Term4 Kitchen Finalssss

Aloha~ How are you?? Hope you doing goooood~ Anyways, i had my kitchen finals last week. Truth be told i was quite nervous at first. One cause it's finals. Two cause we are doing solo on that day. So yeah

But after quite some time i was quite getting the hang of it. But then, when it's time to cook, everyone was like super panicking including moi of course.

So anyway for starter we were supposed to make prawn salad with asian dressing. Main course was duck breast.

So for my asian dressing, i basically infused the oil with ginger(bleh), wild ginger flower, garlic, and honey. Then just let it infuse there. Tossed the salad with the dressing and voila~ blanched the prawns. Oh and as an addition, i poached a pear. =]



Main course, i seared my duck breast, oven-baked. And i tried smoking my duck. Well it was successful. But the down side is it's overcooked. Bohooo :'(
And also it literally like smoke, cigerattes. At least i think that's what it taste like. LOL

As a side i cooked risotto, cherry tomato confit, sauteed french bean. For sauce i tried making a chimicurri sauce(parsley,oil,garlic). But then it kinda failed cause i didn't blend the parsley fine enough. So yeahhh.... And like usual, i forgot to take a pic of my main course. LOL :(

Comments by chef:
- Poached pear was cooked BUT not sweet enough. Sweetness must be like diabetic sweet =/
- Prawns blanched purefectlyyyy ^^v
- Cherry Tomato okay. cooked
- Sauce not fine enough
- Duck overcooked. Idea okay
- French bean overcooked T___T

So yeah, chef said improve myself so that i could graduate with flying colors. Hahaha~ Anyway i will try, no promises! =]

FHM 2011

Soso, as some of you may already knowwww....... Malaysia has an annual competition called the Culianire Malaysia also known as FHM(no idea what it stands for). But yeah, so anyone who is interested to join is welcome to. Taylor's made an opening to all the students here, but not all would get accepted. They have to undergo interviews and if they do get accepted, they have to go through a a series of trainings.

So anyway, not only participants needs to go through interview, even though you just wanna be a commis, you also need to go interview and everything. Plus my final exams are on the competition date. 20 September-23 September 2011. So i chose not to apply. But thenn, one day one of my chef asked me to be a commis for eelynn. Who is joining the competition. So without a doubt i said yes. Cause he chose me, which means i don't even to go through all the interviews.

So yea.... training has started since last week and i have been helping as often as possible. It was very tiring i am not gonna lie, and i have to go back so very late at night. But it was worth it after all. I had fun. LOTSA FUNNN..... Anyway i really wanna post up the pictures but i'm afraid i can't. So yeah..... I'm gonna post it AFTER the competition! See ya then! :D

Menu 6

Few days ago was my kitchen class. Menu was chicken breast for starter and red snapper for main course.

For starter it wasn't stated that we must make a salad. So we made chicken wellington. By we i mean me and Francis by the way. Chicken wellington with a side of salad. Tossed with honey-mustard vinaigrette. Which fyi taste super duper AWESOME! I can't believe it actually taste that good. Our chicken wellington tasted good even though we sent it like 10 minutes late, cause francis was kinda slacking at first. I told him i think you should start cooking the chicken, but he was like nahh that's fine, plenty of time. So yeah.




We were very organised on that day actually. I can feel it. I was like WHOA.... WE ARE NEAT! LOL. For main course the snapper must be grilled. The silly thing is we don't even have a griller. Closest we have is a griddle. So lame.... So anyway we grill it for colour then oven bake to cook. OH OH and i tournee potatos. For me it looks quite good. I'm quite impressed with what i did. YAY MEEE~~~ <3

Menu 5

Last 2 weeks on friday our menu was chicken mousseline.

I was partner-ing with sayaka on that day. And sayaka was the one stuffing the thing. So everything was going very nicely and smoothly until three quarters of the way.



Sayaka was stuffing the chicken and she panicked suddenly. "sally sally sally what do i do what do i do??? I was like okay sayaka chill. BREATHEEE..... she was so panicked. She accidantelly slipped and broke a hole on the chicken breast. So the mousseline was leaking out. I told her its fine, no prob, we can just poach it instead of pan-fry and we did. But in the end everything went quite okay. Taste was good.





