Allison's Realm of the Cheese Wax People

It's contagious!!!

2010-10-14T14:34:00.001-07:00

You wanna see a what a cheese wax prodigy can do??

And I mean... WOW! The turkey is just phenomenal!!!

Featured Artist Segment: James Erd

2010-03-06T23:51:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Chef Lisa Wilson from Career Services pointed me in the direction of a film production company seeking a Production Assistant to help with craft services and catering. The film is called Doggie Boogie: Get Your Grrr On! When I arrived on set my first morning, I walked into a room filled with brightly colored draperies, costumes, pillows and props. Among which, I noticed perhaps the most unique combination of food and art I have ever seen...

CHEESE PUFF SCULPTURES!!!

Leaning Tower of Cheesa in progress, with what are perhaps some partially assembled doggie friends??

Potted plant and dog. Notice the slight color difference. Instead of cheese puffs, the base for the plant was covered with styrofoam peanuts that had been sliced in half, then sprayed with orange paint to create a more durable version of cheese puff art.

Cheese puff dog close up.

Gramophone. I believe this one is half styrofoam peanuts, half actual cheese puffs.

James Erd (aka Jema the Wolf) Prop Design and Construction.

Assembling the next great cheese puff artifact!

All pictures were taken and published with permission from Doggie Boogie LLC.

Externship Heros

2010-03-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

My Externship at Patisserie Ganache couldn't have been a better match. Their specialty is custom celebration cakes made to look like absolutely anything! (Special thanks to Chef Tim, who suggested that I look into them.)

Everyone there is CCA alumn, and Chef Ken used to be an instructor at the old Polk Street location. No one will yell at you if you make a mistake (even if you burn an entire rack of muffins because you forgot to set the timer:-/) This was especially helpful during the learning process. I was able to retain more of what I learned when I didn't have to stress over the prospect of being yelled at.

Cheese Wax Andrew, with a box in which to keep especially awesome externs ready at hand.

Cheese Wax (Chef) Ken, with a blowtorch for smoothing out all that cold butter cream.

Cheese Wax Angela, with cheese wax daughters Maddie and Chloe.

Cheese Wax Chris, with basket of baguettes, sour dough and croissants. (The tiny breads are made out of Fimo clay. Kid friendly and available at craft stores, it hardens quickly in a low-temp oven.)

The Cheshire Cat Cake, which I made during my last 3 days on externship. Thanks for letting me play, Ken!

Next up, a special Guest Artist segment, plus How I learned to Cook: Baptism by Fire!

The Mile High Club

2010-03-06T22:16:00.000-08:00

Hey, get your mind out of the gutter... I'm trying to keep this G-rated;-)

A few weeks before Christmas, I went to San Diego to visit a friend from college, Matt. Matt is King of all things pop culture, so cheese wax woman had a grand time touring around his apartment, meeting various characters of note:

Cheese Wax Woman poses at the in-house Super Hero Expo!

Meeting the cast of Back to the Future.

Ready for action with the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Flying makes me nervous, but I hate it less than I hate long car trips, so the choice was clear. To help quell the nervousness on the flight home, I kept myself busy by fashioning a cheese wax flight attendant doing the seat belt demo. I got a couple of odd looks from the people sitting near me on the 1-hour hopper from SAN to LAX.

Cheese Wax Flight Attendant says "Keep your seat belt fastened while seated."

Up next, Allison's Late Night Distraction Series continues with "Friends of Patisserie Ganache."

Better late than never

2010-03-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

One of my theatre colleagues and founder of the Dragon Theatre, Meredith, hosts a BFT (Big Friggin' Tree) holiday party every year. Her request is for each guest to bring an ornament to put on the tree. Last year I brought popcorn on a string. Traditional, but not very creative. This year, I decided to make up for it with Reggie, the Cheese Wax Christmas Dragon!

The dark green wax came from a wedge of champaign cheddar from Costco. The light green is leftover Zombie wax.

The black for the eyes and claws is from an unknown source, given to me by a friend back in middle school. (Yes, it keeps.)

Unfortunately, cheese wax Reggie doesn't lend himself very well to being suspended by string, as he would eventually droop under his own weight. So he sat happily on a bookshelf next to the tree instead.

Hell no! We won't go!

2010-01-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

In spite of the fact that I'm no longer going to class on campus, I still make frequent visits for various reasons... And so I like to think that my "deadline" to ensure that everyone has received their cheese wax effigy is somewhat extended, at least until my official graduation date, January 29. Even more, I like to think that I will stay in touch with these wonderful people, even after I have "left the building" for the final time as a student.

These ones are getting delivered on Tuesday, so shhh... Don't tell:-)

Cheese Wax Chef Mark, World Champion Ice Carver

and head of the Sculpture Club, with chain saw.

Cheese Wax Carmen! My Superwonderwomanawesomepatienthelpful

Tuition Planner, without whom I would be completely lost!

Next up, the Christmas Cheer I promised last time... Plus, Mile-High Cheese Wax and Adventures in San Diego.

The Next Generation

2009-12-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had the honor of speaking to a group of 6 students who competed in a Market Basket Scholarship Competition, just like the one from this entry. Upon introducing me to the group at the beginning of the event, Haley mentioned my "unique talent" for making cheese wax figures. Well, since no one quite understands the idea until they actually get to see it, I decided to make the students their very own cheese wax people.

So while the students were hard at work making their plated entrees in the culinary battle for tuition money, I made a run over to Whole Foods and grabbed a couple bags of Baby Bell cheeses. By the end of their 90-minute allowance, I had fashioned the 6 contestants in cheese wax form.

Cheese wax people, like Iron Toque bones, are my way of saying 'Thanks for being a Rock Star.' By taking a chance and participating in the competition, these contestants are definitely Rock Stars in my book. Congrats guys!!!

