la casa de los sabores: day 1

We headed over to the cooking school in the morning, a couple of us toting knife bags from home. But lo and behold, everything we might ever possibly need was already laid out for us on this table:



Since our group was so large, we were split in half so one group could go to the market (mainly to get corn ground up) and the rest would stay and help prep. Since I wasn't feeling that well after diarrheal episodes during the night, I opted to stay.

These cubed mangoes and pineapple were the only prep we did. It made me feel like a volunteer really, at least where I work the staff takes care of everything and we just come up with small tasks so volunteers have something to do and feel useful.



When the market group came back that's when the real prep began in earnest. Some of us (mainly the guys) made tamales filled with a savory corn mixture (mainly corn with some cream and a bit of sugar).



The corn husk tip was folden down and the sides folded in, and the bundle was tied with a corn husk string.



The wrapped tamales were set in the steamer to cook.



Meanwhile others (mainly the girls) made sweet tamales with a pineapple filling.



Chiles and tomatillos were grilled on the comal for green salsa.



Everything was ground up with mortar and pestle.



We also made tortillas. Lots of them. The masa was first rolled into balls.



Then flattened with the tortilla press and either grilled plain on the comal or filled and folded into empanadas.



The empanadas were fried in oil.



Sadly I felt too sick to help anymore so I went and laid down, and was out for pretty much the rest of the day.

Managed to make it outside to forage for dinner - got carrots and yogurt from the supermarket, rice and hard-boiled eggs from the lady outside the supermarket, and mangoes and cucumbers from another lady down the block.



Not bad for a foraged dinner.

first day

Stayed up late last night waiting for everybody to arrive. Apparently a volcano near Puebla, Mexico, erupted, so flights were delayed an hour (and no wonder Mexico City looked so smoggy in our plane transfer). After everybody checked in, some of the guys were hungry so we ventured out... to a sandwich stand in front of a hospital. It was the only food around, it being midnight and everything. This lady assembled sandwiches in the dark. (No, none of us got sick.)



The morning started early at the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca (ICO), where we had a surprise awaiting us in the kitchen - breakfast! We assembled eagerly around this long wooden bench.



Señora Soledad, a cook since the age of 9, taught us how to make hot chocolate the Oaxacan way. You start with hot water and bars of chocolate. Once all the chocolate is dissolved you pour the mixture into a jarro (jar) and roll the molinillo (wooden implement) between your hands until the chocolate foams up.



And then you pour it into a cup and enjoy it with some bread (or pastry of choice).



Then we had an introduction to all the traditional kitchen implements we'll be using, such as the mortar and pestle (el molcajete y el tejolote), the tortilla roller/spice grinder (el metate, which Soledad demonstrated on her hands and knees as it is traditionally used on the ground), and all the different clay jars that impart earthly flavors upon the dishes.



After that we had a short orientation to Oaxaca, and then onto Spanish class. We were separated into different levels depending on our level of fluency, with me and two others in the intermediate/advanced class. We talked all about food, which was brutal considering it was the afternoon and we hadn't even had lunch break yet. Also some mosquitos bit me through my leggings, which was vicious and scary since I didn't think it would ever happen here.



After class Chef took us to La Hormiga, the best torta stand around. The lunch crowd was huge.



I ordered a torta tinga (spicy chicken). We ate it in the square where all the couples make out because they can't do it at home (socially conservative Catholic country and all).



For dessert, Cris and I got churros at this small place that pretty much only sold churros. And all the churros were piped by this cool machine.



After lunch we went on a walking tour of Oaxaca city center, where many many churches abounded. We stopped at the beautiful cathedral I mentioned in the last post. Apparently the inside is even more beautiful (all gold, and everywhere).



The tour ended at El Origen, a famous restaurant here in Oaxaca. The chef, Rodolfo Castellanos, is currently competing for the title of Best Chef in Mexico. And later he'll be teaching us a workshop!

Dinner was exquisite, featuring such delicacies as soft-boiled egg, octopus, and this sous vide chicken.



By the end of the day we were very full (in all senses of the word). Can't wait to actually get our hands on and start cooking tomorrow!

landed!

Spent the last week in Guadalajara (with side trips to Puerto Vallarta and the town of Tequila). Today Cris and I flew from Guadalajara to Oaxaca, where we will be starting a three week culinary program led by our beloved pastry chef instructor Mark Hodgson.



Since we arrived earlier than the rest of our CCSF cohorts, we had some time to explore Oaxaca. Our transfer to the hotel was facilitated by a super enthusiastic foodie of a taxi driver (and thank goodness too, because as it turns out there are two Instituto Culturals in Oaxaca, so we had to do some asking around). Even though I knew that our small villa of a hotel was equipped with a pool, I still found it to be nicer than expected.



