Which job should I pursue? The one I have wanted since I was 12? Or the one that has just come up?
Both are respectable careers, so don't worry about your parents. You need to live your life and not your parents' life.
As for which you should choose, what's the rush. You're 16. You have plenty of time. Taking a job in a flower shop now won't preclude culinary school later. If you love it, stay there until you don't love it anymore.
Reply:To be honest I didn't even have to finish reading your question to be able to give you my advice You have to do what makes you happy even if its for less money whatever the case my be happiness is way more important than anything!!!!
Reply:What is your character at the moment? A pro chef job is very hectic and stressful, but a florist job is rather relaxed and zen. What type of environment do you prefer?
Reply:Maybe you can have your cake and eat it too?
How about combining both:
"Edible flowers: The Red Velvet Rose of love
It might sound a little odd because of the rose's romantic connotations, but roses have been eaten since ancient times - and in the kitchen this beautiful flower has a very important role
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Melissa De Leon
I discovered flowers were edible back in my early pre-chef adventures, when I had the perfect height to hide in my great grandmother's garden and eat her favorite miniature white roses without being found. Those were great days full of pure innocent adventure and joyful rewards from mother and father nature.
The diversity and mystery of our tropical rainforest always captured my attention. Learning the value of natural medicine through my life, the healing benefits of plants and flowers, have helped me develop a natural instinct to preserve the traditional knowledge that has been carried by our cultures over the ages.
In the kitchen, this beautiful flower has a very important role. It might sound a little odd because of the rose's romantic connotations, but in fact, roses have been eaten since ancient times. Romans were used to sprinkle rose petals on food, the table, and all over the banquet hall.
Rose petals, fresh, dried and crystallized can be added as a garnish to a salad, made into an infusion for tea and other beverages, desserts, as well as prepared into candies, marmalade, sauces, rose sugar, and soups. Rose petals, rose water and rose syrup are still widely used in the cuisines of the Middle East. Greek baklava, for instance, is originally served with a drizzle of rose syrup.
The best quality flowers for consumption are the young and fresh. Consumers have to be cautious to eat only flowers that were produced for that purpose and to avoid flowers from retail florists where they may have been treated with modern systemic pesticides and chemicals not intended for consumption; they have made the flowers highly toxic.
For some edible flowers, it is important to eat only the petals to avoid the bitter taste found in the rest of the flower. But, when it comes to roses, petals from all varieties are edible as well as the leaves which are used in some concoctions with curative properties that are prepared in Latin America.
The following excerpt has been extracted from "Rosita Arvigo's: Rainforest Remedies, One Hundred Healing Herbs of Belize":
"Red Rose (Rosa Roja, in Spanish): Traditional Uses: As a "cooling" plant for fevers and as a binding or astringent for infantile or childhood diarrhea, 1 red rose flower and 9 leaves are steeped in one cup of boiling water for 15 minutes; this is strained before drinking. A stronger infusion using 3 red roses and a handful of leaves steeped for 15 minutes in 1 cup of hot water is consumed for adult diarrhea and uterine hemorrhage. All infusions are allowed to cool before drinking. To treat red, inflamed eyes in people of all ages, including newborn babies, 1 flower is steeped in 1 cup of boiling water; when cool, this is strained through a cloth and 3 drops are placed in the affected eye 3 times a day until cured."
Anyone wanting to buy roses or other flowers to eat should purchase them directly from an organic farm or from a farmer or gardener who has raised the flowers to use as food.
Roses and other flowers generally taste similar to their fragrance, or in the case of herb flowers they taste similar to the leaf of the plant. Most herbs that we use in the kitchen produce edible flowers, such as garlic, chives, dill, mint, sage and thyme. So, in your quest for the perfect tasting rose, do not forget to put your nose to work and check out the bouquet of each one! Remember that its aroma and the texture, in association with their eye appeal which makes them a "very sensual food".
"Flowers are the plant's sex organs, and they evoke the sex-drenched, bud-breaking free-for-all of spring and summer." An explanation of the aphrodisiac power of flowers as only Diane Ackerman can say it. A Natural History of Love.
We have to thank the organic farming movement for the return of edible flowers to the American cuisine. The chemicals %26amp; pesticide-free roses used to cook by most American chefs come from organic gardens in California who send them by air to specialty food suppliers around the country. Chefs pay around $15- $ 20 for fifty fresh thumbnail-sized blossoms.
Now, the fabulous recipes:
Recipe #1: CRYSTALLIZED ROSE PETALS (for garnishing salads, soups and desserts)
Ingredients:
?1 large egg white
?1 tbsp water
?1/2 cup sugar
?handful of fresh, organic rose petals
Directions: Beat the egg white in water until foamy. Use a small pastry brush to paint each of the flower petals with the egg white mixture. Then, dip the petals into sugar. Allow petals to dry overnight on waxed paper.
Recipe #2: BOUTONS DE ROSE INFUSION
To prepare this infusion I use the "Fauchon's Boutons the Rose". They are dried miniature red rose buds that come in a small 50g plastic jar directly from France. The 50g jar costs $17.50 here in Panama City. In a future post I will teach you how to dry your roses to assure the best taste and texture.
The procedure to prepare the infusion is very simple: just bring water to a boil and put a handful of dried rose buds in an infusion pot. Then, cover with the hot water and let it brew for 10 minutes, or more if wanted.
