Lobster Killer

I was watching Julie and Julia and I totally remembered that I have a blog! I promised myself that I'd write daily once I got a new computer, but then I got wrapped up in the throes of life and completely forgot.

So, I just completed (meaning a week ago) Foundations 3 class, which is my 3rd and final professional cooking techniques class. The class focused mainly on butchery as far as theory goes, not the easiest subject. But it also required that every other day I make 2-3 dishes and present them to the instructor and get a grade for them. I swear that it's the hardest class I have had so far and I was counting on getting a B, simply because I thought it impossible to get an A. I was also told by several other students who had already taken the class that no one gets an A. However, being the perfectionist that I am, I worked as hard as I could manage, falling asleep with my books, and did manage...an A! Not to brag but, I am such a stud.

Anyway, in the very last class, we cooked live lobster and crawfish. The boys in the class, having to hold up to their boyish reputation, took all the animals and put them head to head so they could watch them "fight" with each other. Meanwhile, the girls in the class (particularly myself) attempted to make the last few moments of the lobsters' lives as comfortable as possible. I got the personal honor of lifting 3 completely live lobsters and dropping them into a large pot of boiling water. According to the instructor, they die within 10-20 seconds of being in there, however I did note them squirming for quite a bit longer than a minute. It was so sad. I had to hide my tears. The result being, I don't think I can ever eat a lobster again. Although I did manage to break one down, twisting the tail off and pulling out all the meat.

Watching Julie and Julia after completing my classes is so much fun. I actually recognize everything they are doing now. Sweet.

Tuna Failures, Gingerbread Houses and Creamy Bacon Spinach Soup...

I got this e-mail from Tonnino Tuna that says, "Congratulations on winning first place!" Which basically means I didn't get the Grand Prize of a trip to NY and a $5000 scholarship award. But I did get....drum roll...a year's supply of tuna. To define that, I get a case (6 bottles) of tuna (yes, it comes in bottles) per month, which is a total of 72 bottles in a year. Yum! It's a disappointment but, after crying for a couple days, I got over it.

The next competition was a gingerbread house competition at a retirement home. Although my gingerbread came out kinda funky (little zombie men - see below), the house turned out okay. It was a sort of pink-Victorian Barbie house, with a Golden Graham's roof top and a red licorice chimney. I came in 4th place, 1 point away from 3rd, simply due to resident votes. The judges LOVED my house and possibly would have given me 2nd or 3rd place if it was just up to them. As a result, however, they raised my prize money from $50 to $120. At least I got most of the money I spent on all that candy and icing...

But let me also clarify, I HAD A LOT OF FUN! I love competing. :)~ I just have to learn it's not all about winning.

And finally... by popular demand....

CREAMY SPINACH AND BACON RECIPE (low fat version)

Ingredients


6 slices bacon
1/4 c. onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (14 oz.) cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
6 oz. (6-7 cups) fresh baby spinach
1 1/2 c. non-fat milk
6 tbsp. whole-wheat flour
to taste salt and white pepper

Directions

1. In an oven preheated at 350 degrees, cook the bacon on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes until crispy; set aside to cool.

2. Pour a couple teaspoons of bacon fat from the baking sheet into a dutch oven, over medium-high heat, add onions and garlic, a pinch of salt and white pepper, and cook until tender. Reduce heat to low.

3. Crumble bacon and add to pot. Stir in broth.

4. Rinse spinach well and add to soup. Increase heat to medium and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

5. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for about 8-10 minutes or until spinach is wilted and cooked, but not fully broken down.

6. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine milk and flour; beat with whisk until very well blended.

7. Stir milk mixture into soup. Simmer on low heat until it thickens, stirring often.
Suggestion: Top with shredded Parmesan cheese. Serve with whole-grain bread.

Serving Size: 2 cups
Number of Servings: 3

Iron Cupcake Competition! Yummeeee!

I participated in my first Iron Cupcake SF competition and it was awesome fun. The theme was "nuts" so I entered with a spiked eggnog with nutmeg cupcake. It was a yellow cake with a rum glaze and butter cream frosting with a sprinkle of nutmeg. It really tasted like eggnog! I served it with eggnog, too....  Sooooooo YUM!

I didn't win but it was a super fun experience anyway. I actually can't remember all the winners because they didn't really stand out for me. We each had to taste 22 different cupcakes and by the end of it I was a little...well...cupcaked out. So was my mom.

I am definitely doing it again! Next competition is in December and I have to do my "signature cupcake." I think I'm going to do bacon and cheddar. Yum!

And suddenly life happens....

I feel guilty about my lack of blogging presence. I did just get a new laptop so, once I get it online, I should be more attendant.

Life has been a whirlwind. I am in my Foundations 3 class, which basically consists of a day of lecture and food preps, and a day of mastering 2 dishes which are then graded. It's super busy and super tiring, but it's the nitty gritty of what school is about.

I recently participated in the Almost Famous Chef on-campus competition. I was chosen as a finalist, as usual, based on my personally written recipe and essay. The 5 finalists competed in a cooking and personality competition to see which 2 would represent the school in a regional competition in LA. I unfortunately lost, thankfully not due to my lack of personality, mostly due to my crappy food preparation. I have no problem following directions in class. But a recipe of my own creation tends to go bad.... One of my chefs put it like this, "If you were a jazz musician you would have to learn the basics of music before going into improvisation of jazz licks and being any good at it, right?" Right. So, I guess I'm not a pro chef yet. Oh well....the journey continues.

Monday is a cupcake contest that I'm super excited about. And a week after that is the gingerbread competition. Life just gets more and more exciting....

Meanwhile, I have until Dec 1st to get as many votes for my recipe as possible so that I can win the Tonnino Tuna scholarship. So post this link on your Facebook and get your friends to go here and vote for me!

http://www.tonnino.com/challenge/tannos-tonnino-tuna-treasure

You're the best fans ever!

The Ups and Downs of Wine Class...

So last week I finished my wine and writing classes. I got an A in each of them, despite my typical finals freak out.

I really feel like my freak out on the wine final was totally valid. He was really, really tough. I had trouble paying attention in class because of his lecture style (which I will not mock here, as you never know...). And there is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much random information about wine, you would not believe it!

Despite my qualms, I managed to perfectly translate an Italian wine label including what region of Italy the wine came from, what year it was harvested, the official quality level, what grape it was made out of, the body and taste of the wine and what to pair it with. Not an easy task. It surprised me how much information had seeped in over time.

One thing I can say I definitely got out of this class is an appreciation for wine. Jason (the new beau) and I went wine tasting and it was a lot of fun!

I'd go into more detail, but I guess I get scared no one will understand it. 6 weeks ago, it was Latin to me...

I Changed My Facebook Status....

Okay, I did it. No atom bombs blew up. But so far we've been hanging out for six straight weekends and it's been awesome! It's like meeting one of those people who you can just be completely comfortable with. I can't say anything that's embarassing because he just laughs everything off and makes it so much fun. We definitely have different tastes in a lot of things, but I almost enjoy listening to his annoying complaints about food, and he doesn't seem to mind my obsession with Justin Bieber....so sweet.

When Are You Ready to Change Your Facebook Status?!!!

To all my adoring fans, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I got caught up in a whirlwind of wine class, English papers and...a guy.

I met him via an infamous and unmentionable dating site. Meaning, I keep forgetting where I met him exactly but I'm sure it was online.

The first day of meeting we were just going to have breakfast and go to the Exploratorium, but we were having such a good time it turned into bowling, then sushi, then a movie.

The next weekend we went to Six Flags and pooped out after only a few hours and a couple rides. The thing we enjoyed the most was probably sitting on a bench drinking beer and watching little kids run by.

The weekend after that we ended up in Tahoe, on the gambling side, and had a fun time at the rapid roullette and the hamburger slot machine. I won $500 and lost about $600.

The weekend after that, last weekend, he followed me around the city to my cooking competition and a temp job I had to do. We went shopping together and I made dinner. We ate snuggled up on the couch watching random Netflix. The interesting thing was that we managed to keep it pretty platonic the entire time. I'm sure most can't imagine a boy/girl trip to Tahoe remaining platonic. But it was pretty easy and pretty fun and there was really no pressure, which I thought was awesome.

On Sunday morning, we went to eat at The IHOP and started talking about changing FB status. That's a big step, don't you think? I'm not sure I'm ready. I definitely like the guy. We are cracking jokes with each other and LOAO all the time. Why not change the FB status?

I guess it's just that none of my friends even know who he is and I really don't want to talk about it. So there... that's that.