Another reason why girls are inherently superior

We had the privilege of hosting a young lady of considerable culinary talent and strength this summer. Tonight was her final shift at the TreeHouse. She's moving on to a stint at Johnson & Wales in Charlotte and even greener pastures beyond that. Well, tonight being her last hours of servitude, the boys chose to serenade her with the 70's hit, "Last Dance." So sweet. And then they dumped a bucket of ice cold water over her. She showed her superiority by having brought a change of clothes with her to work. Oh, Miss Talent just knew that those boys were gonna do something that would result in a temporarily ruined outfit and a miserable ride home. Mmmmm. . .superior.

Failure

Sous Chef failed miserably. He tried to cut off the middle finger on his left hand yesterday. And he was unsuccessful. But the doctors in the emergency room did have the pleasure of ripping off what was left of his neatly sliced fingernail. The ghost of that fingernail is now haunting the brand new Japanese knife that The Exec just got from Korin. Or it might be haunting what The Sous was trying to slice: the frozen mini brioche loaf that I made. The sorrow and boo boo-related paperwork were all in the name of seared Hudson Valley foie gras with honey wheat brioche and local fig gastrique. The sacrifices we make for unknown bellies.

YDPC ISO Inspiration

Ideas for desserts? You got any? I need some. . . bad, baby. Everyone is clamoring for new ideas from me, but I can't get my old brain outta it's rut. Inspiration needed. Will pay good money (not really).

Fodder for YDPC

While sitting around sweating the other day, I let my mind wander. When is something truly blog-worthy gonna happen again? Something I can rant about that won't get me in trouble with someone out there. Then I realized that busy season (though this summer only produced a minor slow down) is fast approaching. And September promises to be insane--teaching at the local school, teaching in Columbia (I know doubling up is gonna kill me, but it's for Chef P and I can't disappoint my boy), cheffing away at the usual spot, and caking it at a good friend's wedding. Oh yeah, and maintaining some semblance of a life.

Ergo, as tired as I might be, I am hoping to have plenty to write about. As long as it doesn't get me in trouble, that is. Stay tuned.

Fig Napoleon, no, wait, Fig Cheesecake, maybe?

This dessert started out as a fig napoleon. The plan was to stack the two loaded phyllo planks. However, we know how well plans always work out. So I just called it a Fig Cheesecake. The idea was there--creamy mascarpone custard sweetened with local honey--but the execution wasn't quite within the cheesecake definition. The kids sold 11, so calling it a cheesecake may have piqued more guests' interests than Stackless Fig Napoleon would have.

--Base layer: phyllo topped with butter, turbinado sugar, and pistachios and baked until golden and crispy

--Fig jam (I made it from local figs harvested from the property of the owners of our produce purveyor.)

--the honeyed mascarpone layer of which I have already spoken

--fresh figs (Cali figs since we're pretty much done with the season around here)

--the sauce is Chef P Diddy's Grand Marnier spiked oj reduction

--orange segments act as a base for port sorbet (which I knew would not stay frozen because of the amount of sugar and alcohol in the port, but I didn't cook out the alcohol like a lazy spaz so I ended up trying to refreeze it mid-service)

--the whole lot was sprinkled with salted, roasted pistachios

By the way, sorry if you came in last week and your ice cream was a bit melty. The heat, the heat, the heat has me in a tizzy. The heat wave of this past week not only caused me to melt into a puddle on the floor, it also did the same to all of my frozen treats. Parfaits were soft. Ice cream was dripping. Granita was soggy. The ambient temperature was killing the cooling power of all of our freezers. So, sorry. Experience the classic conflict of man versus nature as demonstrated by a soggy pastry chef and her soggy ice cream.