Since my last post I have learned a lot. I’ve taken a class on hot and cold desserts. Yeah that includes ice cream. The class did have its challenges. My group came up with our own version of a guacamole gelato… we dubbed it guacalato. Avocado based gelato with candied tomatoes and jalapeños folded in, and served with lime wonton chips.

It was really good. It kind of threw you off b/c it looked like guacamole but it was ice cream. It was fun coming up with that though.

The next class was cookies and petit fours. Loved the Chef. He really challenged us w/different procedures. I got to eat a lot of sweets so I was happy to say the least.

This was my Chef... Chef Busch, and yes he is in a whoopie cushion costume. This was the Thursday before Halloween. Made for a good laugh all day in class. But we got to make sugar/short dough cookies that day decorated with royal icing. So being in the spirit of Halloween, we made Halloween cookies.

The final was a challenge just with the different products we had to produce as a group.

But as you can see we produced a lot of different products. Petit fours, macaroons, biscotti, different types of cookies, and madelines. It was a lot of fun though cranking this stuff out.

Thanksgiving was a much needed break. I wasn't getting burned out, just needed a break from the same people I saw pretty much every day. I enjoy the company of some, but others it is understood personality clash. We all try to stay very civil with each other, but there are days when the gloves are put on. But I got to go back home and kind of relax. Got to Go to two Ole Miss games while I was home. Didn't get wins but still had a good time.

Scored some tickets... the day before the game. So happy b/c I really wanted to go to the game. Row 9 in the Ole Miss section... Loved it! Felt good to be back in this kind of atmosphere. I've missed being out in Denver.
Got to enjoy the close seats with my little sister who is a freshman now at Ole Miss... So glad I got to be there for her first LSU away game, as a student that is. I also took her to her first away LSU football game a couple years before.

So a lot of LSU fans will follow the LSU band into the stadium as they come down Victory Hill... So what did we do as Ole Miss fans... We jumped in the mix with the corn dogs and followed the band into the stadium... Yeah we did that. It was fun. We got heckled but they were impressed that we had the gauze to do it. Great experience.
So we decided we would take a picture with this sign... It says "Col. Reb = bad BLACK Bear = good WTF? Geaux to hell Black Bears! GEAUX TO HELL!" Don't remember what our train of thought was for why we did.

Got to sit for part of the state game at home. Not bad seats that my friend had.
The smoked turkey we had for Turkey Day... It was awesome! I did make some pies that day but failed to take pictures before everybody dove into them.

The class I'm in now is a principle of bread baking class and it is teaching more patience. I'll have to do another post later about all the different breads I have done. Those of you that follow me on Twitter have seen some of the products I've made... I enjoy the class a lot. But working with bread doughs take patience. If you don't have any... don't even bother b/c you'll be in the worst mood while trying to attempt to make anything. But I shall post again soon.

Little Bites...

I don’t think I can put enough emphasis on how much fun I’m having here at culinary school doing baking and pastry. Granted I am attempting to get up at 4:30 AM for class, but it is difficult, so I sometimes sleep a little later to 4:45 or 5. And only once have I slept through my alarms (yes I have multiple alarms to go off in the AM which I’m sure the person on the other side of my wall loves hearing), but I did wake up in time for class surprisinglyThose that know me well enough know that I am by no means a morning person. I don’t even pretend to be. Luckily at the beginning of classes we have a lecture so I don’t have to talk to people; gives me some time to wake up. The up side of class is that everybody looks the same in the sense that make-up; perfume, aftershave, etc. aren’t allowed (reason being is that there isn’t the risk of somebody’s make-up wont get into any product, or somebody’s perfume/aftershave wont alter the taste of the products). Since I shower the night before… I just have to roll out of bed and put on the uniform (which is sooo flattering *note sarcasm).

