An Internship of a Lifetime

I'm back!!!!!!

I'm sure y'all have been wondering why I've haven't posted any new blog entries lately, and I'm so sorry for the huge delay. The past few weeks I've been extremely busy with school, outside field trips, and now even work opportunities! 

To start, two weeks ago I had the opportunity to volunteer at a SuperBowl party with Chef George Mendes! I helped him prep food, then pack up the coolers and head to the event. Once there, we plated food and enjoyed the party. It was an amazing opportunity to help out a well respected New York chef, and I was so happy to learn from him and grow as a cook myself.

The following week, I was blessed with the opportunity to intern at abc cocina! In an earlier blog post, I talked about how abc cocina was one of my favorite NYC restaurants. Now having worked there, I love the restaurant even more. So far I've worked the garde manger station, as well as prep food for many of the other stations. I've also learned some of the basics of how this specific kitchen is run, as well as how it is connected to abc kitchen (another Jean George restaurant). I've already learned so much from working at abc cocina, and I'm so excited to perfect my cooking skills at such an incredible establishment.

Here are some dishes from abc cocina:

charred octopus, crispy potatoes, paprika and herbs

warm vanilla fritters with Mexican chocolate

tres leches cake with apple and cajeta

Field Trip to Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Early last Saturday morning my classmates and I met at Grand Central Station, boarded the Metro North train and headed out of the city. Our final destination: Blue Hill at Stone Barns. As a part of the Classic Culinary Arts plus Farm to Table program at ICC, our education concludes with a week-long culinary experience at the farm, learning from the land and cooking in Dan Barber’s restaurant. All of us were beyond excited to get our first taste of the farm, and the field trip was nothing short of amazing.

When we arrived, we were greeted with a warm welcome from Irene Hamburger and quickly whisked away to take a tour of the farm. It was surprising to see a greenhouse stocked full of produce in the dead of winter. We even pulled “survivor spinach” right out of the ground and tasted it, and it was delicious! After the tour we had lunch at the Blue Hill Café and had a meet-and-greet with some very influential individuals in the culinary world. We closed out the day with a charcuterie lesson from Vice President of Culinary Affairs, Chef Adam Kaye. He went through all the different cuts of pork, and even gave us a few tastes of ham and speck. We all had an amazing time, and are now more excited than ever to spend a week perfecting our cooking skills at Blue Hill this June.