Ana González

[anagonzalez98-blog]

Harbour Lights Breakfast.

On Monday I had the opportunity to participate in the Harbour lights breakfast, even though I had to wake up at 4 am I really had a lot of fun.

We started to prep everything at 5 am, we grab all of the utensils and ingredients we needed for the three stations: The french toast, the eggs benedict, and the brownie station.

People from the TV and the radio showed up around 6am, and they interviewed chef Darren and ask him about the menu we were having for breakfast.

The french toast was served with a delicious blueberry sauce, maple syrup and a little bit of icing sugar, the eggs benedict were served on top of a delicious toasted English muffin with smoked salmon, and the brownies were served with a drizzle of chocolate, chantilly cream and smashed chicken bone candies as sprinkles.

It got busy around 7am, we had to cook a lot of plates and in the french toast station we ran out of baguette, so we instead we started to use English muffin, but everyone was happy and enjoying their breakfast.

We stopped service around 8:30 am and started to clean everything, after that our day was done. It was a really fun day.

[anagonzalez98-blog]

My adventure into food blogging

Being a food blogger was not a thing I was looking for when I first started to blog.

After my trip to Toronto, I really wanted to share my experience in some way, so I decided to open a blog in which I could blog about it. So I started my blog and I called it “La Jaula de la Golondrina” (The Cage of the Swallow).

At first I just started to write about Toronto, but after I posted my first recipe “Rusas" which is one of my favourite beverages I just felt like it was my thing and I started to share more recipes, when I first started with blogging the only people that were actually reading what I write was my family, but as my blog started to grow more people started to read it and I started to receive messages with questions about the recipes or even pictures of how recipes were turning out.

After 2 years of blogging, I joined a club called “Circulo de Bloggers de Mexico” in which I had the opportunity to meet a lot of Mexican food bloggers. We did amazing projects together, we even made a Christmas magazine about two years ago (which you can download free here) and I started to look for blogging in a more serious way.

When I started to look for blogging as work my sister started helping me out with social media and the making of the videos, and suddenly I started to work for an online newspaper making videos of recipes from books, tv shows, and movies.

My favorite thing about blogging is the whole process of making a single post or video, starting with the idea, sketching out how you want the pictures to look, making the recipe, taking the pictures, editing them and writing the whole post also I love when I get invited to events or to taste the new menu from local restaurants and then write about it.

Thanks to my blog I came with the idea of being a food writer, I just love to read about food, and I love to write, even though I know I don’t write very good in English and I write mostly in Spanish, I still really enjoy it and I hope someday I can become a food writer.

[anagonzalez98-blog]

Magical Dishes - Pibes Enterrados

Yucatán is one of my favorite Mexican states, is a really magical place and it’s colors, crafts, and flavors make your stay in the place unforgettable.

It was the last day of my summer trip and as we had previously decided to spend the last 2 days in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo we had to go back to Mérida, Yucatán to take our flight back to Monterrey, so on our way back we decided to stop at Valladolid, Chichen Itza, and my favourite Mexican small town: Izamal.

It was on the highway from Chichen Itza to Izamal where we saw a sign “Se venden Pibes Enterrados” (Pibes Enterrados for Sale) and since we were starving we decided to stop to see what a “Pibe” was.

I talked with the lady who served the “Pibe” and with a kid that told me the whole process for making this delicacy that is traditionally eaten on the day of the dead.

The kid told me that he and some other people are the ones in charge of making the “oven” in which it is cooked, a pit is made in the soil and then is covered with firewood and stones, when the oven is hot enough they put the “pibes” inside and then they cover it with rubber sheets to keep it warm and so that the fire is not extinguished during the night.

The “Pibe” that we bought was shaped as a circle and it was basically like a tamale pie filled with “pibil chicken” which is shredded chicken with achiote and some other spices.

Before going to this trip de Yucatán I did a list with a lot of traditional dishes I wanted to try, and even though this one wasn’t in the list I loved it and it was one of my favorites.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Mexico look for local places to eat authentic Mexican food like markets, instead of fancy restaurants, because even though some of those fancy restaurants are really good, my advice is to eat local, because is not only going to be cheaper you will eat delicious food and you will not regret it at all.

