The Stolen Olive

« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 »

June 26, 2005

2005 Southwest Foodservice Expo

Sunday, June 26th I volunteered at the 2005 Southwest Foodservice Expo. All
decked out in my chef uniform I arrived at the DartLine just after 6am and
arrived at the Dallas Convention Center about 7:30. The volunteers spent the
first part of the morning setting up the tables for the VIP lunch that was being
served and helping the chefs who were the competitors in the first 3-person
IronChef competition. Once the competition was underway, I was assigned one of
the teams and got to help them on the stage. Afterwards, when more volunteers
showed up, we started to help plate-up the 100-person VIP luncheon. Each dish
was designed by a different chef who would plate-up the first plate like they
wanted it to look and then the rest of us duplicated that first plate. It was a
lot of fun. I took a break and walked around the Expo during the 2nd IronChef
competition. There was a lot of booths and things to look at but I would have
been a lot more interested in most of them if I was already in the planning
stages of "The Stolen Olive", instead of just barely finishing my 2nd quarter of
culinary school. After taking a break and walking thru the entire Expo, I
actually took a break and sat in the audience (with a few of my classmates)
watching the end of the competition, until the Chef over the volunteers said
they needed help downstairs. Downstairs we started prepping and cutting up stuff
for the VIP lunch that was being prepared by Chef Stephan Pyles. I cut up red
onions and diced up tomatoes until I had to leave to catch my DartLine ride back
to my car. This was not the first volunteer opportunity that we have been given,
but this was the first one that was on a weekend that I could work. The Expo
continued on for two more days but unfortunately I had to return to work on
Monday morning and was unable to return. It was a fun but extremely tiring day
and when I got home about 6:45pm I crawled in bed and I think I slept until
about midnight.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 06:22 AM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2005

The Alphabet

First, the ABC's. I took this from A Dose of Xtessa who is also suffering from a
migraine today. A is for Age - 30 B is for Booze - Please! C is for Career -
Culinarian D is for Dad's name - James E is for Essential Item to bring to a
Party - Food F is for Favorite Songs at the Moment -- Wrong Again G is for Goof
off thing to do - Sleep, Blog and Pogo H is for Hometown - Houston I is for
Instrument you play - Handbells J is for Jam or Jelly you like - My late Great
Aunt Ruth's Plum Jelly. K is for Kids - None. L is for Living arrangement -
Sardine can.. until my lease is up in December. M is for Mom's name - Donna N is
for Names of best friends - Becky, SillyNessa, Nancy, Lori O is for overnight
hospital stays - 1981 - one week. P is for Phobias - Heights Q is for Quote you
like - "I May Not Know What Tomorrow Holds, But I Do Know WHO Holds Tomorrow." R
is for Relationship that lasted longest - What's that? S is for Siblings - 3,
all have four legs and better hair than me. T is for Texas , Ever been? - All my
life. U is for Unique trait - Nothing Special. V if for Vegetable you love -
Anything but Lettuce, Carrots or Brussels Sprouts. W is for Worst traits -
Crying, Laziness X - is for XRays you've had - Ankles, Head/Brain, Knee, Eyes,
Stomach Y is for Yummy food you make - Everything Z is for Zodiac sign - Leo

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 03:19 PM | Comments (6)

June 23, 2005

Where Have You Been?

What was this about "as soon as I get done with school I will be more active and
more organized and get some neat things added to my blog?"
Well school ended last Thursday, Friday I went to work relieved that I didn't
have to go to class again until July 11th. But always sitting in the back of my
mind was those stupid research papers.
Well, Friday at work, while I was remotely connected to my home computer I got
my first warning of what this week would be like. That warning was the you are
running out of space on your harddrive warning. Oh fun!
Saturday I slept late, woke up and the flight of the bumblebee... yeah, you
know.. that dance you make frantically cleaning up your apartment when you
realize your parents will be there in two hours. My parents showed up, brought
me my bridesmaid dress for my cousin, OfficerB's wedding. Then we went shopping.
I had needed to go shopping since I started working in April for a few nice
shirts for work but this was the first chance I had had to go. I also needed a
couple of pairs of shorts, since it is now officially summer and 100 degrees in
Dallas, and I needed a new lamp for my living room. I don't know how anybody
expects me to write to research papers in this dark apartment. Ok Ok .. I know,
excuses excuses excuses.
Monday, after work I went to the library in Downtown Dallas. I dont know if any
of you have ever been there, or attempted to get there using their website's
directions, but one of the streets they have you turning on no longer exists.
The streak continues. What streak you ask? The streak where I continue to get
lost every time I attempt to go somewhere new.
After the library I was driving home and I could tell something was wrong. I had
that distinct feeling that I was fixing to have a flat tire. It made perfect
sense, since I had just driven down a few streets full of construction. Well, in
Houston, or in "TheArmpitOfHell".. when I knew I was going to have a flat tire.. I would just
get off of the freeway and get on a side street and drive slowly until I got
someplace to fix it, or home, whichever came first. That is a great plan in
Houston... in Dallas? Not so good.
I made the mistake of thinking I knew where I was going and got off of I75 one
exit too far south and somehow ended up way on the other side of White Rock
Lake.

