The Culinary Institute of Inspiration!

This past week I celebrated my 29th birthday. I always knew that the year of 28 would be my turning year- to decide if I was happy in career, if I was in the right relationships and should I reconsider goals. As a graphic designer in my twenties and a passion for food I've been questioning a lot lately, 'should I enroll in cooking classes or sign up for a 'culinary boot camp"'?? This is so tempting- especially after I visited the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

For a 'family celebration and gift', my parents treated me to a dinner of my choice of any the restaurants on campus. They were just as excited as I, since the last time they visited, was almost 10 years ago. The institute is located one hour (and 20 minutes to be exact) north of my parents home in Westchester County. The campus is just East of the Hudson River, surrounded by rolling valleys. Over the past five years, the campus has undergone a few new developments in landscape and buildings for classes and restaurants. The whole place feels very English and whimsical. In the school halls, there are windows where one can watch the cooks in training. Some of the classes we watched were regional foods, baking and wine. All students wear a uniform of chef pants, a white apron and toque (traditional hat).

Visitors can not only roam the campus and watch the cooking classes from the halls' window, but also eat in one of the restaurants where the food and service is all provided by students. There's an American restaurant, a French restaurant, an Organic bakery and cafe and an Italian restaurant. There's also a great bookshop that not only carries all your cooking essentials, but also a great variety of cook books created by the Institute.

Take a look at some of the pictures below. I highly recommend a visit to the Institute for a lovely lunch or dinner, where you can feel the energy of cooking and passion for food!

The windows in school halls where visitors can watch the chefs in training:





We chose the Italian restaurant, Restorante Caterina De' Medici, designed in feel of Tuscan architecture and decor. And our very cool waiter from Lake Tahoe, California.

salad days are here

Hey guys- sorry it's been so long since I've blogged... surprisingly, while looking for full time work I still manage to keep myself super busy. Lately, I've gone with the flow of the food times but haven't found anything to strike my attention (beside the awful new art direction for Bon Appetit magazine- still not over it!).

Since we've been having amazing spring/summer weather here in New York, there's been a lot of bbq's, margaritas, caipirinha's and salads going on at home. Scary how a native New Yorker really loves to live the West Coast lifestyle. Anyway, so I thought I would share my staple salad dressing recipe. When I make a salad I like to taste the ingredients I'm putting in it, and not have a dressing that overpowers all the lovely flavors of lettuce and vegetables, sometimes fruit. What as become my secret weapon is lemon. It's so tart and slightly sweet, natural and almost no calories- I use it every time.

If your running low on salad dressing ideas. Here's mine and I hope you like :)

Mariel's Staple Salad Dressing-

servings 2

1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 clove of fresh chopped/minced garlic
sea salt to taste
ground fresh pepper to taste
whisk together
(if using Romaine lettuce, add 1/4 cup of shaved Parmesan cheese to dressing)

(for an extra kick, add a tablespoon of champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar, and substitute half the lemon juice)

preferable use this dressing on romaine lettuce or rocket (baby arugula).

enjoy :)

Bitter-SWEET!

Sprinkles cupcakes... don't they look perfect in the picture? The art of perfecting a cupcake. Today I understand why hundreds of mother's use Betty Crocker cupcake mix and already made icing for school birthday parties. Baking your own home-made cupcakes takes practice!

Over the past few years cupcakes have become a huge trend. I've never been a huge fan of cupcakes but can understand what all the hype is about. They're fun, cute, sweet, yummy, and fun to decorate. I also love how most bakeries are competing with different cupcake flavors, variations, packaging, type design, and icing decorations. To be honest, I'm a little over it. What are all these bakeries going to do when the fade is over? Is it possible to be 'cup caked out'??

This weekend while browsing in William Sonoma ( an absolutely lovely kitchen and cooks' supply store), I stumbled upon the 'Sprinkles' cup-cake mix. Having the packaging designed so nicely, I can understand why William Sonoma sells the mix in the store. I had also recently watched an episode of The Martha Stewart Show with the owner of the Sprinkles bakery showing a cooking demonstration for her famous cupcakes. I went home and was inspired to use the Sprinkles recipe found on Martha's website and make them myself.

The cupcake recipe is called "Strawberry Cupcakes" by the Sprinkles bakery. The recipe is a lot less complicated than others (Magnolia Bakery) and love that it calls for fresh strawberries. But before you try making these cupcakes at home, you might want to check my comments below on what to beware of. The recipe:

Ingredients
Makes 1 dozen

2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature
Sprinkles' Strawberry Frosting

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Frosting:
Ingredients
Makes enough for 1 dozen cupcakes
1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions

Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

CAUTION:

1. I noticed before taking out the muffins from oven, to stress the importance of "dry touch". Mine were still too moist so I let them stay in for another 3 minutes. Otherwise if they are too moist on top they can get mushy. Remember they are made with natural fruit.

2. When adding the strawberry puree to icing, do gradually. The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of puree, but I would think 2 is better. Add slowly and decide for yourself. My icing came out very syrupy and then from being worried the mix was too wet, I over mixed and the icing became too airy, leaving me with overly sweet and "wet" icing... ugh...(there's a warning for this in the recipe).

In the end I was a bit disappointed. They're almost too sweet. But maybe that's because the icing wasn't right. Next time I'm going to make those changes and maybe even cut out some of the sugar!

M :)

Next on Martha!

For anyone that knows me well, would find it no surprise that I recently visited the set of the Martha Stewart Television Show at Chelsea Studios in Manhattan. For all of you getting to know me, I'm an absolute fan of Martha! It's funny that she actually lives miles from my house and recommends our local restaurants on her blog! The experience on the set was wonderful and Martha looks great in person! Our show was the last day of "Cupcake Week" and will air Friday, April 4th. (1:00pm EST Channel 4 NY). I got to sit front row on the ground floor, so look for me on tv!

M :)

Dining Alone? More leftovers...??

First I'd like to apologize for having an inconsistent designed blog. I keep changing the format and still a bit unsatisfied. Don't be surprised if you see it change again! This might take a few days...

From my last posting on "what did you eat for dinner?", I came across a thought, which, from most of my research, has come up quit often. If you live alone, do you cook every night? Using myself as an example, I find it extremely difficult and slightly disappointing when I want to make a hearty dinner, but it requires more than one person to enjoy it, and I'm alone. So I usually don't make the dish, but if I do, I end up with leftovers. And because my schedule right now is erratic, I never know when I'll be home again to eat, so the leftovers usually go bad. This frustrates me because I hate wasting food. And to be honest, was never a fan of leftovers.

I'd like to hear your comments on cooking alone. Do you anyway? How do you feel about leftovers? Do you end up wasting food? Do you give in to take-away? Is it a challenge to cook for one person? Why?

Please if you can, break-down the cost effects, the waste of ingredients (if any), the time management, and if you feel it's worth to cook for one person?

Mariel :)