[anagonzalez98-blog]

Aztec Soup (Sopa Azteca) - Mexican Traditional dish.

The Aztec Soup, also known as Tortilla Soup, has it’s origin in prehispanic times, specifically in the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico which means “Land of Corn”.

Due to the abundance of corn in the region, the Mesoamerican people used this ingredient in many Mexican dishes such as tacos, tlacoyos, quesadillas or enchiladas.

The legend says that the first tortilla was prepared by combining fresh corn with dry grains to satisfy an ancient Mayan king. Three thousand years later, the people from Valley of Tehuacán began using containers made of stone to boil the corn that grew in the place and included it as the main ingredient of the tortilla.

When the Spanish came to Mexico, they brought the tradition of soup, as well as chickens and spices to make the stocks. The Aztec soup was born due to the fusion of both types of cuisine.

Aztec Soup is made from strips of fried corn tortilla, immersed in a chicken stock with tomatoes, garlic, onion, and epazote.

The way of serving this soup is with slices of avocado, diced panela cheese, rings of fried pasilla pepper, sour cream, and chicharrones. You can either add or remove things because at the end it’s a matter of taste.

Aztec soup

Servings: 4 portions

- Ingredients:

12 tortillas. 3 roasted tomatoes without skin. 4 pieces of chile pasilla. 1/2 finely chopped onion. 2 garlic cloves finely chopped. Epazote leaves. 1 liter and a half of chicken broth. Medium diced panela cheese. Avocado Slices. Pork Chicharrón. Sour Cream. Lard. Vegetable oil. Salt. Pepper.

-Process:

1. Cut the tortillas into julienne and fry them in vegetable oil. 2.  Cut the pasilla pepper into rings and fry in vegetable oil. 3. Blend the tomatoes with the onion, garlic, half a cup of fried tortilla strips and one fried pasilla pepper. 4. Fry the puree in hot lard until it becomes firm. 5. Incorporate the chicken broth and bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, add epazote and boil for 3 more minutes. 6.In a bowl add the fried tortilla strips and the broth, add the pasilla pepper rings, avocado, panela cheese, pork chicharrón, and cream to taste.

https://www.facebook.com/lajauladelagolondrina/videos/1105417929552323/

[anagonzalez98-blog]

Pan de Muerto - Day of the death bread

The Day of the death is one of the most historic holidays; Although is celebrated in some countries of central america and Spain, in Mexico is a really special holiday, with all the different and bright colours, catrinas, catrines, altar of the dead and of course the traditional: Pan de Muerto (Day of the death bread), which is one of my favourite types of bread.

Pan de muerto is served as gift in the altar of the dead for our relatives and friends who have passed away.

Some people say that the ritual from which the idea of making Pan de muerto came was to offer a princess to the gods, then take out her heart and while the heart was still beating they put it in a pot with amaranth and the "priest" or manager of the ritual had to eat it to thank the deities. Other people say that in order to bury the dead people they made bread with amaranth seeds that were soaked in the blood that was left over from the sacrifices.

When the spanish arrived to America they eliminate these types of rituals, people say that they started to represent the heart with a bread dyed red.

Nowadays Pan de Muerto represent a corpse, the top is a skull and the four lines are the bones of the body that point to the directions of the universe; Some of them are just sprinkled with sugar or sesame seed and some are filled with pastry cream, chocolate or dulce de leche.

Even though Pan de muerto has a weird story, it's a delicious type of bread that is only on sale in october and the first week of november, and is one of the most iconic Day of the death things.

[anagonzalez98-blog]

This weekend I did my first practicum hours and it was awesome and I had so much fun.

At first I was scared because It was going to be my first time in St John and I didn’t want to get lost, so the night before my practicum I was kind of freaking out looking at the bus schedule and other stuff.

I arrived to Saint John and I went to my friend’s apartment, actually my friend and I were not that close before this weekend, but it was super funny because the whole weekend we talked a lot of time and we got to actually meet each other, after my saturday’s shift we stayed awake until 3 am just talking and I think that is cool that with this opportunity im not only learning a lot from the chefs, but im making friends and learning from them too.

