Standardized Recipe

Well peeps my last post was on procrastination about a project. That project was the above title. Basically we had to take any recipe we wanted, baking or cooking and convert it to professional terms- ounces/ lbs instead of cups or eaches. Then we had to take that recipe and convert it to make 20 servings. With the recipe it had to be more than 6 ingredients and if the recipe called for tomato sauce then you had to actually make the tomato sauce- no pre packaged stuff. (noodles are ok and stuff like that) I chose to do Hamburger Cheese Bake- most amazing dish in my opinion. Part of the project is to list out every single thing you will need to make this dish- pots, pans, spoons, strainer, knives, cutting board, etc. Assume that you are going somwhere to make this and the only thing there is a sink, trash and stove/oven plus electricity and water.
  To do the actual instructions assume the person is an idiot and write everything out in great detail
put water in pot, put pot on stove, turn on stove to high, wait til it boils then add noodles. Etc
So the rough draft of that is done now. After I finish the final draft I will post it on here as a reminder if nothing else :)

On another note- Rick and Julia got the keys to their new house yesterday!!! And I got a new key as well. I am pretty excited for a couple reasons, the biggest one being its waaay closer to school. Right now I have a 20 mile each way commute to school and leave the house at 6 to avoid traffic. From the new house its only 6 miles each way and I should be able to leave around 6:30 or later which totally makes my day. The new house is in Burien so soon I will have yet another new address. This move will make number 18 in just under 6 years. Kinda sad isnt it sigh. Hopefully I wont have to move for a while after this. It is a 3 bed 1.25 bath (if you count the lone toilet in the laundry room) with a nice size back yard for the future dog and child to play in :) We are doing some fixing up to it as it is a older house with some lovely shades of carpet and walls.
I shall try to take some pics of the house tomorrow and post them on here. Sorta before and afters if you will.
Since my project is done and its still a bit early I am going to go read a guilt free book :) Happy reading

Procrastination

Well peeps (yes I just said that) I am doing homework tonight so of course I decided to help it along by blogging. Procrastination is the key to success after all. My current homework consists of 3 sections of an online math class that I just got bored with then I am supposed to be figuring out what Mise en Place I will need for a recipe if I were to take EVERYTHING needed to make the dish to a place and make it. (Excluding sink, stove/oven and trash can and generator) So this entails quite a lot of stuff since you have to list out how many spatulas, what size knife as well as what kind ex: 8" french knife, 5 quart pot, etc. Then we had to take the original recipe (we could use whatever one we wanted) and convert it to make 20 servings. So basically I got going on it like 2 weeks ago then realized I had to change the recipe cause we arent allowed to use anything out of a can like tomato sauce, we have to write out how to make the sauce and what we would need for that as well. Sigh life is so rough. My notes on it are spread over my desk- you cant really see the surface at all right now. Umm..... ya ok thats really all I can think of to write. Not much has really happened lately I guess.
Oh we get to switch stations tomorrow- something im rather excited about. I am soo sick of making pies and tarts. I get to move on to Cake station which is the whole reason I started this program, to learn more about decorating cakes and such so I am pretty excited about that :) Well its bed time now. Sorry this one wasnt super entertaining but hey I never promised they would be.

No Longer Missing!!

I found my blog! It has been missing for about 2 years now (meaning I totally forgot I had one) But since the name of it still rings true, I figured I may as well see about writing in it again. Its been 2 years, 3 months and a few days since I last wrote. Lots and lots has happened but there is no way I am going to wrack my brain to dredge it all up. There have been relationships and breakups, roommates and roommates getting married (Kirstyn and Rick [not to each other obviously]) or going into the work (Teresa Taylor). I moved to Shelby and drove combine for Roy for a couple harvests and worked at Albertsons Bakery as a cake decorator for a year. Before Albertsons I worked for Dad's Repo company thing with Sis.

In September 2011 I finally decided to follow my dream and go to culinary school- or more specifically, Pastry Chef School. As a result of this decision I moved me and most of my stuff to Auburn, WA (about 20 miles south of Seattle) and moved in with Uncle Jerry, as well as Rick and Julia. My school program is 6 quarters for my AOS (Associates of Applied Science). I have been considering staying and getting my BA as well since the school I am going to offers a 6 quarter program basically meaning I will get my 4 year degree in about 3 years if everything goes according to plan. (but we know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men)

As of this moment I am 3 weeks into my second quarter of school. The first quarter I spent 5 weeks learning more than I ever wanted to know about how to mix cookies and the other 5 weeks learning about all the different cakes there are... and let me tell you there are a lot and we barely touched the surface.

