Following a Muffin

New Blog

2010-01-21T11:25:00.000-08:00

I will now be ranting on about my life/job search @ conventionalwoman.blogspot.com

The End.

2009-12-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well cookies, I'm proud to say it's all over.

..Culinary school, that is. :)

I started this blog way back at the beginning, and it's hard to believe that it was two years ago now. I know that compared to most, a measly two years of school doesn't seem like a big deal, and I know most of my sibling are at least four years +, but I'm proud to have been focused on what I wanted, and gotten it done in the shortest amount of time possible. Other than commencement in May, I don't have to go back to SCCC.

I'm afraid to say this will me the last post for this blog, since it's main purpose was to document my adventures through culinary school, amongst a few other things, but once the new year comes, maybe I'll be documenting the next set of adventures in another setting.

As a final note I'll leave with a quote from one of my professors: "Now get out of here.. I don't want to see your faces again." ;)

Going to be missed.

2009-12-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday was our final end of semester party for the RPI Swing Club. I have to say, when I thought about leaving Albany for Rochester, I never thought I'd have a reason to miss this place.

Watching my students dance after two years of teaching there was pretty much the ultimate reward for me. I finally feel like the club is starting to flourish in a way that it never has before, and I know it's in good hands just by watching these guys and hearing them talk about how much they adore lindy hop. I'm so proud to have taught them over the years and to call them my students - and more importantly, my friends.

Friday we had a get together with a lot of people from the club with some dancing and lots of hanging out, and I was surprised when my friend Sarah presented me and Chris with these adorable little gifts, thanking us for all of the work we've done. I got a little misty eyed... I feel like I've actually made a difference with my time here, and I regret not getting to know some of my newer students better.

All good things have to come to an end, and now it's time to start the next chapter.

"Ellie Hanus "You make us feel like dancing!" From the RPI Swing Club Winter 2009"

November already?

2009-11-03T15:53:00.000-08:00

Hey Cookies, I'm back to give you an update from the past couple months.

First off, I finally decided that my city of choice for living is going to be the lovely and beautiful Rochester, NY! I'm thoroughly happy with this decision, and can't wait to get there and start the next chapter in my life: post grad.

Speaking of graduation, I just happened to file for it today. My official date of completion is December 24th, and I don't have commencement until May just like all those other crazy kids, but be expecting a kick ass graduation party.

School is currently pretty stressful with midterms and projects due, so I'm happily counting down the days until my diploma comes in the mail. Also, since I don't have any cooking labs this semester, it tends to get a little dull at the ol' SCCC.

Also decided that as a graduation present to myself I will again be attending Lindy Focus in Asheville, NC. And with the Michael and the Jaya organizing, how could you not expect a total epic event? You would be crazy, that's for sure.

Oh, and if you haven't heard, I'm back to rocking the singleness of life. Has it's pros and cons, like always, but I'm starting to embrace it again.

Another random tidbit - I got hired to make a cake! It's my first time actually getting paid for my cake services, so I'm very excited. I'll have to post some pictures once it's all finished this weekend, but I warn you now it's going to be very pink, girly and wonderful, being for an adorable little girl turning two. Yay!

Hugs & Puppies,

Ellie

LAX - not as cool as it sounds

2009-09-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Wrote this up yesterday on my travel day from Los Angeles - Albany.

Disclaimer - I was thoroughly tired and some what delirious for most of this.

6:46am - airport

Sitting in the Los Angeles airport at quarter to seven in the morning - today already feels long. My boyfriend, being the awesome person that he is, brought me here early so we wouldn't hit traffic/have to wait through the long security line. Along with that though, it only took me about 10 minutes tops, so I have some time to kill before my 8:30am flight. Woke up about 5:30 this morning, didn't want to leave.. still don't actually. I know that my life is in New York, not in California, in fact, I really do miss the Northeast chilly weather right about now, but still, it's hard to leave. Oh, and while we're on the topic of relationships, it annoys the crap out of me when people have constant FB updates about missing their significant other (SO MUCH) after not seeing them for maybe.. a day. WTF. You don't know what missing someone is, butt head. Anyway - just had to get that out.

So I have a rule about morning flights. If I'm tired and unhappy (usually the case), I find a Starbucks. If the Starbucks line is short, I go in, I get a hot beverage, preferably hot chocolate or chai, and a muffin. The muffin is crucial. So is the non coffee beverage. Here's why: muffins make people happy. I never eat muffins unless I need a serious pick me up breakfast. Also, since muffins are pretty much cake (i.e. simple sugars) they make you sleepy, which brings me to the importance on the non coffee beverage. If I'm about to get on a flight, I'm going to want to sleep. If I'm hopped up on caffeine and that baby three rows back starts screaming, you can bet I'm going to be ready to punch someone up to jupiter - and I'm not a violent person. Give me some warm milk and chocolate/spicy tea though, and I'll be your best friend. I'll be sleeping mind you, but it's better than me punching you in the face.

I've come to a realization about people in airports. They always want your seat. That perfect seat at the end of the row by your gate. They want it. Even if it's a bad seat - they want that too. Usually it's the seat with the least people around it, my personal favorite. Because in reality, I'm not a people person. You know those people that always want to chat it up on flights? I'm not one of them. I like sleep more than I like talking to you, deal with it. In fact, I don't think I ever talked to someone sitting next to me on my flight until my flight from O'hare to LAX on my way here. He taught me how to play sudoku.

Also, I like strangers that are surprisingly nice. Especially old black men because then they could be my cool grandpa. I encountered two this morning at LAX - one of them called me princess (in a cute old man sort of way), and the other let me go ahead of him in line. Gotta love those non creepy old men.

9:57am - somewhere in Utah, USA (headed to Newark, NJ)

You know that feeling of embarrassment after sleeping upright in a chair for the good portion of an hour constantly nodding your head up and down? I'm a constant offender of that, but I also find it mildly amusing because even though you know you're doing it, it's not enough for you to consciously wake up and stop. My thinking process at least is - sleep, I need it, other people can laugh if they want. Anyway, one thing (and probably the only thing) I love about continental is that they give you free meals during meal times. Why don't all airlines do that? From my experience they're usually not super gross either. I mean, if you have any type of dietary restrictions you could wave those pretty packaged meals goodbye, but lucky for me I'll eat pretty much anything except for a few select things (sashimi, squash (except for pureed in soup), fast food in general unless it's the last thing on the planet (or the last thing at a rest stop for 100 miles and I'm starving)). So yeah, rock on Continental, you suck otherwise, but I guess you're kind of ok. Oh dude! Free movies! Ok Continental, you win this time. Finding Nemo it is.

5:11pm - Newark airport

Long flight from Los Angeles to Newark. Pretty tired, but also glad to be back in my regular time zone. Not super looking forward to eating gross airport food for dinner, but I guess it's better than nothing. I wish we had Red Mango/Pinkberry in the Northeast. I had some yesterday but it's so freaking good. I could really go for some about now. One thing noted about airports of the east coast - not all the women are wearing super high heels. We're sensible here, we wear flats.

Tales from the Albany Airport....

2009-09-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

Today, it is Wednesday. Had Banquet Management this morning and got out early (score), and decided I'm burning my bow tie after this semester. After class I went home, had some lunch, took a shower, and made some dinner to avoid potential overpriced yucky airport food. Drove to pick up my Dad at work so he could take me to the airport. Got questioned my the security guard, but at least he was nice about it.

Ended up getting here kind of super early, but nice to avoid the lines of check in and security. Oh, but just a heads up - it's not a fun experience getting your bag searched, even if there's nothing questionable in it. I actually don't want some dude looking at my underwear, thanks.

Anyway, I'm sitting at Starbucks enjoying the free wifi and an overpriced iced chai. I guess that's what I should expect when combining Starbucks/Airport. Overpriced meets overpriced, they get married and have delicious chai flavored babies. Ok, that was a little weird, but you know what I mean.

Get into LAX around 11 tonight. It's going to be a long day. Kind of wish I had a girl here to tighten my bra strap, but I guess you can't have it all.

Later, cookies.

What the hell is wrong with me, edition # 2

2009-09-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

Had to take a break from the brownie excursions to get situated with school, but now I'm back.

I tried miss Perry's recipe a couple weeks ago, and while they were delicious, not quite exactly what I want, but definitely a step in the right direction.

I was watching food network today, and saw Ina Garten making some delicious looking brownies, and usually her recipes are pretty quality. I don't know if I'd say the same thing about her dinner parties, where everyone seems to have a script and all they talk about is how awesome her food is, but whatever floats your canary.

Wish me luck.

Update - I found it. :-D

What the hell is wrong with me?

2009-09-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

Enough about this life bull crap for a second - why can't a make a good batch of motherfreaking brownies?

I have tried, for the past say, all my life, to make homemade brownies that

kick those no good, preservative laden, from a bag/box brownies to the curb, once and for all. Have I succeeded? No.... well, sort of.

I used to have a pretty epic recipe for brownies that I thought I had lost forever, re-found it, tried to make them again and they tasted like non chocolatey bullshit. Have I just learned to suck at making brownies or did I have no sense of a good brownie when I was fourteen? Apparently this is what two years of culinary school will do to you, kids. And funny enough, I don't think we ever had to make brownies.

This subject is even tougher because everyone has their different preference of what a "perfect" brownie is. Your perfect recipe may not be mine, and that's why my usual friend google is failing to meet me for coffee on this one.

I've tried a lot of recipes, all resulting in "good" brownies, but not what I want. They all seem to turn out too thin, and almost like flourless chocolate cake (with usually a minimal flour content of 3/4-1 c.), more than the dense, thick, super chocolatey, chewy brownie that I so desire. Plus they never seem to be chocolatey enough, which is a major category for me in the brownie olympics.

I've been trying to wait a couple days after my last failed brownie excursion before trying out a recipe that my good friend and fellow baker miss Breanna Perry has been so kind to part with. From the pictures alone in her recipe it looks promising, so I find my fingers crossed and myself waiting to say, " Yeah, those boxed brownies got nothing on me." But no pressure, Breanna, I'm confident that I'll soon be tasting the chocolatey goodness of sweet brownie victory.

Plus if all else fails, I'll just have to rename this blog "Following a Brownie". :P

Decisions, decisions...

2009-08-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

Busy month, this August. Just got back from Seattle/Eastern Washington/Portland on Tuesday, and had a gig at RPI with Chris, Mike & Jesse on Wednesday. Now it's resting/birthday time in Ellie land.

I may have mentioned earlier that one of my reasons to check out Portland again was to further consider it for a future place to reside long term. Which brings me to my next topic - I need to find a place to move come January. In my current state of mind, I have two choices.

