My Daily Ramblings

It's Starting to Feel a lot Like Christmas

2009-12-06T00:41:00.003-05:00

Around 4 o'clock this afternoon I looked out my window and guess what I saw? SNOWFLAKES. Lots and lots of snowflakes. I felt like I was in a snow globe. It was so pretty. It finally hit me today that Christmas is fast approaching. It is only twenty days away and I still have a ton of shopping to do. However, I'm trying to put off thinking about the excitement of Christmas shopping until I finish my final paper for my online class and take my butchery final Tuesday morning.

It is so hard to not think about it though. Every year during the holidays I come up with all of these creative ideas for gifts and I want to spend hours and hours working on them. Unfortunately there is a thing called finals that gets in the way of spending hours and hours of fun. Instead I am spending hours and hours in front of my computer writing my final paper and then many more hours studying for my butchery final. Please remind me again why I am having a written final for my butchery class? Yea, I cannot figure it out either.

Anyways, as I was staring out the window earlier today, watching the snowflakes fall, I began feeling an overwhelming craving for gingerbread cookies. So what do I do, well, I bundle up and walk to the supermarket to go buy ground ginger. (It was the only thing I needed.) I head straight to the baking aisle and go right to the spices. I look and look and look and I finally found the ground ginger section of the spice rack, and guess what? No ginger. They were completely sold out of it. I was so bummed. I guess everyone else had the same craving as I did and bought all of it before I got there.

Oh well, so instead of making gingerbread cookies, I came home and starting gathering information for my final paper. It was probably the smarter thing to do, but making gingerbread cookies just sounded so much better!

So Tired of Writing

2009-12-02T23:42:00.003-05:00

I think my computer has been running non-stop for the past few weeks. All I have been doing is writing papers. Every single day I come home from class, turn on my computer, check my e-mails and Facebook, and then proceed to open a Word document to write a paper. Between my online culture and gastronomy class and my entrepreneurship class, this whole term has been spent writing papers. I'm so sick of writing.

And the worst part is that I have to take the second section of culture and gastronomy next term, meaning another ten weeks of weekly papers on topics like salt, saffron, and couscous. I just submitted my salt paper a few hours ago and now I am on to my last and final paper of culture and gastronomy part one. This will be my last paper of this term. Another 1500 words and I am free for three weeks. I cannot wait until I hit the submit button.

Turkey Day is Fast Approaching

2009-11-23T00:36:00.004-05:00

I can't believe that it is already Thanksgiving. This year has been flying by. The good thing about how quickly this year is going, is how quickly this term is coming to a close. Technically I only have 6 more days of class. Monday and Tuesday this week and then Monday through Thursday next week.

Of course these last few days cannot be easy though. Tomorrow I have a test in my French cuisine class. He usually gives us easy tests, but they cover all of the material from the whole entire term, so I have been working on studying all of that. I also have a paper due by Tuesday night at nine, but I'm trying to get it done by tomorrow night because I am leaving for North Carolina Tuesday night and will not be able to submit it by the due time if I do not get it done by tomorrow night.

After those two things are done, at least for this week, I can enjoy my five day break and Turkey Day. I'm so looking forward to it. Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite holidays and I get to spend it with Adam and his family which makes it even better.

His mom and I are already planning everything that we are going to make and the list keeps growing. As of right now we are making a trifle, pumpkin pie, cornbread, mashed potatoes and of course the big bird. Others are bringing side dishes, but I am sure that we will acquire more things to make by the time I actually get to North Carolina.

It will be so nice to relax for a few days, even with all the cooking I will be doing. Just getting away from the city and not having to think about school will be awesome. Only 48 hours to go!!

A Little Taste of Italy

2009-11-03T22:28:00.005-05:00

Today I was head chef in my lunch class. I created an Italian menu with the title of "A Little Taste of Italy". Here is the menu:

Spinach & Fennel Salad

with orange slices and black olives

tossed in an orange olive oil dressing

Homemade Cannelloni

grilled eggplant and ricotta filling

with sauteed broccoli rabe

Italian Cream Cake

with blood orange cream anglaise

Time was tight, but somehow we got everything out on time. SEPTA went on strike at three in the morning, so none of my back of the house staff arrived at school until 9:30am. Note that class starts at 8:30am. I was the only one there at 8:30am. So for the first hour, I started rolling out and cutting pasta into five inch squares for the cannelloni. One hundred and twenty squares later the rest of my staff showed up. By eleven the cannelloni still were not in the oven and I was getting worried. However, somehow between eleven and twelve absolutely everything got finished. I do not know how it happened, but it does not matter. All that matters is that everything got done. We even got to clean up a bit before we plated the appetizer.

Service went really well. My chef instructor trusted me enough to leave the kitchen and go sit down to lunch. Plating all the food went amazingly smoothly. All of my back of the house staff listened to me and did everything I asked. It was a quiet and peaceful kitchen and I absolutely loved it.

Everyone seemed to love the food as well. I know everyone in my class was fighting over the leftovers at the end of service. We had absolutely no food left over and it was great for clean up.

Overall I was super happy with how everything went today. Only thing I wish I had a chance to do was take pictures of the plates. Oh well, maybe next time. I think I am going to have to recreate the whole meal for my family and friends who could not make it to the lunch. Maybe I will have them help me!!

Welcome to November

2009-11-01T23:17:00.003-05:00

I cannot believe that it is November already. Where has the time gone? I feel like it was just my birthday yesterday and it was already month ago. Time is just flying by.

This past month I have been super busy with school. Every one of my classes has been hitting me really hard with homework. I'm pretty sure that I wrote five papers last week and studied for three tests. It was absolutely ridiculous. I am so happy that I survived last week. Granted I did break down and cry a few times, but somehow I made it through.

This week, along with my lunch, I have another test and paper due. Tomorrow I will be spending about thirteen hours at school. I have to get there at nine, when the chefs get there to open up all the kitchens, so that I can make four, three layer cakes. The cakes have to be out of the oven not later than noon because at noon I have my French class. Class goes until five and then I have to do a base icing coat on the cakes and make about ten pounds of homemade pasta dough for my cannelloni. And sometime during my day I need to make sure that all of my food for the rest of the dishes for lunch is actually in the building.

I am trying to prepare myself for the long day tomorrow, but as of right now I am not thinking about it. I really should be studying a bit more for my test tomorrow, but I am just so not in the mood. I am also hoping that I do not forget to do anything tomorrow. That would not be good.

Game four of the World Series is on right now and that is about all I can pay attention to right now. Why are sports so addicting???

GO PHILLIES!!!!

A Rainy Day is a Great Day for Brownies

2009-10-15T15:17:00.003-04:00

I woke up this morning to the pitter patter of rain drops hitting my air conditioning units. At first I liked the sound and the fact that my room was still dark. But then, after about a minute, the pitter patter of the rain started to annoy me. There is just something about rain hitting aluminum constantly that gets annoying.

I walked out to the living room and everything was dark. This is how it has been all day. The rain drops have been hitting my air conditioner for hours and I have finally started to get used to the annoying noise. I turned the television up a bit louder, made some brownies, and even did dishes to occupy myself so that I would not go nuts.

The brownies just came out of the oven and smell delicious. I made the Baker's One Bowl Brownie Recipe. It is the one I always make because it is so simple and I always seem to have the ingredients around. It is fool-proof too. I have added all sorts of random ingredients to the batter and the brownies always come out delicious.

Of course, I could have been doing homework, but I think that that would have driven me even more nuts. I have about 100 pages of reading to do for next week and with a four hour class tonight, I was not in the mood to have a headache all day.

The smell of the brownies is pulling me away from the computer and closer to a knife to cut them. Off to get my chocolate fix!

Ah...It's October

2009-10-05T21:08:00.005-04:00

So I am officially no longer a teenager. Oh well. It has taken me a few days, but I have finally gotten used to it. Now I am realizing that it is actually October. Oh my gosh. I feel like it was the new year just a few months ago. Why is time flying by so quickly?

This past week the weather has decided to become cooler and windier. I have realized that I need to start wearing a light jacket or sweatshirt on my walk to class. No more cute sundresses and flip flops. I wore flip flops the other day and by the time I got to campus, my feet were freezing.

I guess the good thing about the weather cooling down is that the kitchens are not as hot as they were during summer term. Soon I will be cold in the kitchen which is something I will definitely appreciate after surviving the summer term and the one hundred degree weather in the kitchens.

School is school. Lots and lots of homework. I feel like after every class I have to come home and do homework. I think every chef/professor this term is out to get all of us. I should actually be posting something on the discussion board for my online class right now, but instead I am writing this. I am hoping that this will get me in the mood to post something, but it probably won't.

Is it Thanksgiving break yet??

My Last Day as a Teenager :(

2009-09-30T13:23:00.003-04:00

I do not know how I feel about this. I have enjoyed being a teenager for the past seven years and I am not sure if I am ready to give that up yet. It just feels weird. I cannot believe that tomorrow I will be twenty years old.

