It’s the little things…

Guess I will just pick up where I left off last time. The Fall semester is now long gone and Spring semester has just come to a close. Hard to believe one year of culinary school is over, done, complete. Not going to lie it was tough. Fall was fun and light and easy to get through. Spring brought about many challenges that, looking back, I’m a bit surprised things are where they are.

In November a new man came into my life. We met at a local bar that happened to be hosting a spelling bee that evening. I was a contestant and he was a judge. I consider myself to be a pretty decent speller but let me tell ya, when you’re standing there and the pressure is on, it’s difficult to even remember the entire alphabet much less how to spell anything! Anyway…. I saw him walk in and was immediately drawn to him, he was just so damn good looking and TALL (love the tall ones :-]). I was not there to look for a man, I had more than enough going on in my life, and was content to just be there with my friends but nonetheless there he was. I pointed him out to my bestest that was sitting across from me, she agreed that he was a “good one” haha. I decided that I would take no action, I was just going to enjoy the evening with my friends. We ended up meeting 2 new friends that night and together the entire table of us just had a good time.

I was out of the competition by the second round (yeah… haha) but decided to stick around and cheer on our new found friends. It was announced that there would be a bonus round. Each contestant whether still in the game or not would be given a drink name to spell. If you spelled the drink correctly you won the drink, sounds simple! Ha! Guess who spelled her drink name incorrectly? (Who knew Pomegranate only has one ‘m’ in it?) Back to my table I went. Little did I know M (that’s what we’ll call this new, attractive, tall man) was taking that opportunity to order my lost drink. About 15 minutes after the bonus round a waitress walked over and set down a pomegranate martini in front of me. I was very confused because I clearly had not won. She explained that the “guy in the window” had sent it over to me. At the same time flashes of excitement, nervousness, anxiety and awe went through me. Because now I *had* to walk over there and express some from of gratitude! It took me a few minutes and some prodding from my table of friends but finally I just got up and before I knew it I was standing in front of him. Conversation was a little awkward but I think I managed to squeak out a “thank you for the drink” we shook hands and he asked if I would be returning the following week to see how the bee turned out. I said I would be there and I think he said something like he hoped to see me. (details are a little fuzzy)

I did indeed return the following week. He, of course, was there looking cute as ever. It wasn’t until the end of the night when he finally came over and talked to me again. I was beyond thrilled when he did. We went to the bar where he bought me a drink and we talked for quite awhile. I was impressed and wanted to know more. Luckily he did too…. he asked if he could see me again, I gave him my contact info and we parted ways. A few weeks later we were on our first date! It’s been about 6 months since then, in that 6 months we’ve been through quite a bit, nothing too far out of the ordinary, ups and downs that two people go through when they are trying to see if combining their lives is going to work or not. So far… we’ve pulled through it all and we still love (and just as- if not more importantly, still like) each other.

So yeah, in the last 6 months I finished the Fall semester, found a new love interest, finished the Spring semester and am charging ahead to the Summer semester. Should be a fun and full summer, places to go, people to see, fun times to be had!

Spent the day in Saratoga!

(thanks to All Over Albany for the pic as I forgot to take one)

Oh the Doughboy, how I love you! Doesn’t look too amazing but let me tell ya… these puppies are awesome. Three cheeses, chicken and scallions blended together and cooked in pizza dough…mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!! Typically they are something you consume after a full night of drinking but even when you are stone sober they are fabulous. Esperanto in Saratoga NY is the place to get em! Located on Caroline St, the ever famous party street, Esperanto is perfectly situated.

Chocolate Espresso Cupcake (chocolate cake drenched in ganache)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake (vanilla cake with vanilla butter cream and a ball of cookie in the middle!)

After the Doughboy a trip to the newly opened Bettie’s Cakes was in order. We walked in to a super retro looking cupcake bakery complete with sexy ladies in dresses, high heels and pearls. Loved it! Their cupcakes and beverages come in “cup” sizes. A is the smallest, B is medium, and C is large. CLEVER! The cupcakes and coffee were definitely worth the trip and I will be back soon!!

Also noteworthy was the trip to Putnam Market, that place always amazes me. So many hard to find wonderfully tantalizing treats! Today I purchased, date rolls which were topped with an almond and rolled in coconut, delicious! I also found some chocolate with bacon, which I bought as a Christmas present for one of my bacon loving friends. And some sour cherry jam for my dad, he loves the stuff!

All in all a very successful and fun day!

So november is almost over and that means that my first semester of culinary school is coming to an end. It has been a seemingly fast 11 weeks! I have loved pretty much every minute of it and can’t wait until next semester!

Recap of the last 11 weeks!

I started the semester off by correcting my Food Prep teacher. He decided to read us some random facts from the Internet, the first of which was “Lemons have more sugar than strawberry”. Now anyone who knows the nutrition facts of both fruits knows this cannot possibly be true.  I not being the type to sit quietly when false information is presented promptly spoke up and refuted this “fact”. I have since learned that some of my classmates still make fun of me for this incident! Haha!

