comfort me with apples

In case you weren't sure, fall is here. And fall means apples. Apples of all shapes and sizes and colors...my tastebuds are singing just thinking about it.

When I was younger, we went apple picking to celebrate the end of summer, the start of apple season, and just to get outside and enjoy the air and sun. I was so overjoyed then, when, during my senior year of college, I went with a group of students (cheers alliance française!) to indulge in that again: roaming between the trees, looking for apples to pick, breathing fresh air and enjoying the company of friends.

But I never knew what to do with my apples, beyond just eat them. There has only been one true apple pie recipe that I ever liked and so I would munch munch munch to my heart's content, or at least until the apples ran out.

This however, was all before I came to pastry school. A few weeks ago, when we were wrapping up our plated desserts unit, we made a warm apple charlotte, and I fell in love. We had been tasting individual desserts for weeks but this was the first one I gobbled up; it was that good.

A charlotte is loosely defined as a molded dessert. From there, a lot of varieties exist, but I'll spare you the lecture. This charlotte was made in a cupcake pan with a basic apple compote, and toast-you can't get much simpler than that.

Biting into it, I felt like I was home. It was warm and sweet, and all around comforting.

Later this week, I'm going to don the hat of the baking babysitter and teach my girls how to make this, but I'm too eager to wait to share it with you.

Instead of giving you a traditional recipe though, I'm going to walk you through the steps. The trick of a compote is that...you don't really need a recipe-it's all to your liking, and because of that, it feels funny that such a basic pastry staple is so...imprecise and free.

You will need:
Apples
Sugar
Water
Bread
Clarified butter (more on that later)

Optional:
Additional spices/flavor: the recipe we used at school called for calvados, or apple brandy. In the past, I've used some vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves, but it's up to you/what you have in your cupboard.

Equipment:
Knife
Cutting board
Vegetable peeler
Apple corer or melon baller
Pastry brush
Pot
Parchment paper
Cupcake tin
Sheet pan

Procedure:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Peel, halve and core your apples. Cut them however you'd like- in thin wedges, tiny cubes-just keep the shape uniform, so that the apples cook at the same rate. How many apples do you need? I'd say go for 3, to make enough for 6 of these. If you're concerned, make more. There is nothing wrong with having apple compote leftovers!

2. Place apples in the pot, with a little bit of water-you don't want the apples swimming, but if you add too much water, it's ok-you can fix it later. Add your sugar and flavorings to the water and apples. Again, how much sugar? Go with... 1/4 cup. Less is more, since there is natural sugar in your apples, but again-feel free to experiment. Cover with the parchment paper, which should be cut to act as a lid (just a circle shape that can fit inside the pot) with a hole in the center for steam to escape through. Make sure the parchment paper is pushed down to be directly on top of the apples, not just hanging out in midair. Place over medium heat.

3. Let the apples cook. Check them to make sure you haven't made applesauce, and to see that the liquid has evaporated. This compote will be done when the apples become translucent, but can still hold their shape, in that they won't turn to applesauce mush when you go to taste them. If you feel like your apples are done but that there is too much liquid left, take the parchment paper lid off and let the water evaporate out.

4. While you are letting your apple compote cook and then cool, prepare your charlotte molds. Make the clarified butter by taking unsalted butter (let's say two sticks: it will be too much, but clarified butter is definitely a good thing to have in your fridge), and placing it in another pot, and bring it to a boil. From there, pour it into a clear heat safe container, and let the milk solids settle to the bottom. You can really use any heat safe container, but with a clear one you can see the milk solids settle.

5. Cut your bread so that for each cupcake mold, you have two circles (about the size of the bottom of the mold) and a strip of bread to go around the sides of the mold. The width of the strip depends on the depth of your cupcake tin. Using the pastry brush, brush each piece with the clarified butter, and line each cupcake mold with the bread, in the following order: circle at the bottom, strip around the sides, apple compote in the center, circle on top. Make sure to fit the last circle snugly inside the ring of bread around the sides.

6. Bake the apple charlottes in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. The bread should begin to brown-imagine the perfect piece of toast. About halfway through, or whenever you start to see the bread brown, you can unmold the charlottes onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan, and continue to let them toast up. Serve warm, and enjoy!

when life gives you lemons

Forget lemonade--I make lemon curd. I make it in honor of a lot of people: for my grandmother, for my best friend, for past love. Even though I never made this for them, or even with any of them, this custard in particular just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, as if I have all of their love scooped into every spoonful. There is something about the sweetness of a lemon that cuts through the sharpness to create a really nice, bright hybrid flavor. It reminds me that no matter what happens, there will always be a ray of sunshine peeking through, and if I'm not feeling that sunshine-I make it myself.

It's also pretty versatile, but as a pick me up, I prefer to eat it just as it is: no frills, no fuss. Simple done well trumps all for this one. It has a wonderfully smooth texture that hits the spot when I need a smile.

I don't have any lemons now, but I can assure you I'll be picking some up later today. It's been a while since I made it last, but it's long overdue.

This particular recipe is taken from the Epicurious app, but there are many incarnations out there.

Ingredients:
3-4 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 stick of butter, unsalted

Equipment:
Knife
Cutting board
Pot& metal bowl, or double-boiler
2 additional bowls (of any kind, large enough to hold the lemon curd though)
Whisk
Mixing spoon
Fine sieve/strainer

Procedure:
Begin by setting up a bain-marie, or a pot of water with a metal bowl sitting on top. A double boiler would also work. Keep the stove set to medium heat, no higher. Cut the butter into cubes, and place inside the bowl/top of the double boiler-in order to melt the butter while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

In another bowl, zest your lemons by grating just the yellow of the peel (no pith!). Then, cut your lemons in half and squeeze all of the juice out. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar to this bowl, and crack your eggs in here as well. Whisk together immediately, to avoid "burning" the eggs with the sugar.

