a rant

Ever wonder what those silly culinary students had to do for finals? Seriously I don't know how many times since I've made the switch over to culinary school have I heard that my classes,exams, and finals would be so easy because you're just cooking or baking and you enjoy it so it's easy get over it. Well it's not. I think last spring when I started telling people from my hometown/high school I'd be leaving Rutgers to attend culinary school I got laughed at a total of 25 times. Like it was a joke what I was doing, what I was going to learning would be so simple, stress-free blah blah blah.

For my foundations of baking final tomorrow I have to prepare a fresh fruit tart. think something like this:


And while yes it is pretty easy, just pastry cream which at this point I could make in my sleep and a shortbread tart shell, it is pretty hard. For the final we had a shortage of KitchenAid mixers and someone "borrowed" my bowl and didnt return it to me clean. (keep in mind this is a timed final) So I had to clean a bowl and waste unnecesary time. Also during then midterm my chef didn't eat any of our finished products so basically it didn't matter how it tasted as long as it looked like what it was supposed to and we did the method correctly we would get a good grade.

For my intro to culinary arts final, we have to produce a salad with 3 garnishes and a vinaigrette dressing, a bread of our choice and a full entree complete with protein, starch and vegetable. All of this has to be completed within a 2 1/2 hour time period. A few months ago when we took the midterm, I had a serious panic attack, complete with my recipe notes falling into my soup pot (I kid you not). The guy who was sharing the work bench with had to continually tell me to relax and breathe and gave me pep talks through out the exam.

As much as I plan I know things could wrong and it really really annoys me when people think I can just wing it and I don't have it that bad. Now I know others have much worse things to complete for finals, like 20 page papers and open ended finals but that doesn't mean "I have it so much easier then people who go to real colleges" like for real thats a direct quote.

Lets all take a collective deep breath before our finals, say a little prayer, cross our fingers and think of others. We can all do this, we are capable of kicking our finals butts and kicking a** and taking names this semester. Good luck to everyone this lovely finals season and just remember in a little bit we can all fully focus and appreciate the holiday season.



** sorry for the rant/vent session I needed to get it off my chest

Holiday Baking

Lets talk cookies for a second, tonight I'm hosting a cookie exchange with some of my aunts. Currently I'm wondering why I planned it for the monday of finals week while I have a wicked cold but whatever. I wish I could have invited all of my lovely blog friends but instead I'd like to share some of my favorite holiday recipes/recipes I'd like to try and in return I'd like to hear about your favorite holiday cookie/treat. Deal? Okay

these are what I'm making tonight for the party, I'm currently obsessed with all things mint chocolately

homemade peppermint oreos dipped in chocolate? yes please

buckeyes, warning these are super addicting! my grandmother will be getting a bunch of these

my dad and I are big gingersnap fans, so I want to try and make them

peppermint bark shaped like snowflakes

these just sound yummy

I love the idea of just decorating heads instead of the whole gingerbread man

lastly but certainly not least, peppermint roll

So what is everyone else making this holiday season? I'd love to hear all about it!

quote of the week

Hey it's okay

Once again I am participating in Neely's thursday link up. As finals approach I apologize for the somewhat lacking posts.

Hey it's okay

To wear the same shirt multiple times during the week because its your favorite, its soft and you think v-necks are appealing

To put your hair up in a ponytail and pin your bangs back because brushing and actually doing something with that mop on your head is too much work

To listen to the same 5 songs on the Michael Buble Christmas cd over and over again, in your car, on your ipod and on your laptop

To believe hotty toddys are the only real medicine

To buy jingle bell bracelets and ornament earrings for your cookie swap party

To be anticipating a cookie swap with your mother, grandmother and aunts more then I would anticipate a college party

To block off an hour and a half of your night to watch 30 rock and the big bang theory every night

To have a list 10 lines long of cookies you want to bake for Christmas

Whats okay with you this week?

my limitless christmas wish list

If there were no limit to what I wanted for christmas I'd ask for these things. In fact the kate spade bangle was on my real list but it won't be awaiting me underneath my tree christmas eve.

kate spade earrings

kate spade weekender bag

kate spade flats

bernese mountain dog, I blame Ashley! She has the cutest dogs.

michael kors bag

kate spade hand in hand bangle

k slade clutches. I'll take one of each!

a cute little piglet, to befriend my dog

lastly, neiman marcus leopard print toms

What is one thing you would ask for if there were no limit on your christmas list?

Things I'm loving (crafty edition)

It's been way to long since I've blogged and since I've done one of these posts so I thought I'd share some of my favorite things currently. And since it's the holiday season I thought I'd share some cute crafts I've been wanting to make for awhile that would make cute gifts.

for the organized gal, customized decorated clipboards

how to make pom poms to decorate your packages

a cute snowman garland, my mom would love this as she collects all things snowmen

cute little bow bookmarks for marking your place in cookbooks

for your friend that loves to bake, cupcake oven mitts

and lastly the friend who loves everything that sparkles, gold polka dot ornament

quote of the week

My lovely laptop has been returned to me all fixed up and I couldnt be happier. Now I can get back to my regular posting and I have a few new things up my sleeve, stay tuned!