shikai maki

More pics of sushi. Today was pretty much a play day to "invent" vegetarian rolls.

shikai maki (egg, tuna, white rice and adzuki rice)

green roll - with asparagus, green bean, kaiwara, avocado, cucmber with honey siracha sauce
















not sushi - this was a demo on some new products we just got... wasabi gelee (wasabi jello - the white square thing in the back) and gold foil gelee (3 gold colored balls) with red onion, avocado in a cherry tomato










novelty item - gold foil gelee (gelatin/ jello). this 2 ounce container is approximately $80.

bestest cake ever!

Ok, maybe not ever but this was a pretty good tasting cake... My roommate asked if I wanted to bake a cake for her work - September birthday people. Crazy thing is my other roommate's mother works at the same place and this month is her birthday. Anyway, she really enjoys pineapple upside down cake. I had a really good recipe too but somehow, it got misplaced in the move. I ended up having to search out a new one and I'm usually quite leery of new recipes - I like to try the recipe out before I present someone with a cake that way I can change the recipe if need be (and they don't ever get a horrid cake. How embarrassing!) Anyway, I ended up making it and it's actually one of the ugliest cakes I've ever made. I was really disappointed... but the flavor really makes up for it - makes you wanna cry it's so good. hehehe. I'm sure my roommates think I'm an alcoholic since I cook with a lot of it and even put some rum in this cake.

Meanwhile, this is finals week.

seafood cucumber roll for those that don't like seaweed

tuna avocado dynamite

fried salmon asparagus sunset roll

weekend mini adventure

Kinda busy but fun weekend. Had a chance to go kayaking which was a lot of fun out in the Newport bay area. It was real nice - there was a wildlife sanctuary there. Saw couple of cranes, pelicans and couple of fish jumping. Haven't been kayaking in a couple of years... and yes, I did wear a life jacket and I still don't know how to swim.

Then I went to my first ever hockey game. Anaheim Mighty Ducks against the Phoenix Coyotes. There sure was a lot of fighting on the ice. I don't get hockey - I get the part where the puck is suppose to go into the other teams net but other than that I'm totally clueless. I kept asking my friend but it was more like the blind leading the blind. Makes interesting entertainment. Mighty Ducks lost 1-2 after going into over-time.

sushi for lunch

Today we made 2 rolls - salmon skin and shrimp tempura. For practice, we made the two rolls we learned yesterday - cucumber roll and california roll. We also covered a few more plating styles.

Today's assignment and plating:

shrimp tempura roll

salmon skin roll

california roll

california roll - triangle shape

cucumber roll

cucumber roll - tear drop shape

my lunch tray

some of my classmate's lunch trays

ham mono!

Yahoo! We finally started making sushi today... with the easy ones. I think I need more practice though. Regardless, it was a yummy lunch!

These past few weeks we have been studying the hot entree side of the kitchen going through all the traditional types of cooking - raw, grill, steam, simmer, deep fry, noodle dishes, rice dishes and now finally, what we've all signed up for! There were some good meals in the other types of cookery but this sushi stuff is the bomb! We were also studying ettiquette, napkin folds, displays, plating, etc. From today on, we will studying only sushi - other wise called ham mono.

My instructor - Sensei - was telling us our goal when we complete school is to make one cucumber roll (kappa) in one minute. We all thought that is really fast but he said a poor sushi chef can make 160 rolls in one hour - that's alittle over 2 1/2 rolls per minute! Then an average sushi chef can make 180 rolls in an hour... and a really good chef, well this person can make 200+ rolls in one hour - and this is making the roll, cutting it and plating it. That is really fast.

flower cucumber roll with sesame seeds - it definately took me longer than a minute!

california roll (top)

cucumber roll with sesame seeds

spicy tuna roll (top)

california roll with tobiko

earthquake

I did wake up to something strange yesterday. I didn't know quite what it was and thought that the cat got in my room and pounced on the bed... but it wasn't the cat. My friends said it was an earthquake.

Had it confirmed today after class. The earthquake was a 4.7 - a baby. Hey! My first earthquake experience. So strange since I lived in San Francisco, and I don't think there were any the whole year and a half I was there. There were two that I do know of - one before I got there and one after I left but none while I was there.