The first thing we did after dropping off our stuff was to find sustanance. At a small cart around the corner was a lady selling these gorditas - corn tortillas filled with shredded chicken and some finger-lickin' good yellow mole sauce.



We ate and walked to a restaurant we had passed earlier in the taxi, called El Rojo Gato. They had a menu del dia (fixed daily special) of spaghetti, beef milanese, ice cream and hibiscus tea. We ate and then went across the street to Carmelita Bakery for a lime meringue tart.



The afternoon was spent settling in. Each of our rooms is equipped with a kitchenette so we can do some light cooking.



This is the bedroom I'll be sharing with Sydney!



For dinner we walked around town until we found a tucked-away spot with colorful tablecloths and traditional Oaxacan cuisine. We ordered the platter that had a little bit of everything: tamale, plantains, emapanadas, pico de gallo, tortilla chips, all sorts of meat.



Then of course we had to walk all of that off, and discovered that Oaxaca is quiet yet still active at night.



And now we wait for the rest of the group to arrive!!!

last day

I thought my 3rd semester would end with the mini reuben sandwiches in Garde Manger. Or, at least, I thought the blogging part would end there because the last couple of days would be cleaning and quizzes, nothing exciting. I was wrong.

Although the cafeteria was shut down for the last two days of class, Mr. Stellman decided to sell flat-rate combo meals as a fundraiser for the Five Star Club. The first day went smoothly and we raised something like $1500.

The second day... well. I just remember it being 11am, a bunch of us staring at sheet trays full of raw chicken, and it dawning on us that we were scheduled to open at 11:15am. Mr. Stellman thought it might not even be worth it to still do the fundraiser. My thought was: "Well what are we going to do with this chicken?!" So then came the flurry of torn plastic wrap, hands moving and pieces of raw chicken flying onto parchment papered sheet trays into the oven, packets of sausage and veggie burgers slit open and arranged onto more trays... and of course this was the one day of school I decided not to wear my chef coat and work boots. Instead I was wearing a sweaterdress and leggings, handling all the raw chicken while running around like a chicken with its little head cut off.

Mr. Stellman pushed back opening time to noon, and I'm proud to say that we had trays of food in the warmer before them, replete with barbecue sauce straight out of the container. I'm sure the prospective student tour groups being led through the kitchen were like WTF, but I didn't care, that disaster junkie part of me is still alive and well and it was on fire that day.



Three of us (Jordan, Cris and I) put out a good 100+ chicken legs, 50+ sausage links and 20+ veggie burgers in under an hour. I was proud and ate my last cafeteria meal very satisfied.



It was a good end to the past three semesters.

mini reuben appetizers

For our last class in Garde Manger we got together to make appetizers.

Because of the impending ban on foie gras, Chef decided to sear some off as a last hurrah.

Since foie is basically fat, it smokes when it sears. And you shouldn't even try to flip it in the pan while the pan is over the fire because the oily smoke (and the pan) can catch on fire.



Here's the seared foie. I tasted a piece but I didn't like it very much. I don't tend to like rich-tasting things. I actually rather eat butter (yes, just plain butter) over foie.



Also, this being our last class, Chrissy engraved a banana squash tribute to Chef Oakley. Kudos to her artistic ability - she's always sketching or doodling amazing things. (Chef looks like Toy Story's Woody!)



So for appetizers, Isabel and I got together to make mini-reubens. Chef had house-made pastrami for us to slice up, but the rest of the ingredients we had to forage, especially since the cafeteria had already shut down and all the walk-in refrigerators were being cleaned out. Before we found sauerkraut we found pickled jalapenos slivers, and before we found mustard (whole grain and honey) we found thousand island. Then we also found queso fresco (which I thought would go with the jalapenos) and arugula. We conducted several taste tests using the edges of toast I had buttered and pan-fried. We decided to use everything.



First the bread was cut into small triangles and the pastrami to match. Then we mixed the whole grain mustard with honey mustard and thousand island dressing for the spread.



Isabel put on the jalapenos while I crumbled on queso fresco and laid on arugula leaves. We started at different ends of the tray so it almost looks like we're advancing chess pieces or having some sandwich ingredient battle.



The sandwiches were assembled with toothpicks, dramatic because they were the long kind for regular-sized sandwiches.



And there you have it, mini-reuben sandwiches.



To see what my classmates' made for appetizers, scroll left after clicking here!