Time

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

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

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

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

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

Ugh...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Term, New Schedule

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

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

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

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

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

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

So... TTFN

Germany

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

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

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

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

TTFN


BTW,Here's their website:

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

Restaurant Review: Viet Thai Noodle House

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

In response to my last few posts

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

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

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

Politics

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

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

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

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


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

"Obama is a Muslim."



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

Bullshit like that.

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

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

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

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

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


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

Thank you

Let's give this a shot

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

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


Little Village Grill

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

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

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

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

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

Now on to the food:

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

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

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

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

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

Slight change in blog name

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

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

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

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

More readers = a greater quantity of quality posts.

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

Sunday

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

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

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

A video, and my response

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

  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

------------------------------------

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

Halloween

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

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


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


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

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

Annoyance

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

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

Rant and a sauce recipe

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

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

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


Charred Tomato Sauce

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

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

2.) Deglaze with wine and add herbs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6.) Add tomatoes to pot.
------------------

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

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

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

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


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

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

Delicious Recipe

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


Salmon en papillote (Salmon in paper) with Basil Butter


Basil Butter:

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

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

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

Salmon:

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

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

2.) Season salmon with salt an pepper

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

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

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

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

7.) Repeat with three remaining filets

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

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

Some Notes:

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Epic weekend

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

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

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

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

My life is tragically dull, I know

Quick blurb about the new layout

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

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

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

Is it the weekend yet?

So this weekend is going to be loads of fun. I'm headed up to Hickory after work tonight to get Anna, who's going to be staying with me until Tuesday, and tomorrow after work, I'm picking up my good friend Beckie at the train station, who will also be staying until Tuesday... The reason? Because Lenoir Rhyne kicks out the students for Fall Break and Anna would rather come see me than stay with her uncle Andy or go home for the five days that she's going to have off. As for Beckie, she just wanted to come visit.

I'm expecting the weekend to be a lot of fun, so of course this week is dragging... I'm just hoping I get out of work as early as I did last night... That way I'll be getting home with Anna before midnight. On a similar note to that, I hope I get off early-ish tomorrow night, too, so Beckie doesn't have to sit in the train station for more than 10-20 minutes.


By the way, last night was another example of why I'm not a huge fan of working in a private club... We had a total of 6 people on the books, and not one of them ordered something from my station... Yes, I had to put together the Amuse Bouche to order, but that encompassed a grand total of 5 minutes... I spent the rest of the time cleaning and helping prep for a banquet... I can't really complain about helping with the banquet prep though, because I enjoy doing that. Hell, if I could, I'd work the banquet side of the City Club kitchen. Unfortunately, there isn't a spot open... Another problem with that would be the pay. They get paid conditional salary, which basically means that they have to work a certain number of hours or else their pay gets cut for that week, but if they work a lot more than what's required, they only get a very slight increase in pay for that week... It's pretty ridiculous.

Anyway... I got tutoring today, so this was basically a way for me to kill half an hour. I might post a recipe sometime this weekend, but don't get your hopes up.

TTFN!

Just a little blurb

So today was the beginning of the next round of culinary math workshops. The one I was able to sit in on went well. They're supposed to be learning about Conversion Rate Factors, which is basically learning how to convert recipes to larger or smaller portions. They seemed to understand it fairly well, though I'm taking my typical, cynical outlook on the whole thing and assuming that at least a few of them were only acting like they understood the information.

Today is also one of the three days I'm going to be using to visit the Nutrition classes to let the students know that I'm a Nutrition tutor... It's been... what? Five, six weeks since the term started, and we haven't even had one person come in for Nutrition tutoring.... Now that midterms are over and the students can see that they aren't as smart as they thought, I'm sure they're going to be worried about passing, which is why I'm going to visit the classes. If I strike while the iron is hot, so to speak, they'll realize that I'm here to help... And that means I'll get more tutoring hours.

On a non-school related note, I actually started getting back into writing and got past the block that I was having with one of my novels... It's completely unrelated to food stuff, so I don't recommend it to those of you that follow this blog simply for a chance to get recipes or humorous anecdotes about working in a kitchen.... That book will probably be started once I spend more than 3 months in one kitchen.