Once combined, add this bowl to the melted butter bowl, and stir occasionally. You will feel the custard get a bit thicker, and in order to test for doneness, take a spoon, dip it into the custard, and draw a horizontal line across the back of the spoon. If that line holds (as in, if the custard doesn't drip down immediately) for at least 5 seconds, you're all set. If you're concerned about temperature, you can also ensure that you cook the custard to at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Carefully remove the bowl from the pot, and strain out the lemon zest into an empty bowl. This step will also remove any bits of yolk that may have  been over-cooked or burned by the sugar.

You can eat this while still warm, or let it cool before digging in. It always comes down to a question of patience for me-whether I want to wait for it to cool or not.

Bon appetit mes chers.

state of the blog update!

ok kids, here we go!

I didn't fall off the face of the earth, but I have fallen behind blogging, and for that I apologize!

I had been in the process of moving when I last posted, and finally did, only to lose all Internet access I previously had. Additionally, I changed jobs (again) and all of that life rearranging has taken its toll on this rabbit!

I have some good news though!

For those of you who are interested in little tastes of dessert and my goings on, you can follow me on twitter! Photos of classwork and quick updates are shared there, and that could help fill the void until posting can resume.

And on that note, more regular posting will resume ASAP. I should be getting Internet access within the week, and will have a computer that will let me use that very Internet shortly after that.

Thank you for bearing with this unintended summer hiatus, and I hope you're staying cool with some sweet summer treats!

have i told you lately...

…well, anything? i’m sorry for the long gap in posts! you know how life goes, and the second that you think you’re ahead, you fall ten paces behind. i’ve experienced this in class, at work, all over the place. is there anything i can do to make it up to you?

(caution, after the jump, picture heavy!)

my espresso life

as i wrote in the intro to this blog, this is a space for me to share not only what i'm picking up in school, but also my experiences beyond the classroom. i'll be the first to admit that there is a lot that i still need to learn; i have too many firsts untasted, unseen, and unknown for my liking. but i digress. for now, i'd like to share with you what my "off days" look like.

i'm in class only three nights a week, but that doesn't mean that i'm sitting doing nothing the rest of the time! quite the contrary, actually.

almost two months ago, maybe a little less, i was roaming around on the web, looking for jobs, because even though i already had two AND school on my plate, i wouldn't be able to sustain any sort of life, let alone pay the rent, on what i was making. and then, during my search, i got distracted on twitter.

but this distraction ultimately proved useful, because a tweet from @goodfoodjobs is what essentially led me to my rent-paying, "off-day" job as a barista. and i should add, my first real food related job. for those who don't know, goodfoodjobs.com is basically a job search website compiled of listings of openings ONLY related to food. any and every aspect of the food biz is represented, but the food&drink focus is definitely there. no more searching and finding completely useless, unrelated jobs--this is a useful site, and it's free to join! (which makes it even better).

anyway, back to the job. i found the listing and gave it a shot. but remember those food firsts i'm severely lacking? i applied for the job and was immediately petrified, as i am no gourmand de café (i barely drink it), i know very little of wine (it's also a wine bar) and again...since this would be my first food job, i have absolutely no prior industry experience.

somehow the stars aligned and my "i know i have a lot to learn but i am totally willing to learn it the right way-your way!" attitude got me the job. maybe the fact that they needed the help and i was a body willing to do the job and not quibble about pay also helped my cause. but i quickly found that the process of getting the job...was the easy part. i've been learning and reading all i can about different coffees and espresso-based drinks, since my training was espresso style at best: a rush of information over a very short period of time. since i started working though, i've gotten through the "uh oh they just ordered a ____ and i've never made that before!" jitters, and have gotten the tips to prove that. coffee people are a very specific breed-when it's not done right, you know, and i'm happy that i've made the progress i have.

this learning curve hasn't been without its share of laughs (thank goodness!). it was tough at first to contain my excitement of getting my first macchiato right for example, because that's not the sort of thing you should tell a customer. so i just smiled like an idiot when he took a sip and was happy, since he was relatively unaware of the internal monologue i had going. there was also the time that i tried to make iced coffee...without having previously set up a pitcher of coffee in the fridge...haha, oops.

but more than funny stories, this job has also given me tools for the future. (cue inspirational, lifetime movie music).

on tuesday, i went out to work as usual, and had a relatively productive day. i made one of those guinness cakes, and had the place happily humming along as the day came to a close. and then, a half hour before i was supposed to close up shop, a regular came in with her daughter. they came in, ordered lunch, and sat down together on one of the couches in our seating area. and once served, it felt like something changed. i almost felt like i was intruding when i was clearing their plates; they exuded such peace, and were both enveloped in a blissful calm together that i would have hated to interrupt. and so i didn't. if there was one more thing i could do for them, it was going to be to not ruin the moment.

the mother, upon realizing that i had kept the shop open longer just for the two of them, thanked me profusely. i said it was no problem, luckily i didn't have to run off to class, and quickly cleaned up once they left. and i wasn't saying that to be polite, either. i felt like i had gotten just as much out of the dining experience as they did. i had seen their looks of satisfaction, i felt their happiness, and i knew what i needed to do to satiate my own hunger. i knew that i wanted to capture that moment, and that one day, with my food, that i wanted to create that feeling (and then some!) for those indulging in just a bite, or more. every so often, i find myself wondering if doing any this was right, and it's moments like this that give me the affirmation i need. and that's some food for thought i'll gladly take seconds of.

extra extra, read all about it!

here we are. another month, another unit, another exam. how is all of this time passing by so quickly!

as this blog continues, and its readership grows (hello everyone!) i'm working on not only adding to the archive, by posting, but also further developing the blog itself, and hopefully making the framework better as i go along. to that end, i'd like to highlight a few things!

i've added a technical dictionary, and am working on a product reference guide, so that when i refer to something that we've made, or i talk about a technique we learned about in class, you'll understand what the heck i'm saying! i'm going to keep adding to and refining each as i go through the program, so the dictionary you see now, and the reference guide you will see (soon!) are very much just my way of shoving my foot in the door, as opposed to a finished product, but it's a solid start, no?

on that note, if you have any questions, about what i'm doing, about anything about pastry school in general, or what have you, feel free to ask! you can leave a comment on any of the actual posts, or you can contact me directly at bellenanasansbanane@gmail.com.

from sending e-mails to receiving them, you can now "follow" this blog via e-mail! i personally prefer using google reader, if i don't actually plan on checking the site itself, but here is another option for you to get a hearty helping of belle nana sans banane! for those interested, it's on the right hand side of the page, underneath the archive tab.

now that i think about google reader, my lovely blogger friend The Culinary Librarian actually wrote a piece about it, for those curious about rss feeds. and speaking of her, let's shed some spotlight on a few other foodie blogs!

