And the End is near.....

I do apologize that this post will contain no photos for those who have been diligent and patient readers of this blog, my limited access to a computer along with a rather chaotic schedule has made my writing more deliquent than ever.

I have been at my externship at New Cascadia Traditional a completely gluten free bakery here in portland and I've done sooooooo many different things and come up with a few new ones not recieved in my fancy french culinary education. Coincidentally my externship ends on the eve of my birthday....it's kind of a big birthday--if you know me you know which one it is :) Today happens to be one of those days I'm not so ready for it...but tomorrow is another day and after that we'll see.

Once life has leveled out and things are on a more steady playing field I will try to make more frequent postings and catch up on all the crazy that's occured in the last 5 months. Graduation is October 23, 2010 if any of you are in the neighborhood and want to attend the ceremony I'll get you a seat :)

until then,
Happy Eating!

Hooray!!!!!!

Silly as it may sound "I survived!" ....you're probably wondering, "what could possibly be so horrific?" worry no longer I will gladly regale you with a brief synopsis of the last 3 weeks of school. Unfortunately I have no amazing photos to accompany this post as there was no time. I have been putting in 15 hour days Monday through Friday in an attempt to be the over achiever I strive to be by taking 3 classes.
Instead of the usual, 1 - 5 hour class, I was scheduled for 1- 2.5 hour class....well this was just riddiculous in my opinion and I had.

What I was going to do with all that extra time???

I found something to do! I found 2 more classes that I needed that were offered in the afternoon! great right? Well in theory the plan was genius because I finished 3 weeks sooner, putting my extern start date at July 6 instead of July 23. It's a good thing I was in math because apparently things weren't adding up to 15 hour days to me....once it did I thought it's only 3 weeks right?

And I thank god for that! I honestly don't know if I could have done it another week without some sort of breakdown. Said breakdown was narrowly avoided earlier today but only a short spritz of waterworks and I was composed and refocused... I amaze myself sometimes just what I'm capable of and strive for so much more--I just hope I can get there.

I have my resume in to the St. Regis Hotel in Aspen, Colorado in the hopes that they will find me amazing and want me to come work for them. I am putting out calls to The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and am also looking into one of the local gluten free bakeries here in Portland. Also in case anyone didn't know-- I went completely gluten free about 3 weeks ago. I was diagnosed in July with Hashimoto's disease and have been reading numerous books & articles about the subject since.

Many of them indicate that people who have removed gluten from their diets have had great success with alleviating their symptoms or eliminating them completely and about a month ago my symptoms felt completely out of control. My mental acuity and focus were frustrating me completely as well as being exhausted.

So when Spring break came I decided after that, No More Gluten for this girl. I have only had one bad slip up-- one of my co workers brought calamari that they'd made in class into the library and I didn't think twice about snapping it up and into my mouth... it was at that moment that I realized--it's breaded with panko--"shit!" (pardon the language but that's pretty much exactly what I said...) Oh world of breaded treats you elude me forever...or until I can come up with a yummy gluten free alternative.

There are lots of things that I haven't eaten in weeks simply because convenience foods are much harder to come by, though I have been reading that Trader Joe's has quite a few gluten free items and there is one 3 blocks from my house. So as soon as pay day gets here I'll be heading there to sample some things. Also since my schedule is returning to normal I plan to spend lots of lab time in the kitchen's working on my regular baking but I really want to work on some gluten free goodies too :) I've been craving chocolate chip cookies and am at a complete loss....Did I mention I've lost like 9 lbs in 3 weeks.....slightly crazy but I'm happy to say that I lost the extra 25 pounds I was carrying around when I moved here! yay! my pants fit again! When I had to break down and buy new pants it was slightly depressing but that's totally off subject now...

So that's all for now, my days will be returning to normal on Monday, meaning I'll be home by 4:30 instead of 8:30 Monday, Wednesday & Friday & by 6:30 on Tuesday & Thursday-- I never thought I'd miss that schedule but "baby I missed you" :)

until next time- happy eating & if you're having bread...eat some for me :)

My slacker ways....

So to my dismay I have not held up my most earnest of promises (Sorry Aunt Kris!!! I know you're a diligent reader :) oxo) to keep up on my blog writting, but to be completely honest--it may be slight laziness but mostly it's I value sleep and homework time versus staring at the computer trying to come up with something great and unique to share with my viewing pool.

I have been sick approximately 5 times since the beginning of january with various forms of a cold & one nasty virus which I actually stayed home and slept for 19 hours--not fun. I also had a visit to the ER a few weeks back when I was innocently doing dishes and a very large pot fell off of its hook & landed squarely on top of my head making me dizzy & nauseous so I was promptly sent in a taxi to the Good Samaritan Hospital right in the middle of finishing my first Wedding Cake.

Looks Lovely doesn't it? It's really not exactly how I originally envisioned it unfortunately but I didn't have the time I originally expected -- my fault for not getting it clarified at 7am when class started vs. 9:30 am when chef said 'why don't you turn it in today at noon--you can work thru clean up.' Envision several mor white lilies with more slivery blue & some other accents in silvery blue on the icicles & the icing design on the bottom.... Or more like my "practice cake" below.

In hindsight I think I would have forgone the crystal legs & set the cake flush on the square. I will note draping a square cake is uber challenging, but I did a pretty kick as job for my first time :)

Also I entered a scholarship contest with a friend. Soup & Bread was the name of the game and though we didn't win...I think we got a pretty awesome soup recipe out of the deal. We did a seafood chowder & pretzel bread below are a few pictures of documentation of our practice runs...
We couldn't decide between a Lamb & Vegetable Soup or the Seafood Chowder so we made both to decide...

