Pre-Dinner Snack

Today I made a little 'pre-dinner/night on the town' snack.! It consisted of:
Roasted Chicken Breasts that were marinated in crushed lapsang souchong tea leaves
Then dressed with a special Valentines sweet Strawberry infused glaze made from the tea of Lapsang Souchong, then thickened with a little slurry.
This combination was all of a thought in my mind, but on the plate it was heaven.! The smokiness of the tea, paired harmoniously with the sweetness of the strawberries. Over the chicken, all of the flavors married to have the meaty smokiness in the front and the fruitiness playing at the end, lasting until the next bite.!
The small veg was a ball of spinach with sauteed onions, and smoked bacon.
Together, this was a quick snack to please even the pickiest of palates.!

For the recipe or for any other comments, please feel free to contact me: shaymarwh@yahoo.com

"Artistic Cheesecake"

Thus far in my culinary training, I have been blessed to have been grouped with individuals that care at least a little bit about baking. So my groups projects are usually the chosen
desserts to go to either friday buffet or to the president of the school and other academic instructors. The last one that was sent was my cheesecake garnished with strawberry slices, a mint leaf, and a dot of strawberry sauce..... ENJOY.

"Tres Fresas"

The long awaited final/signature project for my Classical Pastries class. After many DAYS of stress trying to conceptualize my tastings, and plan out the plating. I present to you Tres Fresas, which translates to Three Strawberries.
Concept: I knew that I did not want to do a "traditional" cake or torte. With my love of food science, and more contemporary food applications, I knew that I wanted to do a triple tasting plate, but of what.? Strawberries.

Application:
So you start off with two carbonated strawberries, which mimics the experience of drinking a strawberry italian soda.
Your next tasting brings you to strawberry sorbet with a chocolate "powder" that reconstitutes into creamy chocolate in your mouth. A chocolate cigarette and leaf of lemon balm tops the sorbet off as a garnish.
Your last, but not final experience takes you to a delicate strawberry caviar with vanilla bean essence in every pearl. Drizzled on top was a sweet spanish wine reduction (name to be added later) and a dried vanilla bean for garnish.
Also there are leaf shaped spongecake on the plate to be enjoyed alone, or used as a tea cookie to be eaten with the sorbet and caviar.

Outcome/Judging: Just the sheer joy of making my own recipes/formulas, and having not only all of the pastry chefs taste my dessert, but to also have the Certified Master Pastry Chef try my plating, and actually enjoy it.! I was in awe. On top of all of that, the chefs said that if they were in a restaurant, and saw that on the menu they would buy it. If I was not so excited and nervous at the same time, I could have shed a tear or two. From this project, it reassures me my love of working with desserts to be eaten as an experience and not to be eaten just because it is the last part of a three-course meal. When the chefs bit into the carbonated strawberry, and the look on their faces of not expecting such an experience of fizzing strawberries made my day, and instilled in my head that I must always push the envelope in everything that I do. Sure traditional is good, but take traditional and make it an artistic experience to be enjoyed. Until later........ As I said to the chefs after explaining my dessert, and before they began their tasting, ENJOY.!