• The Culinary Librarian: big apple foodie friend. wonderfully insightful, and one mean macaron artiste.
• The Accidental Vegetarian: another friend of mine, this time, from my undergrad years. a refreshing take on healthy (wallet AND stomach friendly!) food and home cooking. yum!
• Baking It Til I'm Making It: not actually a friend of mine (i just don't know him), but how i found his blog is actually a funny story. i was looking for a photo reference of a dessert for a friend of mine when i came across this blog, and it turns out that he's a student at my school! for a sneak peak of what's to come for me in school, check out his blog! 

now i can imagine what you're thinking. why did i have to look elsewhere for a photo reference for an item that was undoubtedly sitting in my fridge? the answer mes chers, is not a good one. it is all because of batteries. for my camera, that is. i kept meaning to pick some up, but only remembered at inopportune times. see? not a good answer, but it's the truth. but earlier this week i picked up LOTS of batteries, so from now on i will be teasing your tastebuds with photos of my classwork and more!

i want to thank you for reading, and welcome again those new to the ride. i'm sure that by next month, there will be new features, more updates, and changes to the blog that i'll be filling you in on. and now that i think about it, at just about this time next month i'll be experiencing the biggest change to my education so far--moving on to pastry level two!

until then mes chers, eat healthy, eat happy!

pâte feuilletée: written and practical exams

ta-da! an exam post that is only a DAY after the actual exam! i should be careful about setting that sort of precedent though, it's like what i've told my classes (i teach swim lessons): the problem with doing a good job is that you keep having to do so! and knowing my schedule, i got lucky this time.

read more after the jump!

a little background on our exams

i'm not quite sure how it happened, but april is already next week, and my third set of written and practical exams is close on its heels (april 6, to be exact). before another set of exams is behind me, i'd like to share the experiences of the first two with you!

before coming to pastry school, i wasn't quite sure how we would be evaluated. would it be top chef style, where we have little to no time to create, plate, and then watch it get devoured, while we're hoping that the face the instructor just made was because of a sudden and unrelated illness, or that the instructor will say we're too good for school, and it would be an honor if we would teach the class*? or maybe it would just be a series of quizzes on the technical aspects, and in the practical portions, we would have to execute a set of techniques and call it a night?

i was nervous that we would have to have everything memorized, not just for the written exams but also for the practical portion, which had the potential to be disastrous. baking is not about throwing a little of this here, and that there, and magically producing a beautiful/delicious treat, but about understanding your ingredients, the conditions surrounding them, and how to combine them to get the results you want. getting one ratio off will not only result in a wonky product, but could create a series of negative effects that could basically render your product inedible, if not for health reasons, then out of concern for one's palate. the first example i can think of is not entirely related to ingredients per se, but if you changed the temperature at which you baked a pot de crème, you could end up with scrambled eggs in a mess of chocolate, which sounds disgusting. or, for an example related to ingredient ratios, if you let water evaporate when boiling to prepare for pâte à choux, that would change the ratio of wet:dry ingredients, which would change the number of eggs absorbed by the dough, which would change the structure of the finished pastries, going from a beautifully risen choux with a perfect hollow to an eggy, web-filled, collapsed mess.

luckily enough, we were allowed to keep our recipes with us. as chef t pointed out after our second exams, and this was said with all of the love in the world, "[we] are nowhere near the level of being able to improvise and stray from the beaten path. now is not the time to be creative, but to learn the basics from which you can create." i was reading a piece on what makes good food writing, and that piece paired with chef's words of wisdom really resonated with me; if you don't know what a traditional pastry cream is, or what it tastes like, how can you talk about it with any degree of confidence, but more important for the kitchen, how can you tweak and change it when you don't know where you're starting from?

the next two posts will be dedicated to the individual evaluations, but it's helpful to know these points before going into each unit:

1.  we are given a forty five minute written exam before the practical portion. anything and everything can be asked of us in this written exam.
2. immediately following, we have three hours to mise en place, execute, plate, and clean up after our assigned products. for every minute we are late once that three hour period is complete, we lose points. for every mistake we make, we lose points. for meeting expectations, we are given constructive feedback to become better.
3. three hours sounds like a long time, but when you consider that one recipe alone can take three hours, between prep, baking, and cooling time, and we have to execute multiple products at the same time, it's really not that long at all.
4. during class, we can ask any question we have of our chef instructors. during the exam, they basically just make sure we don't burn the place down. and going from an atmosphere of calm and joy to an anxiety filled, over-heated room has an incredible impact on the entire process.

i think that's it for the basics! now head on over to the tarts and cookies post, or to the pâte à choux post, to really sink your teeth into the process.

