S0, 2 weeks ago I graduated from culinary school,( I may have mentioned that once or twice) and things are starting to get back to normal.  I spent Easter week at home in Illinois.  The week went by really, really fast and before I knew it, I was on the plane back to Denver.  That was to be short lived, as the next day I was back at the airport headed to Albuquerque.  It would seem that now that school was done, my schedule would slow down and I would get back into a routine.  Nope!  In an effort to "keep my foot in the door" of the food industry, I have started as an assistant in the Home Cook Kitchen at the school.  I had my first class on Friday, which was the end of a 5 day basic culinary skills "vacation".  The students had been there all week learning different basic techniques, but yesterday's class focused on things like braising, deglazing, steaming and the results of the students labor was delicious....at the end of the day, we sat down to lunch of steamed mussels, greens with walnuts, bacon, bleu cheese and vinaigrette, potatoes dauphonis, braised pork loin with plum sauce, brussel sprouts and lemon and chocolate mousse.  I had so much fun working in the class with the students and the chef.  So much fun in fact that I did it again today!  Today was all about the Dim Sum.  Potstickers, steamed pork buns, scallion cakes, spring rolls, pork dumplings with peanut sauce, shrimp dumplings,  and chicken,sausage and rice wrapped in lotus leaves.  Potstickers were absolutely my favorite (of course, previous followers of this blog already know my undying love for a good potsticker).  So my schedule and life are as busy as ever.  In an effort to actually reap the benefits of my education, I'm looking at even more ways to keep my life busy.  I'll sleep sometime...for now, there are cakes to bake, curds to make and futures to plan.......

I don't think this weekend could have been much better.  The weather, for one thing, has been absolutely beautiful.  Next, I ate some amazingly delicious food  and oh,.........I GRADUATED FROM CULINARY SCHOOL!
Okay, let's take one thing at a time...we discussed the weather...NEXT.  Food.....there was some amazingly delicious things to eat at my GRADUATION FROM CULINARY SCHOOL!!!!!.  Our class prepared all the delicious desserts and one of the culinary classes prepared all the savory food.  Everyone did a wonderful job, it was delicious.  Then Saturday night, we went out for a celebratory dinner at Tables (www.tablesonkearney.com).  It's located, surprise, surprise on Kearney Street in Denver.  It's a cute little place that seats about 70 or so, and is only open about 4 1/2 hours a day.  Every plate that I saw coming out of the kitchen was beautiful and the service couldn't have been better.  I had the special of the night, which was a paparadelle with homemade sausage, olive and capers....so delicious.  Dan had lamb, Robin had scallops, Lisa had an amazing pea-ricotta ravioli and Ben had the Tables Burger of the day with a side of their macaroni and cheese (gruyere and bacon people....one of the best combinations ever!)  Of course, having just GRADUATED FROM CULINARY SCHOOL a few hours earlier, we skipped dessert, but our server, who knew we had just GRADUATED FROM CULINARY SCHOOL, brought a champagne toast.  I will be back to Tables very, very soon.  Today, we had brunch at LOLA, our old favorite.  Lolaburguesa for me and of course, guacamole.  We sat on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful Sunday afternoon, sipping mimosas.  Then, home for a nap.  Now, in case you missed it, the other highlight of the weekend was the fact that I GRADUATED FROM CULINARY SCHOOL.  After 4 months of hard work and crazy schedules, it was a bittersweet end to a really great learning experience.  I meet some really great people in this class and will certainly find a bit of a void on Thursday night when I don't load up the jeep and head to Boulder.  I was lucky enough (wait....let me think about that for a minute.....lucky?....hmmmm.) Well, lets just say I was the lucky vote getter to deliver a brief speech to all those in attendance.  It was really a privilege to learn with my fellow students and even more of a privilege to learn from some very talented people.    And now, to cap off the weekend, I'm packing my bag and heading home to Canton for a week to celebrate Easter with my family.  Happy Spring Everyone!   

It was a beautiful spring day this past Saturday, I think it may have even been a record high of 84 degrees.  It was a busy day at school and then off to a wine party, and by the time I got home around 11pm, the temperature was still 68 degrees.  I slept with the window open all night and loved waking up to a sunny, warm Sunday morning with the birds chirping outside the window.  The beautiful, sunny Sunday was to be short lived.  Within 2 hours of getting up, the sun disappeared, the temperature dropped a good 20 degrees and it started to rain....then sleet...then snow. 
As we all know nothing goes better with snow then firing up the stove and making a pot of chili.  Scouring the shelves I realized that there were no kidney beans (anyone who has seen our refrigerator and cabinets will find the fact that we were out of anything a bit of a stretch, but yes, it's true).  So, I had to reconsider my chili.....hmmmmmm......then it hits me...vegetarian....we DO have black beans.....got it....Spicy Black Bean Quinoa Chili.  I simmered it for a couple hours on the stove and it was so good I knew I had to share it.   Check out the recipe section for the details.

Yesterday I tried my hand at making Seitan.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is gluten that has been separated from the wheat (starch is washed away) and then made into some form to "simulate" meat.  It is a popular vegan meat substitute.  I started with 2 different recipes.  One in which you made a dough, simmered it in broth, then used it however you wanted to for a meat substitute.  (I'll get to the results of that mess in a minute....)  The next recipe, you made the dough, then "washed" the dough as you kneeded it in cold water......WHAT....THE...HELL?  Is it only me, or does the fact that you are basically adding more water to a dough not compute....it turns into a wet, messy glop of flour and water that I am than supposed to do what with?  So, I managed to get a couple little chunks of solid out of that mess and cooked it in some vegetable broth , then fried it....not bad....not worth the trouble.  The big chunk that I simmered was a whole other story.  I think my problem was that I was too impatient and I didn't simmer it long enough.  I was excited to try cutting it into chunks and  simmering it in barbeque sauce .....hmmmmm......what it ended up tasting like was a BBQ dumpling.  Now, that has some possibilities....I'll have to work out the bugs, however, I think I'll buy the next batch of Seitan.  As for today, I'm making something a little more tried and true.  I whipped up some French Macarons this morning and with the remaining yolks, I made some of my mom's noodles...they're drying on the counter right now.  By the way, if anyone is in the Boulder, CO area tomorrow come up to the Bake Sale at the Culinary School of the Rockies from 12-4pm.  Have a great weekend everyone.