All Hallows' Eve

PUMPKIN TIME IS MY FAVORITE TIME.

During my weekly journey to the market today I made an impromptu decision to buy this little pumpkin:

It even came with a knife sticking out of it! 

No, it didn't. I put that there when I started carving it.

Carving pumpkins is really cool, but what is even cooler is roasting the seeds.

So, I gutted my little friend-- separating the guts from the seeds and getting my hands wonderfully dirty in the process:

A lot of people try to get as much of the gooey innards off of the seeds as possible, but I think those little bits add to the flavor. Especially tossed with a little olive oil and salt:

I roast them around 180˚ Celsius. ... Or roughly 350˚ Fahrenheit.

My brain has switch from imperial to metric, and I like it.

Usually I am satisfied just eating them on their own... But I got some Nigerian food again at the market today, which was basically rice, beans and a vegetable stew and the pumpkin seeds added a wonderful crunch.

While I was waiting for my little seedlings to roast I created this wonky fella':

As far as pumpkin carving goes... I am a firm believer in the no-plan method. Can you tell?

Have a very happy halloween everyone,

May it be full of costumes, candy and some good old fashioned pun'kin carvin'.

-H 

A very lamby day.

No, I did not run out of the room screaming when I saw an disconcertingly poised lamb carcass resting on the demo room table this morning. I am a vegetarian, but I have a well weathered appreciation for meats having grown up snacking on salami and polishing off t-bone steaks the size of Xena the Warrior Princess's breastplate. 

And no, I did not have flashes of this lamb frolicking and leaping gayly through daisy dusted meadows licking dew drops and eating clover-- It's hard to imagine anything lively about a hunk of headless sinew and muscle sitting sturdy as the sphinx in Egypt. 

...Although I don't think I will be able to think of one of my childhood favorite TV shows, Lamb Chop, in quite the same way again.

The only thing that really got to me was the eerily chiropractic maneuver to separate the fore-quarter from the hind-quarter of this headless beast--A noise which made me, A) kind of want to crack my own back to see if I could, too, achieve such a hair-raisingly satisfying sound and B) hold on to my spine for dear life and never, ever let go. 

The lamb was soon disassembled at which point I could feel the tension in the room slowly ease away.

Isn't it weird that people can't stand seeing meat in it's true form? (I mean, our severed friend (as shown in the first picture) can hardly be called a lamb in it's "true form", but, close enough?)

The fun part came when we got the chance to use our cleavers! There isn't really much to say about using a cleaver other than the fact that I highly recommend it. Nothing else in the world allows you to release a hilarious kind of rage and make you feel like a Disney movie character all in the same, swift chop. (The chef in The Little Mermaid, if you were unaware to which character I was referring.)

So we chopped and cleaned and seared and roasted and, voilà:

I am now a vegetarian who can cook a damn good rack o' lamb.

-H

FRMRS MRKT

I love my lazy, solitary Sunday's. Full of sleeping in, fall walks and good food. And this week: APPLE DAY at my little Chiswick Farmers Market.

I was tempted to bob for apples but I ate some Nigerian food instead:

Along with the best, fresh apple juice I have ever tasted. 

I can't think of a better way to exhale any residual stresses from the week, and prepare myself for more chopping, slicing, searing and piping. 

Enjoy this day-

-H

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES

Fun week-- Although I did start a tiny little fire while making crépes. Whoops. I guess that is the reason for the flame-retardant chef jacket.
This week in Cuisine we were focusing on pâte brisée. Basically, savory tart shells.
This included Quiche Lorraine and some fruit tarts. But when I say quiche (and I am mostly speaking to my mother the maker of some fine quiches) I do not mean throw some egg and milk and cheese and broccoli in a bowl and pour in to a pie crust:

This quiche is very dainty. But only in size. Double cream mixed with Gruyere cheese is a dangerous combination.

In the foreground of the picture is the fruit tart. Obviously. Both of these tasty treats were made in the "demo", and in the actual practical class we only had time to make the Quiche Lorraine. 

Along with tarts we are also in the middle of making things with puff pastry. Which is extremely tasty, extremely time consuming, and also extremely pretty:

AND, finally, Patisserie:

This week made me a very proud pastry chef. Check my Lemon Meringue Tart:

Unlike previous pictures- I did, indeed, create that whole damn thing from scratch.

And gave it to some lucky man in the reception desk. I couldn't bare to cut through that piping.

Friday we made Apple Tarts. Which made me even MORE excited about the fact that it is October:

The thing on top is supposed to be a little apple-flower. It doesn't come through very well in the picture though. By the way, no, I did not slice all of those apples by hand. There is a tool for that. 

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!

-H

So much food, so little time.

Hello!
I apologize for my inconsistent nibbling- my interent situation has been very... weird. They do things differently here in the UK. Anyway here is a food update:
Things are beginning to heat up as my school progresses. But, literally, my sweat production has increased significantly since the term began. The kitchens we work in are hot and small and, oh,  did I mention we wear uniforms? I'm not gonna lie... super attractive. Checkered pants. Fire-proof chefs jacket. Hole-less Crocs. HAIRNET.
But let me show you what we have been doing:

These two photos are from the first few days in patisserie. We have since moved on to bigger and fattier things such as custards... Créme Brûlée

 and Créme Caramel and pretty ways to "pipe" and different ways to make "sugar cages". 

Things are getting crazy. More pictures soon.

-H

I have found two wonderful things today...

The first one is PEANUT BUTTER.

The second one is the local farmers market.

Great finds. Good day. My feet are tired.

Time to cook dinner.

-Hannah