I have this crazy instinct that bugs me and never leaves me alone! It's why I'm such an over-achiever, and a risk-taker. I never do anything easy, always taking the road less traveled. Well, this morning is no different, I find myself sitting in front of this computer preparing for my test this morning (in a couple hours) and typing up this blog when I'd just rather be lying in bed. I completed and sent out my survey for menu class last night which needed to be done before 4/16 which it's not even April yet. I am ready to print out the notification as proof that I did complete it just in-case my teacher is wondering who is keeping up. This class is all auto-pilot, no hand-holding, and she expects us to be what/who we are as adults and do our work and practice effective time management on our own with little or no guidance from her. To be honest with you, I kinda like it this way. It let's me test my mettle, to see what I'm made of. The other classes I took last term weren't elementary at all but this term is a bit tougher! Hey, I earned that A and I'm going to earn it again this term! 4.0 - again!!
Oh, last night my fiance made the most amazing pepper steak using Steak-Ums, it was soooooo good! I ate every bite and angrily looked at the streaks of gravy left in my plate because there was no more. Not enough for seconds, ugh! rolling my eyes! Lol!
Monday, March 31, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Post from Saturday, January 18th, 2014
Well ever since I started culinary school my eyes have been wide open. My family and I decided on the spur of the moment on a mini vacay to San Antonio over the weekend. It was event filled, a total blast! We took the riverboat cruise down the San Antonio River at the Riverwalk, stayed at the Drury Inn Hotel and Suites where we had discount coupons from the free hotel coupon.com magazine at One of the Denny's in Houston, toured the Alamo, went on a real-live ghost haunt in downtown San Antonio where 800+ people fighting at the Alamo lost their lives in just about 90 seconds. There were plenty of other tragic things that happened there. Lo' and behold I did catch a lot of it on my iPad Air. Although I don't believe you need one just to catch a ghost on camera, I have a special attachment to mine.
Let me tell you about the Drury Inn, it was very very comfortable though one of the outlets didn't work which is why the lamp on my side of the bed wasn't working. The hotel had an impressive room service menu with impressive prices, in a good way! They served free breakfast which had many tasty choices and offered foods for the health conscious. They also offered what they call a 5:30 Kickback. It was dinner, it wasn't something you'd get at Applebee's which was adjacent to the hotel, or anything offering a full family menu. If you didn't like chili dogs or beans then you were pretty much out of luck save for small baked potatoes and a salad. Seriously though, they could have saved them small drawed up things and made small French fries, they probably would have been better received. But beggars can't be choosers or can they?i mean the meal was free, and on top of that they served a free bar. I ordered a tequila sunrise, let me tell you I tasted no sunrise in my tequila sunrise. They was so much alcohol the room began to spin on my first couple of sips. I left nearly a whole glass un-consumed. Yeah, I could have asked them to water it down for me some or fix me another with much less tequila and much more sunrise but I was at the end of my dinner and we were headed upstairs to take a nap before we became legitimate ghost haunts in a couple hours.
So on our last day there we went to the Snake Farm And Wild Animal Zoo. I had always seen this place of the side of the road whe. I lived in San Antonio a few years back. I never checked it out, just scared. Much like my approach to the Culinary School I attend. My first impression was much better than that of the ginormous San Antonio Zoo, you had look for the tired animals who hid ore than showed themselves. Here, you are first greeted by anacondas, pythons and all kinds of snakes, and other reptiles. They sell you a small bag of feed for a small price to feed the animals if you want (no not the snakes!), once you get outside where theist of the animals don't slither you are greeted by happy turkeys, peacocks, roosters just casually walking around. They walk up to you. Give these happy creatures a little bit of feed and you've got. Friend for the rest of your life or however long your stay there is, whatever comes first. We couldn't find the camels at the SN Antonio Zoo but here she was there, beautiful and interacted with us. All of the animals did. They even have real live animal demonstrations done by the animal handlers or guest ones who come there to inform, educate and entertain. The demonstration was the white lion cubs. Solo cute, they were 9 months old. They were interactive too and the guests were able to interact back by petting them and taking up-close photo shots on their various electronic cellular devices. Or you can feed the billy goats and the camels. I got to see my favorite, up-close. I have only ever been able to see my favorite animal via photos, on television, in magazines, etc. I saw the wolves! I love wolves, they are so hauntingly beautiful. They as I say are not of this world, it just seems like they have been here before. Like they we motivated by spiritual forces. We saw eagles, monkeys, etc. this snake farm is not just a snake farm, nope! It is so much more! Including a Perty neat gift, souveineir shop. I know I totally mutilated that word.
