The McNay

Ice Cream!

One of my graduation presents was a gift card for William and Sonoma, which has to be one of the worsts presents ever because I COULD NOT decide what to get because I wanted pretty much everything. Until I saw the ice cream maker. I have wanted to make my own ice cream since I was little. As soon as I saw it I knew there was some deliciousness in my near future.

And so a little over a week later this happened:
















Burnt Carmel Ice Cream
It's amazing.

Cucumbers + Lime + Rum = YUUUUMMMMM

I finally made my second amazing summer drink. Cucumer mojitos.

It was so easy, I soaked sliced cucumbers in rum for almost a week. The last two days of infusing I added mint. Then today before the party I juiced a TON of limes into a bottle and added a touch of sugar. At the party I combined the juice with the rum, and added sparkling water. See? Easy.


I am most definitely making this again, and SOON.

Equality

Adventures with Kale

A friend of mine recently gave me some Kale from her garden plot, and having never eaten, let alone cook, kale I was very excited.
I decided that my best option was to keep it simple so that I could really taste the kale. I heated some olive oil in a saute pan with some large diced garlic and pearl onion. Once it was nice and hot and the onions were almost clear I tossed in the Kale. I sauteed it for about 3 minutes, it got bright green and wilty and beautiful. I added a little salt and cracked pepper before eating.

It was heaven in my mouth. The only thing I would change was the amount of oil, less next time. Why have I gone this long with out eating kale?! I need to eat more again soon! Yum!

The First Sangria of the Season!

I have been waiting all winter to make Sangria. Not only because it's so delicious, but also because it's my way of congratulating myself for surviving another winter. And now finally it seems warm weather is on it way.
So for my trial run I decided to make two flavors, both with white wine. The first was just a simple mixed berry sangria with a touch of blackberry brandy. The second however, was just plum and nectarine.
They were both fantastic. The plum one was very good, not too sweet and very clean tasting. Very refreshing. The berry one was sweeter, much better for something to serve with dessert, or just some vanilla ice cream. (Mmmmm)
The one part of this recipe that was true experimenting was the resting period. Generally I just make my sangria a day before and let it rest in the refigerator. But because I wanted the plum one especially to be very fruity, I decided to rest them in my closet for two days in tightly sealed glass bottles. (Dark cool environment) I think it made a big difference, and I'll probably continue to do it that way the rest of the summer.

As a side note, if following drinking this amount of sangria you are expecting to ride a bike anywhere...maybe consider getting a cab instead.

Cheers!

Days at the Beach

The past few days the weather has been absolutely amazing. It feels like spring is already on its way in. Of course, this is Chicago so I don't doubt that another bout of freezing weather is lurking around the corner.
Which is why I have gone to the beach the last two days. What better time to enjoy some sun and sand?
Yesterday the frozen remnants of winter were still clearly visible. The lake was a clear beautiful turquoise colour with giant sheets of ice covering most of its surface. (It was a very funny feeling to be taking pictures of ice while wearing a cotton dress, standing barefoot in the sand.) There was, however, still a strong Chicago wind blowing off the lake.
Today it's a very different scene. All of the ice from the day before is almost completely gone. There is only a few lonely clumps of ice left in the water. And the lake is a completely different colour, it's almost a perfect mirror of the sky. It's impossible to tell where the lake ends and the sky begins. Not quite as mesmerizing as the day before, but beautiful none the less.

FREEEEEDDOOOOOOOMMMM!

They are finally out and I could not be happier. Or, I'm sure I will be once the pain is gone.

Crazy animal, crazy fruit

This squirrel has eaten/ kidnapped over half of the pumpkins my friends and I went and picked in Michigan. BY ITS SELF! The pumpkin its sitting on has a giant hole in it and the interior is mostly eaten. The small pumpkins are gone or are strewn all over the steps. Crazy Animal!


This my friends is Durian. It is a pain the in the ass to open and once its open you you still have to pull out all the pulp and decide what the heck to do with it. Crazy Fruit!

Did you forget to watch the news?

After the opera Ramon and I decided we were thirsty and wanted to get something before we got on the train. So we hopped into an open 7-11 and not only found some liquid refreshment but also an important lesson in business ownership.

If something like say, a presidential election occurs and you decide to stock cups with the losers name on it be prepared not to sell very many sodas.
I really wanted a fountain soda. (fountain Dr. Pepper is far superior to canned) But given that I would have to walk around the city and sit on a train with a bright red cup that said the guys name on it....I decided it wasn't the smartest beverage choice.

Someday...

I will be the proud owner of a miniature donkey.

An Interesting Day

Today was a very busy day. I had my most ambitious plated dessert to make. Gluten/Allergy free dessert. And it turned out great! Not perfect, but good. And Chef Zonka liked it so much she came in to visit me in the kitchen and tell me that I should submit it to a magazine!! I think I would want to spend some time getting it really perfect first but it would be very exciting try and have something put in a magazine.

And then during service I get a phone call from the roommates. They found kittens. And not just any kittens, kittens that were born this morning or yesterday morning. 5 of them. So even though I was drop dead tired when I got home I had to see them. (So cute!) And of course here I am an hour later typing this. Some day I will learn to sleep properly.

Mag-neato!

Of the course of a few days I have finally made a magnetic door!

I finally used the magnetic paint I bought a while back and made one of the doors in the kitchen magnetic. It took quite a few layers of paint to actually be strong enough to hold a magnet but now it can and I can't wait to cover it with my collection of magnets!

Taken From School Blog

Yesterday was my official 30 day mark, if you include orientation. Without counting orientation days then it’s this Saturday. The days seem to just be flying by!

This weekend is Mother’s Day which means we’re going to be busy busy busy! Saturday’s are always busy, but now we have an even busier Sunday to deal with. It should be interesting. I’m really excited to see the Lobby on Sunday, it undergoes an amazing transformation from what I hear. Takes something like 16 hours, I think.

Monday we had two big banquets and one of them had asked for fortune cookies, so guess what I got to do? That’s right, I got to make something like 100 fortune cookies. It was kind of fun, I was working with two other people on the folding part because it has to be done very quickly after they are taken from the oven. Too bad I didn’t have a chance to get a picture.

I’m really in the mood for some cupcakes today, but I can’t decide what kind to make. Worst birthday present I have ever gotten is the 500 Cupcakes books, I am not nearly decisive enough to pick one out of 500!!

Taken from School Blog*

Today is my one day off this week and of course the weather is not very inviting. (What’s up with 20-30 degree weather at the end of April??) Which is kind of good because I’m staying inside and getting some work/laundry done that I won’t have much of a chance for the rest of this week.

I am about 3 weeks into my internship and I am loving it! It’s been pretty busy lately but I’m having a good time and learning A LOT. Every one I work with has a great attitude and really enjoys what they’re doing, so it’s a really great environment to work in.

Ok, time for me to stop slacking off and get back to homework!

*The school as asked me to start writing a blog for perspective students to look at, right now it's just on a trial run...so I don't know if it'll be a permanent thing or not. I can say that since I'm writing for the school it shouldn't take me 6 months between posts anymore. Sooo, that's good.

An image from Heaven

A GIANT tres leches cake with a layer of fresh raspberries in the middles. The entire time I was making this I just wanted to face plant into it and eat ALL OF IT. And then die peacefully.

Volunteering

Last night I volunteered to work a catering event. It was in some ones home, and was a relatively small event, there was four of us working and "Chef" Todd (a graduate from Kendall, nice guy) I had a lot of fun and everything we served was really good. I wish I had some of that beef tenderloin right now...Anyhow, I really hope that I manage to get more of these opportunites because the experience is great.

I want to volunteer more in general. I usually have a really good time, I don't know why I don't do it more often. I think I am going to sign up to work on the Magnificent Mile Christmas lights. Maybe I can wrap a tree in lights and then brag to everybody that it is MY tree! I've also seen a few animal shelters around and I think maybe I might try to get back into that, especially if I can find a Humane Society since I already have my training paid for from them.

I'm supposed to be typing my resume right now, but my previous work experience is lame. Except for the work I did for my dads company, but that has nothing to do with my field now. Uuuugh. I still need a job. But no one wants to hire me, which I understand. Bad working hours, complete lack of culinary experience... :(

On the plus side, I should actually be recieving my loan money in the next 2-3 weeks!

Vacation

Went to Mexico.
It was awesome.
FORGOT ALL MY PICTURES!!!!! (except about 20)
Back to school.

Biscuits and Cookies

On Tuesdays this quarter I don't have class till 12:40 so I've been going in early to practice. Today I made spritz cookies and cinnamon biscuits. The cookies we're over mixed because I'm retarded and I forgot to add the vanilla so I had to add it at the last minute. And the biscuits...we'll I decided to experiment and add cinnamon but they just didn't come out right. I have yet to have a good batch of biscuits. Someday.
I can't believe it's only Tuesday. I had a pretty good day yesterday, but it just seems like everything is moving so slooowwlllyyy...Bleh.
But hey, at least we are done with Attorney General Gonzalez. That's worth a lot of bad biscuits!

I'm finally back!

AT&T has decided to grace us with their presence in the apartment again. So after a month of not having internet, I can finally access the world wide web from home.

The freshmen have arrived. They're everywhere. Clumps of them walking around, taking up the sidewalk and my seat on the bus. Bastards. One of them asked me which way was north or east. Oh well, I'll just have to wait for them to leave next summer.

Also, this weekend is Taste of Greece. During the day it isn't too bad. But at night it's just crazy. I had to literally push people out of my way to get to my apartment last night. This morning there was the tents were being used by homeless people as shelters. Actually, I should have kept an eye on that. I bet when the real owners of the tents showed up it turned into a showdown.