Ramblings of a Chef-in-training

Halloween

2014-10-26T00:51:00.001-04:00

So, I've noticed that I'm the only person in my neighborhood that's decorated for Halloween, and it's really depressing... On the bright side, my decorations are awesome, and I just did an epic pumpkin carving

I decided that since I got a pretty awesome Joker costume recently, my decorations needed to represent the Clown Prince of Crime appropriately

Here's how the carving looks/went

And here is my apartment:

Blah blah

2014-10-23T07:12:00.001-04:00

So the pay period is officially over (finished it with a grand total of 130 hours in 2 weeks), but I still have two more days of work left before I get to have a weekend.

I honestly have mixed feelings about my days off... I mean, it's sweet as hell that I get two days in a row, never mind that I'm extra lucky that those to days are Saturday and Sunday, but I never really know what to do with myself... I usually just end up doing laundry and cleaning up my apartment, which doesn't take long considering I pretty much only have to wash my work uniforms and have a fairly small apartment. In fact, I usually just spend most of my days off sitting on my ass and watching random shit on Netflix.

Don't get me wrong here, I love my days off. They keep me from going crazy...er... I just wish I had something that resembles a social life for those two days... I guess that's the downside to living alone in a state where you don't know anybody... Oh well. C'est la vie.

Overtime

2014-10-21T09:53:00.001-04:00

The best feeling in the world is knowing that the last two days of a pay period are going to be completely overtime... Especially when one of those days is a guaranteed 10 hours and there's a chance that the other day is going to be a double

Ugh

2014-10-20T10:00:00.001-04:00

One day off is not nearly enough time to recover from 13 days straight.... Could be worse I guess... I could have been forced to work yesterday, which would have made that 13 day streak magically turn into a 19 day streak

Thinking I might try to do a recipe walk through for you guys soonish... Don't expect a miracle though

I don't like titles

2014-10-17T09:58:00.001-04:00

I just gotta say, one of the best things to have in the morning is a pot of Earl Grey tea and a nice piece of cheesecake while watching an awesome TV show

Activity

2014-10-16T07:21:00.001-04:00

It's been a hell of a long time since I've made a post.... I'm gonna try to start being more active here and on other social media outlets, but don't expect too much from me.

I'm currently working as the sauté cook at Reynold's Landing, which is one of the clubhouses that make up the Reynolds Plantation country club (if you saw the Big Break Invitational golf tournament, that was at Reynolds, and I made some of the food for that shit). I'm trying to get bumped up to Lead Line, and I'm feeling that it's gonna happen soon-ish (fingers crossed).

Probably won't do too many updates for this blog from my computer, which means things are gonna be short and sweet until I decide to do something longer.

That's all for now. Over and out

Cheesecake

2013-03-20T21:56:00.002-04:00

So I figured I'd give you guys a "how to" thing. It's not a video, but I took a bunch of pictures.

The topic is: How to make a cheesecake

gather all ingredients and equipment. (Not Pictured: Mixing bowl, spoon, vanilla extract). If you don't have a stand mixer, a hand mixer is fine. If you don't have any kind of mixer, go buy one. Otherwise, making a cheesecake will be a gigantic pain in your ass. Also, make sure your baking sheet has fairly tall lips on all of its edges.

measure out 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs. If you prefer a thicker crust, use 1 1/2 cups

Melt 4-6 Tablespoons of butter, depending on your decision with the graham cracker crumbs.

This is what your butter should look like when it's melted. If browned, don't use it. If there's any unmelted butter, make sure it's melted before you continue

pour your butter onto your graham cracker crumbs and mix. If you don't want to get your hands covered in butter and crumbs, you can use a spoon. However, I highly recommend mixing by hand... Makes people able to taste the love... or whatever the hell it is on your hands.

If you can form a ball that does not fall apart with your crumbs, you've added enough butter. If it doesn't stay together, add another tablespoon of melted butter

spread the crumbs evenly on the bottom of your spring-form pan. I usually put a tight tin-foil wrap over the base of the pan to make it easier to remove the cheesecake when it's done. I didn't do it this time though. Put it on your cookie sheet and bake at 350 F (176.7 C) for 5 minutes. While you're waiting, move to the next step. (NOTE: I used an 8 inch spring-form pan. A larger size means a thinner crust and thinner cheesecake. Make sure you test the recipe and alter it to suit your needs... Either that, or buy an 8 inch spring-form and follow my directions perfectly)

Place 1 pound of softened cream cheese and one cup of sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer; put it into a clean mixing bowl if you have a hand mixer. If you have neither, go to Walmart and buy one. Seriously, hand mixers aren't that expensive. Why are you still reading this recipe when I told you at the beginning to make sure you have some sort of mechanical mixer? It doesn't even have to be electric!

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar. If it looks like the above picture, your cream cheese wasn't as soft as it should have been.

This is how you want the sugar/cream cheese mix to look.

By this point, your crumbs should be nice and golden. Pull them out of the oven and set the pan somewhere to cool.

Add 1 Tablespoon of vanilla and 1/4 cup of heavy cream to the cream cheese and mix until it's nice and creamy

Add two eggs to the mix. Make sure you do it one at a time, and make sure you completely incorporate the first egg before adding the second. Why? Because I fucking said so. That's why.

