ACF Northeast Regional Conference -Part 3

The next few days is when it really gets interesting.  We've just been warming up to the real conference, and it's about to pay off.

Saturday:  There is nothing terribly interesting to go to, so I skip the am session and instead walk around a bit, find some Ibuprofen at the nearby Walgreen's, and manage to take some while juggling some Starbucks.

Time for Ed Leonard's demo lecture.  It's a refreshing look at the classics, and it makes me long even worse for my own bakeshop again. 

That evening we are scheduled to have a bus tour to Maker's Mark.  Turns out to be like a 3 hour ride.  The tour was cool and the barbecue was tasty.  

There was plenty of bourbon to go around.  I was pretty satisfied.  Then the bused loaded up.  

It took us over an hour to get out.  

There were like 6 people without a commemorative bottle of bourbon.  Sigh.  

Check out what happened next:

That's right, our bus hit a street sign and got stuck in a ditch. Luckily there was an extra bus, and we managed to got onto it and head home. I think we were all too tired to complain by the time we got back.

Sunday:  Culinary day.  Yes!

I am late for the first bus so I hop on the second and away we go to the local culinary school.  My first demo is by Jimmy Gheradi who talks about promoting yourself.  A blog perhaps is a nice start?  It was probably the best source of information I have gotten to go forward in a long time.

My second demo is a toque to toque and fails to keep my attention to well. 

Next, it Bourbon 101 sponsored by Maker's Mark with their master distiller.  What a good class.  Jodi looks at me like I have 8 heads when I tell her I am off to drink more bourbon.  What can I say, I love the stuff?

I'm a little bleary but excited for my first pastry demo of the weekend.  Executive pastry chef Chad Durkin is presenting.  He has just competed for pastry chef of the year.  The topic is molecular gastomony.  Not something I usually am into, but his presentation changes my mind.

I spend all afternoon researching restaurants.  

No one at Chowhound.com has listed that half the city is closed on Sundays.  We end up at Cafe Istanbul.  It's so good I save a piece of baklava for my one employee from Turkey.  I want to prove to her that hers is just as good.

Monday:  Time for general session.  Bo-ring, if you're like me and have the attention span of a fruit fly.  Let's face it.  There's a reason I work in a kitchen. There's a reason I worked in retail before I worked in restaurants.  I can be social, work with my hands, and feel productive.  Put me at a desk and no one around me gets work done.  I certainly won't be.

My reward for this?  A workshop on the careers of pastry chefs.  Finally.  

I've been waiting all weekend to be with other pastry folk, to ask questions and see how others are handling problems in their shops.  

Derek Spendlove was leading the workshop.  What a great guy. I've seen this guy judge before and it's on mark every time.  I'm glad he's the certifying chair for pastry chefs in the ACF.

Luckily, I run into Chad Durkin again.  He is polite to answer my questions about distributors and sources for the chemicals used during his demo the previous day.  I manage to grill him about his shop and his methods.  Turns out he works like 90 hours a week.  Yikes.  Then again, I think, I would work that much if I truly the loved the environment I was in and my food was selling. 

That night is the Gala dinner.  We get all dressed up and drink cocktails and see who we know gets awards.  Mickey's brother wins educator of the year and we are all a little misty over it.  We manage to lubricate ourselves enough to dance a little, and for some reason we need to hit the lobby for a nightcap, and more bourbon for me.

Tuesday:  With only four hours of sleep, I am wide awake at 8:30.  It's too sunny out.  Jodi and I find some coffee, regain just a little conscousness and head out to check email.  Our trip home is safe and less rowdy than our flight out.  We are truly ready to get home.

It's a good thing these things happen only once a year.

ACF Northeast regional conference - Part 2

Friday Morning when Jon, Jodi, and I decided to head for breakfast, we were advised to try the diner on the lower level.  Having read about Hathaway’s on Roadfood, I thought it may be a nice idea.  It’s a good thing we were not in a rush.We ordered weak coffee, eggs, toast and the goetta.  The place was clean and bright. Although it wasn’t too busy, we watched food sit in the window for quite some time.  I thought for sure that Jodi was going to hop over the counter and start running food herself, when she caught the manager’s attention and told him to get the food out of the window.

When our food arrived, it was hot and cooked well.  It’s not hard to cook a good breakfast, but to keep eggs from over poaching in the window – well, that just takes practice. 

Time for the chapter president’s meeting.  I have a hard time sitting still at all, never mind in a convention center for hours on end.  I just need a little room to fidget, and I can be okay.  Just don’t give me a click-y pen. 

It’s a good thing we had a cocktail hour before dinner, we certainly needed a little down time.

Dinner Friday night was at Boi Na Braza, a Brazilian steakhouse nearby.  There was a group of 12 folks.  And then the meat gorging began.

ACF Northeast Regional Conference -Part 1

It's that time if year again, time for me to head out to the professional culinary scene, take a deep breath and ask myself, "What kind of rock have I been hiding under all year?".