Cheese Wax Market Basket Contestants, with uniform caps in honor of their future student status. (5 ladies, and 1 gentleman.)

One of the contestants and her sister were particularly interested in the cheese wax process and asked me if I knew how to make a dolphin. I've never had a request before, let alone one for a dolphin! So I tried my hand at a cheese wax dolphin.

My attempt at a Cheese Wax Dolphin.

Next up, Christmas Cheer in the Cheese Wax World!

Thanks for stopping by:-)

Not to be forgotten!

2009-12-07T00:14:00.000-08:00

Although these folks were not necessarily my instructors, my experience would not have been the same without them! And so to you amazing people, I extend my thanks in Cheese Wax form.

These are the ones that I was able to deliver on Friday:

Cheese Wax Chef Weller:

Executive Chef of the Culinary Arts Program,

with tie-dye shirt in honor of the other half of his wardrobe.

Cheese Wax Chef Calhoun:

Leader of the Iron Toque Club, with Iron Toque and cravat bones in honor of his fearless leadership and student-advocacy.

Cheese Wax Chef Devon:

Our Chocolate and Sugar Work instructor, with comb and scissors in honor of her aspirations to go to beauty school.

Cheese Wax Haley:

Student Services Advisor, with lovely red hair in honor of her lovely red hair.

Unwaxed chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing and silver dragées:

My contribution to the potluck party at Anita's house after our certification exams on Friday.

Got a couple more Cheese Wax people to complete and then deliver sometime this week, so check back for more photos soon!

P.S. Dina, I need someone to let me into the office so I can snag a picture of your Cheese Wax person:-) Woops!

And so it goes...

2009-12-06T23:26:00.000-08:00

Friday was our final day of class. If I dwell on the fact for too long, I get teary... so I'm going to distract myself with the backlog of images from previous classes.

Gum paste Tuberose Flowers from my final wedding cake project.

(For some reason, I'm particularly fond of this element of my cake. More so than the entire finished product.)

A chocolate box with ribbon, originally intended as a birthday gift.

(But alas, the morning sun through the kitchen window had other ideas...) This thing took me 3 days to make, two of which were spent trying to temper the chocolate. (You can't rush chocolate. Don't even try.)

Blown Sugar Snow Person!

(I haven't decided whether the bow on the hat makes it a female, or just metro-sexual...) Chef Devon called my work on this project "very clean."

Blown/pulled/poured sugar Peacock. My final project for our Showpieces class. The part you don't see is the pastillage and blown sugar Sun that managed to stay attached until the last block of my commute home.

Marzipan Critters: Snail, Whale, Duck, Bear, Owl.

This material is one of my favorites, as it is the most like cheese wax.

My externship at Patisserie Ganache begins tomorrow. This will likely be an exciting new adventure for the next 6 weeks. After that, I will be an official graduate.

Yikes...

Next up, cheese wax recognition for my non-instructors who made invaluable contributions to my time at CCA.

Halloween

2009-11-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

When it comes to a certain level of excitement over special days of the year, Halloween is right up there with my birthday. The weeks of October leading up to Halloween have always invoked a "Squee!" of excitement and anticipation. Unfortunately, due to my obscene work schedule for the past several years, Halloween has been forced to take a back seat to more pressing matters.

Now that the pressing matters have changed from appeasing evil supervisors to appeasing my inner child, I signed up for CCA's annual pumpkin carving contest. I haven't carved a pumpkin in years and was overwhelmed with nostalgia at the prospect of rediscovering a lost tradition.

Categories were: Most Creative, Most Scary, and Overall Favorite.

And imagine my excitement when upon reading the contest flier, I found out that we were allowed to bring props from home to decorate our pumpkins! It was then that I stopped trying to over-plan my pumpkin design, and just let the creative gears turn.

Cheese Wax Trick-or-Treaters:

Pumpkin, Witch, Mummy, Frankenstein.

CW Frankenstein flees in terror!

CW Mummy attempts to save CW Witch from being eaten by evil Jack-O-Lantern!

CW Pumpkin stands by with Home Alone expression!

Even cooler looking when it glows:-D

Hats off to the Cheese Wax Trick-or-Treaters for winning the Overall Favorite title!!!

Next up, Adventures in pulled Sugar or Are We There Yet??

The Return of the Modeling Chocolate

2009-11-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we wrapped up Chef Devon's chocolate class with molded and modeled chocolate figures. The assignment was to create a showpiece figure of a Fall or Winter theme using both the molding and modeling techniques.

Molding means brushing or pouring melted (tempered) chocolate into a container of a desired shape, then removing the mold once the chocolate has cooled and set up. (Think ice cubes.) The final product may either be solid, or a shell. This works as the skeleton for your figure, giving it structure and stability. I used two egg-shaped, dark chocolate shells for my skeleton: One for the body and one for the head.

Modeling means using your hands to squish modeling chocolate onto the chocolate skeleton to make it look like what you want. (Think clay.) I used the dark modeling chocolate to make the two egg shapes into an autumnal forest creature.

Autumnal forest creature, with snack.

You may recognize the shape of the base as that of your standard 8-inch pie tin. Yes, one big, solid, pie-shaped block of tempered dark chocolate, made to look like a tree stump using modeling chocolate and a piped (melted and squeezed through a pastry bag) chocolate tree ring design.

After the modeling was finished, I used a paint gun to spray a white chocolate/cocoa butter mixture over the piece, creating a soft, velvety textured look.

Furry chocolate close-up!

We were allowed to color our chocolate, but I didn't find it appropriate for this piece. Interestingly enough, this was the only project in class that was done in all chocolate tones.

Next up, photo's from CCA's pumpkin carving contest!

