Chef Ashley

Sweet Table

2007-12-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

This was my class two weeks ago, advanced baking techniques, but it really was a decorating class for bite sized buffet table desserts. These pictures are from my final. The main point was to decorate everything really small and fancy. It was very intense and took FOREVER! I got an A! We presented our work at a buffet and invited family and friends to try everything. It was pretty exciting :) I'll try to give some details under the pictures....

Ok, from left to right peanut butter truffles, traditional petit fours dipped in dark chocolate, almond macaroons, meringue with lemon and raspberry, and amaretto cheesecake.

Starts with heart window cookies filled with raspberry jam, chocolate peanut butter pie, almond tuiles dipped in chocolate, and operas.

My two buffet platters to be presented to our guests.

Traditional petit fours, and peanut butter truffles...

The focus is here is the white meringue puff filled with lemon filling, a raspberry, and red bubble sugar.

The focus below is amaretto cheesecake bites with a roasted almond on top.

These are the traditional petit fours dipped in dark chocolate with white chocolate streaks.

The focus here are the operas. They are cakes soaked in coffee liquor and French buttercream topped with opera glaze and ganache. I used a white chocolate music note decor.

This is Feuille D' Automne which is meringue disks wrapped in chocolate mousse and dark chocolate strips... very yummy.

Well I am getting really hungry this morning writing this, so I am going to go eat some leftover pad thai for breakfast :) Byebye....

My Niece

2007-12-04T14:30:00.001-08:00

So freakin cute....

The Sunset

2007-11-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

I just thought this sunset tonight was gorgeous and wanted to share it with all of you! My camera does not do it justice since it gets the reflection of the window, but it is so wispy and orange and pink... I love my view!

My Christmas Tree

2007-11-27T21:12:00.000-08:00

Tis the season.... Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is almost here.... I can't believe it!! I am so happy and can't wait to come home and see everyone!! I have a couple of pics of my mini tree I put up in my studio. It is only 2 feet tall, but with 250 sq. ft, what else would fit? If you were wondering, I will be home Dec. 22 through Dec. 30 in H-town, so I hope to see all of you!! Here's my tree :) It's in front of my mirror wall, so it looks like two trees.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T18:56:00.001-08:00

Well I had my first ever Thanksgiving at my own place without my family... but it wasn't sad because I had the wonderful company of Ryan's family. We had 7 of us in my apartment for Thanksgiving dinner and it went way better than I could have expected! We made the traditional menu of turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, etc... Ryan's mom, dad, and sister drove in from Nebraska and his other sister and brother-in-law flew in from DC. We went to the Chicago Thanksgiving Day parade and it snowed perfectly all morning! Just light flakes, it was like a movie :) We went to the Christmas Tree lighting at Daley Plaza where they light a 90 foot tree, kinda like New York, but not as big. Anyhoo, it was a great holiday and here are some pics of everyone!

Me and Ryan in front of the big Christmas tree!

Me and Dean, Ryan's dad, at the parade!

Me and Katie, Ryan's youngest sister...

Katie and Anna, Ryan's mom!

Me and Amber, Ryan's younger but not youngest sister....

Amber and JJ, Amber's hubby!

My New Baby

2007-11-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

Move over Ryan... I have a new love in my life! I finally bought myself a KitchenAid Mixer!!! She is just beautiful! I got her on sale at Target for $169, which if you know anything about mixers that is a good deal. She comes with an attachable paddle, whisk, and hook and makes my life SO much easier. I am not sure what to name her yet... I would like your ideas, so after looking at the pictures of her below, please help me decide a name that best suits her. I kind of like Rosa, or Lola, or maybe something having to do with the color white such as Blanca. It does not have to be of Hispanic origin... I just like those names :) Just respond to this post with your ideas!!!

Isn't she a beaut?!?

So much power!!!!

Let me know what ya think!!