And what will I be doing for my birthday tomorrow? Well, probably not much. I have my lovely entrepreneurship class from 6-10 tomorrow night and then I will be heading home. I guess I can cuddle with my puppies once I get home. That will be fun. I am hoping one of them will sleep with me. Last time I was home R.P. did not sleep with me and it made me sad. Granted I did not have to worry about getting bit in the middle of the night. Sometimes he gets cranky if I move and attacks my legs. He is a crazy dog.

Anyways, I will be spending my Saturday night with a bunch of my girlfriends eating sweets and chilling out in our pajamas. I love pajama parties. You do not have to worry about how your hair looks or what your wearing cause you are all wear pajamas. How awesome!!!

Work, Work, Work, Work, Work

2009-09-26T18:16:00.002-04:00

All I have to say is that the next 10 weeks of my life are going to be a pain in the rear end. Every waking moment I will either be in class or doing homework. I am taking five classes, 16 credits, this term which is pretty usual for me. This term is just ridiculous though. Every class I have requires so much outside work.

I sat down yesterday and went through all of my syllabuses so that I could organize my planner. Here is a picture of it. Every little round sticker you see is either a test or paper or assignment due. I am not going to have a life for the next two months. I already can't wait until Christmas break and it is only week two of classes!

And then there are the papers. One of my classes is online and is called Culture and Gastronomy. It is a very intensive writing class about the history and culture of food. It requires a lot of reading and a one thousand word paper every week. Luckily the information for the papers are posted on Fridays and not due until Tuesdays, which gives me the whole weekend, but that means I am going to be spending a lot of my weekends reading and writing papers on top of all of the other homework I have to do.

The first paper for this class is due this Tuesday. I have to "make a case for cooking not fire as a 'revolution' in the progress towards civilization." I actually feel like I could write a lot about this. I just need to sit down with all the books and articles we had to read and go over them making sure that I use as much information as possible from these resources. I think that this is what Chef Bottone really wants. He wants to see that we read what we needed to and used the reading to guide our response papers. I think I am going to spend a few hours tonight getting all my thoughts together and actually writing them down on paper.

I think my dilemma for all of the papers that I will have to write this term is how to begin. I always feel like I need a good opening to my papers and sometimes it can take me a while to find the right words. I wish that I could write my academic papers like I write my blogs. For my blogs I just start writing. I don't really think about it, I just let my thoughts flow. Obviously for academic papers you have to be more careful about grammatical errors and all of that stuff, but I think I need to just start our writing my academic papers like I write my blogs. Maybe it will help all my ideas come out of my brain a little easier, and quicker.

And Classes Begin Once Again

2009-09-21T21:28:00.002-04:00

Well, fall term started today. I know some people are probably thinking it is September 21st, why on earth am I starting my fall classes today. Well, that is how Drexel's schedule works. Gotta love being on the quarter system.

Anyways, even though it is already September 21st, I still feel like I should have more time before I have to go back to school. I had a full three weeks off, that was absolutely wonderful, and I should be ready to come back to school, but I am not.

I think it is because there has been so much confusion with the schedule of my classes and the instructors. Up until last Thursday, we had no idea who was teaching which classes and when the were definitely going to be. And then there were the last minute e-mails telling us what books we needed to order and that we needed to have them the first week of class. Not cool. Sometimes you just can't get books in three days. Well unless you want to spend millions of dollars and I definitely do not.

And for the first time in my college career, I am taking an online class. I have had classes where most of the work was submitted via the Internet or we had to post on discussion boards, but I have never had a true online class. One where there is not a scheduled class time and if for some reason you need to contact the instructor, the only way to do it is through e-mail. That kind of scares me. I like being able to go to school and talk to a professor face to face if I have a problem. Oh well. I guess it is just something I will have to get used to.

Anyways, my first day of classes went well. I really cannot complain, except for the fact that I wish I was still on vacation!!!

The Rest of the Week at the Beach

2009-09-17T13:11:00.006-04:00

Luckily the weather cooperated for the second half of the week. Wednesday it was still a bit cloudy, but sunny. All of us ran straight out to the beach and stayed out there for hours. Well, except for Adam. He decided to walk to the lighthouse he could see in the distance. Two hours later he stumbles back and says that after an hour of walking the lighthouse did not look any closer. I think he was trying to walk to the lighthouse on a different island. Oops.

And of course we all got a bit burnt since why would any of us think to put sunscreen on when it is cloudy out. Bad idea. Adam looked like a lobster and I was constantly covering my whole body in aloe.