My baking teacher is an interesting woman… she likes to tell us all kinds of stories, I’m pretty sure she can go on for hours on end without issue. She’s a nice enough woman but unfortunately likes to do things for her students rather than telling them how to do it and then stepping back.

I’m not the most patient person and actually have a hard time dealing with people who work slowly or who can’t follow simple instructions. That being said the hardest thing I had to deal with was working with a particular classmate who is less than speedy. Despite my instructions he managed to add a double amount of water to a batch of raisin walnut rolls we were making that night. Now this wouldn’t have been such a big deal had he been at all useful that night. But his ONLY job was to get and add the water. I spent most of that night doing dishes to keep from spazzing at him.

I have so far aced every test and every homework assigment. For me it’s so very rewarding to see that the long hours and hard work is paying off.

I’ve learned to make all kind of stocks, consommes, rouxs,  soups, sauces, some vegetables, sandwiches, salads, breads and pies. While all (or at least most) of these things sound fairly simple there is a right way to produce each item. And each topic has built on the last, it’s amazing how much I have learned just by reading and even more amazing how much I have learned by actually cooking. My Food Prep teacher is a former chef and worked in the restaurant industry for many years. His experience makes him a great teacher, he has a lot of tricks, tips and techniques to pass on to students who are willing to take the time to ask and learn.

There is definitely much more I could talk about but I will instead leave you with pictures of some of my creations. They were taken with my phone so the quality is far from superior.

Cream of Tomato Soup

Manhattan Clam Chowder

Cherry Pie

Coconut Cream Pie

Salade Nicoise

BLT Wrap and French Potato Salad

Monte Cristo

And that’s my first 11 weeks of culinary school!
5 to go and I am on my way to semester 2!!!!!!!!

More to come!

Though it was only 9 years ago I barely remember turning 16. Looking back though, you couldn’t pay me to go back. Not that 16 was a terrible age, I just have no desire to repeat all of the life lessons I have learned since then. I will stick with 25, thank you!

I was asked to make a cake for a 16th birthday party, the only stipulations I was given were: no chocolate (this is impossible for me to grasp… who doesn’t like chocolate?!) and blue must appear somewhere on the cake. Other than that I had free reign. Being that the only really good that happens when you turn 16 is that you can legally drive, I chose to focus on that for the cake.

This was the outcome:

It was a big hit with everyone, except the father of the 16 year old… he loved the cake but wasn’t a huge fan of the cars. I told him they could be easily removed and all was well again. My fault for not showing him the design first but I like to surprise my clients whenever possible. I prefer honest reactions as they help me build a tough skin and improve my decorating abilities.

On a completely different note… I only have 6 weeks of my first semester of culinary school left!!! How did that happen?! I feel like I just started! On the schedule for next semester is Cakes and Decorating, Dining Room Management and Food Prep 2. Going to be a very busy and tiring semester but I am oh so excited to start!!!! Pie test on Wednesday, let’s hope for another perfect score!

Hello World! (I always hated writing those Hello World programs in my programming classes back in the day) So this is my first blog post and I figured it only appropriate to write about the most recent happening.

Well my Grampa turned 75 this past Monday. My family decided to celebrate with a nice family dinner at my Aunt’s house. Naturally, I volunteered to make the cake. I mulled over what to make for weeks. I consulted my Mom about it and she thought German Chocolate might be nice. I still thought about it for awhile and finally decided it was the way to go. Not being an expert on German Chocolate Cake I consulted my current go-to spot for baking recipes. The Joy of Baking website. They always seem to have a basic recipe for exactly what I need. I used this recipe with very few tweaks.

I decided to go with a caramel filling. I made that by microwaving sweetened condensed milk until it was thick and caramelized. This would also be a good time to mention that it took three tries to make this filling… apparently the first microwave I tried was entirely way too powerful and burned the caramel twice! Finally I used a slightly less powerful microwave (which I affectionately refer to as “piece of sh*t”). I’m surprised my friend who was helping me out that night didn’t kill me during this process. That didn’t happen and I finally got the filling done. I mixed in some toasted coconut and pecans and bam filling done!

The frosting, I changed that too. I made some bittersweet chocolate ganache, let it cool and then whipped it up into a nice smooth frosting.

I decided to make some roses for the top using modeling chocolate. This is the first time I have ever worked with it and I have to say it was quite easy. Mine came out a bit sticky but sticking it in the fridge over freezer for a few mins solved that temporarily. This is a great tutorial for the first timer! Overall I would the say the results were pretty fabulous!

Grampa and everyone else at dinner loved the cake, I paired it with some Coconut Saffron ice cream. I used David Lebovitz’s recipe. I made two modifications, I added some homemade vanilla extract and some rum flavoring. That’s it! I don’t have pics of it but I will definitely make it again!