Tuesday, March 14, 2017

HOSP 106: Pantry & Breakfast

Over the last eight weeks I’ve taken a class at Ivy Tech Community College, called Pantry & Breakfast, that is held Monday and Wednesday from 7:00-11:50 am. As it was only eight weeks long, I just finished that class (and another eight week class, Nutrition) last week, right before spring break. I’ll miss that class quite a bit, but not too much. What to know why? I have the same teacher, the same classmates, and the same timeslot for the next eight weeks for a class called Soups, Stocks, and Sauces. I don’t feel like the class is really over, which is great, because that Pantry & Breakfast was the most awesome class ever! Let me elaborate.

For starters, I have a wonderful teacher. She’s so encouraging and fun and knowledgeable that she makes the class fly by. I’ve been inspired again and again by her, in my love for food and cooking, and also just embracing life and being myself in general. She also makes each of us start out the morning with a fun activity when we are MOD (manager of the day), and we’ve done some pretty fun stuff! After morning coffee, (which is one of the primary responsibilities of the MOD), we’ve hula-hooped in the dark with flashing hoops, playing many card, board, and trivia games and participated in a spice-smelling game where a member of each team is blindfolded and has to identify the spice or herb under their nose. We’ve also played a little soccer and for our last class, we indulged our MOD with a few rounds of Duck, Duck, Goose. Oh, and then there was my personal favorite-Musical Chairs! I won that game, and I’m very proud of that fact. No one can take that from me, not matter what happens later in life. After games, we’d all sit for our short lecture and then head into the kitchens to cook up eggs or sandwiches. Once done, we’d lay out our feast, eat and socialize, clean up, and then head home or to another class.

 
The last two weeks of class were really busy! On the seventh week, we prepped on Monday for our short-order breakfast that would be help between 8:30 and 9:30 on Wednesday, as well as making cold canapes for that class period. When Wednesday came around, and the people from the school began to show up and order their food, I got a little taste of what it’s like to work in a very fast food setting! I was in charge of making the Eggs Benedict, and I’d never done that before-I’ve fried lots of eggs but I’ve never poached them, and I also hadn’t ever made hollandaise sauce! After a demo by my teacher, I struggled through the first three or four sandwiches before I hit a rhythm and started operating smoothly and easily. When the breakfast was over, I got quite a bit of great feedback on my Eggs Benedict, which made me super happy!

 
For the eighth week, our class prepped on Monday again, this time for a full breakfast buffet, held on Wednesday at the same times. We also made hot canapes. Then Wednesday rolled around, and this time I wasn’t in the kitchen: I had my own omelet station to man out by the buffet! I didn’t think I could flip an omelet in a pan, as it’s much bigger than an egg, but I found to my surprise that I could indeed flip a whole omelet! I ran the station pretty steadily, heating up the omelet ingredients that the visitor wanted in one pan while I made an American-style omelet in another pan. It was a great experience to juggle cooking with speaking to visitors and trying to keep them occupied with small talk while their breakfast cooked.

So, that’s the end of the eight-week-currently-most-awesome-class-I’ve-ever-attended. I look forward very much to the next eight weeks, and what they hold! I’ll give another update in May as to my culinary college experience.

Friday, March 4, 2016

5 Simple Repurposing Ideas for Your Bedroom

Over the past week or so, I've been re-organizing my bedroom and rummaging through all of my stashes of VITs (very-important-things, and no, I do not keep junk). I've been repurposing some of those VITs and using them for storage, decoration, etc. Below I've listed a few of the things I've repurposed, and I hope they give you a little inspiration in the way of bedroom décor and organization.
 
1. Repurpose an old fashion scarf into a door ornament. Choose a scarf that isn't too thick for the door handle, and also make sure that it's not too long; you don't want it dragging on the ground. Pick a scarf with a color goes well with your room; you don't want clashing colors and hues.
 
 
2. Repurpose large mugs into holders for the many things on your desk or dresser. I have three mugs that I find way too large for drinking my morning hot chocolate, so I use them to  hold some of my things. As you can see, one holds my hair brushes, the second holds my many nail polish bottles, and the thirds contains papers and this and that. It's very handy to have all of these things at easy access on my desk.
 

 
3. Repurpose small, pretty plates and bowls into jewelry displayers. I've had the little plate for ages in my drawer, and a green glass bowl that I purchased recently. I use the plate to hold my extra necklace chains, and the glass bowl holds my bracelets. I like having my bracelets out in plain sight, or otherwise I'll forget I even own them! I also like to throw my ring into the bowl as I head to bed.


 
4. Repurpose an old picture frame into a display for a colorful stamp collection. A few years ago I cut out the stamps from envelopes and taped them into an old frame, creating a fun picture to look at. If you want something slightly out of the ordinary, find an old picture frame in your boxes or buy one for a few dollars at a thrift, and get to work! It won't be long before you have a beautiful array of stamps.
 