If it looks like this, keep mixing.

Once it looks like this, add your second egg and mix until it looks like the picture below.

Make sure you scrape your bowl. If you don't, your batter will end up chunky and disgusting.

If you mix and scrape and mix again, you should have this. A nice, smooth, creamy batter.

Dump the batter on top of your now cool crumbs and spread it evenly.

Make sure you get as much of the batter as possible out of your bowl. This has two benefits. First, your cheesecake is gonna have a good amount of batter. Second, you won't be wasting any money.

These next steps are optional, but I've included them so you can know how to do it.

Using a double boiler (Or two pots like I did) melt about 1/4 cup of butterscotch chips with about 1/8 cup of heavy cream.

Pour the melted butterscotch on top of your cheesecake thusly.

Do the same with some melted chocolate.

While the chocolate and butterscotch are still hot, take a toothpick and draw lines from the center out (This was my first time using this method, so it got a little funky)

Fill the bottom of your baking sheet with about 1/4in (~1/2cm) of water (This is why you need to make sure you have tall lips on the sides of your pan)

Bake at 200 F (93.3 C) for 2 hours.

If you don't have a topping that gets baked onto the cheesecake, you can tell it's done by lightly shaking it. If it doesn't jiggle, it's done. A toothpick poked into the center should also come out mostly clean. Let the whole thing cool to room temperature before proceeding to the next step

Remove the outer ring of the spring-form pan and place the cheesecake, along with the base of the pan, in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Once the cheesecake is completely cold, it should be safe to try to remove it from the base of the spring-form pan. This can be done by GENTLY sliding a knife between the crust and the pan base and moving the knife completely around the cake. You should then be able to use the knife to provide a small amount of leverage, which can then be used to carefully slide the cake onto a plate or serving platter.

You are now ready to cut and eat your cheesecake.

I recommend using a knife that's been dipped in very hot water to cut the cake, as you'll get cleaner cuts.

You will notice that I didn't give a recipe before going through the method... That's because I don't feel like it. Also, because I feel you guys are smart enough to be able to find the measurements and other pertinent info in the instructions...

Also note: If you don't want to use the butterscotch-chocolate mix that I used, just ignore that part and substitute anything you want. You can use pretty much anything... From canned pie filling, to homemade fruit sauce, to fresh fruit... Hell, if you wanted, you could probably put gravy over the damn thing... I don't recommend the gravy though...

This is a general method for cheesecake. Feel free to experiment with it. You could add 1/4 cup of melted chocolate to the batter to make a chocolate cheesecake if you so desired.

Well, that's all for now... Enjoy!

Been a while

2013-02-11T11:59:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know, it's been forever since my last post. As I said then, though, I haven't really had time.

The only reason I have time now because I'm waiting for a tutee to show up. I got out of class at 11:30 and the appointment is for 2, so I got a lot of time to waste.

Let's see... What's new?

I got a response from Schloss Elmau... They offered me an internship! :D

I need to get a passport and send them a copy, but that's all they're really asking me for... Well, that, and to show up on the day I told them I would, which means I need to buy a plane ticket.

I just wish I made more money so I could actually afford a plane ticket... hahaha

Anyway, other than that, there really isn't anything you don't already know about what's going on. Work is still decent. School still sucks. Relationship is still awesome.

I would give you guys a recipe, but nobody seems to care about stuff like that, so I won't bother... That, and I don't have a recipe on me right now. If you want me to change my mind, I'm gonna need at least three comments asking for a recipe. That way I know that more than two of my 10 followers actually read this thing

Time

2012-12-19T11:49:00.001-05:00

So I haven't really had time to blog recently, what with tutoring, work and class. Even when I do have time to sit down at a computer, I usually have to do homework or I just don't feel like blogging. I mean, let's be honest, barely anybody reads this blog, so it's not like me not posting will ruin anybody's life.

Anyway... Yesterday I celebrated the big 2-1. After I got done with tutoring, I went to ABC and bought a bottle of Jack Daniels and a bottle of Captain Morgan, went back to my town house and, with the help of my good friends Beckie and David, drank 3/4 of each bottle.

Needless to say, I barely remember anything that happened last night. Wanna know what made it better? I had to wake up at 6 this morning to take Beckie to the train station and then head to a 7:30 Spanish class. Icing on the cake: Beckie missed her train, so we decided that she'll just hitch a ride with me back to PA when I leave Saturday night. She's gonna help me stay awake and probably drive a little bit. haha

Anyway, that's pretty much all I got for now... See? Even when I don't blog for a month, I still have nothing of interest to say.

Don't ask for a recipe, because I don't feel like typing one up right now

Ugh...

2012-12-03T13:38:00.001-05:00

I hate when a new term starts at the end of the month... I spent over $300 on books, which wiped out my bank account. Now rent is due this week, and I have to hope that my paycheck gets deposited before the check I wrote for that starts to process...

Not only that, but my classes this term have a much higher workload than the classes I had last term, and Anna and I have been arguing a lot more often. I would say I wish I was 21 so I could drink, but with the way I'm wired, alcohol wouldn't make me feel better... Sure, it'd distract me a bit, but I'm not the kind of person to drink out of stress. I drink to help myself unwind and relax after a long day. I mean... Yeah, I use it to get rid of work-related stress, but that's all it does for me. Financial, academic and romantic stress can't be solved with alcohol... Not when it comes to me anyway.