Cheese Wax Man's Adventures in Wonderland

2009-10-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

Our assignment here was to make a "Child's Cake." The parameters were that the cake was to be cut into a square shape, draped in modeling chocolate, and lined with swags and bows. On top, we were to have a figure made of modeling chocolate, and a pastillage plaque with shaded cocoa painting that related in some way to the figure.

Pastillage is pretty straightforward. You roll it thin and flat, cut out the shape, let it dry, then attach it to its desired position with royal icing.

Modeling Chocolate, also known as Plastic Chocolate, is rather like a temperamental, highly temperature-sensitive Playdough that melts in your hands while you are working with it. In spite of these quirks, you can play with it, shape it, cut it, mold it, and make magical worlds that bear a striking resemblance to Lewis Carol's acid trip.

And being so comfortable with the modeling material, I got a little overzealous...

Cheese Wax Man poses in front of artist's take on Disney's "Alice in Wonderland."

Admiring the mome raths.

Stopping in for a cup of tea with the Mad Hatter.

And a game of cards with the Cheshire Cat.

Cheese Wax Man ponders which side of the mushroom he ate...

Cakes class has been over for several weeks now. But since modeling chocolate doesn't go bad, the cake still sits comfortably on a table in the living room. (This cake, along with the rest of our assignments for the advanced class, are show pieces only:-)

More unwaxed (and extremely tasty!) cakes

2009-10-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

God, I love cake...

I mean I really, really love cake. There's something very therapeutic about torting a cake into 3 even layers, slathering it's insides with delicious, gooey filling, and decorating it to look picture perfect. I think it's my new calling.

Here are a few more projects from Cakes class. I definitely see myself doing a lot of work with cakes as I venture into my new career. There's lots of juicy detail work to play with!!!

Black Forest Cake:

Chocolate cake layered with rings of sweetened, Kirsch whipped cream and cherries. Iced with Kirsch whipped cream, topped with cherries and chocolate cigarettes. Ring of chocolate "Jimmies" around bottom.

Vanilla Genoise and Chocolate Mousse Triangles:

Covered with dark chocolate, decorated with milk chocolate.

Raspberry Mousse Cake:

Ribbon sponge cake filled with raspberry mousse. Topped with clear glaze and chocolate piping.

Cakes Part I Final Project: A cake of our choosing!

Vanilla chiffon cake with honey lavender soaking syrup, filled with lemon curd, and iced with honey creme chantille with rosettes and shell boarder. Royal icing decorations (lavender flowers, lemons and a honey bee hive.)

Next up, photos from the advanced half of cakes class:-)

Unwaxed Cakes!

2009-09-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are a few pictures of things we've made in class:

Marjolaine:

Japonaise meringue discs layered with praline, rum, and chocolate French buttercreams. Topped with ganache and white chocolate piping. Candied almond slices around bottom rim.

(Yes, I'm a dork... I label my class projects with "Cheese Wiz.")

Opera Cake:

4-layer Jaconde cake with coffee French buttercream filling.

Topped with ganache and white chocolate piping.

Sacher Torte:

Traditional Sacher Torte with apricot jam filling, topped with Sacher glaze, and white chocolate piping.

Cocoanut Cake:

Cocoanut Chiffon cake filled with cocoanut creme chantille and iced with Italian meringue. Topped with fruit garnish and poppy seeds.

Cocoanut flakes on bottom rim.

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake:

Dense chocolate cake filled with raspberry jam and chocolate Swiss buttercream. Topped with chocolate Swiss buttercream and white chocolate piping. Milk chocolate shavings around bottom rim.

Next section is all about WEDDING CAKES!!! Hopefully I will have a better digital camera by then.

"See you in the future"

2009-08-27T00:20:00.000-07:00

The Admissions Representatives are the first people you meet when you begin looking at a school. They are your contact, your tour guide, your encyclopedia, your cheerleader, and your rock when you're completely lost and confused and don't know anybody in your class yet.

This past Monday, my admissions rep., Bjorn, moved on from CCA with plans to go to Brazil and volunteer at a German bakery before traveling around for a few months.

In honor of his departure, Cheese Wax Bjorn was born:

Paying tribute to a passion for soccer, Cheese Wax Bjorn is sporting

his own Brazil soccer jersey.

The back side of the jersey.

A special thanks to Haley from student services, who volunteered to deliver CWB after Bjorn had already left the building. I hope to receive picture updates of their travels:-)

You eat with your eyes, first.

2009-08-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ah, dessert... So tasty, so beautiful, so commonly misunderstood... Too often mistaken for a mere a pile of sugar and carbs good for little else but making us overweight...

PHOOEY I SAY!

Dessert is an overlooked art form that bears the responsibility of being the last thing your guests eat before they leave. The serving size must neither be too grand, nor insufficient. It must be carefully selected to compliment the flavor of the food on your palate, and served with eye-popping elegance. The proverbial "icing on the cake" so to speak.

Can you feel the pressure yet?

During Breads class, a fellow student asked me which class I would be taking next. "Plated Desserts with Chef Nick," I said. Her advice to me was, "Don't miss a day."

And she wasn't kidding!

This class moved at a lightning fast clip (perhaps a "blintz" paced clip??) It went even faster than the other courses I've experienced thus far. I suspect this may have had something to do with Chef Nick's noble attempt to squeeze 25 years worth of experience into a 6-week curriculum. It certainly kept my on my toes.

We worked both in teams and solo, sometimes getting confused as to which we were supposed to do and when. We learned how to make custards, tarts, pies, tuile, caramel paste, sorbet, soufflé, petit fours, petit sec (cookies), parfait, mousse, dessert sauces, chocolate garnishes, and ice cream (complete with happy ice cream song and dance...) All to an exquisite end: A beautiful plate of dessert with dynamic shapes, colors, textures, and flavors.