As you can see from the above map, I started out at point A, the library in
Downtown. I was trying to get to point B, my apartment, and ended up somewhere
round about point C.
It was about 9:00pm, which in 1920s-Texas-lingo is called "Dark-30", or about 30
minutes after it starts getting dark. And wouldn't you know it.... blub, blubl,
blubb.. damn. Flat tire! No, not that kind of flat tire... get your mind out of
the gutter, I'm trying to tell a story here. It's dark, I have on one of my new
shirts, I don't know where I am, and I have got a damn flat tire.
This is one of those times I thank God my grandfather, Peep, never treated me
like a girl and made me learn how to do useful things like changing my own tire,
my own brakes, my own oil, my own lightbulbs and Lord-forbid how to kill my own
spiders.
Well, a donut tire on my SUV, two bloody fingers (I somehow managed to detach
two of my nails from my nail beds while unscrewing the bolts), hungry, and
nearly out of gas.. I got back in my car and became even more determined to find
my way home. SHHH! Don't tell my MOM!
I made it home, bandaged up my fingers, washed my pants and new shirt before the
blood and tire grime set in, and went to bed. The next morning I got to go find
some place to fix my tire for me because I wasn't about to drive to work on 635
with the world's worst drivers on a donut.
I finally got to work that Tuesday morning about 9am and had a hard time typing
most of the day. Have you ever noticed, that those of us who know how to type
correctly, have a extremely difficult time trying to "hunt and peck" when we
have two damaged fingers? Oh you haven't, ok, must be that damn OCD again.
Tuesday night, I was definitely in need of a change from the ordinary evening..
you know, the one when you go home and sit in front of your computer reading
blogs and playing online games until your butt goes numb? So, I enlisted the
help of my favorite computer geek, and the geek took apart my computer... most
of which is still spread across my living room floor, and started installing XP.
No use sitting here waiting on a computer to do its thing, so we went and ate
dinner and walked around Central Market (kitchen geek heaven). By the time we
got back, XP had done its thing and we hooked my old harddrive back up so I
could work on school work.
Wednesday night, I came home and foolishly decided to watch the College World
Series. Baylor was playing UTexas for the 6th time this season, and I was under
the impression that our record of 4-1 could be extended. Boy, was I wrong. The
rest of the night was filled with laundry and a severe case of procrastination.
I finally sat down about 11pm and started working on school work.
Today, I turned in all 13 of the missing journals I was missing for my two
classes and am now procrastinating starting my papers by updating my blog. I
hope you feel special!
Grades were posted on Monday, I made As in both my Menu Management and
Restaurant Law & Ethics(online) classes. The grades that were posted for
Regional and Southwestern are just temporary until I get all my work turned in,
and then they should be As too. Hopefully, I will be on Dean's List again after
this week.
Ok, It is now 9:52 pm and I'm going to finally break down and start my papers.
Wish me luck. I'll be back later when the paper hell is through.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 09:52 PM | Comments (3)

June 19, 2005

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day To The Two Greatest Dads In the World!

Peep and I - 1990 Daddy and I - 1992

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:52 AM | Comments (4)

Have you ever?

I stole this from the naked dude on the toilet on the side of the road.
Snuck out of the house........ No. Never had any place to go.
Gotten lost in your city........Yes, I just moved to Dallas in January and I
get lost on a frequent basis. I never got lost in Houston.
Seen a shooting star.......... Many times when I used to spend the summers
with my Great Aunt Ruth in small-town, Texas
Been to any other countries besides Canada.... I've been to the Bahamas.
Had a serious surgery........ I've had two oral surgeries and they seemed
serious to me at the time. The second one was supposedly to remove an
abscessed tooth and my wisdom teeth. I went home with gauze on all four
corners of my mouth. Now I'm wondering if they lied or if I just have that
much wisdom, because now I have two more wisdom teeth growing in.
Gone out in public in your pajamas....... Yeah, last night. I went to
Racetrack about 1am to get a gallon of milk.
Kissed a stranger...........The guy who was in line next to us when my friend
Michaelyn and I waited in line from 11pm Friday night until 9am Monday morning
for George Strait tickets.
Hugged a stranger......... see above.
Been in a fist fight........ No, although I have wanted to slug a couple of
people before.
Been arrested.......... Nope
Laughed and had milk/coke come out of your nose...... Yes. Eating crepes, with
Heather, at a French Bakery in Quebec City, Canada during our high school
choir trip our 10th grade year.
Pushed all the buttons on an elevator........Yes, but always as you are
walking out of the elevator so that it stops on every floor after you get off.