Our next and last stop was ZDTs in somewhere. Lol! Nah it's in Seguin, TX. OMG! This big attraction in the little town of Seguin was so much fun. A 2-story Go Cart Track, amusement park rides one of which I went on and ended my day. My stomach was feeling some kinda way and headed back to Houston. But they had old water or chemical vats that they turned into climbing walls, 2 arcades. Some games featured old Atari faves like Donkey Kong and Centipede, there were some racing games and then if that isn't enough for you the. You bounce on probably the biggest rubber band in the world that's made for both kids and adults.
One restaurant we visited that I'd like to name was suggested by my finances son, 'Dick's Last Resort', he had warned us that the purpose was to give us bad service, intentionally. I forgot that when we walked through the door. How does a waitress, waiters walk right past us, seeing us come in, and hold casual conversations about the weather and river walk tourists. I was like, "didn't they see us standing here!" Finally some saw us instead of looking through us like we were made of glass. We were taken to our seats, our silverware thrown down on the table, our napkins floating aimlessly in the air after being tossed at us. Our waitress asked us if we knew anything about the restaurant, I told her the we heard some things. She was like alright, let me explain this to you! Then the fun began! People actually come here for bad service. I mean this has to be the dream job for rude people, seriously, I'm. to rude but when a bad attitude is not only expected but encouraged is so much fun! I mean they are not like Beeyatch! There is a tad bit of decorum here. The. They don these ridiculous towering paper hats on your head upon which they've written something not so kind on them. It's all part of the Mbience, so this is NOT the place to go if you have no sense of humor. If you can't take a joke then I advise you go to the British bar a couple steps up the sidewalk. The bathroom was very clean, the faucet handles were in my opinion a little unsanitary functionally. I mean, I went to turn the handle, nothing. I had to turn the loose handle like five turns as it swiveled freely around to ge some water to wash my hands. I though it was funny, but can make a real germiphobe real uncomfortable.
I cNt end this without telling you about the food, their cheeseburgers are huge, juicy, delectable and don't order the double like I did (ginormous) and then go on an amusement ride 2 or 3 hours later at ZDTs like I did. They have Shri so in a bucket, really it wouldn't order this. If I had ordered this like some other people did I would have been like, "ok, really? Jokes over, no more playing!" The bucket is true but the shrimp is pitiful. They place a cloth dinner napkin across the opening of the bucket and place 4 pitiful looking shrimp on top of it. Literally! That's the dish, if he hadn't ordered the chili cheese fries he would have been out of luck, even that was small. My double cheeseburger could have ate everyone else's dish for a snake except for maybe my son who had a single cheeseburger.
Well that was our weekend!
Let me tell you about the Drury Inn, it was very very comfortable though one of the outlets didn't work which is why the lamp on my side of the bed wasn't working. The hotel had an impressive room service menu with impressive prices, in a good way! They served free breakfast which had many tasty choices and offered foods for the health conscious. They also offered what they call a 5:30 Kickback. It was dinner, it wasn't something you'd get at Applebee's which was adjacent to the hotel, or anything offering a full family menu. If you didn't like chili dogs or beans then you were pretty much out of luck save for small baked potatoes and a salad. Seriously though, they could have saved them small drawed up things and made small French fries, they probably would have been better received. But beggars can't be choosers or can they?i mean the meal was free, and on top of that they served a free bar. I ordered a tequila sunrise, let me tell you I tasted no sunrise in my tequila sunrise. They was so much alcohol the room began to spin on my first couple of sips. I left nearly a whole glass un-consumed. Yeah, I could have asked them to water it down for me some or fix me another with much less tequila and much more sunrise but I was at the end of my dinner and we were headed upstairs to take a nap before we became legitimate ghost haunts in a couple hours.
So on our last day there we went to the Snake Farm And Wild Animal Zoo. I had always seen this place of the side of the road whe. I lived in San Antonio a few years back. I never checked it out, just scared. Much like my approach to the Culinary School I attend. My first impression was much better than that of the ginormous San Antonio Zoo, you had look for the tired animals who hid ore than showed themselves. Here, you are first greeted by anacondas, pythons and all kinds of snakes, and other reptiles. They sell you a small bag of feed for a small price to feed the animals if you want (no not the snakes!), once you get outside where theist of the animals don't slither you are greeted by happy turkeys, peacocks, roosters just casually walking around. They walk up to you. Give these happy creatures a little bit of feed and you've got. Friend for the rest of your life or however long your stay there is, whatever comes first. We couldn't find the camels at the SN Antonio Zoo but here she was there, beautiful and interacted with us. All of the animals did. They even have real live animal demonstrations done by the animal handlers or guest ones who come there to inform, educate and entertain. The demonstration was the white lion cubs. Solo cute, they were 9 months old. They were interactive too and the guests were able to interact back by petting them and taking up-close photo shots on their various electronic cellular devices. Or you can feed the billy goats and the camels. I got to see my favorite, up-close. I have only ever been able to see my favorite animal via photos, on television, in magazines, etc. I saw the wolves! I love wolves, they are so hauntingly beautiful. They as I say are not of this world, it just seems like they have been here before. Like they we motivated by spiritual forces. We saw eagles, monkeys, etc. this snake farm is not just a snake farm, nope! It is so much more! Including a Perty neat gift, souveineir shop. I know I totally mutilated that word.
Our next and last stop was ZDTs in somewhere. Lol! Nah it's in Seguin, TX. OMG! This big attraction in the little town of Seguin was so much fun. A 2-story Go Cart Track, amusement park rides one of which I went on and ended my day. My stomach was feeling some kinda way and headed back to Houston. But they had old water or chemical vats that they turned into climbing walls, 2 arcades. Some games featured old Atari faves like Donkey Kong and Centipede, there were some racing games and then if that isn't enough for you the. You bounce on probably the biggest rubber band in the world that's made for both kids and adults.
One restaurant we visited that I'd like to name was suggested by my finances son, 'Dick's Last Resort', he had warned us that the purpose was to give us bad service, intentionally. I forgot that when we walked through the door. How does a waitress, waiters walk right past us, seeing us come in, and hold casual conversations about the weather and river walk tourists. I was like, "didn't they see us standing here!" Finally some saw us instead of looking through us like we were made of glass. We were taken to our seats, our silverware thrown down on the table, our napkins floating aimlessly in the air after being tossed at us. Our waitress asked us if we knew anything about the restaurant, I told her the we heard some things. She was like alright, let me explain this to you! Then the fun began! People actually come here for bad service. I mean this has to be the dream job for rude people, seriously, I'm. to rude but when a bad attitude is not only expected but encouraged is so much fun! I mean they are not like Beeyatch! There is a tad bit of decorum here. The. They don these ridiculous towering paper hats on your head upon which they've written something not so kind on them. It's all part of the Mbience, so this is NOT the place to go if you have no sense of humor. If you can't take a joke then I advise you go to the British bar a couple steps up the sidewalk. The bathroom was very clean, the faucet handles were in my opinion a little unsanitary functionally. I mean, I went to turn the handle, nothing. I had to turn the loose handle like five turns as it swiveled freely around to ge some water to wash my hands. I though it was funny, but can make a real germiphobe real uncomfortable.
I cNt end this without telling you about the food, their cheeseburgers are huge, juicy, delectable and don't order the double like I did (ginormous) and then go on an amusement ride 2 or 3 hours later at ZDTs like I did. They have Shri so in a bucket, really it wouldn't order this. If I had ordered this like some other people did I would have been like, "ok, really? Jokes over, no more playing!" The bucket is true but the shrimp is pitiful. They place a cloth dinner napkin across the opening of the bucket and place 4 pitiful looking shrimp on top of it. Literally! That's the dish, if he hadn't ordered the chili cheese fries he would have been out of luck, even that was small. My double cheeseburger could have ate everyone else's dish for a snake except for maybe my son who had a single cheeseburger.
Well that was our weekend!
A Hell Raising Good Day!