Raleigh taking a break while things were simmering....

Our friend who joined the soup.... he came to a crushing end...haha bad joke sorry... there were also mussels, nova tidbits, leeks, carrots & potatoes in the chowder.

I also went to my first wine club gathering at Rex Hill with Megan, Phil & Raleigh...
We got to try the AtoZ fresh from the case less than 2 days in its bottle--I was geekily excited by this fact :)
After trying 5 different wines we headed out to lunch & then home....Traffic was kind of heavy & Phil & Megan didn't make it 20 minutes before they'd passed out cold in the back seat--viscious being that I am with a camera, OF course I took photos :)

It was just a short week later that I experienced my very first professional NBA game :) I went with Ricki, Meg, Brooks, Raleigh & his friends Heidi & Jared. An AMAZING display of antics & fabulous basketball--even if you don't like basketball I feel someone could be completely entertained by all of the antics going on between periods. Who knew?! they don't show the in between stuff on tv! But here are a few memorable moments from that day...
me, ricki & meg
ricki, meg & brooks
Raleigh
Heidi & Jared
Mascot Mania- it was "Blaze's" Birthday apparently so all of his buddies came to the party i.e. the LA Laker's Mascot, the Oregon Ducks & Oregon Beaver's Mascots & various other pro NBA team mascots...What a hoot!


Celebrating our win! ...no portland isn't #1 but we came out number 1 at the end of this game :) 102 to 79

....Did I mention they put these crazy skits up on the board at random times? Hilarious!

I also took a little weekend adventure in early march to get out of town and see some things that I had yet to in the beautiful pacific northwest....it is amazingly gorgeous btw my pictures don't really grasp the entirety of it. I began in portland with my cute little Ford Focus rental...silly me I didn't take a picture, I'm usually not so thoughtless when photo documenting but many photos were taken while driving...:) I started by driving to Tillamook on the Oregon Coast and then proceeded to drive North thru Manzanita, Cannon Beach (where the movie Goonies was filmed) I made sure pictures of Haystack rocks were taken. I then drove thru Astoria and decided then to drive to Seattle to visit my long lost friend Kim... It was delightful! we went to an amazing Spanish Restaurant called Taberna del Alabardero had some small plates & temparnillo plus we got a fireworks show from across the river that was an amazing treat. Let the slide show begin!

This is me on my merry way to Tillamook. I stopped at the Cheese Factory & bought cheese :) Then proceeded to drive north along the coast. The Estuary where the Columbia river meets the Pacific was my first stop & I stopped at random other picturesque spots in Manzanita, Hug Beach, An amazing pulloff Lookout point just before Cannon Beach & lots more....

Hay stack Rocks & my delicious turkey sandwich with cranberries & cream cheese in Cannon Beach....

The Astoria Area.....The Bridge from below....

The View from me driving over the bridge....

Just the walking path below the bridge in Astoria....

Horseback riders on the beach in Washington....

A nifty mural in a small town just past Astoria in Washinton...

And the finish! Seattle :) there are a few more pics from this trip that I'll add at a later date :)

Well that's all for now and I'll make my best efforts to add a little more later as there is but I'm running out of time! Need to do some homework :)

A New Year!

Happy Sunday one and all it is the last day of January 2010 and I am finally breaking down and doing a new blog posting. Things are changing and rapidly. I survived cakes class which there will be some pics to come -- my friend Stephanie from class has this amazing slr digital camera that she has been letting me use to take pictures of my stuff....and my pictures are now more my quality "edgy" type photos of food that my cybershot was just not equipped to take. But I still love her.

Now where are these delicious photos you say?

That's just it, they are on her camera as I keep forgetting to bring a flash drive to school for her to put them on. Hence why it is the 31st of January vs. the 1st of January that this update is occurring-- I was waiting for the pictures....and couldn't wait any longer!

I went to Houston for Christmas to visit my brother, mom & brother's girlfriend-- visiting the family was the highlight of the trip and I also got a special visit to the emergency room to get my lip stitched back together the night before christmas eve....it made two boys cringe if that tells you anything of the looks of it & the doctor even had quite a face about her when she looked at it :) The fun part of that, and if you've ever had stitches in your face somewhere you know they cover you up so you can't really see BUT it's one hell of a puppet show let me tell you! It was so hard not to laugh as she was stitching me up because it was such a cliche` hand shadow with a needle & thread in hand. Awesome. So after eating soft solids for two weeks I had lamb to celebrate on New Years day & it kicked some tail.

My return to Portland was great and I didn't get near what I wanted to accomplished before being thrust back into the hustle and bustle of 4:30am rise and shine followed by anywhere from 9 to 13 hours a day at school/work :) So if you're ever wondering why I forgot to send a birthday card or why I didn't call back....take a peek at the schedule and you have your answer :P If you require in detail a mad hatter spread sheet it could be yours... but only upon request.

As for classes-- they're going well. Crazy, but well. Cakes was a bit stressful & we are on to plated desserts now.

After one hellacious week of things going a bit south both in & out of class, I feel this morning I have the attitude of "it's sunday-- a new day, in a new week & tomorrow is a new month in the new year...so lets make the best of it."

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope your February is a great one & all the months that follow only get better :)

Pictures to come soon, I promise :)

yours in cake,
Court oxo