with Kevin), radish flowers, cucumber bowls, and a melon vase filled with carved fruit flowers.

We had a chance to dabble in chicken fabrication, too, and that was soooo much fun. There are a few specific ways to fabricate chickens, and we were practicing the 8-way. I usually cut a chicken like you carve a turkey, but that didn't turn out to be the right way. We practiced cutting the chicken by removing the backbone first and then cutting it apart. Our exam for second quarter involves cutting apart a chicken and producing specific cuts, so this hen is my next nemesis. I found her at Viet Wah, an Asian market in the International District. I have to say, looking at an animal's head and feet definitely roots you in what you're eating. I removed the head, feet, and the leftover pin feathers. Then it looked like any Tyson (sorry Chef Karen and Chef Sarah) chicken. I didn't do too well cutting out the backbone the first time, because I didn't crack it evenly in half (fellow culinary experts, you'd know what I was supposed to do), but there's plenty of time before I take that test. I hope I won't have to buy hundreds of chickens, but I know that frozen chicken breasts are off the menu.