A Belated Holiday Update

Hello to all,
hoping you had a pleasant holiday season celebrating to your hearts delight and eating lots of delicious food.

As for myself I was very preoccupied making this bad boy.
This is a traditional Buche Noel ( yule log) the cake itself was the easiest part.  I make a jaconde sponge flavored with hazelnut extract and a cocoa and hazelnut butter cream for the filling as well as to cover the outside of the cake.  On top is chocolate bark and a little holly.  The mushrooms were made from French meringue and the pine cones are peanut butter ganache with almonds.  It definitely was a task to make, but I enjoyed every moment of it and was sooo glad to finally see it come together.

On Christmas I had some friends come over for a small together which we celebrated with a potluck, watching Christmas movies, and playing apples to apples.  All and All it was a great time.

These next few weeks at work have become increasingly busy we did 529 a night Christmas week and for New Years our reservations are 550 ahhhhhhhhhh scary stuff.  The best part of all of this is that we have been having a lot of call ins.  Yesterday out kitchen was a skeleton crew.  We usually have 12 people on staff, 10 is ok, we only had 7 last night.  It was rough to say the least, but it really shows who are the strong cooks in this kitchen.

One of my favorite quotes that I pass all the time while walking around the lodge is an Ethiopian proverb it says " smooth seas do not make strong sailors."   It constantly reminds me that everyday there is a lesson to be learned and that I am still earning my salts if I want to be the best chef I can be.

Wishing you all the best and a continued happy and safe holiday season.

Cheers,
Ally

This is what you missed

Hey guys,

so I guess you are all a little curious about what I have been up to for the past month.  Well here is what you missed.  I am now trained on all three stations in the front kitchen and will hopefully be moving to the back soon once we get our two new hires in.  I am helping create the new jiko salad which will be on our menu this Thursday!!!!

So here's what is in it:
Red oak, frisee, arugula, and tarragon with a citrus walnut vinagrette, Chinese fried walnuts, heirloom froggy hollow pears, midnight moon goat cheese, and caramelized golden raisins.

I have to say it taste pretty good and I am sooooo excited.

Ok what else.... I have decorated the apartment for Christmas and think that instead of gifts 
I will be making personalized gingerbread men and women cakes for my friends down here so I shall post photos once they are done.  I just had some friends come down to  visit me and I gave them a tour of the new fantasyland which is phenomenal.  The whole area really immerses you inside the stories of Beauty and the beast, the little mermaid, and dumbo.  Needless to say, it is a must see for when you come down to Florida.  Finally, I might be in the Disney Christmas parade.  I went to the cast tapings and saw Nick Cannon, Maria Menonous ( I have no idea if that is how you spell it ), and Philip Philips ( who is ooooooooooooohhhh sooooo cute).  I was also standing right infront of the castle when they did the navy fly over.    I saw the candlelight processional with Neil Patrick Harris who was amazing he even sang along with the choir.  I was really hoping he would eat at Jiko again this year but he didn't =( however, we did have James Denton come in which was pretty awesome.  I got to make his appetizer and part of his entree, and his server told me that he enjoyed them very much =) ( I was totally grinning like a fool the whole time and just thinking, omg your so cute, omg I can't believe your actually here, and acting like a girl, good times.)   


Alright well I hope all of you enjoy this holiday season with your family and friends.
Love and best wishes.
Peace,
Ally

p.s. I saw the new star trek trailer and it looks epic 

So far so good....

Hey All,
so we are going to start from the end of this month and then go back to the beginning.
Last night guess who decided to come for dinner at Jiko, any ideas????
Ok I'll tell President Obama Vice President Biden, their family, and about 20 of their close friends.
It was soooo cool and we didn't find out until they were like literally walking through the door.
I didn't get to meet him, but I did get to see them.  And ontop of that we have been starting to get pretty busy we did 435 last night and probably did close to 450 yesterday.

So what else have been up to you might ask.  Well I have been in a grueling duel with my electric company who keeps trying to charge us extra money without informing us of when our bills are actually due.
Preparing for when my friend Joey comes down to visit me this week hopefully we will  go to Halloween nights of horror.  I decorated my apartment for Halloween and have also been trying out some of that culinary equipment I brought down with me.  So far I have made caramel apple upside down cake, pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, flammenkeuche ( a austrian pizza with roasted garlic, chicken, bacon, pinenuts, and a creamy 4 cheese sauce), 40 clove chicken, and yesterday I used my wok and made garlic fried rice with mongolian beef.  All and all I have to say not too bad considering I spend the majority of my day in the kitchen and I still have the desire to cook when I come home lol

Other than that still trying to create a routine for myself and really get into the swing of things.  The kitchen is really starting to warm up to me and I enjoy working there.  It is such a pleasure to be able to work with other individuals who know what they are making and appreciate the importance of what we do, not mention it is great to have strong cooks in a busy kitchen who can hold their own.  All I can say is everything is so far so good.

Peace,
Ally

One more day

Hey all,

ok so I am finally down in Florida and finally semi settled in and will have my first day tomorrow at Jiko.
Spoke to my chefs after my resort orientation and found out I will be doing my first day of training in the open kitchen on the fry station score!!!! If you can't tell from all the explanation points I am super excited.

This was the highlight of my day I was walking into Animal Kingdom Lodge super excited and as I walked into the building I noticed that my shoes were slipping.  I said to myself that is weird and looked down and saw that the seams have come open because of the heat the glue had melted.  I proceeded to walk into to the lodge and told my training coordinator that I had a wardrobe malfunction. My facilitator went out to his car and saved the day by fixing my shoes with gorilla glue and duct tape.  For the rest of the day we called him prince charming.  Only in Disney.