I guess what it comes to is that I'm terrified. I can work through the academic stuff, no problem. It's the financial and romantic stuff that's getting to me most...

I'm barely making enough money to get by. I literally have just enough in my checking account to cover my bills, assuming my rent check doesn't start to process until Friday. Granted, after this week, things will get a little better, but this situation will probably come up next month. Won't be as bad, but it's still gonna be stressful.

The romantic stuff is what's really getting to me right now though... I feel like Anna is starting to drift away from me, and there's nothing I can do about it. I try to talk to her every day, but her extracurriculars keep her really busy, and when she's not doing that, she's with her friends, which means she can't exactly talk to me, even through text messages. And when we do talk, we almost always end up getting into an argument over something trivial, and then it turns into her accusing me of making her look and feel stupid and saying that I don't understand her and that I'm an asshole because I can't follow the logic that she doesn't even try to explain. Sometimes I find myself wondering if she's trying to find an excuse to break up with me... Sometimes I feel like she doesn't love me as much as she used to, and when I feel like that, I can't stop myself from wondering if she's interested in someone else. Then I think about how the only reason she agreed to go out with me in the first place was due to pity, and wonder if its that same pity that's keeping her from breaking up with me...

And, of course, no matter how many times I tell myself that Anna wouldn't lie about how she feels, I can't shake the fear that she is. Before Anna and I got together, I spent six months o my life believing that someone had feelings for me, only to find out that she had been lying about how she felt since the beginning. That's hard to recover from. Just over three years later and I'm only recently able to look at the girl without remembering what she did to me, but even so, the fear is there and it's going away. Hell, right now it's stronger than it's ever been...

And of course, I know that the next time I see her, these stupid feelings will go away... Because that's how it always goes

Sorry about the emotional outpouring, but it needed to be done...

New Term, New Schedule

2012-11-28T12:04:00.001-05:00

So now that my Thanksgiving Break, and the first trimester of the year, are over, I'm beginning my new set of classes.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have Spanish at 7:30 and Macroeconomics at 9:35... Needless to say, Mondays and Wednesdays will be the days that are hardest for me to stay awake...

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have Accounting at 9:30 and Sociology at 11:40. I have a feeling that Tuesdays and Thursdays will be a lot more entertaining than Mondays and Wednesdays, which is good. What makes it better is the fact that Sociology lets out at 1:30, so even if class runs 15 minutes late, I'll still be able to get to work on time on Thursdays, which means that my paychecks will have the 2 hours I was missing from each paycheck all of last term. It also means that the small amount of money I'll be bringing in from tutoring will be much more helpful than it was last term, even though I need to cut back on the tutoring hours a bit.

Right now, I'm just wasting time until I have to go to work. The bright side is that I can actually blog and get two office hours for this week. Downside is that I'm bored stiff and can't think of too much to talk about.

I guess one thing I could say is that David, one of my roommates from last year, and one of my best friends, is going to be moving into my townhouse for a few months. His now-ex-fiance completely screwed him over and he needed a place to stay until he could return to the Culinary Institute of America to finish his degree with them. I'm not going to go into too many details, but suffice to say that the bitch deserves to rot in hell for what she did to him and for how she's still trying to screw with his head.

Other than that... There really isn't much else I can think to say, and I'm too tired to try harder.

So... TTFN

Germany

2012-11-13T11:39:00.001-05:00

So last night I sent a cover letter and a copy of my resume to Schloss Elmau, which is a gorgeous resort in southern Germany. It was just a general, "I'm interested in whatever opportunity you can offer me" letter, but I sent it to the GM, the head of HR, the CEO and the Executive Chef. Hopefully, one of them gets back to me in a reasonable amount of time.

I'm excited and nervous about what might happen. If they decide that they're interested in me, it means I could be moving to Germany for a few months, maybe even a year. What makes it more exciting: one of the restaurants at Schloss Elmau has one Michelin star. Needless to say, that would look amazing on my resume if I could add it... Hell, Schloss Elmau itself would be an amazing addition to my resume.

I'm trying not to think about it too much, since there's A LOT of things that I need to take into consideration... That, and I don't want to get my hopes up. No reason to get all excited about going to Germany before I even get a response saying that they're looking over my resume.

Just figured I'd share that with all of you.

TTFN

BTW,Here's their website:

http://www.schloss-elmau.de/

Restaurant Review: Viet Thai Noodle House

2012-11-12T16:53:00.002-05:00

So this past Sunday, I took Anna to a place I've been meaning to check out since arriving back in Charlotte. Viet Thai Noodle House. I drive by it every day on my way to class and work, so I figured, why the hell not give it a shot?

I was sure to take a lot of pictures, so instead of going into a long-as description of everything, I'm gonna walk you through the pictures.

I decided to wait until we were seated before I took a picture of the restaurant, and I decided to take full advantage of the Panorama setting for my iPhone camera. It screwed up a little once I got to Anna, because I started moving my phone a little faster than I had been, but it's still a good view of the whole place. Personally, I liked the decor. It was very tasteful.