 
5. Repurpose the boxes from your boxed book sets into magazine holders. Looking for a place to store your many magazines that seem to slip and slide all of the place? Browse your bookshelves for any boxed book sets and use the boxes to store your magazines. Not all boxes will be the right size, but I happened to strike gold, and my boxes were the perfect size! I haven't done anything to cheer up the rather ugly gray cardboard, but I have a few ideas. What are they? That's for another time and blog post!
 

 
Well, I hope you enjoyed my five simple ways to repurpose things and cheer up your bedroom! See you next time!

Friday, February 26, 2016

Cupcakes and Cashmere: A Book Review

Décor, style, and fashion never really meant much to me. As long as my room looked nice and my clothes were pretty, I was fine. But then, about a month ago, I started thinking about my "look." Was it casual, rustic, etc.? Did I have anything about my "look" that was purely "me?" Did I have a distinct style? I wasn't really sure about any of these questions, and that's when I came across Cupcakes and Cashmere by Emily Schuman. It was an accident, really, that I found the book. I was wandering around my library, rather bored, waited for family members to finish finding their books, when I came across the fashion section. I rifled through the books until I hit Cupcakes and Cashmere, and the book was so cute I had to bring it home with me!


 
I read straight through that book in a few days, and it opened up so much to me. Emily laid out basic elements of style and fashion for each season (extremely helpful in my case) and beauty tips (I found the hair curling and manicure layouts and instructions very interesting). I'm not big into throwing parties (a third aspect dealt with in Cupcakes and Cashmere), but some of those recipes looked really good! This book had something for everyone!
 


 
What particularly inspired me, however, was the home décor and organization sections of the book. As I read, I found myself challenged and wanting to renovate my own bedroom. Countless possibilities sprang from my mind as I read how Emily had decorated her own home from with items from countless flea markets, sales, and other such places. With all of this fresh before my eyes, I could hardly stop myself from wanting to buy everything I saw at an antique mall; everything screamed at me to take them home and repurpose them! Thanks to this book, I soon had a long list of ideas and plans on how to renovate my space.
 
 
So, if you're a budding fashion or home décor or party throwing enthusiast, this is a great and awesome book for you! If you'd like to buy this book, you can do so here. I hope that you'll enjoy this book as much I did! Or, if you'd rather read her blog, which the book is based off of, you can do so here.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

How to Make Nondescript Buns Beautiful

Have you ever looked at your sandwich buns and wished they looked a little nicer? Maybe you wanted a little more pop, a little more flash? Well, I'm here to tell you that I have a yummy tasting, beautiful solution for you!

Using my Uniform Bun Tutorial, shape your buns and arrange them on a greased or parchment-covered baking sheet. Proceed to slash X's on the tops of the buns with a serrated knife. As you can see, I didn't get many perfect X's, so don't worry if yours don't look perfect, either. They'll look fantastic when they've finished baking!
 
 Make a simply egg wash by cracking an egg in to a bowl, and filling one of the broken egg shells with water. Dump the water into the bowl and use a fork or a whisk to beat the two ingredients together.

Brush a light amount onto your buns with a pastry brush.

Sprinkle a few dried, chopped onions over your buns.

Add a little dried, chopped parsley to give a little color to the buns.
 
Pop your buns into the oven for the correct amount of time. Be aware of the fact that the egg wash may make your buns appear brown and finished before they are actually done baking. Please make sure your buns are baked all the way through before taking them out of the oven.

 
Ingrediants:
1 large egg
A half-shell of water (or a tablespoon)
Chopped, dried onions
Chopped, dried parsley
 
Using my Uniform Bun Tutorial, shape your buns and arrange them on a greased or parchment-covered baking sheet. Proceed to slash X's on the tops of the buns with a serrated knife.
 
Make a simply egg wash by cracking an egg in to a bowl, and filling one of the broken egg shells with water. Dump the water into the bowl and use a fork or a whisk to beat the two ingredients together. Brush a light amount onto your buns with a pastry brush. Sprinkle a few dried, chopped onions and a little dried, chopped parsley to give a little color, crunchy, and flavor to the buns.
 
Pop your buns into the oven for the correct amount of time. Be aware of the fact that the egg wash may make your buns appear brown and finished before they are actually done baking. Please make sure your buns are baked all the way through before taking them out of the oven.
 
 

Uniform Buns Tutorial

When I first making sandwich buns, I made them by rolling out my dough, cutting out circles, and then re-rolling my dough when my original piece of was full of holes. I did this up to four or five times, and the dough would get stiffer and stiffer each rolling. As a result of this technique, some of my buns rose better than the others, and depending how well I cut into the dough with the cutter determined how perfectly round each bun actually turned out.
For awhile I didn't think anything of my bun-making ways; it was just the way things were done, right? Wrong. It wasn't until I was watching a lecture series on baking by the Culinary Institute of America that I learned the constant rolling of dough builds up gluten, which makes the dough stiffer than wanted. Armed with this knowledge, I decided to try making my buns another way. That way had been photographed and laid out for you to read below, and I love this way of making buns!