Here's the link to anybody interested in a romantic horror story: http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2880893/1/Eternal-Darkness (NOTE: There are scenes of a sexual nature, so if you don't care for that kind of thing, then avoid the end of chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4)

Work Rant

Normally, I try to limit what I say about my job when I'm posting anything to the internet, but today I saw something that simply can't be ignored. The picture below are of Honeydew melons that were in the walk-in at the City Club.

If this picture does not disgust you, let me explain something real quick... Honeydew melons are supposed to have a light green skin. The skin on these is splotchy brown. Those black spots, parts of the flesh that are so rotten that the flesh gives way with only a slight amount of pressure.

I know what you're thinking... "Why didn't you just throw them away?"

The answer is simple, they've been in there for the past few days, in plain sight. If they were supposed to be thrown away, they would have been by now. I don't know why the club is saving them, and I don't know what they plan to do with them. If they were accepted in this condition, then that tells me we need new people checking in the orders. If it was any of the chefs that checked in the order, then we need new chefs. I know for a fact that they aren't melons that simply sat in the walk-in too long because we go through melons very quickly, and only a gigantic mistake on everybody's part would allow for melons to go this bad. Therefore, I believe that these melons were accepted in this absolutely atrocious state, which is completely unacceptable.

I have nothing more to say on the matter.

Tutoring Rant

I realize that last week I was talking about how awesome it was to be running the math workshops and how great it felt to be a tutor, but I've recently come to the conclusion that I simply don't know how I feel about it... Sure, I love the aspect of being a tutor and helping people, but the subjects I cover are subjects that people tend to avoid getting tutoring for.

Culinary Students tend not to seek out help for their labs. They have very little reason to. Not only are the classes mostly skill-based, but they only last 9 class days. Even if they're having trouble in the class, they don't exactly have a lot of time to come in to Academic Support to get help with the information. Not only that, but Culinary Students are arrogant assholes. Most of them tend to believe that they can figure it out on their own, and many more of them are perfectly content to pass with a D. I'll be the first to admit that I'm an asshole, too, but at least I'm willing to admit when I need help. I was lucky when it came to labs because my experiences at LCCTC basically taught me everything I needed to know in the labs, and the majority of them were simply review. That being said, the ones that actually taught me new things were easier for me because I understood the basic concepts, and that's something many Sophomores at JWU can't seem to understand.

As for the Nutrition tutoring, we haven't even had one person come into Academic Support to ask about possible tutoring. Granted, this is partly my fault for not going into the classes and letting the students know that I'm here (Something I intend to remedy in the coming week), but Nutrition is a class that causes a lot of people trouble in this school, and for good reason, too. It's a challenging and confusing class. Again, I got lucky when it came to Nutrition because I've been exposed to the information that was covered almost more times than I can count... Biology in high-school, Health in high-school, Nutrition unit at LCCTC, Nutrition unit in one of the basic cooking classes I took in high-school, the Nutrition Lab here at JWU, and the Nutrition Class at JWU, not to mention the diabetes training I received when I was diagnosed. I highly doubt that there are many students here who have had as much exposure to Nutrition as I have, and, naturally, I worry a little that nobody has even started asking about getting help; especially since midterm was this past week.

There's probably more that I can talk about, but I'm feeling lazy right now, so I'm just gonna stop for the day... If something interesting or infuriating happens at work, I'll post when I get off, but other than that, don't expect anything else from me today.

TTFN!

Columbus Day rant with a recipe

So since today was Columbus Day, Johnson & Wales was closed to honor the holiday... Personally, I don't see why Columbus Day should be considered a holiday... I mean, do you really think it's appropriate to celebrate a man crossing the ocean, finding a land already filled with people and claiming that he discovered said land? Granted, if it weren't for Columbus, the Americas would be completely different than what they are today, and I guess we should be grateful for that, but it shouldn't be a national holiday in the US... Especially considering that Columbus didn't even "discover" the the land that would become the US.