Chef Nick has two very favorite food groups: puff pastry and egg yolks. Working with either of these ingredients is a guaranteed ticket to an entertaining demo!

One day, during a demo on parfait (*made primarily from whipped egg yolks + 248˚F sugar + whipped cream, then frozen), Chef Nick gleefully began putting together the pâté bombe (*egg yolks whipped together with the 248˚F sugar) for the base. He hummed his happy egg yolk tune as the hot sugar and egg yolks whirled together in a frenzy in the mixer.

Upon completion of the pâté bombe, Chef pulled the whisk out of the mixing bowl to show us how whipping the hot sugar in with the egg yolks had stabilized the yolks to create a perfectly whipped, lemony yellow, firm-but-not-dry peak that pointed straight upwards. To further demonstrate their stability, he held the mixing bowl upside down while the yolks held tight against the sides of the bowl, mirroring the peak at the end of the whisk. It was at this moment that Chef Nick became "The Egg Yolk Whisperer."

Cheese Wax Chef Nick poses proudly with a successful pâté bombe.

Each classroom has 3 types of debris receptacles: Compost, Recycling and Garbage.

Compost is for "anything that was once alive." Meaning food scraps, or soiled tree product (cardboard/parchment paper/paper towels.)

Recycling is for aluminum foil, clean cardboard, bottles, cans and hard plastics.

Garbage is for anything else, which basically means soft plastics... Plastic wrap and used pastry bags.

One would think that this would be pretty self-explanatory! Being green is common sense, and a hard and steadfast rule when you have Chef Erin in the kitchen. Heaven help you if she finds garbage in a non-garbage bin. When this happens, the class gets to wrap the butcher block tables in plastic wrap, dump out the bins onto the tables, pick through everything that's inside and sort it into it's appropriate bin. Digging through the nastiness of the day's refuse is a feared chore... You do it once as a class, and no one will ever be lazy about putting their stuff into the correct bin again!

The class has 4 compost bins, 1 recycling bin and 1 garbage bin. Chef Erin will often "hide" the single garbage bin, expecting students to use their common sense to figure out which bin should receive our cake scraps. (Not an unreasonable expectation!)

Chef Erin as the Compost Police, with compost and recycling bins (but no garbage bin!)

Cheese Wax Chef Erin and Chef Nick group photo.

Real Chef Erin and Chef Nick carrying on a Cheese Wax conversation.

(Really wishing I'd gotten a video of this!)

Thanks for stopping by! Our next class is CAKES with Chef Scott and Chef Erin. Since both Chefs already have cheese wax effigies of themselves, I'll put up some photos of our class projects instead;-)

2009-06-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

The last 6 weeks of our curriculum have been all about bread: Pre-ferments, developing, proofing, yeast spikes, and aaaaarrrrgggg!!!! Breads from Italy, Germany, France, Artisan breads... and of course, my sink-or-swim final project involving hazelnuts and chocolate chips. (Which didn't turn out too badly, so I figure at least some of this plethora of knowledge must have stuck.)

This class was particularly challenging for me. Perhaps it's because I've never made bread before now. It certainly requires a different way of thinking about the baking process. (Yeast is a moody little creature, requiring a higher level of attention to time and temperature. And don't get me started on my trails and tribulations with gluten!) But all in all, an invaluable class that I wish I could take over again in hopes that I might actually retain a bit more of everything that was crammed into my head in a short 6 weeks.

Of course, there's always one piece of advice from each class that sticks well enough to stay with you for the rest of your career:

In Success Strategies, it was "Culinary school is not about the food." - Rocco

In Safety/Sanitation, it was "Food is nothing without sharing." - Peter

In Intro to Patisserie and Baking, is was "Don't drown the villagers." - Chef Tim

Within our first week of class, Chef Mike taught us a key element to successful baguettes. Once you have mixed and developed your dough, this is the point when you must ask yourself, "Do I have at least 2 hours to finish making this product?" If the answer is yes, then you may continue. If the answer is no, then the dough must be put in the refrigerator (more commonly known in class as "the retarder," because the cold temperature "retards" the growth of the yeast) until you are ready to use it.

One day during baguette production, Chef Mike came over to our table and noticed that a student had printed in her notes with brightly colored letters, "2 HOURS OR RETARD!!!!" He laughed and commented, "I want a shirt that says '2 hours or retard!'"

Well, Chef Mike... be careful what you wish for:-)

Here is cheese wax Chef Mike in a personalized t-shirt.

"2 HOURS" on the front...

"OR RETARD" on the back.

Thanks for stopping by! Next up is Plated Desserts with Chef Nick, so check back in about 7 weeks:-)

The few, the proud, the waxy

2009-05-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

The first block of classes has ended. And so as a thank you to my instructors, they each received cheese wax effigies of themselves:

Peter, our Safety/Sanitation teacher, complete with spiffy tie and ServeSafe textbook.

Chef Tim, with his trademark oddly-shaped (octagonal) water bottle with tiny green logo.

Chef Scott, with an apron representing his aspirations to work at the Whole Foods, just up the street.

Group photo!

And of course, credit is due to Dean Rocco for dubbing me Cheese Wiz. Here, he sports his stylish pointy shoes and ever-present Blackberry.

Yes, everything was handmade, even the itty bitty toques. Those were definitely an origami challenge. If the tradition is to continue, I need to find a more efficient way to construct them.

What's in a name?

2009-05-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

(April 6) CCA, day 1.

The instructor for our Success Strategies class, Rocco, presents us with an ice-breaker: "Write down on a slip of paper your name, and something that no one in the room knows about you."

Well, considering that not too many people outside the room know about the cheese wax people, I figured it was a safe bet that no one inside the room knew about the cheese wax people. I filled out my slip of paper.

Rocco collects the slips of paper and returns to the front of the class. As he reads them aloud, we are to write each item down on another sheet of paper. We are to then interview our classmates and find out who belonged to each unique trait.

