Life: An Acquired Taste

Field trips. In grade school, it was one thing EVERYONE looked forward to. In college, especially culinary school, it's no different. Last Sunday, one of my chefs, Chef Patrick Wagner, took a group of culinary students on a semi-guided field trip. We went down to Atlanta to visit several food markets. First, we met on campus at 7:15 am to carpool.Chef Pat gave us directions to the three markets and lunch, and off we went!  Our first stop was Dekalb. A large farmer's market in Decatu r, right outside of Atlanta. It had everything from fresh produce to live fish, fresh bread to local meat. Everything you could possibly want inside one farmer's market. As you walked from one end to the other the smells were overwhelming. Produce dirt, fresh fish, and coffee all mixed together made me feel like I belonged. People of all ages and nationalities were milling around, bargaining and buying. I ended up buying some gouda cheese from Holland. I can't wait to make mac and ...

I thought y'all might want a look at what I do in my cooking class. However, I don't have many pictures yet. I do have one from cleaning the kitchens. Apparently the stainless steel degreaser we use at school could eat away at my skin/kill me.  Thought this might make you smile! ~Rachel

    As promised, here is my first food post! Something I have realized recently is I am a chef, not a photographer. Anyways, I have always wanted to make caramel sauce from scratch. A couple weeks ago I decided to go for it. I found a recipe, gathered my ingredients, and set off to create. Little did I know I was creating almost more problems than a jar of caramel sauce is worth. First, put your sugar in a medium pot on the stove top and turn the heat to medium. Stir often and wait for the sugar to melt. It feels like forever waiting for it, but it will melt, I promise! While your sugar is melting, go ahead and measure out your butter and cream. This way you're all ready for the next stage. Your sugar is almost ready! You want it to be completely melted and reach 350*F. Warning: be careful where you put your camera while cooking, you never know who might find it Once your sugar reaches 350*F, dump all of the butter in. Be careful, it will bubble u...