Anyway, my way of celebrating this joke of a holiday is sitting around, watching Hannibal and attempting to write a 2-4 page paper on how historically accurate Saving Private Ryan is... The sitting around and the movie watching are going well, and I at least rewatched the movie and opened up some websites to find out where the movie strayed from history... I've also opened up the document telling me what I need to do.. Other than that... I haven't done a damn thing. haha

Now, I'm gonna give you a long, drawn-out, annoying as hell recipe that produces a very tasty chocolate cake...

Flour-less Chocolate Cake:

Cake:
1 1/2 c. sugar
24 eggs (separated)
16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (Melted)
3 tsp cream of tartar
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

MOP:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C)

2.) Line 1-3 pans with parchment paper and grease

3.) Bring yolks to room temperature and mix with 1 cup of the sugar. Add vanilla and incorporate melted chocolate

4.) Whip whites to soft peak. Add cream of tartar and remaining sugar gradually. Whip to stiff peaks.

5.) Gradually fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites

6.) Pour mix into pans and bake approximately 20 minutes.

7.) Allow to cool completely.

Chocolate Whipped Cream:

4 c. Heavy Cream
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 c. Cocoa Powder

MOP:
1.) Whip cream until it is moderately stiff.

2.) Mix in powdered sugar and cocoa.

3.) Whip until stiff

4.) Divide evenly between layers of cake

Chocolate Ganache:

1 1/2 c. Heavy Cream
2 c. Dark Chocolate
1 1/2 Tbsp Butter

MOP:
1.) Melt chocolate with other ingredients in double boiler.

2.) Cool to room temperature and use to cover cake


On a personal note, this cake is absolutely delicious, but it is a huge pain in the ass to make. There are a lot of things that could go wrong, but if everything goes right, then you will love it.

iPhone

So I finally got my iPhone on Friday. I must say, it's pretty friggin awesome. I haven't been able to stop playing with it. Siri doesn't seem to be as intelligent as I've heard though... Oh well...

I got the 4s because I didn't feel like having to buy a shitton of adapters just so I would be able to use the stuff I already bought for my iPod. That, and I don't need to have a longer screen or a super fast processor. I just wanted a phone that can make calls, text, get online and play games. That's what I got, and I'm happy with it.

I don't have anything to rant about at the moment, so I'm just gonna leave it at that. Ttfn

Fed ex

So I've been expecting to get my new iPhone 4S from fed ex since Tuesday, and they seem to be having trouble figuring out how to get it to me. I've given them my address three times and each time, they can't seem to find my house. I told them this morning that if they can't get me personally, they can drop it off at the leasing office and they'll make sure that I get it. Lo and behold, when I get out of my first class this morning, I have a voicemail from them saying that the courier is saying I gave them the wrong building number and that I need to call, again, to give them the right one... I decided to ignore the message because I told them this morning that I'd prefer them to drop it off tomorrow morning...

That's all I really have to share at the moment. I'm sitting outside my history class typing this on my iPod, and waiting until it gets closer to the start time for the class... Needless to say, I'm a bit bored.

Teaching

Today I actually had an opportunity to see what it's like to be a teacher. I was doing the make-up for the math workshops, and was all by myself going over the concepts... I gotta say, I loved it. I taught them the way I wanted to, not the way that the power points did. Wanna know the greatest part? They seemed to understand it better when I was teaching... I think today's experience shows me that teaching will most likely be in my future... Won't be for a very long time though (Once I'm ready to get out of the restaurant business).

Anyway, there really isn't much else to talk about... During my accounting class today the professor told us that we're probably one of the fastest classes he's ever taught and that we're ahead of the game. The guy I sit next to was shocked by that revelation because he hasn't been paying attention at all and can't understand why he doesn't understand the concepts that the professor goes over almost every day... All I do is roll my eyes and do my best to ignore him so I can listen to the professor talk.

