A VERY BIG DAY!

There was a time in my life where I dreamt about being a Chef, a Pastry Chef to be precise. I LOVED making & eating desserts so I dreamt about turning that into a career. Along the way, things happened and I ended up being a Textile Merchandiser. No matter how many years skipped by, that dream was still alive deep down inside me. I collected (still collecting) many recipes thinking about a future in that direction. If any of you get hold of my navy blue diary,where I started writing down my first set of recipes,you will immediately notice that it contains more sweet recipes than savoury. That diary of mine is falling apart now as it had been used well not just by me but my family as well. A cousin of mine took a photocopy of the entire book! :-)

So, coming back to the point. Along the way, I realised that I should just chase my dream,make it a reality and live it or else I might just think and dream about it till the day I die. Seriously, none of this would have happened without Jobin's mental, physical and financial (of course!!) support. I was chosen as the Student Speaker for the commencement ceremony from the entire Baking & Patisserie batch,which I think was really really cool and the red and yellow cords around my neck in the photographs indicates that I have a 4.0 GPA and that I am on the President's list. I am so thrilled that Appan & Amma were here with me for my very first day & for my very last day at Le Cordon Bleu.

I am on a break right now and will be spending a lot of quality time with Ian & Zara and we will be travelling to Kannur in the coming week. We will be home for quite a bit and won't be back to Minneapolis until Spring.So, keep an eye out on this space. I will be hosting baking classes,like every other time when I am in Kannur. Details will be posted here once it has been finalised. The classes will be held in my home in Kannur (Kerala).

LE CORDON BLEU UPDATES - 3

The past two weeks have been crazy busy here. So much stuff was happening at school and at home. Today, I am alone at home without Ian. It's Ian's first day away from home at a Montessori. He was so excited to go to school,play and eat snacks! Amma is here with us for a few more days and after that,our home will be very quiet during the day. As of today,all 3 of us are back to school. Jobin's school starts 2 days from now.He will be travelling quite extensively this year. 2015 is very eventful for us. I am so glad that Amma is here with us now. If you scroll down, you will see a few photographs that we took over the weekend for our Onam celebrations.

At school,we baked tons of Croissants,Puff Pastry treats,Brioche buns etc. The past two weeks were so delicious! Those chocolate eclairs were really to die for. I am still dreaming about them. I really have to start watching what I eat these days since the goodies we are taught at school is not that figure friendly! I also volunteered for Minnesota Cooks at the State Fair and got a chance to rub elbows with a lot of successful Chefs from the Twin Cities.

What we learnt for the past 2 weeks:
Challah Bread
Challah Bread rolls
Brioche sliders with Remoulade sauce
Cream Swans
Chocolate Eclairs
Paris - Breast
Profiteroles
Mushroom & Goat Gourges with Red Bell Pepper Coulis
Puff Pastry
Palmiers
Savoury Galette
Pithivier
Shrimps Newberg
Classic Croissants
Pain au Chocolat
Bear Claw
Different types of Danishes

Thank you all for hanging in there and reading the updates. I promise you,there will be a recipe coming up very soon! Amma has been spoiling us with all the cooking so there's nothing that I can show you of mine. Things will change very soon once Amma leaves ;-)

LE CORDON BLEU UPDATES -2

This past week was awesome! We've been making a lot of fun things in school and the best part is that we can take them ALL home! That also means I bring home crazy load of goodies which we can never finish. That also means I wrote a lot of post it notes and stuck them on our neighbours doors saying,'If you would like to have a slice of freshly baked brownie,knock on our door!'. The responses were amazing!

I usually bring these goodies in a huge cardboard box and who ever looks at me strangely seeing me carry SO much food all piled up in a box, I just offer them a couple of biscotti's or a brownie and that look immediately breaks into a wide grin as they help themselves to a treat or even two! That means, I've been generously giving away food to the people I meet in our garage,our elevators,our corridor,our office and even our lobby!
I wake up every day with a smile on my face because it's something I really look forward to.Going to school. Apart from having a lot of fun with ingredients,I am learning SO much that I wouldn't have if it weren't for LCB. The Chef''s are well experienced and are so thorough in what they know. They teach you the science/reasoning behind why we do a certain thing in a particular way.It lets us think and make us realize why some recipes work better than most others. So for all the fun reasons, I am sharing with you a video that my friend Sara took. I hope you like it!

Things we made last week:
Macadamia & Pecan Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Pistachio & Orange Biscotti's
Chocolate Tart
Fresh Fruit Tart
Lemon Tartlets
Creme Brulee
Creme Caramel
Brioche Buns
Sliders
Thousand Island Dressing
Remoulade Sauce
Garlic Aioli
Cinnamon Rolls
Chocolate Snails
Doughnuts

LE CORDON BLEU UPDATES!

It's been 7 weeks since I've started living my dream... even if that means I need to wake up at 5.30 am every weekday! Which also means that my body has set a natural alarm clock that I wake up at 5.30 am on weekends too.Yes, my days start super early and I leave home by 6.20 am. I got so used to sleeping in late every morning for the last 5 plus years. Now, I am usually up earlier than my alarm clock just to make sure that my alarm goes off at the right time! Seriously,I love what I am doing right now.Even if it's chaotic. Oh by the way, the stuff that you just saw above was a Linzer Tart ( with ground hazelnuts in the base) and Strassburger Cookies (with a hint of cardamom).

School is wonderful. The first six weeks were for sanitation and foundations.Which simply means,we were taught how to handle every single thing so that no one falls sick or dies of a foodborne illness from the food we make or sell. It was one of the best sessions. Now, from 7th week onwards,we have started our Introduction to Baking and Patisserie classes.It's pure FUN! The first day was good and slow,the second day was total total chaos (like in the FN's Chopped kitchen). Third day onwards,things started to get better. We got more organised as a team. Oh yeah, we work in teams.Team work is everything,right? Each one of us gets our own stuff,mixers etc but we work as a team of two,helping each other with mise en place etc. It's a lot of fun! We baked so many cookies,muffins and quick breads,pies and quiche last week. It was so GOOD! The quiche that I baked was my personal favourite. We could do our own filling and I decided to do a Curried Chicken Quiche.It was awesome! Did you know that we could bring all the goodies home? Yes,we can and Amma and I were literally fighting over that Quiche. It was so good!

Things we made last week:
Pate Sucree
Linzer Tart
Strassburger Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Blueberry Muffins
Cornbread
Pate Brisee
Curried Chicken Quice
Old Fashioned Apple Pie
Blueberry Pie
Chocolate Chip and Candied Orange Scones
Biscuits & Sausage Gravy

BACK TO SCHOOL

When I was a teenager,Chandini aunty gifted me a coffee mug which said,'Dream on! Only you can make your dreams come true!'. I didn't quite get it then but now, it's a statement that I live by. So as you would have guessed from looking at the photograph, I have joined Le Cordon Bleu for the Baking & Patisserie program. There's been so much paperwork and college stuff that's been happening for the past 2 months, 3 sets of families visiting and now, Appan and Amma are here as well to join us in the fun! Basically,I've been having a jolly good time since April. It felt very different to go back to school today after a gap of 7 years and that too in a uniform from head to toe! I am a big fan of uniforms so it's just adding more to the excitement.My course is for a year and I should graduate around this time,next year!! It is going to be an exciting year for sure!