This was an especially good day for me and a few of my classmates. I cannot even imagine being in this place in my life right now. Yesterday me and Richard attended my award ceremony at my school, you remember, The Culinary Institute LeNotre in Houston, TX., it was phenomenal. It's a very prestigious private school, but don't let that scare you, the curriculum is tough which is one reason why I appreciate it so much! This school welcomed a star who happens to be a former alumni to come and talk to us. Who was it, you may be asking, well it was none other than Chef Gabriel from this seasons Hell's Kitchen. He talked to us about motivation, motivation, motivation and going for what you want and how to get yourself going in the right direction and how it works. He also talked to us about his being on Hell's Kitchen and that the opportunity to be on the show actually came from our school. Our school does so many awesome things, you never know what star chef is going to stop by whether invited or not. That's a thing that makes coming to this school so exciting! This is like the Harvard's of Culinary Institutes, and Hollywood altogether because you can get discovered here and become a star chef, you can go to France for your practicum and work in one of the restaurants the school has arranged, and you can do so many other things. Star chefs, Executive Chefs, etc. come to this school to recruit Sous Chefs, etc. and I didn't even realize we even had a billionaire right here in TX. I am really very happy to have met and have the opportunity to listen to him speak. I'm not going to say it changed my life, God and the school did that. But I will say that he set me on a clear path as to where I want to go with this.
God, you are so good to me!
God, you are so good to me!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Early A.M. Bedtime
OMG! I'm going to need a Monster energy drink tomorrow! It's 1:16 in the morning and my type A, military perfectionism has me still working on powerpoints, excel spreadsheet calculations - well not anymore since I've finally remembered how with a little help from my old faithful, menu organization and reading, still reading trying to stay at least one-step ahead! I can't let myself get behind, as my teachers explained, because it'll be too hard to catch back up with all the things we still have left to do and this term has only just begun!! Thankfully, Thank you dear Lord Jesus, Glory Glory I took a nap today so it's not as crazy as it could be! *Wink to you Jesus!
Review.. Receipt.. Review
Now that I'm back, and have my head back on straight... and screwed in tight, I have been reading, reading, designing powerpoints and doing mathematical computations and trying to get Excel to do what I want it to do. Well, all I had to do was go to old faithful and log onto YouTube. I mean seriously, we could be so much smarter about life, business and just about every odd and end if we just log on. That's how I found the formula for costing. The video is boring but it serves the purpose so I put it in my favorites and likes.
Still bouncing between just food writer and being a restauranteur a/or research chef. I really like the idea of research chef but I want to really get going with things and don't feel I have time to spend on extra schooling. I truly love writing, and eating and quick, delicious cooking. More restaurants are in my future and although I do not have any posted here like I probably should, I will be placing my reviews on the places I patronize right here in my blog. So, stay tuned because things are about to get rockin'!
I am figuring now, I can write reviews and go to school. Don't know how that works with restauranting though. April is upon us and, it marks my Grandparents who never fell out of love with each other big day, an explosion of wedding events, and the start of my reviews. April showers brings flowers, and not just those in May!
Still bouncing between just food writer and being a restauranteur a/or research chef. I really like the idea of research chef but I want to really get going with things and don't feel I have time to spend on extra schooling. I truly love writing, and eating and quick, delicious cooking. More restaurants are in my future and although I do not have any posted here like I probably should, I will be placing my reviews on the places I patronize right here in my blog. So, stay tuned because things are about to get rockin'!
I am figuring now, I can write reviews and go to school. Don't know how that works with restauranting though. April is upon us and, it marks my Grandparents who never fell out of love with each other big day, an explosion of wedding events, and the start of my reviews. April showers brings flowers, and not just those in May!
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Whatta Sprout! And a vent!
So as I said, I'm posting a blog on my experience and the impression Sprouts (R) grocery store had on me. I went to the one in Katy, not too far of an excursion outside of Houston, though all the construction made the trip a little tedious. It was hugely raved about by my classmates so I just had to try it. It's supposed to be just like Whole Foods (R) except more affordable. My first impression was that it had that vibe, so that was pleasant. Soon enough though, I see that the 'afterbite' so to speak, is a little off! The place was definitely a lot smaller than Whole Foods, the vibe was just really short-lived. There are no big juicy apples or fruits like their competitor, I just felt at a loss. Like the store was lacking substance, produce, groceries! There was barely a meat department, just nothing to purchase. It had a good variety in the holistic/natural foods section of the store that took up less than 1/4 of the store. When I arrived there were plenty of cars in the parking lot so obviously this is the store of choice for some, just not for me.
