ACF Accreditation

we cleaned, scrubbed, dusted, worked on the syllabi, cleaned, scrubbed, washed even more....finally it is over....thank goodness.....no findings, no violations, no compliance issues...LCB Chicago is now an American Culinary Federation accredited school.   LCB Chicago Culinary renewed its accreditation

Students Having Fun with Puff Pastry

Today's kitchen class was all about puff pastry.  We made Classic Puff and Blitz Puff and turned out pithiviers, bouchees, palmiers, conversations, cheese straws and napoleons from 2 full sheet per student of puff pastry.  With all 8 ovens, and students not checking their oven temperature, some were a little on the dark side, but overall, the lamination was great.  They all look very happy....

Red Velvet Cake: A Waldorf Astoria Hotel original

I had always believed that the Red Velvet Cake is a Southern Cake.  Today, I found a signed copy of the Waldorf Astoria Cookbook by former Executive Chef John Doherty, and he claims that  the red beet-colored favorite is an original Waldorf creation.

Oklahoma Sugar Show

I don't consider this as one of my best work, but a typical "rushed work"..When we decided to attend the Oklahoma Sugar Show, I decided, I might as well bring a cake.  It was a very hectic 2 weeks at school,  and after being a day late of the final submission of registrations, I ordered the styrofoam,  decided on the color of my cake, and started piping.  There was no expectation of winning, just the experience and joy of participation.  There were so many limiting circumstances, and to my surprise I made an "honorable mention" ribbon. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas at the Museum of Science and Industry

For the  fourth year, we have been asked to create a gingerbread house for the temporary exhibit at The Museum of Science and Industry.  This year it is Charlie Brown.  The characters were all made of white chocolate bodies and modeling chocolate "clothing".  Snoopy's house is of gingerbread.

Pandan

when I forced my husband Jim to taste the pandan pichi pichi I was making for a lunch with Amy Besa and Consul Gen Leo Lim, he said it tasted of rice. When I did my research today, Basmati and Pandan have the same aromatic compound 2- acteyl-1-pyrroline. It also has other similar compounds shared with rose and saffron. Quite interesting. And that is why we put the cheaper pandan to the cheaper rice to make it taste like the expensive rice. The species whose leaves are used in cooking is amaryllifollius, while the species fascicularis(screwpine) uses the flower for flavoring. Fascicularis has well proven analgesic and antiinflammatory properties while amryllifollius has been  linked to the cell death of non hormone based breast cancer cells

Julia Child's 100th Birthday

To commemorate Le Cordon Bleu International's most famous graduate's birthday, I was asked to create a cake to celebrate her life and contribution to women chefs and French American cuisine.  The more you read about her life, the more you want to learn more about her passion and personality, her friends, her zest for life.  I actually feel bad that I never got to meet her, so I am honored to have created this cake to remember the things that she loved....