This Foodie and Blogger is Back!

I'm back! I'm so sorry to leave you guys hanging, probable wondering if I fell off the face of this planet I call New York. But my itch to write was growing too intense, and I'm ready to continue this food journey with you all. The past month has been crazy and full of life changes, and boy have I missed blogging with my fellow foodies. I'll try to catch you up as quickly and with as little words as possible. Here goes nothing...

First, I graduated from ICC and finished my culinary school education! But right after we finished learning in the kitchen, we got to round out our journey by spending a week at Stone Barns and Blue Hill in Terry Town, New York. Stone Barns, as well as Blue Hill (the restaurant located there) are a part of the Dan Barber empire, and it's the ultimate location to put your farm-to-table knowledge to work. I would love to go into more detail about what we did on the farm and what I cooked in the kitchen, so count on a blog about my experience at Stone Barns to come soon ("strawberry multigrain tart with basil whipped cream" recipe included)!

Picking eggs at Stone Barns for the kitchen at Blue Hill

Since graduating, I've continued working as a line cook at Pig and Khao. It's been a wonderful learning experience working in another professional kitchen. I feel like I'm learning the cuisine and flavors more and more everyday, making me even more comfortable with the kitchen and restaurant. It's also incredible to see how kitchen's evolve so quickly and regularly, even just over the past month! I've seen a handful of cooks and FOH employees come and go. It's a tough business to get into and even harder staying in and gaining success in.

This brings me to my next thought and something I've come to learn over the past month...I have never worked harder in my life and I've never been so broke! I work full time (and very often overtime) late into the night, sweating my a** off, lifting forty pound boxes of pork jowl, and making little to nothing. It's crazy how cooks ever get ahead in the industry, but I know they continue work in kitchens because of one thing; they simply love to cook. Feeding people innovative and mouthwatering food that patrons come back for time and time again is an amazing feeling, and that's the reason why I keep coming back for more (no matter if I have to buy single-ply toilette paper for a little while).

The third major event that's happened to me since I last posted on Nom Nom New York is that I moved! By the way, moving in New York City may very well be the hardest, most infuriating, strenuous task I've ever done. There are so many apartments you could look for years. You also have to decide what area of the city you want to live in or if you want to live in an outside borough like Brooklyn). As well, you have to decide if you want a broker or if you want to do it on your own. Then once you finally pick a place, actually orchestrating the move can be a huge headache. Just imagine moving and buying furniture without a car...yeah, it's insane. It was a crazy few weeks, but I'm so happy with the apartment I ended up with. It's a studio apartment in the financial district, probably eight blocks from my last apartment. It's new and contemporary and has a more homey feeling. It's more comfortable and cozy all together, and I'm excited to continue my New York life here (P.S. I'm writing this post from my new couch now!).

Taking a break from moving, sitting in front of my new kitchenette

I also wanted to take a moment to thank my wonderful parents. They not only helped me move into my apartment and put up with stressed-me, they also helped this whole dream come true. I'm living in the greatest city, working and learning from amazing chefs, and none of this could have happened without them. I'm so blessed to have them as parents, mentors and confidants, so thank you mom and dad. I love you!

Finally, the last thing that has changed in my life since I last wrote is that I've decided to go back to school at ICC, but this time for food writing. I just can't seem to stay away! When I heard about the six week course taught by Alan Richman, I couldn't pass it up. I've actually already had one assignment where we had to pitch a feature story idea to Alan related to food in some way, and he told me he loved the pitch and if this were a real working publication, I would have gotten the job! So now I'm in the process of actually writing the story. I'll post the story on Nom Nom when it's finished.

The man, the myth, the legend...Alan Richman

Again, I'm so very sorry its taken me so long to write another post. Hopefully you can forgive me and understand that it has been a crazy month. Now that my life is a little more settled, I'l have many more posts to come, so stay tuned!

Cheers, and nom on!

The Final Exam

It's been a few days since my final exam at the International Culinary Center, and I'm already missing my foodie friends so much! Over the past six months I spent every week, 9:00am to 3:00pm, with these amazing people. They not only taught me so much about cooking, they introduced me to New York and the city life. I'm happy to have found some life-long friends that I'm sure I'll share a meal  with many times down the road.

Reflecting back on my final exam, I wish I could say it was completely smooth sailing. However, I didn't start off on the best foot. At 8:30am my classmates and I entered the kitchen to take our final written exam. We had to write all the ingredients and procedures for our white gazpacho with pickled shrimp dish. The written test went fine, as we've made that dish so many times I could cook that recipe in my sleep. Unfortunately, this is where things started going downhill. When turning in our test, we also picked a letter-number combination that would designate us to the two dishes we were to complete for our final practical exam. I reached into the bowl and dug around to ultimately pick B3...the asparagus and soft boiled egg appetizer, and rolled and stuffed lamb entree. Of course this is the one combination I really didn't want! The asparagus appetizer is really straight forward, but it is chalked full of components and incredibly time consuming. As well, the lamb entree only has pommes puree (mashed potatoes), roasted baby eggplant (easy enough), a lamb stock based sauce, and a rolled and stuffed lamb loin. Again, very straight forward, but I had never made that dish completely from start to finish. The "lamb unknown" was making me nervous, but at that moment I just had to put my big girl panties on and get to work.