Like I said... I don't have much to talk about today... I work tonight, and I'm not really looking forward to it... Not because I dislike my job, but because I dislike how little business we get... I guess that's one of the downsides to working the cold line at a private club, but I'm used to getting close to 10 times the covers that we see at the City Club... Needless to say, it gets very dull very fast, and I can only clean so much without having to take things apart.

Math Workshops and a recipe

So right now I'm sitting in the computer lab where we're going to be doing the post-test for the math workshops that the Center for Academic Support requires certain students to take. We're scheduled to start at noon, and there are a bunch of students in here that are using the lab to do homework, complete online tests and goof off on facebook. Personally, I think it's fairly humorous that they're going to be kicked out of here shortly... I'm a prick, I know.


Anyway, I don't really have anything to bitch about right now. This is more of a "posting out of boredom" thing, so I'm thinking I'm gonna share a quick recipe.


Bechamel Sauce:

Yeild: about 2 cups

Ingredients:

2 c. Milk
1 ea. Small sized onion, whole, peeled.
1 ea. Bay leaf
2 ea. whole cloves
1 oz flour                         (weight)
1 oz clarified butter          (weight)
1/8 tsp. Nutmeg
Salt and White Pepper to taste

MOP:
1.) Pin the bay leaf onto the onion using the cloves and place in sauce pot with the milk on low heat.
2.) In separate pan, heat butter and mix with flour. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Keep warm.
3.) Once milk reaches approximately 180F (82C), remove the onion and turn heat up to medium.
4.) Mix roux (Butter/Flour mix) into milk in small increments
5.) Heat to boiling, stirring almost constantly to avoid scorching, reduce to simmer.
6.) Cook 2-3 minutes, or until milk looses the starchy flavor from the roux.
7.) Remove from heat and season. The Bechamel should not taste like nutmeg.
8.) Strain through a fine mesh strainer
9.) Serve warm or cool and store in the refrigerator.



Bechamel is considered one of the five "Mother Sauces," meaning that it is the base for a large variety of sauces. My personal favorite use for it is a Mornay Sauce, which is a cheese sauce that uses Parmesean, Swiss and Gruyere, and is absolutely fantastic for macaroni and cheese. That being said, you can also substitute any cheese, so long as you're sure that the cheese melts completely into the bechamel.

There are other sauces that can be made with Bechamel, so I highly encourage you to look up some recipes.

A word to the wise: Most recipes online will give you a different version of a bechamel recipe. I recommend following each recipe and choosing the one that you prefer. Keep in mind though, if your bechamel isn't good, the sauce your turning it into won't taste much better.

Page Views

So, I got bored and decided to look at the number of hits this blog has been getting, and I'm starting to get excited because I've been getting between 2 and 7 hits a day, AND my follower count has gone from 8 to 10! WOO! I'm starting to think more than two people actually read this blog now, and that makes me happy because it means I'm not as dull and boring as I thought I was.


That being said, I'm not sure if the slight increase in traffic is due to my increase in activity or if it's due to the fact that I've been shamelessly advertising this thing on Twitter and Facebook... It might be a combination of everything too, but oh well. The increase in traffic will increase my interest in keeping this blog active, which means more semi-entertaining posts for everybody! :D


Now, I'm gonna rant a little bit again! YAY!



So, as I'm sure you remember, I was scheduled to help with culinary math workshops today. I talked to the person in charge of creating the lessons for the workshop about the discrepancy I found, and she said she understood where I was coming from and that she'd consider changing it, but that it wasn't a huge issue considering that my point was a little more advanced than what they were teaching. I understand where she was coming from, but I stand by my original point.

Anyway, that's not what this rant is about... This rant is about the arrogant freshmen I had to deal with.

So, there were two rounds of students that came in. The first was the students that had PM labs. They were alright, but two showed up late... one was 10 minutes late, the other was 30 minutes late... Their excuse: Ulearn (the website that JWU uses for class stuff) gave them the wrong room number. The funny part: They were sent an email with the correct room number and the other 12 people in the class managed to read their emails and find the correct room... BTW, the AM class only had two people that went to the wrong room. I know this because I was waiting outside of the other room, telling them which room they actually needed to go to.

