More waiting...and winning!

This is our granola!  We did not get to enjoy it yet, but it will be part of a parfait tomorrow with our coconut yogurt!  Really looking forward to that!!  We also flavored and shaped our cashew and macadamia cheeses which we will not get to try either until tomorrow or Friday.  I loved the way the macadamia cheese looked, but was not overly excited about how the cashew cheese looked.  We got to flavor the cheese four different ways if we wanted to.  Well, since I had never had or made raw nut cheese before, I left one of the cashew cheese mixtures plain, for a baseline flavor profile on its own.  I put dates in the other one although I would have liked to have used dried apricots instead, however we did not have any.  In the really yummy (and I mean yummy!) looking macadamia nut cheese I added chipotle peppers and chives to one and olives and sun dried tomatoes to the other (I think this is what I did anyway if I remember correctly).  What else are we waiting for?  Well, the crepes, the caramelized onions and the chocolate chip cookies.  The cookies are actually done, but since it was minutes before we needed to finish cleaning, we did not take time to plate them so I do not have a finished picture of those either.  I did try one and wow, they are really good.  No seriously, you just have to believe me on this one!  They are really good!!  And get this, we made our own, yes, our own chocolate chips for these cookies!  Can you believe it!  We also made "bacon" today, which, yes is not ready and we are "waiting" for!  Tomorrow will definitely be a big taste testing day!  Oooh la la!!


Ok, now about the contest ... If you read yesterday's blog, you knew there was a contest today.  Chef had a number of ingredients on two separate trays that were covered.  (The ingredients on each tray were different.)  Each team got a tray and had to produce two dishes using all the ingredients within a certain time frame.  I kind of felt like we were on Iron Chef!  When our team gathered round the tray and the items were revealed, it was really pretty interesting.  The other three team members chatted immediately about a number of savory options and ideas, or at least I think they did.  My head was elsewhere.  Instead of being at a complete loss as to what to do, I was shocked at how my mind went immediately to dessert suggestions.  Wow, I guess skill and instinct meet where imagination begins.  Instead of being nervous I was incredibly excited to actually try different things just to see if they "worked".   As I was putting everything together, I was surprised at how comfortable I was with what I was doing.  It also helped, and surprised me at how my other team members had so much confidence in me that they basically just let me run with my idea and do my own thing.  The support and confidence from them made me genuinely enjoy this activity.  My contribution ended up being a beautiful combination of carrots, zucchini, dates, coconut and cinnamon, rolled into balls and dehydrated just up until plating.  We had pineapple leftover so Lindsay quickly pureed it with a little agave and it became a lovely complimentary sauce!  The rest of the team did their thing producing a spectacular savory dish, which I would have been at a complete loss to have come up with and produce.  Thank goodness I was on a team and not alone is all I can say!  And, guess what?!  We won!  Each member of the team got a bottle of the new kombucha, which was sooo delicious.

More good things ... classmate and friend Jennifer, gave us all a gift!  It is this incredible tool that we can use with our coconuts to make wonderful shapes with when we scoop them out!

    
And my new favorite fruit:

The dragonfruit!  It is so beautiful.  The skin is a brilliant pink and the flesh is soft and kind of mushy without a whole lot of taste, but refreshing just the same.  Look at how pretty the inside is!  I must start buying and finding a way to use these more!  Thank you Bun for always bringing in the most interesting fruits! 


Last but not least, I ended up helping fellow student and friend Corinne feed homeless people.  Wow, I have done this at home for what, at least 20 years now and it continues to be a very powerful experience every time.   In addition to the obvious blessings one comes away with, this time however, the food component played a bigger role that usual.  I guess maybe it is because I am at 105 Degrees Culinary Academy, a school focused on raw food where at its core is health, nutrition and sustainability.  Corinne and I were at the end where the trays were dumped of any food left before handing them to the dishwasher.  I don't know what was more painful, what was being cooked for the people to eat or what remained on the trays that we threw in the garbage.  Something is very wrong with all of this.