dont knock the raft over

What a long day. I've been up since 5 (like every other day), except today we had an externship prep seminar, so I stayed on campus and trained for my 60 mile walk to kill some time. Only 53 more days to go until the 3 day walk in Boston, and I have lots of money left to raise, a little under $2000. I'm excited for the walk; not only to prove to myself that I can do it (60 miles is a lot!) but to raise the awareness/money for research as well as funding for women who can't afford the costly treatments. It should be a life changing event.

In class today, we made consomme. Consomme is a completely clear broth that is made by introducing a certain set of ingredients that coagulate all the proteins in the broth and result in a clear broth. After Chef's warnings, we were all a bit unnerved going into class, knowing our rafts of clarification ingredients may sink and ruin the whole dish. But also due to the warning, none of our rafts did! We worked some more on our knife skills and the perfectionist in me tried and tried to get the perfect large dice (a lot harder than a small dice if you believe it) and even though I wasn't completely satisfied with my cuts, Chef Viverito said I did a great job and it's not something I should put myself in an early grave for...

Here is Chef Viverito demonstrating proper degreasing of the top of your consomme:

And his completed Consomme:

Here is what the raft looks like as it floats to the top of my pot (the liquid under is completely clear.. or should be):

And my completed consomme:

(Chef said my knife cuts on the brunoise vegetables were very good.. brunoise is teeny tiny cubes of whatever you're cutting)

At the externship seminar I got excited and nervous and overwhelmed all at once. As part of our studies for the associates degree here, we are required to go on an 18 week externship in a kitchen in order to practically apply all the knowledge we have gained so far. For my class, this falls in between November and April and it is quickly approaching. I'll be researching restaurants and kitchens all over the world, so if you have ideas, let me know!

Oh and here were some things I cooked over the weekend. I was on an asian kick so I braised some beef and served it over white rice with kimchi:

And I also marinated some flounder with an asian flavors and served it with broccoli rabe and kim chi: