Halloween Treats & Special Order Farm Animal Cupcakes

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I was going to wear mouse ears and whiskers in the kitchen today and be Ratatouille! But I was too lazy. For halloween I made sugar cookies, cupcakes, and candied apples for the pastry shop. Not my favorite things to make or eat but they did come out really cute.
The candied lady gala apples came out really darling!
I had a special order for farm animal themed cupcakes for a two year old's birthday. The theme of the party is Old McDonald had a farm, ee ii ee ii oo! I had no idea how I was going to do it so I figured I would just wing it. Usually inspiration hits during desperate times.
The pig came out the cutest.
The back is even cuter!

McDonalds, Dinner of Champions

When I'm exhausted and hungry after work I usually grab some McDonalds and scarf it down in my car or on the walk to the train station. I'm always afraid that I'll bump into someone I know with half of a Big Mac hanging out of my mouth and ketchup smeared all over my cheek. If you ever see me on the street doing this please just pretend like you don't know me. Thanks.

Hi Baby Lana!

Soon you'll be drooling and eating apple mush and making a mess!

Congratulations Annie & Paul

Kanoyama

Happy Birthday Amy!

I took my cousin Amy to Kanoyama for her birthday this weekend. I was actually trying to make reservations at Sushi Seki but they were closed on Sundays. I've never heard of Kanoyama but it's rated the same according to The Zagat. I ordered the sashimi tasting for the both of us, two appetizers, and two extra pieces of sushi. The waiter told us that it might be too much food for the both of us and we might want to just share one sashimi tasting. I canceled one of the appetizers instead. I figured how could it be too much food?! Most tastings are tiny and I can eat. In the end he was right. The tasting comes with soup or salad, 3 appetizers, 9 types of sashimi (2-4 pieces of each), and icecream. What I really liked was that they gave us all different appetizers so instead of having the same three we actually had six and each appetizer was a full serving unlike most tastings which are usually just a taste. The apps were more than enough for the two of us to have, well, just a taste!

Gori Karaage - Deep Fried Baby Flat Fish

Yellow Tail Avocado Handrolls in Fried Wonton Wrappers - can you believe they give you three handrolls as an app for a tasting menu!

Ankimo Sashimi - Monkfish Liver

Some kind of Sashimi from the fish that was used to decorate the plate. Sorry I forgot the name. The fish was mixed with finely grated fresh ginger, scallions, and sesame and was paired with yellow and purple chrysanthemum. What I really loved about this dish was what they did with it afterwards!....

They actually took the dish away and then brought back the fish bones deep fried! It was deeeelicious with a squirt of lemon. Waste not, want not. I am a firm believer that every part of an animal can be eaten and is sometimes more delicious than its more popular parts. I ate the whole tail and body, bones and all. I only left the head.

Shisyamo- Smoked Smelt from Hokkaido, Japan

Our last appetizer was some kind of carpaccio that I can't remember. But it was really good. It was sprinkled with flower petals that added an interesting taste as well as a beautiful decoration.
I realize now that I didn't take a picture of this. I was too in a rush to eat.

Matsutake Sumiyaki- Grilled Matsutake Mushrooms over Charcoal
I ordered this on the side since I love mushrooms. It was served with lemon and salt but we were advised not to squirt the lemon on top of the coals because this would cause a lot of smoke!

Now on to our entree! Can you believe that was just the appetizers?!

This platter was for the both of us. I can't remember what was in it but I remember my waiter saying arctic char, sardines, tile fish, whiting, jack fish, blue fin toro, salmon, there were just too many!

Right side of plate

Left side of plate

Kanoyama's presentation is really beautiful. We sat by the bar and my eyes kept opening wider and wider! Everything was artfully presented. I couldn't stop asking, "What is that?" with everything that passed by.

Uni from Japan

Tobiko Sashimi with Quail Yolk

After all this I was stuffed. With the tasting we got a choice of ice cream, green tea, red bean, or vanilla. We shared the green tea and red bean.

I really enjoyed Kanoyama. I was really surprised at their variety and portion sizes. For the price you pay for the tasting you really get a lot. Both the sushi and cooked dishes are delicious. However I don't agree with Zagat's rating. I don't think it belongs in the same rating as Masa, Sushi Seki, and Nobu. The quality of the fish is good, good as in local sushi joint good. I wouldn't say it's a gourmet sushi, it's a fancied up very very good local place. I would definitely go again.


Kanoyama
175 2nd Avenue (Corner of 11th Street)
(212) 777-5266
www.kanoyama.com

Weeds

Usually on Tuesday, my first day back from my day off, I am in the weeds. The weekend totally wipes out my mise en place. On Tuesdays I start over again and try to build it up just so I can make it through the weekend. This Tuesday I walked into work to discover that one of my freezers was turned off. Everything inside melted. I managed to salvage some frozen blueberries and cranberries and the frozen fruit purees but everything else had to be thrown away. I was very very pissed off. In that particular freezer I store all my choux items such as eclairs, cream puffs for the St. Honore, and paris brest. I just did a big batch the other day so all the trays were full. Boy was I pissed to have to throw it all away. Boy was I even more pissed to realize I had to put my work to a halt in order to clean out said freezer. It was a gross watery disgusting mess.

I forgot to mention. The freezer isn't a normal door open freezer. It's the kind with a lid and it is about 3.5 feet deep which makes for difficult cleaning.

