Light in the Tunnel

5 Weeks Left!...

There are only a few weeks left of class! I can't believe I am here already. I remember it, all of it, as it really was just yesterday...

I remember pondering this path late that Thursday night. Looking up Escoffier, reading about the school a little bit, wondering if this was indeed what I needed to do to finally find myself. Just after midnight I decided to do it and filled in the little text box with my request to get contacted by the school for more information.

Incredibly, as my phone didn't really work at the time, the next morning I got a call from Nick. To this day I can't believe that call came in, I couldn't receive any phone calls at the time, and somehow his came through. I think it is the last phone call I ever got my old number. He called and asked if I wanted to tour the school, gave me the lowdown, and we decided I would come in that following Monday.

As Monday came, I went in to tour the school. Absolutely and immediately I got lost, there was a lot of construction going on at the time. When I finally met up with Nick we went on a tour of the kitchens. Chef Marcus was the first Chef I got to talk to, little did I know at the time the impact he would have on me and the direction my life is now heading.

I was immediately hooked. I had no reservations about signing the paperwork that day, and beginning in exactly one weeks time. After I left I went to grab some food on Pearl St. and happened upon Eureka, they were hiring, and got the job. As they say the rest is history, a history that I am still trying to fill you in on...

Classical Cuisines:

This block was absolutely one of the most challenging (for lots, sometimes insane reasons...) and rewarding of the whole course. Chef Bob Scherner is amazing, only spending 6 weeks learning from him is barely enough to scratch the surface of the skills and knowledge he has. But alas, time always trucks on.

 Bubba, Kurtis and I were on a team for the final practical. We had 1.5 hours to create a 3 course meal. We made a bruschetta, tortellini, and a poached pear. Chef said that the pear was a bit ambitious, but we learned a better way to cook it in a small amount of time.

A caprese bruschetta with a tomato sauce began the meal. In the future we would put the sauce in a small side dish to keep the bread from getting soggy. 

For the main we created a chicken, ricotta tortellini. Chef Bob said that instead of using lemon, ricotta, basil, rosemary and garlic for the filling to just do one or two additions to the cheese. It tasted fantastic, but the flavors of the sauce with the pasta was a bit overwhelming. 

I didn't notice this when I took it, but this isn't the best photo because of the contrast (also I think my phone camera is starting to go a bit terrible...). Anyways, the poached pear with a red wine reduction and an orange whipped cream. It's hard to tell but we also had shaved Parmesan cheese. Chef recommended we use the cheese in the cream to have a better marrying of flavors. 

There are literally weeks that I haven't gotten around to posting. All of Spain, most of France, and a lot of Italy aren't up yet. I will for sure eventually get to it, once I get this amazing company rolling that is literally one of the sections of the plan.

Steamboat:

Last weekend I took a bit of a vacation with my good friends to the amazing mountain town I love. I will retire there someday!

We stopped by the brewery that occupies the building that I used in my entrepreneurship project back in Culinary Arts. It was really cool seeing the actual property, I still can see the incredible designs that Krista did for it! Ugh I want to go open it!!! 

Even though it was $20 :( this pulled pork sandwich was super good! 

As the name implies, you could smell this bakery as you walked down the street. Unfortunately I didn't get to buy any bread, they are closed on Sundays and we didn't know that :'(

So much has gone down in the last few weeks! It's like a friggin whirlwind here! We are now on Farm to Table, the last class we have at school until the Externship class. We are in the super cool and vintage kitchens in the Broker Inn in Boulder. Full on walk-ins and a dining room! Gone is that dorm fridge we had to use in K1.

Matsuhisa Denver:

This is the CRAZIEST part of the last few weeks. Last night I got an incredible opportunity to shadow (stage) the awesome Chef Kyle of Matsuhisa Denver. I am still slightly in shock that I got to do it; Chef Kyle used to be an instructor at Escoffier and all of my chef's recommended me to him and I got to go there.

It was INCREDIBLE! Easily the best and most intricate food I've ever tasted. I even go to help prepare some of it (safely though! I didn't use any knives or sharp things that I could have hurt myself on). 

Easily the biggest kitchen I've ever been in. The P.F. Chang's that I worked at was a large restaurant and this kitchen is probably double. The dish area is about the same size as K1 is back at campus! 

Chef Kyle prepares some puff pastry for a special. 

Black Winter Truffles. Literally black gold. 

 This is the special soup, it was sooooooo goooood! I was super dumb and forgot my notepad in my car so I don't remember everything in here. I bet though in a few months I can name it all!

These monsters are beef tomahawks. Dry aged for a few days in spices I cannot pronounce yet (I'm going to have to start learning Japanese). Someday, someday I will get one! 

Fried sushi rice cubes with (I think, but can't remember fully) a tuna sushi. A really cool way to utilize unused rice.

A beef dumpling (left) and a chicken dumpling (right). Chef Kyle said he can't decide which one is his favorite. I will have to agree, they are both incredible. Two different preparations of a Miso sauce compliment the flavors better than you can imagine. 

This is the highest grade of Kobe beef you can get. These cows have arguably the best lives out of any animal. To get the incredible marbling they receive daily massages. Daily! I don't even remember the last time I had a massage! It melts in your mouth. It is served with a scorching hot salt rock to sear it table-side, I need to get some so I can use my salt rock at home! 

The final dish for the special soup. I got to try one that went a bit too far in the oven. I can't even describe how good it was. The flavors of the broth, mushrooms and crab were melodies on my taste-buds. 

I got the job!

I get to not only do my externship here in a few weeks, but I also got a job! This was for sure a Moonshot place to apply for and I still can't believe I got it. It was just 8 months ago that I was the LG Expert at Best Buy, selling home theater equipment. I never, ever thought I was coming back to this industry, let alone about to work at one of the best restaurants in the state. 

This ride has been incredible and I can't wait to see where it goes. Maybe I might be off to Japan in the future, that would be totally bad ass!!

For now, I hope this is one of the last days that I have to spend in my car after class. With only 5 weeks left I can't wait, as fun as this is:

I will for sure be writing about the first week in Farm to Table soon, I work the next 3 days in a row so it might not be until Sunday. I yearn for the day I don't have to wake up at 5:30-6:00 to pull a 18 hour day. Talk to you soon!

Made sushi today, might have been a bit inspired from last night ;-)