Oh one thing that annoys me is that i made tuille on that day, but i forgot about it. When i sent out my main course already i remembered. I was like oh gosh! MY TUILLE!!!!!! when i took it out, it was burnt. Sighhh......

Menu 3

So last friday was my kitchen class and it was menu 3. The starter is Gaspacho Andalo (which basically means cold tomato soup) and main course is Lamb Rack.

Like i said before, my partner on that day was Yew Hann~~~
I gotta admit, we were very organized on that day. We planned everything out and around halfway to serving time, we found out that we got nothing else to do. Which was kinda ehhh nerve-wrecking in a way. Cause you would get the feeling like really? Nothing else to do? Did i miss out on any important thing?




So for the soup,we found out that we are only allowed to blend it like half an hour before serving. Cause it contains oil, which is a temporary emulsion, so it cannot blend for a long period of time.

Chef marked our soup with an 'X'. We found out that since it is tomato soup, the taste of TOMATO must stand out. So that when you drink it, you'll be like "yeap it's tomato." somthing like dat. Ours was a little of everything, but more of capsicum though. (I hate capsicum fyi)




For lamb rack, yew hann did the frenching and trussing. We marinated it with chopped rosemary and then layered a persille on top of the skin for that nice and green colour. Doneness of the lamb was medium, which we achieved. Nice and pink.



I gotta say though, i don't really like how i plated on that day. Cause we didn't really discussed how we were gonna plate it. So we decided to go with the flow and unfortunately for us, going with the flow brings no luck. Yeahhh.....

Tiramisu

Yesterday (wednesday), we had our pastry class. With Chef Karam, dessert of the day was Tiramisu. The so ever famous as the "pick-me up cake". Like literally. That's what it means! No joke. LOL.

So anyway tiramisu is basically layers of sponge fingers dipped in coffee with mascarpone cream. Layered over and over again, until you are SATISFIED. Muahahaha~~ (fattening okayyy... don't be greedy! :p)


This is what our sponge fingers looks like. Not cute i know~



And this is basically how i made my cup of tiramisu. I was actually gonna make a heart-shape with the icing sugar but then chef was likeee "eeehhh... don't put icing sugar." So yeahhh boooo! hahaha~

Term 4

HEYOOOO.... I haven't blog for like ages i know. But i got nothing to talk about! Don't blame me! Hehe~

So anyway, last thursday and friday, we had our kitchen class. On thursday, the menu was pan fried scallops for starter and for main is dover sole. On friday, starter is beef consomme. Main course is entrecote. Yeahhh... So basically we have to change partners every week, the whole point is to have teamwork. Cause we won't know our commis during finals. So we must get used to it. I agree somewhat on this.

So anyway on thursday i paired up with Amina and Friday with Rick!
And here is basically what our plating looks like. I forgot to take a picture of the scallops. LOL



This is our pan-fried dover sole with glazed carrots, orange sauce and white wine sauce.


Here is our Beef consomme with a veggie dumpling. (I gotta admit. It taste quite awesome!) It's so clear! I'm so proud of our starter! For those who don't know what a consomme is. It's a clear soup. So clear that you can see everything! Like tea. It musn't have any layer of oil on top.


Finally this is our entrecote. It's overcooked actually. Chef said it's edible but then the plating is like a coffee house. So he expect us to do better on the next class.

Which is tomorrow! It's gonna be me and Yew Hann~ Yeah.... So stay tuned for more! Tchao! :D

STICKY!

Yesterday after work i went to pavilion to window shop for a while and i came across this cute little shop. Called sticky. It's a candy shop. The thing that interest me is that it is hand made candy. Not your regular candy!



I really am interested and curious to how these people made these candies. Hmmmmm.... The price well it' a bit pricey la for candies. But it doesn't really surprise me cause it is hand made after all. Hahaha~~

There are many various flavours, strawberry, lime, blueberry, blackcurrent, apple, mint, spearmint, lemon, and many more!!!




Oh and another thing that makes me really wonder is how the hell do they have all that pictures and some sort of drawing inside of it. Some of it even have words like happy birthday or i love you or just simply a shape of a cherry there. It's so cute! They even provide custom made candy. Interesting eh???

Another thing that makes people interested is that they themed their shop with open-kitchen so every one can see how they made it and to show that they really made it from scratch to the delicious sweet treats that we all enjoy!

Unnamed

Haloooowww peopleee!!!! I know i havent blogged in a while but im back! YAY!!! what's that? you missed me? yeaahh.. i know.. i miss me too! <3. LOL. I'm jokinn~

So many things i wanna sayy... where should i start?? O i know! So last march i went back to Medan befor i start my three months internship and as usual. I BAKED! But! as u guys remember if u read my previous post, i said i was gonna bake cupcakes! And so i did. I used the recipe from one of my friend Amina (classmate) who got this book all the way from Saudi for MUA! So touched. LOL. SOSO i made this cupcake which has no exact name. Its honey, banana, and almonds cupcake (i know rite) hahaha....

Well to be completely honest. Its kinda a failure, just like all my other cupcakes. It's very heavy and it doesnt rise like those cute lill cupcakes that people sell. The taste is not a problem but its ugly!! My brother said its like eating fish food (pelet ikan), but i can't say anything in some ways its true. Although he could have chose a better word but yeahhh... Hahaha...




I also made this cake called sacher cake. Now this one! IS HEAVENNN... IT IS SOOO GOOD! SO GOOD I TELL YOU. Im not exaggerating if that's what u r thinking. I'm serious. Especially when it just got out of the oven. My home smells like heaven! Muahahaha~~ care for some??? IT'S SINFULLY GOOOOD~~~ <3

Lalala~

So i commis again yesterday... Thank goodness that i did. Cause yesterday was Dee's (senior) last class... And i feel bad that at first i couldn't come because originally i have oenology exam today, but it's postponed (YAY)! After forcing myself, i started studyin and suddenly my phone beep and after that i just jump up n down. So happy, exam postponed. Yeahh...

So back to the story... Last class.. They had quiche Lorraine as appetizer, duck breast for main and crepe for dessert. I can't tell you how many times i made short crust already... But i still can't get it right in terms of rolling it. It's always SOO thick and always end up in undercooked short-crust. Yeahh... gotta work on that. But in terms of taste it was good. I had quiche as my dinner last night. LOL...

The main course was duck.. I must say, his plating of main course is really nice. It inspire me. There's height in it and there's a lot of colour present inside. Green, brown, orange, purple, yellow. A rainbowww.... Hahaha....



The crepe nothing much to say... Just filled it with chantily cream and drizzle with caramel sauce.. In terms of decoration it was plain. Only mint leaves and raisins. I thought there weren't any other fruits so i thought "oh well". But it turns out that THERE IS PEACH! CANNED PEACH! Stupid la dee... If u make use of the peach your plating sure nicer lee... Sighhh... But anyways, he said it wasn't bad. He got a total mark of 34 out of 40. So yeahh... Thank goodness.... LOL.

Cupcakes~

I gotta admit this. I'm kinda guilty.... Ever since i study at Taylor's i never bake a cupcake anymore.. I think it's because i'm so excited to learn all these new cake recipes and for the fact that i can't bake at my current home (Malaysia), i was just trying to practice what i had learned in Taylor's and show to my parents investment has result in. But to be honest, i miss baking cupcakes. IT'S FUNNN!!! Especially with all the different designs and flavours. It's just so exciting!

So it's decided.. the next time i'm back in Medan(Indonesia) I'll bake cupcakes and dont worry i'll take pictures... Hope i still make it well. LOL!

V.V.I.P

As you may already know... there was another graduation ceremony at Taylor's last Saturday n Sunday. Which was the 12th and 13th of February and knowing me i helped out for the function. I was supposedly assigned to help Chef Francois who is a pastry chef from France. But somehow i ended up helping out chef Karam instead which was actually better because chef Karam was making desserts for the V.V.I.P guests at Truffles Restaurant and i was the only ONE helping him. So yeah it was tiring but i certainly did enjoy myself. Not only that, i learned so much from it. Also i made new friends from these kinda things so i benefited in every way....