That's not my only complaint though. There was a disturbing amount of students who didn't realize why they needed to learn the math, and a surprising amount still didn't understand even when they were told why they needed it... There was one student in particular who really got on my nerves. He was having a hard time understanding the information, which is fine, and I'm more than willing to work with him, but when I told him that the best way for him to learn the information was to practice every day, he told me that he didn't have time to do it... Now, I was good about it and just said, "I understand exactly where you're coming from." but in my mind I was saying, "You ignorant little fuck. You have no idea what busy is."

The only reason I was thinking that was the way he said that he didn't have time. The workshop leader and myself were talking to him about how important it was that he got the information and he said something along the lines of, "Well I have a project I need to do for my lab, and I don't have time to be doing the math stuff."   Hence my internal reaction, because I have three classes, each with a decent sized work load, a job, and my peer tutor position. Granted, I do have a decent amount of free time, but for the most part, my days are swamped.

So needless to say, I've been wanting to get that off my chest most of the day... I shared it with my roommates and they were equally disgusted, but it's still nice to write everything out.

Don't get me wrong now, I think JWU is an awesome school, but they have almost no standards when it comes to academics... It's disturbing and frustrating, but the fact that the professors are so awesome makes up for the poor standards and incompetency of some of the administration.

That's it for now. I'm debating about posting a how-to about something, but I'm unsure of what to do... I'm thinking about something with chicken... Hmm... Oh well... I figure it out. haha

Wasting time

So today was my Monday accounting class, which might as well just be an excuse for me to come into the city, learn some basic accounting concepts, go to Little Village Grill (Absolutely amazing hole-in-the-wall quick-service Greek food) for lunch, then go home and relax for the rest of the day since I don't work Mondays. Today, however, I'm scheduled to help with the culinary math workshops that JWU offers for students who are having trouble with measurements and conversions... I'm gonna rant about that for a bit, actually...

I was flipping through printouts of the slides all freshman students are required to look at, just so I'd know exactly what and how they were being taught, when this little snippet caught my attention:

Braised Pork Loin with Prunes
Yield 10 Servings
Ingredients:
2 oz Olive Oil                                          (Volume, also 1/4 c.)
1 lb Onion, Julienne                                 (Weight)
4 ea Garlic Cloves                                   (count)
1/3 tsp Salt                                             (Volume)
Black Pepper TT                                     (Volume)
7 oz Pitted Prunes                                   (Weight)
4 oz Cognac                                            (Volume, also 1/2 c.)
3 lb Boneless Center cut pork roast         (Weight)

"Here's another example - What if you wanted to increase this recipe to serve 100 people. You'd need to multiply the cognac 4 oz x 10. Do you need 40 fl. oz. (1 qt.1 c.)? or 40 oz. (2 1/2 lb)? Hopefully, you chose volume for this one..."

What kind of bullshit is that!? Cognac is the same weight as water, therefore, 1 fluid ounce = 1 ounce by weight. 1 Qt. 1 C. is exactly the same as 2 1/2 pounds. The only difference is the way that it's measured. Yes, using a liquid measure would be much more effective than using a scale when it comes to measuring out liquid, but telling these freshman that 40 fluid ounces is different than 40 ounces by weight is like telling them that Bacon and Pork Belly come from different parts of the pig! (For those of you who don't know, bacon is pork belly that is cured, sometimes smoked, and sliced thin)

If they really wanted to show that knowing the difference between weight and volume is important, then they should have used a recipe that calls for a certain volume of honey. Here's why: 1 cup of honey is a lot more than 8 ounces of honey.

(Note to the uneducated: when talking about water, and liquids with a nearly identical viscosity, or thickness, 1 cup is equal to 8 ounces)

Now that that's out of my system, I'm going to give you guys the MOP (Method of Production) on that recipe that pissed me off this morning... I'm not gonna retype the ingredients, so don't even think about asking.


