Orecchiette Pasta

I've been craving some orecchiette pasta like my class made at the school restaurant. The spicy sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli, white wine and stock sauce, all of it blended to make it one of my favorite pasta dishes. I would prepare it by browning the sausage first. Then, once I had a good color, I would remove the sausage from the pan and add some shallots and garlic. Once the shallots and garlic smell good I add white wine to deglaze the pan and finish deglazing with stock. once the sauce is seasoned and tastes good add the almost cooked pasta and broccoli, then the sausage and sun-dried tomatoes. Tossing all together while still over the flame. Once complete, Throw in a little whole butter and add as much parmesan cheese as you like and toss just till it melts then enjoy.

Fruit

Which fruit is your favorite to eat by itself and raw? My personal favorite is pineapple. I think I could eat as many as were put in front of me to be honest. What makes the pineapple my favorite is the tingle from the enzymes in the pineapple and the perfect balance of sweet with just enough sour. I wonder what makes your favorite fruit, your favorite.

Caramel Apple Ice Cream

I saw a really good idea for a dessert on twitter the other day. what you did was core out an apple so that the apple turns into a bowl. Leave enough apple to still be able to bite into apple. Fill the middle with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle caramel sauce over the top of it. It looked absolutely delicious. Something I definitely want to try.

Sodas

I try to stay away from soda as much as possible but there is always one soda I will give in to. Mountain Dew. It is, by far, the best soda out there. No matter how long I've managed to stay away from soda and not tempt myself, if a Mountain Dew is presented to me I will drink it. I am like this with no other soda. Mountain Dew just has a magical spell over me that I simply cannot break.

March Madness is a great time of year for me. Basketball, which is my second favorite sport to watch on tv, is at its pinnacle of competition. Working at a bar I get to enjoy a lot of these games while working at the same time, and when I get off most of my friends and I hang out at this bar. those best days are when we are all up there watching the slew of games on, throwing darts during the slow times and eating deep fried tacos. Deep fired tacos are so simple, yet there is something addictive about them. Not to mention they are only 3 dollars for four of them. Deep fry the taco shell with meet in it, throw in some of your favorite taco sauce,a slice of American cheese, and lettuce and enjoy. Friends, drinks, basketball, darts, and tacos are the recipe for a good day.

Gone From Our Lives but Not From Our Hearts.

Dunkaroos were my favorite childhood snack at school. When I was in elementary school dunkaroos were the best snack a kid could have. Now, dunkaroos are a thing of the past. kids today,at least around my area, don't get to enjoy the delicious icing and Grahm cracker cookie. Kids would always try to trade for them but if fate had smiled upon you that day and blessed you with dunkaroos chances are you weren't going to turn your back on that and trade them away. So, this post is for all the great snacks out there that are gone but never forgotten.

Fish Fry Friday

Every Friday at work during lent time is full of fish platters and fish sandwiches. It is almost hard to keep up with defrosting the fish as the orders come in because of the space issues. It gets to the point where you just want people to order something else so you can get away from the fish for a couple minutes. The absolute worst part about it is that you make so many that you can't eat fish for lunch that day because you are sick of them.

Mongolian

Mongolian grills are very interesting. I was able to visit one recently and overall, the experience was good. The idea is simple and provides endless options. What you do is grab a tray with a big bowl and a little bowl on it. Fill the big bowl with your choice of protein, vegetables, and noodles. Once you have all of those gathered you go to the sauce bar and make your own concoction and season it with the powder seasonings. After you get your tray to your personal perfection, set the tray with your number clip on it in the area in front of the grill an sit down. Within a couple of minutes your food is grilled on a big, round ,stone looking, flat top grill. You can grab a soup and/or salad if you desire. You also have the options of brown and while rice. Your food is served immediately once it's done and still very hot in an Asian style bowl. The best part is that after you are full from the first bowl you have to make room and go make a completely different bowl because it is an all you can eat buffet.

New Job

I have recently started a new job at a pub and grill in Lake St. Louis to earn some extra cash while I go through school. It is a small place and only takes one person to run the kitchen. The set-up is nice and is very manageable for one person to handle. The food is good, and the menu is simple. The owner is always willing to have a special each week if you bring one in and it's good. I really like the flexibility of this place and the feeling like you are a part of the bar. There are not a lot of employees so everyone knows each other and gets along making things run smoothly, most of the time. Overall, I think I am going to enjoy my time and experience at this place.

Most Important of the Day, Any Time of Day

Breakfast food is by far my favorite type of food. I love the nights where I make breakfast for dinner. This might be somewhat due to the fact that bacon is the best food of all time. For me, the best bite is a slice of crispy bacon on a piece of buttered toast, a forkful of hash browns on top of the bacon and the whole bite drenched in egg yolk. To me, that is breakfast. Now I love waffles, French toast, pancakes etc., as well they just aren't that perfect breakfast bite to me. Either way though I love breakfast food and don't think they should be confined to the morning.

"im Broke" Meal

Ramen Noodles are a perfect starter for any meal when you are broke. They can be adapted into just about any kind of meal. My personal favorite would be chicken ramen, slightly undercooked(a little bit of crunch every once in a while is nice), with an egg scrambled in and Cholula hot sauce mixed in. This is one of my all time "go to" meals when I don't want to take a lot of time and I don't want to spend a lot of money. Now, obviously you can add just about anything you want to it to fit your taste buds; from your favorite veggie to every meat you can find along with any seasoning that strikes your fancy. Another cheap variation I like on preparing ramen noodles is boiling the noodles in water and melting butter and mixing in the flavoring packet to make a nicely seasoned butter sauce to flavor the noodles. They can be as elaborate or as simple of a meal as you would like.

Culinary school benefits

Going to culinary school has its benefits. One of those benefits is when a skilled class makes a nice buffet for everyone to try. Hors d'oeuvres lines are my favorite in particular. That way you can get an extremely large variety of flavors without getting too full in the process. These days don't happen very often so on those fateful days when the planets align and another class is making a  meal to share and your class is stuck in lecture all day advantage is taken and appreciation is given. It is a nice surprise to your day.

Not in Here

Going into a kitchen you are not suppose to be in or are not welcome in can get ugly very quickly. Most people in a kitchen will not hesitate to "jump you" if you cross the line of the kitchen they don't want you to be in. And a lot of those times it is very hilarious to watch. People working in a restaurant can relate to this when that "know-it-all" server comes back to the line to make a correction on something that got messed up. It happens in culinary school when someone walks into another class' kitchen and tries to get something to eat. People can become hostile about it quickly so that their point is made without any confusion. its always hilarious when you get to watch it happen and aren't the one crossing the line.

PB&J

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a unique and everlasting sandwich. In that it never seems to get old or we never grow out of eating them. Sometimes the best lunches are the ones with a PB&J and a glass of milk. They are easy to trick out and change up to keep them fresh and different, and you can add just about anything to them. You can make pancakes or waffles and use that as a bread for example. You can get as crazy and unique with them as you want or just keep it simple and make a quick half-sandwich for the go. Peanut butter and jelly, the perfect sandwich.