Portland, OR - Good - The weather is beautiful, even when rainy season is in action, everything is alive and green, and when it's not raining, it's sunny and gorgeous. My brother is there, and he could probably find me some housing connections, and since it's an actual city, finding work probably wouldn't be too difficult. Oh, and I wouldn't have to buy a car - a bike would suffice me just fine. They have a dance scene. I'd be closer to the boyfriend.

- Bad - It's really far away from home and most of my family, so it might be too far for my first move away from home. I wouldn't have a car, and even though I wouldn't "need" one, it's comforting having a car. A large portion of the dance scene is blues oriented, and I'm by no means a blues dancer.

Rochester, NY - Good - The sis is there, a large portion of my friends are there, they have a dance scene (with possible teaching opportunities), I would get to keep my four seasons, and there are plenty of people with my same views on dancing there. I don't think I would ever feel lonely. I could probably find housing pretty easy. I'd be closer to home.

- Bad - Work wouldn't be as easy to find, I'd have to buy a car, I'd be just as far away from the boyfriend. I don't know that it's far away enough from home.

There is a third option, which is to stay in Albany for longer, but that is by no means a long term solution to the dilemma. And after December, I have no real reason to stay here, other than my students at RPI, and I'm working on passing on that torch pretty soon anyway.

Big decision, but a necessary one.

Sometimes I bake when I'm not at work

2009-08-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today I was bored and since I have pretty much unlimited free time with no job and still being sick, that meant doing some baking.

I wanted to do something mildly time consuming without taking up my entire day, so I decided to go with some fake out danish. I say fake out because making actual danish dough is a rather long process, so I just made a batch of sweet dough and used that in it's place. Works fine, you just don't get the flakiness that you normally would with danish dough.

Anywho, I was trying to decide what kind of danish to make and I tried to recall some of the ten thousand kinds I used to make at Bread Basket every day when I worked there. In the end I decided to whip up a batch of frangipane and put that into the dough with a sprinkle of chocolate chips. Kind of resembling a Bread Basket chocolate croissant, except I made mine into pockets instead of just folding and cutting the dough.

I have to say, I was kind of disappointed with the end result. They looked great, but most of the frangipane oozed out during the baking process, so they mostly just ended up being sweet dough pockets with a few chocolate chips. I covered them in powdered sugar after they were cool and that made them definitely more worth eating. I think if I were to make them again I might have to chill the frangipane more and seal the pockets completely as to avoid leakage. So yeah, you win some, you lose some. I actually prefer things go wrong sometimes, but maybe I'm weird like that.

I failed to get a picture after they were done, but I at least managed to snap a shot before they went in the oven.

Updates

2009-08-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

So yes, I'm aware that I've been on a blogging hiatus for pretty much the whole summer, but if you read my last post, you'd know that I didn't have much to blog about.. until now.

This has been an eventful past few weeks. Some good, some bad, some really bad, but it's been interesting to say the least.

Firstly, my Mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. This was made extra weird since I have little to no relationship with my Mom, but she's been through surgery and going to start chemo soon. I've done all I can for the time being and now it's just waiting to see how things go. That was the "really bad", if you hadn't already noticed.

Second, I made a trip out to Los Angeles to see my boyfriend Greg. For those of you wondering he's a non dancer, and I met him through my future brother in law Erick when he came to visit. Yeah, that's how I found a non dancer in LA. :P Anyway, super fun trip. We didn't get to do a whole lot while I was there, but we did accomplish one of my dreams since I was five and we went to Disneyland. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty epic, and dare I say, one of the happiest places on earth. Well you know, except for the whole almost passing out thing... but minor details. Greg also got major points by cooking me steak for dinner - I really hate grilling, but I love eating grilled foods. That was a good.

And finally, things with my job at Bountiful Bread didn't work out so good, so I'm not working there anymore. There's a very long story to why that's the case, but I'll hold off on telling it. Thinking about finding another job, but for now I'm just going to rest and recover from this tonsillitis/possibly mono that I have going now, and then see how school/teaching at RPI goes. Last semester, kids. Can you handle it?! I know I can. So yeah, I guess that whole situation was considered a bad.. but also kind of a good.

Plans for the rest of August are rather undecided, actually. Since I'm not sure about having mono vs. not having mono, I need to wait and see what my doctor says and then make a final decision on my trip to Seattle/NE Washington/Portland. Also thinking about ILHC? It's kind of about a million dollars, but I can at least think about it, right? Right. And oh yeah, that little small detail called my birthday on the 30th. Keep forgetting about it, actually, will have to make some plans for that.

-E

Summer of School

2009-06-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

I've concluded that this summer isn't going to be very exciting. Surprisingly, I think I'm ok with this? This might give you a confused face, and I might be a little confused myself, but I think I'm ok with that too.

So I literally have no dance plans this summer. This is certainly a first for me since about 6 years ago. I was hoping to be attending the CT exchange in July, but my boss is taking time off then and that means no time off for me. But now that I think about it, I do hope to go to the Saturday dance at Beantown Camp with Topher (Chris), so we'll see how that works out. Then while I'm in Portland/Seattle I'll obviously be doing some dancing there, and hopefully be able to get more swing outs than silly blues dancing there.. didn't mention I have a serious dislike of blues dancing? Fancy that.