ADDED INGREDIENT:

Chicken stock as needed (1-2 cups should be enough)


MOP:
1.) Preheat oven to 250 Fahrenheit (121 Celsius)

2.) Cut off top and root of onion(s). Slice onion(s) in half, vertically, and peel. (NOTE: Slicing onions before peeling them makes them significantly easier to peel)

3.) Cut onions into julienne (1/8 inch thick strips). I prefer radial julienne, but do it however you're comfortable.

4.) Crush and (if needed) peel  the garlic cloves and mince.

5.) Rough chop the prunes

6.) Butterfly the pork loin. (NOTE: Butterfly = cut nearly in half and open. You don't want to cut it completely in half or you'll lose the effect of what I'm trying to teach you.)

7.) Cover your work area with plastic wrap and place the pork loin in the middle of the plastic. Fold the plastic wrap over the pork loin, but not tightly.

8.) Using a mallet or heavy skillet, pound the pork loin until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Unfold plastic wrap, but do not remove from under pork.

9.) Spread the prunes evenly over the pork, leaving about an inch uncovered on the edges.

10.) Using the plastic wrap, roll the pork tightly so the prunes are inside. (Here's a how-to that I found. It's talking about sushi, but it's the same method: http://tinyurl.com/32nccb7 )

11.) Truss the pork loin. (How to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqZm9Q2G_R8 )

12.) Heat your pan and add oil. It is preferred that you use the same pan that you're planning on putting in the oven. If that's not possible, don't worry, it just means you'll have more that you need to clean up.

13.) Sear pork loin. Make sure that you get a nice golden color on the outside of the loin. This helps the pork to retain moisture, and it helps add an amazing flavor.

 14.) Remove pork loin from pan, set aside.

15.) Saute garlic until fragrant. Be careful not to burn it.

16.) Saute onions until translucent (mostly clear)

17.) Remove pan from heat and deglaze with cognac. (To deglaze: pour the cognac into the pan and use a spoon or rubber spatula to scrape the pan. This picks up the bits that were left behind from searing the pork, known as the Fond, or Base, which adds even more flavor to the sauce you're trying to build.)

18.) Return the pork to the pan.

19.) Add chicken stock until the pork is covered 3/4 of the way.

20.) Cover pan with foil and lid (If you have one), and place in oven.

21.) Cook until fork tender. This means that when you stick a fork in the meat and try to pull it out, the fork comes away with no trouble. If the pork tries to come with the fork, it's not done.

22.) Remove the pork from the pan and set aside.

23.) Strain the sauce through a fine strainer into a fresh pan and discard the onions. (Note: If you wish, you can save the onions, but they'll be extremely mushy and have little to no flavor.)

24.) Place sauce on stove and either reduce until thick or thicken using your preferred thickening agent (I prefer a cornstarch slurry, but a flour slurry, arrowroot slurry, or roux work just as well). Make sure you use the salt and pepper to season the sauce.

25.) Slice pork however thick you want, serve with veggies and starch of your choice (Personally, I feel Brussels Sprouts and mashed potatoes work best). Make sure to put the sauce on the pork.

26.) Sit back and enjoy the compliments.


There you have it! I finally shared a recipe with you guys. If you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section. Before you ask, yes, you can substitute any dried fruit for the prunes. Personally, I recommend dried cherries, but raisins work nicely too.

Also, if you're looking for a good wine to go with this dish, I recommend a good Chardonnay, though a Pinot Noir might go well also. I'm not a sommlier, so don't hold me to that... I would probably have some of the cognac that was used in the cooking process, though... But like I said, I'm not an expert when it comes to these kind of things...

Sunday = Freeday

So Sunday is the one day a week when I have absolutely nothing to do. I have classes and tutoring from Monday-Thursday and I work Wednesday-Saturday. Needless to say, this leaves Sunday as my running around day... Today I ran to Walmart to get some stuff I've been missing (extra bath towels, stuff to wash my car, a bowl to hold fruit, and food). Then I washed my car and watched a bit of the South Park marathon that Comedy Central had going on. Now I'm sitting in my room blogging... Ok, so maybe my day wasn't as eventful as I thought it was...