The three amigas...myself, Sophia and Lucy

We then as a class walked to the kitchen in room 402 (our level 2 kitchen) and started to cook. I had to have four plates of asparagus ready at 12:57pm, then another four plates of lamb ready at 1:45pm. I knew that my first task would be to reinforce my lamb stock. Reinforcing a stock means you take bones (in my case lamb bones) and brown them in a screaming hot pan with a little oil. Once browned, you then reduce the heat and add some mirepoix. Cook the vegetable until it's softened, then cover the mixture with the desired stock, add a bouquet garni (thyme, parsley stems, bay leaf, and black pepper corns), and simmer for at least one hour. This brings more depth of flavor to the stock, and ultimately to the sauce you make with the stock. So I ran to the reach-in looking for bones and found nothing. My first thought  was "crap, how do you make a reinforced stock without bones?". Then I took a deep breath and asked chef where I could find the missing bones. Sure enough I just wasn't looking hard enough, and they were actually wrapped up nicely and placed behind the actual lamb loins. At that point chef tossed me a bag of bones and I got my reinforced stock going. Little did I know that I had just made a monumental mistake.

About an hour into the final, one of my classmates realized he had no duck bones to reinforce his stock (another dish we had was rendered duck breasts with beets, fingerlings, frisee and a cherry sauce). This brought on a huge search for the missing duck bones. I bet you can guess who had them simmering away in their stock...me. I reinforced my lamb stock with duck bones. How dumb, right?! Who can't tell the difference between the bones of a small bird and a relative large farm animal? I guess when I originally asked chef to help me find bones, I asked for duck bones instead of lamb. So when he tossed me the bag, he thought I wanted duck, and I was too stressed to take a second and realize the difference between each protein bones. Chef told me to just continue on because if I were to remake the stock, I would be completely in the weeds. My sauce would just be slightly different in flavor. So as you can see, I was not off to the best start on my final at ICC.

After the bone debacle, I quickly prepared the asparagus appetizer and presented on time. I then returned to the kitchen and put the finishing touches on my lamb dish. The final plates turned out nice, but I was so distraught over my lamb sauce that I had complete tunnel vision and just wanted the day to be over.

We made ICC's Instagram page! #selfie

At the end of the day when we all had finished cooking, it was time to hear our critiques from the panel of judges. That's right, judges! Real, working, highly regarded New York chefs were tasting our dishes, and I presented a ridiculous lamb sauce! But what could I do? At that moment I just had to smile and hope that they still appreciated my presentation and dishes as a whole.

The judges were tough and very critical, but how are you going to become a better chef if you're not critical? It all was okay because everyone in my class did great. I'm also happy to announce that they didn't even mention my sauce, so all is definitely well! All in all, the final could have been smoother for me, but I'm proud of my whole class for doing so great and showing how much we've grown through each plate of food at ICC.

WE DID IT!

Congrats to all my classmates on graduating from the International Culinary Center! It has been a crazy ride and I've learned so much, these are the days I will cherish forever!

Stay tuned for a post about our final exam at ICC, as well as our week at Blue Hill starting Wednesday. Here's to more exciting events to come!

Seafood Season

As we crossed the Williamsburg Bridge and left Manhattan, my classmates and I anxiously anticipated our trip to North Fork, Long Island where we would be visiting both Macari Vineyard and Peconic Oyster Farm. Like our previous field trips, this visit to the vineyard and oyster farm was a part of the Classic Culinary Arts plus Farm to Table program at the International Culinary Center. We were especially excited for this field trip because we knew we would get some fresh farm air, delicious wine, and freshly shucked oysters right on the water, and that’s exactly what we did. 

Our first stop was Macari Vineyard in Mattituck, New York. Alexandra Macari, wife of Joseph Macari, quickly met us and talked us through a wine tasting of some of their most popular wines. We tasted two whites, a rose, three reds, and a dessert wine, and they were all equally enjoyable. After the tasting we had lunch outside. It was a beautiful sunny and 70 degree day, and we overlooked the acres of grape vines, about to bud-break at any time. After lunch we took a tour of the grounds and made some last minute purchases so we could take some wine home.  Overall, it was a lovely morning at the vineyard, and we were ready to check out the oyster farm next.

After leaving Macari Vineyard and a quick 15-minute drive later, we arrived at Peconic Oyster Farm in Peconic Bay, New York. I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve never been to an oyster farm or really even knew much about harvesting oysters. However, it was a really interesting and remarkable farm. The best part of our visit was at the end when we sat on a picnic table right on the water, shucking and eating some of the freshest oysters I’ve ever came in contact with. It was a fun and delicious Saturday altogether.