This was one of the things that impressed me the most. The wooden menu. Granted, you can see that they aren't taken care of as well as they should be, but it sets them apart from every other restaurant I've been to... I mean, who is willing to spend the money to get specially made menu covers? It's a very nice and unexpected touch.

When you go to a place that serves Asian cuisine, you have to get hot tea. We decided to split a pot of green tea, and I must say, Viet Thai has awesome tea pots and absolutely fantastic green tea.

This is what Anna ordered. I can't remember what our dishes were called, but they were absolutely delicious, and for the size of the portions, they are well worth the money.

Again, I can't remember what this was called, but it's what I ordered. I remember it had shrimp, squid, chicken and beef, all of which was perfectly cooked, with a nice assortment of vegetables and a fantastic sauce.

Again with the wood. This time on the check cover. And of course, no Asian dining experience in America is complete without a fortune cookie. The brand that Viet Thai uses is sweeter than what I'm used to, but still tasty

There was one downfall that I saw while Anna and I were enjoying our meal, and that was a matter of sanitation. I witnessed one of the employees use a rag to wipe off one of the seats in a booth, and then he used that same rag to wipe off the table of said booth. That is a very large sanitation violation in my book, simply because studies have shown that every seat, regardless of where you are, has trace amounts of human feces on it. Therefore, using a rag to wipe the seat transfers said feces onto the rag, and if that rag is then used to wipe a table, the feces are transferred onto the table... That is the main reason why I refuse to eat food that has touched a table in any restaurant I go to unless I know for a fact that the employees either don't wipe the seats, or that they use separate rags for wiping the tables and chairs.

Due to that violation, my rating of Viet Thai Noodle House comes to 7/10 instead of an 8/10.

In response to my last few posts

2012-11-07T12:56:00.003-05:00

Now that the election is over, I'm going to start avoiding talking about politics... Mainly because people don't like reading about other people's political views, and I don't want to lose readers because of that.

As for the restaurant reviews, I'm thinking that might continue... Once I get money to go out to eat, anyway.

Right now, I'm basically wasting time before going to work, hence this half-assed post talking about stuff that you probably knew already.

Politics

2012-11-07T12:10:00.002-05:00

So, obviously, I need to comment on the Presidential Election... Not only because it's my right as an American, but also because everybody else in the country is talking about it.

Right, so in case you couldn't figure it out, my support in the election was given to Obama... Here's my reasons:

Obama got us out if the recession and wants to implement economic policies that will help college students and the middle class. He also support equal rights for everybody and is an advocate for an affordable healthcare system.

Romney wanted to implement economic policies that would help the upper class and raise college tuitions so people from lower-income backgrounds wouldn't be able to go to college. He also supported shipping jobs overseas, reducing health insurance coverage, and does not support equal rights.

Personally, I don't see how any middle class person, homosexual, college student or woman would vote for Romney at all. In all honesty, the election was annoyingly close. It shouldn't have even been a question... Unfortunately, many American's fall for the bullshit that conspiracy theorists throw out there... You know what I'm talking about... No? Let me remind you.

"Obama is a Muslim."

"Obama is a Socialist."
"Obama is the anit-Christ."

Bullshit like that.

First of all, Obama is NOT a Muslim. If you claim he is, then show me a picture of him praying. At the same time, explain to me why a Muslim is a bad choice and a Mormon is a better choice? Even if Obama was a Muslim, that wouldn't make him a terrible person. If you think it would, you're an ignorant fucktard and you should go away.

As for the Socialist claim: FDR was a socialist too. The interstate highway, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Disability, Workers Comp, The USPS, all those benefits that 100% of American's enjoy DAILY are all Socialist ideas. So unless you've never driven on a highway, never received mail, don't have a social security number, and have never received any kind of government support IN YOUR LIFE, then you have no right to say that you're against socialism.

I have no proof for the final claim, but let's be honest... Only religious nut-jobs would believe that Obama is the anti-Christ, and that's only if they try really hard to find the nonexistent evidence. Hell, only a religious nut-job would believe that humanity will be destroyed in the End of Days... I'm not here to talk about religion though, so let's just leave it at that.

Now, many people are completely ignoring the great things that came from the election. First and foremost, Main, Maryland and Washington approved same-sex marriage. Secondly, Wisconsin elected an openly gay senator. Finally, Minnesota voted NO to discrimination. In addition to this, Colorado and Washington legalized Marijuana.

America ACTUALLY made progress yesterday. Therefore, I think America deserves a pat on the head, or a slap on the back... Hell, even a congratulatory hand-shake would be nice... We don't deserve a bro-fist or a high-five though... Why? Because people are COMPLAINING about the election results. They're saying that Obama is going to destroy this country.. Huh... that sounds familiar... Who else was supposed to destroy the country? OH YEAH! GEORGE W. BUSH... Guess what, if this country can survive 8 years of Bush throwing all of our money at a war that we never should have started in the first place, we can survive another 4 years of Obama throwing that same money at programs designed to improve this country.

And that's my political rant. If you have a comment about anything I said, leave a comment. HOWEVER, keep in mind that I will only respond to well-written, grammatically correct arguments. I will not respond to trolls or poorly written bullshit. If you feel the need to throw in an insult, feel free. I certainly threw a few out there, it's only fair. However, I want to see logic and reason, not just random insults.

Thank you

Let's give this a shot

2012-11-05T12:07:00.000-05:00

Let's see how well I can do as a food critic, shall we? I usually judge the food no matter where I am and no matter what I'm eating. It's one of those downfalls of being a chef, especially when the people I'm with aren't as critical... I think that's why chefs tend to eat either alone or with other chefs/foodies... Anyway, let's get down to it!

I decided that I'd do this on a place that I frequent much more often than I should, simply because I want my first review to be a positive one. haha

Little Village Grill

Located on Trade Street in Charlotte, NC, this tiny little hole-in-the-wall is a prime example of how you can't judge a book by it's cover. The first time I walked by it, a little over a year ago, I thought it was just a typical quick-service burger joint. A wanna-be McDonalds, if you will. However, I soon noticed that around lunch-time, this little closet of a restaurant consistently had an impressively long line out the door. After a few months of seeing this, and glancing at the menu every now and then as I walked by, I decided it was time to give this place a shot, and I was not disappointed.

Little Village Grill quickly became my favorite place to grab a quick lunch. This is due to the fact that even when there are 10-20 people in front of me, I have never waited more than 20 minutes from the point I got in line to the point when I was receiving my food.

Now, most people will think, "Wow, they must have everything pre-cooked and ready to assemble. It must be pretty low-quality stuff." To which I reply, "You are dead wrong."

Every order is cooked to order. The only things that are prepared in advanced are the cold items, and that's just good business practice.

As I said at the beginning of this, the restaurant is very small. There are three, small, two-top tables inside, but people rarely sit at them to eat, since it can get cramped when people are standing around and waiting for orders. There are also five, decent-sized, 2-4-top tables outside. However, I recommend getting the food to go, simply because the sheer amount of business Little Village does makes it difficult for you to enjoy your meal in peace.

Now on to the food:

Little Village Grill has one several awards, including Best Sandwich in Charlotte, for their Pork Gyro. There are many reviews based on that sandwich, so if you want to read them, feel free to look them up, because I'm going to be reviewing their Lamb and Beef Gyro.

I have had the Pork Gyro, but this bad boy right here is, in my humble opinion, exponentially better.

The meat, a perfect blend of lamb and beef, is tender, juicy and incredibly flavorful; The tatziki sauce is smooth, creamy and the perfect accompaniment to the meat; The tomatoes are fresh and delicious, and the red onion adds an amazing sweetness in addition to a nice, crispy bite; The fries, an unexpected treat, add a final touch of pure bliss with every bite. All of this is wrapped in a warm piece of pita bread and that is wrapped in foil so that you don't loose a single bite to the cruel mistress that is gravity.

I have sampled all of the sides that Little Village has to offer, and while they are all delicious, my favorite, by far, is the Garbanzo Bean Salad. It is dressed with the perfect blend of oil and vinegar; The beans are complimented perfectly by the feta cheese and sauteed onions that are mixed in with them. Overall, each bite is a symphony of flavor and pure, unadulterated deliciousness.

Little Village has a menu with a great amount of variety, but the Lamb and Beef Gyro with the Garbanzo Bean Salad and a drink is definitely the best $7.42 that you will ever spend on lunch.

Slight change in blog name

2012-11-04T23:16:00.002-05:00

So looking through my posts, I've come to the conclusion that I ramble more often than I rant, so I've decided to change the name of the blog from "Rantings of a Chef-in-Training" to the much more appropriate "Ramblings of a Chef-in-Training."

Also, I know I don't post much more than the thoughts that run through my head when I happen to remember that I have a blog, but if you guys could spread the word about this blog, I'd probably end up posting things with more substance in them than just telling you how boring or fun my "weekend" happened to be.

I've been trying to post recipes, but, let's be honest, I dislike typing them, so that's why it hasn't become a regular thing. I've been debating on creating a how-to video for some things, but there are three issues.
1) When I get the chance to, my kitchen is fairly dirty, and I don't feel like cleaning at that moment in time.
2) I need someone to operate the camera.
3) Even if I'd have someone to work the camera, my camera sucks balls. It's a cheap little thing, and doesn't produce quality videos. I know what you're thinking... "Why don't you just use your iPhone?" My response to that is, "Screw you." Granted, my iPhone's camera is pretty good, but I don't want to use it for making how-to videos... Especially considering that I only have 10 followers, and of those 10, there are probably only 2-3 of them that actually read these damn posts,.

That's why I brought up the issue of drawing in more readers. There's only so much I can do without annoying everybody on Facebook and Twitter. That's where you guys come in. Find a post of mine that you like and share the link to it on Facebook or Twitter. That's all I ask. It might actually draw in more readers.

More readers = a greater quantity of quality posts.

Let's face it, 2-3 people isn't exactly motivation to write amazing stuff. I mean, I'll attempt to put out the occasional gem for you people, but let's face it, if I don't start seeing a greater interest in this blog, I'm gonna keep using it type stuff just to waste time while I'm waiting between classes or for tutees to not show up for their scheduled sessions.