Will I visit another Sprout's grocery store, probably not. But I can tell you there is a marked difference between the locals in Houston and those in Katy. I'd rather live in Katy if it weren't so far from school. The people there are very kind and not intentionally rude, they demonstrate intelligence and sense that should be common to everyone, like where I come from, and there were no vagrants! Houston could learn a lot from those in Katy, seriously!! I was in Katy for a while, and not just at Sprouts, if it weren't for my family being here I would have become a commuter that day! Another place where we experienced extraordinary kindness is Corpus Christie, Wichita Falls, Frisco all in TX. I'm pretty sure there are a few decent Houstonians (those from here), that have decency and decorum but to hear even the locals say it, is fewer and further between than ever! Houston is salvageable though, mainly in the suburbs and areas like the Woodlands, the Heights, um maybe River Oaks. So it's good here I guess, in certain areas. Is it like that in all places? Probably. The story as it's told to me is like how the U.S. changed after WWI. That's how Houston changed after Hurricane Katrina. I remember in Colorado, apartment communities refused to open their doors to those displaced by the storm, and after seeing quality of the prospective clientele I understood why. I remember that Houston refused at first. I think they still feel opposed though the event has long passed. But isn't that how our country was first built? Peoples were expelled from their countries or removed themselves to come find out what the New World was about, the Land of Dreams, Opportunity! They bought their traditions, foods to this country and enriched our life like a complex quilt made up of diversity, luck, and love. So when those From Louisiana became Houstonians, etc they brought with them spicy foods, gumbo's and a way of life that either was or wasn't accepted. Nobody accepted the Irish in this country for a long time but I have a grandmother who is half Irish and half Cherokee and that has enriched our family. We just have to accept that given the circumstances change is necessary. Not all change is good, but God has given us a silver lining to go with every cloud, and a rainbow to go with every rainy day. We just have to be good stewards of his blessings, respect each other, follow the rules and leave Sodom & Gomorrah in the Old Testament. In 2005 it seemed as everyone, even those in Louisiana said the area that was most affected by the hurricane was not worth salvaging! The way I see it, God sent them a message, and gave them a second chance all at the same time. Did they choose to change what made them what seemed to be America's eyesore? I think the only ones who actually were eyesores back then, still are today. And there are lots of decent Houstonians, it's just the bad ones makes it difficult to see the good.
Will I visit another Sprout's grocery store, probably not. But I can tell you there is a marked difference between the locals in Houston and those in Katy. I'd rather live in Katy if it weren't so far from school. The people there are very kind and not intentionally rude, they demonstrate intelligence and sense that should be common to everyone, like where I come from, and there were no vagrants! Houston could learn a lot from those in Katy, seriously!! I was in Katy for a while, and not just at Sprouts, if it weren't for my family being here I would have become a commuter that day! Another place where we experienced extraordinary kindness is Corpus Christie, Wichita Falls, Frisco all in TX. I'm pretty sure there are a few decent Houstonians (those from here), that have decency and decorum but to hear even the locals say it, is fewer and further between than ever! Houston is salvageable though, mainly in the suburbs and areas like the Woodlands, the Heights, um maybe River Oaks. So it's good here I guess, in certain areas. Is it like that in all places? Probably. The story as it's told to me is like how the U.S. changed after WWI. That's how Houston changed after Hurricane Katrina. I remember in Colorado, apartment communities refused to open their doors to those displaced by the storm, and after seeing quality of the prospective clientele I understood why. I remember that Houston refused at first. I think they still feel opposed though the event has long passed. But isn't that how our country was first built? Peoples were expelled from their countries or removed themselves to come find out what the New World was about, the Land of Dreams, Opportunity! They bought their traditions, foods to this country and enriched our life like a complex quilt made up of diversity, luck, and love. So when those From Louisiana became Houstonians, etc they brought with them spicy foods, gumbo's and a way of life that either was or wasn't accepted. Nobody accepted the Irish in this country for a long time but I have a grandmother who is half Irish and half Cherokee and that has enriched our family. We just have to accept that given the circumstances change is necessary. Not all change is good, but God has given us a silver lining to go with every cloud, and a rainbow to go with every rainy day. We just have to be good stewards of his blessings, respect each other, follow the rules and leave Sodom & Gomorrah in the Old Testament. In 2005 it seemed as everyone, even those in Louisiana said the area that was most affected by the hurricane was not worth salvaging! The way I see it, God sent them a message, and gave them a second chance all at the same time. Did they choose to change what made them what seemed to be America's eyesore? I think the only ones who actually were eyesores back then, still are today. And there are lots of decent Houstonians, it's just the bad ones makes it difficult to see the good.
