New Orleans Night!

Food and Disney: two of my great loves in life.

I decided my roommates and I needed some much deserved bonding as well as some time to just relax. After all, the life of a college student is stressful. So I decided we should start having dinner and movie nights with a cultural theme. Our first one? New Orleans! Our dinner? Louisiana Red Beans and Rice with cornbread. Our movie? The Princess and the Frog.

The red beans and rice were absolutely delicious. Perfectly spicy. Maybe a little too spicy for my Utahan roommates, but hey! Our cornbread was moist and sweet (I'll admit I cheated. This is about the only time I will resort to using a box is for cornbread. But only if it's Trader Joe's cornbread mix. It's so delicious and it's perfect every time!)

Cute Chantel's fiancee came down from Salt Lake to go to a lecture we were required to attend for Honors and he stayed for dinner and part of the movie. Aren't they cute?

And the rest of us:

I just have to say, I completely adore "The Princess and the Frog". I think it is probably one of my favorite movies. I feel like I can relate to Tiana so much. All she wants to do is live her dream of finally owning her own restaurant, and she will do anything to get it. That is totally where I am right now. I am going to culinary classes 30 hours a week and busting my butt to become the best chef I can. It's all I've ever wanted! And I'm almost there! :)

Time Crunch

Hallelujah! I'm finally getting around to writing about my Baking and Pastry final....it was only, what, a whole month ago?

Four hours. I was given four hours to make two dozen soft rolls in two shapes, 16 pate a choux in two shapes (I chose cream puffs and eclairs), 2 cups of creme Anglaise, a pie (chocolate cream), a dozen cookies, and a dozen muffins.

It was nerve racking to say the least. Chef Al was walking around, asking all of the students what they were doing, watching over our shoulders. He was watching me while I was piping the whipped cream on top of my pie and my hands started shaking. I imagine that must be what it feels like to compete.

Anyway, all of my stuff turned out well. My rolls were perfect, as was the creme Anglaise! The muffins were a little bit too salty....wooops. The pate a choux was done really well. My cookies were good, but they didn't turn out how I wanted them to. I wanted them to be soft and chewy, but I left them in the oven for a minute too long and they ended up crisp and sandy. So delicious, but not what I was going for. Bummer.

So here's my spread: