Wrong keys

Yesterday I locked myself out of my apartment. Yep, I went to take Charlie for his walk after getting changed from my uniform when I got home from school and I locked us out. I grabbed what I thought were my keys, but when we got back from our walk I realized I had grabed the keychain with the laundry room and mail key on it and not my house keys, ugh! Not only did I grab the wrong key but I locked my phone in the house too, so I couldnt call Vince. I figured it was around 140, and I knew Vince went in a hour early so he would be getting off at 330 so he should be home by 4, he actually didnt get home till 430, almost 3 hrs outside! I guess I could have knocked on someones door and asked to use their phone but I just felt kind of weird. So Charlie and I waited and walked and waited some more, through the rain, hail, wind and cold. Once Vince got home I told him my story and then took a nice hot shower. Next time I'll double check I picked up the keys on the green keychain, my keys :)

Breads = Tired

I have been taking an earlier Max to school this week so I can get there @ 6:00 and have a whole hour head start on bread. Chef Bruce said if we wanted to complete this weeks check list we would probably have to use any extra time available to us before and after class, boy was he right. I've been staying the 2 hours of lab after class as well. I think by Thursday morning we were all a bit loopy from lack of sleep, Sarah especially!



I finished everything on the check list this week (woohoo, 1st time). We're not actually expected to do everything on the list, since this is just intro., but if you do it just looks way nutty :)



Here are a couple pictures from today while we were just finishing up with the practicals of what we learned this week.
The first is Sarah expressing her feelings of the week, and the second is me, this how us bakers play sports!!

Gordon Ramsay

I found out that Gordon Ramsays at The London in West Hollywood opens Feb. 2008. Woohoo this means I can aim to do my externship there. My externship doesnt actually begin till next Aug. but this gives me plenty of time to get all my contacts and be as prepared as I can be for when all the extern interviews and whatnot roll around.

Bread

Bread, bread and more bread! This week is bread week, the last portion of the intro class. Every morning we have to make 3 baguettes of pain ordinare., along with 2-3 bread items after demo. I really enjoy making bread, I'm happy the class we move onto after this intro class is our breads class :) So far we have made the baguettes out of pain ordinare, milk rolls from pain au late, beer rock out of soft dough, white pan bread, a sweet dough (being made into cinnimon rolls tomorrow), and savarin dough. Tomorrow we will be finishing the cinnamon rolls, finishing the savarin ( to be plated with creme anglaise, creme chantilly, and a fruit coulis), tortillas, pita, and focaccia. Friday our practical is the baguettes and milk rolls, I have been kickin but this week and getting everything pushed out in time so Friday should be no problem. Ill post pictures soon of some of the breads so far.

"Can I use your cell phone?"

I have been asked this question so many time since moving to Portland. I'm not sure if this is just a Portland or NW thing or maybe I have a sign on my back that says "Use my cell phone for free!"

The first guy:
He was at my Max stop when I came home from school one day. He looked way lost and saw me texting and asked if he could call his buddy to try and figure out where he was. He called his buddy but he himself had no clue where he was. The guy on the other end asked to speak with me so I could tell him which stop he was at. The guy ended up taking the wrong max completely, wrong collor and direction... poor guy.

The secong and third guys:
These 2 guys were both at the Gateway transit center when I got off to transfer to the blue line on my way home from school. I had 2 cakes with me that day and they began talking to me about my cakes. The younger of the 2 guys asked if i knew of any Kareoke bars around, since the dude he had with him was supposed to be at this one not too far from Gateway to perform but was late. He asked if he could use my phone to call the bar to tell them they would be late. Then the other guy after seeing I would let them use it asked if he could call his sister, in Flordia. His sister didnt pick up but he proceded to leave a message yelling at her to mail his shit and how she needs to stop ignoring him.

The fouth girl:
I met her today on the Max coming home from school. She asked me how far I was going on the MAx, I found this kind of odd, but I answered with 102nd. She then asked if it was possible to use my cell phone when we hit the lloyd Center because her phone died. Sure, no problem, Ive got a butt load of minutes I never end up using anyways. She called her friend to let her know she was passing Lloyd and would be at NE 80th soon.

After writing this I realized I am only asked by someone to use my cell phone when I am on the max or near a stop, when I am on my way home from school and in my uniform, and I am carrying baked goods home. Maybe its just that commpon of a thing that people do up here.

Externship

I have figured out where I am really going to strive to get my externship at, Gordan Ramsay at the London opening in 2008 in West Hollywood! There are other resturants of his out there, but none near Portland and the rest are in New York and England. I was thinking of the new show of his this season, the kitchen one, and for some reason I searched his name and boused dome info of his. I saw that there will be a new resturant opening in '08 and it clicked! Thats where I want to go, as long as its open by the time of my extern in August '08. I figure if I plan on going back to SoCal then it will totally work out, and if I deside to stay in PDX then I can go live back at my parents for the 3 months and then come back up here.