A Case For Philadelphia
You know how every home chef has their quintessential must-have specific ingredient or tool in their kitchen whether related to a dish or just because, well I have mines when it to Crab Rangoon and Bacon-wrapped Stuffed Jalapeño Peppers. We only had Asian night on occasion until recently which marks my second term in culinary school, and not just any culinary school I might add! So, my friend, i'mma stop calling him friend and give him an actual name, his real name is Richard though some call him Ricky, Richardo, Big Rich, Daddy and Baby (that's my pet name for him). For sake of my blog I will use my Baby interchangeably to reference Richard and my son Mica. So, I made egg rolls for my Composition Class, 3.10.2014, where I had to write a recipe and optioned to cook, bring it in for some extra credit and opinion on taste outside of my family. So after school, my baby asked me to teach him to make Crab Puffs. I said, "oh, you mean crab Rangoon!", and so I ran to the store, excitedly, and got my ingredients for that and more egg rolls. My key ingredient was the cream cheese. I have been making this dish for so many years my fingers and toes would have to have fingers and toes for me to count them all, I always always always use Philadelphia Cream Cheese (R) and Nasoya (R) brand won ton wrappers, egg roll wrappers. Philadelphia Cream Cheese is the best cream cheese ever to add to your recipe no matter what your concoction is. I let mines come to room temperature and it's just magic!
After we ran out of won ton wrappers and egg roll wrappers, I stored the left over Crab Rangoon mixture overnight in our refrigerator thinking that I'll just make more the next day to use it up or just toss it out. So, the next day comes and I have my friends’ son with me for the day, he was out of school that week for spring break. He and Mica are in two different school districts, Mica's break came the week after. We were in Katy at Sprouts, a grocery store like Whole Foods but cheaper. Everyone in my Nutrition class at school raved about it, and said that's the only place they go. I'll do a blog on Sprouts next. Anyway, it had the Whole Foods vibe going on (Whole Foods was right up the street) and I was able to find good sized jalapeños and bought the whole lot of what was left from people picking through. No Philadelphia Cream Cheese though. We ventured to the surrounding stores and explored the area a little until we lost track of time and headed home to pick Mica up from school, still stop by Kroger's for snow crab legs, and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. My baby gets home from Dialysis and starts mixing up the ingredients. All of a sudden, I have an epiphany! I asked him, "what do you think if I use the mixture for crab Rangoon in the stuffed jalapeño peppers?" I said that, my mouth watering as I can practically taste it already. He said sure, why not let's try it! So I did, and it came out so damn good!! OMG! I have had lots of stuffed jalapeños but none of them good like this.
Well, I have met another stuffed jalapeño lover and she is in two of my classes this term. She has a picture on her Facebook of her dishes and one of them was of jalapeños she made. I commented and told her of my Crab Rangoon Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeños and she said she will try it. Now, this is someone I'd say is a very good cook. I haven't tasted anything she has made so my judgement could be a bit premature but from what I saw on her pages and from listening to her talk I believe I can trust her ability to make a mean meal. I have found myself surrounded by wonderful culinarians, now that I can breathe, I can relax just a little bit more since my first term is over and my 4.0 GPA has been achieved. I see what I just knew before. I do hope that others can learn something from me, from my being in class with them and I definitely hope to learn something from them as well. It's been said that success is being a blessing to someone in the room just because you're in it. I feel blessed! Wine tasting tomorrow!
