What happens after Culinary School? The REST OF MY LIFE

So, what happens after culinary school in your (a bit more than) mid-twenties? What happens when you quit your job, get out of your comfort zone, move to a different country, and go back to school… culinary school.  What happens to the job and salary you used to have?  What happens after going back to your old place/life?

Mind full of ¨what-ifs, what-ifs?¨

It´s almost a year already since I graduated from Culinary and Pastry Program from Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver, a year since coming back home…Mexico.

A total challenge, it´s been tough, I had just experienced one of the most passionate times in my life, and yet I had to get back on track economically speaking, which means, no profesional cooking for me yet.

I´m a cooker, a blogger, a yogi, a woman passionate about travelling, dancing, cooking, feelings, and loving (things I´ve been finding little time for).

I miss every single second of culinary school, every single argument with classmates, every single burn, every single cut, every single failure, every single tear.  I miss the fire, the heat. I miss my friends, all those I encountered on my path to my new life, all of those who I shared so much. So THANK YOU ALL, TOTALLY THANK YOU!

Nonetheless, I would do it all over again, so if you are planning on moving out of your comfort zone, quitting your job I´ll say GO FOR IT,  DO IT.  It´s never too late, the time will never be the ¨right¨ one, the time is now, you will always find an excuse, or something else to prioritize. NOW is the time to move out of your comfort zone.

So from now on kiddos, I will be taking you through my culinary journey back home, the hardships, the good times, and the reality of the AFTER life, the reality of what happens AFTER moving out of your comfort zone.

The reality of all those non-relevant WHAT IF´S.

This is THE REST OF MY LIFE.

I will take you through cooking, I will take you to different cuisines via travelling.

Hit me up, if you have any recommendation!

My kitchen tip today: NUTMEG! Add nutmeg and vanilla to your recipes, gives ´em an extra layer of flavor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aah… I might as well

After two weeks in the Culinary Program, and getting to know more about school, the chefs, their teaching methodology, the events and the networks, I decided to stay and finish the One-Year Program and continue with the Pastry Course.  I had already made a change in life, so I might as well complete what I had started.  From Culinary, I learned that we have to get rid of fears, doubts and limitations, so we can create our own, an example is the picture below: Salmon in a eatable sugar sphere.

Seeing the enthusiasm and ownership of all Chefs, makes me feel secure that they will always look after our best interest and learning experience.

Seeing the enthusiasm and ownership of all Chefs, makes me feel secure that they will always look after our best interest and learning experience. So yes, going to Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver, has been THE BEST decision of my entire life (not so old yet).

I discovered I love pastries, bread and specially sharing it with others, so I will dedicate my entire life in making people happy – by fulfilling their sugary cravings.  As a mexican, my family has always said that ¨pastry bread lessens sadness in tough times¨.

You know you are making the right things in life, when you find notes like this:

 

You might not believe it, but this entremet made me cry. The reason?  I worked so hard on it, I planned every single inch of it, even though I was told I wouldn´t be able to make it.  This entremet is a Dark-Chocolate Cherry Bavaroise, with a creme brulee in the middle.  I was told a thousand times (might be exaggerating a thousand times) that the creme brulee was not going to work, and that I should forget that idea, which worked the opposite way, it made me want to prove to my teacher I could do it and I DID IT.

I worked with lots of different techniques such as chocolate tempering, infusing creams for creme brulee, meringues for macaroons, and a bit more.

So, as soon as this was done, I took the picture, went to the bathroom and cried.

 

Yes, I cried in the kitchen bathroom. So for whoever tells you they´ve never cried in the kitchen… call BS on them!

Continuation to Culinary School

So, its been quite a bit since I don´t follow my blog, but I will be posting past blogs from school, and start from there on.