The ACF, or American Culinary Federation regional 

conference is a chance for me to meet up with old friends around the region, see what's happening, and 

to find the most influential people in my field - and then to latch on to them and ask as many questions as they can tolerate me for.  

This year proved no different.

I have taken to traveling with fellow chef Jodi Holihan.  

She's a riot.  An Ethel to my Lucy so to speak. A culinary instructor and a fabulous caterer on the side, her energy rivals mine.  I muster it up to let it all out on one weekend.  She just emulates it naturally all the time.  We are both chapter presidents of the organization in our areas, and it's great for us to share our frustrations and how to overcome them.

This year however, we shared our travels with Mickey Beriau of White Cliffs Country Club, Jon Willis of Abenaki Country Club, and Jerry Bonsey of York Harbor Inn.  I think the entire plane learned about tri tip steaks and planning benefit dinners as we listened about this one's next special dinner menu, or that one's next fundraisers.  

We hit up JeanRo's Bistro for dinner. We all

 had a good time, and the food was tasty, except for the salad greens, which tended to be way over salted.

The tuna nicoise

Roasted beet salad

Charcuterie Plate

The duck confit with poached duck egg and frisee

Roasted salmon with horseradish crust and caviar lentils

Butter poached shrimp with vegetables

Chocolate Pots du creme

Jon and I wishing for more tarte tatin to take a photo of...

I got to go to Blackberry Farm

After a particularly long day at work, I decided to apply for a new job.  When I read about the Pastry Chef position at Blackberry Farm, I just had to apply.  So when I got home, I spiffed up my resume and mailed it out.  About three days later, I received a phone call from their staffing coordinator asking when I could take some time to talk to her.  After an initial interview, and a chat with Executive Chef Peter Glander, I found myself in the airport heading for Knoxville.

I had never been that far into the south before, much less been picked up by a hired car. I had never even flown with my knife kit.  My days leading up to the trip I was frantically taking notes on my recipes, practicing my chocolate tempering, and wondering just what was in season down there.  To my coworkers, I must have been acting a little crazier than usual.

When I arrived, it was marvelous.  The property was just as beautiful as the website had promised.  The staff was courteous and everyone called me "M'am".  My agenda was ambitious: a pre dessert, three plated desserts, petit fours, an

d a chocolate - all for a service of six people.My room was a sweet little cottage called "Ruffed Grouse".  

It was decorated so well and I had a great time perusing all the information in the guest book.

I got to have dinner on the property two nights, once in the main house, once in the Barn (the restaurant I was interviewing to work in).  The service staff were all kind and knowledgeable. 

I did notice a few things that made me recognize the place is not without flaws:

1. There was quite a bit of lint on the wine glasses on my table.

2. There was a hairline crack in my amuse plate

3. The butter cream on the top of the cake I was served for dessert was cold and therefore hard.

I was feeling pretty good.  If this was what this place was all about, I was about to know everyone's socks off.  It had been a while since I had been able to cook my own food, and I was chomping at the bit to get back to it.

The next two days were a whirlwind.  I can't say exactly what I did when, but I felt good about my food - despite the fact that I changed my mind about a million times.  

My final menu consisted of:

Pre dessert: "Sugar on Snow":  Maple syrup cooked and poured over a lemon scented vanilla bean granita.  

Reason: It was the start of sugaring season here in NH, and I thought it would be a cute tongue in cheek of a palate cleansing course.

Plated 1- Chocolate Caramel Pave with braised apricots and Jack Daniel's Caramel 

Reason:  This was a best selling dessert of mine when I was working at the inn.  It has good flavors and it is a nice dark wintery chocolate dessert.

Plated 2- Sheep's yogurt panna cotta with Blackberry Farm Honey, buttermilk cake, and roasted rhubarb

Reason: Peter had given me the yogurt to use, and I liked the tanginess so much I thought it should shine through.. The rhubarb they had was fresh and pink.  I like to roast it with vanilla bean, sugar, and butter. That's it.  The honey was light and had a nice mouth feel.  I thought it was a nice balance of textures

Plated 3 - Steamed apple, Marconas almond dacqoise, saigon cinnamon ice cream, and apple butter.  

Reason: Again, the apple butter was something Peter had given me to use.  I love marconas.  The steamed apple was a trick I learned in a class in Chicago a few years back.  I liked it, but I think it could have been better.

Petit Fours - Canneles, Mini Buttermilk pies, Milk Chocolate orange fudge

Reason:  I ran out of time.  Canneles are kind a signature of mine here in NH because no one really makes them.  

Chocolate - Chocolate Caramel Lemon Truffles

Reason:  They were rustic and my timing was tight.  I had the ganache left over from my pave, and I could easily add lemon to it to make the flavor brighter.

All in all, it was a good experience.  It was amazing food and amazing people.

I don't think I will be offered the job.  I sent out a thank you and emailed Peter to a limited response.  I know he will not make the final decision on the hire, but it is hard to put your heart out there and here nothing.  My only lament is that I would like to know how to improve my skills for the next place.