This quarter is split up into 3 sections- Pies and Tarts, Cakes, and French Pastry.

I started on the Pies/Tarts section but I dont know which one I will be going to next. The way this school is set up you start with a group of up to 10 people and go through the entire program with the same group. You may get split into smaller groups (for the 3 sections) but you still are in the same room and interact with each other the whole time. Its nice in some ways because you get to really know the people you are with every day but on the down side... you get to really know the people you are with every day :p

Today we learned how to make a pretty stinkin good Quiche and I dont normally like quiche. I guess its true that every thing really is better with bacon in it :)

I am going to try to keep notes here on how school goes so that I can look back and remember both the good and the bad of it later when I am hopefully working at a nice bakery somewhere

New Years

I have seen a couple people make lists of new years resolutions so I figured I would write mine down here so I can actually remember them.
1. Cut out all soda pop (mainly Dr. Pepper)
2. Cut out all sugar in order to loose weight
3. Stay at my current job and make it longer than a full year (beating my record)
4. Pay taxes in only 1 state this year
5. Keep my room in a semblance of clean (at least more so than I do now)
6. Get to a weight I like :p
I wont say that I will try to blog more cause knowing me I totally wont. Thats about all I can think of and I think 6 is plenty.
Ciao for now

Mexico Bound

Well folks, it would appear that the time has finally come for our jaunt to Mexico, dad is taking us 4 girls on a 5 day cruise. It should be a blast and a half since it will be the first time I have ever left the country (I know Mexico isnt that far but still) and the first time I have been on a cruise. We're leaving in about 2 hours (and Im still not packed... ooops) and will be gone for about 9 days. One of the best things about the cruise is that there is NO internet and not much cell service meaning there is no way I can get sucked into work since that is what usually seems to happen since Kirstyn and I both work from home. 3 Cheers for no internet ( I never thought I would say that) Ok its time for me to go pack now. Ill try to take photos and stuff and post them somewhere online when I get back home.
Ta

Oh ya know

Its been 5 weeks ish since the last post. In that time, I made it back to good ole MT. It was a very odd experience being in CA and being homesick. I guess it makes sense seeing how I was the only one in my immediate family that was in the state. I went to the Grandparents a few times, over to the Flecks a good few times, and other than that didnt really do much of anything. Chuck F. finished installing my subwoofers in my pickup for me (many shouts of joy accompanied by booms from the subs) and that pretty much made my week.
I went to Boring 1 on my way home from CA, it added about 8 hours onto my trip but I think it was pretty worth the extra miles and gas.
Back home, Kirstyn has started working for dad now as well so we see a whole lot of each other and surprisingly we havent tried to kill each other off yet. Im taking this as a good sign.
Mom and the girls are all moved in and unpacked [unless you happen to look in the garage (: ].
Allyson came out to see us for about a week, I went up to Shelby to pick her up last thursday (10th), and she just went back home today (friday 18th).
She was very helpful in helping me almost finish painting my room that I have been trying to paint since the day I got back from CA, about 3 weeks ago...
We all came up to the farm on tuesday night after a very fun girls only night. All the girls in the field married and single went over to the Fendler place for dinner and games. The men all went elsewhere with the kids. Im pretty sure the moms LOVED it. So we left at 0'dark thirty tuesday night and got to Roy and Kaylee's around 2am. We being Kirstyn, Teresa, Allyson, Saoirse, and I. We pretty much chilled for a day or two and the Chantal and Chayln Tallman came out yesterday. They headed down to Belgrade around 5pm so Chay could see a friend of hers in Bozone. We are goin home sunday and that is all I know.

California again

Well, I am back in CA again for the moment. I came down here about a week and a half ago to house sit for dad while he is in HI. Ironically enough I am the only VanDermyden from my family here. We got fully moved before I came down here so it will be nice to go home to a new place that Kirstyn was willing to fully unpack-- except my room. I havent really done anything down here except play with Miko and Katie. Ive been going over to Rhinna's house (co worker) on the days I work thats pretty much a blast and a half. We have fun all day long so its pretty much awesome. Work for Dad is going pretty good so far, I'm learning a lot of new stuff and all that good stuff. That being said, I really have no idea what else to write so I wont bother continuing.