 

So, after poultry butchery, we started the fish week. It was very challenging going back to school after thanksgiving break and having to grab a giant crab and a lobster.. alive. Me and my partner decided each one should grab one, so I’m standing there with all the crabs alive, and my heart is beating so hard, I thought it was going to come out of my body, making me drop the crab and having to chase it all over school. Everybody was just grabbing theirs and I just stood there, until luckily my partner noticed and helped me. My partner that week, helped me push my limits to start thinking ahead, and learning to always keep thinking what was the next step. We had fish menu development, so we got together a day before to plan ahead, and even met that morning before class, to go through everything. It was challenging knowing what Chefs expect from us, that day, we received very different feedback for our dishes, either too high, not too high, too light… So we decided to change at the last moment our last dish, which came out to be the one with the best feedback.

Seared Tuna with Avocado-Ginger Puree: too feminine…?? !

As a higly supporter of gender equality, would someone please rationally explain to me what is a too feminine dish?

Charcutery week was amazing, I did something I never believed I would do… debone parts of a pork and a lamb. The last time I ordered lamb I could not eat half of it, just remembering when I deboned one, but I am positive I will get over it.

We also had three days at the farm, the most interesting thing was learning about bees, and how complex their life cycle is. I have always had some sort of fear being near them, so those 5 minutes being in their hive, were amazingly indescribable, it was hard to pay attention, just thinking I was overcoming that fear and being around thousands of bees all over me – not exaggerating… really.

All the pictures, I’ve been posting on my instagram have been of all the nice dishes I’ve made, but not everything turns out as beautiful to post. On charcutery week, I burned my tourtiere. I might need to buy a timer.

So to all my friends who were dissapointed about me not eating tacos again, I am a little bit sorry, but I will still eat them, how couldn’t I? 

 

The Start of My Culinary Career

First day of school, we start with introducing ourselves, and getting to know the chefs. In class, there is from high school graduates, to people like me, who are going through their second career. As mentioned in my last post, first day of school, and first quote from Chef  WELCOME TO THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, and I start to panic because I have no formal cooking experience.
I love cooking and love mostly sharing it with family and friends, so I truly believe is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

End of week three at school, and I am thinking how many skills I have learned this days, from knife cutting techniques, kitchen cleaning and organization (which will make my home cooking way much easier), to techniques like pan searing, difference between purees and creams, learning how to do consommes, clear consommes, let me repeat that, VERY clear consommes, the composition of canapes… and most importantly doing gnocchis (YUM! I am never buying packaged gnocchis again).  Week 1 passed by with no knife cuts (YAY for me, Knife 0 – 1 Me). End of week 2, I had knife cuts and burns, which is fun by the way. (Its funny now, wasn’t before). I also learned how to de-bone a chicken, which was very challenging and interesting (just the thought of it, was freaking me out) Now I cant wait for meat butchery days! Oh, and farm days, I am very interested in learning more about farm to table.

I still need to improve a lot of things, like my confidence when cooking and following instructions or recipes, my speed and having in my head very clear what is the next step, knife cutting (I need to be consistent with the size, I am still practicing). Anybody out there need diced carrots? I have a lot, by the way! Besides the language challenge, I have the challenge to learn more about herbs and species that I had never used or heard of before. I am very thankful to my classmates and chefs, who all have been very kind, when I have questions, or only need reassurance of the following steps, and some quick feedback on how I am doing.

Who said that eating a salad is boring??

A brief summary and pictures of my first Composed Salad:

Buckwheat cracker (dehydrated buckwheat grains) with a mesclun (green mix), orange and lime segments with chickpeas, diced cucumbers, peeled tomatos, arugula, alfalfa sprouts, apple, cooked yellow beet and toasted pecans.  As a garnish: biased green onions, and fried tomato peel.

What is a Composed Salad?

What differentiates a composed salad from a simple green salad is that you always want to have the following: Mix of greens, a vinaigrette, some kind of protein, vegetables (which could be raw or cooked) and fruits (pickled, raw, dried, macerated)

Advantages of using tomato peel: no food waste, excellent taste, gives your plating a good texture, and most importantly free money. (Just because it was something you were going to throw away)

PS. KITCHEN TIP > Did you know that instead of wasting your money and buying sanitizer you can make your own? Just 1 part bleach and 3 parts water, can also add a teaspoon of baking soda or white vinegar. #kitchentips