Sugar, Sugar and More Sugar

So…I had my glucose tolerance test today.  Let’s just say, I did not pass with flying colors.  Which means I have to go back next week and take a 3 hour test (they take my blood, give me the nasty orange drink, take my blood an hour later, another hour later then another hour later).  I went through this with my first pregnancy and it turned out fine.  However, I don’t remember what my level was the first time around.  This time it was 50 points higher than the cutoff.  I wonder if eating ice cream around 9pm last night had something to do with it.  I was supposed to fast – no food after 8 and no liquid after midnight.  Oops.  They forgot to mention that when I made the appointment and how’s a person supposed to remember something like that from 3 years ago?    Anyway, I’m trying not to worry about it, but I think I’ll lay off the sweet stuff for the week, just to help my chances.  My motto has always been “everything in moderation”, so having to be on a restricted diet for the rest of the pregnancy (3 more months!) would kill me.  Haha, ok, I’d do anything to keep myself and BG healthy, but UGH.  No thank you.

Let me just leave you with this sweetness.  This picture was taken a few weeks ago at my in-laws.  I had my nephew on my lap and MC decided he wanted to hold him on his lap. This gives me hope that he will get along just fine with BG. 
 
(photo taken with my iphone)

Just Some Randomness

My local Kroger had blueberries and strawberries on sale this week, so of course I had to get some.  I ended up making some blueberry scones, but I’m going to have to work on the recipe a bit more before I post it.  I’m still trying to figure out what to do with my strawberries.  I already have some sliced up to put on top of my ice cream this evening (no, I don’t eat ice cream everything night!), but I still have some left to tinker with.  Any suggestions?  I may have to peruse foodgawker to get some ideas. 

I’m sure I’ve mentioned the blog Simmer Till Done on here before. If you haven’t checked it out, you should.  I came across Marilyn’s “Two-Bite Jam Tarts” post the other day and I knew I had to try it out.  I loved the cream cheese dough! It came out soft and moist, yet crispy all at the same time.  I think they need to be re-named to “Bite-size”, but then again, I do have a big mouth.    I even tried making a larger version with blackberry jam.  Oh so good!

Last Tuesday was the second day of my Fundamentals of Baking class.  We were supposed to have a lecture and discuss the chapter we read (ok, I read it before I went to class), but ended up baking for a charity luncheon instead.  The instructor prefaced it with the fact that he normally wouldn’t let us into the kitchen for a few weeks, but because the luncheon was tomorrow, blah blah, yadda yadda, it would make the school and the department some money, so we could have more supplies, yadda yadda.  Um, I pay extra every semester for “Culinary Arts” supplies.  Where’s that money going exactly?  I mean, I know they’re trying to fix the restaurant/kitchen up for the CA program, but he needs to stop making these events priority over our education.  I can’t make something nice, if I don’t understand how to do it.  You know?  So, we’ll see how tomorrow goes. 

One interesting thing I learned through reading my book, shortening is called shortening because it shortens the gluten strands.  Isn’t that neat?    It was something new to me and something I don’t think I actually really ever though about before.  Cool. 

I’m off to relax for a few…

No, I Haven’t Fallen Off The Face Of The Earth

I think I’ve started and re-started this post a bajillion times now. I’ve also been thinking alot about what type of blog I want to maintain. I don’t want separate ones for “me” and for food, especially now that they are more intertwined than before. I think my main problem is actually keeping up with it. I was doing well when I had a desk job. I could spend my “break time” online and working on posts. Now my break time consists of scarfing down some lunch and heading back into the kitchen. Which, I don’t mind, it just forces me to use some of my at home time on the computer.

I’ve actually been doing something these past few months, I promise. Let’s see…since the last post Thanksgiving came and went. We visited my family in Kansas and I found out two of my girlfriends from back home, who are sisters, are both pregnant. We’re all about 4 weeks apart from each other! My mom told my sister not to drink the water. Haha!