All My Visitors

2007-11-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

First of all I have turned a quarter of a century Years old last week since my last post! It feels weird. I am now in my mid twenties. My sister even told me that I am almost over the hill. Wow. It feels like I was just at A&M being a college student. Anyway, weird. I want to say that I feel old, but I am worried that some of you may get mad at that :)

So onto my visitors! My sister came two weeks ago and stayed at my studio with me. We had a good time, but I don't think Chicago is the place for Erynn. Too many people and too much walking. I can see that. We went shopping ALL day on the Magnificent Mile and went to Navy Pier on an architecture boat tour. We met some crazy drunk women at The Cheesecake Factory that were in town getting drunk away from their families. We talked to them most of the evening. It was fun! Here are a couple of pics from her trip...

The park in front of Navy Pier... that is a brass or some type of metal couch....

Front of Navy Pier

In front of the Hershey's store with Mr. Kiss

I think this one is obvious

Ow, OW! Hot Mama!

My next visitor was Ryan's sister, Katie. She hung out with me and Erynn, but all our pics were crappy... sorry Katie, but I think you would agree :) Katie and I went on an extreme boot hunt Sunday afternoon.... but no luck :(

My dad came the following weekend and we went to the beach for some pics.... very windy that day!

Ryan was here the week after my sister while my dad was here for his fall break. My dad took us to the Government Mule concert where we rocked out.

In front of the John Hancock building.

At Navy Pier in front of the lake. This couple asked us if we were on our honeymoon... ewwww! A compliment for my dad, but what does that say about me??

I don't have any pics of it, but my Uncle David and Aunt Donna came to Chicago and took me and Ryan out to a very nice dinner! It was great to see them!

Finally, I went home this past weekend to attend Lynlea's baby shower! I will update more on that once I get some pics!

All in all, it has been so nice to have all my family and friends close why I am so far away. Thank you all, it means so much to me!!

Lots o' Bread!

2007-10-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

Well it has been I don't know how long since I have updated this thing! My loyal readers are prob almost gone! I guess I should provide you with an update of my life... I just finished a bread class the week before last, and that has been the most time consuming class so far. Of course, I am going to show you pictures of some of the breads we made in the last three weeks. Breads are really hard to make by the way. They can take over two days and some two weeks for one loaf! I don't think it is my calling, but it is cool to know how to make all of these recipes. Once I get a mixer, I will be able to make bread! Hand mixing is really difficult.

I am currently in my intro to culinary class which is basic knife skills, veggies, stocks, and pastas. The knife skills are really hard. Julienne is the tough one because it is very tiny cubes and rectangles. We have a test over it tomorrow. I am not prepared. We have learned about ten ways to cook potatoes and today we made homemade stock. I had the pleasure of making fish stock... gross. My group had to cut the fish up and cut off their heads. Ewww. I made the right choice in doing pastry. My hands still smell like fish guts! Luckily, no pictures of the dead fish :) Anyway, I don't really prefer that flavor stock, but I am planning on making turkey stock at Thanksgiving. It gives so much flavor to homemade soup. And since I am going to freeze in the next few months, I will prob be living off soup!

I will be in Houston this weekend, so I am really excited to see some of you!! Let me know if you are up for going out Sat night!

Oh, and please see the pics below of my bread class! And yes, the donuts taste as awesome as they look! I will be following up shortly with a posting about my last two weeks of company!

Hope all is well and miss all of you!!!

Slacker

2007-09-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have written. i am slacking... There has not been a lot of commotion around here to write about. I am in a sanitation course until the end of the week, so there are no pretty pictures of that class :) And if you ask Ryan you do NOT want to know the details of what I have been learning. It makes me, little miss piggy, not want to eat!

I went to Ann Arbor this past weekend and we went to the Michigan- Penn State game which they actually won! I tailgated like I was an undergrad! I haven't drank so much beer ever really since I don't really like it. It was a lot of fun. There are a lot of married couples up there, so Ryan and I have a lot of people to hang out with. I am now known as "Cully" (for culinary in case you didn't catch on) to all those people. They think it is really funny.

My next course starting Monday is breads! I know how many of you have been waiting for me to learn about this ;) I am very excited and ready to get cooking again!

Well, I will be in H-town this weekend for a wedding, so I get to see all the fam which is very exciting! I will try to post next week with some bread pics and updates. I just need stuff to write about...