Three or four slips of paper into the exercise, he reads, "I make people out of... Cheese wax?" A collective "Huh?" fills the room. Rocco glances at me briefly then looks around the room, as he tries to avoid giving away an answer to our assignment. He continues reading the rest of the slips of paper.

One by one we each catch brief glimpses into the lives of people we have yet to meet. And one by one, we will get to meet those people today.

After 20 minutes of interviewing each other, we reconvene to discuss our findings as a class. Rocco pulls my slip of paper out first, stating that curiosity bumped this one to the top of the pile. "'I make people out of cheese wax.' Who is this person?"

"Allison!" the class responds in unison. Then comes the demand for an explanation. They get the abridged version of course, as class is only 2 hours long;-)

"Huh..." Rocco mulls over the concept for a moment. Then, with a combination of whimsy and matter-of-factness, "I'm going to call you Cheese Wiz."

So it was written, so it shall be done. The name stuck. Not only am I now Cheese Wiz to my classmates... Due to Janette's trumpeting announcement of my arrival one morning, "Cheese Wiz!" shortly thereafter became "Cheese" from nearby locker buddies. Even other instructors have taken to calling me "Cheese Wiz." Janette threatens to have them put it on my diploma. And knowing Rocco, it wouldn't surprise me if it were stitched onto my jacket for graduation.

I've never had an actual nickname before:-)

Little Women

2009-05-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

A bit belated, but here are pictures of the cheese wax people I made for my cast of Little Women, the Broadway Musical back in 2007. Some favorites got their own close-ups:

Monica, deck crew, was never without her frozen coffee beverage of choice.

(Extra points if you can identify the coffee company.)

Group shot!

Matthew, our deck crew in charge of making the kite fly every night.

Rande, our wig lady, sporting her trademark wig head stand, complete with replicas of the wigs used for characters Meg, Beth, and Aunt March.

Linda (Marmee), always in tie-dye. It must have been a good luck superstition of some kind...

More close-ups available upon request. I'm only permitted to post 5 pics at a time for some reason. Grrrr!

Local News or Un-waxed Factoids

2009-03-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

My friend, Nathan, travels a lot. (And that's putting it mildly!) But wherever he is, he is always very diligent about keeping his friends and family up to date about his experiences with his "Local News" emails. In response to his most recent email from Japan, I wrote back with my own Local News. It doesn't have nearly the cultural value that Nathan's world travel does, but he has inspired me to share this particular experience in slightly different writing style than I usually use.

***

My current show, (and my last one for the next year or so,) The Three Musketeers, opened last Saturday. It was a great success with a sold-out house! I really wish you could see this one... Lots of sword fights and fun one-liners.

In addition to the evening that included a 3-hour show and a gala party that went until 2am, the first 5 hours of my day was spent in a kitchen at CCA baking 2 flourless orange-chocolate cakes for a scholarship competition.

In the 3 weeks leading up to the competition, I practiced every day and experimented with different sauces, creams, and added flavors to enhance the chocolate experience. I even imposed upon my cast of 22 hungry actors the overwhelming duty of being my taste testers as I practiced my execution of the recipe. To the chagrin of some, I brought cake in nearly every day until the day of the competition. "Allison! You're gonna make us all FAT musketeers!" Subjecting the waistline-conscious ones to so much chocolate cake felt like a cruel and unusual punishment... ::evil grin::

The 10 finalists (only 7 of which showed up, instantly bettering my odds) had been selected based on their 75-150 word essay addressing the theme: Why I want to be a chef. The participants all received a knife, a chef coat and $125 worth of text book money. The top three winners will also receive scholarship money in amounts of $2,500; $2,000; and $1,500.

As we arrived, the admin lady, Haley, asked us, "Did you bring any of your own tools?" Um, no. Seeing as how it's a cooking school, I kinda figured there would be tools available for us to use. I look across the room at the one guy who had brought his own knives. "Oh, yeah. Some of the admission representatives forgot to tell their students to bring tools to the competition... But I'm sure we can scare up a few things for you guys to use." Ok, no problem. I didn't need anything fancy, just a whisk, a couple of spoons and a knife. "You may have to share." The tone in her voice sounded like it could have implied that the concept of sharing might have been foreign to us.

"Come on, Zack, this way!" A man in a chef's coat approaches from down the hall. He pauses and looks back as a toddler meanders towards him. Zack is wearing a chef's hat as tall as he is. The halls echo and my eardrums split as he shrieks excitedly. He gets to go to work with Daddy today.

The contestants go into the kitchen, leaving our cheerleaders out in the hall to watch us through the fishbowl window. To my surprise, Zack comes in with us. Now granted I've never actually been in an industrial kitchen before, but I never thought it would be a place someone would want to bring a 2-year old for bring-your-child-to-work day. Zack shrieks as the chefs close in around him with toys and other things to keep him occupied while the contestants work. They form a protective human barrier around him in one the corner of the kitchen. He will not be underfoot.

We are handed sealed plastic packages containing our chef coats. I am swimming in my coat, it's so big! I roll up the sleeves and pray that the rest doesn't get in the way. We receive our knives and are instructed to pick a work station. There is only one whisk, so I partner up at a table with another chocolate cake maker who also needed the whisk. We are given 20 minutes or so to learn our way around the kitchen and collect the tools and ingredients we need to create our dishes.

The timer starts. The official time allotted is 2 hours and 15 minutes, but the judges are all hoping that we can finish in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Good! I had practiced with an hour and a half! As long as I get the cake into the oven within the first 15 minutes, I knew I could make my cakes, plate, and present them in that amount of time.

As I'm zesting an orange, I decide that I need a little dash of silliness, so I peel off the fruit sticker and slap it on my forehead. The orange flavor in the batter is not quite strong enough, so I zest another orange, putting a second sticker on my head for an extra boost of silly.