So my roommates got me interested in playing on the Nintendo. We played some weird line game and of course, I lost a majority of them. Believe it or not we played 42 games. They finally went to sleep but I kept on playing and forgot all about the time. When I looked at the clock it was almost 2 AM. It's a good thing I don't need much sleep during the week since I have to wake up by 530! At least the traffic was light this morning due to the Labor day holiday.

freshness - a different meaning

There was a video we watched in class of a sushi bar in Japan. The little shop was full of fish tanks where you choose your meal by just pointing at the fish or whatever creature you wanted to eat. The sushi chef would get it, slice it up and serve it. In this instance, the guest picked some sort of white fish, when the chef presented the plate to the guest the fish was still breathing - trying to breathe by opening and closing it's mouth. How freaky. Then the guest went on to a crab... I'm not sure what kind it was but it looked like a snow crab. The chef chose one of many in the tank, ripped off it's leg, fixed it up and served it. It was funny because the leg was still twitching on the plate!

Wow, that's fresh seafood!

I went to this party and met someone else with a Harley. I sure do wish I brought my bike with me, I'd have another person to go riding with. I sure do miss it! Just a few more months of not riding. Or perhaps I can convince my roommate to let me ride hers. Hehehe...

former students

Interesting enough... when I was working in the Virgin Islands, a new sushi restaurant opened up. It's the only sushi restaurant on the whole island. Needless to say, it did extremely well. And the owners are former students of this school. And when I worked in the Tetons, I went to Jackson Hole at least once a week. There I tried out a sushi restaurant and come to find out those too are former students. Small world, eh?

By the way, my new clipboard gadget works wonders!

1st day of school

Amazingly enough today's commute to school only took 45 minutes and the return trip was only 15. It was definatly a good commute even if I did forget my iPod at the house. That's alot of singing to myself for entertainment. It's a good thing I didn't have any passengers!

So... today was the first day of school. Not bad at all. There are a total of 6 of us... and one other female besides me. I'm the only one with kitchen experience and 5 of us want to open our own restaurant. Three of the guys are buddies and are nail technicians. They want to get a few years sushi experience before they open a sushi restaurant locally. The fourth guy is the one that wants to be a sushi chef and travel around. The other female works at a health food store, wants sushi experience so she can help out in the health food store kitchen and implement her own ideas.

Me? Well, I'm hoping to open my own restaurant one day but still have to decide which kind... a sushi restaurant or a bakery. These past few years I've been working as a pastry chef/ baker and I've been wanting to return to the food side versus staying in desserts. I enjoy both but ever since I was little I wanted to open a sushi restaurant. It wasn't until I attended culinary school that I got interested in baking. Perhaps because the pastry instructor made the class really fun. Or because you got to punch the bread dough and vent out frustrations or because it came naturally or maybe just a combination of all three. I think the only reason I would not start a bakery is that most of the famous bakers are women. When you see a famous female chef her skills are all in the baking or pastry world. You rarely see a good female chef cooking. Even while attending culinary school - there was only one female chef instructor and the rest were pastry/ baking instructors. It's just assumed that if you are a woman, you go to the dessert side. I kinda don't like that. Course, you don't see very many women sushi chefs either. So that's where I want to focus on right now.


Anyway, today was easy. We were assigned our text books, signed waivers in case we chop off our fingers or die from some sort of negligence, recieved our uniforms, knife kits and showed the chef our cutting skills. We chopped up some cucumbers and pototatoes. Course, since those are the only things we cut - those were the only things prepared for lunch. It was interesting for sure. But as the class progresses, whatever we make is what's for lunch.


I wasn't able to use my new toy clipboard since my notes were all taken in the kitchen during our cutting demonstration. I'll get to use it tomorrow. The setup is an hour of lecture, 3 hours of hands-on and one hour of eating lunch/ cleaning up. 5 hours total per day.

I think my other classmates might have an easier time learning since they do not have any restaurant experience. I learned French techniques in cooking and that's what I've been untilizing everywhere I've gone for the past several years. So to learn the Japanese style, I have to pretend to forget how to cook and re-learn how to cut vegetables and so on. It's a bit different and takes some getting used to. When I really concentrate, I do well in the Japanese style of cutting but then again that was just cucumbers and potatoes today.

I went to the grocer and got more potatoes and cucumbers for the house. What better way to perfect cutting than by practicing at home? I just wish my roommates ate potatoes! They are on the Atkins diet and don't eat rice, potatoes, bread and very little sugar. I think my influence is rubbing off though (aren't I evil?)... I see them eyeballing my rice at dinner.

LA

Started out my roadtrip to Los Angeles. This time I just went straight on through since there was a time crunch. I left Monday and arrived Wednesday afternoon after spending some time with some relatives and friends.