I don't have too much to talk about... I might decide to post a recipe tonight, but don't hold your breath. I'm not in much of a typing mood today. haha

Jumping on the band wagon

So I went on Verizon's website to see if I could somehow end my plan now that my 2 year contract with them is up, but like an idiot I clicked on the upgrade my device, just for shits and giggles. I saw that I could get a 16GB iPhone 4s for a lot less than it would have been a week ago. I could have gotten an 8GB iPhone 4 for free, but I figured, what the hell? Let's go with 4s... So now I'm thinking about selling my iPod touch. After all, if I'm gonna have an iPhone, what's the point in having the iPod touch? They're basically the same thing, the iPhone just has more capability.

Anyway... I'm excited about the upgrade, but at the same time I'm regretting it... Mainly because instead of $60/month to Verizon, I now have to pay $90/month... I guess the bright side is that I have a pretty decent job and get regular hours. Now that I think about it though, this is actually gonna save me $15 a month, cause once my iPhone gets here, I can cancel my Straighttalk service, which costs $45/month... Yay! I did something good! haha

So! Off on a rant!

Last night was a huge pain in my ass. We were doing a prime rib dinner, so the menu was limited to most of the guests. The guests in the a la carte dining room were all given the prime rib menu, which only had two, very easy to make salads to choose from. The people in the casual dining room were given regular menus (no big deal). Anyway, the night went smoothly and, as per usual, I started getting ready to clean up around 8-8:30 because our last table was just served. Lo and behold, a 5-top AND an 8-top both come in at 8:45 when we close at 9, so now we're stuck waiting for them. The 5-top rung in around 8:55, but the 8-top didn't ring in until 9:15, with the fire entree ticket not coming in until 9:25... Due to clean-up, we didn't get out of there until an hour later than we were supposed to... Normally, I wouldn't mind that one bit, but I had a paper due last night at midnight, and I didn't get home until 11. Needless to say, I didn't get the paper finished in time. I submitted it half complete because I forgot what the professor said his policy on late work was and figured better to submit incomplete than late. If he tells me I can turn it in late for only a few points off, then I'm gonna redo it and resubmit it.

Needless to say, I hate people who come 15 minutes before a restaurant closes. It's just plain rude. How would you feel if you were in the middle of wrapping up at your job, and then all of a sudden your boss comes over and says "Here, do this. Don't leave until it's finished." and drops an hour's worth of work on your lap. I think it's safe to assume that you would be upset.

People suck... Except you guys. You guys don't suck as much

Advertisements

So it's very possible that advertisements will start showing up on this blog. I realize that since almost nobody follows me, it won't really matter, but I figured I'd give a heads-up to the people that actually do. You aren't obliged to click on the ads, but the Google claims that the ads will be relevant to my blog... Hopefully that means it'll be advertisements that relate to chefs and foodies, so if you follow me for those reasons, then you might just take advantage of the ads.

I just want to be clear, the main reason I signed up to have advertisements is so I can get some extra cash without having to devote precious time to a third job... And before you say anything, yes, even though I get less than 10 hours a week, I consider the peer tutoring a job. They are paying me after all.

I can promise this: if anything, having ads on here will just motivate me to make posts much more often. After all, the only way to draw in more followers is to become more regular with posts.


That being said, I'm most likely gonna start sharing recipes and doing educational posts and shit like that. That way I can try to draw in some of my followers on Twitter (follow me @ben_christman if you want), and possibly get some sort of recognition as a foodie if not a chef.


Now that I'm thinking about that though, I still don't know if I want to be calling myself a chef yet... I mean, yeah, I've gotten my Associate's Degree in Culinary Arts, I have my CC from the ACF, and my job title is Pantry Chef de Partie, but I still don't feel like I can consider myself a chef... I guess that's the mindset I'll have for a while. After all, those things all came to me within the past 6 months...

As you've probably noticed, I changed the bio I have at the top of this blog. I think it more accurately reflects who I am.


Well, enough about that... Does anybody have any way to deal with procrastination? I really need solutions that work better than a self-reward system.