The cake batter goes into the ramekins. Aluminum foil goes on top of the ramekins. The ramekins go into a water bath. The water bath goes into the oven. 350 degrees and we're ready to go! Only 20 minutes in, not too bad. The oven snaps shut with a force that I didn't expect, but makes sense in an industrial kitchen.

Time to start the whipped cream. After an unfair amount of puttering with an extremely old and barely functional mixer, they bring me a new one. I get the cream going and notice black flecks falling into the otherwise immaculate sea of white. Dammit! Gear grease from the mixer! I dump out the contaminated cream and start over, this time thoroughly wiping down the underside of the mixer before starting it up again.

Somewhere along the line, I decide that it's not fair that the cake gets all the flavor while whipped cream just sits there on top so plainly. Commenting to a passing chef that I'm feeling experimental in spite of what should probably be my better judgement, I ask for ground clove and add some to the whipped cream. It tastes like Christmas! This will go great with the orange in the cake.

After 50 minutes, it's time to check the cake. It should be done, give or take a few minutes. We're 1 hour and 10 minutes in. I take the water bath out of the oven and lift off the aluminum foil to find that my cakes are... still raw?! I check the oven. It's on. I check the temperature. 350 degrees. Maybe this oven runs cooler than the one at home. I crank up the heat to 375, replace the foil and put the water bath with its cakes back in the oven. I leave it alone for another 15 minutes. Still not setting. 1 hour and 25 minutes in. I have 50 minutes left for the cake to cook, cool, and be plated.

A chef walks by with a time check. "How's it going?"
"My cakes aren't setting and they've already been in there for 70 minutes..." He tells me to try ditching the tinfoil. It's a convection oven. Convection ovens cook by blowing hot air around inside the oven instead of using a direct heat source like the gas burner or heating coil in a conventional oven. Convection ovens are much more powerful, but the cook more evenly. So the methods I had been using to keep the cake from burning at home in my conventional oven (the water bath and foil) were not as necessary in this convection oven. A few minutes later, the cakes had cooked enough that I was no longer at risk of serving the judging panel raw eggs.

Time to cool them. The cakes went into their ice bath and into the walk-in refrigerator. Fifteen minutes left, the cakes are still warm. There's only so much you can do to speed the cooling process, but I can't take them out of the ramekins unless they are set. I decide to take a chance with melty cake rather than present nothing at all. Sure enough, the cake had needed more time to set. Out of the ramekin came a nice big glob of cake goo... but at least it was cooked.

I tried to mush it back into shape as best I could, but the Chocolate Pudding Cake was more like pudding than cake. I dusted the plate with cocoa powder and spooned the cloved whipped cream on top of the cake. A twist of orange nearly as big as the cake sat beside it on the plate.
Five minutes left. I bring both plates to the presentation table. At this point, I don't care whether I placed or not. I am relieved to finish the challenge without the cake being raw. It's time to go outside and breathe... And wait for the judges to deliberate.

I sit with my folks for a few minutes, watching the chefs as they taste each dessert with an objectively critical palate. So many single-use, plastic tasting spoons will be used today... I cry for the landfill they create. The judges are standing between us and the plates, so we can't see whose dish is being tasted. I am completely drained by this point and have no desire to watch our dishes get picked apart. I decide to walk around for a bit and shake off the weight of the last 2 hours and 15 minutes. As I walk away, I notice one chef coughing into the crook of her arm. I am nervous for whoever made the dish she had just tasted... I hope it only went down the wrong pipe.

I return from my walk to see everyone in exactly the same places as I had left them, staring like zombies through the fishbowl window waiting hear the outcome of their efforts.

We are all invited into the kitchen (cheerleaders, too) to hear the results. Now since this is a school and not the Pillsbury National Bake Off, we each received very helpful constructive criticism for our dishes. My turn-- They liked the texture! Too bad they knew that it had not turned out the way I had intended. They recommend using a stencil when dusting with cocoa powder so it looks a little more polished. The orange twist was very "80's Denny's." (Apparently if you're going to garnish with a piece of orange, do something that looks a little more difficult.) The flavor was heavy handed on the orange (darn that second orange!) and the clove (which had tasted fine to me...) "When you get too much of a warm spice, it can leave the back of your throat dry." I'm glad I had walked away when I did so that I didn't noticed that it was MY dish that had sent the chef into a coughing fit!!!

I came to the competition trying to visualize 1st place.
I left the kitchen not expecting to place at all.
I ended up placing 3rd.

When we're back in the car heading home, my folks mentioned that Haley would come out of the kitchen periodically and tell them what was going on. During one of these sessions, she told the cheerleaders that part of our grade is based on how well we respond to stressful situations, so they do things to stress us...

Thanks, Zack et all.

As bitter as I have been towards my career in theatre these past few months, I will be forever grateful for the universal lessons in teamwork, improvisation, and positive attitude that this background had provided for me.

And that's my local news.

Career Expansion

2009-02-19T11:56:00.001-08:00

If you're lucky enough to make a living doing something you love, you know full well that the opportunity does not come without sacrifices.

A few months ago when I started this blog, I had come to the conclusion that working in theatre, sucks. (Well, ok... It doesn't really suck or those of us who do it wouldn't put up with constant job-hunting, little or no health insurance, spending hours in the car each day to commute to a low-paying gig on the other side of the bridge, divas, moody artists, and verbal abuse from our mentally unstable supervisors simply for the opportunity to have true job satisfaction.)

However, no matter how much we love something, we need time away from it to continue to appreciate it. Over the course of last year, I finally burned out. The effects were both physical and emotional and enough to send me to the doctor. It was time to take a break and do theatre for fun instead of trying to make a living at it.