The Tourist

2007-09-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

It has been absolutely gorgeous the last couple of days here in Chicago. The lows in the 50's, but the highs around 65. Clear and sunny. Just beautiful. I decided to get out and look around Chicago, so yesterday I went to Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park zoo. There were lots of really pretty parks and it is different than the part of the city I live in. Lots more nature and less buildings. I really liked it and it was very relaxing.

I really like pictures and visuals more than words and writing, so I am going to show you a few of the places I have been since I moved here.

Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park Zoo

Oak Street Beach- Lake Michigan

The beaches are awesome and it was about 90 degrees when I laid out last week. For all of you who laughed at the idea of me laying out in Chicago!

Lots of boats, not too many swimmers... too cold!

The Views from Sears Tower

They say on a perfectly clear day you can see the lights from four neighboring states to Illinois. Sears Tower shows a view of each direction of the city. It is the tallest building in the US.

Ryan says I don't go out enough and take advantage of everything Chicago has to offer, so that is my new goal. I am going to try to do things every week! I am hoping to go to The Art Institute Museum tomorrow.

Final Grade

2007-09-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

First I need to start out by saying, wow, what a game yesterday! Did anyone see the A&M game?? Won by 2 points in triple overtime!! It was intense, a real nail biter. They were 19-0 in the 1st half and then out of nowhere dumb old Fresno State comes back, but they couldn't beat the Aggies :)

Anyhoo, well I am really writing this to brag about my first grade of my culinary degree. I got an 'A' in Intro to Baking and Patisserie and I also got a 100 on my final practical which is shown below:

This is called Roulade or Swiss Cake Roll. It is a spongy cake rolled with jam and Italian Buttercream icing and then iced with the buttercream. It is similar to a Little Debbie swiss roll in the sense that it is kind of a spiral of the jam and icing covered by a Twinkie type material. Obviously it is larger and fancier. I don't really enjoy the taste of it though.

So, my first class is over and for the next three weeks I have a sanitation class from 7:00- 8:45 am and then I am done for the day. It is going to be a nice little break.

My Apartment

2007-09-08T08:57:00.001-07:00

Here is my place. There have been some requests for some pics, so here ya go... Keep in mind I live in ONE room. It's a 525 sq. ft studio in the Gold Coast. It's a pretty nice area in downtown Chicago, so although small and outrageously priced, it's a great location. I am .5 miles from school. Just so you know, I am aware that there is too much furniture for how much space I have, but I had to cram it all in :)

This is my living room/dining room/bedroom....

One of my walls is a mirror... I guess to make it look bigger... fancy trick. My TV is perfectly centered, so I can see it from the love seat and my bed :)-

The living room.

What one would call my "bedroom".

One of the views from my bay windows... you can see John Hancock building and Sears Tower!

Another view.

View from the window.

I am facing west, so I don't view the main city, but I get a great view of the sunset every night!

Track lighting, hey it makes it look a little nicer :)

My favorite corner!

These windows are the best part of my apartment.

Sunset.

Bathroom, there's a shower on the right that you can't see.

I have a walk in closet that leads to the bathroom from the living room.

I have a floor to ceiling window in the kitchen.

Kitchen with no dishwasher :(

At least the kitchen is it's own room! And it's got tile floors!

Well there you go. I hope some of you are lucky enough to come see it in person... haha. So these are my living quarters. I know I complain, but I actually like it now and it's only a year so I think I can make it!

2007-08-29T15:12:00.000-07:00

Eclairs Covered in Chocolate Fondant
Cream Puffs Covered in Caramel
Swans made of Chantilly

Look how cute my swan is!

They are best friends!