Thursday it rained again, but I think after all the sun we got on Wednesday, we were fine with staying in the house all day. The guys played many games of Tiger Woods on the Xbox and I sat there and watched them, all day long.

Friday was beautiful. Adam and I took a long walk in the sand and then spent the rest of the day fishing for blue crabs at the nearby Whalehead Club. We caught a lot of crabs, but most of them were not big enough so we had to put them back in the water. The rule at the club was that the crabs had to be at least five inches wide if we were to keep them. At the end of the day we wound up with eight blue crabs in our styrofoam cooler. We decided that it would be too much work to cook just eight of them, so we just put them back in the water for the next person to catch.

Saturday was nice too. We spent the majority of the day at the beach, spraying sunscreen on almost every half an hour. We even played some football for a bit. I am officially horrible at football. Later that night we went out to a seafood buffet and ate a million crab legs. The place we went to had nine or ten different types of crab legs. I did not even know that that many existed.

Sunday was check out day, so we all got up early and cleaned out the whole house, mainly the kitchen. We left the house by ten and all went our separate ways. Adam and I stopped at Wings and then went to Jockey's Ridge to go play in the sand. It was so beautiful. Then we drove home, stopping at Pizza Inn along the way; another place I had never been to before. It was yummy, especially the pizzerts!!!!

Day 1 of the Beach Trip

2009-09-07T21:24:00.006-04:00

I got the pleasure of waking up to the sound of rain drops this morning. If I was anywhere other than the beach I would be completely fine with it. Unfortunately, we are at the beach in a beautiful beach house with a direct pathway onto the sand and it is raining. Boohoo!

So instead of bathing in the sun all day, all eleven of us spent the day in our pajamas playing games on the Wii and the Xbox. We would have jumped into the hot tub, but it isn't working. Last night we turned it on and jumped in to find that it was more like a "warm" tub. None of the buttons worked and it was not very hot. And when we went to turn it on today, it did not turn on at all. Oops. We called the pool guy and hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow.

Deb and I jumped in the pool for a few minutes this afternoon with Ladybug. It was cold and I'm not sure how much she liked being thrown in the water. We did find a crab chilling out near the steps. He looked like he had been bleached which was probably from all of the chlorine in the pool. Adam took him back out to the ocean so he could swim free.

Adam and I took a walk on the beach a bit later, looking for sand dollars. They are so pretty. Unfortunately, we did not find any as of yet, but we are on a mission to find one.

Then Deb and I made dinner which was a yummy stir fry with chicken, broccoli, red bell peppers, onions, bean sprouts, and water chestnuts. And then we had hot fudge brownie sundaes for dessert. What could be better than that?

Vacation Time

2009-09-06T02:12:00.003-04:00

I'm finally on my summer break. Yay!!!!

I know this is kind of deceiving because most people have already started back to school or are about to start in a few days. Technically I was supposed to have final exams up until yesterday for my summer term, but luckily I only had take-home finals and was done a week early.

I was very excited that I had three weeks off in between summer and fall terms. I even threw a dessert party for all of my fellow culinary and hospitality students at my apartment last Thursday night. I made more than seven different mini desserts and everyone had a blast. Unfortunately I had to send everyone home around midnight because I had a practical the next morning. Next time I'll make sure I will have a party on a Friday or Saturday night.

Anyways, about 7:30 the night of my party, I got a call from the security guard in my building telling me that I had a piece of certified mail that I needed to come down and sign for. As I got in the elevator to go downstairs, I was thinking to myself why on earth would I be getting a piece of "certified mail" at 7:30 at night. So, I finally get out of the elevator and Adam is standing there with a suitcase. I freaked out. I was so happy to see him that I was shaking. He drove all the way up from NC to surprise me and meet all of my friends. I was super excited.

We played Rock Band all weekend and drove back down to NC on Tuesday. I was so glad that I had someone to drive with. It is a long drive and it can get boring when you are all by yourself. We even stopped for Arby's on the way down. It was yummy.

Wednesday we relaxed and watched I Love You Man. It was a good movie. Then Thursday we went to N.C. State's opening football game. It was the first football game I had ever been to and it was a lot of fun. We spent most of the day tailgating with Adam, his roommate Beth, and a bunch of their friends, and then watched the game at night. Unfortunately State lost, but it was still fun. I was amazed at how many people were there. I think Adam said around 60,000 people were in the stadium.

Then Friday morning we drove to Adam's parents' house and spent the past two days moving furniture around so they could get their hardwood floors refinished. Moving a green couch up the stairs was the highlight of the night. It took four of us to get it upstairs and we even had to take the door off so we could squeeze it through the door.

