All Natural Red Velvet Whoopie Pie

If anyone used a recipe that requires red food coloring, they know that it takes A LOT of that "lovely red chemical liquid" to get the bright red color that everyone wants to see. Anything Red velvet is no exception.

So I decided to do some research to find an All Natural red food color. I found Red beets to be a good substitute. Now the recipe that I found didn't use beet juice, it required beet puree, so there are extra steps to take before starting the recipe. Also it has a lovely reward of lightly dyed red fingers.

I believe I decided on red beet puree because I learn to love the flavor of red beets and also I remember roasting POUNDS red beets when I was a line cook for one beet salad on the menu. No doubt, very popular.

The recipe is from Allie from Baking A Moment. A former pastry chef who shares the same passion that I have. Having any free time from work and life; Just run straight to the kitchen and make magic from scratch.

Base Recipe: All Natural Red Velvet Whoopie Pie

This was the recipe I used as my base recipe. I made some changes which I will explain a bit later and the reason why I decided to do it this way. Additionally there were factors that I would've done differently because it affected the final product.

The new recipe:
All Natural Red Velvet Whoopie Pie
Author: adapted by Bakingamoment.com
Yield: 18 Whoopie Pie

Ingredients:
Cakes:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 egg, room temperature and separated
3/4 cup beet puree
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or bean paste)
1 3/4 cup AP flour
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Filling:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or bean paste)

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and 3/4 cup of sugar until fluffy and white.
3. Mix in the egg yolk.
4. Whisk together the beet puree, buttermilk, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and vanilla until combine.
5. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Mix until combine.
6. In a clean separate bowl and clean whisk, whip the egg whites until the frothy and white. While whisking, slowly sprinkle in the remaining sugar and whisk until stiff peaks.
7. Fold in the meringue in 2 parts until the batter is smooth. First lightening the heavy batter, and then lightly fold in the remaining meringue to keep as much air as possible.
8. Using a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the batter onto 3 half sheet trays (4 by 3 scoops of batter).
9. Bake in the oven for 6 minutes. Rotate, then bake for another 6 minutes. (If baking more than 1 half sheet, rotate front to back and switch the position.)
10. Cool completely.
11. Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Taste. Add more if needed.
12. Spread about a tablespoon of cream cheese filling. Enjoy!

It's time for iPhone Pictures (might want an upgrade one day):

Now it's time for the changes I've made from the base recipe. 

Firstly, I omitted the almond extract just because I don't have that in my pantry; I will always have a bottle of vanilla bean paste though. 

The next change is taking out 1/4 cup of sugar from the creaming of the butter and sugar stage because by adding sugar to the meringue, it prevents from over whipping the whites and creating a Styrofoam textured meringue. It is really hard to fold in over whipped meringue because you'll lose more air before the batter is homogeneous and smooth.   

I've mentioned before that there was a factor that affected the final product. I was referring to the color of the red velvet whoopie pie. The color is a dark red color and not the bright red that all red velvet is known for. Allie said in her post, that the reason why I got the dark red-purple color is because the cocoa powder. I used a blended (Natural and Dutch-Processed) cocoa powder and the dutch-processed cocoa powder created the darker color because of the change in pH of the batter. The taste is still good, but as an aspiring pastry chef, I want everything to look right, so when its red velvet, it should really be red. 

The taste was good. It had a pleasant chocolate flavor with subtle earthy flavor (from the beets). The cream cheese filling adds a slight creaminess and tang, which is the miniature version of the slice of cake. My Cream cheese frosting looks yellow rather than white is because I don't want to whip too much air to a point where it starts to weep and break down. I thought the cake was fluffy and moist already that it didn't needed extra air, just enough to spread the frosting. 

How to make beet puree:

Cut the tops and bottom off the 3 small beet root. Scrub lightly until water. Wrap the beets in foil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for an hour and 30 minutes or until fork tender. Let them cool until cool enough to handle. Use gloves and paper towels, rub the skin off the beets. You'll know when the skin is removed, when the beets shines until the light. Cut the beets into bite size pieces and place into a food processor. Blend it for a minute, stopping twice to make sure there are no large pieces of beets. This has to be a very smooth puree. 