I'm sure this externship location will be extermelyhard to get into, but I figure it gives me something to really push for. I will always have a back up, like a high end hotel or something.

Crap! That was my stop!

Today on my way home from school I desided to take the red line to Gateway and hop on a blue line there instead of my normal blue line all the way home, because Sara was with me and she only needed to go a few blocks to Yamhill. That and I had 2 cake boxes so my arms were tired and i just wanted to sit. After Sara gets off I still have about 20 minutes till Gateway, well I start talking with these 2 ladies and completely forget I was on the red line. We get to Gateway and nothing even clicks with me that I need to get off there, untill we pull away from the stop and instead of going straight we start to curve right and go over the freeway. Crap! The next stop is a good distance away, nothing ridiculously far, but it still made my trip home longer then I wanted. I can't believe I did that, haha.



I finished up my genoise and buttercream cake, finally! The genoise cake is soaked with a simple chocolate liquor syrup and the buttercream is flavored with a raspberry liquor, the jam in the center and ontop of the rosettes is raspberry as well. I also baked my devils food cake, masked and filled it with ganashe and then coated it with a rum chocolate glaze. We had to then put a border on it and write happy birthday on it, just for pipping practice... which I need. Here are some photos of my cakes today...

(Chef Emma took the nibble out of the slice above to make sure the cake had the right consistancy)

Well Im officially certified to safely handle food through out the US for five years. You got it, no boogies in the food I serve. So yeah, I passed my ServSafe test that we took a few weeks back in class and I'm pretty happy about it. It sounds silly but it looks really really good to have on your resume when looking for a great externship.
Speaking of which, the school is all about having students start to plan their externship the moment they attend the first day of class. So I've been cheking some places out here and there and I have come up with a lits of about 4, depending on where I might like to live. If I go back down to Socal I will either be shooting for Disneyland or somewehre in San Diego. If I think Ill stay in Portland I'll most likely try for Timberline lodge, The Govenor Hotel, or a couple other top hotels in downtown. I've also considered going outside of Ca. or Ore. and looking into Disneyworld in Fl., or Sundance Hotel in Park City, Ut.

Next week is the last week of my current intro class. I can't believe how much i have learned! This week we have been working on cakes, mostly french type cakes. We will be finishing the course next week with breads. I really should update more but I am always wiped out when I get home from school. I will try and make a huge update in the next week, pictures and all.

well its off for a walk with Char, shower, read, then bed. night everyone!

Mexican food

I have been craving mexican food for about 2 weeks now! Bad news for me though... Portland has no trace of good mexican food around. Vince and I tried this mexica/salvadorian place, i figuted we could give it a shot since salvadorian food was described to me as "mexican food but with more potatos'' Hmm I like potatos, so we go in. Chips and salsa, not bad, maybe this place will be alright. I get tacoos and Vince get some salvadorian meal that is sliced marinated beef and potatos. Well, the food comes out, mine looks good but thats about it. Vince's on the other hand was hillarious, the potatos were french fries. Yeah like the frozen bag kind!
Then today i stopped by a little place by my school, I got a tacos so I snack on while I waited for the max. Ok so i asked for a thing of hot sauce... it was ketchup, with the smallest trace of cilantro. Yuck!
Please will someone overnight me mexican food, haha!

More Than a Memory

So I was on my way home from Target, where I performed a miracle by the way ( I bought only what I went in for which was all household items and only spent $21.08 ), when this song came on the radio. I had never heard it, but immediately thought it sounded like Garth Brooks, Hmmm thats odd I know myself some Garth Brooks, I mean he was my first ever concert as a kid, but have never heard this song so I figured it was some other artist. When I got home I searched part of the lyrics on google and found out it is a GB song, it's new. He has a greatest hits or something coming out on Nov. 6th with 3 new songs. Anyways the word hit me, I have totally felt this way and gone through this the way the song discribes. I didnt cry or anything but it was emotional to me. I have Come so far from my ex and I. I couldnt be more thankful for the way things turned out with him and I. I grew as a person. I mean sure looking back and remembering the feelings I felt still is emotional for me but Im not emotional for what happened... if that maes sence.

Anyways you should go check out the song ( I guess it was originally done buy someone named lee bruce but I love Garth) Here are the lyrics too.

People say she's only in my head
It's going to take time but I'll forget
They see I need to get on with my life
What they don't realise..