If you haven't looked yet there are photos up on facebook of my apartment, I have a whole wall dedicated to The Beatles and my rooms theme is retro-revival ( I always said I was born in the wrong era lol).

Alright more to come after my first day off work.
peace,
Ally

17 Days and counting

Hey everyone,
so if you haven't already been notified I am going back down to Florida because I got hired back into DISNEY!!!!!! And can't you tell that I am sooooo excited from the excessive exclamation points and o's.....

Well today I am officially re-starting my blog to keep everyone posted in what adventures and mishaps this path shall take me down.  For the most part I am very optimistic.  I will be working at Jiko, the signature  restaurant located in Animal Kingdom Lodge.   So if anyone is coming down to Florida don't forget to look me up!  More to come after the move

Final Days In Florida

So I can't believe that it has been almost 2 months since my last blog and then again I was working Food and Wine Festival for those past two months and was up to my neck busy.  Actually.... not so surprised now.

Well for those of you who don't know, Food and Wine festival is an annual festival done during the slow season which actually makes Epcot a mad house.  I was in the yellow zone- Germany and worked from Germany all the way to Belgium.  I earned the name waffle pants as well as the Queen of Belgium because it became my home for most of the festival.  I had the opportunity to work two Parties of the Senses and was able to experience a great deal of food, met some wonderful chefs, and learned so much more about the culinary industry.

I was also able to do a beer dinner with the German chefs of Epcot, shadow at California Grill, and had my "last supper" at my favorite restaurant on property.  It only seemed fitting to end my culinary journey where it began.  I came down to Walt Disney with a desire to work at Jiko.  I was able to job shadow, dine there twice, and have memorable experiences on all three occasions.  It seems sooo strange.  I've been getting crazy nostalgic the past week.  And I can't help but feel sad.  I mean this has been home for the past 7 months.  And I have two sets of families here, my Prime Time Family and Food and Wine friends.  I have  had to say hello and good bye to so many wonderful people, it is almost difficult to keep track of who has stayed and who is no longer here.

All and All I am extremely pleased with my experience here and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work for Walt Disney World.  I can't really say goodbye, because I have a feeling that I will definitely be coming back.  Peace and I'll be seeing you,

Ally

California Grill Pt 1 and Pt 2

I can't believe it has been a month since my last post.  Since it has been sooooo long there is much to tell you.  First of all I am not at Prime Time at Hollywood Studios I am at Food and Wine Festival at Epcot.  I am in the German zone and have had the pleasure of working in Belgium, Poland, and Hops and Barley ( the American kiosk) so far.  Our zone has about 14 different countries each with something new to offer.  I've also had the pleasure of dining and shadowing at California Grill.  Both experiences were amazing.  For dinner I had an artisnal cheese platter with pluot gel, honey comb, medjool dates, and caramelized walnuts.  Next, there was a braised adobo pork flat bread with queso fresco, black beans, and nopales pico de gallo.  It was phenomenal and I was so thrilled to see nopales ( cactus) on a menu, they are my new favorite food.  After we sampled some of the sushi which california grill is known form, tuna poke ( a cubed tuna with an uzu and miso vinaigrette and green seaweed salad), the sashimi, and tar tar ( with sesame seeds, black sea weed, and sesame oil sauce).  The sushi is prepared to order, it is extremely fresh, and a pleasure to eat the dish with your eyes first and then your pallet .  For the entrees we had the  yellow tail snapper with dungeness crab risotto, corn, snap peas, and choron.  If I haven't said this before I am NOT a fish person and I find myself constantly laughing because 4/5 times that I have dined at the signature restaurants I have ordered fish.  The snapper was outstanding it was flaky, firm, and  paired delightfully with the creamy risotto.  The snap peas and corn added a pleasant pop of texture and freshness.  And to round it all off I had a unique chenin blanc from South Africa which amazingly transformed itself through out the night with each of the different foods it was paired with.  We also had a cast iron seared bison with truffle mac and cheese, toy box squash, cipollini, smoked bacon, and glace de viande.  For dessert, there was a deconstructed smore.  Featuring a madagascar vanilla bean marshmellow, lava cake, a sable cookie with peanut butter gelato.  It was fun and delightful way to finish the meal.  And as we finished dinner we were able to view the fireworks from magic kingdom.  For those who haven't visited the contemporary, the restaurant is on the 15th floor and offers a wonderful view of magic kingdom and the castle.

This week has been crazy between work, school, and people leaving.  I worked 66 hours, had to study for a test =(, and had to attend 3 farewell events for some friends who have been here since the beginning of my program.  Let me say, the first time you have to say goodbye to someone close it is quite difficult.  However, as time goes by I find it easier to let go.  Maybe its Disney or maybe its because I'm growing up and realizing that people are meant to be in your life when they are supposed to be and if you are meant to see  them again then you will.  So I've decided from now on I'm not going to lament when people leave me, instead I will cherish the fact that I had the opportunity to get to know them and relish in the time that I have had.


Hmm as far as food and wine goes, there are 30 plus kiosks with countries from all over.  Each country features 1-3 dishes from that land and a beverage to pair with them.  There is also a plethora of demonstrations, food shows, mixology sessions, and party of the senses.  Party of the senses is my goal.  It is a huge party with strolling buffets feature a variety of specialty cuisines.  There is live music, celebrity chefs, and cirque du soleil performers.  They are every other weekend and the tickets are bought way in advance so they only way to get in is if your a local or if you plan on working it. So everyone keep your fingers crossed because that is my next objective.  Wishing you all well and being seeing you soon.

peace,
Ally