Crazy

Today is my fifth day in a row working 12 or more hours a day. I had a full sheet sized wedding cake to do plus another croquembouche and a specialty birthday cake. Tomorrow will be my sixth. Hopefully I'll get out early tomorrow, within 6-7 hours. Now that I only have one day off a week I find it hard to juggle the rest of my life. Being a chef consumes all of me. On Mondays I try to do my laundry( including all my dirty work clothes), run errands (such as going to the bank because it's closed by the time I leave work), spend time with friends, family, boyfriend, clean up the mess I make during the week, do some grocery shopping, do something for my mom because she is kind enough to cook me dinner and do the dishes for the 6 days that I come home late, eat, and go to straight to bed, do something for me that makes me happy, and have some time to relax and unwind and rest my sore body. Needless to say this doesn't all get done. I feel like I'm spreading myself thin. I feel guilty for not replying to emails sooner. I feel guilty when I can't make it to functions with family or friends (i.e. birthday dinners, holiday get togethers, etc) . I feel guilty that I only have time to call my boyfriend to say goodnight. I don't have too many chef friends. Sometimes I feel like the people around me don't understand what I do and my busy schedule. My lifestyle is not normal. I work early. I get out late. I don't have weekends off. Right now that's my life. So what am I going to do on my precious day off? I have to make myself a to do list or else I end up just sitting here staring off into space because my brain is dead. This Sunday night and Monday my plan is to spend a little time with my neglected boyfriend before he has to go to work, go to my cousin's baby's one month celebration, have lunch with a friend, pick up some stuff for work at the restaurant supply store, go home and do laundry, quit the gym because I never go, change my sheets because sometimes I don't have the will power to shower and I sleep in it all sweaty and gross, try on a bridesmaid dress at my friends house which I was supposed to do earlier in the week (sorry Terry!) , return some clothes?, and make dinner for my mom. I'm sure somewhere in there I am forgetting something. Oh yea my friend just had a baby so I want to visit her and the baby (Congrats Annie and Paul!). We'll see if I get everything done. But the one thing I will make sure I do is sleep in!

Saveur Breakfast

Did anyone check out this months edition of Saveur magazine? The whole magazine is dedicated to how people breakfast all around the world. It's quite interesting and worth a read!

My favorite quote from one of the articles is, "Breakfast is the most intimate meal of the day, occupying those moments between sleep and our reentry into the world." So true.

Any Given Sunday

I love Sundays. I love Sundays because it's the beginning of my one day weekend. This Sunday I went to a birthday lunch for my friend Amanda and gorged on delicious Filipino food with some of my piggie friends. It was good times. I wish I took a picture of the crispy pata for you all but it would have been all gone by the time I whipped out my camera. Did you ever watch the video of the cheetah chasing after the elk and then finally catching it and devouring it with animal lust. Well the spectacle at lunch was very similar. It was like a wild safari. If you stuck your hand too far out it might get bitten by a leopard! But in my case JR and Angel! (Hi to you guys!)

I also got a surprise from my boyfriend. Something I've always wanted, a dutch oven! But not just a dutch oven, a Le Creuset Oval Dutch Oven in red! Oooooh she's so pretty and shiny.

Morning Duties

Apple Tart Tatin
Madeleine
Blueberry Orange Muffin
Plain Croissant
Almond Croissant
Chocolate Croissant
Mini Croissant
Vanilla Millefeuille
Orange Eclair
Pistachio Eclair
Vanilla Eclair
Chocolate Eclair

Fresh Fruit Tart (large and individual)
Apricot Almond Tart w/Hazelnut Streusel
Pear Almond Tart w/Hazelnut Streusel
Linzer Tart (large and individual)
Saint Honore (large and individual)
Lemon Cream Tart
Passion Cream Tart(large and individual)
Blood Orange Cream Cranberry Tart
Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart
Pumpkin Tart

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Cheesecake
Carrot Cake
White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake
Coconut Mousse Mango Gelee Cake
Chestnut Mousse Cake
L'Italian
Paris Brest (large and individual)
Pistachio Fraisier
Chocolate Mousse with Praline Crunch (large and individual)
Chocolate Caramel Ganache Cake (large and individual)
Black Forest Cake (large and individual)
Raspberry Vanilla Charlotte (large and individual)

Chocolate Chip Cookie
Raisin Oatmeal Cookie
Gingersnap Cookie
Flourless Chocolate Cookie
Sugar Cookie
Linzer Cookie
Meringue Kisses
Pecan Bars
Plain Brownie
Walnut Brownie
Milk Chocolate Macaron

Exhausted & Croquembouched Out

I'm exhausted after a 13 hour shift. My thumbs are all blistered from pulling sugar. My poor fingers tips were burnt several times from hot molten sugar. Legs cramping. Need to shower off my sweaty sore body. Hungry.

Don't Leave Me Taco Bell!

I love taco bell. There's one right by my house near my gym which I frequently visit (the taco bell, not the gym) I went there yesterday to pick up a quick dinner and it was closed! Signs taken down and boarded up windows and everything! I'm so sad now. As a homage to my beloved taco bell I am making tacos for dinner. I used taco seasoning, onion, garlic, cumin, peri peri chili powder, and ground turkey meat (to make it a little healthier). You can't have build-your-own-tacos without some side fixins': lettuce, tomato, sharp cheddar cheese, and sour cream. And of course the FIRE sauce from taco bell that I have stashed in my kitchen drawer along with the ketchup packets and McDonald's napkins that I've hoarded for a rainy day. I know you have one of these drawers too! If you are of asian decent I'm sure you have plastic forks and spoons in there too!