I really hope you would try this recipe and let me know how it turns out. 

If you have any question for me, leave a comment down below.
Subscribe and like if you enjoy these types of post.

If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm at @andyliang89. I post the same pictures that are found here on my Instagram feed like a Sneak Peek to what's found in detail on this blog.

Thank you for all the support and love from everyone!

Lemon Poppy Seed Whoopie Pie

This week I've been thinking about Spring. What comes to my mind is all tart and tangy taste of Lemons. I've been loving the idea of Lemon and Poppy Seeds together, so I did some research and I came across Woodland Bakery Blog. If you've seen my previous post, I've tested a lot of Woodland Bakery Blog's recipe. Gretchen Price is the pastry chef of Woodland Bakery Blog and I've been watching her ever since her previous channel (which I don't want to name because it was more entertaining than informative).

To continue, Gretchen Price posted a recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Whoopie Pie (<-Click here for the recipe). I made my own adjustment to the recipe, and I like how it came out. I'll explain more after the recipe, but picture first!

Even though I only use a 2 inch in diameter scoop, the batter spread double. They came out to be jumbo 4-inch cookies.

Here is the recipe,

Lemon Poppy Seed Whoopie Pie

yield: 5 4-inch Whoopie Pie Sandwiches

Ingredients:Unsalted Butter 6 Tablespoons (84g)Granulated Sugar ¾ cup (150g)Eggs Large 1 (50g)Lemon Zest 1 lemonLemon Juice from half lemon (1 tablespoon)Buttermilk ½ cup (120ml)All Purpose Flour 1¾ cup (227g)Salt ¼ teaspoonBaking Soda ¼ teaspoonBaking Powder ½ teaspoonPoppy Seeds 2 teaspoons

1. Cream the butter and sugar together for about 3 -4 minutes. It will not get as light and fluffy as we are used to many of our mixes to become due to the ratio of sugar and butter here.
2. Add the egg and mix well
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and add it, all at once to the creamed butter mixture.
4. Mix well and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
5. Add the buttermilk with the lemon juice and zest, slowly while mixing on low- medium speed.
6. Add the poppy seeds last, mix to combine
7. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or overnight) before baking or they will spread too much
8. Preheat oven to 350°F
9. Scoop cookies to desired size I used a 2 ¼ inch scoop.
10. Bake for approximately 15 minutes slightly golden brown and not raw in the centers
11. Cool completely and then fill with your choice of filling.

_______________________________________________________________

The Difference:

There is a slight difference between the original recipe and the one above. I don't like using Extract beside Vanilla. I love the Natural taste of fresh fruit, so I tend not to use any extract especially almond. 

Opinion: 

This recipe is very easy to whip together if you have all the ingredients. There is a substitution for Buttermilk if you can't find it in your country; Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of whole milk, let sit. That's my go to ratio for whenever I feel lazy to go buy Buttermilk, but having leftover buttermilk means Buttermilk Pancakes (from Laura in the Kitchen) the next day or the Red Velvet Cake from WoodlandBakeryBlog. 

You must let this rest; I actually let it rest for over an hour. For the size of my ice cream or cookie scoop, I could only fit 6 onto a half sheet pan; any more and they will touch which alter the classic round shape of a whoopie pie. Bake for 15 minutes until the edges just start to get the golden brown color, the tops will look pale (sorry that's natural for this recipe). While it cools down, the bottoms will continue to get darker. 

As for the filling, I made WoodlandBakery Blog's Swiss Buttercream. This is what I recommend for everything, I've used it in most of my friend's cakes and they like the taste of it. 

I added 1/2 Lemon Zest to the buttercream; I also added Fresh Lemon Juice, a teaspoon at a time, to taste (I ended with 3 teaspoons). It will separate, continue whipping it and will smooth out. Trust me. 

I filled my Jumbo Whoopie Pie with about 4 tablespoons of buttercream. Seems like quite a bit, but I like A LOT of icing. 

Here are more pictures, 

I used an offset spatula to spread the filling, but I could've used a pastry bag for a cleaner look. The crumb is very tender and airy; it is surprisingly light and with the slightly crisp edge creates a good experience. I have to say eating it fresh is much better, but letting the whoopie pie sit will create a softer similar to a cake texture. 