We are off to the beach tomorrow for the week to relax. I can't wait.

Ah, It's Finally Week #10

2009-08-22T01:52:00.005-04:00

The past few weeks have felt like they have been months. Summer term was going by so quickly until it hit week seven. Then it came to a crashing halt. Finally it is week ten and I am almost done with my summer classes, all five of them. Luckily all of the work has been evenly spread out this term, which has been really nice. Normally everything hits you all at once. I feel like all of my professors and chefs get together and figure out when they are going to make everything due. And of course they have to make sure that all the assignments and projects are due in the same week.

Anyways, I am so glad that this term is coming to a close. I really enjoyed all of my classes, but I am ready to move on. Unfortunately ending this term also means that summer is coming to a close which is something that I am not looking forward to. I love the warm weather and it not getting dark until nine o'clock at night. I have noticed the past few days that it has been getting dark around eight. Oh well, I guess I should start gearing up for the cold weather again.

One thing I will not miss about the heat though is how hot the kitchens at school got. I do not think I have ever sweat as much in life as I have in the kitchens the summer. Everyone has. Some days I'll be in the kitchens and then walk outside, and even when it has been in the nineties, outside is cooler. It is crazy. The air conditioning went down for a few days. And of course that happened when it was the hottest out. I guess now I can look forward to kitchens that are a normal temperature.

Anyways, I just spent the past two or so hours working on my take home final exam for my vegetarian class. That is now out of the way. All I have to do is print it and hand it in. In the next week I still have two more practicals, two more take home finals, and a final version of a business plan. I guess it is not that much more. Break is only a week away. I can make it!

Computers Computers Computers

2009-08-17T02:20:00.003-04:00

Why do they have to be so difficult? Why can't they just turn on and do what you tell them to do? I seriously wanted to throw my computer against a wall tonight.

Yesterday I spent almost three hours importing all of my songs from my old computer into iTunes. I had everything organized the way I wanted it. I even gave iTunes the pleasure of being my default music program.

So today, I go to open iTunes to find that it was completely empty. Apparently the iTunes on my computer did not want to keep the three thousand songs I had imported yesterday in its program. How lovely.

Stupid computers.

Anyways, I figured I would restart my computer and see if it would help. Well, all that did was aggravate me more. Not only did my computer decided to take its sweet old time shutting down, but once it finally restarted itself, it took more than ten minutes to load.

At this point I was ready to throw it out the window. Then, once it finally did whatever background stuff it decided it needed to do, I tried to get on the internet. That pissed me off the most. Not only did it take another five minutes to open the browser, but once it finally did, it froze.

I was seriously thinking about throwing it against the wall. Not like that would have done anything, but it would have made me feel a little better.

Argh. Stupid computers!!!

Bad Polenta, Bad Bad Polenta

2009-08-13T22:08:00.004-04:00

So for class today, my partner and I had the pleasure of making empanadas, a date and honey tart, and something with polenta.

We decided that we were going to start with the polenta because it takes over an hour to cook. First off we had to boil water in a double boiler. This is where the problems started. Do you know how long it takes to boil water in a double boiler?? Well, let me tell you. It takes almost an hour. Argh!!!

During this time I made the dough and filling for the empanadas, as well as started rolling out the dough with a pasta machine. It is amazing what you can do in the time it takes to boil water.

So finally, once the water began to boil, we had to add the cornmeal, and some salt, into the boil water and stir it for about five minutes. Well, about three minutes into stirring the cornmeal and water, a little piece of polenta decided that he did not want to hang around with his fellow polenta friends. Little polenta wanted to jump out of the pot and come play on my forearm. I did not want polenta to jump out of the pot. I wanted him to stay in the pot with the rest of his friends. So, yea. Polenta did not listen to me and I now have a dime sized burn mark on my forearm. I am very upset with polenta. Polenta should have listened to me. He should have stayed in the pot with the rest of his friends. He would have been a lot happier.

Oh well. No we know that polenta is not obedient. Shame on you polenta.

Julie & Julia

2009-08-09T21:04:00.012-04:00

It is amazing how rainy days are awesome movie days. With all my laundry done and nothing else to do today, my mom and I decided it was a great day to go to the movies. Julie & Julia just came this weekend and we were both dying to see it. The previews looked so good.