I’m already in my second class, pies and tarts. My first class was a class focused on the fundamental skills and techniques of baking and pastry. You are given so much information in such little time. Instead of barely putting your toes in and gradually submerging yourself you are doing a cannonball. It is a great hands on experience. So far I’ve made diplomat cups filled with pastry cream and pears poached in red wine with a hint of orange. Then reduced the poaching liquid down into a sauce to put on top (picture below) (this was from the fundamentals class and was made w/my group I was with)…

In my Pies and Tarts class I’ve made a lot of pies and pie dough. I’ve made an apple pie with a streusel topping, another apple pie but with a dough covering, a blueberry pie, a cherry and raspberry pie, and then a quiche... the quiche dough was made with lard… yes lard, and yes… it was delicious. We (my partner in this class) decided to put sautéed onions, red and green bell peppers, asparagus, and of course bacon in the quiche (sorry no photo of that one). It was lovely. I was a very happy camper. That’s another good thing about class… we get to try what we’ve produced. Well we have to try what we produce. So this helps with not having to go get lunch somewhere… sometimes I still will go to the dining hall to get food b/c eating a lot of sweets is apparently not good for you. Who would of thought? But the last pie I made was a pumpkin pie... I was quickly reminded of how much I love making this pie... went to my ways of making it at home and did all the leaves like I do and my Chef approved of it... which I was really proud of.

This last photo is of obviously the pies my class produced... As you can see some pies didn't do so well in the oven b/c of too much filling or the dough wasn't cool enough before going into the oven... *note for the home cook: keep your doughs as cool as possible b/c if you don't it will look like your dough is melting in the oven b/c it pretty much is b/c of your fat (which would be your butter or lard or shortening) that is in the dough...*

But I must be an old woman now and go to bed... It is now 10 at night and past my bedtime.

long time gone...

OK so here’s what’s goin’ on now. I know that it has been a while since I’ve posted… OK a long while. But here is the run down…..

So for a while I had been struggling on what I really wanted to do. I thought about teaching my last year of college. Then I started looking at grad schools do get my masters in American Studies. It just seemed like a likely “next step.” I knew in the back of my mind it wasn’t what I truly wanted to do, and I knew I always wanted to go to culinary school, but never took the dive to go for it… Until now.

Back in January I started working @ City Grocery back in the kitchen. Worked there until the end of August. I did enjoy my time there. Learned a whole lot but know for a fact that I don’t want to work on a line in any restaurant. It is for sure that I want to eventually have my own bakery. I looked into many different culinary schools all along the East coast. Look as far North as Vermont, and Atlanta was about as far South I went. But here I am out West.

I decided on Johnson and Wales in Charlotte, NC. I was accepted but since the program I was accepted for, baking and pastry, was full I was going to have to sit out for a year OORRR I could transfer to either the N. Miami or Denver campuses. It was an easy choice for me. So here I am out in Denver. I love it to say the least. I’ve always liked the mountains and wanted to live near the mountains. The weather itself right now is something to get use to. I laughed today when somebody complained about the “humidity.” The fire over in Boulder is having an affect on the weather here though as well. Crazy to think that now I have to worry about those wildfires you always see on the news.

The program that I’m in is called Garnish Your Degree (GYD for short). Since I already have a bachelors degree, it will only take a year for me to be done. All the GYDs are in the same advising group and we are all in the same classes. Which is great since we are all older and are more focused on our work than the freshmen… All of us have had the college experience. Speaking of being more focused on our work I have to do a research paper and do some ready for class in the morning… I’m in class by 5:45 A.M. and we aren’t done until noon. The good thing is that I’m done at noon.

So it has been a while since I’ve last posted. I’ve just never found the right time to sit down at my computer and try to put into words what is on my mind or what I’ve been up to. Granted I never put fully into words what is one my mind, or ever mention the whole story. There is a reason why I choose not to. It is out of respect for the others in the stories/situations. I will change names and places so that only the people that were involved will know but it is funny when you get a phone call from somebody ranting about something you’ve posted and then demand an explanation as to why I posted that (That was an interesting conversation b/c the post the individual was referring to had nothing to do with them. I think they are still convinced to this day that it is about them).

But I digress. Since my last post the holidays came and went. The biggest news was that my older sister is engaged, wedding is just around the corner and my mom is stressing out. Like moms are suppose to. Thanksgiving this year was spent in the great state of Texas with some family friends. My little sister, our dog, and the parents piled into the Tahoe at 5:30 AM to drive all the way to Houston. We arrived around 4 or so if I remember correctly.

