School Daze at Oregon Culinary Institute

I just returned from orientation for my new school, Oregon Culinary Institute. I start actual classes tomorrow morning, and I am so incredibly excited, I can hardly contain myself. I feel like I just want to jump out of my skin or cry or dance or maybe all of the above. More than anything, I'm feeling like this is really, truly the right thing for me.

A few things of note:

1. There are two morning classes per entry date, and a grand total of 22 people in the morning classes. That's *eleven* per class! When I was checking out Western Culinary Institute, the other well-known culinary school in Portland, one of the points they tried to sell me on was that even though their max class size is 35, "people drop out in the first few weeks so it usually gets down to about 25 anyway". Not sure if that's a great selling point, but works for some people I guess.

2. My class is incredibly diverse. Though there are some young students, I have to admit that I was relieved to see a fair amount of students in their late 20's and into their 30's and 40's, all of whom are serious about making the commitment for the career change of their dreams. I feared fresh-out-of-high-school, ready to party hardy kids, and fortunately that population seems slim-to-none in my class. We went around the room and introduced ourselves and we got everyone from 40-something career-changers, to an Army wife wanting her own foundation to support herself and her family (I nearly cried listening to this woman tell her story), to people who have cooked in kitchens for years and are ready to step it up a level. The common thread was a passion for cooking.

3. The faculty is awesome. I'm consistently impressed with how passionate and caring they are about education and their relationships with their students. Nearly everyone at OCI who I've encountered already during the admissions process called me by my first name today, even if I had only met them once or twice.

It's now almost 10PM. I wrote most of this nearly 10 hours ago, and after the hectic day I've had, which included yummy brunch with friends at the Tin Shed, dental work, numb lips and teeth, errand running for school and an amazing dinner at Vindalho with Portland Food Forum regulars, sleep is overcoming me quickly. I'll suspect I'll have more to say tomorrow.

Seattlest

I've been in Seattle for nearly a week now to visit my brother and sister. It's been enough time to hit up Nordstrom Rack, watch movies, catch up with family and friends, attend the final Stereo Future show before Seth moves to NYC (effectively putting the band on hiatus... see pics of their show with Japanese bands Pillows and The Noodles here), and of course eat lots and lots and lots. Between burgers at Two Bells, ramen in the International District, Korean BBQ with certain renowned food critics and my own chicken and dumplings last night, we've been eating quite well.

Tomorrow night, my brother and his g.f. are hosting a wine tasting/ potluck/ karaoke party. It promises to be a spanking good time. I start school in less than a week-- eeeee! *Big deep breath*.

More updates soon, I promise...

I Heart Soup

Indulging in a spoonful of comfort

I've managed to avoid getting sick this whole winter, which is truly miraculous given my tendency to catch whatever bug goes around at least twice a season. Be it my diligence at washing my hands before meals or the plain fact that I live alone, somehow I've managed to escape illness up until now.

This morning, however, I woke up this morning with a frog in my throat; what felt like the very beginnings of a dreaded cold. I spent most of the afternoon bundled up in the house, and finally made it to the grocery store to get some Zicam (my friend swears by this stuff as a cold buster). I also thought of a recipe from the book I recently read, Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl. Throughout the book, she uses recipes in the narrative. It's a good device, though one must give a nod to Isabel Allende's Like Water For Chocolate for using recipes in storytelling.

Anyway, the chapter titled "Fall: Mushroom Soup" describes the soup as "the most soothing soup I know, with no sharp edges to jar the palate, no sneaky unexpected spices. It is the perfect prescription for those in need of solace." This sounded perfect to me. I prefer my soothing with a little "unexpectedness" so I added shallots and used the more savory crimini mushrooms over plain button mushrooms. I also whipped out the Microplane for grating whole nutmeg. It's truly amazing, the difference between freshly ground and pre-ground spices.

Soup has always been my go-to food for comfort, and every dinner at home as a kid involved soup of some kind. It wasn't dinner unless there was soup, usually something pretty basic, like an egg drop soup or seaweed and tofu. I didn't start using milk, cream, or half-and-half in hot items until much later, and when I first started cooking with dairy it seemed like such a foreign substance. Asians don't eat a lot of dairy anyhow, but now I readily embrace it (even if my digestive system doesn't, heh).

Something tells me that all this dairy isn't that awesome for my immune system, but it hit the spot, that's for sure.

Mushroom Soup
adapted from Comfort Me With Apples
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 large shallot, diced
1/4 medium onion, diced
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup beef or vegetable broth
2 cups half-and-half
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 bay leaf

Melt the butter in a heavy saute pan. When the foam subsides, add the shallot and onion and saute until golden. Add the mushrooms and saute until brown.

Stir in the flour, and then slowly add the broth, stirring constantly.

Heat the half-and-half in a saucepan or in the microwave. Add it to the mushrooms (I used a whisk), along with salt, pepper, nutmeg and bay leaf. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes; do not boil.

Remove the bay leaf and serve. Makes 4 servings.

New and exciting

I went back to Kenny & Zuke's last Wednesday for the buttermilk fried chicken daily special, and holy schmoly was it something...



Perfectly crispy skin, juicy-as-all meat, served with fresh green beans and mashed potatoes and gravy. That's what I call a meal.

While waiting for the chicken to fry, I had a nice chat with Nick Zukin, aka "Zuke" of Kenny & Zuke's, a long time Portland foodie and fellow blogger. He also pointed me in the direction of a Portland-based food forum that he and some peers created a few years back, now populated by the thousands, called PortlandFood.org. I'm excited to get to know more about Portland through its cuisine, and it makes me feel even more secure in moving here and going to school in Portland.

Speaking of which, a few weeks ago I visited Oregon Culinary Institute again for lunch and a sit down with my admissions advisor. During lunch, which is made by the students of course, I got to chat with the awesome chef and co-creator of OCI, Brian Wilke, who has a big hand in my decision to go to OCI over Western Culinary Institute, Portland's other culinary education "powerhouse". The restaurant is a total steal; $9 for bread, appetizer, salad, entree and dessert. I know they do dinner too, and at something like $15 for a five-course meal, this may be the best deal in Portland.

Straight from the hands of the patisserie students, here are the two desserts that they offered (I couldn't decide so Chef Wilke suggested I try both). I love the piped chocolate and spidery sauce designs on the plates. The desserts were pretty awesome too.

Chocolate awesomeness:


Marbled cheesecake awesomeness: