Nothing But Taste Buds and Me

Ok so it's official, if it wasn't official before I'm making it completely official now: my life revolves completely around food. I'm either at work (being paid to work with food), at school (paying to work with food) or at home figuring out how I can get more involved in the NYC food culture.

To do the math

Work + Food = $$
- $$$$ + School = food
$ + Food = (0 * social life) + building a career


Ok so granted today I did have time play the guitar for about an hour and go for a run in central park, but basically it's food all the time!

Also: You can note the changes to my link bar... I've included a few new food blogs, which I need to start reading religiously, along with the new york times food section. I'm half way through The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman and my reading list has exploded since I now have access to the FCI's wonderful library. It's the only library I know of where you check out material and return it just whenever you're done. There is no due date, no late fees. Total honors system.

I have Friday off for the holiday but in my normal fashion... here is what I accomplished yesterday in class.

Almond Meringue Cake

An almond meringue tart with raspberry jam and toasted almond layers with 10x powdered sugar dusting.

Not the most beautiful tart to be sure. I'm not crazy about the deep brown color of the tart. Also, my powdered sugar design, while appropriately simple, wasn't executed properly. The sugar dusting was the very last thing I did in class and Chef was on our asses to get out of the kitchen before 11pm. But despite the sad exterior it tastes really great! I took it to work and it was devoured by my co-workers.

The cake is made from French meringue folded into what amounts to almond cake mix (almond flour, hazelnut flour, sugar, salt). This strange brown cake mix is put atop the tart crust, jam and toasted almonds. The whole thing is then baked. The air bubbles in the meringue expand from the heat of the oven which causes the cake to rise almost double it's original size. The cake is much lighter in density then it may appear.

Lemon Tartles

Cutest little things ever. Lemon curd filling, Swiss Meringue is piped on top, caramelized with a torch and candied lemon peel to garnish A very very long process with a bazillion steps, but the finished product is so adorable.


Also I love to practice my piping skills! Pipping might be one of my favorite activities to do/learn to improve on. I can't wait to start doing cakes!!!! It's all piping all the time : )