Sitting there soaking in this experience made me think about all the best places to eat seafood in New York City. With the weather getting warmer and the summer drawing closer, everyone's dying to get out of the house and eat out in the city. And now that the restaurants are filling up, patrons are ordering fresh seafood more than ever. Seafood, especially raw seafood bars, are a staple during the warmer months, so it's the perfect time to look at some great places to get fresh catch in NYC. Here is a list of some of my favorite places to enjoy a raw bar and an oyster or two:

1. BLT Fish - 21 W 17th Street, New York NY 10011 - Located in the Flatiron District, this restaurant is perfect for the fish fanatic. They have some of the freshest fish in town, and if you're really ready to splurge, they have "The Grand Plateau" where you get an array of raw bar items for $120.00. Definitely check BLT Fish out for seafood grub. 
2. The John Dory - 1196 Broadway, New York NY 10001 - Chef April Bloomfield's The John Dory Oyster Bar is the perfect summer spot for raw bar lovers. Count on some of the freshest and most delicious seafood dishes in town.
3. ABC Cocina - 38 E 19th Street, New York NY 10003 - One of my favorite spots in NYC, ABC Cocina never lets its patrons down, especially when it comes to their raw bar. They serve fresh oysters and clams, shucked right in their open kitchen. If sitting outside and enjoying seafood is your kind of summer night, check out ABC Cocina in Union Square.

For more information, to read reviews, and/or to make reservations for these restaurants or any other raw bars in New York City, check out OpenTable's  New York City Restaurants page. Cheers and nom on!

Level 5: Working at L'Ecole

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is my last day in Level 5 at the International Culinary Center, and that I'm only a month away from graduating from culinary school! It's been a crazy, busy, and exciting five months, and I'm excited to be at the tail end of my education and ready to enter the food industry as a professional chef.

Level 5 at ICC is the first level where we actually cook at the school's restaurant L'Ecole. It's a fully functioning, professional kitchen and restaurant where all the school's students cook dishes for patrons. It just like any other working kitchen; you prep food for lunch or dinner, run service, then break down and clean up. Because I'm a day student, my classmates and I work lunch service every day. The restaurant doesn't get too busy, maybe on average 30 covers a day. But its a great atmosphere to learn kitchen etiquette and technique if you've never experienced working in a kitchen before. You also get to experience working at every station in the kitchen, starting with entremetier, then garde manger, poissonnier, saucier, and finally patissier. Level 6 will be exactly the same as level 5, except we get a whole new menu with all different recipes, and these recipes will be what we have to cook on our final exam. It's been a fun experience working at L'Ecole, and I'm ready for level 6 and my final month at ICC!

Here are some dishes from our menu at L'Ecole:

Arctic Char with Lemon-Yogurt Sauce, Carrot-Dill Vinaigrette and Marinated Cucumber

Strawberry Tart with Creme Fraiche Ice Cream and Basil Oil

Vegetable Terrine, Blue Cheese Mouse and Arugula Salad

Profiteroles with Coffee, Chocolate, and Cookies-and-Cream Ice Cream

Concrete Jungle

"I'm gonna make it by any means, 

I got a pocket full of dreams.

Baby, I'm from New York"

I'm so excited to announce that I landed my second big city job at an amazing restaurant in the Lower East Side called Pig and Khao! The cuisine is Southeast Asian, specifically Filipino, and the kitchen is open to the restaurant. It's a smaller venue with a smaller amount of staff, making the kitchen super close and friendly. The co-owner is Chef Leah Cohen, who has really made a name for herself in the food industry and New York culinary scene. She was even on Bravo's Top Chef a few seasons back and performed extremely well. I'm thrilled to be working for an amazing female chef and to learn new techniques in a awesome restaurant.

I started the job last Monday and I've loved every minute of it since. Today I even worked brunch and was able to work the line on garde manger. Feel free to check back on Nom Nom New York because I'll be giving updates on my two jobs, the conclusion of culinary school at ICC, and of course the restaurants I nom-on in and around the city. New York City; the city where dreams are made of, and there's nothing you can't do...never have I thought this to be more true. Cheers and nom on!

The Grand Buffet

As promised, here are some pictures from the second half of Level 4 at the International Culinary Center...buffet preparation and charcuterie!

We used every part of the pig for our charcuterie dishes, including the entire head! 

This is half of a pig that we had to break down for our buffet and charcuterie dishes. This bad boy provided us with some delicious food and in-depth information on butchery.

This is the pig face that was first cured, then cooked all night confit, and finished in the oven to crisp up the skin. We served it on lettuce with apple...nom nom!

I was so proud of our broken down pig, and I was surprised to find out how much I enjoy butchery! 

This was our first buffet; just a small charcuterie buffet to get the school excited for our grand buffet to come. We served the pig head, chorizo-in-a-blanket, roasted pork shoulder, and much more!

The delicious chorizo we made into chorizo-in-a-blanket...definitely a favorite!

Our grand buffet! We made quite the spread with everything from roasted lamb to duck confit (a total of 30 dishes made the final buffet presentation). After completing both family meal and buffet, I can safely say that this level has been my favorite!