Christmas came and went. I made a pumpkin cheesecake with an awesome graham cracker and pecan crust that I took to the in-laws. MC’s teachers received a tray full of goodies this year: red & green sprinkled sugar cookies, dark chocolate covered pretzels, chewy cocoa brownies, ginger molasses cookies and chocolate peanut butter squares. Man, when I was making those pb squares I just about licked the bowl clean they were so good!

There’s a lot that has happened in the past few months that I wanted to blog about, but never got around to. I quit my job at the “mass production” bakery and now work at a much smaller local bakery/cafe and I love it. I started working there about a week or so before Thanksgiving and I’m so glad I did. One day here is different than the next. I’m not baking up sheets and sheets and layers and layers of cakes every day. Some days I’m making pies, other days brownies, most days some sort of soup (for their lunch business), sometimes bundt cakes or muffins. Although, when Christmas rolled around, it was brownie central in there. They do a huge mail order business around Christmas. Everyone wants brownies shipped to friends, family and co-workers. I’m actually not a huge fan of their brownies. But I must say, the best way to eat these are frozen with ice cream. OMG! Baby Girl (BG) loves it too.

Speaking of BG…this girl moves around in utero way more than her brother did. At least from what I can remember. I’ve slept alot since then. But seriously. At 9pm all I want to do is sit on the couch and relax for a little bit. But, noooo…she wants to have a dance party in my belly!

And then there’s school. I completed my Basic Food Prep class with an A, but that was to be expected. We had an open book final, which I finished in 30 minutes, because I actually studied the guides, that the questions came directly from. So…yeah. Anyway. I’m hoping my Fundamentals of Baking class (5:30pm-10:00pm on Tuesday nights) is structured better and I that I learn more. Otherwise, I’m going to wait until they get their act together a little better. I’ve already talked to the instructor about possibly having to take the final early or late due to extenuating circumstances AKA giving birth. Heehee.

I don’t know if anyone is even still reading this blog, but if you are, thanks for sticking around. I promise to work on more content and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to at least do 1 or 2 posts a week. There are currently a couple rattling around in this noggin of mine. Be on the look out for some Buttermilk Waffles and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies.

Basic Food Prep, Week 4

One of my pet peeves is when people don’t take things seriously…that need to be taken seriously.  I paid good money to be in this class and to learn what the chef has to teach me.  Not to listen to Heather complain that she doesn’t like alot of foods or for Wanda to stick her tongue out behind the chef’s back or to hear her tell him that she’s going to have to drop his class because he gave us a pop quiz. Admittedly, I didn’t really study up on what we were quizzed on – parts of the knife, different alloys used to make knifes & vegetable cuts.  Luckily, he’s giving us a second chance this week. I think it finally dawned on me that yes, I’m in school again, and I actually have to put some effort into what we’re doing. But when I’m in class, I’m paying attention and listening and asking questions, even if I’m half asleep on my feet.  It just really really irks me when people don’t give him respect or take things seriously. 

This past week, along with the pop quiz, we made braised beef, grilled asparagus w/hollandaise sauce & mozzarella sticks.  We made the mozzarella sticks to review the proper breading technique.  The braised beef was to review the method of browning the meat, then cooking it in the oven on a low temperature.  The grilled asparagus showed us how to blanch and shock the asparagus to keep it’s crispness and color.  The hollandaise sauce, well, that didn’t turn out so well. I didn’t watch to see how they made it since I was working on the cheese and beef.  Shanna and Wanda were working on that and Shanna was determined to keep whisking that sauce until it thickened.  Unfortunately it never got to the correct consistency.  I’ve never tasted hollandaise sauce, so I was kind of looking forward to it.  Oh well, we’ll be trying that again soon.  The braised beef probably could have used another 30 minutes to an hour in the oven, but it was still good.  A little on the salty side, but good. 

Our lecture was about the Brigade System aka the kitchen hierarchy – executive chef, chef de cuisine, sous chef, etc.  Apparently it something that the other students are going over in another class as well, but we went ahead and discussed it in this class too. That’s just another thing that shows me how badly this department is in need of that new director that’s coming in.  It doesn’t seem like there’s a set curriculum for each class and it doesn’t seem like the instructors are even talking to each other.