Cut your dough into your desired amount of pieces (I usually make 22 buns). Take one of the small balls of dough in your hands and quickly fashion it into a flat circle of sorts. 
 


 Take the outer edges of the circle and fold them inwards, pinching them all together to make a nice round shape.

Flip the dough over, and you should have a wonderful, round bun in the palm of your hand. If you don't get it perfect the first time, just be patient; you'll catch on really soon! This technique is super easy to master!

Line up your buns on a tray and stick them in the oven to bake! It's that easy!

Instructions:
Cut your dough into your desired amount of pieces (I usually make 22 buns). Take one of the small balls of dough in your hands and quickly fashion it into a flat circle of sorts.  Take the outer edges of the circle and fold them inwards, pinching them all together to make a nice round shape. Flip the dough over, and you should have a wonderful, round bun in the palm of your hand. If you don't get it perfect the first time, just be patient; you'll catch on really soon! This technique is super easy to master! Line up your buns on a tray and stick them in the oven to bake! It's that easy!

If you're interested in ideas of how to make your buns pop after fashioning them, check out it out here!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Rose of Prophecy

My sister, Hope Schmidt, has self-published an e-book on Smashwords and Kindle! Check it out here!!!


She is afraid. Not because she is alone. Not because thick roiling clouds obscure the moon. Not because the wind rushes through the forest like a wild dragon. She is afraid because she is late. And to be late means death.

Her life had been happy once. 
Despite the destruction wreaked by Tauscher, traitor to the King. Despite the distant war led by the Prince and fought with the help of her three brothers. Despite her own poorly-chosen nickname of Beauty, she'd enjoyed life. 
Of course, that was also before her father left home on a hopeful errand but returned weary and ill, bearing a velvety scarlet rose which he claimed would never wither. But even life in the ancient hall, tucked away in the center of Mosswood, surrounded by roses of every description, overshadowed with mystery and home to a scarred figure who is more beast than man, wasn't too bad after a time. 
But now...now, in a flash of light, Beauty finally glimpses the truth. And the cost. The price which must be paid, or the sacrifice which must be made.
It is a curse which even love alone may not be able to break.
 
Writing in the Light Publishing proudly presents the first of nine novellas in 

The Legends of Light series!

Rose of Prophecy,

a fantasy seeped retelling of Beauty and the Beast

containing an ancient promise, an invisible spy, and the legendary Stieg der,

is more than a mere retelling of a favorite fairy tale.

Each novella focuses on one of the

nine Fruits of the Spirit

while also following the conflict between the Prince and Tauscher

and expertly retelling and twisting some popular, as well as several lesser known, fairy tales.
 


Hope Ann is a Christian authoress who loves reading and writing fantasy, retelling fairy tales, and futuristic fiction. She has been writing for over five years and is currently working on several fantasy books as well as a futuristic trilogy. 

Some of her favorite authors include J. R. R. Tolkien, Serena Chase, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain. 

You can visit Hope’s blog at Writinginthelight.org. You can also follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter.

 

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Sunshine Tag

I was tagged by my sister Hope for this Sunshine Tag, where I'm supposed to list seven random facts about myself. Well, here goes!

1. I recently changed my blog name from Joy's Country Kitchen to Joy's Country Kitchen and Diary (the URL link is still the same).

2. I love to bake artisan bread recipes out of The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoe Francois, and I recently discovered the joys of using a pizza stone to get yummier and crustier bread.

3. I am endeavoring to learn French by using a free program called DuoLingo. It's such a beautiful language, and I look forward to being able to speak it fluently.

4. I LOVE the ITV show Downton Abbey!!! I love all period drama, and the story of an aristocratic family in Yorkshire in the early 1900's to the 1920's is truly fascinating. The show follows the lives of the Crawleys that live at Downton Abbey, and the stories of the servants downstairs. The final season is currently showing, which is kind of sad, but at the same time I'm happy because everyone is finally getting a happy ending.

5. I don't really have many "heroes" or "role models" in my life, but two people that I admire very much are Audrey Hepburn (see my Tribute to Audrey Hepburn), and Monty Roberts, a very unique and extremely talented horseman.

6. My whole life, I've never cared much for any popular singers, but recently I've really started to like Josh Groban. He has such a wonderful voice and I really like the fact that his songs are always clean. I don't care for all of them, but he doesn't sing anything inappropriate. I have a few of his CDs, and a few of my favorite songs by him are In Her Eyes, You Are Loved (Don't Give Up), and Brave.

7. Ok, last fact! I love horses, and I am currently working at a therapeutic riding center called Magical Meadows. I've worked there about a year now, and once February hits the classes will start again. I've learned a lot from Magical Meadows, and I can't wait to return there.

I think I'm supposed to tag a friend, so I'm tagging my friend Keturah!