Swore at your parents......... Who hasn't?
Been in love.......Yes.
Been close to love....... Yes.
Been to a casino......... Yes, went to a casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada in July
2002.
Been skydiving.......... No, Hang gliding but not skydiving
Skinny dipped...........Nope.
Skipped school...........Yes, but it was usually for the purpose of sleep.
Seen a therapist........ No, but I probably need to.
Done the splits...........Never was that limber.
Played spin the bottle...........No, I went to a Baptist high school, we
didn't have bottles... we had to spin Jason Fort's can of Right Guard
deodorant.
Drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour.......... Not in one hour, but I have
drunk a whole gallon in one day.
Bitten someone............ I've been told that I bit my grandmother when I
was a toddler. She bit me back and that ended that.
Been to Niagara Falls...Nope.
Gotten the chicken pox....... Yes. My kindergarten boyfriend, Dwayne, gave
them to me. I had them for two weeks and ended up in the hospital.
Kissed a member of the same sex....... Yes. I have a picture of my cousin,
OfficerB, and I kissing when I was probably 6 and she was 2.
Crashed into a friend's car........ I don't think the lady I hit would
consider me a friend. Been to Japan........Nope, but I went to Tokyo Gardens
many times before it closed down. Ridden in a taxi............Yes, they had
taxis transporting us from the airport to the hotel in Florida for the
Starlight Convention I went to.
Been dumped........... Don't Remind me.
Shoplifted............ When I was 6 we went shopping and I found a headband
and tried it on. About an hour later, on the complete other side of the
Galleria, my mother noticed that it was still on my head.
Been fired............. Not before I had a chance to quit first.
Had a crush on someone of the same sex.........Crush? No. Wishing I had their
life? Yes.
Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back...........Of Course
Gone on a blind date.............I'm not sure its considered a blind date
when you've been talking on the computer for months.
Lied to a friend............ Not unless I was trying to save them from the
hurt the truth would bring.
Had a crush on a teacher............ Tyler at La Bare's at my best friend,
Becky's, Bachelorette party. I don't think he was an actual teacher, but he
was dressed like one, that is until the clothes hit the floor.
Celebrated Mardi-Gras in New Orleans........... Yes a couple of times. Too bad
I was 9 or 10 years old.
Slept with a co-worker............ You obviously have never seen the people I
have worked with.
Had children............. 4-legged ones. Zach and Zane are my babies.
Seen someone die............No, and I never want to.
Had a close friend die....Three Close Friends. Jeanne (02-15-74 - 10-10-90),
Michael (01-23-75 – 01-01-94) and Sarah (10-10-73 – 11-05-95). I love and
miss y'all! Driven over 400 miles in one day.......... I think we drove at
least this when I went to Colorado or Mr. and Mrs. Yett and Laura in June
1988.
Been to US............I live here.
Been to Mexico.......... No, not yet but maybe someday.
Been to India.............Ever called tech-support for Dell?
Been on a plane............ Many times.
Seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show..........Never in a theater but I have seen
it. Thrown up in a bar...........On my birthday in 1997, I think, but at least
I made it to the bathroom.
Purposely set a part of myself on fire........ OMG no, but I dropped a hot
iron on my arm one time.
Eaten sushi..........Last Week. Philadelphia Rolls are great!
Been skiing/snowboarding............. Snow? What is that?
Met someone in person from the internet.......A couple of times.
Gone to college/university.........Yes. Baylor University, "TheArmpitOfHell", Texas.
Graduated college/university..........May 16, 1998.
Fired a gun................. Yeah. If you shoot an armadillo in the butt it
will jump straight up in the air.
Purposely hurt yourself........... Sometimes you have to hurt yourself to stop
another hurt. Like digging out ingrown toenails, or taking a pain shot for a
migraine.
Taken painkillers............... On a daily basis. Migraines Suck!
Been intimate with someone of the same gender.............EEWWW!
So there you have it...my "Have you ever?" And this isn't something that's being
"passed along" so, if you read mine and decide you want to do your own, go right
ahead. I'm always interested in what my fellow bloggers have been up to and what
they're lives are like. Talk to me, people...:)

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:27 AM | Comments (1)

June 18, 2005

Your IQ Is 120

Your Logical Intelligence is Above Average Your Verbal Intelligence is
Exceptional Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General
Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 09:34 AM | Comments (1)

Finals Recap

Finals week recap. Make sure you scroll back to Tuesday to get all the updates.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 01:23 AM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2005

SPF- What Was I Thinking?

Well, it is that time again and Kristine over at Random and Odd has come up with
yet another installment for Stuff Portrait Friday. This week's assignment was to
find pictures that fits with the following captions:
Stuff that makes you wonder "What Was I Thinking?"

This picture would actually be more correctly titled: "What was my mother
thinking?"
I was six years old in this picture and Tannah, one of my two older sisters (my
parent's flowergirls) had come down to Houston to visit us. Right before she
left she braided my hair. I thought it was neat because my mother didn't know
how to braid. The next day my mother found the first of the many chicken pox
bumps that would start popping up all over my body. My mother decided it would
just be easier to leave my hair up in the braids since I would be taking oatmeal
baths for the next two weeks. This is what my hair looked like when we finally
took it out of the braids.

Blonde? What was I thinking?
This picture was taken outside of Fuddruckers after church one Sunday morning
during the summer of 1990. I had my hair highlighted blonde, and with my ghostly
white skin it looked awful. What was I thinking?
Stuff you're obligated to keep/display

This was made by my first college roommate.
Everybody put dry erase boards on their dormroom doors. She decorated our board
with crinkly green ribbon all the way around it and each of us had our own
little name plate hung on the top corners. I ended up moving out by the end of
October because she drove me nuts, so I'm not quite sure why I feel obligated to
keep this, but I do anyway.
My first bikini.
This little pink eyelet bikini came in a brown wicker purse with matching pink
flowers on it. Funny, I actually remember the purse. I have no clue why I still
have this and I am even more confused how it ended up here in my apartment
instead of at my parent's house in the attic with all my other baby stuff.
Something you think no one else owns

Neil Diamond t-shirt.
I'm probably not the only person who has this shirt, but after you factor in my
age and the fact that I have seen Neil Diamond in concert 5 times.. it will make
this shirt a little more unique. This is from when he performed at the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo in February 2002.

