YUMM!! Week 4 of Basic Culinary Skills 2

What can i say about week 4... I think all i can say is YUMM!!! 

The school weeks are getting better and better! From last weeks Frying and Roasting, we are now at Baking and Grilling.

Which made this week the end of our lessons for "Cooking Methods". Which also meant, we had our final Exams. And for the first time we didn't only have a written exam, we also had to go through a practical exam. 

Oh how nervous i was, we had to create 2 different dishes alone, and in a matter of only 1 1/2 hours. That given time includes preparation time and cooking time. The dishes had to be perfectly plated before the 1 1/2 hours ended. 

It was really stressful! I already worked as fast as i could and i almost didn't make it! I rushed everything till the last 5 seconds. Luckily, i was able to finish it all. Phew...

What an experience!

Anyways, since we used one school day for our practical exam, we only had 3 days of cooking lessons. 

Here are the delicious Dishes we cooked. :)

DAY1:

Fish En Papillote (fish baked inside an enclosed parchment paper, which made the fish steam inside). And Baked Mussels Persillade. (Mussels topped with a mixture of Breadcrumbs, butter, parsley, garlic, onion and baked till browned)

Fish En Papillote

Baked Mussels Persillade

DAY2:

On Day two we grilled some delicious, and juicy Striploin, Grilled Vegetables and Deep Fried Shoestring Potatoes. And also cooked a Bernaise sauce. The Bernaise sauce is practically just a Hollandaise Sauce with Terragon.

Grilled Striploin with Grilled Vegetables,
Shoestring Potatoes and Bernaise sauce.

DAY3:

On day 3 we grilles Chicken and Tuna, Baked some Hasselback Potatoes, Cooked Rice Pilaf, Made a Balsamic Reduction, Cooked a Choron sauce (which is simply a hollandaise sauce with tomatoes) and caramelized Onions. We did a "little bit" a lot today. :)

Grilled Chicken with Hasselback Potatoes and Choron Sauce

Grilles Tuna with Rice Pilaf and Balsamic Reduction

Third Week of BCS2 (Basic Culinary Skills 2)

Oh how i loved this week! I really enjoyed cooking and eating the food we prepared in class! yum!

DAY1: 

Salisbury Steak with Rustic Mashed Potatoes, Fried Onion Rings, and Mushroom Sauce

Pan Fried Risotto Cakes with Marinara Sauce

DAY2:

 Sautéed Fish with  Bercy Sauce and Buttered Vegetables

Chicken Chardonnay and Lyonnaise Potatoes with Buttered Vegetables

DAY3:

Fried Rice with Chorizo Sausage

Stir Fried Chicken with Basil

Stir Fried Vegetables

DAY4:

Roast Chicken With Rosemary Potatoes

Roast Pork with Apple Sauce

My 2nd Week of Basic Culinary Skills 2 (BCS2) at AICA

Hello Everyone!

Phew, this week was a tiny little bit stressful for me, because it was finally my turn to be the Sous Chef of the week. It was my first time, so i was a little but confused at the beginning.

Every week in school, there is going to be one person of our class who will be the "Sous Chef". The Sous Chef is responsible for all the Ingredients the class will need for each day. He/She will be given a list of all ingredients, which the Sous Chef has to check and divide into (in our case) 4.
And sometimes it can be a LOT.

On the first 2 days I was a little bit confused, cause I didn't know where to start and where to find the "missing" ingredients. I really didn't want to do any mistakes.
Oh anyways, it all went well. And I guess I was able to organize everything pretty well. I just went to School an hour earlier every day, so I would have enough time to prepare everything for everyone. :)

Okay, Let me show you the Food we cooked during our second week. :)

On Day 1 it was all about Poaching (cooking food at below simmering temperature). So on this day we cooked Fish Paupiettes and Poached Spring Chicken.

Poached Spring Chicken
With Buttered Asparagus and Potatoes

Fish Paupiettes

On Day 2, it was all about deep-fat frying. We fried some Calamari, Tempura and Onions

 Oh Look at this one! i found the "outcome" of this particular onion ring really funny! reminded me of a Reindeer Antler hehe

Day 3: Fried Chicken with Potato Wedges and Milk Gravy

Day 4: Pork Schnitzel with Sauce Chasseur (or Jägerschnitzel In German), French Fries and Buttered Vegetables.

And day 4 was the end of the school week :) I'll post about the 3rd week tomorrow or this weekend :)
Thanks for reading :)

My 1st Week of Basic Culinary Skills 2 (BCS2) at AICA

Hellow :)

And another school-week is over. Let me share with you what we learned and cooked this week during our classes. ^.^

We were taught of the different cooking methods there are, their uses, their advantages, disadvantages and procedures. 

We learned everything we need about Steaming, Blanching, Braising, Stewing, Poaching, and Deep-Fat Frying.

Aside from the lectures, of course, we cooked a few meals to be able to apply those cooking methods we learned. 

On day 1 it was about steaming, blanching, and sautéing.

We cooked some Steamed Chicken with Bok Choy & Glazed Vegetables.

Steamed Chicken w/ Bok Choy and Glazed Vegetables

On our 2nd Day, we Prepared some Blanched Asparagus & Sautéd Vegetables with Hollandaise Sauce and Fish Florentine with Mornay Sauce & Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Blanched Asparagus & Sautéd Vegetables w/ Hollandaise Sauce

Fish Florentine with Mornay Sauce & Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Day 3, we cooked some Coq Au Vin with Boiled Parsleyed Potatoes & Glazed Vegetables. 