It was a lot of fun while there. Spent the day before Turkey Day getting stuff prepped so it wouldn't take so long the next day. We almost lost our turkey to the flames. We put it on the grill to warm it up (still in the roasting pan and wrapped in foil). I look out and see the heat waves radiating off the grill... flames were huge! Grabbed some baking soda to put the flames out since what caught fire were the 4 sticks of butter that were to keep the turkey moist. Some how we had a slightly smoked turkey but not burned. It was a funny sight to see. I was happy to head home of Friday when my younger sister and I met up with my brother and his wife in Jackson. We were heading to the Ole Miss vs. MS State football game. I didn’t like the outcome since Ole Miss lost but State won their only bowl game this season.

Christmas was spent at home. Which was really nice. The weekend before Christmas we made it up to my grandparents for a family get-together. It was a sight to see. When you have that many “Littles” in one room, it can get loud, quick. Lots of laughter and story telling. It was especially funny to hear my grandmother say that she couldn’t believe that we were watching half-naked women dancing around on the TV. Those half-naked women happened to be the Radio City Rockettes. I was trying not to die out laughing when she said it but my dad beat us all to the punch… “Well, Mom, we’ve actually have seen them perform there in NYC a few years ago.” Lets just say my grandmother didn’t approve. But for Christmas I did score some more cookbooks. I enjoy anything having to do with cooking. I got DVDs of Alton Brown's "Good Eats." One of my favorite shows on Food Network. My little sister wanted to cook lobster one night so we did... the pot was not big enough to hold all of the lobsters we had to cook for the recipe... But it was fun.

Lets just say it was a lot of work to cook those lobsters... which all were about 3 lbs. The recipe is from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" Lobster Thermidor. It is rather rich but soooo good. Highly recommend it to anybody that loves lobster.

New Years was spent in Dallas, Texas. I got two tickets to the Cotton Bowl for Christmas. I knew I was getting them, so it wasn’t that big of a surprise. Went with some girlfriends and had a blast! Went to a place called Eddy Dean’s for New Year’s Eve. It was an Ole Miss party! Saw so many people there and danced so much that my feet were numb. Ran into a group of friend I hadn’t seen since the last home game were there and it was lots of fun dancing with them. Over the years that I’ve known them, they haven’t seen me full out dance. They all said that they had no idea I could move the way I did. Ha ha. It was a great football game against OSU, but even better because Ole Miss won 21-7! Hotty Toddy!

I would continue to tell some funny stories that have happened but too soon to tell them. I will post again soon. Maybe the next time I post I'll be a culinary student.

The Holidays and Cooking

So this time of year has always been one of my favorites. It is holiday overload for three months; Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then New Years. Halloween is my favorite holiday mainly because you have a reason for wearing a costume eating a lot of candy and having your own scary movie marathon to get you ready for October 31. There is another purpose behind the Halloween goodies... they get your stomach ready for all the turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, pies, and everything else your family makes for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the holiday that everybody gives "thanks" for what they have and to eat, a lot. Thanksgiving is mainly focused around food and family. It gets people ready for Christmas because you get a dose of family for a day or two or three. Then you are ready to see some taillights until you have to see the headlights come Christmas. Christmas is another holiday, to me, about being thankful for what you have and giving to others. Of course it is mainly about the birth of Jesus, and remembering how he came and died for us. There is also a lot of eating that goes on as well. Pretty much the same type of food, at least at my house, as Thanksgiving, but family is around a little bit longer than Thanksgiving. I enjoy all the decorating for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is almost as if the holiday stuff just explodes in our house. Love it! But the last holiday is ALL about the party. New Years. Time to come up with a "resolution" to loose the weight you gained over the holiday season, turn over a new leaf, or just hope for a better year. Either way you are either about to blow your self up with fireworks, completely inebriated before 10 PM, or whatever.

The holiday season was the time of year that I gained most if not all of my cooking knowledge growing up. I learned from my grandmomma Billie, my mom's mom. My love of cooking began at an early age. I would always sit in my Momma Billie's cramped kitchen and watch her and my momma get the food prepared during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Over the years I was allowed to take part instead of just watching. My grandmomma was the one in charge in the kitchen, even when we started having Thanksgiving and Christmas at my parents. Over time she did less and less, and by default my mom and I did more and more. We still use the same recipes, some are written down others are from memory. I can prepare all the dishes from memory if need be, but we still pull out the recipe cards and pieces of paper just to have reference.

