Lauren S. Blog 4

 I have had many interesting food experiences throughout this month. I have tried many new things, and have cooked things that i have never made before. For the most part, they have all turned out really well.
 One thing that turned out really well this past week, that i made for the first time with a new recipe, is white cheddar baked macaroni and cheese. I had a bunch of friends over, and thought that it was something that everyone would enjoy. I started out by cooking the pasta, and preheating the oven. I then made my traditional home-made macaroni and cheese. Using flour, milk, butter, and different cheese's to make a basic white cheddar macaroni and cheese. Next, i poured half of the pot of mac and cheese into a glass cooking pan. On top of the layer of pasta, i layered large, sliced, pieces of white mozzarella cheese and covered most of the pasta. On top of that, i poured the rest of the pasta with the cheese sauce. This made the dish double layered with cheese. On top of the next part of pasta, i layer down more mozzarella cheese, sprinkled some  parmesan cheese, and layered the top with seasoning and bread crumbs. The dish came out very well, i served it with garlic bread, and caesar salad, which everyone also loved.
 Another dinner i enjoyed making this month is BBQ steak. I grilled steak for about 15 minutes. Every time i flipped the steak, i would brush the steaks with BBQ sauce and seasoning. The steak came out really well, and BBQ  really complimented the steak. I served this with sweet potato fries and applesauce. 

 The Hook Restaurant

            For my sister’s birthday (April 21^st) we went to a new restaurant in Sandy Hook called ‘The Hook’.  It is an Italian restaurant that turns into a regular bar/pub at 10 or 11 o’clock each night.  The interior design (my first impression of the eatery) was nice. It was a relaxed feel. The tables were a little close to each other, which made it a little stuffy and uncomfortable.

Now what really mattered was the food.  The bread was very good; crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.  The appetizers, to me looked like they were frozen and then microwaved.  The rest of my family thought otherwise.  The fried mozzarella and the fried calamari were the two main culprits.  The entrée that I ordered was Filet Minion.  It was served on a nice dish, with mashed potatoes and assorted vegetables. However, I had asked for my meat to be cooked medium-rare, and it seemed to be well done.  The meat was still very good.

I personally believe that this restaurant is a little too expensive.  The service was great.  Though the restaurant has some flaws, I believe that it will only get better, and I would recommend it to anyone. 

~Mike Davenport

So when I was around 12 I went to Florida with my dad. while we were there as typical custom with him, he chartered a fishing boat for one day. Normally we went fishing in regular depth water off the coast (5-40 feet deep). This time however he decided to take me deep sea fishing. Once you find the fish, craziness ensues. I started when a two foot long king mackerel took the line and ran. After ten minutes it was in the boat and two rods both got hit at the same time. Hours later I was ready to collapse. There were six fish in the boat, all of which were King Mackerel longer than the first I caught. Longest being a little over four feet I think.  Now seafood in Florida is awesome if you've ever had it. The hotel was on the beach overlooking the surf. That night I ordered a Yellow Tail Snapper. Its a pretty fish that when cooked, is amazing. The white fish was cooked with other seasoning and came served with steamed and buttered clams on the side. It was a ridiculous melt-in-your-mouth sensation that I decided to enjoy for the next two dinners after that. Florida is great for three things; food, water, and fishing. and hey, what else do you need.
Grandon S.

So i woke up this morning and laid in bed pondering what to have for breakfast. At first I thought, well i'm not too hungry maybe ill just have some fruit or just wait to eat until lunch. After waiting for about an hour I looked at the clock and saw it was almost 1130! Wow, I should probably eat, I thought to myself. But what exactly to eat was the question. Within a few minutes I began crazing my dads home made pancakes. So I went down stairs and rummaged through the kitchen for this recipe. Of course it had to be on a little piece of paper shoved behind everything, you can never find what you want when your starving. I decided to throw in some apples and cinnamon to give them a little different flavor. I wish these pancakes were healthy considering they call for 1/4 of stick of butter just in the pan to crisp the edges, but yet they are so delicious. I was nervous to see how they were going to turn out with the apples in them, luckily they were even better then usual. A great start to a good day!

Ryan M. Baking 1 4/29/12 Food at the Garden About a month ago, I went to a New York Rangers game with my brother and my dad. I had only been to one other Rangers game before that one, so I was pretty excited. Going to Madison Square Garden for the first time is not something that you will soon forget, and strangely, one of the things I remember most about my first time at the Garden was the food. I had probably the 2nd largest burger that I had ever seen with enough fries to feed six accompanying it. They served the meal in a convenient container, so that you wouldn’t spill all of your food on the way back to your seat. The burger itself had almost all of the toppings that you would expect on a burger and although it wasn’t the best burger that I had tasted, it was still pretty good for stadium food. Since French Fries are pretty much fool proof, they were as delicious as you would expect. On this trip to the Garden, I was sitting in a much different place than where I was during the first game, but I figured that they would still offer the same variety of food. When we got to our section (As high as you can get in MSG), I took a look around and saw only pizza establishments. Now don’t get me wrong, I love pizza and I could probably eat it every day of the week, but it isn’t exactly what I would call “Hockey” food, if there is such a thing. With no other options and my vast hunger I gave in and bought the most expensive and smallest pizza in my life (8 dollars, 4 small slices). Compared to the burger I had before, the pizza was a hors D’ oeuvre and an inadequate one at that. I was almost tempted to buy another one, but the hole in my wallet was only getting bigger, so I decided against it. It was a good lesson to learn early in life, eat before a sporting event or else you’ll go broke and hungry. I’m going to one on the 30th, so I’ll have to remember.

So while in Aruba, I went to an Ostrich farm and fed ostriches, but on the way back I saw that they sold Ostrich burgers and sandwiches.. I mean, food has come a long way, but I don't understand how people can just kill animals to make food out of them. Maybe my facts aren't 100% correct but, it's still an animal being sold to be eaten. Don't get me wrong I have eaten my share of cow, pig, chicken and whatever else is a common food today. But I never understood why.. Lately, I've been wanting to vegetarian because meat hasn't really been something I've wanted to eat much of lately and plus the exact topic of at hand, it's from animals.. It is the cycle of life, of course, animals eat animals and so on so from what I learned in science class years ago. I just really like animals, and don't see how humans can just use them for meat. Maybe I'm a little drastic here, but I mean, we don't get sold to be eaten, because canabolism is wrong, or just gross. So how can that not apply to animals. There just as much part of this world as us. But I can also see that they are a main source of our seafood, meat and dairy(?).. It just weirds me out some, I guess. I've found myself eating less and less meat or chicken, (is chicken considered meat?) lately and just sticking with basics like salad, soup, and oatmeal. My parents think I'm crazy, but I just feel bad for those animals. -Jamie D

Unhealthy food consumes our everyday life. Have you ever noticed that in the grocery store buying healthy food is much more expensive than bagged or frozen food. I feel as though society has made it so hard for us to make healthy food decisions. There’s so many Burger kings, McDonalds, Wendys etc in the world it makes me think that our destiny is just to consume it all because, why not? It’s so hard to say no to fast food because it’s so delicious but yet so unhealthy for our bodies. So why do we keep on eating it? Its just a simple way of living, it’s easy and on the go. There’s way more unhealthy food stores than healthy so we have to go out of our ways to make healthier life styles. I feel as though junk food has taken over our society. No wonder why the obesity rate in America is so high, its because of all of these on the go food places. It’s so convenient it’s hard to say no.-Ashley Beckett