liv bites

On Friday I graduated from culinary school after six months of nonstop eating and countless loads of laundry — and having learned more than I ever thought possible. A guest speaker, the head chef at Acquerello, came to class recently and said something that I may never forget. She said next time you’re feeling bad [...]

I’ve joked before to my classmates that I often feel like I’m a Top Chef contestant at school. We have two minutes left until the main course has to be up, my sauce still hasn’t reduced enough, and I forgot to chop the parsley for garnish. The plates hit the counter not a second too [...]

Anyone who’s been lucky enough to spend time in Paris knows that nothing compares to a flaky croissant first thing in the morning. No butter, no jam. No honey. Just a shot of espresso and a spoiled smile. Early on in my cooking career I naively thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be special to whip [...]

I love wine. And I especially love drinking wine accompanied by a multi-course dinner prepared with love. I know what I like and what I don’t — but my understanding of the objective aspect of pairings is admittedly limited. And I never drink white wine with fish, choosing instead to believe that a dry Pinot [...]

I mentioned in my last post that my classmates and I each had to come up with our own full restaurant menu for a recent assignment. Now you know all about the Rabbit and Wild Mushroom Ragout, but I thought it might be fun to post the rest of my fantasy restaurant items. Think of [...]

Before I started culinary school and thought I knew what I was doing in the kitchen, I used to love posting my own recipes on my blog. For the past six months, I’ve been learning the correct way to do things — the “techniques” — and I’m happy to say I’m having more fun in [...]

Friends, I may have found my calling. Friday was a workshop in Advanced Cake Decorating, meaning we all baked and embellished a miniature-sized wedding cake. It’s interesting how my class is divided into the pastry-loving folks and the pastry-phobic; some people were stressed out by the whole exercise and couldn’t wait for their cakes to [...]

I murdered a lobster in class this week. If it sounds dramatic, it was. Most people take the easy way out when it comes to crustaceans — submerge them while they’re still alive in boiling water, and they die instantly. But according to my culinary instructor, there’s actually a more humane way to go about [...]

Our schedule for last week mentioned a work shop in “Unusual Breads,” which naturally set my mind reeling. No-knead bread? Rice flour? Croissants? In the end, the breads we made were not so unusual at all, and in fact, the process was very eye-opening. I’ve personally found bread-making very intimidating in the past, and I [...]

Luckily for me, part of being a food expert is developing a keen sense of taste. That means my culinary education has included several tasting sessions so far, including but not limited to: wine, caviar, champagne, smoked fish and coffee. Life is hard, no? Most recent was perhaps the most exciting spread of all: cheese! [...]