Eggs are evil creations!

Today I am starting my third week at Kitchen Academy and have already made quite a few recipes, from stocks and soups to homemade pasta and mayonnaise. Today was egg day and I was also Sous Chef for the day. The Sous Chef is in charge of the kitchen and makes sure the Chef Instructor is set up before class for the demo on whatever we're making that day. The Sous Chef also makes sure the Food and Sanitation Stewards are on task and fulfilling their duties. My lazy Sanitation Steward left before his job was finished. He left a full compost bucket and didn't empty the garbage, so I ended up staying an extra 20 minutes finishing up for him, even though I specifically told him to make sure the buckets were emptied before he left. But mostly today was an easy day to be assigned Sous Chef...there really wasn't all that much to set up. So moving on to what we made. We cooked four types of fried eggs, three types of hard-cooked (not hard-boiled because you're not supposed to boil them; they should be simmered), two omelets, and consomme (which is a kind of soup). Hard-cooked eggs were very simple and omelets turned out to be easier than I thought they would be. But fried eggs....not so easy. I know what you're thinking, how hard is it to fry an egg? Not that hard, BUT try flipping it without a spatula. I had to cook four different fried eggs and I went through about fifteen eggs I think, and I still didn't have it down. Whenever I tried flipping my eggs, the yolk kept separating from the white. I was so frustrated and ready to cry. I was getting a little better there at the end. I tried moving my frying pan away from the stove to do the flip and I was better at it. But then I ran out of time and eggs and had to just give my chef what I had. I ended up whipping up both my omelets in the last six minutes we had and they weren't perfect, but they were okay for a first try. Anyway, fried eggs...they are now on my list of foods I hate to prepare. I'm gonna have to practice this one at home because it's going to be on the final :(

My Very First Blog...

Over the last few years my closest friends and family have spread around the country and even around the world. So I thought I would start a blog to keep them up to date with my life. I used to think my life was so boring and ordinary that I wouldn't have anything to blog about. But throughout this year I have experienced one change after another and life has moved in a completely different direction than I expected at the start of the year.

Some of the changes have been really hard. In January one of my best friends moved to Mississippi, but I'm happy for her because she ended up finding her eternal companion! In June my brother and his girlfriend moved to Iowa (why would anyone choose to move to Iowa??), taking the last of my immediate family out of the state. And at the end of August I had to stop working with the Budelsky's. I had been their nanny for over 3 years. That was probably the hardest one for me. My last day came and, for the most part, it felt like any other day. The only thing that stopped me from crying all night when I went home was a murder mystery dinner party that I had planned for that night before I knew it was my last day of work. Thanks to those who came to my party that night; you really helped to distract me. But when Monday came around, I didn't have another job lined up yet and that's when it really hit me that I wasn't going to see those cute girls every morning. I didn't know what to do with myself...that first Monday was a pretty sad day, but I kept myself busy and told myself that I would have opportunities to see my girls.

In March I decided to move into a house with two of my good friends. We used to stay up way too late talking at either my apartment or theirs, and we casually mentioned that it would be way easier and more fun if we lived together. So we found a house in the same area that we all liked and within about a week we decided we loved it and signed a lease. We moved in April and I was very blessed to find a renter to take over my apartment, since the lease wasn't up until November. I am loving living in a house! Our house is known as The Shire. Also in March, I decided to go back to school. I just started two weeks ago at the Kitchen Academy, studying culinary arts. It's a great program; I love my class and my instructor and everything we're learning!!! I also started a new job about a week after my last job ended. I have classes in the morning and then I nanny in the afternoons.

During the summer I was able to make two different trips to see my family. In June I took a train to Oregon to see my dad and his girlfriend. And during the week of the Fourth of July I flew to Iowa to see my mom, brothers and their families. Both trips were so much fun! I went to Oregon again over Labor Day weekend and made a surprise trip to Iowa. My three-year-old niece Aubrie and my mom did not know I was coming. It's sooo hard to keep that kind of secret. Between me, my brothers, and my sisters, there were several close calls. Finally, the day arrived and we were so sure that she knew I was coming. But when I walked into the house and she saw me, she couldn't believe her eyes...she had no idea and was completely surprised! Between my two Iowa trips, my second niece, Xyrah, was born to my younger brother, Matthew, and his girlfriend, Christina. So I was able to meet Xyrah and held her lots while I was there in September. My sister-in-law, Lisa, is pregnant with her second girl, so I will be making another Iowa trip next spring to meet her!