But before we got to the movie theatre, my mom and I obviously had to do some puttering. Since that is what we do when we are together. We strolled through Chico's because she wanted to see if anything was on sale. That store is so expensive. Even the clothes on sale were still super expensive. So we did not buy anything there. Next door, and the next store we puttered in was Ann Taylor Loft. My sister introduced me to this store and every time I go I keep accumulating clothing from there. I like their stuff, but I wait for everything to go on sale because once again, their clothes can be kind of expensive.

Anyways, after some puttering in there, we found a very cute black sweater. I saw it when we first walked in, and then right before we left, I went back to it. Something about it was calling my name. So, I tried it on and it looked really cute. What made it even better was that it was only nine dollars. So we go to pay for it, and apparently today they were taking an additional thirty percent off everything. How awesome is that? So our total came to $6.92. I think that is pretty good for a sweater from Ann Taylor Loft.

So, after we spent a whopping $6.92, we decided to go to the movie theatre. It is amazing how much tickets cost these days. For two adult tickets it cost $21. And the best part is, no one ever checked for tickets, so we probably could have just walked in and watched the movie for free.

We finally get into the theatre, sit down, and notice that there is no sound. My mom loved it because she thinks that the commercials are too loud and hurt her ears. About two or three minutes later, one of the employees comes in and tells us that they were having trouble with their internet connection and that there would be no sound for the commercials. My mom loved it.

Anyways, the movie finally starts, with sound, and it was hilarious. We were all cracking up. Especially when Julia (Meryl Streep) took some cannelloni out of a pot of boiling water said something along the lines of "this is as hot as a hard cock!!" I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to fall out of my seat.

During the movie, Julie's goal was to go through Julia Child's cookbook from beginning to end and make every recipe, all 524 of them. She gave herself a deadline of one year to finish all of them and she was going to write a blog about it too.

One of the recipes she made required live lobsters. She wasn't too thrilled about killing them. It was either put them in a pot of boiling water or stick a knife behind their head. Julie opted for the boiling water. However, she got them in the pot, put the lid on and two seconds later the lid flies off and she runs screaming into the other room. Sounds like something my mom would do. It was so funny.

And then the last recipe she made required her to debone a duck. She was not too thrilled about it. However, she found it to be pretty easy. Of course she watched Julia Child's video of her deboning a duck, while Julie sat at her coffee table and did the same. I never thought I would ever debone a duck in my living room on my coffee table. Oh well, I guess there is a first for everything. Maybe I will try it some day.

I thought what Julie did was a great idea. I would love to take a cookbook and make every recipe in it. I think I would be completely sick of food by the time I finished, but I think it is an awesome idea. Maybe one day, when I have enough money to buy all the ingredients for every recipe in a cookbook and enough time, I'll take a stab at it.

After the movie, my mom and I grabbed some dinner at Bertucci's. We wound up getting salads, meatballs, and some tuscan grilled vegetables. They were so yummy. What a great way to spend a rainy day.

What am I still doing up???

2009-08-03T02:23:00.004-04:00

It is getting close to three o'clock in the morning on a Sunday night. What on earth am I doing still doing up? I have done all of my homework for the next week, searched facebook high and low for who knows what, done all of my laundry, and have finished the bowl of grapes I took from the fridge almost an hour ago. This is crazy.

And the funniest part is I have nothing to write about. I am in the mood to write, but I feel like I am having a writers block. How weird is that? Maybe it is because I'm still awake at this crazy hour. Luckily I don't have any classes tomorrow, but still, why am I awake?

Granted I slept for about ten hours last night and haven't really done a whole lot today besides drive home and do laundry. Maybe that is why I am not tired. I guess I should have gone for a long walk sometime today. That usually tires me out.

On days I don't have class, when I sleep a little bit later that I should have, I will go walk around the city for hours, just to tire myself out. Isn't that crazy? I think I need to find something to do with all of my spare time.

Anyways, I probably should go to sleep soon because I have to go to the DMV tomorrow to get my license renewed. That should be a ton of fun. I guess I should bring something to do while I wait in line. Maybe a picture puzzle book or something. I feel like no matter when you go to the DMV there is always a line out the door. I guess the downturn in the economy has not hurt their business.

Time is Flying By

2009-07-21T21:38:00.002-04:00

Where has it all gone? I feel like I just started summer term a week ago and now it is already halfway through week five. I'm excited that school is flying by pretty quickly, but then I realize that that means that summer is flying by too.

I had all these high hopes for things I was going to do this summer, like getting my butt to the beach on the weekends. So far that has not happened once since I've started back at school. Adam and I went to the beach in North Carolina when I was on break, but every weekend since then I've been busy doing I don't know what.