Recipe #3: ROSE-THYME VINEGAR
Ingredients:
?1 cup fresh organic red rose petals (or pink, or a combination of both)
?2 sprigs fresh thyme
?1 l., distilled white salad vinegar
Directions: Place the rose petals and the thyme in a container with the vinegar and close hermetically for 1 month. Store in a dark place. Then, strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cheese cloth and discard the rose petals. The thyme sprigs could be saved for future use as garnish.
If you bottle this beautiful and fragrant vinegar (with the help of a funnel), into decorative bottles, it would be the perfect holiday gift for your loved ones and foodie friends!
For best flavor: store the bottled rose vinegar for no more than 6 months in a dark, cool pantry.
Uses for this vinegar: in addition to using this vinegar to prepare your favorite vinaigrette, you can also use it to create a "rose homemade mayonnaise". Yes, I know..., it sounds deliciously beautiful :) Just the way we like it!
To prepare this "mayonesa con esencia de rosas" or, "rose mayonnaise", just use the "rose-thyme vinegar" when your favorite homemade mayonnaise calls for vinegar or lime juice.
Recipe #4: ROSE COCKTAIL
Ingredients:
?the juice of 4 lemons
?1 l. water
?2 teaspoons-rose water- (store purchased or home made)
?3 tablespoons organic honey, or agave syrup
?a pinch of salt
Directions: combine all of the ingredients and stir until the honey and salt are dissolved. Serve COLD, garnished with a lemon wedge."
Ref: http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.a...
"Chef Melissa De Leon is from Panama, where she has married her love for cooking to her passion for technology, including the internet, web design and marketing, as seen at her sites Panama Gourmet, Cooking Diva, Tasty Design. De Leon is a Personal Chef graduated from the USPCI, and a Certified Personal Chef by the USPCA (United States Personal Chef Association). She is a culinary professional trained in the US, Mexico, Panama, South America, Europe, and in Asia. She is also a culinary instructor available for individual or group cooking classes.
****For more information you can contact Chef Melissa by calling in Panama to (507) 225-3511, 6701-6622 or by e-mail CookingDiva@gmail.com"****
"Where are edible flowers sold? Don't go running out to the florist, as bouquets are generally toxic - not exactly the ideal ingredients. If you haven't cultivated your own garden, try exploring gourmet markets, specialty spice stores or farmer's markets. These types of vendors will most likely be selling edible flowers. Or, if you feel like being closer to nature, why not pick your own dinner - venture out into a nearby meadow with an edible flower guide.
Edible flowers are extremely fragile and cannot be conserved in the refrigerator, and thus must be consumed as quickly as possible. While waiting to cook the flowers, place the stems in a bit of water to keep them fresh. When ready to prepare them, delicately rinse each flower in cold water, and then dry them, carefully blotting each piece with paper towel. Remove the stems, using a knife if necessary, and then, using tweezers, gently take off the pistil, petals and small leaves.
Flowers can be consumed raw, cooked, in confit or infused in sauce. They liven up dishes, creatively complementing appetizers, main courses or desserts. Nasturtiums, primrose, borage flowers and dandelion are all eaten raw in salads. It is important to choose the flower according to their flavor, taking into consideration how each distinct taste would correspond with other ingredients. Nasturtiums have a sharp, pungent flavor similar to watercress. Daisies have a very strong, smoky flavor and borage flowers faintly resemble the taste of oysters.
For a touch of the Proven?al, try the zucchini flower, delicious fried or stuffed. To prepare his fried zucchini flowers, Chef Alain Ducasse combines 3.5 oz (100 grams) of rice flour, 8.5 oz (? liter) of water and one egg yolk to make a very light batter, like tempura. He dips the flowers in the batter just before frying in oil. The Pourcel brothers, chefs at the Jardin des Sens restaurant in Montpelier, stuff zucchini flowers with clam meat. Reine Sammut, chef at La Fenière in Lourmarin, makes a vegetable/herb stuffing.
At the Prince de Galles in Paris, Chef Dominique Cécillon uses poppies, rose petals and ranunculus to add distinct flavors to a traditional sauces. "I work with them often, infusing the flowers into sauces. You have to use a huge quantity of flowers, but let them infuse for a very short period of time," explained Chef Cécillon.
A favorite edible flower of chefs Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier in their seacoast garden at Arrows Restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine is the racy citrus marigold. Its assertive peppery-citrus flavor is easily used in a variety of ways, such as delivered raw in a salad or infused into a beurre blanc sauce.
And, lastly, edible flowers make a lovely addition to many desserts. For example, you can fry locust flowers (soaked in rum and sugar before frying) or you can decorate fruit salads, flan or cake with violets, rose petals and crystallized poppies. Dip the flowers in corn syrup and Arabic gum, and then sprinkle powdered sugar on top before they have dried. You can't go wrong!"
Reply:Do both. Continue to work in the flower shop while you go to school. Your parents should be pleased if you are doing what makes you happy.
Reply:Two huge benefits to a career...1) Doing work you LOVE, 2) Making enough money to get what you need and want...
Sometimes people choose a job because the money is good, even though it isn't the kind of work they LOVE doing...You can earn good money, but you're likely to be unhappy. In the end, most people are so bored or dissatisfied they leave the job to find work they LOVE doing.
You only have one life. I recommend you consult your heart and seek work you LOVE doing, whatever that may be. I hope you can find a career or job that gives you BOTH kinds of satisfaction!
Reply:Work the flower shop. Finish highschool. Go to culinary school. You can always work in a flower shop, especially when you can point to the experience you have accumulated. Don't sell out your dreams.
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