Ok, enough about all that.    Let me leave you with this image of deliciousness. 

yummy brown sugar-cinnamony topping

This Cinnamon Bun Bread recipe came straight from Baking Bites. The only thing missing is the Icing, but it didn’t really need it…well, that and by the time I’d made this Friday night, it was already 10:30 and I had to be at work by 6am (that’s a whole post itself). This is by no means a substitute for the real thing. It has more of a cakey texture than a bread texture, but if you want the flavors of a cinnamon bun/roll, then this definitely works.

Playing a Little Catch Up

Wow, it’s been a crazy, busy week. I’m tired and sore and do not want to look at another cake pan for at least a few days. This new job is waaaay more strenuous than I ever imagined. And this bakery does waaaaay more business than I ever imagined.  Just to give you an idea, here’s what I did my first day:

• 2 batches of vanilla cream & 1 batch of chocolate
• 3 pies (they’re frozen, so not a lot of work there)
• 3 types of bars – think sheet cakes filled and/or frosted & cut into rectangles
• dozen cheesecakes (they really need to get some new pans – we have to jerry-rig these shut with masking tape!)
• 80 round cakes & a bunch of sheet cakes, I can’t remember exactly

I was there from 7:45am until about 3:30pm.  We get 20-25 minutes for lunch, but we don’t have to clock out.  We also get free meals, but the menu is somewhat limited – burgers, grilled chicken, salad bar (my main staple), hot dogs, french dip, ham & cheese, turkey & cheese, pork chops, fried pork chops, country fried steak, country fried chicken…you get the idea.  By the time I was done for the day, my feet and back were so sore.  I haven’t felt like this in years.  Even as a waitress I don’t remember feeling like this.  Of course I was about 10 years younger too.

Looks like I’ll be working Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat (I have to be there at 6am on Saturdays!).  That gave me 30 hours this past week.  I told my manager I didn’t want to work full time, but when the holidays roll around, I may not have a choice. Not sure how I’m going to get to Kansas for Thanksgiving this year.  :-\

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On the school front, we got a new instructor. And apparently a new director, who is whipping this CA department into shape.  Which is fine with me, except that instead of 4 hours, the classes next semester will be 5 hours long.  And no ending class early.  But otherwise, I agree with the dress code, knife sets, etc.  Puts everyone on the same level playing field. We’ll also be moving to our new location in October.  The school bought a restaurant for some of the classes to use.  I’m excited.

Chef Paul (my new instructor) was educated at Johnson & Wales and hasn’t taught in a classroom before. He currently works at a game ranch about 20 minutes outside of town.  Miss Carla thought it was such a crazy notion that people killed the game on the ranch, then ate it there.  Such fresh meat.  !!!!! 

We went over the different types of knifes and the different vegetable cuts – it’s a lot of French. Chef Paul gave us a demo on some of the cuts, then we had to practice on potatoes.  It’s not easy making everything even and uniform. 

We also spent about 20-30 minutes at the end of class giving the kitchen a thorough cleaning. Apparently we haven’t been doing a very good job.  We also took the temperature of the refrigerator & freezer at the end of the class.  Chef Paul said it’s good to do as much as possible to show the health inspectors that we’re doing everything we can to insure our food is stored at the proper temperatures.

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Last, but not least…have I been cooking?  Baking???  Anything?  Well, not a whole heckuva lot.  I did make some profiteroles for the first time ever this week.  But, they were a bit of a disaster.  They did not puff up like they were supposed to.  I think my choux was too loose.  So, we had flat discs with ice cream and chocolate ganache. Still tasted good…kinda chewy.

I think I need to get over this general tiredness before I can get back into the swing of things.  I’m also trying to catch up on all the blogs I read.  I tried to blog a few times after work, but I think my mind turns to mush as soon as my body does. Haha.

If you’ve made it through all this, thanks for catching up with me.  If not, I don’t blame you, and well, you aren’t reading this part anyway, so why am I still typing?