During that break, I discovered that this bizarre talent I have for detail work is good for more than just cheese wax, so I've decided to go to culinary school. I will be starting the California Culinary Academy's Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie and Baking program this April.

I love to bake, and even better, I love to share:-) So I made this cake for my cast of The Three Musketeers at City Lights Theatre Company for Valentine's Day. The responses were good! And it turns out that one of my actors is a former executive chef, so I have it on good authority that the cake was actually edible...

I'm trying to talk the Production Manager and Artistic Director into letting me make them a cake for their Opening Night Gala. Time to hit the think tank for some 3M theme ideas!

Ok, You're Dead... So Now What?

2008-11-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

In 2005, I worked on a highly bizarre musical comedy, Zombie Prom, at Palo Alto Players. (One of my favorite production experiences ever!) We all took our work on the 50's-style musical about a high school prom with a Zombie very seriously.

One day during the rehearsal process, someone brought in a bunch of precious little cheeses, this time with yellow wax. Goober that I am, I asked everyone who ate a cheese to please give me the wax when they were done. Pile of wax balls in hand, I created an entire tower of cheese wax cheerleaders by the end of rehearsal that evening. Everyone thought they were adorable, and so they lived quite happily on the stage management table until the show opened.

At the end of the run of a show, some folks like to write a nice thank you note or give a small gift of appreciation to their fellow cast/crew. This was the first time I had decided to make cheese wax people for anybody that wasn't Logan, so the stakes were high. Each one needed to be personal and perfect!

Yes, they're green... Just like real Zombies!

From the top Left, moving across:

Zombie Beth: Backstage Dresser, sporting a very fashionable set of itty bitty coat hangers as she assists with quick changes.

Zombie Ian: Deck Crew. His favorite task was mopping the stage before each show. (I hate mopping, so I was lucky to have someone around to do it for me:-) He is carrying a miniature mop.

Zombie Jon: Deck Crew, and designated Water Boy. He is sporting blue hair and toting the sacred red plastic water cup.

Zombie Margaret: Deck Crew. When Margaret wasn't busy being a rock star backstage, she was never without a good book.

Zombie Karen: Our esteemed Stage Manager, who wore her hair in many different colors, this time dyed it green and blue in honor of Opening Night.

Zombie Quinn: Master Electrician and Light Board Operator, had a trademark hairstyle of his own-- a shaved head except for 4 long, pink, curly pigtails. Two in front and two in back.

Zombie Chris: Deck Crew and onsite Mac Guru!

Zombie Megan: Follow Spot Operator, who's little wax hands melted under the intense heat of the lighting instrument...

Zombie Matt: Musical Director and Disney fanatic!

Zombie Anna: Follow Spot Operator, who's hands unfortunately suffered the same fate as Zombie Megan's.

Zombie Grant: Sound Designer and Reinforcement Engineer with his trademark oddly-bent wire hanger and body mic packs for each actor.

Zombie Michelle: Our other backstage dresser, wire hangers in hand, ready for any crazy wardrobe malfunction.

Zombie Greg: Whose character in the show endured several references to a jock strap. (Kinda looks like a diaper from the front, but no. It's a jock strap.)

Zombie Madeline: Our Makeup Artist, who Zombi-fied Charlie in a record amount of time with her handy makeup pallet.

Zombie Charlie: Played Jonny, who takes his life in the name of teen love... A sad case of a hormonal imbalance resulting in a Class 3 Nuclear disaster. He wears his boutonniere for the prom and carries a corsage for his still-living lady love, Toffee.

Zombie Dan: Played Eddie Flagrante, a quasi-well-intentioned editor for the popular tabloid, Exposé Magazine. The Headline of his tabloid reads "The Miracle of the Toxic Teen."

Zombie Elana: Laid very strong claim on a particular protest sign from the show reading, "Boys ruin everything!"

Zombie Kristy: Posed for various amusing backstage photos, one of which showed her pretending to eat a yellow Prom balloon.

Zombie Julia: Played Ms. Strict, whose motto is, "Rules, regulations and respect!" Here, she threatens her students with her handy yard stick.

Zombie Erik: Whose character was the Jock of the group. Arms folded for a tough exterior look, he wears EHC letters on his back, for Enrico Fermi High.

Zombie Lexi: Played Toffee, whose boyfriend committed suicide by hurling himself headlong into the main waste treatment silo of the Francis Gary Powers Nuclear Plant. In mourning, she wears a black bow in her blond hair and carries a school folder with "Jonny ::heart:: Toffee" written across it.

Zombie Ricky: Played the classic nerd, complete with clip-on tie and tape on black, thick-rimmed glasses.

Zombie Laurel: Whose character threw a nasty temper tantrum when her baton was revoked due to the cancellation of all extracurricular school activities.

Zombie Shoshana: Our rehearsal pianist who had the longest brown hair that she always wore in a braid that fell to her lower back.

If you've bothered to read this far, I commend you! Thanks for tuning in to Allison's Realm of the Cheese Wax People. Please come back again soon:-)

All I want for Christmas

2008-11-23T20:52:00.001-08:00

Is one of these!

Updates from Zombie Land

2008-11-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

I often hear folks say, "I still have the little cheese wax person you gave me!" These comments always illicit a very bouncy "Yaaaay!"

Anyone in touch with their inner goofball who still has their cheese wax person, please send me pictures of your adventures together! I'd love to know what everyone is up to:-)

Lighting Designer, Zombie Mike, studies his light plot. (There is an actual light plot on that tiny sheet of paper he's holding...)

Cheese wax "Mikey" with specs.

Rockin' out! (on the inside...)

Zombie Mike didn't make it to the original cheese wax zombie gathering, but that's largely because Living Mike wasn't around during strike to receive Zombie Mike. So the gift was belated, but still very well received.

Thanks for the pics, Mike!

