Monday, February 14, 2011

On a lighter note, Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Being a chef, I get to cook many different dishes but I particularly love valentine's day as I get to cook special meals for my family. I find cooking very therapeudic if not...fattening.  :-)  I made this dessert today, it's a red velvet-chocolate mousse-red velvet layer cake with choc ganache...surrounded by vanilla cream and raspberry sauce hearts. Topped with candied orange peel.


This is my gift to my family today for putting up and supporting me while on the BOE.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks yummy!! I work as a food service manager in one of the schools and think the kids would love it. Can you whip up 500 of them for me?? lol

Tony Perugini said...

LOL, I'd love to but I think it would violate our healthy food policy. Actually, after going over the ingredients...it's guaranteed to violate the healthy food policy, LOL.

Anonymous said...

I was thinking the same. It definitely wouldn't be on the State's list of approved snacks.
:(

Very nice however.

Anonymous said...

Nice.....didnt know you were a chef.

Anonymous said...

Tony,
You shouldn't tip your hand during the budget cycle...you have such a big heart afterall. Keep up the great work at home and at your BOE second job.

Tony Perugini said...

I've been in IT/Finance for 16 years, still am. Have some great stories about it. I had a very long, rough and exciting ride between 2003 and 2008 working in IT for a mortage due diligence company situated in between buyers/sellers of mortgages for securities. I have stories about Country Wide, BOA, Lehmnan.

When the market tanked in 2008 (I actually saw it develop in 2006) I laid off about 100 or so of my team then got the axe myself. Company was public at the time, went private afterwards and is limping along today. Very emotional roller coaster for me.

In 2008, my wife wanted me to enroll in culinary school and pursue my passion for cooking. However, I took the safer route and continued working in IT on a consulting basis. Last year, the small company I worked for went belly up and I decided it was now or never.

I enrolled in culinary school last summer. Before I go back to the corporate world on a FTE basis, I want the culinary degree under my belt because I just can't picture myself retiring in a corporate office. It's the leadership aspects I enjoy the most but I'm finding the same skills apply to culinary.

And culinary has been great...something I truly enjoy. However, it's a rough business, profits (if any) are thin. Nothing at all like what's on TV...But I enjoy it and I'm very happy with it. It's hard work, makes one think/be creative and if I can find a way to make money from it it'll be a slam dunk. :-) I've also had the priviledge of interning under a classically trained austrian chef which has been simply wonderful. I have no complaints about it, yet. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Tony, can you also post the recipe - unless it's a secret.

Tony Perugini said...

"Tony, can you also post the recipe - unless it's a secret."

No secret. I don't mind giving out recipes because every person will produce it differently and the end product will be slightly different. I see in my class....21 chefs cooking the same recipe but each comes out different. In the end, we all tend to put our spin on it.