This is my autographed cookbook from Chef Paul Prudhomme.
One summer while I was at Baylor, my dad's old company, Rice Epicurean, sent him
to a Food Show at one of the hotels near DFW airport. On their way up to Dallas
from Houston, my parents stopped in "TheArmpitOfHell" and picked me up from Baylor and took
me with them. At the food show I got to meet Chef Prudhomme and he told me that
if I wanted to be a chef, I needed to get in the kitchen. It only took me
another decade but I finally did it.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:56 PM | Comments (2)

June 16, 2005

2nd Quarter - Written Exam - Southwestern Regional

Thursday came and Thursday went. I arrived to class ready to cook, take our test
and leave. I had a long-planned date with a Great Wall of Chocolate to celebrate
my last day of this quarter and I was ready to go.
Great Wall of Chocolate
The first thing the Chef did was a review for our exam. Review? I'm not sure
that is the correct terminology.. more like, stood there and read every question
to us and then waited for us to answer them as a group, and then he elaborated
on our answers.
Then we cooked our last menu for our Southwest Regional class. In addition to
the pictures posted below, we also made Mexican Hot Chocolate and Corn-Salsa
Pita Sandwiches. The sandwiches were gone before I could get a picture and the
hot chocolate just didn't want to smile up for the camera. The Pita Sandwiches
were great and I will be making them at home someday soon and I will take a
picture and post it then.
Then we got to clean, clean and clean. My hands are so soft right now because I
basically EasyOff/Comet-scrubbed the top 14 layers of skin off of them. For some
reason, when a quarter ends.. the Chefs get this bright idea that we need to
clean the entire building from top to bottom and scrub the pots and pans until
they shine.
We were done cooking and eating well before 9pm and the chef didn't pass out the
exams until about 9:45. It test didn't take any time at all to finish, since we
had just gone over the exam in order about 4 hours before. As soon as I finished
the exam.. as fast as I could get my fingers to write, I headed home... took a
very very quick shower and headed to PF Changs before they closed at 11pm. YUM
Chocolate!

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:29 PM | Comments (1)

Sopapillas

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)

Caldo Tlalpeno

Mexican Vegetable Soup with Chicken and Avocado Garnish.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)

SPD - SelfPortrait

This is me in my chef's uniform & hat.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2005

2nd Quarter - Written Exam - American Regional

This test was a walk in the park compared to the one he gave us for Midterms.
And this time I wasn't barefoot. Since classes are officially over I can tell
you about the test. The first two pages was short answer and what I didn't know
was pretty easy to guess at. The third page had 36 vocabulary words listed and
we had to pick 20 of them to define. The fourth page was when the moaning and
groaning from the peanut gallery started. It was a picture of a pig, divided up
in sections. Underneath the picture it told about each section and how much that
section weighed. The question was... what percentage of the pig is each section?
OMG! you would have thought he was asking them to do some sort of 4th year
graduate school calculus test. A sad commentary on our society today. The fifth
page of the test was JOKES! Yes you heard me, jokes. Logic questions and
Riddles. By now the peanuts were flying and I was flying right thru this test.
It even made me laugh when I saw one of the logic questions was the exact same
thing I used to give my students as a "Stupid Quiz" when I didn't have enough
grades for a 6 weeks. The sixth and last page of the test was extra credit. It
was worth 10 points and it was one of those "all or nothing" types where you
either got the 10 points or you didn't... no partial credit. What did I have to
list for these wonderful 10 points? List all 50 states! Can you do it? It took
me a few minutes and two very rough sketches of the US on the back of the
test... but I finally remembered them all. Ok. Monday night was easy, Tuesday
night my practical went great, Wednesday night's test was a walk in the park...
can Thursday follow suit? Stay tuned to find out.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2005

