New Allergy Test

Well, I am holding the results of a new allergy test and, drum roll please, I'm no longer allergic to eggs!!! I have no food allergies, save a very mild allergy to oysters.

All of the medical professionals I've ever consulted about this have told me that there was no cure. This is nothing short of a miracle! It was an allergy that I had since a very young age, but didn't stop eating them until an allergy test in 1991 reported eggs in the severe level.

I received the new report from my doc today and this evening I ate my first egg, at least intentionally, in 16 years. I have to say, my expectations exceeded the taste, but I'm not disappointed. To eat an egg knowing that there would be no allergic reaction is cause for joy!

More Snow in Dallas

IMG_0499
Originally uploaded by mzones

Woohoo! It's snowing again. We started out the day with a nice rain, then mid-day it turned to snow mixed with rain. Now, it's all snow. Maybe "they" were correct to warn us in the 70's of another ice age. ;-)

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes 3
Originally uploaded by mzones

I made these cupcakes for a friend that I met on the set of The Imposter. She wanted to have some special desserts for a family gathering today and called me up yesterday. The cake part is white chocolate, and the frosting is white chocolate buttercream. I topped the cake with crushed raspberries, then piped on some buttercream and put a whole raspberry on the top of each little one. If I had a block of white chocolate, I'd make some chocolate curls to garnish, but alas I don't and so will just leave well enough alone.

She also wanted a Chocolate-Ancho Torte so I baked that off yesterday too and then poured chocolate-ancho ganache over it this morning. I made some Kahlua Creme Anglaise for her to serve with it.

Wonder which dessert will disappear the quickest.

Snowing in Dallas

Snow In Dallas 2
Originally uploaded by mzones

This is a picture taken from my apartment balcony. I knew you wouldn't believe me if I didn't have some evidence. ;-) I wouldn't believe me if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

That's global warming for you.

Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken
Originally uploaded by mzones

This was my attempt at making Kung Pao Chicken. It was pretty good, it just needs a couple of minor adjustments to be better than good.

Chocolate Fudge Cookie

Chocolate Fudge Cookie
Originally uploaded by mzones

This is one of the goodies that I baked for the cast and crew on the set of The Imposter. I could not de-eggify this recipe as there are 4 eggs to 1/2 c. flour in the recipe. It's kind of like a brownie in cookie form. I snagged the recipe from www.joyofbaking.com, I did substitute Guittard Cappuccino Chips for white chocolate chips cause that's what I had hanging out in my cupboard. A double batch was gone in no time and for days after people were asking if there were any more of those cookies.

This recipe is a keeper!

That's a wrap

We wrapped the filming of The Imposter last night. Woohoo! Now Dan Millican, the Writer/Director, will begin editing. We have the wrap party tomorrow night. I'm busy making truffles because I just cannot go empty handed.

The Imposter

I've been volunteering on a movie set since January 17th. This is an independent film by Writer/Director Daniel Millican of Serendipitous Films (www.s-films.com). Given the low budget of the film, there are a lot of volunteers on this set. I am taking care of craft services (snacks and beverages) and meals.

I've been working on my business plan for a catering and personal chef business that I will start this Spring, so I had some time on my hands. When I found out about the filming of this movie and that they needed volunteers, I knew in my heart that I should go and help.

Eeek!!! A Mouse!

So, I woke up at 4 am today, went out to the kitchen to fire up the espresso machine and startled a mouse who was just hanging out on the counter. Eeek! I didn't find any signs of food break-ins, but they rarely stop in just to borrow a cup of sugar. Needless to say, I spent a good part of my day disinfecting my kitchen.

I was laughing at myself because my first inclination was to throw everything away...and I mean everything! It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry accidentally drops his girlfriend's toothbrush into the toilet and then is too much of a weenie to tell her. He wouldn't kiss her after that and finally fessed up. So, she locks him out of his apartment then lets him back in and tells him, "there, now something of yours has been in the toilet." She won't tell him what it was, just says bye and leaves. So, he starts throwing everything away. She finally tells him, after his apartment is pretty much bare, that it was the toilet brush.

Anyway, back to the mouse. Once every square inch of my kitchen had been dissinfected and everything that could go through the dishwasher, made that trip, I went over to the hardware store and purchased a trap...just in case. Should the mouse return to this kitchen, hopefully s/he'll take gander in the trap to have a bite of peanut butter and that'll be the end of that rodent.

Road Trip

I took a drive to Grandview, TX (South of Ft. Worth) to visit The Burgundy Boucherie. This is the public butcher market where the Burgundy Pasture Beef ranch butchers and sells it's 100% grass-fed beef. That's right, no grain! Most grass-fed beef is finished with grain when it's sent off to the processing plant. But, since they don't send them off to a processing plant and process them in their own USDA inspected butcher market, there's no need to finish them with grain. :-) Of course, they also don't use growth hormones or antibiotics. Should a cow become sick, it is removed from the herd.

They also offer pork, lamb, and chicken.