Anyway, school starts tomorrow so that will definitely be taking up three days of my week plus homework time. On the bright side I don't have any labs so I won't have to be sweating my ass off in our kitchens during the summer.

Work is still going well, not too much to report there, still just trying to learn the ropes as best I can and save the pennies.

I guess I've accepted the boringness of this summer with the hope that it will be my last summer in Albany, and definitely my last summer in school. Those facts alone are exciting themselves, and that will have to be enough for now.

-El

Gross to some, delicious to me.

2009-06-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's the mid-westerner in me (mom's side), but I love biscuits and gravy. I also had a strange fascination with jell-o salad as a child.. but that's a different story.

So biscuits and gravy. I make it the way I remember my mom making it when I was little, so it's probably not the traditional way or anything, but I think it's pretty comforting and delicious.

Here's my recipe:

Gravy -

1 lb. ground hamburger meat

3 cups milk

1/4 c. flour

1-2 tbsp. worcestershire sauce

s&p

Brown the hamburger in some olive oil. Combine the rest of the ingredients and add to the cooked meat. Cook on low until it thickens and looks like gravy.

Biscuits -

Fine. I cheat. I use bisquick and make drop biscuits.. but I do add stuff to them, like cheese, garlic powder, black pepper and sometimes some whole wheat flour. Mmm, cheese biscuits.

Most of my family won't eat this, but I say they lose and take another biscuit for myself.

-E

Antique Addictions

2009-06-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I guess I have a couple addictions in life(dancing, dresses, chocolate).. some worse than others, but my most recent one has been antiquing for suitcases. So far I've bought a total of three, but I gave one to Jessekins for Sisters Day, so I'm not a total addict.. yet.

Today I returned to the three antique stores in Ballston Spa with my sister Nikki, and at my favorite one where I bought my previous

suitcase, there was one tucked away between a few tables that was screaming, "Ellie, you need to buy me. I'm plaid for goodness sake, you need to buy me." So I took a look, in perfect condition, no stains or anything, for $22. Rock.

Since this was my first stop of the day, I went to the others but didn't find anything, so I went back and bought the plaid one. Yesss.

A couple reasons I like buying vintage: -They have a lot of cool shit. - The stores are usually run by the owners, which I usually pretty cool old people, not stupid teenagers who don't want to be there. Plus they'll usually give you information about the piece that you're buying.

Finally, I've also posted some pictures of the ones I actually own. :)

<3 and muffins

Chili Cook-off!

2009-05-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

Last night Ross and I had a vegetarian chili cook-off. Frankly, after tasting both chilis/hearing peoples comments, I thought Ross would be the chiliarian of the night, but somehow I managed to take home the gold (and eternal chili glory).

Usually I keep my winning recipes for bargaining purposes, but I'm feeling generous, so here it is, folks.

Ellie's Chili

1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 large onion
1/2 package of frozen beef substitute crumbles
3 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
1 canned chipotle in adobo, plus 1 tsp of the sauce
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 jar tomato sauce (I used mushroom flavor this time)
1 cup water (I usually just rinse out the tomato can/jar and put the water in the pot)
1 bar dark chocolate

Cook the peppers, onions and half the spices in olive oil until tender. Add the beef substitute and cook for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for 1/2 hour. I usually add the chocolate at various times in the cooking process, just in case it gets too chocolaty, which might be impossible, but I do it that way anyway. I also usually do the same with the spices, and my measurements are approximate for those.

My favorite way to eat it is with avocado, sour cream and cilantro. It's super smokey, rich and a little sweet and spicy. I love it.

Enjoy!

Freedom (for now) and Travels

2009-05-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

Whew, another semester done.

Just finished my cleanings on Tuesday and thanks to my teachers updating my grades online, I don't have to wait to see how I did. Overall, not my best work ever, but I'm still happy with it. Due to my everlasting sickness for the past month, I seriously thought I'd be seeing some Cs on my report card, but thankfully I managed to work some magic on my finals so my lowest is a B- Really snuck under the wire with that one.

Now that I'm recovered from sickness and done with school until June, I'm back to being sleep deprived by my work and actually having free time. So what does that mean, you say? Road trip! Actually, train trip, which is even better in my book. Since I won't have much time once school starts in June, I'm going to Rochester Saturday-Wednesday to do things like dance, visit the sister, and have chili cook-offs.

One benefit to visiting Jessekins this month is we get to celebrate Sisters Day, which is an annual holiday Yvonne, Jesse and I started last year. So that means presents, lots of hanging out, and in general celebrating our awesome sister-ness. Recently I've been driving her insane by not telling her about the awesome present she's getting. Muaahhahaha.

Speaking of travels, I've also recently booked a flight to Portland to visit the brother. Recently I've been missing the gorgeous weather and beautiful scenery, so I figured that means it's time for another trip. While I'm there Eric and I are definitely going to make a road trip to Seattle, which we'll hopefully be able to see more of this time. And who knows, maybe Eric will be able to drag me out to a blues dance in Portland.. this thought might normally make me queasy, but what happens in Portland stays in Portland, right? Right. Anyway, I plan on doing lots of exploring to see about it being a potential living place. We'll see.

Hugs & Cupcakes.

-Ellie

Findings

2009-05-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

Today was good.

I woke up late and ate some breakfast in the form of sugar covered raisins and bran flakes. Got dressed and figured I should do something mildly productive, so I packed up my books and headed to B spa and parked myself at coffee planet to study for my commercial baking final. I listened to old ladies talk about finances and sipped my coffee while trying to ingrain marketing aspects into my head.

On my way out I tried to find the used bookstore, but sadly it had closed before I ever went in. Instead I got to have the wind try to blow my shirt up by my waist. Nice try there, wind. Without any bookstores to go to, I headed over to the giant antique store to mosey and check if they had any good vintage clothes. No on the clothes, but I found some old issues of life magazine and a lot cool antique suitcases. Now, maybe part of me has secretly wanted to be Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday or something, but I wasn't leaving without one of these suitcases.

My first finding was small, gray and cute on the outside, but the inside revealed it had seen better days with the previous owner. No wonder it was under $20. Second was a bit more pricey at $35, but I was intrigued when I couldn't figure out how to open it. This one was a bit larger, brown with light stitching, and still very cute. The interior had some damage, but stuff that could be fixed, and hounds tooth lining. This one was coming home with me, but not for $35. Muahaha.

Ahem. I walked over to the two old men at the counter and sweetly asked if they could show me what the interior pockets and buckles were intended for. "Oh.. so you mean that buckle is broken?... shame. Any chance I could get it for $25? No? $30? Wonderful." Not my best bargaining work to date, but at least now I could by myself a fancy $5 starcrap latte if I wanted to.

Proud of my bargaining efforts, I happily skipped along back to my car and thought about ways to clean leather on my way home. I tried a few different ways, and here's what I came up with:
-Lemon juice and cream of tartar: It's not really worth it.
-Mr. clean magic eraser: Surprisingly awesome, but some of the color may come off if you rub too hard.
- Rubbing alcohol and q-tips: Best bet. Some of the color still may come off a little, but it's better than the magic eraser.

Sadly the hounds tooth interior was pretty stained, probably from N.J.S. (the initials on the suitcase) spilling coffee on it forty years ago, so I did my best with some diluted shout.
Tried to repair the little leather piece that made it easier to pull the divider, major fail. I should probably leave the broken buckle to a cobbler after that dilemma.

Wish I had pictures to post, and maybe I will soon, but I'm still camera-less, so you'll have to look at the pretty google images for now. Probably once I get the buckle fixed I'll post some nice ones.

Overall though, it looks pretty nice, and I'm happy to give it some life after N.J.S. did. :)

and she's back

2009-04-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry you haven't been able to follow me much recently, I kind of went MIA in blogland.

Updates: As you probably imagined, I survived at the very end of last semester, and I've just about finished this one up as well. In most cases I have one to three labs left, and after that, I'm done with most all of my labs for my time at Schenectady (except banquet) and geared up to graduate in December. Be expecting a party.

Plans for the summer include taking summer classes (bleck), Beverage Management (how to run a bar) and Food & Beverage Control (continuation of math for food service). Also working to try to save the monies for multiple things like a car, LF, and a possible trip out west. Trying my best by not going to big dance events (sadface) like SONH & Frankie 95, although as far as being in other cities go, I plan on making a few trips out to Rochacha. :)

Oh, and I got a job! Previous to the current job, I was going through lots of job drama trying to figure out which of 3 different jobs was best, but I finally decided on part time sweets baker @ Bountiful Bread in A-town. It sucks waking up at 3am to be at work at 4, but I deal. Plus it's freaking sweet job (no pun intended) - my department is in charge of all of the cookies, cupcakes, muffins, scones, brownies, danish etc.. I'm sometimes jealous of the bread bakers who come in at 8am, but whatevs, I get to have glamorous moments up to my elbows in batter multiple times a day. Who wins there?! Ok.. maybe them, but I get to say I'm a sweets baker, so THERE.

Anyway.

Added to work and school that mainly eat up my life, Chris and I have just about wrapped up another semester teaching the kiddies at RPI how to dance and shit. Again, the kids are great, and although we've had dwindling numbers recently due to finals and school activities, it makes me so happy to see them improving and I hope we'll get a big showing at our annual end of semester party.

This weekend I'm looking forward to taking a break from school/work and going to Stompo, one of my favorite events of the year, with my fourth year attending. Can't wait for all the solo jazz goodness I've come to adore.

Love and muffins.

-Ellie

I'm ready

2008-12-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

to be done. I know how I always talk about how much I love culinary school and all that bullcrap (which I do), but hell, I'm ready for this semester to be over. I want finals, all my lab cleaning, and the freaking last lab to be over (damn cheese).

I'm sick right before I'm supposed to have a presentation in the morning, a snow storm is threatening me to miss two classes and write yet another 2,000 word paper, and I can't take it. Plus I still need to get my scholarship application in and all of my Christmas shopping done. If anything, I should be healthy for all of this.

End rant.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

Oh man, I love thanksgiving. It's like the ultimate in foodie holidays. This year it was mostly done by me with some help from the sisters. Our menu included:

Appetizers (always eaten around 1:00) -

-Toasted baguette slices with goat cheese and balsamic tart cherries
-Veggie platter
-Deviled eggs
-Brie wrapped in phyllo dough with jam
-Stuffed dates

Dinner -

-Turkey (which I vowed not to overcook, and succeeded!)
-Homemade apple cider gravy
-Roasted sweet potatoes
-Roasted brussels sprouts
-Green bean casserole (which I personally despise, but other people like it)
-Onion and celery stuffing with raisins and walnuts
-Cranberry mousse (a dessert from the 50's made with lots of jell-o and cool whip. It's delicious, I don't care what anyone says. And somehow even though it's a dessert we always eat it with dinner.. though I'm totally not complaining)

Dessert -

Pumpkin cheesecake (i.e. the best thing ever)

In between preparing and eating all of this goodness we played lots of board games and watched movies. Good holiday in my book.

Maybe I can actually make a difference.

2008-11-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday was my last week of teaching at RPI for the semester. Usually by that point in time, we'd probably have 5-10 students left in lindy 1 and lucky if we still had a lindy 2 class going.

At the start of the semester I tried to be optimistic and even threw in a different set up, starting with them off with some easy solo jazz steps (thanks Jesse and Mike!), which I continued to do throughout the semester.

Now, I don't credit myself to being the best teacher ever, but I can definitely see when people are struggling. A month or two in is when I started to see the frustrated faces of the kids trying to get their swing outs, that's when I knew it was time to switch gears and say to hell with swing outs for a couple weeks. That's when I broke out my super fun and silly classes, guaranteed to get some laughs and make people feel like it's ok to be a little less serious. For me that means mess around, mini dip, and some easy styling. I don't know whether these classes are more for me or the students, but it makes me so excited to see them having fun.

When I was teaching the girls their first swivel, I was talking about how I think of it as the opposite of a "model walk". So for the hell of it, we did model walks up and down the floor. The boys even got a kick out of it while they were having their pow wow in the corner. I love having them do ridiculous things. Hahaha, I should never have this much power. ;)

To my surprise, come October into November will still had a good 30-40 kids for lindy 1. So for the last week we threw a party for them after class. During this time we had elections for all of the club officers, and they gave their speeches telling everyone why to vote for them. It made me ecstatic to see people who had just joined that semester so enthusiastic and telling everyone that swing club was their favorite club.

Afterwards we all hung out, ate pizza and danced. I can't even begin to say how proud I am of every single one of them, they've all come such a long way and are SO excited about it. It makes me proud to teach them. :) We even had a special performance by the lindy 2 class, who are getting so good! I love teaching those guys.

I had a lot of people come up and thank me before they left, and when I asked them if I'd see them next semester, I think the general response was, "Psssh, of course!"

:)

Late Night Thoughts.

2008-11-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

Up late, thinking about where I want my life to go.

I've recently been trying to figure out what part of baking I want to go into. The four main categories would probably be:

Cake Decorating - "Pros" - Normalish job hours, lot of room for creativity. "Cons" - Extremely competitive, you have to extremely good at what you do to get anywhere, and you have to have major artistic talent. I've pretty much written this one off considering I have pretty much zero artistic talent. Can't draw for beans.

Artisan Bread Baking - "Pros" - It's bread. Who doesn't love bread? It's simple, beautiful art. Yet extremely complex, which makes it a very interesting challenge. Something about it seems magical. "Cons" - Hours. Getting up at 2am and going to work. Pretty much killing having a normal life. That means if I wanted to go dancing, I'd have to dance, leave early and go to work. Which might work out extremely well, I haven't quite decided. Also, I might get bored. I don't like routines so much, and baking bread is very routine. Same thing, day after day. Despite those things, this one is high on my list.

Plated Desserts - "Pros" - Somewhat flexible hours, a lot of room for creativity. "Cons" - very complex.. which is either good or bad depending on who you're talking to. Up to you to keep up with the latest culinary trends. For me, all that creativity and trendiness might wear me out eventually. Very time and labor intensive.

Everything that goes under the "Bakery" umbrella, which usually includes some form of bread, plus danish, cookies, pies, etc.. "Pros" - ... "Cons" - Way too much going on. Crazy hours. I've seen the effects of what this setting does to people. It makes them crazy. I hate making cookies, pies and danish in large quantities. I think I would for sure go insane. This is at the bottom of my list, if you hadn't already noticed.

As you can see, I've thought about each one of these in detail. These aren't even all of my options, just the main categories I could come up with. Top of my list: Artisan bread. I'd really love to go into a "just" bread bakery and see what it's all about. It's on my long list of things to do.

Yup, I think about this stuff a lot.

Parts of my life.

2008-11-13T08:02:00.000-08:00

Can't say how fantastic is was to go to Rochester last weekend. It's really become my second home with all of the wonderful people and dancing. I even got to perform my super fun routine with Jesse, just having choreographed half of it that day. Good times. It will be better for Lindy Focus, I promise.
As always, Steven and Virginie continue to inspire every year, always leaving me wanting more. And that band was totally kick ass. My god. The best I've heard in a really really long time. I'm pretty much music in love with them.

On a different note, with the exception of last Tuesday, I've pretty much been boycotting Tuesday practices for a couple reason. Tuesday is really my only night where I'm not obligated to do something, so it's nice to be lazy and go to bed early so I'm not exhausted at my 8am class on Wednesday. The other and probably more prominent reason is that the scene doesn't inspire me anymore. The people, the music, the general feel of the scene. Now, you can call me a snob, I really don't care, but before you do, let it be known there is no one my level in Albany. Most people think they have it bad when they have a group of five or ten people to have great dances with. Well you don't. Because I have no one.
This isn't meant to insult people in Albany because some of you are good and trying to get better, I've been there and respect that. But the fact still remains that there's no one to push my dancing. So if you don't see me out, you know why.