Taste: This has a fresh and light lemon taste, very refreshing like this New York City weather compared to the 5 degree winter weather we've been having for the last 2 weeks. 

I really hope you would try this recipe and let me know how it turns out. 

If you have any question for me, leave a comment down below.
Subscribe and like if you enjoy these types of post.

If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm at @andyliang89. I post the same pictures that are found here on my Instagram feed like a Sneak Peek to what's found in detail on this blog.

Thank you for all the support and love from everyone!

Chocolate Layered Marshmallow Cheesecake

Hi lovely people out there,

This time I don't have a long essay regarding my updates on my pastry career. Instead I have a recipe!

It is (like the title says) Chocolate Layered Marshmallow Cheesecake.

This is what it looks like in the pan:

Actually this was a mistake since I wanted to be a Chocolate Swirled Marshmallow Cheesecake, but I'll explain later why this turned out instead of the swirled effect.

First of all, I didn't come up with this base recipe for the Marshmallow Cheesecake recipe, so I did my research and it took me to thesweet-toothlife.com. I have to give credit to Mary Frances, the creator of the blog, for the base recipe of the Marshmallow Cheesecake. Her rendition includes a fabulous swirl of raspberry sauce, which does provide a lovely balance of sweet and tart.

Base Recipe:http://thesweet-toothlife.com/2014/04/raspberry-swirled-marshmallow-cheesecake/

My rendition of this Cheesecake has a thin, crispy Oreo Cookie Crust and an extra special layer of chocolate on top.

The picture above doesn't show a springform pan; I've used an 8-inch cake pan. Nowadays I don't like using a springform pan because I have to wrap the entire pan with foil so no water sips in. It's just easier to spray the cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and line the bottom with a parchment paper circle. The recipe below will have details on how to unmold the cheesecake.

________________________________________________________________________

Chocolate Swirled Toasted Marshmallow Cheesecake

Yield: 12 servings

Equipments: 1 8-inch cake pan, Parchment paper, Nonstick cooking spray

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 cup Oreo Cookies, finely crushed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup packed marshmallows (16 large ones)

2 tablespoons butter

¼ cup milk

70g (about 3 oz) melted semisweet chocolate

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix together the Oreo cookie crumbs and butter until it resembles wet sand. Pour it into an 8-inch cake pan. Press it flat without going up the sides. Bake it in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Let cool outside.

For the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, about two minutes.

Add eggs, and vanilla together one at a time; mixing until smooth. Set aside.

Toast marshmallow under the broiler until almost black. Flip it over with a large offset spatula.

Melt marshmallows, butter, and milk in a small saucepan. Stir constantly for a couple minutes until mixture is completely melted. Strain through a chinois or a fine sieve.

Stir marshmallows into cream cheese mixture.

Pour the cheesecake batter over the cooled crust; leaving behind about a cup of batter.

Add the melted chocolate stirring quickly until smooth.

Pour the chocolate cheesecake batter on top and swirl until your desired marble effect.

Place the cake pan into a larger baking pan to create a water bath by filling the baking pan halfway the side of the cake pan with boiling hot water. A water bath will ensure more even baking (and will prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.)

Bake for 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees. Turn off the oven, crack the door slightly open and let cool slowly until room temperature.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight before serving. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 2 months.

__________________________________________________________________

To unmold a cheesecake out of a 8-inch cake pan, your going to need:
           a flat plate or plastic wrapped 8-inch cake board,
           serving plate
           a blow torch, gas stove, or a large pot of hot water
If your using the;
           Blow Torch: flip the cake pan onto a plate or a plastic wrapped cake board (if you have one), torch the bottom and sides.
           Gas Stove: Turn the flame to medium-low. Using oven gloves, hover the cake pan bottom and sides over the flame (this may take up to 2 minutes to unmold).
           Hot water: Dip the cake pan until it reaches halfway up the pan. Let it sit for 45 seconds. If it doesn't melt the fat, dip the sides. (This would be my last choice because I don't want water in my cheesecake.)