This is a witty title

Things have been going fairly decently the past... wait... 8 days? Really? Huh... could've sworn it was longer... Oh well... That's what happens when your days begin to blend together.

That's a fascinating phenomenon I've discovered since I started working.. Whenever you have a job (A real job, not like babysitting or having a paper route), then your days start to blend together and you have a hard time remembering what happened on what day... That's how it is for me anyway. I can remember almost everything that's happened in the past month, but I can't tell you when in the month it happened, and there's a distinct possibility that I'd get everything out of chronological order.

I've also realized that I'm having a slightly harder time remembering when certain assignments are due for school, which is not good when paired with the fact that I almost always procrastinate. For example, I had a paper due for history last night at 11:59 (submitted online), and I had completely forgotten about it until class that day. Then, of course, I have to procrastinate at least a little, so I spent from 4-7 playing Fallout: New Vegas. Then I got dinner, made myself a martini with the shaker that Alex, my roommate, had purchased that day (He made himself one, too, cause we both wanted to break it in), got out my accounting homework, and put Wilfred (Awesome show, BTW) on Netflix for background noise. I didn't finish my accounting homework until 11:55, and completely BSed my 2 page history essay just in time to submit it 40 minutes late.

Needless to say, that experience has taught me a valuable lesson... Don't try to do accounting homework while watching Wilfred, cause it'll take twice as long as you want it to.


Seriously though, I'm gonna try harder not to procrastinate. It's a challenge for me, especially when all I wanna do on my days off work is relax and play some video games or watch stuff on Netflix, but I need to go back to the whole reward system thing that I did Freshman year.... I should also start forcing myself to do Rosetta Stone instead of playing Fallout... But damn it, it's just such an addicting game!

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After re-reading that entire post, I've come to the conclusion that there's too much that I want to be doing right now... I want to be doing Rosetta Stone so I can learn to speak German, keep up with homework, have a steady job, be a peer tutor, and work on the novels I've been trying to write for the past four years...

I should probably start another blog just to keep the 8 of you who follow me (And probably 3 that actually read this thing) up to date on those novels.

For those of you who are aware of, and care about, my novels: Bleeding Hearts has been completely scrapped and Eternal Darkness is most likely going to be restarted again, this time as a possible series. In addition, I've also gotten started on a Sci-Fi novel that's yet to be named and I'm considering doing some sort of Culinary related novel, though I haven't gotten any ideas for a plot yet... Just a basic concept of the characters that would be involved (Taken from people I know and stories I've heard).



That's about all I can think to write right now. I just needed to get that stuff out in the open somewhere, and that's why I kept this blog for so long. (Also a reason why it's called "Rantings of a chef-in-training")

Books and Random stuff

So I finally got my two paychecks deposited into my bank account... Only took three days longer than I hoped and a week after I needed it. What make it worse: Price of books before I got my money: $190 Price of books after I got my money: $270 And to top that off, the two books I needed the most (My Intro to Hospitality book and my workbook for accounting) are on order, so I need to wait until they get to the bookstore before I can get them. On a slightly different note... I have my first session as a tutor tomorrow. I went into the office today to type up some of the notes I had for the subject I'm tutoring (Product Purchasing and Identification, one of my strongest subjects, grade-wise). What made me chuckle though was the fact that I put more effort into that than I ever put into my homework... I'm not sure if it's because I pay to do homework and get paid to type up notes, or if I just care more about helping people than getting a grade... Either way, I put more effort into the tutoring stuff than I've put into homework. More good news: I finally got everything I needed for my desktop computer to be fully operational. That include, keyboard, wifi adapter, speakers and a webcam. The webcam was the only thing I didn't buy, and it's the one thing I didn't really need, which makes it all the more awesome that I got it as a gift from my roommate, Sean, for being his ride into Charlotte when he has class on Tuesdays and Thursdays or work on Fridays. Haven't tested it out on a video-call yet, but it seemed to work fine when I installed it along with Skype. Well, that's about all I've got for now... TTFN!