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LOVE YOUR FOOD!
You probably thought I was gonna show you a bunch of pictures of absolutely beautiful food, huh? Well, I'm still working on that. If you know of any sites that have cool pix of food, will you let me know? E-Mail me
Before I go any further, I'm gonna say FOOD IS AWESOME! And any of you that says otherwise, leave now. Let me clue you into a few myths about food...
*Fat is NOT bad. Fat is flavor, and flavor is what ultimately makes you remember foods you've had.
*Too much salt IS bad for you. Salt increases you blood pressure, and that means you're running a higher risk of suffering a heart attack. Then you're gonna end up in a hospital, on a restricted diet of nasty food. That means that you can't enjoy the finer things in life, like good food. And I promise that anything you eat off a hospital menu for prescribed menu patients isn't gonna even come close to something well prepared at a restaurant.
*Chocolate is good, in VERY small amounts. But in case you're of a different opinion, check out this site: Virtual Chocolate Inc. This is your mecca, go there and celebrate. A bit of trivia: did you know that the Swiss chocolate in the United States is the chocolate that the Swiss deem unfit for the Swiss populous? 
Ok, now... here's a few links for you to look through in case you were pondering starting school for a Culinary Arts degree. Or you can go to any search engine and search "Culinary Arts". Also... here's the most comfortable clothing you'll find: Chefwear And don't get the silly idea that you have to be a cook to order anything... as long as you've got money, they'll sell you stuff.
Try here first... The Yahoo Directory of Culinary schools.
Scottsdale Culinary Institute(SCI) It's in Scottsdale, Arizona.
This is the schoool I recently finished, and I loved it. The program is intense, but the chef's are more than happy to take an extra few minutes to help you understand what's going on. As you progress through the classes, which are in 3 week blocks, you follow the progression of where the food comes from, as well as how it's made. Classes include Butchering, Baking, Catering, and Wine- tasting.
This school, along with Brown Institute in Minneapolis, and several others have been bought out by Le Cordon Bleu.
Culinary Institute of America(CIA) There are two locations as far as I know, one in Hyde Park, New York, and one in the Napa Valley area of California
New England Culinary Institiute(NECI) This school is in Vermont, and has two campuses. One is at Essex, and the other at Montpelier
Western Culinary Institute(WCI) This one, I think, is also in California. I don't know anything about this school.
Le Cordon Bleu This school has many locations, three outside the USA: one in Paris, France, one in London, England and one in Ottawa, Canada. And now there are several in the USA, including Scottsdale,AZ, Minneapolis,MN and (I think) Portland, OR. This school's system is based soley around updating the already existing curriculum. I didn't care for the little that I got.
These are a friend's pictures from our "Grande Buffet". The Catering class' big project. My pictures got bleached out by the film-tech's at the place where I went. But anyways, the theme here is a classical french- wedding.
Allrighty then, if you're looking for some recipies, I s'pose I can put some in here. If there is anything you'd like to have a recipie for, E-Mail me.
A little lesson on chiles before I give this recipie. Chiles actually have flavor, the spiciness is a pleasant side-effect. The spiciness in a chile comes from the seeds and the white "ribs" inside the chile. If you cut out the seeds and ribs the flavor of the chiles will be more obvious. This recipie originally called for a Jalapeno, but I have made it with an Anaheim chile, it was still good, but the spiciness definetly adds a certain goodness to the sauce.
If you don't like spicy foods, here's a little explanation to let you in on how chiles rate: Anaheim is the most mild of the chiles, especially if you remove the seeds and ribs. It's generally the longest of the chiles at the store. The Poblano is a little more spicy, but it's also a little more sweet. It's dark green and resembles like a standard bell pepper. Jalapenos, generally green, but sometimes red, are the most commonly used peppers, and are boring. They are right in the middle as far as spice goes. They're about 3-4 inches long, slender and dark green or bright red. Serrano chiles are on the same level of spice as the Jalapeno, but are only 2 inches and commonly green/yellow in color, they do come red and solid yellow as well. Habeneros are as hot as can be found in commercial grocery stores. Generally speaking, stay away from these unless you REALLY like spicy foods.
Pineapple- Chile Sauce
1 ripe pineapple
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 chile (your choice) minced
1 cup water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro
1 1/2 Tablespoons Lime Juice
1 oz Tequila
Procedure:
Cut the skin and eyes off pineapple and cut 1" thick rounds.
Grill on both sides 5 mins, then chop small.
In medium sauce pan, combine pineapple, sugar, chile and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes.
