Changes

Since being out of the house and living on my own (somewhat) I've noticed a few things that are a little different. Most things that I've noticed I expected, these however, were all rather surprising. So I thought I'd share a few.


1) I have 5 Coffee cups in my kitchen


2) I know where they are at all times


3) My television never goes louder than 40


4) My furniture hasn't changed places more than once


5) My furniture isn't likely to change places for the duration of my time down here


6) Dirty dishes remain in the sink for longer than 1 hour


7) The coffee pot is not used every day


8) I am currently out of coffee and I do not intend to have it replaced until tomorrow at the
earliest


9) My house has no desserts in it whatsoever


10) Sunday afternoons and Monday nights go by and no sports are ever watched.


11) I can take a shower at any point in time without having to worry about running out of hot water


12) There are no hats or gloves laying around in any area of my house


13) I can leave my jacket on my couch... or table... or chair... or the floor... or anywhere I want to.


14) I do not have any seasonal decorations


15) February is coming and I'm not worried about waking up and finding baby calves in my bathroom.


So yeah... Being out of the house is strange. Not bad, not necessarily good. Because family is still family. It is different though. Just one more stage in my own, sweet reality :)

Confessions of an Underground Baker...

So here I am, down in Miami, or Ft. Lauderdale to be more exact. So what do I want to do to make myself feel more at home? Cook of course! Because, believe it or not... I haven't really done much cooking at cooking school. Ironic isn't it? Then again though, I'm sure the Chefs there are just wanting to keep us from the whole legal hassal that comes with poisoning somebody.

Now since I've been down here, you would think I'd be very excited to cook something... well... Savory. You know, with meat, and spices, and sauces and that kinda thing. Yet, as I've looked at the last few dishes I've made I realize that these fall more under the 'pastry' section of cooking. I guess that deep down somewhere I really do have a desire to be a pastry chef. Just not enough of a desire to pay forty grand for it. *shrug*

I thought I might as well add some updates though of what I have done here. Folks, please be impressed. This kitchen isn't as well equipped as my dear mothers (which I'm used to). I can cook here. I can make some good food here. I just have to wash dishes between courses which I'm really not used to. Especially the whole washing dishes by hand thing... Yeah.. I might be looking on Craig's List soon looking for an apartment-size dishwasher. Or cheap labor... Something for sure.

So here is what I've made so far....

Some peanut butter cinnamon rolls with a mocha/cinnamon frosting... Yummy... Personally though I think I could've done with a tad less cinnamon in the frosting... It seemed a little grainy.

Then came my version of my mom's sandwich loaf. When she makes it though, it takes up two full cookie sheets and can feed 4 people. Okay, so maybe if we had normal size portions and we didn't all end up taking thirds it could really feed 6-8 people. :) As my teacher Chef Patrick says, "Le Yum" (yes, that's right folks, he's french)

I just used some regular frozen dinner rolls and thawed them out....


Then I rolled them out and filled it with my choice of fillings :) Which happened to include mozzarella and cheddar cheese, turkey lunch meat, jalapenos, and black olives. Yummy :) I also buttered the bread to add some extra flavor and browning on the inside as well as the out. Thank you Paula Dean.










So after all of that yummi-ness, I cut the sides and did a criss-cross seal with the dough, and tossed it in the oven. Baked it all for about 20 minutes. When I brought it out... add a couple pickles and some nice kettle chips. Le Yum. :)

Alive

I'm still here. Don't worry. The lack of writing is only a sad combination of my moving to another state, starting school, setting up house, and looking for a job all rolled into one. I'm hoping to have a few free moments later on this week to expound on my latest cooking exploits and say a bit more about life down in Miami.