Well, I made it to LA. Whew the traffic is awful! And I thought the beginnings of Austin traffic

was horrid. So I thought I hit rush hour traffic and was talking to some people about it. They laughed at me... said I must be new around here since there isn't any rush hour traffic - that it's always that bad which ever time to go for a drive.

I drove my route to school. It took me an hour (for 27 miles) and one of the instructors told me an hour is a good day... wait until it rains or there's an accident then the commute will take about 2-3 hours. Great... what a way to wake up in the morning! At least I have some good tunes in the car!

Blalock Canyon in Oregon - as with my recent road trips... it rained from the time I left Washington to the time I crossed the border into California.

Mt. Shasta, Oregon

front yard harvest

While at home, it was the perfect timing to pick some fruits. The parents and I went out and picked most of the plums and asian pears. Some of the Bartlett and Bosc pears were ready as well. The apples will be ready near the end of next month. All the melons have been ready - I sent dad some melon seeds last summer. I think a couple of them were called Santa Claus melon, Christmas melon and I don't even remember the rest but he planted all including cantelope, honeydew and watermelon... what a feast!

dad with his grapes


















dad and a praying mantis









picking plums in the front yard













the pickings - pears, asian pears and plums

update from Washington

Aug 16, 2007
Sorry I haven't written on my blog in a while. Sometimes, I didn't have access to the internet and most of the time, the internet access was dial up which was really killing my patience. I had to wait until I got to a location with high speed access.

Things at work are going ok. Just a few more days left before I move on to California. When I first got into town I was working from 830am-11pm… then my schedule changed to 3-10pm… then it changed to split shift 1130-130 and 4-10… then it changed from 1130-1 and 430-10pm. It’s a good thing that is my only job! But working split shift kind of ruins your whole day since you can’t sleep in and you really can’t do much in between. I think I’d rather work 16 hours straight than work a split but that’s just me.

A friend of the family comes in almost everyday either for lunch or dinner. She’s a massage therapist. We had set up an appointment for me to go in. I really didn’t want to since my only day off is Sundays but we had scheduled it for this morning. She’d been wanting both my dad and I to stop by her store but we seem to never have the time. Anyway, wow! I didn’t realize I had that many sore spots until she was rubbing on my back! I was ready for a nap after that but I had to get going to work.


Aug 17, 2007

Oi! I’m such a nerd! I just got this notebook gadget. It’s way cool and I can’t wait for school to begin so I can take notes and play with my new toy! This clipboard holds normal paper but you use a special ink pen to take your notes. Then when you are finished with your notes, you hook the clipboard up to the computer and it transfers all the notes, graphics, and etc straight into a Microsoft Word document. You can also edit it to change the font and colors. Isn’t that awesome?

I saw this contraption a few years ago while attending culinary school but didn’t think much of it since I was a “good” student (hahaha!) and transferred my written notes to the computer everyday. But after awhile of course, I stopped transferring the notes because it took too long and I couldn’t get my graphs and hand drawn pictures to turn out. So pretty much the first couple of months I have really good type written notes and the rest of my notes are still in notebooks and now I don’t even remember what half of that stuff means since I can’t decipher most of my handwriting. Huge bummer! Then by the time I really thought about getting it, school was over and there wasn’t a need for it.

This will be such a time saver! It’s user friendly too – at least so far.

I’m really looking forward to school! My last day of work is tomorrow. Then I’ll be packing all day Sunday and leave out early Monday morning. I’ll take a few days to see my grandmother in northern California and some friends. I should be in Los Angeles by Wednesday and school begins the following Monday. How exciting!

I only wish I could take my bike with me. I have some friends in LA that also ride and wouldn’t that be great - to have fellow Harley riders to ride with all over southern California? But the bike is returning to the dreaded storage and I’ll be driving supposedly more safely in a 4 wheeled vehicle. At least the mother will be happy and not worry as much.

Plans after school are still unknown. Oh! So for those that didn’t know… I’ve chosen to specialize in sushi. It was a huge toss up between pastry school but I think I’m going to focus on this for awhile since I’ve been working the past few years in the pastry/ baking field. It’s a change of pace and the school I’ll be attending teaches pretty much everything you need to know about traditional sushi. It’s a 2 month course so I’ll be finished with schooling in October.

