Strep Throat

So our last day in Seattle we went to the park and took a bunch of pictures with Dan's new badass camera.  We basically just ran around posing and jumping in midair and such.  It was a beautiful day, clear blue sky, great temperature.  These are the days that make me want to move to the west coast.  Well maybe some day, but certainly not now. 

Later we packed up our stuff into Dan's car and then met his friends at a hibachi restaurant.  I've been to plenty of hibachi places, and I pretty much always love them, but the performance tends to always be the same.  However, the guy at this place was the best hibachi chef I'd ever seen.  He did awesome unexpected tricks, and was so nice, personable, and funny.  I would definitely go back there again.  Pretty much everyone in the restaurant was laughing and having a great time, the atmosphere was amazing. 

This couple that we had dinner with is actually getting married shortly, and Dan, our very own internet minister will be marrying them.  Trust me, I had the, "Dan should marry Chris and I" argument with my mom plenty of times and I'm just not even going to bother going there again.  It was pretty pointless.  It's a Catholic wedding for us!

We had a pretty terrible flight back.  Elise felt awful at dinner, and whatever she got slowly spread to me throughout the flight so by the time we got back to JFK we were both miserable.  I called in sick to school because I could not even keep myself sitting upright I was in so much pain and discomfort.  Turns out we both had strep throat and Dan got bronchitis.  What a lovely trip to Seattle it was!

Elise and I had crazy high fevers and went to the doctor.  Elise's throat was so sore that her tonsils were literally swollen and bleeding and she had to be prescribed pain medication.  I was told to stay home an extra day from school until I was on antibiotics for 48 hours.  I ended up missing Creme Anglase, Pastry Cream, Pate a Choux, Meringue, Chocolate Mousse, Eclairs, Ganache, and Paris Breast so I had a lot of catching up to do when I got back to school.

Unfortunately, whatever antibiotic that the doctor put me on did more harm than good.  Apparently when I was a baby augmentin made me very sick, but my mom failed to mention this to me, so I didn't know to avoid it.  I was incredibly sick to my stomach, could barely eat anything, had to use the bathroom a lot, and was consequently very dehydrated, still had a sore throat, and was light headed and dizzy from not eating.

I stuck it out in class anyway, after telling Brooke that I felt terrible and asking her to do anything that involved walking over to the hot ovens or stove tops.  I was really pathetic.  We prepped flaky pie dough and apple filling for a pie we were going to make the next day.  I made it through the day and then really started to feel sick as we were leaving.  In true Julie style, I managed to throw up out the driver's side door of my mother's car on the shoulder of the Meadowbrook Parkway after quickly drifting across three lanes with my mouth clenched shut.  Not one of my finest moments.  Needless to say I think I went home and went to sleep.  I don't even remember.  All I know is that those antibiotics were really not working for me, and my throat still hurt like a mofo.  

Kitchen Day 2: Advanced Cookies

Tuesday in class we broke into our usual pairs and were given two recipes to complete by the end of the day. It was nice to get to do something different so everyone is not looking over each others' shoulders and fighting for the same ingredients. Brooke and I were assigned cheesecake brownies (mmm) and cinnamon cookies. I am a huge sucker for brownies. Probably my favorite dessert in the world would be a hot brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, with magic shell or hot fudge or something on top. I also love making and eating cheesecake, so needless to say I was very excited about this one. The cinnamon cookies were pretty much snicker doodles. Or at least like sugar cookies with some spices in them. I wasn't too excited about these because they didn't have chocolate in them, but they actually turned out quite well.

Here are some photos that I unceremoniously thieved from Brooke's blog. If you're reading Brooke, I hope it's okay I borrowed these, maybe I get some kind of immunity as your baking partner about photos of things we baked together! I promise, I put my digital camera in my toolbox and I'm going to make sure that I use it during our next class!

Our cheesecake brownies

Our cinnamon cookies


Our other classmates cookies:

Pinwheel Icebox Cookies

Ginger Snaps and Shortbread

Sugar Cookies

Raisin Spice Bars

Spritz Cookies

Coconut Macaroons, Russian Tea Cookies, & Mexican Wedding Cakes

Double Chocolate Macadamia Chunk Cookies

Linzer Tarts & Cornmeal Pistacio Lime Cookies

Butter Tea Cookies with Raspberry Jam

After class we lined all of the cookies up and were able to take a few of everyone's home so we had a nice variety for our families. Chef Katie said that our cinnamon cookies were one of her favorites and she at like four of them. That made Brooke and I feel happy and high five. Everyone wants to be the best and Chef's favorite. We're all in this silent competition with each other, but when it really comes down to it. I am not going to be competing with these people for jobs. I am smart and savvy and capable and I will be making my own way in the world. So I like to make the best looking products for sure, but it's really more about the learning experience. I pay attention, take notes, as an obscene amount of questions, because this is something I've always wanted to do. I wasted $25,000 and 6 months of my life to find out that this is what I should be doing. I am going to get every last little bit of knowledge out of this experience and make sure that I leave here the best baker and professional that I can possibly be. I may be annoying the crap out of the people around me as I do it, and I try to be as amiable as possible to everyone around me, but when it comes down to it, I am here for me. I am going to get everything I can out of this for myself, because I want it that badly. It feels really good to be so passionate about what I'm doing. I never thought I would feel this way again, and it is such a refreshing change. I can't wait to get back to work!

Until next time,

Julibean <3

Kitchen Day 1: Cookies!

Tuesday was our first day officially baking for ourselves in the kitchen. We had watched as Chef Katie demonstrated her procedure making chocolate chip cookies. Most cookies are made using the creaming method, which is a huge fundamental concept that we would definitely need to have perfected by the end of our first week. I've been really careful not to eat much of anything that we bake. I'd say I am painfully aware of the consequences, so I'm doing my best to keep myself in check. I'm happy to report that I lost an additional 2 pounds during my first week of classes. Maybe this pastry thing can work in favor of my health after all.

Everyone in the class made the same thing that day, chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies. Brooke and my cookies came out perfect and delicious if I do say so myself. I don't have any pictures of those, but I promise I will remember to take pictures of the rest of the things I'll be baking. More to follow!

Saving the world, one cookie at a time,

Julibean <3