It's when you're dialing six numbers just to hang up the phone
Driving across town just to see if she's home
Waking a friend in the dead of night
Just to hear him say, "it's going to be alright"
When you find the things to do not to fall asleep
Cause you know she'll be there in your dreams
That's when she's more than a memory

Took a match to everything she ever wrote
Watched her words go up in smoke.
Tore all the pictures off the wall
That ain't helping me at all

It's when you're talking out loud but nobody's there
You look like hell and you just don't care
Drinking more than you ever drank
Sinking down lower than you ever sank
When you find yourself falling down upon your knees
Praying to God, begging him please
That's when she's more than a memory

She's more..
She's more..

It's when you're dialing her number just to hang up the phone
Driving across town just to see if she's home
Waking a friend in the dead of night
Just to hear him say, "it's going to be alright"
When you find the things to do not to fall asleep
Cause you know she's waiting in your dreams
That's when she's more than a memory

People say she's only in my head
It's going to take time but I'll forget

I wish chef uniforms were wrinkle free and came out of the dryer crisp and starched!

Last week was our first "real" week of school. We were actually making things to be graded and checked off and on fridays from now on will be our test days and practicals. Practicals are basically where the chef tells us to make 2 or more items from earlier that week that we learned in demo and practiced making during class time. Then we turn these items into either Chef Bowers or Chef Emma for grading. We have a whole scale that these items are based on taste, texture, appearance, formation, etc. I am just in the Intro. class so we do a bit of everything, my next classes will be more focused on 1 subject... breads, cakes, sugar, chocolate, etc, etc. Anyways last week we were working on cookies so for our practical we had to make peanut butter cookies dipped in tempered chocolate and almond macaroon sandwiched with jam. I missed 1.5 points on my peanut butter cookies because 1 of the cookies wasnt as round as the rest ( i think i squished part of it while rolling it in sugar) and i only missed .5 of a point on my macaroon becaused a few of them cracked a teeny tiny bi ( might be due to over whipping my eggs) either way I recieved A's on both.

Well not its off to iron and starch a weeks worth of chef uniforms... 1 thing I'm not diggin' about school, lol.

We also took 2 tests on friday. One was on everything we have learned so far, cookies, ingredients, methods, and whatnot... I only missed 1. The other was our ServSafe test which doesnt count towards our grade but it looks really good on our resumes if you get it. Im not sure how I did, I know i missed a few but I will find out on monday if I will get my certification. I have already passed the Multnohma food handlers test so I am able to be in school and work in portland in the food industry but that was an easy test. If I dont pass this National SevrSafe test there are mutiple repeat test dates through out the time of my schooling ( about 1 every 9 weeks).

Long Weekend!

Yay for holidays! No I didn't get to sleep in much because of our terror of a kitty but I did get to enjoy the time off. Saturday we had plans to take Charlie to a self serve dog wash but instead we went over to Steve and Drea's house with him. Stever and Drea have a 5 month old pug named Ralph who is mega high strung so we thought it would be nice to take them both to the dog park in Wilsonville. Steve told us it was like a 20 min walk to the park so we figurred why not walk.... psssh! it was way longer then 20 min. plus it was through a wooded area, not great for walking in with flip flops. Anyways we finally get there and there is only like 4 other dogs. One whos owners wouldnt let it off the leash and 3 other who belonged to this guy and his daughter. Ok so Im used to the upland dog park, lots of dogs, plenty of watering buckets, running water, etc. This places was rural, no running water, you have to bring your own or fill up 2 large sparkletts bottles that are left at the park but to do that you have to drive fill them up and then drive em back. Luckily the guy with the 3 dogs just filled them both. Poor Charlie didnt seem to enjoy his time too much, the guys 2 german shepards and dane mix just wanted to dominate him the whole time. Eventually they left and Char got to enjoy his time. Just a bit after the guy, his daughter and 3 dogs left 2 girls come walking up with their 2 dogs. 1 of the girls look familiar but I dont think anything of it, I mean Im in Oregon now. Then it hits me, she looks like me ex's ex.... I know she moved to Portland about a year before him and I got together but I didnt ever think i would run into her, plus we were in Wilsonville. She eventually takes off her sunglasses and sure enough it's definately her. I didnt say anything, but I am 100% it was her. After being at the dog park for about an hour we walk to the Wiliamett river and relax on the docks. Later that night after we got back we went out to this mexican place by their house and had dinner... one thing Oregon doesnt have, super good mexican food. This place out of all the places we have tried though was the best, but we sure do miss El Perrico in Upland/Rancho.



Sunday we went to the market again, I found a girl who makes skirts and want to go back next weekend and get one. Super cute! After enjoying the afternoon at the Sat/Sun market we took charlie to a new dog park in Happy Valley, Or., just 15-20 min south of here. It was much more accessible then the Wilsonville park, and more people there as well.



Today vince and I just went and saw Halloween. It was pretty good. Ive still got to iron all my uniforms for the week but I am just avoiding having to do it, ugh. here are some pictures of Charlie and I by a stream running through the Happy VAlley park and some of Minnie pretending she is spider cat!