Well I have been away for a very long time. I have been getting ready for my trip to england comming up next week and its been taking up most of my time. Inspite of this I have still been shopping around for new items to add to my kitchen. The latest addition is an imersion circulator. My only problem with it at the moment is that I dont have a circular outlet in the house. So I havent even really been able to try it out yet. Tommorrow I'll put a real picture of it on the site here.
So I have been away from the computer for the last few weeks but I am finnally home back in San Diego. Over the Christmas holiday I was able to make a couple things. I brought the Turkey Ballontine with me to the family's house. It came out really great. I cooked it at 170F(as low as the oven would go) until the center read 165F and then seared/basted(with clarified butter) it quickly to crisp up the outside. The inside was cooked perfectly because of the low cooking temp the outside was cripsy overall I was very satisfied with the outcome. 
Monkey Bread also came out of the kitchen over the holiday. I love comfort food like monkey bread its just so...comforting. So because I'm back home I will be visiting Chino farms and a few farmers markets around town. I'll be making a few things based on what ever is in season and/or available. 
Well tommorrow is my last day of offical class then I'm completely done! This week has been very busy with studying for finals and what not. I graduate the Culinary Institute of America on Wednesday December 20th with my BA in Hospitality Management so I'm very excited about that! One of the down sides though is that I also have to move out next week. I've got a few more ideas that I want to post before I pack it all in so hopefully I will get the time this weekend. Until then here's a few pictures of what I can't wait to get back to (home in So. Cal.). 
So I just found out about this from Ideas in food and other blogs and wanted to help spread the word. It is a fund that raises money for the UN world food program. They have set it up as a raffle and every ticket is $10. You can visit here and donate money to the program. Lists of all the prizes can be found here. This is a really great event and I hope that everyone that sees this will donate at least $10. Please give it a look and hey you coud win one of the really great items that were donated.
This is seared mozzarella with confit buttercup squash. Also tomato marmalade and young sage.
Well I cant seem to get the rest up.... But youve seen the majority of them.
Thursday I was surpised and taken out to dinner in the city. I had no idea where I was being taken but I was very excited to find out. We took a train down to NYC and then a cab to houston and clinton from their we(my girl friend and I) walked a block or two until we reached a very inconspicuous restaurant. In the corner of the large glass window in neon lights was WD-50. We decided on the tasting menu. The first three courses were very dissapointing to be very honest. We both actually sent the foie gras course back. I really felt bad doing that because Wylie was standing about 10 feet away but it had to be done. As a replacement course we recieved squid noodles with dehydrated grapefruit and zucchini. This is where the meal really tur
ned around. This was a really great course and everything after it was amazing. The meal ended up being a wonderful experience and I actually got to go in the back and see the kitchen and say hi to the staff and Wylie himself. I actually became very nervous and forgot all of my questions and comments. It was thoroughly pathetic haha. He was a really down to earth guy and really very nice. I had a wonderful time! Here are some of the photos from the experience.
Oh! By the way... Low lighting= pretty bad photos(sorry). 
Well I've been working on this vinegar for a couple months now and it is finally done! It is a Whisky-Cherry Vinegar. I reduced the alcohol to about 15% by introducing a good about of cherry juice. I also added in some honey and agave nectar to aid in the vinegar formation. And on top of all of that I added the mother from the Hefewiezen Vinegar I made a while ago. The final product is very interesting. Its aroma has clear whisky notes and it has alot of cherry flavor with a hint of honey. The flavor of the whisky didn't really come through as strong as I had imagined it would but it's there. Heres what it looks like.
Some of you may have seen or remember the post I did involving the tuna globe and nori glass. This is a new formulation of the same dish. I felt like it was missing a very main component the first time and that was soy. On this attempt I used the soy pickled oysters(home grown) from the other day and redesigned the avocado presentation. I opted to leave out the nori because I wanted to keep the dish bright and to me nori adds a very stern flavor, if nori had a personality. I also added a bit of lime cells to add even more brightness. Overall I feel the dish is a success and has very well balanced flavors. 
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