Remove from heat and let coolfor 10 minutes. Puree in blender until it's the consistency of applesauce. Stir in cilantro, lime juice and tequila.
This sauce goes really well on fritters, baked hams, crackers and as a topping for vanilla ice cream (sounds crazy doesn't it? Try it before you knock it).
Hey, does this sauce look familiar? 
I had the chance to blow away my current employers with this one. They loved it.
Welcome to an all-purpose dessert sauce. It's called Creme Anglaise, but you all might know it as ice cream. Well, it's not actually ice cream, but it's the base that you build the ice cream off of. Anyways, this is a very versatile and silky sauce that should be kept cold and can be served any number of ways.
There are so many things you can do to this sauce, you can add mint or pureed fruits, colorings, you can make it thick like molasses or thin(ner) like maple syrup. Point is, it's a very useful (and tasty) sauce. There are low-fat versions, which are actually pretty decent. But if you want the low-fat version, you'll have to email me.
Creme Anglaise(It's a very useful thing)
9 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 pint heavy cream
2 tsp Vanilla Extract or 1 whole vanilla bean, split &scraped
Proceedure:
Allright, start by whisking the sugar into the egg yolks until it gets kind of a glossy look. Set it aside.
Heat the cream in a saucepan, stirring very gently, just until steam rises, add vanilla and stir gently till it just barely starts to bubble. (this is where it gets tricky)
Start whisking the egg yolks, and gradually adding the hot milk... keep whisking. Then add it back to the pan. (This whole process should take about 45 seconds to 1 minute.)
Allright, from here there are a couple ways to finish this:
1. Put the mixture into a double-boiler and slowly heat to knappe*. Once it gets there, you have to cool it down as fast as possible. I suggest straining it into bottles and putting it in the refrigerator.
~OR~
2. Add the whole thing back to the pan, over medium heat, stirring frequently. While it's heating grab two, large bowls. Fill the larger one with ice, and save the smaller one. When the mixture reaches knappe*, pour it into the smaller bowl and then put the smaller bowl into the larger bowl. Stir until the mix is cool to the touch. Strain into bottles and refrigerate.
* knappe Refers to having the liquid cooked to the point that it will coat the back of a spoon and not drip. A good way to check this: dip the spoon, when you take it out drag your finger horizontaly across the back. If that line holds, it's done.
Mmmmm..... welcome back to the world of dessert sauces. This is a chocolate dessert sauce that is also another one of those recipies that fits in to an "all-purpose" category, well, at least as far as desserts are concerned. You can use it as an ice cream topping, a cake frosting, eating spoonfuls of (I wouldn't recommend it), you can add liquors or liquers to it to change the flavor. It's so versatile, and so good, you really can't live without it. Unless you don't like chocolate, or can't have it or someting like that. It's not completely unheard of, I know at least one person who doesn't eat chocolate. And a lot more who shouldn't. But that's a whole other aguement for my opinions page.
This is SO simple, it can be a little pricey, but it's worth it. The flavor and the texture are completely dependant on the quality of chocolate you use. Also keep in mind, this is not a low-fat affair.
(Hard) Ganache
1# Bittersweet chocolate
1 pt (2 cups) Heavy Cream
-----
4-6 T Butter
1/2- 1 oz, Flavoring (optional)
Allright, set up a double boiler and get that going. Next chop the chocolate into 1/4- 1/2" chunks, and put it in the double boiler with the butter.
Melt the chocolate and the butter until all the lumps are gone. Make sure you gently stir it so that it doesn't burn (Burnt chocolate is a truly horrible smell and taste).
Gently whisk in the heavy cream, and whatever flavoring you might've chosen. It should take on a glossy look. If it doesn't don't worry.
This particular sauce is very good for an ice cream topping, or for a brownie. It's a little too runny for frosting cakes, but it does need to be kept warm in order for it to pour or drizzle well.
ALTERNATE PREPARATION METHOD
Chop the chocolate down to size, put it in the bowl. Heat up your milk or heavy cream (whichever you prefer) to a simmer. Pour it over the chocolate and whisk it smooth. Then add your flavoring, and finish with the butter. MMMM.
Variations
You can increase the amount of milk product, 4 cups milk to 1# chocolate make it more suitable for frosting cakes and/or other pastry-type things. The reason it's better is that the chocolate will actually re-harden just enough to form a really cool "chocolate- crust." ENJOY!
Guess what! I got my name in print on a menu!!
Picture credit for the pictures at the top goes to Rudolf. The dish of chocolates and berries is Virtual Chocolate Inc.'s
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Food