Dinner with the Master Chefs

One of my professors, John Nihoff, (Gastronomy teacher), asked our class to volunteer for this event that he was coordinating called "Dinner with Master Chefs" where all the profits go to scholarships for the school. The basic idea of the dinner is that there are a series of courses (about 6) and each course is made by a different Master Chef. If you don't know about the Master Chef title, it's the BEST OF THE BEST. It's a 10 day grueling exam and if you pass the first 9 days of it and fail the last day, you fail the exam. It costs $6,000 to take the exam and you can only take it 2 times and no more.

Anyway, so Nihoff asked our class to volunteer so we did. We worked front of the house, serving the guests (it was a 14 hour day!) but it was so awesome seeing the Master Chefs in action. The menu was this:
Hors d'voures (spelling not sure):
Lobster Canape, Petite Salmon Burger, Smoked Salmon Gougere, BBQ Pork Tenderloin with Arugula Butter, Potato Cake with Creme Fraiche and Osetra Caviar, Saffron Poached Pear with Prosciutto Ham and Gorgonzola, Duck Rillette on Garlic Crostini.

First Course: Lots of little things on one plate (Paired with Beaujolais wine)
Buffalo Tartare, Fried Oyster on Sweet and Sour Cucumber with Remoullade Sauce and Caviar, Seared Peppered Tuna with Wasabi Cream, Sauteed Quail Breast with Caponata Sauce.,Rabbit and Fois Gras Gallantine with Fig Chutney.

Second Course: (Sancerre)
Sauteed Scallops and Prawns Wrapped in Parma Ham in a Winter Vegetable Compote

Third
Intermezzo (taste of something between courses:
Carrot Sorbet with Champagne

Fourth: (Barbera D'Alba)
Veal Cheeks with Shallots and Apple Compote and an Apple Chip, Roasted Veal Loin with a Mushroom Mousse and Buttermilk Puff Pastry (a take on traditional Beef Wellington), and Sweetbreads and Morels wrapped in a savory Crepe with Sauteed Spinach

Fifth: Cheese Course (Reisling)
Deep Fried Camembert with Lingonberry Preserves, Blue Cheese Mousseline, Gruyere Souffle

Sixth: Dessert
"Cake and Ice Cream"
Not sure what the cake was, but it was served with Starbucks Coffee Liqueur and espresso ice cream

Each dish was paired with a certain type of wine as well.
Overall the event was amazing and I'm sorry I couldn' get any pictures because I was serving the entire time! Anyway here are the list of Master Chefs who were featured in this event:
he culinary dream team is comprised of Certified Master Chefs (C.M.C.s) in education leadership positions and faculty at the CIA – Victor Gielisse, Ron DeSantis, Ken Arnone, Tom Griffiths, and Russell Scott – along with Chef David Bruno, who teaches the CIA’s Banqueting & Catering class, and guest C.M.C. Dale Miller, CIA class of 1979 and executive chef at Jack’s Oyster House in Albany. The seven chefs will prepare hors d’oeuvre for the reception as well as each of the dishes on the six-course menu. Every course will be paired with wines specially selected by the Master Chefs.

THE PHOTOS!!
This is our class and the one with the sculpture is made by the CMPCs (Certified Master Pastry Chefs) and they said it took 3 weeks to make this sculpture. It is made COMPLETELY out of chocolate and sugar...I KNOW crazy!

Hobnobin...

After a long week of classes and tests, we like to go out and have a little fun :) haha. The picture of four of us is at the Hobnobin pub across the street from the CIA (really convenient since it's walking distance). There's karaoke there on wednesdays, but I haven't gone yet. Anyway, the pic of four of us, it's Me, Jin-Young, Geoff, and Chris.
The group pic is a bunch of us, I can't remember the order but it's Gerry ( he's from San dIego), Ross (Minnesota), Chris (Oregon), Geoff (Vista, CA), Jin Young, Gigi and Me.

Don't worry Mom, I'm not that crazy.

STEIN

This is my FAVORITIST professor here at CIA so far. His name is Jay Stein and he is the most hilarious prof in the world. He is the Product Knowledge professor and he's pretty much a Produce Geek. He makes the class humorous though with his little things that he does. For example, he is wearing a star fruit slice on his lab coat because he says that when he wears that he can be the "Unneccessary Garnish Police" because so many students here put unnessary garnishes on dishes that do not belong, so hilarious. Anyway, I could go on about him for days. Gotta love him.

Saigon Grill

A mainstream take on a Pho 79 back in LA. Spring Rolls, Tom Yum Soup, Cubed Filets of Beef with Taro Chips. Quite good and pretty good prices too. :)

Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven and SOHO Cafe

Since I had to go with some of my group members to the Jacques Torres Chocolate shop, I dragged my friends with me too! Haha. In the group picture on the left side, closest to furthest (Jin-Young, Diana, Kiki), on the right (Me, Chris, Rose). We ate in SOHO at this place called SOHO Cafe (aptly named). We had some wood-fire pizza and pasta which was swimming in bolognese sauce. Overall, it was alright, subpar actually. The highlight of the day was when we went to H&M! We were dragged by Chris to go to J.Crew because he needed some pants. Guys are so strange...

Times Square

Diana's friend Kiki had never been to Times Square, so we took a little trip out there after dinner. It was still freezing and windy so we didn't stay outside too long and ventured into a nearby Starbucks for some protection from the cold. It was unfortunate that the weather was in such bad condition because we could have taken a nice tour of Times Square...oh well :(

12 Degrees Outside and ICE CREAM?!

You guessed it, those pictures are, in fact, us at an ice cream factory. This Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is quite famous, and featured in many food articles (posted on the while in front of the counter). They had unique flavors such as black sesame, avocado, lychee, durian, taro, honeydew, almond cookie (that's the one that I had and it's in the picture!). There are many more flavors, but the names are escaping me at the moment.

"I'll take you down to CHINATOWN"

Famous New York City Chinatown at night! It was so freezing that night, about....12 degrees I would say, or colder and it was windy as heck! We met my friend Diana's cousin's wife (Pat) there. Pat is Chinese from Thailand so she speaks Thai. Anyway, she took us from Grand Central to chinatown (Canal Street) and we ate at "Shanghai Cafe" which had, you guessed it, shiao long bao! They were quite delicious, especially since I hadn't had chinese food in SOOO long. The hot tea and tsong yo bing were a trip back to Los Angeles haha. So here are some pictures of the restaurant, steaming the baos, making the baos, etc. They had vegetable, fish and pork filled bao-tze.

Poughkeepsie Train Station

This is a trip that my friend's and I took down into the city (Manhattan). The girl in the second picture is Jin-Young and the girl behind her is Diana (she's from Panama and she's chinese!) , next to her is her friend Kiki. Anyway, these are pictures of the Metro-North railroad. It's about a 1 hour and 45 minutes from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Terminal (which is in the heart of Manhattan). We went down into the city because my group had to go to Jacques Torres' chocolate shops. Anyway, more pics to come!

Campus

Yellow Building: Caterina de' Medici Restaurant - classic Italian restaurant run by students!
Triangle top building: Conrad Hilton Library - he donated 8 million dollars for this library
Water Picture: This is a view of the Hudson River, the school is right on the Hudson River. The River partially freezes over during winter too.
Swirling Leaves

Dining Hall

There are many kitchens where we can eat our lunches. Everyday (breakfast, lunch and dinner) there is a class who cooks a different menu. Each student is allowed to peruse the halls, look at the menus and choose what they want to eat. Sometimes it is limited though since some kitchens don't operate at certain times. I usually eat downstairs at the Lunch Cookery kitchen. Here are some pictures of the people eating down there, probably 2nd year students and some other pics of the halls.

cont'd

Such a beautiful day...

Wow, it is the most beautiful day on campus. The sun is shining, it is 58 degrees (supposed to be 19 degrees). Global warming I tell you! These are some pictures I took of campus. The one of the trees and the house on the lake is President Ryan's house (President of the CIA). He lives "on campus", but off to the side in another house and he has his own driveway and everything. Enjoy the pics!