My first shift was cool, I did some prep work for chop chop which is next week, and after I finish , Julia, one of the cooks, started to teach me the plating of the desserts. The first one was the Budino which is an Italian bread pudding drizzled with warm butterscotch sauce, chocolate sauce and Maldon sea salt flakes, then she taught me how to plate the Tiramisu, which was delicious, after that I learned how to plate the salted caramel Creme Brûlée, and my favourite one was the Pavlova which is an Italian style meringue, topped with lemon curd, fresh fruit, whipped cream and toasted almonds; What I like the most about that day it was that I was in the desserts line, so I was plating the desserts every time we had an order, I really had a lot of fun and learned a lot.

My second shift was different, I was in the front line plating all the main dishes with the sous chef, I really enjoyed that day because I went out of my comfort zone, and actually learned a lot about service; My favourite dish to plate is the Gnocchi, it smells amazing and the plate that they use for plating is beautiful.

This weekend I really had fun and I learned a lot from everyone in the kitchen, I am excited for the next weekend, and I hope it will be as good as this one.

[anagonzalez98-blog]

This weekend I had the pleasure of bringing a little taste of Mexico to Canada and it was a very rewarding experience.

It all began when I went to my friends house to do homework and Dallas was braising beef, he asked if I had corn flour, but unfortunately I didn’t, so I thought that making flour tortillas was a good idea; We went to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients that we needed and we started to make my grandma’s recipe.

I have always had a hard time convincing my grandma to teach me her traditional flour tortillas recipe, but when it came time for me to move to Canada for culinary school she decided to share her recipe with me. She taught me all the tricks to get them right every time, so this weekend I shared her recipe and tricks with my friends and taught them, just as she taught me.

Making tortillas with my friends was super emotional for me, because I felt that my grandma was there helping us to get them just right; I could hear her in the back of my head saying “Solo dale 3 vueltas a la tortilla! (Only flip the tortilla 3 times!)" and it was almost as if she was there making the tortillas through me.

I got so excited while making the tortillas that I called my grandma just to tell her that I was nailing it! She was so happy to hear about her recipe turning out so well, and sounded so proud knowing I could do it right.

We also made some “Chiles Rellenos” which is a roasted poblano pepper, that we stuffed with the same braised beef Dallas had made earlier. My friends were super happy with the result, and I was not only happy with the food, but with the whole experience. I really felt like I was at home and it was amazing that for a moment, I felt like I was cooking in Mexico.

This was a very different weekend for me, but I enjoyed it a lot because of this whole experience and the delicious food I got to eat. I think it was the most Mexican meal I have had in a while.

[jeremiyhang-blog]

Culinary Arts program is my choice. At first I took Tourism Management and studied it for 1 and half year. My mom wants me to be a Flight Attendant or Stewardess. But I think to fly and be a flight attendant is not my thing, my first choice is Culinary Arts I just want to try it and see if I can do it or not. Cooking is my passion, I want to do it and to make my dreams come true. I know it is hard at first and I need to learn a lot of things in this field.

I cook at home and serve it with my family. I am so happy everytime they told me that they love what I am cooking. I am so greatful that my dad taught me how to cook when I was young. And I am so thankful that he support me in what I want to do, and my mom as well.

I am so happy that in my first month in this program I can say that I learned a lot of things. I have new friends, and we enjoy every hour that we are together in kitchen and even in outside of the campus.

On our first week we went out and walked and we discovered some plants, herbs and trees that we can use for cooking and for medicine too. After that we went back to school and cook for our lunch and eat together. And the next friday is when we went near Minister’s Island for clam digging. But we needed to let the clams in the sea so we just cooked what they bought for us. We had so much fun and we are all happy that we experience it. And the recent activity that we did is we help and volunteer to plant trees. It is feel so good when you help others and make new things.

I am looking forward to have a lots of new experience in this program with my instructor and classmate. And make a lots of good memories with them.

#PERS1229 #culinaryarts

[anagonzalez98-blog]

Im so happy that you are enjoying the program as I do, we have had a lot of fun! and Im sure that we are going to make a lot of memories this year! 

[cookingwithtomahawks-blog]

Language of Cuisine

Much like music I believe that cuisine is what you could call a universal language. Like the dialects we speak, flavor is regional and specific to the people from a particular area. Pallets, like the patterns in speech are developed overtime and are often influenced by other cultures that find their way into new and exciting worlds. Countless battles have been fought in the kitchens around the would try to solidify themselves as the best cuisines to ever be known, and though some cuisines have in fact been more influential then others, at the end of the day the all speak the same language. 