*and no, neither have happened, and those are pretty extreme reactions, but you get my point.

second exam: pâte à choux unit

back for round two, and only a little over a week later.

this unit was extraordinarily quick, which meant that it was fewer terms and techniques to remember, but also fewer recipes to draw from, which was good...and bad. we knew for sure that we would be making éclairs, but that was it as far as guarantees. were we all going to make the same thing? or would we pick randomly like the first time? i was sort of dreading the idea of making a gâteau st honoré, because of the caramel, and i knew that we wouldn't be making a croquembouche (too time consuming), or profiteroles (no ice cream), or gougères (it was more of a fun demo, than a serious recipe made). so it really came down to the éclairs with either a paris-brest, or the gâteau st honoré.

we walked into class, seemingly prepared for what was to come, and then it happened.

i don't quite know if it was us looking forward to what we were doing after the exam (first group outing, yay pastry 1!) or if it was that sense of preparedness that did us in...but it wasn't as smooth a process as the first final. at least, i know it wasn't for me, but i don't think i'm venturing too far to say it was a similar experience for a number of my classmates. we came in with a plan, pushed hard, worked through dinner, and still most of us finished late. i was all of two minutes late, with a messy station and burnt fondant to show for my rushing.

we ended up all making the same thing, instead of picking at random. we had to prepare:

• five four inch chocolate éclairs
• five four inch coffee éclairs
• one six inch paris-brest

read more after the jump!

first exam: tarts & cookies unit

on march seventh, i had my first ever pastry school exam, finally completing the seemingly never-ending tarts and cookies unit. the objective was straightforward: take a forty-five minute written test, and execute three recipes from our unit. sounds simple enough, right?

the recipes we had to execute were randomly assigned to us on exam day, but some of us had heard through the grapevine/listened closely in lectures to deduce the following:

• no linzer torte
• no tarte tatin
• no fig newtons

and so on. really, the list just meant that we wouldn't be asked to produce a recipe that took forever, which makes sense when you think about it. we only had three hours to execute three recipes, so we couldn't possibly be asked to do something that was so time consuming.

i drew the following recipes:

• two four inch clafoutis
• one eight inch tarte aux pommes
• five spritskakor cookies

read more after the jump!

cake school is serious stuff.

in the midst of all of this exam talk, i realized i haven't mentioned something that is just as important!

in this PSA for kitchen safety, i present to you the following:

1. imagine a blob-like shape, of three inches in length, and one and a half inches at its widest points.
2. for those who cannot imagine the shape with any specific idea of how big or small that is (like me), here is an online ruler, for you to actually see that size.
3. and for yet another reference point, think about the size of an ipod touch, or an iphone, but just a bit smaller (these were the first things i could think of that were a similar size, and i heart apple products).
4. now that you can imagine that shape, translate that to my left forearm, in the form of a burn.

i am only just now recovering from a second (yes, that's second of three) degree burn that was three inches long and one and a half inches wide. in case you thought pastry school was all rainbows and lollipops, think again.

be careful of hot items folks, especially when you set them on your work surfaces.

battle wound? achieved.

kiss me, i'm irish! (no really, i am.)

i have for you a delightful recipe in honor of today's momentous occasion, which to some means the chasing of snakes out of ireland, and to others, another reason to ask for a pint of guinness, and if the bartender isn't quick enough, the right to shout "póg mo thóin" (or for us non-gaelic reading folk, "pogue mahone"). it is generally not nice however, to tell someone bringing you something, especially something you will then ingest, to kiss your ass, but i don't think st. patty's day has ever been about table manners, now has it.

speaking of that pint of guinness, which i hope will come to you without any ass-kissing of any sort, at my newest job i was asked to make a guinness cake, whose recipe i have written down in order to share with you, my darling followers. i am sure that this is available on the internet, in many forms, so just suffice it to say that this is not of my own invention, many thanks to the person who transcribed this version.

it is supposed to be a bit sunken in the middle-not so much a gaping crater in the center, but it is alright for the center to have fallen a bit. and when applying the topping, keep in mind, that it is just that- a TOPping. not an icing or a covering, just a topping. it is meant to only go on top so that it looks like a freshly pulled, you guessed it!, pint of guinness.

recipe after the jump!

crunch time!

so here i am, already studying for another series of written and practical exams. yes, last (not this past) monday was my first set of exams and only five classes later am i back in hardcore study mode. this crunch time post is not about studying though!

recently, i've noticed a sudden media spamming effort by a variety of nut groups. and no, i don't mean crazy left or right wing people, i actually mean nuts! peanuts, almonds, pistachios, etc. and not only have i been seeing/reading about them more, but because most of the tarts and cookies from the last unit were nut-based, i've been eating them a lot more.

all i have to say is why wasn't i doing this before?

there are an incredible amount of health benefits from eating them, not to mention that they are a delicious, portable, and non-perishable snack! which means that they are perfect for me, because i have been known to forget to eat, or get frustrated with waiting to eat, and by that point i'm so hungry but i've given up on getting food (i never said i was a model eater, don't be like me!). with a handful of these in my bag though (of course, in a container, not just dropped in the bottom of a purse or something) i will never be without sustenance again. hooray!

all food epiphanies aside, sadly, that's all i have time for. i just wanted to share my small revelation before i put my nose back to the grindstone. i am sure that there will be more nut-lover posts in the future, but for now, i have a date with pâte à choux and, of course, some almonds.

a slice of humble pie.

so...i have a bit of a confession to make.

a month ago, i started this blog, all bright-eyed and bushy tailed with an ungodly amount of time on my hands, and thought wow! this is a great idea! there is NO way i could miss a post because i have set up this nice schedule and i will have things to write about once school starts and i will be happy go lucky hooray!

and then this past month happened. in the past month, i've started school, taken two jobs, turned down a third (for my sanity's sake!), and applied to countless more. i've been to three of the five boroughs, and have mastered the art of both the metrocard swipe and the balancing act that is being on the subway without having anything to hold onto. in the same week i've had to bundle up in my winter coat and have taken advantage of t-shirt weather (hello odd climate patterns). i've made twenty four individual tarts (and/or tartlets), and a few hundred cookies--thank goodness i didn't have to eat them all (sharing is caring after all), or else i would add to this tally that i gained at least a metric ton as well. i've learned an enormous amount about the world of baking and how it works and i'm only more convinced that this was the right step, even with a few mis-steps, or full-on, face-down splats on the pavement.

but you wouldn't know any of that based on what i've written here.

the past month of classes have been incredible: incredibly difficult, but also incredibly rewarding. with these classes, there is a definite, tangible output with which i can gauge my progress. all of my effort and running around the kitchen actually means something that i can not only show to others, but share with them (seriously, anyone in the new york area i need to get more food off my hands, let's chat and i will share). we're reaching the end of our first unit, tarts and cookies, and studying for my exams on monday has given me time to reflect on the past month and what it means. as thrilling as all of that is though, to me or to you, it would undoubtedly get boring to see: hey, class was great! we made a tart. it was so fun! yay! day after day. it got boring just thinking about it like that! the problem with that whole structure is that of course, we did more than just crank out tarts, but i only made notes of it as it applied to what i would need to know, not what i'd like to write about here. now that i'm in the middle of it, instead of projecting about what might happen, i think i have some solutions to better address the gap between what i promised and what i provide.

in the mean time, here is a series of highlights from the past month:

• i now know the recipes for pâte sucrée (sweet tart dough) and pâte brisée (flaky tart dough) like the back of my hand. those two are the doughs we most frequently used for all of the tarts and tartlets that we made, and of the two, for a variety of reasons, i prefer the pâte brisée. i like being able to actually make the dough by hand, instead of by mixer (although, let's be honest, i wouldn't give up the mixer entirely) and i love the finished product. pâte sucrée hits only one note for me, but the brisée has a nice quality to it that i feel better meshes with a wider variety of fillings.

• as previously noted here, i have learned how to flambé. other fun tricks? making suprêmes ("fancy" orange wedges) and other fun knife skills, making whipped cream by hand, piping onto tarts. the piping that we did two classes ago was actually the most fun: we piped with chocolate onto a ganache tart, and i had a bunch left over after my design was done, so i got to play on my work surface. i drew a heart, i wrote my name, i played around with other designs-it was all of the fun of kindergarten without being told "Don't draw on the table!"

• oddly enough i may have actually retained how to convert my units! we had a whole lecture on this, and it was so wonderfully easy. we put the conversions into practice by adapting a recipe for "chocolate heaven cookies"--i didn't actually have any of them, but i did hear that they were quite delicious.

• this is sort of a generalized highlight, and an obvious one at that, but it is admittedly nice to have a greater understanding of what each item in a recipe actually DOES for the finished product. i really appreciate the lectures we get during technique demos, because i can come out of them saying that i actually KNOW something about baking and food, instead of saying yeah i can follow a recipe, sure.

• and finally, the lowlights. or rather, the lowlight that is, in my opinion, just as important as any of these highlights. while i could dedicate a number of posts on the importance of failure to success, suffice it to say that on wednesday, i bit it. hard. i struggled with my mise en place (the set-up for each recipe), i was behind on nearly every project, i almost burned my fingers twice, my hand once, and somehow managed to not destroy my face when boiling water/caramel? sputtered on my skin. i burned my caramel twice in a row, worked straight through dinner, and in general, was off my game. but in that class, i feel like i truly gained a mentor out of my chef-instructor, a partner out of my station-mate, and some important lessons for myself. not everything i make will be perfect, and even with that in mind, i may not even enjoy the finished product just because i made it. i'm still learning, very much so, and while i aim to be a do-it-yourself-er, there will be times that i simply can't do it on my own. and that's ok. in fact, that's great-because to do everything alone is too isolationist for my taste, to be honest. now, of course, these are lessons that extend into the rest of life, and that will take some time to adjust to, but i am happy to be making these steps. i'll be happier once i make them without the trainwreck, but we're taking baby steps, right?

now, all of this talk of how i'm going to post from now on does not, in the slightest, mean that the other fun stuff is going to end. i'm just going to do my best to strike a better balance between the two, that's all. additionally, i think that i'm going to adopt a more regular posting frequency, so that anything beyond those posts will simply be extra and fun, instead of an overwhelming majority of fluff.

and now mes chers, it is time for me to return to studying. tomorrow i'm going to post about those oscar-inspired treats, but right now, i need to focus so that i can get to bed. i wish you safe and happy eating, bon appetit until next time.

popcorn at the movies!

tonight's oscars have me all kinds of excited. following the trend from my posts from grammy week, this week i'm going to post award nominee and winner inspired...everything! food and drink, munch and meal, past and present...here we go!

while the awards are going on though, what i'm thinking about is movie food. popcorn tends to make me sick, so i'm always looking for something else to nosh on during the flicks. i haven't quite hit my stride yet, having been unable to find one go-to snack since noticing that popcorn is relatively unkind to me, but i'm always eager to hear about and try other movie munchies. tonight's telecast for example, is accompanied by junior mints and twizzlers, two of my favorite movie stars-yum!

cheers to the academy, and break a leg to those nominated!

how is it already tuesday?

somehow time jumped from friday to tuesday, and i think that the mental gap is due to the much needed downtime i took advantage of thanks to the long weekend (thank you president's day). instead of gushing about being able to relax and having an entertaining and delicious meal sunday night (i don't think i've laughed harder in the company of people who were not my immediate family) though, i should get back to work, and study things that make my stomach turn. tomorrow is our servsafe food handler's certification exam, and i'd like to only have to take it once, and not have to worry about it for five years.

but for me, today is not just the day before my exam. it's also the day that kings of pastry comes out on dvd!

i remember seeing trailers of this oddly dispersed over the summer, so i was surprised to find out that the movie actually was released in 2009. it follows sixteen chefs competing in the food division of france's meilleurs ouvriers de france (MOF), a three day battle to wear THE collar-which, according to a clip in the trailer, if worn by someone who did not win the honor, can merit jail time.

hopefully, before the next long weekend (late april, egads!) i'll be able to sit down and indulge in watching some of the finest craftsmen in the pastry field at work. until then, i'll just keep salivating at the trailer.

time to catch my breath!

well this has been quite a busy week!

the rest of life has sort of taken over, and between class, job interviews, new job training and the like, i've barely had a moment to think! it's times like this that i could go for some banana pancakes. or rather "banana pancakes."

for those who know me, or if you read my silly explanation of this blog's name, the idea that i would actually be interested in banana ANYthing is something of a joke. i have famously refused anything ranging from delectable desserts to simple smoothies that have only the slightest hint of a banana present because i knew i'd be able to taste it. and if you're going in for a kiss, think twice if you've eaten a banana--so why on earth would i willingly ask for banana pancakes? with the help of jack johnson of course, i can tackle even my severe distaste for the odd fruit.

listening to the song brings a smile not only to my face, but every last inch of me. it's like the best parts of playing hooky and eating dessert first, folded into hugs and spontaneous dance parties, all of which is wrapped up in an easy breezy heart-song.

enjoy the weekend mes chers, and smile on.

music in the air, and food on my mind!

food and love go hand in hand, and while i wasn't necessarily going to highlight another romantic song this week, it's sort of hard not to!

tonight's musical munchie is brought to you by everything wonderfully indulgent about food and love--that's amore of course!

there's something about this simple chanson that feels like home. like pull up a chair and eat whatever mom put in front of you because she knows you haven't taken good enough care of yourself. like even though you know that dad is going to tell that one story again, you're going to let loose a full-bellied laugh just like the first time you heard it, because it'll never get old. like you should just do it already and dive into what you love, because you only have one life so make the most of it. like let that smile shine from ear to ear because that's when you're the most beautiful.

whenever i have food on my mind and especially when i hear this song, i think of the following quotation:

cooking is like love. it should be entered into with abandon, or not at all. 

-harriet van horne

carpe diem mes amours, and may life's plate be overflowing with delicious treats, for both heart and stomach alike.

be our guest and the flames of love!

before tonight's class, i had planned on writing a sweet little homage to one of my favorite songs from my favorite disney movie: "be our guest" from beauty and the beast. it's a wonderfully exciting number that fills me with childlike glee every time i hear it (but honestly, what classic disney song doesn't?).

and then there was class.

it was oddly appropriate that on a day so incredibly inspired by anything but burning love that we learned how to flambé in class. now that was thrilling to the nth degree.

seeing the pan of apple slices burst into flame just inches from me, and knowing that it was both on purpose AND my own doing was absolutely electrifying. it was also slightly conflicting, because it's a technique i'd like to practice, but when on earth will i trust myself to do so? not outside of class, at least not for some time, that's for sure.

and so, mesdames et messieurs, i give you "be our guest", a song that inspires me to create food that is both delicious and exciting enough to incite song and dance from even the cutlery, or at least a smile or two.

roll out the red carpet, get your knife and fork ready!

ladies and gents, it's awards season!

in honor of tonight's grammy awards ceremony, this week i'm going to spotlight a few of my favorite foodie songs. i'm going to start things off with a song near and dear to my heart, and one that you may not be familiar with: "strawberry" by paul baribeau.

to say that this is a love song would be like saying poetry is nice. but you don't have to be an oxford scholar to know that "nice" just doesn't cut it when talking about poetry, and you don't have to be a romantic to appreciate what baribeau is trying to say with "strawberry."

speaking of poetry, this song actually reminds me of one of shakespeare's sonnets (bear with me, this won't be as boring as your high school english class may have been.). in the sonnet "my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun," shakespeare takes a number of classical romantic references and says no, my mistress is nothing like any of these things, but that doesn't make me love her any less*. in "strawberry", baribeau takes a (slightly) similar stance, turning the compliments "cute," "pretty," and "funny" and turning them inside out, trying to find a way to better express his affection and appreciation to his listener.

but what does the innate weakness of verbal expression have to do with food?

think of your favorite dish, and try to recreate the entire dining experience for someone who wasn't there. you can't! i mean, surely a number of things can be recounted and understood, but there are moments and flavors and discoveries in just one bite, let alone an entire meal, that completely escape the tongue in conversation.

to say that you are cute, would be like saying that a strawberry is sweet. 

because a strawberry has secret flavors that are sharp, and tart, and red, and deep.

-"strawberry"

how beautiful is that? the way that baribeau describes what a strawberry is says relatively nothing about the fruit, but it still captures an important something of what a strawberry tastes like. it's almost a verbal interpretation of one of my favorite scenes from ratatouille: remy's food visualization (also featuring, oddly enough, a strawberry!)

and so, without further ado (because this seems to be a post about how words just aren't quite enough), i present to you "strawberry":

*this is an incredibly reduced analysis of the sonnet, but then again, this is not a post about shakespeare, english poetry, or anything of the sort.

be mine, valentine!

valentine's day came early for me this year, in the form of a heart shaped box of macarons from the macaron cafe. and let me just say:

dé.li.cieux.

instead of gushing about a holiday (made up or not) that only a relative few actually enjoy, allow me to indulge in describing my new-found, head-over-heels, love-at-first-bite affair with you.

i am over the moon about these macarons.

if you have yet to hear of or experience the joy that is a macaron from the macaron cafe, at least start the visual feast by looking at their gallery. there they have beautifully crisp photos of each of their various macarons, ranging from apricot to pineapple, rhubarb to violette.

the first time i visited the cozy café, i was shocked to see the variety of the macarons that they actually had available. yes, the gallery is impressive, but i had assumed that there wouldn't be nearly as many available in real life. i had such a hard time narrowing it down to only three, but to have purchased more would have been gluttonous (and i'd like to pretend that i can eat sweet food in moderation).

at the very first bite, i knew that these petite confections were flying to the top of the list of things i must make myself. a while ago, i had purchased the book i love macarons on a whim, and now i am so happy that i did--i am only a few steps away from creating sweet macaron love, and when i get the opportunity to do so, i'll document the experience to share.

they only last a few bites at most, but each nibble is so delicately delicious that the brevity of the experience is made up for with flavor, which lingers sweetly on the palate. the texture is hard to describe, it's somewhere between cake and cookie, which is owed to the very specific nature of their preparation. for example, when mixing the meringue and the flour, once the flour is completely incorporated, one must scoop the batter a specific way (macaronnage) about fifteen times. if less than ten, the macarons won't shine, if more than twenty, they'll appear greasy (ogita 26). how particular! and yet, totally worth the effort.

so far i have tried fourteen of the morsels of heaven, and haven't found one i don't like. i can't wait until i'll have tried them all, but i want to pace myself. all in the name of moderation, right?

if you're looking to share something sweet with someone sweet, or just want to bring a smile to yourself, you know where to look.

(note: i am not affiliated with the macaron cafe, in any way, shape or form, beyond being an appreciative customer.)

