Baking Arts

Yes!! Today I started my new path!! Today I took my first step to become a Professional Baker!!
I bet you I am the happiest saturday morning commuter!... you cannot imagine with how much joy I travel the full hour through the subway to get to my new Baking School!

I am taking the Baking Arts Certificate course at George Brown; which will take me approx. a year and a half to finish. Mixing your regular job with a new carrer is not an easy task, but my passion for baking/cooking is so big that I don't care if the overworkload kills me! at least I'll die happy!!..

Every Saturday I am going to show pictures of whatever I did in class!! You can't imagine the feeling of being in a professional kitchen with all this amazing ovens and workspaces! It just puts a smile on my face.

Today we did Apple Pie!! And I am telling you I will fully enjoy it!! I'll try to share my food with friends and whoever wants to try it but today this PIE is only mine!!

No Pain, No Gain!

I believe that all the famous chefs around the world have had bad experiences when it comes to 'doing your thing' in the kitchen. I mean, there are knifes, hot pans, spicy chiles, etc.. that can really ruin your day.

Have you ever hurt yourself while cooking????? Well that's a YES for me!!...And I want to be the first "cook" to write about my traumatizing experiences in the kitchen. It can be hurtful, but the worst part of all, is that your inner chef gets disappointed, at leats, just a little!! So, on my 2 years of cooking I've got not just a couple, but several battle wounds!..

First, a small burn in my poor little thumb with boiling caramel sauce... then, several knife cuts. I have to admit sometimes I can get easily distracted and get myself into a bad situation. But I have to say, BURNS are the worst, they hurt like hell and will leave you with a forever lasting gift.

The other day while I was cooking, I put a pan in the oven. When it was time to take it out, I properly did, making sure of course not to burn myself. I left it cooling down on the side, while I did some other important stuff, you know?? chop, chop, chop... when all of a sudden my head being somewhere else in never ever land, I felt like something was in my way. Without giving it a second thought, I just grabbed the pan to move it away and... Ohhhh MY God!!! I burnt my poor little hand!!!!! So please, please, make sure you are paying attention in the kitchen!! Don't be a day dreamer like me and get yourself into trouble!!

It's hard to believe how no one really takes the time to warn you from disastreous accidents around the kitchen. I mean, things like that are pretty obvious and basic stuff that you should avoid, right?. DO NOT touch hot pans just minutes out from the oven!! Please DO NOT stick your fingers into boiling liquids!!! or DO NOT and I mean DO NOT clean a chilli with your bear hands, as it might take all night for that awful burning sensation to disappear. But even if it is basic stuff, sometimes you need to be reminded of that, in order to be more careful and pay just a little bit more attention to what you are doing!!!

Have you had any bad experiences too??!!

Please share them with me so I won't feel as silly as I do NOW!

Meeting my favourite CHEF!

Last Wednesday I met my favourite Food Network Chef!!..

Not only he is one of the best Canadian Chefs, but he is also one of the tallest guys I've ever met!!.. I have to say he has inspired me to become a better cook!..

Now I have his new book specially autographed and I can't wait to start cooking, all recipes look so yummy !!..

One of the things I loved about the book is that he gives freestyle variations in every recipe, and that is a great way to start getting creative!

And as he said in his interview at Indigo last week, "It doesn't really matter what you end up with, when you've decided to cook, you've done it, you've succeeded! Cheers!"

Getting In Loooove With Flavours

When I first got here I didn't really have an interest in food and flavours, I mean, I just liked eating it, but not cooking it. It was my 6 months of staying home that made me become a food fan, if there is such thing.

Being new to a NEW country it's quite hard, you have to get used to all these new things that are happening around you; one of them is trying to find food that you are familiar with. Now a days with all the "Globalization theme" you can find almost everything, everywhere..... "Yes, of Course you can find everything" but trying to stay with your normal diet might become quite expensive, specially if you are coming from a far away country. So, the best way to handle things, is just to ADAPT to what is available to you now. The only thing standing in your way is that you Don't Know how to cook all this new ingredients.

Back in my country we do have a lot of different flavours, but certainly not as Toronto does. The mix of cultures deliver an incredibly complex range of flavours. I've never had Thai food or Real Chinese food before, believe it or not.... BUT, that is another story. Today I am trying to share with you the way I discovered my interest in food.

So, as I was saying, it's hard trying to understand how to cook ingredients you have never worked with before, and if you are not a good cook, How would you know?. Right? Well I started to understand that either I kept eating the way I always did or I will have to add new things to my diet.

By that time, my Mom was visiting. She definitely loves cooking even though she might not be the best at it, but I have to say she has a couple of great recipes. So, anyways, she is always watching these cooking TV shows, and that's how we discovered The Food Network http://www.foodtv.ca/. At first I didn't pay a lot of attention to it (in fact, I was telling my mom to change the channel), BUT, 2 of the hosts captured my attention.

The first thing was that both were Canadian chefs, so .. I figured, these cooks will teach me how to find the right mix in all the different ingredients found in Canada.

The second thing was that the food they were preparing just looked AMAZING...

I started waking up every morning at 9 AM just to watch my new friends. "French Food at Home" was the first show I watched in the morning http://www.foodtv.ca/frenchfoodathome/.

Laura Calder is just amazing, if you have seen her show, you will know what I am talking about. By focusing in perfectionism and flavourness she gives a feminine touch to all her creations. Later on I found some of her recipes being really easy and some of them not so, you just have to find the right ones for you. "Chef at Home" was the second show I watched, and I just have to say, Michael Smith is brilliant! http://www.foodtv.ca/michaelsmith/.

He just became my New BEST Friend without him even knowing it. He was the one that taught me how to cook, and enjoy it. Because, let's be honest, I was not as good as I thought. In fact I was actually pretty bad, my poor hubby whom I call Chaparrito, can tell you about it. The good thing about him is that he will actually eat rocks if I give them to him.

My first creation was a success!.. I cooked one of my good friend's recipes. Michael Smith makes it soooooo easy that anyone looking to prepare a delicious dinner can do it. Following the recipe was really simple and I was surprised of how much I was enjoying it!!.. After almost 1 hour, I had cooked a great dinner!

I prepared a colourful and delicious salad, 1 big tomato tart and for Dessert a very Purple Berry Smoothie!!..

For someone that was simply an amateur, the food was really good!!!

That's when I realized I was beginning to taste Toronto!