liv bites

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 truthfully cannot say enough good things about my instructor at cooking school. I’ve never met someone quite so approachable, yet whose approval I seek beyond all else. When Christmas rolled around, she reinforced just how amazing she is by giving each and every one of us students a hand-written card  and a bag of [...]

Fact: Banana Nut Bread is a perfectly acceptable breakfast. So are muffins, Pumpkin Bread and scones; never mind that all of those things are basically cake, and that you’re eating them before 9 am. Until recently at school, we’ve focused on yeast and steam as “raising agents,” or things that make food puff up in [...]

I hate it when bloggers apologize for being MIA, so I’m not even going there. Suffice it to say that last week, culinary school became, well, school. I was faced with a practical exam (read: cooking a three-course meal under a deadline for my instructor to critique) and a written exam, rounding out the week [...]

Confession: Before last week, I had never really made a pie. Okay, there was this chocolate one and these mini tarts, but in terms of an old-fashioned, crusty, fruit-filled pie, I admit I’m fully intimidated. Until Friday, that is, when our school day consisted of a workshop in basic pastry dough — that buttery, flaky, [...]

My culinary instructor is full of words of wisdom. The other day she was preaching the importance of working efficiently, keeping our work spaces clean and putting things back where we got them, and she said, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Kind of makes you think twice before taking shortcuts. Her [...]

Who knew there were so many ways to combine eggs, sugar and milk into a classic French dessert? You’d be surprised. Those were the main ingredients in the dishes my cooking class made during our Friday workshop, which was all about sweet custards. Each student cooked either Crème Brulée, Crème Caramel, Oeufs à la Neige [...]

Summer is officially wrapping up, even in San Francisco. Since summer generally feels more like fall here, we usually get a couple of months of glorious sunny weather in September and October, but the sun seems to have overlooked the whole city this year. I can’t complain, really: It’s been a breezy 65 degrees for [...]

The other night I went out for a comfort food dinner of lasagna and fresh-baked bread at Chow, and after sipping a glass of white wine, it occurred to me that I’m still about eight years old at heart. After my plate was taken away, all I could think about were brownies. It’s no revelation [...]

… Make Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake! My assistant’s mother came to town this week, just days after celebrating her xxth birthday (a lady never tells). The son let it slip that she loved citrus desserts, so I knew we had to prepare with a sweet surprise. This is a woman from Miami, so I [...]