Happy Birthday Hershey!!!!

Today is the 102nd birthday of Hershey Park. And for this special day, my friend Devon created this amazing three course lunch which chocolate in every course. Everything was delicious. One of the best lunches I've had at the Academic Bistro.

The first course was a chocolate chicken satay. A rectangular plate was brought out with two skewers of grilled chicken that had been dusted with cocoa and other spices, and was served with a Reese's peanut dipping sauce. Yummy! The chicken was cooked perfectly. It just fell of the skewer when you put your fork in it. And the sauce complemented it wonderfully.

The second course was a zesty flank steak salad. I thought it was a wise choice for a lunch and was refreshing, since it was warm outside. The flank steak was dusted with cocoa powder before cooked and the flavors were great. The salad of mixed greens and corn had a delicious tomato chocolate basil vinaigrette which I thought made the dish even yummier.

And for dessert, a Heath bar chocolate caramel tart. How yummy does that sound? I was helping her make them the other day and I couldn't stop eating all the scraps. She made a chocolate tart and then topped it with caramel, chocolate ganache, and crushed Heath bars. It was a great ending to a great meal. Milk was also served in cute little glasses that had been rimmed with cocoa powder. So cute :)

Good job Devon!!!!

It's Finally 70 and Sunny!!

I feel like its been rainy for the past month. There weren't many pretty days in March or the beginning of April. Today its 70 and beautiful. Walking back and forth to school was lovely. Even on my second trip.

I had class this morning from 9-10. Then I had to run home and take an online exam, that was only open for a short amount of time, ah. On my way back, Devon called me and asked if I could pick her up 15 bananas. Apparently there bananas for the bananas foster went missing and lunch was being served at noon. So I went home, took my exam, which only took about 30 minutes, and then ran to the grocery store to pick up bananas. I think the lady at the checkout thought I was nuts. Oh well.

So with the 15 bananas, I walked back to school. Got there just in time. They were cutting up the few bananas they had found. The things we do for school!!

Anyways, walking all over the place was really nice. I love being outside when its 70 and sunny. I hope this warm weather stays!!

Six Cheesecakes and a Carrot Cake

Two goat cheese cheesecakes, three Oreo cheesecakes, one regular one, and a carrot cake all in one week. I'm officially naming this week the cheesecake week. The goat cheese ones were for class today. I made them on Tuesday though. I wasn't a fan of making these. The goat cheese had been sitting in the fridge for a few too many weeks and there was no cream cheese mixed with it, so it was really 'barnyardy' as Chef B said. I think three people ordered it and I'm pretty sure that two of them came back because people didn't like them. I knew that, but the chef apparently didn't. Oh well.

Three cheesecakes and a carrot cake are for some people in my building for Easter. I made two cheesecakes and the carrot cake yesterday. Luckily my mom took the train in and brought me more spring form pans. She spent the day with me and watched me cook. We even went food shopping too. Found some awesome mozzarella balls at Fresh Grocer which turned into my dinner. They were so yummy.

Spent ten hours in class today, mainly running a dessert station. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. Surprisingly the kitchen was pretty calm. We had some music on and were moving pretty quickly. By the time we were ready for service, everything was prepped and looking good. No one had to wait for their food, especially dessert, and everyone seemed to have good comments.

Got home around 7, made some taco meat for dinner, made the third cheesecake, and then sat down. That wasn't smart. I still have to make the icing for the carrot cake and decorate it tonight. Now I just have to get up and do it.

Oh Classes!!!

Ok. There really needs to be a disclaimer on some classes when you are registering for them. For example, lets take my Professional Dining Room Management class. When registering for the two credit class, (yes I said two credits) it says that the class is from 3:30pm to 7:20pm on Thursdays. Yes, that is a four hour class for two credits. Seems like you aren't getting enough credits.

So, today was the first class. We come to find out, that not only does class last for four hours, but for three weeks, it lasts until at least 10pm, making a two credit class require about seven hours of work a week.

Normally, I'd be ok with it. Culinary classes never get out on time, so whatever. What stinks though is that I have class from 9am til 3pm on Thursdays as well. Having class straight through from 9am to 7:20pm was long enough and now they tell us that some weeks we will have to be in class for thirteen hours straight. Not cool.

Another thing that stinks is that we are all going to be in the kitchens for six hours, hot and sweaty, and then go and serve a seven-course dinner, looking presentable. Somehow sixteen of us are going to have to freshen up without taking a shower because there isn't enough time for all of us to go back home and take one. This is going to be interesting.