School has been enjoyable this term. Not too much homework, actually not very much at all. All my classes are fun too. Italian, Mediterranean, and Vegetarian are all lots of fun. I get to see a lot of my friends which makes the classes go by super quick. I have also gotten a chance to make a lot of things I have never made before. I got to make gnocchi with a Sicilian pesto sauce the other day in Vegetarian. I also got to make some halvah in Mediterranean too. I love halvah. Most of my other classmates hate it though. I guess it must be an acquired taste.

This past weekend I flew down to North Carolina to spend the weekend with Adam. I landed Friday around five. Adam says I'm not allowed to take that flight ever again, because we sat in traffic for almost an hour on the way home. Sorry babe. Later that night we went bowling with Deb, Bill, Degaulle, and Darrell. It was fun. I still did not score over 100 points, but I was pretty close. I think my highest game was a 97. I'm working on it.

We had planned to go to the beach, just for the day, on Saturday, but after staying out until almost two on Friday, we decided to sleep in. We chilled out the rest of the day and just relaxed.

Sunday we went over to Deb and Bill's for dinner. Deb and I made chicken parmigiana with garlic bread and broccoli for dinner and a berry trifle for dessert. Adam was not to happy about sharing the trifle. Next time I will have to make two, one for him and one for everyone else.

I flew home Monday night and now I'm back to my regular schedule for the week. Class, class, class, class, class. What a fun summer!!!!!

A Day With Celia

2009-06-29T00:21:00.005-04:00

Today was a fun day. I got to spend a few hours with eight month old Celia. She is absolutely adorable and such a sweet baby. My mom and I went over to visit early this afternoon.

And of course we brought some goodies. I made a chocolate wacky cake last night and my mom made her wing-it icing this morning. Wacky cake is one of my favorite things to make. It takes hardly any time to prepare and always comes out wonderful. And the best part is that it is low calorie, until of course my mom makes her wing-it icing, which is yummy too.

I also made some spaghetti sauce with ground beef in it for another one of my mom's friends who just had twins. But I made a double batch so we brought some over for Caroline and Celia.

Anyways, Celia and I sat on the floor with her caterpillar train and piano and played for a bit, while my mom and Caroline were drinking coffee and eating wacky cake. This was of course after she stuck her hand in the cake. Her reaction was really funny. She touched it and then started to cry because she didn't know what it was. She is so adorable.

Then a little later we went for a walk. I got to push her in the stroller. She loves being outside. And after about five minutes she fell asleep. We walked for about a half an hour and the second we got back to Caroline's house she woke up. I guess she knew she was home.

And the Summer Begins

2009-06-25T22:55:00.003-04:00

I finally finished my Spring term about 2 weeks ago. Finals went well and I was very happy with all of my grades. Getting a week off was just what I needed. The ten weeks of Spring term seemed like they lasted forever.

Adam flew up the day after his birthday and we celebrated with Chinese food and a berry trifle that night. I know, an interesting combination, but both are so yummy we just had to have them.

We went to Auxi and CG's wedding the next night and partied until almost two in the morning. It was a fun night.

Then on Sunday we went to the Phillies game with my two dads. We had great seats, three rows behind first base, right behind the Phillies dugout. It was fun, especially the eating cheesesteaks part. Good thing there were a lot of clouds that day, otherwise we all would have been roasting even more than we already were.

Monday afternoon we flew back down south and that night we went to Babineaus for a friends goodbye party. And then the rest of the week, we hung around Raleigh and just relaxed.

Friday morning, we got up really early and drove to the beach. It was beautiful. We spent the next three days walking up and down the beach, playing in the ocean, going on boat rides, and eating some yummy food Adam's mom made.

Sunday night I flew back home and Tuesday I started classes again. I just love taking classes in the summer. Although, I guess if I didn't have any classes I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I guess I always have to be doing something.

A Weekend Without Homework

2009-05-26T22:11:00.006-04:00

Friday at 10:45am marked the end of my week. I jumped on the train to the airport and hopped on a plane to North Carolina. I spent some time writing notes while I was waiting for my flight and for about 20 minutes on the flight. Then I stopped. I put my five-subject, purple binder in my bag and did not touch it all weekend. It felt awesome.

Adam picked me up from the airport, gave me a hug and a kiss, and I instantly felt relaxed. I did not think about going into the freezer and screaming once this weekend. It was nice.

On our way back to his place, we made a quick stop at Neomonde to say hi to Degaulle and pick up some hummus and pita bread. Mmmmmm, yummy. I think I could eat hummus and falafel every day.