I purchased some bone-in rib-eye steaks, which they cut and packaged in the Cryovac just minutes before I drove away with them. I took a peek into their butcher room where the two butchers where at work portioning and packaging beef.

For more info, check out their website at http://burgundypasturebeef.com

Avocado Salsa Verde

Avocado Salsa Verde
Originally uploaded by mzones

Went to Taco Diner for lunch a couple of days ago. They have two kinds of salsa, but it was their salsa verde that I liked the best. It tasted as though they had blended a traditional salsa verde with avocado. So, I tried it and this is a picture of the result. It is pretty close in taste to theirs, and may actually be better but probably only because it is freshly made.

Chocolate-Ancho Torte

Chocolate-Ancho Torte
Originally uploaded by mzones

I've been working as a prep/line cook at a restaurant here in Plano. Their style of food is Southwestern and Continental. We don't have a pastry chef, but we make creme brulee and key lime pie in house, and order cheesecake and a 4 layer chocolate cake from a bakery.

The chef asked me to come up with some dessert ideas as it isn't his thing. So, I thought about the Southwestern cuisine and thought a Chocolate Ancho Chili Torte would be a good fit. On my day off, I made this torte, which is a flourless chocolate cake with the addition of some finely ground dried ancho. The ganache on top is also infused with ancho. I made a Kahlua Creme Anglaise to serve with it.

I took tasters to work (weird to take treats into a restaurant, but I guess it's what I do) and it was a hit with all who tasted it. Will it show up on the menu? Probably not, I think the ingredients are too expensive for them. But, I have another dessert up my sleeve that is just a little different than what everyone else has.

CheeseCourse

CheeseCourse
Originally uploaded by mzones

I attended the Women Chefs & Restaurateurs conference in Newport, Rhode Island the first weekend in November. There were 300+ people in attendance. I went on a tour of Sid Wainer & Son warehouse. They are a purveyor of specialty produce and foods, delivering mostly to the New England states, but they will ship elsewhere.

This photo is of a cheese table they put out for one of our evening receptions. I don't thing the photo does it justice, the table was completely filled with many different kinds of cheese. Yum!

Finito

I just got home from my last day of internship. I am finished with school now. I already have been awarded full credit for my internship. I am officially a NECI grad. :-D The graduation ceremony will be June 21, 2008. NECI only holds one per year, that's why the delay.

I have a little get together planned at Patanegra (Spanish restaurant in Portland) with the gang from Mezzaluna. We will enjoy some sangria, tapas, and talk about the fun we've had working together these past 5 months.

What a wonderful journey this has been so far. Now that this chapter is complete and I have a great education. I'm moving to Dallas, TX. I feel that is where I am supposed to be. I thought I would surely end up in Seattle, but I'm just not feeling it right now. I'll be taking a drive to Dallas to look for a place to live, then I'll be back up here in WA to arrange for my belongings, which are in storage here, to be loaded into a truck and taken to my new home.

Scallop Ceviche

Scallop-Ceviche-in-Shot
Originally uploaded by mzones

I made this scallop ceviche for a recent party that we did at my internship sight. All of the veg had to be cut into tiny cubes so it would look nice in the shot glasses. I did red pepper curls for a garnish.

Saffron Panna Cotta

Saffron Panna Cotta
Originally uploaded by mzones

I made this saffron panna cotta for my fine dining plated desserts class at NECI. When I served it at the Chef's Table (NECI's fine dining restaurant), I served it with an orange sauce. I've done some testing with different sauces since then and have finally settled on peach as the winning combination.

Beach Cupcake

Beach Cupcake
Originally uploaded by mzones

I made some fun little cupcakes for a Hawaiian themed dinner party I'm working this weekend. These will be dessert for the children at the party. My chef just asked me to come up with an idea.

Just in case it's not obvious from the picture. It's supposed to be a sandy beach with an umbrella by the ocean. :-)

Mod 4 Dinner

Mod 4 Dinner
Originally uploaded by mzones

This post has been a long time coming. ;-)

This is a photo of my block (that's the group of students I was in class with for my second year at NECI) at out Mod 4 dinner, two weeks before we finished classes. We had been one more person, Joey D., but he was suspended about 6 weeks before the end of the year.

From left to right...Nick, Amber, mz, and Chris.

Still here! :-)

I've been neglecting my blog again. I'm so fired!

I had a great return trip to the Pacific NW from Vermont. I was able to make stops along the way to visit friends, which was the best part of the trip!

I got settled in to my room at my friend's house in Battle Ground, WA. It's a suburb of Vancouver, WA. I started my internship at Mezzaluna (mezzaluna.biz) Personal Chef Service on the 2nd of April and am having a great time working with Chef John. I share my time with another personal chef at Black Radish Personal Chef Service...Chef Heather, who is also a joy to work with. This is a picture of some cupcakes that Chef Heather made during one of our recent cook dates.

Last day!

I finished my last day of classes at culinary school about an hour ago! I'm so excited to be complete with this part of my education. Now I just have a 6 month internship to complete before I graduate! Yay!