Sunday

2012-11-04T20:27:00.002-05:00

So Sundays are probably one of my lease favorite days of the week... I mean... Yeah, I have no work or school, but that also means that I don't have anything to do... I can't really afford to go out and do something. I need my money for bills, rent and food... Needless to say, that means that my day usually involves sitting around and doing practically nothing... I should probably take advantage of it and read, write, or exercise, but let's face it, when you spend 6 days a week going almost nonstop, it's hard to motivate yourself to do stuff like that... Unfortunately.

On a different note, I'm debating about getting a full time job. The one I have no is only part time, and, let's face it, just under 30 hours a week is only barely enough to keep my head above water, especially since my rent is going to go up starting next month... Instead of paying $200 for my share, I gotta start paying $275, and that $75 is a huge chunk of my budget... especially considering that I only make about $250 a week, before taxes. Of course, this means that now I have to stop buying stuff for a while. Luckily, I've managed to go two weeks without going to Walmart to get something, so I think my random spending days are virtually over, which is definitely a plus.

I don't have much else to say, so I'm just gonna go now... TTFN

A video, and my response

2012-11-01T11:56:00.000-04:00

So this morning I was on Facebook and stumbled across a video... Normally, I try not to respond to political stuff, but this was one instance where I couldn't keep quiet. Here's the video:

Here's my response, which I'm actually pretty proud of:

Dictionary.com: Conservatism - the disposition to preserve or restore what is established and traditional and to limit change.

The video talks about how the Founding Fathers were conservatives who established a Christian Nation. This is completely false. If the Founding Fathers would have been conservative, they would have insisted that the colonies try to work out the problems with England peacefully so that we would still be under British rule.

If this were a Christian Nation, then Freedom of Religion would be nonexistent; The Constitution would directly mention Jesus. Last time I checked, it does not. In fact, there are quotes from both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson denouncing religion. If two of the most influential Founding Fathers weren't Christians, I think it's safe to say that this is not a Christian Nation... In fact, under the Constitution that conservatives cling to for dear life, we are a country that promotes all beliefs, whether they be Christian, Jewish, Islam, Hindu, Mormon, Atheistic, what have you. Saying that we are a Christian Nation just shows ignorance.

If Lincoln had been a conservative president, the Civil War would not have happened when it did. If we would have always had conservative presidents, we never would have abolished slavery. I don't know about you, but I'm glad Lincoln was a Liberal.

If all of our presidents had been conservative, we wouldn't have social security, unemployment, medicare, medicaid, welfare, disability, or any of the government aid programs that a lot of people need. Granted, it's easy to abuse the system, but if it weren't for that system, a lot of people would be suffering more than they need to be.

Personally, I don't consider myself conservative or liberal. Let's face it, nobody fits into either classification perfectly. I don't consider myself a Republican or a Democrat either, because I agree with some ideas from both parties. I consider myself an American, and I believe that America needs to do away with Political Parties. The conservatives should agree with me there, especially the ones who say we need to go back to following the constitution to a T. However, I also believe we need to get rid of the electoral college and completely change the way congress works.

The electoral college is an outdated and inefficient system that was established to make sure that the uneducated majority was not able to out-vote the educated minority. In this era of information, ignorance is a choice. To say that the popular vote shouldn't win the election is an insult to American intelligence.

As for Congress, it has way too much power. If the majority of Congress doesn't like the President, they will vote down all of his proposed actions. They will pass the laws they see fit, because even if the president vetoes a bill, a 2/3 majority overrides that veto. The people need better representation in Congress, and there needs to be less corruption.

Those are very Liberal views, I know, but this country was founded on the idea that if the people are unhappy with their government, they have the right to change it. I fell that the American government is outdated and completely inefficient. I'm not saying we need to have another revolution, but we seriously need to find a way to fix it. One step in the right direction would be voting for a third party candidate. Another step would be doing away with political parties altogether and going back to the way things should be. Two candidates running, neither one from any specific party, popular vote wins it. The loser becomes the Vice-President. That's what conservatives SHOULD be fighting for. That's what I personally agree with.

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I was almost late for class because I spent a good amount of time thinking that out and writing it. I can honestly say that I never thought I'd write a two-page response to something like this, but that video shows exactly what's wrong with this country. We care too much about political parties and the difference between "Conservative" and "Liberal." Nobody is just American anymore. If anything, this video shows that America needs to wake up and start caring about the real issues, instead of just caring about party loyalty or following "Conservative" or "Liberal" candidates.

Halloween

2012-10-31T11:41:00.001-04:00

So tonight is Halloween... Wanna know what's sad about that? I didn't realize that it was Halloween until I saw a woman walking down the street with devil horns on her head... That just shows how pathetically out of sync I am with society... I mean, I knew Halloween was coming up, but it surprised me that it's already the 31st... When I was a kid, I would have been waiting for today for the past month... Now, I barely even notice that it's here!

Adulthood sucks, kids. Don't grow up... It's not as fun as it sounds...

Anyway, I got culinary math workshops again this week. Yesterday was going over the lessons the students were assigned and today is some review followed by a test for them... I'm not a huge fan of the workshops themselves, but I agree with what they attempt to do. It's just a shame that the students that truly need it and appreciate it are outnumbered by the students who refuse to see why math is important in the culinary industry... Oh well... I got an email today saying that I probably won't have to run the make-up session this week, which is a little disappointing, but it's also a relief, seeing as the make-up session is set for 12-1:30 on Friday, which would make me have to leave my house 2 hours earlier than I would want to so I could do the session and then go straight to work.

I feel as though I should give you a Halloween recipe, but I don't have my notebook or any recipes with me and stealing a recipe from a different website would just be cheating, so I'm just gonna leave you with this:

Go out, have fun, be safe, and try not to get arrested

Annoyance

2012-10-29T13:23:00.001-04:00

So today I was actually looking forward to my day after my accounting class... I was gonna drop by HR after class to pick up my paycheck, then go to the Center For Academic Support (CAS) and do two scheduled tutoring sessions. I got my paycheck, finally, and went to CAS, after getting a bag of pretzels for lunch (woo...), to do some homework in the 30 minutes I had before my tutee was scheduled to arrive... She never showed... That's okay... I have another one schedule to come in. Hopefully my skipping a real lunch would still be worth it... NOPE! The second tutee didn't show up either... Now I'm sitting in the library, doing other homework, hoping that the group members for my History project either show up or text me about working on our project. I've come to the decision that if they don't show up by 1:45, I'm just gonna go home. I was hoping that today would be productive and interesting, but the most interesting thing that happened today was learning how to do adjustments on a worksheet in my accounting class... And getting my paycheck from JWU, which basically went straight to the credit card bill that I racked up last weekend...

Now I need to think about what I'm gonna do for dinner, because I definitely can't afford to order out at all this week... I can't even go to Little Village to get a gyro cause the $8 I'd spend on that could be put toward enough food at Food Lion to be able to buy 2-4 lunches for at home. I'm probably gonna break down and get something from Little Village on Thursday though... Mainly cause I won't be able to go into work and get a free meal like I'm planning to do for Wednesday and Friday... Tomorrow I'm probably just gonna get a candy bar or another bag of pretzels... It's a good thing I'm used to being poor when I'm down here... haha

Rant and a sauce recipe

2012-10-26T12:17:00.001-04:00

So today is a bit of an annoyance to me. I decided to visit the Friday Nutrition class to tell the students there that I'm looking for tutees since almost nobody is coming to the Center for Academic Support and asking for a nutrition tutor... I say almost because I actually do have one person that's going to be using me for both Nutrition and Menu Planning, and that's another reason I had to come into the city a full four hours before I have to be at work... What makes it slightly annoying is that the tutoring session is from 12-12:30, so even when it's over, I'll still have an hour and a half before I'm scheduled to be at work... It's no big deal, I can manage to dick around in the computer lab for an hour or so, but it's the principle of the thing... I usually don't leave my house until 1:20 on Fridays and Saturdays because I hate coming into Charlotte, even though I do like the city itself.

To top it all off, I'm now kicking myself for spending so much money this past weekend... While it was completely worth every cent I spent, I'm wishing that we hadn't gone to the Carolina Renaissance Festival... Well, that's a lie, I had fun, but I'm wishing I wouldn't have spent so much money when we got there. Haha.

Anyway... I'm gonna give you another recipe... This one I stole from the Highland Grill at Hershey Links. It's an absolutely delicious tomato sauce, and I'm glad that I stole the recipe for it. haha

Charred Tomato Sauce

5 lbs Tomatoes (The greater the variety in types of tomatoes, the better the sauce. Try to avoid grape or cherry tomatoes)
1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/8ths
5 cloves garlic
1 ounce fresh marjoram
1 ounce fresh oregano
1 ounce fresh tyme
2 cups red wine (Any red will do, but Hershey uses Merlot)
1 pint tomato juice (optional, based on freshness of tomatoes)
Salt and Pepper to taste

MOP:
----If you have a grill----
1.) Saute the onions and garlic in stock pot until the onions are translucent (Almost clear)

2.) Deglaze with wine and add herbs.

3.) Bring to a low simmer and let the wine reduce by half.

4.) While wine is reducing, cut your tomatoes in half and place skin side down on hot grill. Rotate 90 degrees once you get nice, black grill marks

5.) Once the second set of grill marks are made, flip the tomatoes so the skin side is up. Repeat the grill mark procedure.

6.) Pull tomatoes off the grill and put into the pot. The wine should be reduced enough by now.
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----If you don't have a grill----
1.) Preheat oven to 350 F (176.7 C)

2.) Follow steps 1, 2 and 3 of with grill instructions

3.) Cut your tomatoes in half and lightly coat them in oil.

4.) Place tomatoes skin side up onto one or two sheet trays and put in oven. (Number of trays determined by how many tomatoes you can fit on one tray)

5.) Roast tomatoes until skin blackens slightly, be careful not to completely burn the tomatoes. (should be about 10 minutes, maybe less)

6.) Add tomatoes to pot.
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7.) If your tomatoes are not very juicy, add the tomato juice. If they are juicy, you can choose to leave out the tomato juice. Either way, bring the whole thing to a low simmer.

8.) Simmer for 3-6 hours, stirring occasionally. If it starts to get dry, add more wine or tomato juice (Your choice, just don't add water)

9.) This is where it gets tricky. If you have a nice, big immersion blender, use it to puree the whole thing. If not, divide the sauce into 4-6, maybe more, batches and use a blender or food processor to puree it.