After we ran out of won ton wrappers and egg roll wrappers, I stored the left over Crab Rangoon mixture overnight in our refrigerator thinking that I'll just make more the next day to use it up or just toss it out. So, the next day comes and I have my friends’ son with me for the day, he was out of school that week for spring break. He and Mica are in two different school districts, Mica's break came the week after. We were in Katy at Sprouts, a grocery store like Whole Foods but cheaper. Everyone in my Nutrition class at school raved about it, and said that's the only place they go. I'll do a blog on Sprouts next. Anyway, it had the Whole Foods vibe going on (Whole Foods was right up the street) and I was able to find good sized jalapeños and bought the whole lot of what was left from people picking through. No Philadelphia Cream Cheese though. We ventured to the surrounding stores and explored the area a little until we lost track of time and headed home to pick Mica up from school, still stop by Kroger's for snow crab legs, and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. My baby gets home from Dialysis and starts mixing up the ingredients. All of a sudden, I have an epiphany! I asked him, "what do you think if I use the mixture for crab Rangoon in the stuffed jalapeño peppers?" I said that, my mouth watering as I can practically taste it already. He said sure, why not let's try it! So I did, and it came out so damn good!! OMG! I have had lots of stuffed jalapeños but none of them good like this.
Well, I have met another stuffed jalapeño lover and she is in two of my classes this term. She has a picture on her Facebook of her dishes and one of them was of jalapeños she made. I commented and told her of my Crab Rangoon Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeños and she said she will try it. Now, this is someone I'd say is a very good cook. I haven't tasted anything she has made so my judgement could be a bit premature but from what I saw on her pages and from listening to her talk I believe I can trust her ability to make a mean meal. I have found myself surrounded by wonderful culinarians, now that I can breathe, I can relax just a little bit more since my first term is over and my 4.0 GPA has been achieved. I see what I just knew before. I do hope that others can learn something from me, from my being in class with them and I definitely hope to learn something from them as well. It's been said that success is being a blessing to someone in the room just because you're in it. I feel blessed! Wine tasting tomorrow!
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Eggs
The wonderful world of Eggs. Can you come up with dishes that primarily use eggs? The well-known dishes are soufflé, omelets, seafood pancake, deviled eggs, eggs benedict, hard and soft boiled eggs, scotch eggs, tea eggs, over-easy eggs, sunny-side-up and scrambled eggs, do Easter Eggs count?, egg salads, egg casseroles, kimchi eggs, egg and biscuit sandwiches.
Eggs are used as binders, emulsifiers, glazers and fillers, for décor and probably a whole range of other uses. As binders, think about using eggs in a meatloaf or salmon croquette or pudding. As emulsifiers they work well in smoothies. As glazers, think about brushing a turkey, bread or pie crust with this incredible ingredient to produce a glaze that makes it shine with a beautiful golden brown coating. And as fillers they work especially well in sandwiches, salads.
I am really not allergic to any food except eggs. ikr (I know right)! I love eggs, they just don't love me back. I have to over-compensate with lots of onions, peppers, and other veggies and sometimes a protein like sausage or bacon when eating scrambled eggs and omelettes. Never ever runny eggs, and those are my favorites. Sunnyside up eggs, eggs over-easy, anything with a runny or creamy yolk is sure to send me running to pray to the porcelain god and violently. Like, my body tries to so frantically get rid of the substance that it tries to get rid of everything in me, the common-sense to stop regurgitating when the substance has been totally and completely heaved up doesn't happen. That connection between my body and my brain is completely off. But, I can eat boiled eggs with no problem at all. I can eat eggs cooked in a recipe like a cake or something. French toast just gives me minor irritation. I absolutely love Easter eggs, I think it may be the dye because to me they taste better than regular boiled eggs. I think other people feel the same because at church it can become a real handful keeping adults from stealing the eggs from the kids and each other. It could be worse, I could be allergic to shellfish/seafood. Now THAT is where I draw the line! Lol!!
Eggs are used as binders, emulsifiers, glazers and fillers, for décor and probably a whole range of other uses. As binders, think about using eggs in a meatloaf or salmon croquette or pudding. As emulsifiers they work well in smoothies. As glazers, think about brushing a turkey, bread or pie crust with this incredible ingredient to produce a glaze that makes it shine with a beautiful golden brown coating. And as fillers they work especially well in sandwiches, salads.
