Thursday, November 29, 2007

Culinary School - Week One

Day One - Overview of what to wear, what not to wear. No jewelery except a plain wedding band (only exception is a medic alert necklace that can be tucked under your shirt. I put my wedding ring on it also.) We will receive one uniform before we break for Christmas and the other our last week of Mod One. Our knife kit and towels will be handed out the first week of Mod Two.

The first Module is Concepts of the Culinary Industry. Supervising and Leadership, Kitchen Math, CPR, ServSafe, and Interviewing chefs from different aspects of the food industry are all things we will cover in the first mod. Each Mod is 5 weeks. The Culinary Arts Specialist is 7 months long. The Culinary Arts Professional, the program I am taking, is 15 months total. The last 8 months are covering specific types of cuisine with the last mod being an externship.

Fannie Farmer

Life was complicated by health problems for Fannie Farmer but with perseverance and encouragement from her family she overcame them.

Fannie was born in 1857 to a middle class family in Boston, Massachusetts. The eldest of four daughters, education was prized in Miss Farmer’s home. Fannie attended high school and graduated at the age of 16 years old. Shortly after her graduation she suffered a stroke that left her paralyzed. Unable to walk, her doctor’s discouraged her from finishing her formal education.

She remained in her parent’s home where her intelligence and creativity found an outlet in the kitchen. She became a mother’s helper and eventually regained her ability to walk.

At the age of 30, her parents encouraged her to attend cooking school. Fannie enrolled at Boston Cooking School. BCS taught more the theory of cooking rather than the actual practice of cooking.

Fannie excelled at her studies, including taking summer courses at Harvard Medical School, and graduated in 1889. She was then invited to stay on as assistant director at Boston Cooking School eventually taking over the head directorship in 1894. Fannie published the Boston Cooking School Cook Book in 1896, giving the cooking world a much needed update. Previous cookbooks had used measurement amounts such as “…a piece of butter the size of an egg” or “a teacup of milk”. Her update gave us more standardized measurements of level cups and level teaspoons so that recipes would turn out with more consistency.

The BCS Cook Book covered recipes from basic milk toast to more classical items including Zigaras a la Russe, an elegant puff-pastry dish. Also included were articles on housekeeping, nutritional information and drying and preserving foods. The book eventually became known simply as the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

In 1902, Fannie left the Boston Cooking School and started Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery. The new schools focus was on the average American homemaker. Fannie began by teaching the basics of ‘plain and fancy’ cooking but eventually was led into developing better cooking styles for the ill. She eventually published her work in a second cookbook, entitled “Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent.”

Miss Farmer advocated the necessity of attractive and well made food for the ill, understanding better than most that good tasting, attractive and nutritious food was an important part of the healing process.

Her influence was felt far and wide. She was published in newspapers and a national magazine, entitled Women’s Home Companion. She was also invited to lecture at Harvard Medical School and taught doctors and nurses about nutrition and diet for their patients.

Fannie Farmer was creative and innovative; truly a woman ahead of her time. Sadly, her life was cut short at the age of 57. Her impact on the world of cooking and nutrition for the sick and convalescing, however, is not forgotten.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity, Jig...

Y'all, probably thought I had forgotten you, huh? Mmmm, not quite! I came back home from Sacburg and promptly went into T-day countdown. We turned the parlor into the dining room and the living room/dining room combo into one big great room/family room. In attendance were Mom, Jimi(DH), Andrew(DS) and myself. My father and stepmom came over and brought games and goodies, my sister and her infant grandboy, Austin came over. His mommy, Shemia, suprised us around 11 a.m. or so. We thought she had ship duty on Tday and weren't expecting her until late Thursday. She is in the Navy stationed in San Diego. My nephew, Jason, and my niece, Alicia, were there later in the day as well as Alicia's friend, Natasha. So, quite a family day was had by all.
Lots of eating and fun...

Our menu consisted of:
Appetizers -
Served from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm
Spinach-Artichoke Dip
Cheddar-Mushroom Spread
Apricot Glazed Meatballs
Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
Lil' Smokies

Main Meal
Served at 6:30 pm
Turkey Roasted with Sage and Butter
Sausage and Sage Stuffing with Apples and Cranberries
Green Bean Casserole
Southwestern Scalloped Corn
All the usual victims
Rum Baked Cranberries and Apricots

Friday, November 9, 2007

Good Old Sacramento

I am in Sacramento visiting my niece, LusciousChica for the weekend. Sacramento may not seem like a big deal to y'all but it has some definite sentiment for me.

I grew up here in the good ole 60's and 70's. Lived in a nice little yellow house with white trim. My best friends lived two houses down and across the street from me. Brenda and Kim. Tomorrow I am going to drive to the old neighborhood, maybe take a couple pictures for my walk down memory lane.

Go visit a few touristy things, run some errands wih LusciousChica, play Scrabble, maybe a couple other games. Maybe meet some of her friends. Just hanging until my DH flies in Tuesday morning.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures to tide you over. The dog is Olive, a doggy friend of LC's. The ships, well just looked cool as I was driving over a bridge. The lantern looked cool, also.

Salut'



Safety Is as Safety Does

On her blog, Stepping asked, "What makes you feel safe?" It started me thinking about a few incidents in my life. A purse-snatching, a robbery at gunpoint, those were actual events that made me change the way I do things. I latch my purse into the grocery cart with the child safety belt or put it in the bottom of the cart covered by other items. I do my best to stay aware of my surroundings due to the robbery. Funny thing is...every other safety 'check' I do is because of what happens to others. Multiple friends being raped, houses being broken into, robbed and vandalized, general apathy of the 'criminal' element not caring about anyone else's safety.

It occurs to me that when I feel the safest my guard is down. So, doesn't that defeat the purpose of acting in a safe manner? Unsafe safeness? A conundrum, to be sure! Hmmm, too existentialist for my own good...

Wrapping my self in a cocoon so no one can get to me and I can be truly safe...but then isolated...is there no in between?

So Over Breakfast...


Me: Hey, honey....who are the Toastmasters?

(Pause)

DH: Well, they are...uh, people who have mastered the art of crisping bread...


<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Yes, indeed, that is what I get to wake up with, willingly, people! I absolutely adore my hubby and his sense of humor. He then proceeded dazzle me by giving me the true definition of a Toastmaster.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Amazingly Creative....

Check out both the Animator vs. Animation videos.


Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART


Animator vs. Animation II by *alanbecker on deviantART

For more creativity, go here: http://alanbecker.deviantart.com/gallery/

Monday, November 5, 2007

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Do YOU Know the Way to San Jose?



Flowers at the hotel... and a visit to Fry's. I love Fry's! They have everything but lasagne there. When I get it I will post a picture of the front of the store. A veritable Indy Jones adventure walking into that place. :)

UPDATE: Sadly enough I didn't get a picture of the front of the store. I am so sorry to dissapoint you. :(

Saturday, November 3, 2007

One Person's Success is Another's Excuse or....

it's all in our perspective.

We all make choices. That's how we learn ~ our mistakes and experiences conspire to teach us a lesson. Hopefully, if we are open to it, we see/find/act on what we need to learn. Every person defines these lessons for themselves. For some it might be as simple as failing a test or getting a bad review at work. Others might need more drastic spankings like a divorce, or loss of a job. For some the lesson never comes.

I am learning a lesson in perseverance right now. How to stick with/to something even when it gets difficult or life throws a curveball. Curveballs typically make me freeze up. Knowing my propensity for freezing up, I am 'reliving' some of those more infamous moments and analyzing them. Hoping that on the other end I will find some solutions, alternatives to running when things get difficult.

Hmmm, more deep thought later.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Merry Halloween



Beware the ferocious child eating spider...


Mom and Wench committing Halloween hary cary on pumpkins.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

NaBloPoMo...No Problemo ~ Day One

The spotlight sits glaring at the mic stand as the nervous woman steps up warily... {tap, tap, tap} Is this thing on? Um, hello, can you hear me? Anyone?... My name is Tamara, my nickname is Wench (along with several variations like RiceWenchie and QueenWench). So, this is quite intimidating... the thought of HAVING to do something EVERY day for a month, well it's just outright....scary. I am not one for routine. As a matter of fact, I go out of my way to avoid a schedule of any kind. The whole marriage thing is not a problem because it includes sex and money. If only it was all that easily defined. Hehe.

I realize that it is going to take a while for me to find my voice here. No one reads right now but I am still going to do this for myself and hopefully gain an "audience" along the way. :)

The laundry list of Tamara:

1. I am married to a first generation American, full-blood Scotsman.

2. I love to cook and be cooked for.

3. I collect recipes and recipe books.

4. My husband and I met at The Blue Moon tavern in Seattle, Washington twenty years ago.

5. I love taking pictures.

6. I love my doggy, Olivia, a rat-chi.

7. I am starting culinary school the Monday after Thanksgiving.

8. I am a people pleaser that is trying to learn how to stand on my own.

9. I LOVE to shop.

8. I hate to shop for clothes.

9. My favorite stores are Sur La Table, Williams Sonoma, and farmer's markets and craft fairs.

10. I have an 18 year old son who loves anime, heavy metal, writing, movies, and has Aspergers Syndrome.

11. I have a 14 (15 on Nov. 20)year old daughter who loves CSI (all of them), Law & Order: SVU, and X-Files. She was Mulder and Scully's love child for Halloween last year.

The End

 
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