After our quick stop, we went back to Adam's place and just relaxed. We watched tv, ate some hummus, and spent some time cuddling together.

Later that night we went over to Babs and saw my sister, brother in-law, and some other friends. We wound up playing cribbage and having a hilarious time until about 2am.

Saturday we slept in and the drove to Adam's family's house, about two hours away. His mom had made some yummy brownies for us. One batch was oatmeal butterscotch and the other was a triple chocolate. Adam claimed the oatmeal ones and I claimed the chocolate ones.

We wound up playing Super Jeopardy with his brother and sister until really late. I don't even remember what time we went to sleep. All I know is that we got all the way up to the final round and then Adam hit a wrong button and we had to start from the beginning again.

Sunday was Kelley and Jason's wedding. We went with Adam's roommate, Beth, and two of his friends from high school, Lauren and Megan. We had a good time. The ceremony was in a cute little chapel and the reception was very pretty. We danced the night away and had a good time.

Monday we slept in and played Dance Dance Revolution for hours. It was beautiful outside, but for some reason we decided to stay in a play video games. Oh well.

Today I flew home and the homework began once again. I don't think it will ever end.

Planting Flowers with Mom!!!

2009-05-17T23:49:00.003-04:00

On Saturday my mom and I bought $88 dollars worth of beautiful flowers and decided to fill the whole front yard with them. As we were leaving the house my dad insisted that we buy marigolds, of course. But we could not just buy marigolds. How boring would that be? So we bought a few marigolds and lots and lots of other flowers. We stuck with red, orange, and yellow flowers and I have no idea what
types of other annuals we bought. We bought whatever looked pretty.

We started digging holes all over the front yard. It looked like deer had trampled on all the dirt. There were tons of worms, at least 3 per hole I dug. Then we discovered some weird looking spiders with white egg thingys coming out of their butts. We weren't sure if we should help them pull the white things off or just leave them alone.

Anyways, we scattered all the flowers throughout the yard, alternating colors as we went. Each individual flower has its own name thanks to my mom. Bartholomew, Henry, and George were some of her favorites. She had a conversation with every plant she put in the ground. I wonder if she is going to go out every day and continue on with her conversations with them.

Then she decided to plant some sunflower seeds on one side of the house. And when I say some, I really mean like 10-12. They are the sunflowers that are supposed to be 12 feet tall too. Should be interesting.

I can't wait to see all of them in a few weeks when they start to grow and fill in. The front yard should look really pretty, especially if my mom keeps talking to all of them!!!

It's Been A While

2009-05-12T13:17:00.002-04:00

I've been so busy with school lately that I haven't had a chance to relax. Most of my days have been spent on the 6th floor of the Academic Building. Last week I spent a lot of time in the walk-in freezer searching for food that I could create a lunch from.

My Thursday class, A La Carte, requires that we create a lunch for 40+ people with only food that we have in house. The challenge is that we are not allowed to order anything. Hence my spending lots of time in the walk-in freezer.

The theme was Mother's Day. Originally we had wanted to go with a flower theme, having edible flowers in every dish. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Edible flowers were not in season yet so we had to totally revamp the menu. I think it still turned out pretty well. All of our guests seemed to enjoy our food, especially my carrot cake, which had little carrots piped on top. Which of course was just another excuse to make orange and green icing.

Happy Birthday Hershey!!!!

2009-04-24T15:46:00.003-04:00

Today is the 102nd birthday of Hershey Park. And for this special day, my friend Devon created this amazing three course lunch which chocolate in every course. Everything was delicious. One of the best lunches I've had at the Academic Bistro.

The first course was a chocolate chicken satay. A rectangular plate was brought out with two skewers of grilled chicken that had been dusted with cocoa and other spices, and was served with a Reese's peanut dipping sauce. Yummy! The chicken was cooked perfectly. It just fell of the skewer when you put your fork in it. And the sauce complemented it wonderfully.

The second course was a zesty flank steak salad. I thought it was a wise choice for a lunch and was refreshing, since it was warm outside. The flank steak was dusted with cocoa powder before cooked and the flavors were great. The salad of mixed greens and corn had a delicious tomato chocolate basil vinaigrette which I thought made the dish even yummier.

And for dessert, a Heath bar chocolate caramel tart. How yummy does that sound? I was helping her make them the other day and I couldn't stop eating all the scraps. She made a chocolate tart and then topped it with caramel, chocolate ganache, and crushed Heath bars. It was a great ending to a great meal. Milk was also served in cute little glasses that had been rimmed with cocoa powder. So cute :)

Good job Devon!!!!