Flavor is a way to communicate identity in that we prefer some flavors more then others and in some cases refuse to try anything new due to the fear that you may not like it. But you would be supersized to find that many of the flavors you love so dear share characteristics with other ingredients you may never have thought to try. Whether it be simply that you never thought you would be so bold as to try something new or exciting, or that you longed to explore but your reach is limited only to the local grocer that keeps a steady stock of grown beef, potatoes, and Hamburger Helper. 

Yes trying new things can be scary but remember that food is not unfamiliar. You have tasted these flavors before just in different ways and you have been learning the language of cuisine for longer then you think. So when it comes to food we all speak in tongues.  

[anagonzalez98-blog]

I think that is cool the way you compare cuisine to languages, I never thought about food in that way; Also is crazy how a lot of our favorite ingredients pair so well with others that we never think of.

[anagonzalez98-blog]

Last weekend I had the opportunity to work at the Indulge, and I really had a great time learning from the whole experience

On Friday we had the taste of St. Andrews at water street and chefs wanted to have a street food theme so we served donairs and pulled pork nachos.

For the nachos we cooked the pork  for 24 hours, made our own tortilla chips, a delicious real cheese sauce, an avocado puree, a chipotle mayo, crispy onions and a delicious pico de gallo.

And for the donairs we had flat bread with small dice tomatoes and onions with donair sauce

We had great compliments about our delicious food and some people even came back to our station to get another plate of our food.

Saturday was even better, because we got the opportunity to work in the harvest feast dinner with some of the chefs of New Brunswick and I learned a lot.

At first we served a small appetizer: we had 2 stations, one for seared scallops and another one for Gyoza.

The gyoza were served with avocado purée, spiral vegetables, sesame crunch, soy sauce glaze, pepper miso mayo and bonito flakes. Both stations were full of people that wanted to taste our food.

Then after we finished, we went to the kitchen and started to help the chefs with the courses for the harvest feast dinner.

The menu was so cooI: The college was on appetizer and we prepared pork rillettes terrine, with fruit nut crackers, micro greens, onion jam, cilantro oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard and aioli, the next course was on charge of the Rossmount and they prepared squash soup with cheese sauce and pumpkin seed oil. Kingsbrae was on charge of the main course, they served duck breast with pomme croquette filled with foie gras, brussel sprouts, pea purée, beet oil, and finally dessert was on charge of The Algonquin and they served a beautiful dish of chocolate cake with caramel sauce, berry sauce, physalis and chocolate garnishes.

I really had a great time both days and enjoy every single moment of the weekend, I was amazed because this was the first time that I actually enjoyed the whole service.

I really hope I can have an opportunity like this again, because I really learned a lot and I loved to be part of it.

[anagonzalez98-blog]

One of the things that I am enjoying the most of my stay in St. Andrews is that I have the opportunity to make things that I definitely I can’t do back in home; For example: A few days ago I went Clam Digging with the whole class and I really had so much fun because in Mexico I don’t get to do all of this outdoor activities, so this was new for me.

The day was great, we had an awesome weather, good company and we were going to cook delicious food at the end of the day.

We went near Minister’s Island with buckets and shovels and got ready for some clam digging! We started to look for little holes, which were a sign of clams living down there. With the help of the shovel we made some holes so we can see if there were some clams down there, if we were lucky we will find some, and if not we will just find some clam shells filled with mud.

At the end we got two or three whole buckets filled with clams, but since Clam Digging was prohibited in the zone we had to leave them in the sea.

Since we needed to let the clams in the sea we cooked some clams that the Chefs bought for us.

For cooking the clams the chefs made a hole in the ground and filled it with rocks, seaweed and more stuff, then they start a fire and added the clams; they covered them with a wet blanket and baked them for about forty minutes. We served them straight out from the pit just with a little bit of butter and I really can tell that It was delicious.

I think it was so cool to have the experience to eat something that fresh and the way of cooking them was so interesting.

I definitely loved the experience and really had so much fun, I will love to try it again.