Ogita, Hisako. I [love] Macarons. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2009. Print.

yum, foodborne illness.

tonight we had our first sanitation lecture. similar to a sudden boycott of all things aquatic due to watching titanic before going on a cruise, tonight's lecture made me never want to eat food again. thankfully enough, i a) enjoy food too much to do that and b) am learning about how to safely handle food to avoid the whole foodborne illness issue to begin with.

instead of launching into a delightful discussion of which illnesses we talked about, and how they get to contaminating your food, let's talk food consciousness in general!

do you know where your food comes from? and i mean, beyond which store you drove to in order to buy it? do you really know where it's processed and handled, packed and shipped from? how about where it started its journey?

i'll admit that tonight's lecture was an eye-opener, and that i don't have nearly as many answers as i'd like. but i'm getting a grasp on the questions, which is a start.

it's about time that we realize that the ground chuck nicely perched among all of the other plastic wrapped meat products actually was at one time a living, breathing animal, and depending on how that animal was treated, the sanitarily packaged product on the shelves may or may not be worth that first bite.

on another note, without hopping on the soap box too much now, i think it's far healthier to work with what's available and in season instead of hunting down that specialty item just because the name sounds exotic. i know what i'm saying isn't revolutionary, and it is easier to get sucked into the excitement of what you're eating instead of thinking about how it got there.

and with that small outburst, it's bedtime. here's to informed and healthy eating mes amis.

my first star sighting, it's a sign!

today on a walk in the meatpacking district, feeling totally glamorous after a wonderful (and free!) haircut at the bumble&bumble salon, who should i cross paths with but stephen. no, not that steven. we're talking -ph, not -v: this one!

for those who are unaware of who stephen is, and why on earth it would be a sign that he was my first star sighting here in new york, allow me to explain.

in 2006, bravo tv started a little competition. twelve contestants, twenty one days. eleven hopefuls and only one star would rise to the top. this mes amis, was top chef season one. among those first contestants was stephen aspirino. he made it a good portion of the way through the entire series, ending up getting eliminated in the eighth of twelve episodes.

without going back and watching the entire first season of top chef again, i don't really remember much of stephen's performance that time around. it is of note though, that this would not be the last time we would see stephen in the top chef kitchens. he came back for a charity episode before season three, and was a contestant in a holiday episode. more relevantly, he was a top chef all star.

i have nothing to say of his performance on the show itself, because it serves no purpose to gush, guffaw, or gossip about his cooking. it's a difficult task to rise to, and i don't envy his position, returning to such a cutthroat competition after not being directly in the kitchen for so long.

and with all of this in mind, here i am, wandering the streets of new york, feeling wonderful and i almost walk directly into stephen. stephen, who is a successful, and well-known chef. stephen, who knows what's what in a kitchen. stephen, who is, for what it's worth, an all star. i had been writing a text message and had i not looked up right when i did, would have completely missed him.

no, i didn't stop him. (we were walking in different directions). no, i didn't get to talk to him. (he was talking with two other people, about something that seemed relatively important). i did get to make eye contact (so yes, it was him!) and beamed for the rest of my walk to union square.




i feel accomplished.

when i was younger, i thought the first day of school was the second new year.

it's here. what i've been waiting five years for. the make or break, do or die, fight or flight critical moment.


ok, perhaps it's not that serious, but it is FINALLY here. or was, a few hours ago.

at the orientation on wednesday, we were briefed (VERY briefly i might add) on what to expect, what to bring, how to study, and most importantly, what on earth we'd be doing in class today. we were sent off with a duffel bag filled with uniforms, a gigantic binder of recipes and other information, the visual food lover's guide, and homework. yes, i had homework for the first time in just under a year. and i was excited for it.

one of the "appealing factors" of this program is that right from day one, we're already baking-getting a full, hands-on immersion into the pastry playland that is our program. and right from day one, that is exactly what we did. or at least, what we set out to do.

we had a few lectures on kitchen policies, safety, where to find different tools, and took a tour of the entire building--which is something that we did when we came to visit, but now that it actually meant something to us, our chef instructors felt it would be beneficial to offer the reminder. all i remember of the tour from october was that there were so many winding floors and too many people whose names i forgot, and it was all so exciting i hardly could remember where the closest bathroom was (around the corner) let alone where any of the different kitchens were. luckily, this time around, i managed to not only retain the information, but recalled bits and pieces from that hazy tour that made sense in hindsight.

and finally after all of that talking and listening and walking and other such busy work, we got to business.

the first thing that we did was go through our pastry tools, which include not only whisks and piping tips and offset spatulas, but a wonderful knife set, and more. the first thing i thought of when i opened up my pastry bag was that from today forward, someone could actually tell me to pack my knives and go, and it would mean something. it was one of those "you're thinking too far ahead but it's too exciting to stop" moments. (side note: top chef: just desserts IS casting now...)

once all of that fun was through, we set up our mise en place for our apple compote, which would be going into our tarte aux pommes (apple tart)--the very first thing we'd ever bake. i managed to be the champ of the classroom to get a cut BEFORE we even started doing anything. i think i got a papercut during the lecture and only noticed when we went to wash our hands. other students managed to give themselves a few small nicks here and there, as we were using vegetable peelers, 8" chef's knives, and paring knives--all of which were brand new and therefore very, very sharp. not to be outdone, i managed to give myself two other cuts, one from the chef's knife on the inside of my left index finger (not sure how that happened, i was never running the knife over my open palm...) and one just underneath the fingernail on my right ring finger. luckily enough none of those injuries hurt more than my ego, and the band-aids and finger cots did the trick so i could keep working. i am also happy to note that even with all of my injury induced pauses, i was able to finish everything on time, unlike a few other students who did not have the stop-and-start halted process i did.


and now, after all of that excitement, it is time for bed. i find it amusing that friday night is now going to mean a good night's sleep after class, instead of the first night of the weekend to enjoy myself. while walking back to the subway stop, i only realized that it was a friday night in the city because of all of the people going out. while it looked like they were about to have a wonderful time, i simply changed how i was carrying my duffel bag and tool kit, and i didn't regret a second of it.

at least the customer service rep was nice.

well that was anti-climactic.

in preparation for the time spent here in the city before class started, i thought that i would be nice to myself and order a few books with which i'd pass my time. most of them arrived just fine and i've already gobbled them up because that's what i do--when i'm in the city that never sleeps and somewhere, might i add, that i've wanted to live for ages, instead of taking advantage of this beautiful, lively place, i hole up with a book. actually, many books. i've worked my way through a good chunk of salinger and vonnegut, and am about to dive into some lovely french lit. i digress.

this last book that i ordered, it was going to be sort of an exception to my rule. the other books had been strictly joy reading material, things i had wanted to read but never had the time to do so before. this last book was going to be both joy reading and reading with a purpose. what multi-tasking book was this?