This time of year now is more about remembering than anything else. Just over a week ago marked two years since my grandmomma passed away. I remember the day very well because I was stressed out about German test I had the next day and I was working at the Thacker Mountain radio show when I really needed to be studying. I knew something was up when I was getting phone calls from my dad, mom, and my little sister. They all knew I couldn't answer past 5:15. I tried calling after the show but nobody answered. So I called my German study partner(s) to let 'em know I wasn't coming. I walked into my parents place and from the look on my little sister's face I knew. I then heard my mom on the phone. I don't remember much else from that night, but I was up most of the night not studying. The next day I had to go to my teachers and tell them what had happened. My German teacher made me leave class and not take the test, THANK YOU!! The holiday season was very different that year. It wasn't easy but it did get easier. My grandmomma Billie is missed dearly. If you spent any time around her you see whom I take after. Love her and miss her a lot.

So now come holiday cooking time it is just my mom and me in the kitchen. Others were kicked out of the kitchen because of planned sabotage, that is a whole other can of worms I will open at a later date. But, in the next couple of days the preparations will begin on making the broths for Thanksgiving. Too soon? Think not b/c it gives them more time to let the flavors meld together. Cooking for me is very therapeutic. If something is going wrong, bad day, stressed out, just because or a friend is having a bad day I'll cook. My roommates loved it and when I was at home, my mom would get mad b/c it was mainly sweets that I would make. I do cook full dinner menus, too. That is when I call my friends over or take left overs to them. But during the holiday season when everybody else is stressed out about when the food will be ready or stressing about what they have to get done, I'm considerable calm. I move at my own pace that sometimes bugs my mom (and others around me), but she knows that things will be done; it is when I'm thrown off that it isn't done on time. My mom has learned that over the years.

I hope everybody has kicked off this holiday season right. I will hopefully post again soon to show pictures of a green velvet witch's hat cake I made for my mom. Till then...

So it has been a while since I've been on here. I've been doing a lot of studying for the GRE. I have to do really well on the test to know that I have a chance of getting into the graduate school program I want to go to. The heat is on.

But obviously my life has been rather mundane. I get up on the weekdays no later than 6 AM and go run a few miles with my dog. Get back do a workout then clean up and get down to business of studying. My running has come on gradually since the summer and has been a good addition to my everyday routine. Some days I run at dusk to wind down my day. Not everyday, but some. I'm thinking about adding swimming to my morning routine b/c I know the lifeguards on the AM shift at the pool I use to work at... that would be a good AM workout... run there, swim 1/2 mile then run home.

A few weeks from now, my life will have more direction that it does right now. I will have the GRE behind, applications into my perspective school(s) and getting that ball over that hump. I like having direction in my life, but I also like to have adventure as well. I enjoy, at times, not knowing what is going to happen next. I know it is good to have a plan with your life and know what you are going to do, but there are times when I wish all that could fall to waist side and you can be with the one(s) you love, friends, or doing what you love to do and not worry about job interviews, applying to grad school, studying for tests, and whatever else. Not everything in life falls into place the way you want it to. If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right you'll more than likely never do much of anything. You either know that you want to do something or you don't. That is a line that I've heard most of my life.

I know what I want out of life. I know I want, Lord willing, to eventually get married, have kids/family, and have a successful career (whatever it may end up being). Hopefully the having kid aspect will come after getting married, that is what I'm planning on. Those are the major things I want out of life, and what woman wouldn't? Nobody knows what you really want, only you do. If you don't know what you want, what makes you think somebody else does?