To tell if the fats have melted, the knife will slide easily between the pan and the cake. Flip the cake over and lift the pan out. Flip the cheesecake back over onto your serving plate. Cut your portions and enjoy!

I have pictures!:

My Opinion: I was disappointed on the marble effect and that's mainly blame on myself because I didn't swirl it enough. I also left too much of the batter in the second pour for the chocolate layer, so it became more of a chocolate cheesecake instead, but I LOVE my mistakes and it actually looks good. The taste of this cheesecake is GOOD! The initial flavor is the cream cheese, then the semisweet chocolate, and lastly the very light taste of the toasted marshmallow. It was very creamy and crispy from the cookie layer, added another dimension to this dessert.

I really hope you would try this recipe out one day. And I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing this.

If you have any question for me, leave a comment down below.
Subscribe and like if you enjoy these types of post.

If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm at @andyliang89. I post the same pictures that are found here on my Instagram feed like a Sneak Peek to what's found in detail on this blog.

Thank you!

Seriously Long Overdue Update

To begin with, I have to apologize for the long overdue update. It's been about a year and a half since I've written a post. I have to say it's been a crazy year and a half with great fun and support from everyone I'm around with.

Let's continue from where I left off,
As you all know I attend a culinary school at New York City called International Culinary Center in Soho. After a month of searching a job, I found a "home" at Lafayette restaurant as an Extern at first. I've worked as a Banquet Cook, Garde Manger, then Hot Apps (in that exact order) for about 9 months in total.

As I was working as a Line Cook, I saw a position in Lafayette's Pastry department. In a matter of a couple of weeks, I became the new Pastry Cook. I've worked Brunch, Lunch, and Dinner services. Even though it was only a month that I was a Pastry Cook, I learned a lot from the chef there and would've loved to continue my career there. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay in the restaurant I called "home" (because it was my first restaurant fresh out of culinary school), but I found a new "home" and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Fast forwarding to the present now, I'm currently working at a Soho restaurant called The Dutch as a Pastry Cook. Again, I'm loving every minute I step into the restaurant because the vibe the Pastry team has just feels like home with supporting teammates helping out.

During the "flying" couple of months, I've been testing different cake recipes and I think I found one that my entire picky family actually enjoys. It is actually from Woodland Bakery Blog.

The recipe is called Yellow Cake: http://www.woodlandbakeryblog.com/yellow-cake-recipe/

This is an oil-based cake, so it stays moist even from the fridge (it doesn't make it into the fridge). I've made it into a 12-inch cake for a friend, a rectangular cake for a family dinner (with homemade strawberry jam in both of them).

I also took the cake and rolled it into a Swiss Roll with Whipped cream and diced fresh strawberries a filling. It didn't turn out that well because the cake just wanted to tear and make holes (probably the cake doesn't have enough gluten since it uses cake flour). Nonetheless, the final result tasted good and that's my culinary side of me doing the talking. Additionally eating the cake just as a snack, is really good for curing that sweet tooth.

Begin new to the Pastry industry, I've been having concerns on my pastry knowledge and skills, and my culinary knowledge as well. Not having the formal training has always made me feel insecure about how well I'll do in the industry, but the best advice for those who made the same transition as I've made, is to keep your head down, learn as much and fast as you can. I did that for 6 months now and I've never regretted my decision to follow my passion in Pastry.

Now I don't know if anyone has felt this but as a Young Cook who made the transition from Culinary to Pastry, I feel like I've been losing my touch from working on the Culinary side. All the knowledge that I've gained from the Culinary program is disappearing; leaving me with the knowledge of Pastry.

I've been reading a specific book called "The Pastry Chef's Apprentice" by Mitch Stamm. This book interviews a handful of pastry chefs and it talks about the journey that each one has been threw over the years. During each interview, I've compiled specific words that stood out relating to the title "Pastry Chef".

This is the picture I've picked from the Word Cloud Program: www.wordle.net

I hope you enjoy my Seriously Lone Overdue Update. I have to say I miss blogging and sharing my experiences with certain recipes. I definitely enjoy testing recipe especially those that satisfy my sweet tooth. 

Please subscribe if you want to see more upcoming post. I'll try to post in the coming weeks about recipe testing and any updates I have in my Pastry career. 