I am really not allergic to any food except eggs. ikr (I know right)! I love eggs, they just don't love me back. I have to over-compensate with lots of onions, peppers, and other veggies and sometimes a protein like sausage or bacon when eating scrambled eggs and omelettes. Never ever runny eggs, and those are my favorites. Sunnyside up eggs, eggs over-easy, anything with a runny or creamy yolk is sure to send me running to pray to the porcelain god and violently. Like, my body tries to so frantically get rid of the substance that it tries to get rid of everything in me, the common-sense to stop regurgitating when the substance has been totally and completely heaved up doesn't happen. That connection between my body and my brain is completely off. But, I can eat boiled eggs with no problem at all. I can eat eggs cooked in a recipe like a cake or something. French toast just gives me minor irritation. I absolutely love Easter eggs, I think it may be the dye because to me they taste better than regular boiled eggs. I think other people feel the same because at church it can become a real handful keeping adults from stealing the eggs from the kids and each other. It could be worse, I could be allergic to shellfish/seafood. Now THAT is where I draw the line! Lol!!
99.5% won't do!
Okay so can I commit to a daily, or weekly blog post! Since I started school my school-life balance has been teetering on pathetic! I am a perfectionist, intense and driven and so my school activities tend to pull 110% from me! family 110%! Thankfully I have my fiancé to help me with this, and me .. 55%, thankfully I have my fiancé to help me with this too! The me part includes my blog because writing is my love. It truly relaxes me, but I haven't been putting in the time on me that I feel I deserve. Yes, my school, and family are both a part of me but on the part that's slacking; it could really use a little brushing up. I believe I can do 90% and work up from there. Yes there is a such-a-thing as 330%. In reality, the way I see it is that 100 is the easiest number to represent a whole. It's easiest to subtract from, divide into, show percentage from 100. 100 is easier than 1,000 or 100,000 and 50 is too small because it breaks down too fast into tedious fractions and such. So exceeding 100% doesn't mean you are doing too much, it's just that in measurable terms it exceeds the norm. Math is not a subject I excel in but this explanation works for me, and with no equations.
Now that I've cleared that up, a daily or weekly blog is more me. I catch inspiration very randomly, very often and a moment might pass and lose its wonderment if I wait too long. Plenty of that has already happened. My promise to myself, and to my readers is to never miss submitting a blog post for more than a week unless there are major unforeseen reasons to. And please don't get me wrong; I am truly enjoying school and am fascinated everyday at my giftedness and the intellectual affluence of my instructors, other staff there.
I am A+ certified, currently carry a 4.0 GPA at the Culinary Institute LeNotre, am ServeSafe certified, and on the right track to Suma Cum Laude upon graduation September 1, 2015. I have 3 children who are all gifted. Yes, I just found out about my 4.0 and am utilizing my right to brag. I am proud of me, no more running away from my ability; it's my reward, and it's me taking care of me! A perfect start!
Now that I've cleared that up, a daily or weekly blog is more me. I catch inspiration very randomly, very often and a moment might pass and lose its wonderment if I wait too long. Plenty of that has already happened. My promise to myself, and to my readers is to never miss submitting a blog post for more than a week unless there are major unforeseen reasons to. And please don't get me wrong; I am truly enjoying school and am fascinated everyday at my giftedness and the intellectual affluence of my instructors, other staff there.
I am A+ certified, currently carry a 4.0 GPA at the Culinary Institute LeNotre, am ServeSafe certified, and on the right track to Suma Cum Laude upon graduation September 1, 2015. I have 3 children who are all gifted. Yes, I just found out about my 4.0 and am utilizing my right to brag. I am proud of me, no more running away from my ability; it's my reward, and it's me taking care of me! A perfect start!
Saturday, March 1, 2014
It's been so long, I've been gone!
Hello, I feel like a stranger. It's been so long since I've blogged. I know that I owe you some interesting explanations and that is what I intend to give you. I've just been so busy, not interesting I know but just hold on a sec, I've been so busy with school and everything requires a report; written, typed, double-spaced, formatted or a journal entry. Packs of mid-term study guides all essay style. I've written so much that I actually got a little burnt out. I say that while biting my lower lip. Me, burnt out on writing! Doesn't even sound like the words go together. But yet here I am, a long span of time since my last blog. Feeling fully creative but barely able to write, I still have 4 more journal entries I have to finish today and final study guides that are yet to come. So I'm going to keep this real short and real sweet.
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