Astaxanthin

     We've all heard that the modern human diet is seriously lacking the basic nutrients that we need to survive.  We have overcrowded our farms and depleted the soil just so we can fill grocery stores with produce that is clearly out-of-season.  What about the mass feed lots used for cattle so the numerous fast food restaurants can still pump out sub par burgers to unsuspecting consumers?  Or the juice companies that sell product with sugar water and other filler ingredients with only small percentages of actual juice? 
     Our population started to make enough noise that companies began to address these issues.  We see marketing everywhere now promoting locally supplied produce from farms that rotate their crops based on the season, which I'm a big fan of.  Companies are using animal welfare ratings to support a proper cattle ranch, and juice companies are now selling 100%, fresh pressed juice at relatively the same cost as the cheaper, tainted sugar water.  Now that treating our industry with as much respect as we treat our bodies and what we put in them has become mainstream, the cost to consumers isn't as detrimental. 
     What we're missing are the chemicals that are added to our food that are technically not as harmful as pesticides and other unnatural substances.  Astaxanthin is the chemical added to farm-raised Salmon that helps give their flesh the pink pigment typically associated with Salmon.  It's a copy of the pigment that Salmon eat in the wild but there it is, a copy.  The argument of farm-raised fish is a very polarizing issue since some believe that it's better than wild since you can control their environment. 
     Because of the overcrowded pens that Salmon are raised in, various antibiotics have to be used to keep them from developing disease.  In addition, sea lice is apparently a big issue so anti-parasitic chemicals have to be used so that farmers can sell this Salmon without backlash from consumers.  Generally, these substances haven't been seen as an issue for human consumption until recently.           
     Companies are now required to put these substances on their labels so that consumers are more informed on what their buying.  Some may believe that wild is better but here's the catch.  A lot of fish farms release toxins, diseases, and other parasites that infect the wild population.  How do you control the population of the massive ocean?  You can't.  So while we may strongly disagree with farm raised fish, here's the question that we have to answer.  Do we eat fish that is free of disease due to antibiotics and chemicals with color enhancing substances, or do we eat wild fish where we have no idea what we may be ingesting?

The Process of Making a Wedding Cake

     A wedding cake is just part of all that makes a wedding.  Whether you have a small, one-tiered cake or a larger, seven-tiered cake one thing is important.  Not only does it need to look great, it needs to taste great as well.  I'm familiar with cakes and how to work with them but one aspect that will always make me a little nervous is the appearance. 
     I made my first wedding cake for our friends Angela & Cole's wedding.  They didn't want a large cake since they had a dessert bar as well, which was a blessing in disguise since I've never made a tiered cake before.  While I've made a cake before, this set a level of stress inside myself that I hadn't felt in quite some time.  No one wants to be responsible for disappointing a bride and groom and I'm no exception.  I've spent my career in food dealing with the savory side so this was a whole new world for me.
     First and foremost, you have to make sure that you understand the wants of the bride and groom.  Once you understand the flavors, size, style, and appearance in mind, you have to start planning.  Given that this was my first attempt, I spent quite a bit of time looking through web pages, books, and watching videos to gather any tips or techniques that I could.  It was a three day process since I had to work in the middle of it all.
     On day one I made all of the separate details, the orange mousse, two champagne cake layers, simple syrup, and Swiss buttercream.  I waited several hours to make sure the cake was completely cool before building the cake.  Slicing the layers in half horizontally, filling them with mousse and stacking all four layers was rather easy.  Confidence was setting in and I believed that I had this under control.
     The second day is when I started the decoration.  Icing the cake and making sure everything was smooth and even was time consuming but not as much as the small details.  Given that I'm a little hard on myself when it comes to anything in food, I had my worries on whether or not Angela & Cole would like their cake.  I will readily admit that I could have done better in terms of decoration but that all comes with practice.  If I get more chances to make wedding cakes, it will only get better.
     You can see my amateur attempt at building a cake below.