Quick Update

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've posted anything. I'm sorry for not staying up to date, it's just that there's a lot of things juggling in my mind and events I have to attend. As of now I found the time to write a quick post.

The big news: I've offically graduated from Culinary School (International Culinary Center in New York City). I'm currently waiting for a job position I really want in a new restaurant that will open in the near future. In the meantime, I've been to keeping myself busy and also "training" myself to stay mentally fast similar to the speed when I was in Culinary School.

I've made a couple of things. Some that I'm very proud of, and others that I didn't take a photo of because of the results.

Here comes the pictures:

Both of these pictures were the birthday dinner party I catered for my high school friend. 

The menu consisted:

Nicoise-style Salad

Homemade Pasta in a Parmesan Broth with Peas and Enoki Mushrooms

French Onion Soup with Toasted Sourdough Bread and Melt Gruyere Cheese

Quiche Lorraine (Egg Custard Tart with Bacon and Gruyere Cheese)

Roasted Chicken Thighs Grandmother-style

Classic Beef Stew

Green Tea Cream Puffs with Green Tea Pastry Cream

Classic Napoleon layered with Pastry Cream and studded with Raspberries and Blueberries

My attempt on making Baked Red Bean Buns. The Red Bean Paste could use more moisture.

This was featured on my instagram (@boredbasterd) 

I made a Napoleon with Chocolate Mousse dusted with powdered sugar.

Not the best looking dessert but it tasted pretty good.

This was my proud attempt on making Fresh Homemade Super Soft White Toast Bread

It tasted lovely! Oh carbs HOW I ADORE YOU! 

That's all that I have for now. I will make sure I will keep everyone updated in my future in the culinary world! I'm loving this industry, maybe the wrong side of it. Should I go to pastry side? 

Please Subscribe to get the latest update and leave comment for me if you'd like! Hope you enjoy the lovely pictures and you can follow me on Instagram if you'd like to see all my photos. 

Food and Dining Review: Jane Restaurant NYC

Jane Restaurant in New York City

One of the very very popular brunch spots. So popular that when we had a reservation for 2 at 1 PM, the lady said they are running behind. To top it off, we arrived 20 minutes later than our scheduled reservation. So right off the bat, not to fond of it and then the waiting games begin. My friend and I waited outside the door for about 20-25 minutes I believe until another lady guided us to our table.

Walking into the back of the restaurant and it felt like the space is quite small for a brunch hotspot, but it still felt cozy. Falling comfortable into our seats, we scanned the menu quickly and saw what we liked. Being myself, I looked up the menu online and decided a couple of dishes (betting that my friend will pick the same dish I want). So we order the Benedict Jane and Benedict Johnny (turns out we wanted the same dish, then we laughed).

They look like this:

Benedict Jane

Benedict Johnny

We shared the dishes by exchanging 1 Benedict. I'd have to say both were not what I was expecting. I thought both dishes will have an explosion of flavors, but turns out I detected faint acidity from the hollandaise and the richness from the egg yolks.

Benedict Jane has 2 Poached eggs on a bed of Spinach under a Crab and Crawfish Cake, with a Tarragon Hollandaise. (From Jane Restaurant Menu)
I cut into it the yolk was oozing everywhere, which looked so good! After a few seconds of fumbling to get every element on my fork, I took a bite and the flavors were 1 dimensional. The crab cake wasn't seasoned that well; all I tasted was lemon, pepper, and a hint of crab. The texture was actually very soft, but I wanted the crab cake to be crispy and provide the texture dimension that was needed in this dish. The hollandaise was good and buttery with a good acidity; somewhat difficult to tell that it was tarragon hollandaise unfortunately. After taking a few bites, I realized that the only flavor that really stood out when eating each element is the very bland spinach that needed a lot of salt.

Note: Not too happy about the dish overall,

Benedict Johnny has 2 Poached Eggs on a Chicken Sausage under a corn pancake with a roasted tomato hollandaise. (From Jane Restaurant Menu)
This also had the sexy waterfall of oozing egg yolk. The main flavor was coming from the Sausage, which was wonderfully seasoned. The pancake was oddly sweet and dissolved when it touched the egg yolk puddle, so there wasn't a solid foundation for the sausage to sit on. The hollandaise was done well; I tasted a faint tomato flavor and it tied to the Benedict together.