2nd Quarter - Practical Exam - American Regional

Two down, still more to go. Below you will find the last pictures I will be
posting from my American Regional Cuisine class. We took our practical exam
tonight and tomorrow night will be our written exam and cleaning up the kitchen.
The chef staggered the 17 of us so that all of us wouldn't finish cooking at the
same time. Tonight was my first time to take a practical exam with a "mystery
basket" format. Mystery Basket basically means: no menus, no recipes, you are
all on your own. We could use recipes from this quarter, but we may not have all
the ingredients to follow it to a 'T'. They pulled out the cart full of
ingredients and told us, if it was on there we could use it. If we requested
anything else prior to the one-and-only store room run, if the chef could find
it we could use it. Our requirements were to make a salad, a soup, and an entree
plate that consisted of two pieces of chicken (white & dark), a starch and two
vegetables. I started out with Cream of Garlic Soup. This was by far my favorite
soup we made in this class this quarter. The guy at my table had an extra
crouton he had made for his salad and I stole it to garnish my soup. It came out
even better than the last time. If anyone wants this recipe let me know, it's
great! For my salad, I, of course, started out with spinach, since my body
decided long ago to be allergic to iceberg lettuce. I quickly crabbed the tub of
wild mushroom goat cheese and pine nuts off of the cart. I rolled the goat
cheese into a log, rolled the log into some chopped up toasted pine nuts, and
then froze the log (just long enough for it to get firm enough to slice into
rounds for the salad). I sliced up some roasted red bell pepper and I cooked
some bacon and crumbled it up over the top. The dressing was a Dijon mustard,
balsamic vinaigrette. And for the entree. I stuffed a chicken breast & a chicken
leg with a mixture of butter, salt, wild mushroom goat cheese & roasted red bell
peppers, put it through a standard breading procedure (seasoned flour, egg wash,
bread crumbs) and then set it aside to chill in the freezer. Next, I made mashed
potatoes with celeriac and garlic in it. Then, I sauted some mushrooms and
Brussels sprouts. As the mushrooms and sprouts were cooking I made a Beurre
Blanc (white butter sauce) to go over the chicken. And right before I was ready
to serve, I took the stuffed and breaded chicken out of the freezer and
pan-fried it. I felt sorry for Chef and his stomach. There were 17 students in
the class tonight who each had to make a soup, salad and entree, and he had to
try a bite of ALL of it. I was in the last group to start and was the next to
last student to finish and serve my stuff to the chef. He was so full and there
was still one more guy after me. I could tell he was starting to feel miserable.
I was pretty proud of my results tonight. The only criticism the chef had
tonight was that I could have put a little extra salt in the stuffing for the
chicken. The chicken was cooked good and the stuffing was still hot. My Brussels
sprouts were one of the few that were actually cooked good, not overcooked and
not undercooked. I remembered from when we made the Celeriac potatoes earlier in
the quarter that the Chef loved the flavor the celery root adds to potatoes, so
in a sense I guess you could say I used a little brown-nosing. My soup had good
flavor and great consistency. My salad dressing was good, and apparently I was
the only one out of the entire class who realized we had a 5 pound thing of
bacon sitting there at our disposal. As Emeril says... PORK FAT RULES! All in
all it was a good night. I'm sure hoping that my results tonight will help my
grade once I get my paper turned in next week. Check out the pictures below & I
will have more pictures on Thursday night after our practical exam in
Southwestern. After Thursday, y'all will have to wait until either I cook
something during my 3 week summer break, or you will have to wait until July
15th for more food pictures. Bon Appetit!

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:39 PM | Comments (1)

Cream of Garlic Soup

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

Spinach Salad with Smoked Bacon, Roasted Red Bell Peppers and

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:34 PM | Comments (2)

Wild Mushroom Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Stuffed

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS B!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS B! I LOVE YA!

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 10:14 AM | Comments (1)

Menu Management Monday

All in all, Monday was a pretty good day. I spent the day at work working on a
contract for Brookshires. They gave me this huge project the Tuesday after
Memorial Day and said get it done by June 1. There is no way! It was actually
due the day they gave it to me and I'm still working on it. Y'all remember all
those days I complained about having nothing to do? Why the heck didn't they
give this to me back in April or May? For the past three days I have been
working on setting up a master spreadsheet to help this process move a little
faster, but the system that Brookshires uses for contracts, hmmm, how can I say
this?... SUCKS! I left work and went to my apartment for about 45 minutes to
look over my notes for my final in Menu Management. I got to class about 6:50
and sat there for a little while longer skimming the notes for the big purple
stars I had drawn during the review last week. First, she gave us a class survey
while she left the room. I seriously doubt anyone gave her a bad review. The
only thing negative I put on the entire survey is that the chairs in the
classroom (that I have had every single lecture class in so far) are awful. They
are a white version of those little bitty pink chairs at Baskin Robbins, you
know the ones with the table not big enough to hold your banana split, much less
a notebook to write notes on. She passed out our exams, told us the three
questions to omit and I took the test. I was done about 7:45. She told me she
hadn't quite finished grading my menu project, but if I wanted to wait a few
minutes, she would do mine next. I walked down the hall to the computer lab and
sat there until about 8 and then went back. I picked up my menu project that I
spent so much time on weekend before last and walked to my car. I opened up my
project to the grade sheet she left in there and saw that I made a 74/75. Happy
that I made a good grade on my project I then went home and then decided to go
eat dinner. When I got in my car at my apartment I had actually planned on going
to Cheddar's, but somehow I ended up at Sushi Ichiban. I had a Philadelphia
Roll, which was smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado wrapped in rice. It was
good. I guess the sushi I ate made me want to go swimming because after the
news, when the weatherman said that we were fixing to get hit by a good storm
within the next hour, I put on my bathing suit and went and swam 15 laps in the
pool. God I am tired! Not long after I got back to my apartment did I hear the
first of many claps of thunder. The first one, I couldn't tell if it was really
thunder, or if we were being bombed. It was raining so hard, and the wind was
blowing and it felt so good outside that I opened up the sliding glass door by
my bed, closed the screen door and slept with the crisp breeze blowing across my
herb plants and into my room. I did NOT want to wake up this morning. My muscles
are sore from swimming and it felt so good in my room that I didn't want to
move. Although, by the time finally got up to get into the shower, it was hot
and muggy outside and I had to close the door and crank up the air conditioner.
Day One of Finals Week Down. 5 More To Go.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 09:33 AM | Comments (0)

June 13, 2005

Happy Birthday Mama!

