The End.

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.

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?

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

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....

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

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?

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...

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

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

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

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.

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

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!

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

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

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

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