Both of the Benedict dishes came with HOME FRIES!

If you haven't noticed the word home fries, above, is in caps; that would mean that they were GOOD!!! I said to my friend that if I had a plate of these Home Fries, I'd be happy! These were seasoned nicely (needed a touch more pepper for my taste) and crispy all around! I wanted to order another plate, but I knew we weren't going to be able to finish it. So I ended my meal by eating ALL the home fries and cleaning the plate of any leftover egg yolk puddles.

At the end, when we finished our plates, I mentioned about a drink at Jane that had positive reviews. Its called Cucumber Ginger Ale. We order this drink to share and it was SO REFRESHING! With bits of cucumber floating around the drink submerged in ginger ale that was lightly sweetened was a matched made in heaven, especially when it was summer months. I would order this again if I go back again.

So overall my experience was enjoyable, I was satisfied with my food (thank god the home fries were there), and the drink was Excellent! I'd recommend the restaurant itself, not so sure about the Benedict. You can try to see if you agree with what I say here. Please let me know what you think about Jane restaurant in NYC!

Side note: I know I haven't posted any pictures for a while now, and I plan to once I find the time. I'm currently in my last month of my culinary program and believe to be doing fine. Hope to post the pictures from a month ago, I was proud of what I've produced and I hope you will too.

Culinary photos #8

It's been a while since I've posted anything so I thought I'd take the time to write about what had happened during the last two weeks. I want to also mention the transition to the following level, which put a stop to my photography obsession. 

First off, starting the week off great, we had Wine day. Wine day is one entire school day where we learn about the basic types of wines from different types of grapes. We've also learned how to do basic wine pairings with specific dishes. So to not get myself drunk, we had to sign a form mentioning that we can only sip and spit the wine (so no drinking of any glass of wine).

The types of wine:

White: Riesling, Sauvginon Blanc, Chardonnay

Red: Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabarnet Sauvginon, Syrah

Stack of paper for Wine Day

White Wines with lovely components like Sriracha, Smoked Almonds,

Salami, Salt, Butter, Lemon, Currant Jelly, and Chocolate Coveuture.

Red Wines

A few days later, I took the opportunity to volunteer for a company called Blue Ribbon Restaurants at Googa Mooga (A Food and Music Festival at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY). They are known for their Fried Chicken and also feeding chef's stomach late at night after their shift has ended. I'd love to visit all the restaurants and market to see what they produce on daily basis. During the volunteer experience, I've met the most respectful and "fun" chefs. They showed the thought process of setting up a outdoor booth with success while learning how to adapt with mother nature when she strikes. If it's possible, I'd work with them any time because the chefs always find the time to teach you something even when it's the lunch time rush.

During this experience, 2 other volunteers and myself were in charge of breading the chicken to be fried. I will not share the drafted recipe that the chefs told us (because I know there's something missing in the recipe). I might try to recreate it at home during my spare time, but the photo below will show the actual plate each customers gets when they pay for a Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken at the Googa Mooga. 

Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken dusted with secret spices (which I can't determine) and drizzled with Honey. 

Once we've finished volunteering, we had the opportunity to walk around the festival and try different food from other booths, so I walked up to this booth and ate this. (I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the booth)

Fried Soft Shelled Crab Sandwich with Lettuce and Mayo. The flavors were nice, but they were too salty for my taste.

 Now I have to mention this, I've advanced to the next level in my Culinary Program. On this level, I'm making a set of menu with my team 4 times a week and everything has to do with timing, so due to constant rush to finish on time, I don't have enough time to take photos of what my team has made. Some days, it can get really stressful, but I've manage to get through the day with "happy" smiles and stomachs.

Apple Tart garnished with Quenelle-Whipped Cream and Mint Leaf

Thank you everyone for reading and enjoying the photos. I've promised a recipe using a certain fish, but I haven't had the chance to complete it. I'll try to do it, but there will be changes from the original recipe I've presented to my chef instructor. Stay tune for more upcoming recipes and restaurant food blog post!