Happy Birthday Mama. Hope you have a great day. I Love You!

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

My Weekend to Bum

Well, I survived last week and made it to the weekend. How did I reward myself?
By doing as close to nothing as possible. I did manage to get my laundry done
and my apartment clean. I did manage to wake up in time for the Comcast guy to
come fix my DVR/Cablebox so that I could watch tv. I did watch 2 full two-hour
episodes of Movie and a Makeover. About 3:00 my cousin, OfficerB, called and
said that she would be in town soon and that I should come eat dinner with her
and two of the four other bridesmaids for her upcoming nuptuals (see countdown
above). I got dressed and fought traffic to DeSoto and we ate dinner at the
Olive Garden. Then OfficerB and I went shopping in Plano. We hit WorldMarket,
Pier 1 Imports and JCPenney. Unfortunately, about 4 minutes after we walked into
JCPenney they came on the loud speaker and told us that they would be closing in
5 minutes. Well that sucks. Sunday, I finished cleaning my apartment, did a
couple of assignments for my online class and that was about it. It was nice to
not do anything at all for more than 15 minutes, and I hope I enjoyed it enough,
because I've got finals this week and then I have to finish those two papers by
the 25th.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2005

Catching Up ... Blogger Style

I have my SPD, SPF & pictures from last nights class all sitting on my camera at
home. I will get them posted soon. I promise. **UPDATE** It's now 11:23am on
Sunday, June 12th and SPD is posted and I'm working on posting school pictures &
SPF. Make sure to scroll down to see the new stuff.*

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

SPF - More, Less & Satisfied

Well, I successfully missed Stuff Portrait Friday but I still wanted to get my
post up, even if I did turn it into Stuff Portrait Sunday. I don't have an
excuse, except for the fact that I was born 10 days late and I have spent the
rest of my life trying to catch up.
I want more cookbooks.

I want less migraine headaches and less trips to Bath & Body Works for
Aromatherapy Remedies.

And I am finally satisfied, for the time being, with the number of file cabinets
I have. If I am not organized, my whole life is in the shambles.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:56 PM | Comments (4)

I feel ... the earth ... move ... under my feet.

Luckily, I no longer feel the sky tumbling down. Last weekend I had the closest
thing to a mental and nervous breakdown I have ever had. I have spent the past 4
weekends doing nothing but homework. Going home from work on Friday nights and
for the most part not even getting out of my pajamas until it was time to get
ready for work on Monday morning. To make matters worse, the past two weekends
were long weekends as I celebrated Memorial Day by doing homework and I took off
the following Friday from work to futile attempt to get everything done. By 8 pm
on Sunday night it was obvious there was no way I was going to have the time,
the energy nor the brain capacity to finish my two research papers by the time
they were due. An interesting thing about going back to school at the age of 30,
and that opportunity having been a dream for so long, my grades are so much
important to me now than they ever were at Baylor. And knowing that I was in
danger of not completing two major projects sent me over a mental edge. I was
crying, my left eye was twitching, I had a migraine that just wouldn't go away
and I didn't know where to turn. I went to class Monday night and turned in my
menu project, ate dinner after class, and went home. I sat down with the
intention of writing a research paper from start to finish buy my brain and body
revolted. So, I took a big swig of NyQuil and went to bed. Tuesday, when I got
to work, I really started to go nuts, started making phone calls to the school,
to my advisor and such. I finally got in touch with the school counselor who
told me to go to class that night, talk to the chefs and tell them what I had
told her. The chef I have on Tuesday and Wednesday night is a nut. He is a
comedian and very approachable. A complete contrast to the chef I was going to
have to talk to on Thursday night. Tuesday night, chef was so understanding and
just asked that I call the counselor and have her call him to confirm that I had
talked to her. I went home with a small to medium sized chunk of the sky
starting to retreat itself back to its proper place in the stratosphere, and NOT
six inches above my head. He told me that he wasn't sure about how to handle the
logistics of either giving me an incomplete or changing my grade after I got
everything turned in, but that he would find out. For the first time in I don't
know how long, I went home and went to bed. I woke up Wednesday morning feeling
somewhat better but still worried over what the Thursday night meeting would
bring. I went to work, class and then when I got home I attempted to start to
look for information for my 2nd paper online, but there just isn't a whole heck
of a lot of information online on the Czech influence on Central Texas cooking.
That paper is going to require a trip to the library and hopefully a road trip
to the the Little Czech Bakery. Thursday, worrying about that night, I was so
exhausted at work that I could barely stay awake. But I had finally came to a
peace about what ever was going to happen would. I went to class and asked the
chef if I could talk to him. I started to explain my situation and about the
time I finished the comedian chef walked up and started padding my conversation.
Telling the straight-laced chef that he had already talked to the counselor and
that he just needed a chance to figure out the logistics for me. I was so
grateful to him for coming up and helping ease that conversation. I immediately
felt another piece of the sky being lifted off my head. Now, the logistics.
After finals are over next Thursday night, they will turn in my grades (on
Monday the 20th) just as they are. If, without the paper and a few other missing
assignments, my grade is an F... I have 7 extra days to get my stuff in for them
to change my grade to what it should be. If, I pass the classes, which I should,
without the paper.. then I have a little more leeway to get stuff done and they
have until July 11th to get my grades changed. I want to be able to enjoy some
of my 3 week break so, regardless of what my grades are, I will turn in all my
stuff by the 24th. I can get some rest this weekend, go to the library, and
study for finals. Next week will be my last week of this ridiculous 4 day 8:00am
- 10:30pm schedule. I am planning on going to "TheArmpitOfHell" the following weekend, that
way I can stop and do "research" at the Czech Stop, and fix my mother's computer
that she has been complaining about since before I moved to Dallas. That next
week I can work a normal 8 - 5 and then come home and have all night long to get
my missing papers and assignments finished. I will turn all of it in on the
24th. The entire sky will be back in its proper position, I will be able to see
clearly, and enjoy the 17 happy days I will have left before all of this fun
madness starts again.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 08:41 AM | Comments (2)