2007-08-29T15:10:00.001-07:00

Pecan Pie

Quiche Lorraine

My Classes

2007-08-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

The most popular question I keep getting is what are my classes like. Well, I have four terms of classes over the next year. This term has 4 classes in it that are each three weeks long. Some future classes will be 6 weeks, but not in this term. Also, since I have an undergrad degree, I don't have to take math and all that junk again, so this term is only 10 hrs. My first class I am in until the end of next week is Intro to Baking and Patisserie (Patisserie is French for pastry). We are pretty much touching everything in this class to get a general idea of cooking methods and handling tools, ingredients, etc. I am a morning student, so all my classes start at 6:30 am and end at 11:00 am. I wake up at 5, leave my apt at 5:45 and walk to class. It's really not as bad as I expected. The first 30 minutes are rough, but then I get into the groove. I love that it is over before lunch. Of course I am in bed at 9:30 (please don't call past 10). Everyday in class is about an hour and half of lecture and demonstrations where the chef describes methods and demonstrates how to actually make everything. I am learning the chemical make-up of things I have been eating my whole life. It's kind of like taking a science and math class at the same time (lucky for me). Then we have about 2.5 hrs to produce, produce, produce. You have to stop for the last 30 minutes and clean up after 30 people and the whole kitchen. We make 3-6 recipes a day. It does not sound like much, but it's insane. Yesterday we made Creme Brulee, Creme Caramel, Quiche (it was awesome), Apple Pie, Pecan Pie, and Cherry Pie. Today we made Eclairs, Cream Puffs, Swans, and Lemon Curd. My favorite was the Almond Macaroon cookies I made last week. I got an A on them :) Oh, and we have a practical and exam at the end of every week. We take a written exam and then make 3 products and present them to the chef and she grades them. I sweat a lot and stand on my feet for what seems a million hours and the proceed to collapse on my floor once I get home. Chef even makes us stand up to take notes for and hour and a half. I come home and watch a little soap opera (AMC- I know, old habit), eat lunch, take a short nap, and then read chapters and take notes for 2-3 hours. Then I clean and make dinner. Sometimes I go explore the city to see what's around me. But I have been so exhausted, i just want to relax and stay off my feet. So, that's a day in my new life with my first culinary class ever! I will update with my next class once it starts. Here are a couple pics of my baked goods... My best one yet was a beautiful fruit tart that I took a picture of on my cell phone and don't have internet on my phone to email it to myself :( I cannot show you, but it had patterns of fruit and was glazed over and oh so pretty....

My Hat, Well Not Yet

2007-08-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I forgot to mention in the previous entry as to why I do not wear a chef hat that most are used to seeing. This is because without graduating, I am not considered a chef yet. The hat is actually called La Toque Blanche. There are a couple of legends involved with this specific hat... I'll tell you them :)

1. The head cooks in Assyrian households were allowed to wear high cloth headdresses patterned on the crowns of their royal masters. This distinction was intended to encourage valuable servants to remain faithful to their masters, who lived in constant fear of being poisoned. The ribs or pleats in the headdress represented the ribs in the king's crown.

2. My Favorite Legend- today's chef's hat has one hundred pleats said to represent one hundred ways that a good chef should be able to cook eggs. I only know how to make like five. What does that say about me?

3. Some people think it to be the headdress of Greek Orthodox priests. During the decline of the Byzantine Empire at the end of the sixth century, intellectuals and artists sought sanctuary in the monasteries from the invading Northern barbarians. Many of these men were good cooks and became chefs in the monastery kitchens. Some imperial chefs from royal households may also have fled to the monasteries. As a disguise, these refugees adopted the habits and headgear of their hosts, but instead of the traditional black, they chose garments in white.

So there you go! I bet that's something new to learn today. I will be very happy to get my own chef hat. And then my hair won't look so stupid.

My Sweet Uniform

2007-08-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

So, this is what I wear to school everyday... from head to toe it goes- Skull Cap which has to hold in all my hair, Cravat which is the knot I have to wear around my neck. It is really annoying in the morning to create this knot. Guys say it's like tying a tie. Next is my coat and awful checkered pants. They are huge! I have to roll them over twice. I have to wear that huge apron which goes all the way down to my feet. Don't worry, I don't walk to class in all of this... what a goober, right? Lastly, are my black non-slip shoes. They haven't come in yet, so I don't have them, but they are supposed to be clodhopperish and uncomfortable. I'll show you my apartment next...