So anyway.. he made a few desserts. White Chocolate Parfait,Sacher Cake and his all time specialty, macarons. Sacher Cake is basically layers and layers of chocolate. Anyone on a diet would be SOOOOO GUILTY after eating that. But it was so good because he used a good quality dark chocolate. 70% dark if not mistaken. He was so happy with his chocolate he was like "Oh my god it taste so good! I'm so excited to make a cake out of it!" And i was like okayyyy... Hahaha... Never knew he had that in him. But he did let me try a piece of the chocolate and i gotta admit, IT IS GOOD! No exceptions. LOL.

So here's a sneak peek on what we made in that two days:

Life Changing

So the other day, one of my classmate got me a cheesecake. She said treat it as my very belated birthday gift. LOL. So anyway, she told me that this cheesecake is soooo good and famous. It's a blueberry cheesecake. She got it from R.T Pastry in subang. Surprisingly,i've been there before. So next time i could get me one by myself! Muahaha....

I was actually a bit concerned that she actually got me a cheesecake. Cause usually, i can't eat a LOTT of cheesecake. Don't get me wrong, i like it. It's just that once i eat two to three spoons, i'll be like feel a bit sick. Well you know what i mean. But it's different with this one. I can ate a whole slice without getting that feeling. It's very light and flavourful. It has a right balance of savoury and sweetness to it. All i know is that, that cheesecake, it was LIFE CHANGING! Oh yeaa...

So for those of you who know where it is, grab your cheesecake now~ I'm telling you, no bite is a bite of regret! Unless you're watching your figure! XD

Joy of Baking

So today, I'm gonna talk a bit about baking. You see. Baking does not all has to be theoretical, nor does it have to be mathematical. No, you can't put that cause it will effect to this. Add more of that, it would make your cake rise. Baking is a joy. A sweet delight that you feel when you enjoy doing something. Baking is not only done for special occasions. You could bake daily if you wish. There's nothing wrong with it. Make it a hobby and not a profession.

But of course there are several rules that you would have to understand. It takes skills and practice to get something right. You can't expect to one day wake up and just say "wow,i'm a pastry chef". In order to achieve an astounding result. You would need to use good quality ingredients. You can't make something a world's heritage by using something cheap and of low quality. No matter how you give Tender Loving Care (TLC) it would still result in what you use in it.

Baking is a tough and tricky thing to do. It may lead to a disaster. It may be costly. But in the end, it all was worth the effort. Just to see the smile of the faces after eating that piece of cake. All the burden would just disappear, just like that. So remember, make baking a joy, a delightful experience!

Heavenly Holidays

Hey guys! I know i haven't updated for quite a long while, so sorry about that! But now i have loads to talk about. I don't even know where to begin with. Hummm... let's see.... AH! i know what i'm gonna talk about. Well you see, last christmas, i got a new oven from my parents as a christmas present! I couldnt tell you how happy i was! So anyways, i experimented quite a lot of things when i was home. I made swiss rolls,macaroons, choux pastry, short crust, bread. I'm not sure what else, too much things going on my head. So anyway, the first thing i made was swiss roll. It was kinda a failure at the first try cause i havent got to familiarize myself with the oven, it turned out that the fire was too big and i should play around with it. Unhappy with the first result, i decided to make another one. But still it didn't turn out right, i wanted to do another but i thought if it won't turn out right again, it would be a waste of ingredients.

So the next day, oh~ i made banana bread. Yeah, that one turned out fantastic. It taste good but next time i should decrease the sugar and add in more bananas, then it'll be even better!



Then after that i took a step to dare myself to try and make macaroons! And you know what? It was actually successful! I myself was kinda amazed that it turned out right. I actually expected that it would fail. But it didn't! So yeah i am very pleased with the results and yeah, am satisfied!


Finally, i made some choux buns. My mom,dad and bro like this the most. They said it taste good and the taste is not as sweet. It's somehow balanced cause it has this salty-ness to it. Well yeah i know it's confusing unless you try it yourself. LOL. Actually in school we only fill it with chantily cream. But i decided to be daring. I filled it with chocolate ganache. And you know what? It actually tasted quite good. To be honest, i like it better with chocolate ganache rather than chantily cream. But again, different people different perspective right?


That's the end of this blog and i'll catch up with you guys with more stories later on! Chiao~