June 09, 2005

Tex-Mex Fajitas, Chayote Squash Casserole, Mexican Corn, Guacamole, Pico

I can tell that we are starting to wind down in the quarter because Chef
didn't come over to each table and artistically plate up everything we made and
make us reproduce it. Once everything was finished, he grabbed three tortillas,
made a fajita from each table and told us to dig in. I have learned from a few
of you that I get in trouble when I dont take pictures, so I just put a portion
of each thing we made on this one plate and snapped a quick picture. It was a
good food night. Yum! Dinner!

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)

Fried Ice Cream with Chocolate Ganache

This is our fried ice cream with chocolate ganache. We actually made this last
week, and a few of us attempted to fry it but since we had only made the ice
cream an hour before, it hadn't gotten hard enough to stay in a ball and fry. We
ate it anyway. ;-) A week later, we tried again, and this time it fried up nice
and crispy. It started melting pretty fast after pouring the hot chocolate
ganache over the top and I was a little slow with the camera.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)

Chayote Squash Casserole

This was really good. Chayote squash is that funny looking green squash that
kinda looks like a venus flytrap.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:28 PM | Comments (1)

SPD - Where You Blog

Ok, so I know I'm late getting these up there, but my mind, etc., isn't quite up to normal running speed yet.

This is my desk at home. This is where all the late night and weekend blogging happens. Note the broken chair. No wonder after 4 weekends of nothing but homework that my rear end started protesting sitting down, in any form or fashion.

This is my desk at work. I am around the corner from everything and some days the people in my office will start singing my name to even ask if I am there. I'm thinking of taking a pillow and a sleeping bag up there to take naps during my lunch hour. This is where all the daytime dribble and insanity comes from.

In case you couldn't see the back of my desk in the picture above, here is a close up. I have been told by a couple of the managers that a few of those bottles are getting old and "need to be drunk soon," anybody wanna help?

And, again you will notice my ever present stash of Fruit2O. I guess it's obvious which of this stuff I have actually been drinking, and which ones I need to be drinking.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:15 AM | Comments (1)

June 08, 2005

Is It Still Considered Theft If You Steal It From Someone Who Stole It?

Ok. I stole this from SillyNessa who stole it from Terri~Torial. Here's the
deal. Go to www.google.com and do an image search for these eight things and
then post the pictures you find.
Where You Grew Up
Where You Live Now
Your Name
Your Grandma's Name
Favorite Food.
Favorite Drink
Favorite Song
Favorite Smell.
Ok, here are my answers:
Where You Grew Up

Home Sweet Home. Houston, Texas
Where You Live Now
Dallas, Texas
Your Name
Aimee
Your Grandmother's Name
Mildred. Gracie.
Your Favorite Food
Chocolate
Your Favorite Drink
Kahlua
Your Favorite Song
Don McLean. American Pie
Your Favorite Smell
Sweet Basil.
Ok. So y'all go play and leave me a comment when your's is posted so I can come
check it out.

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

Sugar-Skewered Prawns with Pinapple Salsa & Thai Chili Sauce with

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)

Artichoke Salad with Tomato-Chili Water Viniagrette

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)

Quick Snow Peas, Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Breasts with Tropical

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)

Pasta with Capers, Olives and Pine Nuts, Leek and Ricotta Tart,

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:20 PM | Comments (1)

Caprese Salad

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)

Soup au Pisto (Veggie Soup with Garlic and Basil Pesto)

