Where does the time go?

The holidays are fun, exciting and exhausting!  It's been over two weeks since I've posted but it's not because things haven't been happening.  Far too much to write it all down and we are about to head out the door for a day in Austin to visit my aunt and uncle who live there, their daughter, my cousin Lilly who is in from London, and my Uncle Terry who is there for the Christmas holiday.

Writing and posting photos will have to wait.

I hope everyone is enjoying this special time with family friends and remembering fondly our loved ones who are no longer here.

Enjoy the season.

End of the first semester

I made it!  In a rush to get out the door and off to class, I left my cell phone on the kitchen counter and was alone with my thoughts for the 40+ mile drive to school. Typically I distract myself with phone calls, but today my strategy for the knife skills portion of our exam kept running through my head.

Running late had me talking to myself to keep from freaking out because I was certain that everyone would already be taking the written exam; thank goodness I arrived at school in plenty of time.  Chef had us all spread out and we completed the written test (I scored 93), and then we were off to the kitchen for our knife skills test and the cooking test.  We had to julianne a potato, brunoise a carrot and small chop an onion, in 5 minutes and I did okay with the exception of cutting that darn potato into french fries instead of a julianne cut.  OMG! I practiced this at home!

Next up was the fabrication of a chicken which I was not worried about because I fabed out 2 chickens this morning in record time.  I'll admit it...I'm bossy and refuse to let someone on my 'table' negatively impact my score by doing something incorrectly. Yes, there was the incident were the fellow used the wrong potato for the potato leek soup and I just let it go, but basically I'll be all over someone if they don't do it right. But in a good way.

I took the chicken, made the cuts to the back, took out the spine and then split the breast so we had 2 halves. Everyone on our table had to have their hands on the bird so it was expected of me to back off and let someone else cut parts of the chicken. Really?   Ugh.  Thank God for the guy across from me because he took half of the bird, I passed the other half to the student on my right and with an eagle eye was watching her.  For crying out loud.  I was cringing and had to stop her before she mauled the poor bird.  Okay, look at the the fat lines and follow them...no, don't saw or use too much force. Let the bird do the work....
We got everything taken care of, quickly I might add, and then Chef told us that if we could fab out another chicken in less than 4 minutes we would get extra credit.

Done.   3:55.  And I must say it looked darn good.

Next was the lab portion. Glazed carrots, sauteed mushrooms (present at the same time), white rice and rice pilaf (present together), macaroni and cheese ( with a bechemel sauce), and then the chicken: 1 roasted bone in with skin breast; braise 2 thighs; pan sear 1 boneless/skinless breast; fry 2 wings; grill 2 marinated chicken legs.  All finished and presented to Chef at the same time.

We finished. That's all I'm going to say; some people do more, some do less.  Unfortunately for some, their grade is impacted by the lack of participation by others.  Fortunately for some, their grade is impacted by the hard work of others.

Pastry classes begin on January11th and that means Tuesday evenings from 5:30 till 10:30pm.  I'm going to learn so much! 

Memories

It's that time of year when people all across the world are getting ready to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ, and with this wonderful celebration comes time with family and the remembrance of those who have touched our lives.

One of the most influential people in my life, and in the life of my sisters, was my grandmother,

Grandma Rosie.

Rose Josephine Faulstich Clervi was my mom's mother and the most wonderful grandmother in the world. She watched over us when my parents took a much needed break from raising 6 daughters; she lived close enough that we could ride our bikes to her house, and she was loved by everyone who knew her.  Grandma also played a pretty mean hand of "Kings on the Corner", a card game all of the grandchildren eventually learned from her.

Every year at Christmas Grandma Rosie gave us each a Christmas ornament which mom would proudly display in the house for that season and the next year it would show up on the tree as we waited in anticipation of what the new ornament would look like.

I can only imagine how my parents felt the first year they received 1 ornament from Grandma, and each subsequent year, for 4 years in a row, another ornament was purchased, till at last, in 1970, there were 6 ornaments to purchase for the granddaughters.  I think about and wonder how she selected the ornaments and if she thought about how we would all cherish these treasures and think about how much she meant to each of us.  My mom was the only child who remained in St. Louis and although I know all of my first cousins and stay in touch with them, I don't know if Grandma gave all of them ornaments or if that was something she did only for us.  I would like to think that we are all connected through our ornaments and that all of our Christmas trees share a past and are somehow intertwined.

 I love you, Grandma Rosie, and hope and pray that Jake and my little unborn granddaughter, along with Maddox and Eli think of me in the way I think of you.

 

I remember unwrapping these treasures and being so excited to share them with my sisters; each year recalling which one was "mine" and loving mine the best.

Some of these ornaments, like the little guy below, were only given to a few of us because the younger sisters had not yet arrived.  These precious few are the most special to me. 

Grandma Rosie, I love you, miss you and think of you so very much.

New York New York!

This year Mr. Man and I decided that we would take advantage of Steve and Jackie living in NYC and visit them for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The city did not disappoint.

We arrived on Saturday, the 20th, and from the moment we arrived it was a non-stop week of sightseeing and visiting bakeries and coffee shops to locate the best pastries and espressos the Big Apple has to offer.

 Steve and Jackie outside their Upper East Side apartment building.

On Saturday night we headed out to Little Italy for dinner and I was star struck by the pastries in this little bakery.

Aren't they gorgeous?  Not sure if I'll learn how to do this in school, but I'm keeping these photos to use as a guide when I have time to play around in the kitchen.

 Each one is a work of art.

The macarons are next on my list of things to learn to bake.  Not only are they beautiful, they are absolutely delicious.  Time consuming, yes, which translates to pricey. But, believe me, worth every penny.