It’s amazing to think that I’ve grown up with sushi and have been making it on occasion throughout the years and am actually going to school to re-learn how to make it. Even with working in restaurants making sushi, I really don’t know the names of the ingredients… or at least the English translation and it kind of flusters me when people ask what some of the food items are and I just tell them the Japanese name. Then they still ask what it is and I have to reply, I have no idea. Take for instance inari… been making it for years and really like it. But I didn’t know it was fried tofu. (As far as personal consumption, when you purchase it at the grocer, there isn’t a label on it. You just look at it and know it’s inari. I guess for bulk restaurant purchases they have to put the label on the package.) I wonder if that’s personal complacency. Or perhaps ignorance? Hmmm. Makes me kinda have to think.

all road trips contain hail

Whew! So I left Denver this morning and rode thru Wyoming. It was real nice - sunny but with a cloud covering the whole way. It was actually alittle cold!


Going through Cheyenne, I didn't realize it was fair time. They call it Frontier Days. I saw the signs for it but thought perhaps that was normal for that town - to have it everyday of the year. Had I known it was their fair, I would have spent a day there to hangout... live music, rodeo, games - all fun stuff I haven't gone to in a while. I'll have to return there sometime and check it out properly.


Although I missed seeing all the fair stuff I did manage to get my own rodeo ride. Whew! There was construction on the interstate and the roads were uneven. I'd see a sign that would say 'bump' and slow down but there would be no bumps in the road. Then a few minutes down the road after I would think it would be safe to speed up, I get the bump of my life... I almost got bucked off my bike a couple of times. Kinda fun, bad on the back but at least the vehicle behind me stopped tailgating.


I arrived in Idaho Falls, Idaho and was heading out to Rexburg where I'd be staying the night when all of a sudden a rain storm hit. I've driven through tornado weather before and that's what it felt like. It got super cold all of a sudden, the wind actually blew me off the road! There was rain and hail. I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me so I pulled to the shoulder of the road. Even the car drivers couldn't see and of course, I almost got hit on the shoulder. People were driving all over the road. After a majority of the traffic passed me by, I braved it back on the road and found cover at a gas station. That was a tough and drenching 45 minute break!

I didn't know what kind of pictures to take of Wyoming since I spent last summer in the Tetons and have a large amount of Wyoming pictures.

I saw this sign of a buffalo in the distance. It's on the border of Colorado and Wyoming. Course, it doesn't do Wyoming any justice but it was the only thing I could think of at the time for a picture.

Montana/ Idaho border

Washington - welcome home to cornfields.

denver

Made it to Denver. It was a really nice long ride with great weather. Saw lots of bikers on the road and some really good scenery. The air is a bit thinner in Colorado due to the elevation. I stopped a few times for fuel and pictures and thought I was going to be stranded. After shutting the bike off, I had a difficult time re-starting. Got a bit nervous and stopped pulling over.






Raton Pass, Colorado

amarillo

I left Austin this morning and have been trying to outride the rain throughout the day. For the most part, the ride was really nice. I even got sunburned arms! I sunblocked my face but for some reason, I forgot my arms. I arranged to take a different route returning to Washington going through little parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

When I lived in Texas before I went on a bike trip through the middle of Texas. There's a town called Brady that is the geographical center of Texas. I thought I'd pass through there as with Amarillo to see the Cadillac Ranch.

During one part of Texas, I kind of zoned out, taking in the scenery and forgot a gas stop. I saw some civilization and construction and just totally forgot to refill the tank. You can sure bet 30 miles later, I was wishing there was a gas station close by. I really thought I'd be pushing the bike... and dreading it - those hills would have been really tough to be pushing that metal chunk! The gauge was in the red and I had no idea where I was or how close the next town would be. Luckily, remembering my almost running out of gas ordeal last time on my trip to Texas, I slowed down from 80 to 60mph and just kept going, going, going, going. 15 miles later, there was a town named Post - out of nowhere, it just popped up. Then I realized I was further along the route than I thought with a record of 126 miles for the tank. Way cool!

In between the sun, the rain was present with dark clouds and lightning in the distance. It would rain but the sun would be out. Crazy! By the time, I would give in, pull over and put on my rain gear the rain would stop. After the 2nd time, I told myself I would just ride through the rain since I was about an hour to my destination. And that 3rd time, was the most rain I went through all day. After about 3 miles I grudgingly decided to pulled over. It got alittle cold so I applied my rain gear and after a mile it cleared up and was hot and sunny. With the suit on, it was like a sauna! But I rode on with only 30 miles to go. Whew!

I made it to Amarillo and took my rain suit off! Ahhhh. Even though it was hot out, it felt like air conditioning! So I'm spending the night in Amarillo, leaving in the morning for Denver.

Brady, the heart of Texas.

Cadillac Ranch in the background with my bike.

I finally got to go to the Cadillac Ranch! That was partially the reason I rode this route. I've been wanting to see it in person for a long time.

life changes in an instant

Wow, this past week has been a blur. Partly because I was bored and ended up getting a second job. And partly because of family. With this second job, I've been working 13-15 hour days which certainly make a long day although time passes quickly since I just work, sleep and repeat the process.

Family issues... pretty much everyone knows I stopped the seasonal trail to save up to return to school. In the meantime, I would enjoy the warm weather and ride my bike all over Texas. It has kind of been the way I planned. Texas is warm and I do ride my bike although I did not account for all the rain and stormy weather. Usually by now the lake has dried up and green grass, brown from the heat and drought. This year is unusually wet for Texas, and doesn't make good riding weather but there have been some real good rides.

To sum it all up. I got a job offer... and I'm moving.

ROAD TRIP!!! Heck yeah - another cross country trip! Wow, this is totally way cool to be riding my bike so much. I'm so very excited! After being neglected so much these past couple of years, I think my bike is just as happy! More mileage = more fun.

This time back to Washington state to hang with the parents (and work to death). My thoughts were I'll be working the same hours but a different location. The parents need help so here we go... I'm moving Tuesday. I should be in Washington by this Friday if all goes well. I'll be taking in another portion of the US by bike and sticking to the main interstate. I will stop and see some friends along the way and perhaps take some cool pictures so it's all in great fun.

Life in an instant. Whew! Takes you by surprise sometimes.

I'll be back to Texas, but I'm really not sure when.

tacos, omelets and burgers - oh my!

So I've decided... my job is real easy. I can go to work still half asleep and be in automatic mode all day. For breakfast, you make breakfast tacos and omelets and for lunch - burgers. Easy! Since I've gotten this job, I've been thinking of getting another one as well so save up faster in order to return to school.

Today, I was thinking that since I'm on vacation in Austin, this is actually my vacation job for the next few years. This is good because there's no dinner rush, no chefs yelling, no wrong orders from the waitstaff, no thinking and nothing you'd find in a restaurant setting. It's kinda nice... boring but nice. No nights, no weekends, no holidays.

I think that since I'm on 'vacation' I'm just going to take it easy with one job. One job and enjoy all the time off to ride my bike and catch up on sleep. Hey! I've been catching up and get about 7 hours of sleep a night now... wow... well, sometimes even more! The bike and I have really been missing all the backroads and possible rides throughout Texas as with the biker rallies. So, here's to taking it easy and keeping the shiny side up!

And in 2 years time, I'll return to school and the hectic restaurant world - that might possibly include the seasonal trail again... that sounds good. Goals... you just gotta have 'em!

wow

That was kinda freaky. Joking about vegaline and butter one day and the very next day someone in one of the administration offices had a heart attack. Everyone and their brother responded - the sheriff, fire and EMS. They had a difficult time trying to revive her but she's alive. Still in the hospital recovering.

vegalene

Unbelievable! I'd never heard of it until I went to the South Pole. Vegalene... a non-trans fat oil that we used as a spray to prevent food sticking to the pans when we cook. Come to find out guess who else uses this? Yup, my current job. I couldn't help myself to laughing completely out loud when I saw the cans in dry storage. And I thought I'd be rid of it for the rest of my life - or at least until I decide to return to Pole. I wonder how good that stuff is for you. I can imagine someone keeling over dead from consuming this product daily.

Of course, there's the fake butter next to the vegalene... how tasty is that?!

squareville

Ok, so in the past 6 weeks or so I've decided to become a squareville participant. Well, I guess I had been entertaining that thought for some time but finally took action when I moved here to Austin. Squareville... so now I have a job. Not too unusual hours 5-2. The good thing is that I skip rush hour going to and returning from work and I have time to play in the afternoon while it is still light out. The bad? Well, now I'm going to work at the time I have been going to bed... and getting off work around the time I usually wake up. It'll take some getting used to.

So... this is Squareville. I had planned on settling here in Austin for a couple years. I mean, this would be my permanent home but I think in about 2 years, I'd like to move away for a couple years then return. Kinda have that itch to move on now but I have some plans and if all goes well in 2 years I'll be moving. Seems so far away! We'll see how long I can take being a square! It might be sooner than that, it that moving itch becomes unbearable. I think at most I'll give it a year. This time next year. Hmmm, that might not be too bad but you never know.