NOTE: If you are using a blender or food processor, cool the sauce before pureeing it. This will make it safer to do so, and it will also allow you to do bigger batches.

I'll let you determine how to store it, but I recommend canning if you aren't planning on using all of the sauce within a week, maybe two. If it's too much for you to be able to store without canning, then I recommend cutting the recipe in half because I don't know how well it'll hold up to freezing.

Just a general note: If I post a recipe that calls for Tomato Sauce, or Red Sauce, chances are that I'm referring to this recipe, so make sure you save it :p

Delicious Recipe

2012-10-24T13:16:00.000-04:00

I've decided to share a recipe today since I have nothing better to talk about. This is a recipe I found in a cookbook and tweaked a bit. My mom loves it and has me make it every time she buys salmon.

Salmon en papillote (Salmon in paper) with Basil Butter

Basil Butter:

15 ea     Basil leaves, fresh, minced
1/4 tsp   Cayenne Pepper
1/4 lb     salted butter, softened

MOP:
1.) Combine all ingredients together and mix. You may use a mixer, but it creates less dishes and works just as well if you do it by hand

NOTE: You may substitute any fresh herb (Or mixture of herbs) for the basil

Salmon:

4 ea        4oz Salmon Filet
1 ea        Lemon, sliced
2 tsp       Salt
1 tsp       White pepper (you may substitute black pepper)
4 ea        Garlic cloves
1 ea        5x6 Tomato (Medium sized globe tomato), sliced
4 ea        Bay Leaves
2 tsp       Paprika

MOP:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 F (176.7 C)

2.) Season salmon with salt an pepper

3.) Lay out a piece of parchment paper that is about twice as long and three times as wide as your salmon filet. If you do not have parchment paper, foil works just as well

4.) Lay one salmon filet in the middle of the parchment paper and place 1 garlic clove, one bay leaf, once slice of tomato, one slice of lemon and 1/2 tsp of paprika on top of salmon.

5.) Lengthwise, bring the two edges of the parchment paper together above the salmon and fold them together until the paper is resting on the salmon.

6.) Take the edges of the paper, twist them firmly and tuck under the salmon.

7.) Repeat with three remaining filets

8.) Place all packages onto a sheet tray and bake for 5-10 minutes, or until salmon is cooked to your liking.

9.) To serve, carefully cut open packages to release the steam, remove the bay leaf and lemon slice, and put a dollop of the basil butter on top.

Some Notes:

You have to be certain that the packages are air tight. This is a method of steaming, so if the steam can escape, the salmon will not cook the way it is meant to.

If you choose foil of parchment paper, it allows you to cook the salmon on a grill, which makes it easier to monitor. However, doing this will not impart any additional flavor to the salmon, as the package should be air-tight.

Be careful when opening the packages, as they will contain hot steam, which can cause very painful burns.

If you do not serve the salmon with the butter, this is a very healthy dish. A good substitution for the herb butter is a nice fruit chutney (I'd recommend mango), although you can choose anything you think would work.

My preferred sides for this dish are sauteed green beans and a basic rice pilaf

If you like wine with your food, I recommend a nice Riesling or a Sauvignon Blanc, although it really comes down to your own personal taste.

In the immortal words of Julia Child, "Bon Appetit!"

Epic weekend

2012-10-23T12:55:00.001-04:00

So as I said last week, this weekend saw both Anna and Beckie coming to stay with me and my roommates. Let me just say... It was pretty awesome. We had A LOT of fun. I won't go into specifics about what happened, but I'm sure you can imagine what kind of shenanigans five college-aged kids can get in to... I will say this; we did not have an orgy, we did not do drugs, and, as far as I'm aware, nobody got pregnant.

The major downside to the weekend, I spent over $200, which was most of my weekly pay... I'm still gonna say it was worth it, though, because it was the most fun I've had down here in Charlotte.

On another note, I've decided to start trying to learn how to play the Ocarina. I bought a nice 6-hole, English-style tenor at the Carolina Renaissance Festival on Sunday, and Anna gave me some very basic lessons on reading music. All I need to do is completely memorize the fingering and which note is which. So far, I think I'm doing pretty decent, but I really need to get some song-books... I ordered two yesterday, and got an email saying that they usually ship out via USPS within two business days, so I can probably expect them between Thursday and Monday... It has me pretty excited because I haven't gotten this serious about learning music stuff since I tried to learn to play the trumpet in 4th grade.

Anyway... That's all I really have to talk about right now... Nothing really got on my nerves this weekend besides my stupidity with my money. There's also nothing super interesting going on in my life besides the whole learning to play the ocarina thing.

My life is tragically dull, I know

Quick blurb about the new layout

2012-10-18T12:03:00.003-04:00

I was looking through gadgets and whatnot for this blog, and I saw the "Translate" thing was only available for this type of layout... I've done my best to make it look decent, but I'll mostly likely be fiddling around with color schemes and whatnot for the next few days... My last template didn't allow for the translator, and I wanted to be able to allow people who don't know English to be able to translate it without having to copy and paste into a translation website...

It's powered by Google Translate, so I'm not entirely sure how reliable it is with grammar, but I figured it's better than nothing.

If you don't like it... tough... this is my blog, and I can do whatever I want to it!