--------

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2005

Overwhelmed and Overworked

I took Friday off from work in hopes of getting my menu project and my two
research papers done. The menu project so turned into more than I ever dreamed
it would and took all day Friday, all day Saturday and most of Sunday. Part of
my OCD and perfectionism is that once I get started on making something
organized, I cant stop. This project, for what I saw most people barely did and
most missed half of class printing it out down the hall in the lab, mine was the
most elaborate thing I have done since... hell, I dont know when. One of my
first projects after school is out is to set up a webpage where I can upload
documents, and not just pictures. As soon as I get it up I will share the link
with all of you so that you can see the menu I turned in this evening. If all
else fails, I will take a picture of it when I get it back next Monday night and
post that. Yesterday, I had the unfortunate experience of missing my cousin's,
Officer B, wedding shower. I have been told it was beautiful and amazing and
that I was missed. Although that is comforting, they will never know how much I
missed being there. I wouldn't have made it through last night without a couple
of friends online and on the phone talking me thru my mental breakdown. I'm a
firm believer in the benefits of a good cry. I try to have one at least once a
month. Well, at that pace I'm already cried out till September or October. Its
10:56 pm on Monday night. My menu management class is basically over and I have
enough points in there to not even take the final and still make an A.
Especially if my bigger than life menu project earns the grade it deserves. So
why am I still having a breakdown? Well I have two 5 page research papers due
between now and 5:30 Thursday night, with work from 7:30 - 4:30 and class from
5:30 - 10:30 each night. I spent $35 and some odd cents on that menu project
that I didn't have. My DVR, which never actually worked (as in recording shows)
in the first place but at least let me see the cable channels, has died and
Comcast wont come to fix it until this coming Saturday. About two weeks ago I
quit listening to the radio station I had been hooked on since I moved here
because they wouldn't quit playing Eric Clapton songs. Then I switched over to
96.7 The Twister and the first weekend I listened to them they played two songs
about every 40 minutes... and I just about wanted to scream... "Fast Cars and
Freedom" by Rascal Flatts and "I'm Playing Chicken with Train Train Train
Chicken with the Train uh huh uh uh huh" by Cowboy Troy. So now not only am I
sick of both my radio stations, I cant watch tv.. and trying to do homework with
no noise just doesn't work. I guess I will post this now and get to work. I
needed air some of my thoughts and get them out of my head. Its like my brain is
about 10,000 miles overdue for the 3,000 mile oil change and everything up there
is starting to wear out and sparks are flying when I try to think of something.
By the time next Friday gets here there wont be any need for an oil "change"
cause it will all be gone and will just have to spend the next 3 1/2 weeks
slowly pouring in about 7 or 8 quarts of brain oil per night. In my world, brain
oil = sleep.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 10:42 PM | Comments (1)

June 03, 2005

Stuff Portrait Friday

Ok, I am taking a much needed break from school work to post my entries for Stuff Portrait Friday.

The first item on the list was Kid's Room. Well I don't have any kids, but apparently a one of the stray apartment complex cats has decided that my couch on the patio makes a pretty comfortable bed. Here is Mr. Kitty taking a cat nap.

Second on the list was a showcase of something we collect. I collect TeddyBears. I know I'm getting a little old for them but most of my collection also serves functionality (stoneware and silverware, coffee pot, tea kettle, can opener, canisters, shower curtain, towels, soap dish, toothbrush holder, bed spread, pillows, sheets... hmm, am I forgetting anything?)

The first picture is just a collection of stuffed animals. The subsequent pictures will be of everything else teddybear. I will add a few more pictures when my sheets get out of the dryer and I get the bed made and the bathroom and kitchen straightened up a tad.

Part Of The Teddybear Collection

Country Bear Collection - Shower Curtain

Country Bear Collection. More To Come

Late Addition: Country Bear Collection - The Bed

Lastly, the third part of our Stuff Portrait Friday assignment was our Computer Desk. And Kristine's website Random and Odd, is glowing on my monitor since SPF is her baby.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 05:46 PM | Comments (5)

Ensalada de Nopalitos

Don't worry if you dont know what a Nopalito is, neither did I until I got to class. It is actually CACTUS! First you have to use a paring knife to shave off all the little pricklies. Then, when you cut them up... they have a slimey consistency somewhere between Okra and Aloe Vera. By themselves they aren't that good, and neither myself nor my cooking partner liked the dressing... but when you put it all together, with leaf lettuce, red onions, new mexico green chiles & sliced boiled egg, it wasn't half bad.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

Spanish Beans

These were supposed to be spanish beans, we followed the recipe, but after we added the 6 ounces of ground meat, it turned out closer to chili. They were good, just not what the chef expected. Must have been a new recipe for this class.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)

Chicken Mole with Escabeche of Vegetables

Very Interesting. Tasted better than I expected.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)

Swamped, Day Late & A Dollar Short

Ok. I know I haven't been around much lately, but I am swamped and overwhelmed with school work.

I took today off from work to attempt to get all my stuff done so that I can finish off this semester, enjoy my up coming break & rest and re-organize for my next quarter.

I have one large menu project, that is thankfully almost done, except for typing out the recipes, with much thanks to JMC. I have two research papers to write & a few online assignments and a few other straggling items to take care of. I also have the normal uniforms that need to go thru the laundry and other mundane chores. I will post pictures from class and for SPD & SPF as I take random mind-breaks from my work. Bear with me these next two weeks and I'll be back to normal on the 17th.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)

SPD: Transportation

This is my normal form of transportation. 2003 Saturn VUE. This is my 4th Saturn and I doubt I will ever own anything else.

My dad kept telling me when I bought my VUE that I didn't need a SUV but this baby has come in handy more times than I care to remember.

She needs a good washing because the Mimosa Tree by my apartment keeps dropping its blooms on top of her when I park close to the front door.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2005

Sauteed Halibut with Warm Apple and Dried Cherry Compote, servedwith Mushroom Bread Pudding and Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnuts