Today, I made my own dinner for the first time ever. It was basic pasta, from a box, but I mean. I was so proud of myself, because I never took charge of making my own food before. My mom or dad would always be by my side interfering all the time. It was definitely a moment to remember, because now my parents will be more likely to let me actually use the kitchen now, since they can see that I won’t blow up the house or anything, you know the usual concerns. I’ve been telling my mom what I’ve been making throughout baking class, and she’s  impressed with me and even is asking me to make deserts for her now. She asked me to make her a coconut cake, I’m excited to take on the challenge of doing so for her. Plus fathers day is coming up soon, and my mom told me I should definitely make him one of his favorite deserts. Being asked to make them deserts, honestly makes me happy, because before they would never even let me touch anything in the kitchen. Which is lame, since they never even attempted teaching me how to even use anything in the kitchen. I was going through all the cabinets today, and for a family that does not bake at all, and basically buys food out everywhere, we actually have everything I would need to cook. The one thing I didn’t find was baking powder, and surprisingly when I brought it up with my mom, she went out and bought me some so I can bake whatever I wanted. Speaking of which, my dad made a strawberry pie the other day. I was so bummed he didn’t ask me to help him, because he ended up buying pie crust for it, and in my mind I was thinking, “I’m so boss at making pie crust!!” It could have turned out a lot better, if we combined are awesome baking skills. Honestly, this class has tought me so much. I would always be so envious of my friend who made practically everything from scratch, because I never understood how to even do such a thing, but now I totally get it and see how fun it is. My favorite part of making cakes, or cupcakes or any kind of desert, is the decorating part. One of my passions is art and designing things, and so I made these cupcakes not too long ago, and I just had a blast because I was able to incorporate something I loved into this delicious desert that I made from scratch and could share with people. It was a nice moment for me, I must say. I always find it so cute, when I go to little desert shops and see all the designs and decorations on all the deserts there. Because it gives me ideas, and motivation to do things like that on my own.
-Jamie D

Since I started baking & pastry class at the beginning of the semester, my mom has stopped buying snacks when she goes grocery shopping to try and get me to make stuff as a hobby. She complains that all I do is dance and sleep (which is true to an extent) but she thinks I needed something more. Also, around April break my family discovered a new love for the Food Network, specifically the shows Chopped and Sweet Genius. So basically in the past month my life has been surrounded by food, more so then typically. This increase in the amount of food has impacted my life in several ways. For one, I’ve had to go to the gym a few more times then usual, but usually when I would bake or cook anything it would just be like a one time thing that I would enjoy making. Since my recent baking surge, I’ve had family and friends suggesting/demanding foods for me to make. This has lead me to be so much more creative with my food. It has inspired me to make more fun dishes with more exciting ingredients. For example, I always used to make lemon curd just to eat like a custard or pudding. But after just some sitting and thinking about food (one of my favorite activities) that transformed my lemon curd into lemon strawberry curd in a pastry dough bowl shaped from the bottom side of a muffin pan.  Also, for birthdays and events, I started making cakes and things from scratch because I have learned how much better unprocessed foods are. What all of this expresses is how much I have actually learned in this class; so many practical things that I do use on a weekly, if not daily basis. The information I have gathered in this class is so valuable, unlike how to factor quadratic equations or what year Confucius said something. This course is important to me, and I am still grateful to this day for the choice of it.

-Hope M.

Making Cookies

            A few days ago, i made cookies. i took the easy way out and used the pre-made cookie dough instead of making it from scratch like we did in class.  For this method, all that you need to do is use a scoop to take some cookie dough out, put it on a pan, and then bake them.  This is not fun, or challenging, but you still come out with a pretty good tasting cookie.  However, i would much rather go through the entire process: making the cookie dough by hand.   That way i know exactly what is in the cookie that i am making. You never know nowadays what they put into these types of food products. 

            Not only do I like the full process more because it is fun, but i also think that making things by hand, following a recipe makes the item produced taste much better than an already made product. For example, would you rather have Fresh corn on the cob, or the stuff that comes in the cans?  I prefer fresh foods that come from myself.  This is why from now on I will only make my baked goods from scratch.

-Mike Davenport

            Last week I went to a restaurant that my family has been going to since before I was born.  We don’t go there that often because it is expensive but delicious.  Everyone there is like family we know everyone really well except for the new people like the bus boys.  This restaurant is called Tonelli’s.  When I went there, there was sooo many good things on the menu and I couldn’t decide what I wanted.  I finally decide to have a 10oz. filet mignon.  I knew it was going to be good but I am not really a steak person. The only steak I will eat and enjoy is filet mignon.  Of course it is the most expensive.  They brought out a huge salad for me that I happily ate.  I was half full by the time my filet came out.  I took the first bite and took a delicious road to Filet Mignon heaven.  I hit a food wall about half way through and couldn’t eat it all but I crashed through it a kept eating.  I wasn’t going to let this awesome piece of meat go to waste.  It could cut it by just staring at it.   There was no fatty parts or tough/chewy parts.  It was 10oz. of awesomeness.  I even ate the perfectly sautéed string beans and carrots.  Since we knew the waiter so well he brought out a bowl of strawberry and chocolate ice cream and that was even really good.  I would highly recommend going to Tonelli’s.

                                  -Sean H.

In the last few weeks our class has been participating in the cupcake war.  I have truly been enjoying this unit because we are learning, not only how to make cupcakes, but also how to decorate them and make them look attractive.  Making them look good was probably my favorite part of the activity.  My group won two awards for best taste and two for best look.  The first day our mint cupcake won for appearance and our peanut butter cupcake won for taste.  On the second day, we made a chocolate chip cookie cupcake with chocolate icing.  That was definitely our worst cupcake because it we did something wrong with the icing.  Also, the cupcake didn’t look very attractive.  On our last day we made the pumpkin cupcake which won everything.  When I tasted it, I thought it was very refreshing.  For the decoration we squeezed the icing out without a metal tip, we only used the white parts.  Also, we dyed the white frosting orange and put a leaf in the icing. Lastly, we shook some powdered sugar onto the plate, but not the cupcake.  I enjoyed this competition and experience.  It made me appreciate much more.

Sam Rohrbacher

Joshua Kaufman

Mrs. H

5/29/12

Class 1

                                                          Girl Scouts

My food experience was when my sister decided to make these bark cookies called Samoa bark and they are supposed to taste like the Girl Scout cookies. The Girl Scout cookies are called Samoa’s. I love those cookies with a passion. I once ate an entire box by my self in a sitting and gained a pound. That is a lot of weight if you gained it in 10 minutes. So my sister attempted to make the cookies that are to die for. When she had to let the Samoa bark harden I looked at them and they didn’t look like any Samoa cookies like I have seen. I got worried. So after an hour of waiting I got to try a cookie that my sister made. They were really good I liked the texture and most of all the taste. The only problem was they tasted nothing like the Girl Scout cookies. In the end it was a tasty new treat that I really enjoyed. It taught me always try something new because it may surprise you. 

Food poisoning is probably one of the most frustrating disease someone one can catch.  You never know when it will come and there is nothing that can stop it.  Everyone tries their hardest to use the freshest foods and keep everything clean but sometimes, bacteria takes over the kitchen.  It’s hard for everyone to understand what causes food poisoning and therefore, not everyone knows how to prevent it.  Thankfully, I have never had food poisoning because I hear that it is very tiring and painful.  The symptoms are usually diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pains and fever.  It is weird to think that something so little can turn around and bite you in the butt, and get you so, so sick.  Our bodies need food, it is the most important thing to stay alive, but it is also very dangerous.  People always have to keep caution of what they are putting in their body.  Also, some people are deathly allergic to certain foods, unlike others.  Others choose not to eat certain foods, like meats, or dairy.  When it comes to food, everyone can be hurt by it in some way, whether it’s by food poisoning or by being allergic. Even though food is most important, it could also be most dangerous.