Now, this is a subject I don't talk about very much, if at all. In my regular day to day life, I'm pretty much stressed out all of the time. Another reason why S&V was great, I wasn't stressed out because I don't think about stressful things when I'm having fun.
The main reason being that my parents (second) divorce trial is in a week and stepping into my house at the current time is emotionally draining, I usually can't relax and I'm pretty on edge. If it wasn't for school, I probably wouldn't still be here. But on the upside of this, something, if good or bad, will happen in a week, hopefully making my life better. So if you see me looking tired and stressed, that's probably why.

Life happens, we deal with it.

<3

ACF Practical Exam

2008-10-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Today I had my practical exam so I could get certified by the American Culinary Federation. The test was in conjunction with my Garde Manger class, which in a previous post I explained my general dislike of. Now, I must say that while I'm still generally uninterested in the class topics, the class is teaching me some possibly useful things, so it's not all bad.

Last week our class had a practice week, which went well, and I tried to fine tune the things that needed work leading up to today. The whole exam required preparation of the following:

Batonnet & Julienne of carrots
Finely chopped parsley
Mirepoix
Chicken stock
Fabrication of a whole chicken into thighs, wings, skinless boneless breast, airline breast (chicken breast with the wing bone attached), drumsticks, and carcass free of usable meat
One entree of choice, preparing the airline breast, proper starch and vegetable

My batonnet & julienne of carrots turned out well, with the minor exception that they were a little short, but they were all the same size so I don't think that effected my score a great deal. Parsley was easy, but most people get impatient and don't chop it fine enough, so go me.
Mirepoix, easy. Chicken stock, easy.
I must say, I freakin rocked that chicken fabrication. My best go yet, plus I even got the stupid oyster muscle clean. Rock.

For my entree I did Indian spiced chicken, curried cauliflower and cardamom rice. My chicken was perfect during practice week, but I put too much salt in my spice mix this week so it ended up a little salty (damn it), but it was perfectly cooked so screw it. My chef complained that my cauliflower was a little undercooked during practice week, so I cooked it longer this time and to his standards it was perfect. Word. Rice is easy, the end.

All in all, I passed with an A/95 and am now certified by the ACF. Which means that I have something to make my resume look good and I don't have to go back over Thanksgiving break to retake the test. Yeah man.

Now I can relax.

Favorites

2008-10-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

You know, whenever people ask me my favorite food, or my favorite thing to make, I get pretty pissed. I mean.. not really.. but I hate the question is what I'm sayin'.

I'm in culinary school, I have TONS of favorite foods. I also love making tons of different things, it all depends on what mood I'm in.

Now, I have my "fancy" favorite foods: Goat cheese, super dark chocolate, etc.. But I don't know that I could consider them favorite because I wouldn't want to eat them all the time. They would lose their specialness.

Then I have my comforting favorite foods: Plain cheerios, banana yogurt, oatmeal, cold cream of wheat, skim milk (I have a dairy obsession..). While looking at this list I notice that these are all, for the most part, extremely bland foods. But these are all foods I grew up on and came to adore. I could eat them every day.

As far as my favorite thing to make, I think I've made it obvious that I like to bake cakes, but it's not my favorite. I do love making chili, and I make a mean one at that, but still not my favorite.
I guess sometimes, I like doing the time/labor intensive thing - croissants, apple strudel, bread, etc.. but sometimes I just want to get baked goods into my tummy as quickly as possible - quick breads, cookies, muffins.. or I just want a quick healthy meal that will fill me up - wheat pasta with tuna and veggie sauce or some delicious turkey chili.

So if you ask me either of these questions, I most likely won't punch you in the face, but I might want to.

If someone says charcuterie - I say run.

2008-09-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

What I want to know is who, in their right mind, thought that meat jell-o was a good idea. Ever see anything in aspic? That's what it is, kids, meat floating in meaty jell-o. bleghhgh. I need to go bake something...

Busy couple weeks in Ellie land. Hence why you haven't been seeing any new posts from me. I guess I've been busy with being an international lindy hop champion, attending SONH, and helping to host my exchange here in Albany. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Also new, school has officially started as of last week. Fully contributing to my busyness recently. I'm starting to realize that while taking five labs may not be a total death sentence, it'll still do a great job of kicking my butt.

Good news is that only one of my four professors is a total ass. Just because you have a masters in gastronomy doesn't mean you rule the world, you know. His class actually inspired the title of this blog post; Garde Manger.
The name Garde Manger comes from one of the stations in a classical brigade French kitchen; the Garde Manger chef works mainly with cold items: salads, sandwiches, hors d'oeuvres and charcuterie. Charcuterie is primarily the making of sausage, pate, terrines, mousseline, etc..

I already have the doom and gloom feeling that me, this chef, and this class are not going to get along. Keep in mind that I'm not really on the squeamish side of the food spectrum, and I'll try most things, but some of this stuff is disgusting. Flipping through my text book and seeing sausage confit (sausage preserved in ridiculous amounts of fat).. makes me kind of ready to run for the hills.
I'm a baker. Not a huge fan of animal fat. My body says it's not a good idea, and I happily oblige.

Speaking of baking, my two baking classes are going well and I think I'll learn a lot from them. Although the unfortunate aspect is that the heat of the 4th floor and something about my chef's voice makes me extremely sleepy. I do care about gluten development. I promise.

This blog post was sponsored by crepes. A nom x4 recipe.

Finally. A Cake.

2008-08-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

I sometimes complain about how I never get to bake cakes. Now is one of those times.

I always love the process of baking and decorating cakes, but it gets dangerous to have a gazillion of them laying around the house as you can imagine. And for the record, usually even when I think I'm going to get to bake a cake, it doesn't happen. You know why? Because anytime anyone's birthday rolls around, they don't want cake, they want pie or something stupid. It's a birthday people. Birthday = Cake. Get with the program.

Anyway. I informed Jesse that when it came time for her going away party, I was making cake. The end. She tried in one mere attempt to veer me away to something less cake-y, but I stood my cake-y ground and won. Score Ellie: 1 Pie: 0

In the end I decided to go for a chocolate coconut cake. Now, I've never made this before, but usually when I think something will work in my head, it does, so I decided to go for it.
When I make chocolate cake I pretty much always stick with the same recipe. The one on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box. It's the shit, people. Just roll with it. Oh - and my chocolate frosting recipe? You guessed it, also on the back of the Hershey's box. De-freaking-licious.

For the filling I decided to take my standard pastry cream recipe and make it coconutty. For me that just meant substituting most of the milk for unsweetened coconut milk. I also toasted up the coconut and added that to the cooled cream. When it was finished I decided it a little too sweet and puddingy for my liking, so I whipped up some cream and folded that in. Much better.

I cut the cake in half, added the filling, and proceeded to frost with that yummy chocolate frosting. I toasted up some more coconut and put that one the sides and top. Then finally, I piped some frosting around the edge to give it a more finished look. I think it looked pretty pretty.

All in all, good times. It tasted super yummy, the coconut wasn't too overpowering and obviously who doesn't like chocolate. No one, that's right.

Anywho ..I love cake! And you should too. Nyam nyam nyam.

-E

p.s. Isn't it beautiful? I'm SO proud. :)

Hawt Shoes.

2008-08-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

Jessekins surprised me today with an early birthday present. I am now the proud owner of the hottest shoes in the whole entire universe. I thought I had you beat with that fantastic scarf I gave you for Christmas, but you now hold the title for best present.

LOVE!!!

Talk About Muffins

2008-08-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

As per Jesse face's request, I will now explain why I talk so much about muffins. I guess it started a few years ago when Albany people actually carpooled together, so we had a lot of time to kill with stupid conversati- I mean, really good times.

Anyway, when Shannon was still around, her, Jesse and I particularly liked to make fun of Josh. We thought a good nickname was in order, so we decided on "Joshy". I think he secretly loved it.

One day Joshy got the crazy idea that the rest of us should have nicknames too, so at the Philly exchange in.. '06? Josh said he came up with the perfect nickname for me. You guessed it. "Muffin". Because apparently I'm just so "cute and muffiny" according to Josh.

Unfortunately for me, it stuck. At one point we even decided my flavor. Peach spice.

So there you have it. I'm a peach spice muffin.

And because I always like to drag other people into things, Jesse's nickname is Toody! Because of her attitude of course. Bring it back, people! Bwahaha, I'm SUCH a good sister.

<3 Ellie

Schooly school school

2008-08-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

"When I am in trouble, eating is the only thing that consoles me... at the present I am eating muffins because I am unhappy. Besides, I am particularly fond of muffins." - Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist and writer.

Have to say, even though I just ended my summer session, I'm really looking forward to the fall semester. I love learning, despite having to clean the labs everyday, despite working with the occasional irritating lab partner, I just love it.
I'm especially excited to get to take both of my baking classes from Paul Krebs, who I've heard is very talented and I expect to learn a lot from.

Just started ordering my books today, I can't wait to flip through both of my fancy new baking books that branch out of the basics into more of the advanced pastry work (sugar work, plated desserts). Fun fun fun. - Anyone know what method cards are?

One of my classes I'm not so excited about though. Classical cuisine. i.e cooking for the school restaurant. Run for the hills, kids, that means I serve the public. It's pretty much exactly what I don't want to do with my life, which is being on a line. Too high stress, big.. flaming things, ticket orders, people yelling.. bleeeeck. I'm not excited.

Although, being out of school does have its perks. Like I get to go to the Wednesday farmer's market instead of the Saturday one. i.e. A lot less crowded and more veggies to choose from. Yay! I could totally do a blog about how much I love veggies... eh, for another time. ;)

-El

Croissant Day

2008-08-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last year I started a new holiday. Croissant Day.

Croissant Day is exactly what it sounds like, a day dedicated to making croissants.
Backtracking to early 2007, I decided that making these wonderful light pastries would be something good to master. I tried I think, a total of 5 recipes, ranging from 2 hours, to 10 hours.

Having never made croissants before, initially I thought I could beat the system and go for the 2 hour method. I quickly learned that all that lead to was weird rolls, so I kept upping the time on my recipes, but still didn't produce anything close to those fluffy layers of croissant goodness.

So I decided to have a talk with me friend google search, which lead me to the 10 hour recipe. I spent the whole day rolling, refrigerating, turning, more rolling, more refrigerating..etc.. They turned out wonderfully perfect. Just how you would imagine a perfect croissant to be.

Fast forward to now. Croissant day is back, and this time I'm taking the overnight method to somewhat keep my sanity intact.

With a pound of butter and a rolling pin, I say cheers.
-El