ROSE MARIE!

Me and sleeping Rose.

Groggy Rose and I.

Rose's Chair I painted for her :) (Don't worry I added the '9' after I triple checked her birthdate)

Here and There...

Me with Massimo, the Chef in Residence at NAIT

Cailyn, Alysha, Massimo. Me and Natasha.

Andrew and I After the Ben Folds and Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Concert....AMAZING!

Chef Gordon, Cailyn, Me, Massimo, and two others from the lunch with the Chef we had. 

Laura, Me and Andrew at Gregs wedding...its actually a picture of a picture.

Andrew and Rose, our new neice!

Me acting silly.

Homey things

Home-made Perogys!

Made with Potato Leek soup in the dough and Pan fried potatoes with bacon and cheese filling.

There's also a pizza in the background that has sausage I made in Meat Fabrication class! Yum! 

Disorganized and messy kitchen...

CLEAN!

Wedding Pictures we got Printed and the middle one we need to wait for a bit.

Pictures from Valentines Day and Meal at my Parents house

Valentines Day 2012

Meal at my Parents house in Wisconsin:

Amuse Bouche: Citus Duck with fried Shallot

Soup: Puree of Acorn Squash

Salad: Roasted Beet with Beet Puree and Goat cheese

Entree: 6oz Filet with Pea Puree, Brussel sprouts and Sweat Potato Chip

Dessert: Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Whipcream

Minx

Just a quick blurb about Minx. She really is turning out to be the best cat ever. She plays, meets me at the door everyday when I get home, shes clean, doesnt eat things or scratch at things shes not supposed to and among many other things my favorite of all is that she just wants to be near me. Right now she is sitting on top of the couch right by my head . She doesnt want to cuddle or anything, just being near is good. good ol minx.

So life here is alright. Two more days of school and friday i start my practicum at cibo bistro. Italian/modern cuisine made all in house. I am reallllly excited. The summer is filling up fast, 4 weddings, one of which Im a bridesmaid. Not sure about the job situation, but Im trying hard and also trusting God with it. Missing my friends and family quite a bit lately and sometimes I watch TV to forget about missing home. Not the best habit. Im working on that too. Tonight we might go see the Lorax movie! Cant wait. Thats it for now.

-e

Lentils on my mind.

**What I did with lentils today... Explaination is below**

In Nutrition class, in the Toque, from teachers, and lately in life I have been encountered by lentils. A lot of people turn up their nose to them, especially when they think of split pea soup or something else like that. BUT lentils, pulse beans and beans in general are a very important part of our diet! Who knew right? (Actually I knew awhile ago because my friend Elizabeth started eating more of them and she told me how great they are)

Some info about lentils:

• Lentils are part of the legume family.
• They are a good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber.
• The high fiber helps prevent blood sugar levels from rising rapidly after a meal.
• Lentils have great amounts of minerals, vitamins, and proteins...heres a chart from www.whfoods.org

Cool hey?

**So heres the explanation of the picture above and what I made today.**

I was making some dinners for my friends Katie and Layne and their daughter Ava. Katie is expecting a baby boy any day now! So just made some bacon scalloped potatoes and a chicken and rice casserole and when putting in some vegtables into the casserole I stumbled upon my red lentils I've never used. So I added some into that and then I got thinking... I had :

-1 large sweet potato, peeled and small dice

-1 cup lentils

-3 cups water

-clove of garlic

-dried rosemary and bay leaf

-tablespoon of butter

-salt&pepper

(I added some carrot last minute too for color.)

Basically put the water, lentil, rosemary, bay leaf, and sweet potato in a big sauce pot and turned it on high. I put the lid on for a while too. Boiled , added the garlic clove, boiled, boiled until all was very tender(the water should be pretty absorbed too. You want to keep that because lots of your nutrients are in there! So dont drain, ok?). Then I took out the bay leaf and put in S&P and some butter and took my mixer and mixed mixed mixed until smooth. Thats it. It is like a super healthy creamy mashed potato. You could add more stock to make it more of a soup too. Its quite yum.

k. off to enjoy my lentils :)

Pictures from the Toque...finally!

Us on a quick break during the busy day.
Me and Allen, the first place winners.
Dessert!
Entre!
Appetizer!
**Also a quick video of me on the news here in Edmonton... http://watch.ctv.ca/news/#clip618550

The Club Culinary President and Vice Pres are in my class and needed a hand with this cooking clip, so I hopped right in :) I've started to help out quite a bit with the club when I can.

I have also been cooking/learning lots at my new job. We just had a France wine dinner for 112 and the menu was awesoommmeee. Guess what next month is...USA! Any ideas? As of now they are going for regions. I told them beer cheese soup and brats from the midwest. haha. But I also thought we could play with the banana split idea for a dessert...hmm. Oh! and today I made Lemon ginger sorbet for a club thing=YUM!

k byeee,

home in 5 days

-e