"Coq Au Vin" is a french dish, translated meaning "chicken with wine", simply means chicken cooked in red wine.

Boiled Parsleyed Potatoes & Glazed Vegetables

Boiled Parsleyed Potatoes & Glazed Vegetables

Coq Au Vin

On our 4th and last day of week 1, we cooked Chicken Fricassee and Ratatouille. 

"Fricassee" is a method of cooking meat in which the meat is cut up, sautéd, braised, and served with its sauce, traditionally a white sauce.

"Ratatouille" comes from the french word "Touiller", which means to toss food.

Ratatouille is usually served as a side dish, but also may be served as a meal on its own (accompanied by pasta, rice or bread). 

Tomatoes are a key ingredient, with garlic, onions, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, marjoram and basil, or bay leaf and thyme. For our dish we used bay leaf and thyme.

Ratatouille

Chicken Fricassee

I loved this week! The dishes we cooked were super delicious, and I really enjoyed cooking them. I can't wait for next week! 
It will be my turn to be the Sous Chef for the week (it's going to be my first time *nervous*), which means i have to come to class about an hour earlier. Haha. 

Trip to the Beautiful Subic Beach In Matnog, Sorsogon, Philippines.

Hey guys, I want to share with you my amazing trip to Subic Beach i went on last weekend. 

For those of you who don't know where it is, The Subic beach is located in Calintaan islands, Matnog, Sorsogon  Province of the Bicol Region. The beach is still non-commercialized and not visited by huge crowds of tourists. But it is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to. The Subic Beach has really fine white/pinkish sand, that when you step on it, you would think that your stepping on something like flour. 

We drove about 2 1/2 hours from Legazpi until we arrived at the Matnog Port, where we were asked to park our car and walk or take the tricycle to the port where our boat was waiting for us. 

You Are Now Leaving The Island Of Luzon.. :)

Parked the cars, got our stuff and left.

While inside the Tricycle, on the way to the port, we passed through some really narrow road in the middle of a market.

Matnog Market (Palengke)

That was our boat, we called our tour guide who's name is Eddie few days before to have our boat reserved. Which was a good thing to do, because when we arrived he told us that all other 16 boats they had were already booked and that there were a lot of people already, so i expected to see a huge crowd along the beaches like in Boracay. But luckily that wasn't the case, it mightve been a lot already for them, but for me, it was still pretty empty.. :)                    

Challenging walk on those rocks, to the boat, without any "bridge".

The boats man,  just found it funny on how he protects himself from the sun ^.^

Before reaching Subic Beach, we passed some other islands, which already looked amazing. Which made me even more excited to see the Subic Beach everyone is talking about :)

Look! The water was so clear! I thought i was in Palawan ^.^

Finally, after our 20-30 minute boat ride, we finally arrived at subic beach. It was wonderful, stepping on the sand that felt like powder.

Walking from the boat to our little cottage.

This is what you really have to see. Look at the sand! Thats how i figured out why the sand seemed a little pink.

The sand consists of red and yellow corals i think. or what ever that is.

Beautiful Beach isnt it? There were a few people who i think camped there, but they were just sitting inside their cottages. So we had the beach almost for ourselves :)

The red and yellow corals from the sand.

After having our lunch (we brought our own food, since they don't have any restaurants there), we were asked if we wanted to go island hopping, or go to the cave. And we decided to go to the cave, we thought it would be more adventurous.

On the way to the cave, which was just about 7 minutes away from Subic Beach, we passed these amazing rock formations. It was so pretty! And the water seemed even clearer here.

beautiful isn't it?

This is the entrance to our cave. The colors or the rocks and the clear water, it was so beautiful. I've never seen anything like this, like the pink/red parts of the rocks! Wow.. 

Once the boat stopped, we went down and jumped into the water and the water was really cold! Even though it was such a hot day with about 32 Degrees, it felt freezing. We had to follow our boats-man/guide through some sort of dark "tunnel". I was a little bit scared because i don't like not being able to see where I'm going or where i might be stepping at.  Getting closer, we were slowly able to see the beauty inside the cave. It was amazing. It was so big, so beautiful. You could see small bats flying around. The Sunlight was shining through the top, the stones all were perfectly round and had colors of blue, purple, and grey. I didn't even want to leave anymore. Sadly, we just had about 15 minutes there till the boats-man told us to head back to our boat because it was about to be high-tide. He said it would be difficult for us to leave the cave because the "tunnel" would almost be filled up with water and the current a little stronger.

Beautiful Cave

It was just so pretty... i felt like i was in some fantasy movie
with all different kinds of creatures.. :D

After returning to our beach, we relaxed a little more, showered, got changed and left the beach, returning to the port before sunset.
Going to Subic Beach was one of my best summer escapades of 2013. 
Im 100% sure ill return to the small pacific paradise in Matnog, Sorsogon.. <3

  

                          

                     Of course, every beach visit should have a jump shot! :)

Aesthetic Institute of the Philippines - Promo

Just wanted to share with you guys AIP's Promos of 2013. Including their newest promo for this coming Mother's Day. Go get yourself "beautified" and visit AIP now!

Ready to be hair free?:)

Get 50% off on non-invasive slimming treatments!

Pamper your mum for Mother's Day and get her those great packages!