Like sands through the hourglass... so are the Days of Our Lives

Where to begin… To say the least I’ve had some pretty interesting things happen to me in the past couple of weeks. Some things I’m choosing to leave out so I do not incriminate myself or others involved. So I’m going to tell you two different stories. The first story is one that will make you laugh and also wonder about the individuals, and the second one is well… a situation that nobody wants to be involved but find it entertaining when it is happening to somebody else. But with out further adieu…. Story number one…

I was in the lovely not so crowded Wal-Mart. So that is a contradiction in terms since I am living in a college town where college co-eds run rampant in the streets and Wal-Mart is somehow the local watering hole for the co-eds… during the day that is, but back to the story. I was there running an errand and just to waste some time while I was there, so I headed into the sporting goods section. As I was approaching I see three girls standing in the aisle of where the soccer balls were. These girls were looking at the soccer balls very intently but also with very confused faces. They had multiple soccer balls down and then I hear why they were confused. “I cannot find anywhere on here that lets you know if it is a right or left footed ball! It should be on here!” I’m not kidding. You cannot make this kind of stuff up. I saw the man behind the counter enjoying the mad confusion of these girls. He was doing everything he could NOT to laugh hysterically at them. He looks at me shaking his head and looks back at them. I couldn’t help myself. I walked up to them and asked them what they were looking for. So they told me they needed two different soccer balls b/c one of the girls was right footed and the other was left footed. The third girl had no idea if she was left or right footed. So what I did next probably was mean but I seriously couldn’t pass this up. I picked up two of the same sized soccer balls but in different colors. I held them slightly differently and said, “See you can see a slight difference in the curvature of the ball. It makes for a more accurate shot and control. But if you can shoot with both feet then you can play with (I’m picking up another soccer ball) this one. You can see that the curvature of this ball is perfect for playing with since it suited for both left and right footed players.” I somehow managed to keep a straight face during this whole scientific farce of an explanation. The three girls looked at me and thanked me for clearing things up for them. They bought the three soccer balls at the counter behind me, and left happy customers. They guy at the counter looked at me and said, “Where did you come up with that? I almost believed you.” All I could say was, “I couldn’t help myself. But they just bought three of the same balls in different colors.” The guy at the counter just laughed.

*This next story, names and locations have been changed to protect those involved*

The other night I met up with some friends I haven’t seen in a while. I will dub them as Elliott, Carrie, Gwen, Drew and some others met up and City Grocery to have some drinks and catch up. We were there for a little while and then went and had dinner at one of the hibachi grills in town. During dinner I get a phone call from a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. I’ll dub him Jason. He was calling to let me know he was in town for the night and wanted to hang out. I was up for it so we decided to meet at Rooster’s around 10:30 or so. So Jason and I are at the upstairs bar catching each other up on what was going on in our lives, and he was in mid sentence when he says, “Oh Shit.” This, of course, confused me. I turned to see where he was looking but before I saw anything I heard one of the doors coming in from the balcony slam shut with some ummph behind it. It was one of those moments when everybody, even the bartenders, stops what they are doing or what they are saying to see what is about to go down. Get a mental picture of an outlaw in an old western movie walking into the saloon. He is looking for somebody and everybody is getting out of his way as he is walking up to whomever. This is what it looked like but instead of an outlaw with boots and stirrups on, it was a scorned ex with red stilettos storming towards Jason and me. I have my drink in hand and I don’t know if I should jump over the bar for protection or haul butt out of the bar. So what do I do… I stayed on my bar stool and listened to what was about to unfold… “Just what the hell do you think you are doing?! What makes you think you can just come to town and not call?! AND why the hell are you with a slut like her?...” I was entertained and laughing, to myself, at what was happening right in front of me. The bartenders were like whoa!!! People around us were of course watching and were like whoa… People were even looking in the windows to see what was going on. Talk about making a scene. I finished my drink looked at the bartender that took our order and mouthed… “this was on him…” I got up waved inconspicuously by to Jason and walked out very casually but made sure that my back was never towards the girl. I was getting looks from people like… “Is she really just walking away and leaving him to deal with that?!” or “Smart move… I would have done the same thing…” Lets just say I called it an early night this night. But I did get a call from Jason a little bit later saying he was sorry about that and that they had been broken up for 4-5 months now and why I left the way I did. I told him it was an interesting point in the night and that he would have done the same thing in my shoes.

There are some other stories I could tell that has happened in the past week, but sad to say it, but story time has come to an end. Don’t worry… there are sure to be more stories to come.