I Met the Walrus! Goo Goo Ga Choo!

2008-11-21T03:16:00.000-08:00

This was our company's first visit to the Corbet Theatre at Centralia College in Centralia, WA. Naturally, we were the first ones to meet Mascot Walrus.

Next up: Ok, You're Dead... So Now What? OR The Best of Zombie Prom.

Adventures of Cheese Wax Man on Tour: Part 2

2008-11-21T03:00:00.000-08:00

Here we meet Mascot Homer at the Cascade Theatre in Redding, CA.

Next up: I Met the Walrus! Goo Goo Ga Choo!

Adventures of Cheese Wax Man on Tour

2008-11-21T01:27:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago, during a West Coast tour of Rumpelstiltskin, Cheese Wax Man got a chance to explore various theatre venues and meet their respective mascots.

Outside the Rialto Theatre

(Tacoma, WA)

Woah!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Cheese Wax Man and Lego Dude help me run the sound board at the

Scherr Forum Theatre (Thousand Oaks, CA)

Sodder Man, Cheese Wax Man and Lego Dude

pose for a group shot.

I have run out of space. I dislike a five picture limit... Part 2 coming soon!

The Second Coming

2008-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

For several years, the Cheese Wax People went dormant while I finished school and tried to make a living working in live theatre... (Hah!) Then one day I met Bill, who ran a local open mic in downtown Sunnyvale. He had heard tales of the Cheese Wax People and insisted that I bring a few of them in for show and tell.

Not having any cheese wax folk ready at hand, I set to work adding new members to the dead/dying/tortured family:

The Stocks

Death by Javelin

Death by Plague

"Crib Death"

Death by Electrocution

(Chair inspired by the State of Georgia's electric chair.)

The following week, the five of us attended the open mic along with other musicians, artists and crafts people. The Cheese Wax People were well received and got passed around the room on their little plastic paint pallet:-)

These ones are still around. Because of the very low melting point of the wax, they live a very chill life in the freezer.

Stay tuned for the next episode: Adventures of Cheese Wax Man on Tour!

The Creation and History of the Original Cheese Wax People

2008-11-19T21:21:00.000-08:00

My inspiration for the Cheese Wax People initially came from my friend, Logan, who to this day willingly and eagerly accepts all blame for their creation.

In early high school, Logan would come to school each day with a mini babybel cheese packed in his lunch. (See exhibit A.)

Exhibit A

One day, after grousing about an unpleasant English class for the better part of a 30 minute lunch period, it was clear that drastic measures needed to be taken. So naturally as the dutiful friend I asked, "Can I have the wax from your cheese?" He paused, and with a mouth full of cheese, stared at me blankly as he extended his hand with the wax towards me to me with comic bluntness.

I mushed the wax around in my hands for several minutes. It was soft, slightly sticky and completely malleable. The lump of wax slowly transformed into a ball, then an X, then something vaguely resembling a molar, then finally, a person. (See Exhibit B.)

Exhibit B

And thus, the Cheese Wax Man came into existence!

I handed the oddly shaped figure to Logan. "Here, kill this. It will make you feel better," I said. Then, with a blissful grin and nothing more than a quick glance upward, he heaved his foot into the unsuspecting cheese wax man, sending him sailing right onto the roof of the school administration building, where he was immediately descended upon by a local flock of winged goats. (Seagulls.)

And thus, it was written that the destiny of the Cheese Wax Man shall forever be to a single end: Death by Ridiculousness!

Over the next year or so, the ritual evolved from kicking each wax man over the roof, to me taking them home and capturing the final moment of a bizarre death in a sort of informal diorama (no shoe box.) Every 3rd day or so, I would bring Logan a new cheese wax death. To my surprise, not only did Logan find them amusing, so did everyone else who happened to see me gingerly transporting them through the hallways at school.

I wish I had taken pictures of them all, as there dozens of them at least... But digital cameras were not as widely accessible then as they are now, and because they were all so small, film cameras were unable to capture the amount detail that went into them... So it's better to leave them as legend, and a partial (per my memory) list:

Death by Hanging

Death by Lego Truck

Death by Drowning in a Jar full of Water

Death by Burning at the Stake

Death by Mummification (implied to be still alive during the process.)

Death by Fly Swatter

Death by Broken Heart

Death by Guillotine

Death by Electrocution by Christmas Tree Lights

Death by Deep Frying as a Fast Food Meal

Death by Bowling Alley (wax men = bowling pins.)

Death by Bow and Arrow on Archery Target

Death by Tar Pit

Death by Green Slime Monster

Death by Giant Killer Goldfish Crackers

Death by Being Trapped in a Cage

You could say that Logan was a collector... He certainly had all the originals. I'd gotten to be quite proud of my quasi-morbid little creations, and so asked Logan to return them to me in the event that he ever didn't want them anymore.

I was impressed. He kept them for years, until time had made them furry with dust and mites had eaten away at the perishable parts of the mixed-media displays. (Goldfish crackers, and pieces of fish food. Let's consider those ones the prototypes.)

After the rest of high school and half of college had passed, Logan could no longer stand to see them suffer a slow, dusty demise. My Cheese Wax People were returned to me for one final goodbye before they were laid to rest in the trash.

That of course, was not the last of the cheese wax people. Stay tuned for more pictures and stories to come within the next few days!

Hello World

2008-09-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

According to some, this website is long overdue. But, I've got a good chunk of downtime coming up in November, and so I've finally been encouraged to plant my butt down in front of the computer and pay proper homage to what I imagine my friends and family see as my trademark quirk.

I see cheese wax people...

This blog is a tribute to a very simple but vital element to my own amusement and (if I'm lucky...) to the amusement of others as well. Welcome to Allison's Realm of the Cheese Wax People. We hope you enjoy your visit!