101 things i learned in culinary school.

now i can hear you thinking, why were you getting a book about culinary school when you are actually going to culinary school...days from now? allow me to clarify. i am going to pastry school. to be a pâtissière. a pâtissière of awesome. i've found that when i outrightly say that i am going to pastry school though, that people get this image of easy bake ovens and frilly cupcakes, and...that is not what i am going to be studying. so i cheat a little. i say that i'm concentrating on baking and pastry arts (which is completely true) at culinary school. there's something about those words "culinary school" that seem to satisfy people's natural penchant to be overly concerned about people's life plans*, because quite frankly, everyone needs to eat.

so now that that record is straight, where was i? ah yes. the book. i bought 101 things i learned in culinary school because there are things that culinary students will learn that i'll never come across, which is fine, because i can't see myself incorporating a medium-rare beef patty into a dessert for example (watch, that's what i'll be famous for in ten years), but i still would like to know how to prepare a medium-rare beef patty. as much as other people need to eat, i sure as heck do too, and a lot of this whole culinary adventure is not just going to be about dessert.

i ordered this book on january seventeenth, after already having arrived here, because i found it marked down from 15$ to 5$ and figured that finding such a steal was clearly a sign that not only did i want the book, i was meant to have it. i ordered it priority shipping and it was sent out on the eighteenth. and so my countdown began: only six to eleven days before i would get my book, just in time for me to devour its tips and then head off to school.

fast forward to yesterday, and i realize, hey, tomorrow is february and i've been waiting and waiting for this book to arrive....where is it! needless to say, the countdown came and went, and i was just trying to be nice and think to myself, well, maybe they meant business days, and not just calendar days, maybe that was the confusion. (it wasn't.) or perhaps i didn't actually order it priority! (i did.) finally, after some prodding, i stepped up and e-mailed the customer service rep who had actually just e-mailed me to see if i would fill out a customer satisfaction survey about my order.

     dear [company's customer service],

            while i'd love to fill out your survey, i haven't received my order yet! help?

     sincerely,
             bellenanasansbanane

i then found the customer service phone number (which oddly enough wasn't listed on their site) and called them, but of course, after hours. since i didn't want to leave a message (because i effectively already had with the e-mail) i figured i would wait to hear from them today, and if not, i'd call again.

the response was kind enough, but not exactly what i was looking for.

     dear bellenanasansbanane,

            i am very sorry to hear your order has not arrived. the seller confirmed shipment on january eighteenth. at this point i'm afraid we have to consider it lost in the mail. i have issued you a full refund on the order. [...].

     sincerely,
            [customer service rep]

if the order somehow shows up, i'm going to let them know so that i can be un-refunded, and just so that they know the package did finally make it here. i have a feeling that something is up with the mail system that my apartment-mates have worked out, even though i have checked the mailbox and the box of mail in the apartment every day. it's a bit strange though, i've never had a package get lost in the mail, and i've sent and received things from overseas! ah well. i haven't quite given up hope, but at the same time, with work and school kicking into gear, this may get pushed to the back burner (ha! i am so funny).

i'm hoping to save up on these half-accomplished "it was meant to be!" moments so i can cash in on something big. like a kitchen aid mixer. or a totally-romantic-movie-moment-come-to-life.


on second thought, definitely the mixer.



*before deciding to go to into the culinary field, before deciding to uproot my entire life and live a little dangerously, before signing off on any of this, i cannot begin to tell you how often the "what are you going to do (for the rest of your life)?" conversation came up. and i don't need to tell you, since i'm sure that at least once in your life, this has happened to you as well. to be honest, my life plan, my five year plan, my five MONTH plan affects no one else but me (and perhaps a few near and dear to me). initially i was open to the gaping mouthed looks of horror ("THAT's what you're going to throw your life away on?!") but that's just leaving myself vulnerable to other's own fears of unrealized goals, not mine. so yes, i fudge it a little to avoid those types of conversations, but that's not to say i completely avoid the subject. if you're open to discussion, i am too. just don't foist your fears on me, i have enough of my own.

a note about the name

belle nana sans banane. no, it's not english, and no, it doesn't make sense. so...what is it?

(une) belle nana sans banane literally means a crumpet without bananas. i don't think i've ever necessarily heard of anyone eating crumpets with or without bananas, and if you are in either camp of frequent crumpet-eaters, i applaud you. all of this being said, why on earth did i decide to title this blog this way?

to a small group of people, i'm known as crumpet, which is one of the sweetest nicknames i've had in my brief history. and the banana part? i just don't like them.

not a monumental explanation, but at least it's an answer. and for those who are curious enough to care, it's pronounced: "bel-nah-nah-sohn-bah-nahn" or (for the IPA friendly among you) : /belnanasãbanan/. it has a lovely way of rolling off the tongue, n'est-ce pas?

bienvenue!

hello and welcome to belle nana sans banane!

as it says in the about me section, i'm about to begin a new chapter, something that has been (officially) five years in the making, and what better way to capture all of the excitement of that journey than with fork&knife, and of course, a computer&internet connection!

over the course of the next few months and beyond, you will accompany me to class, to the library, to the kitchen (of course!) and more. this whole process is more than just what i'll be picking up in the classroom, because i'm searching for a deeper understanding of the culinary world, not just some practical know-how.