White Daisy Passing

Life keeps on changing, tell it to stay still but it won’t listen. I just want you near me like you are now, for good. 

gastrogirl:

homemade nutella milano cookies.

I made these tonight! 
They don’t look nearly as pretty, but I’m gonna bring them to school tomorrow and share them because they taste good.
The hardest part was piping, which I’ve never done before…I made a mess.  

I title it as such because, though this is the end of my Janterm, I see it as the beginning of a new passion. 
Through this time, I’ve had a lot to think about.
I’m a child still. Yes, of course I will finish this last semester of high school and go get a college degree. But I’ve decided on something: getting my AA at a community college before going off to pursue a passion/major.  
This is a very unpopular opinion at my school.
But it’s just amazing. I’ve found this new passion…a talent I didn’t even know I had and it humbly reminds me that I’m still growing. I’m still developing who I am.
I’ve heard recently that the human mind isn’t really fully, soundly mature until about early to mid twenties. We do a lot of growing here, in the high school years.
A year ago, I wanted to be a youth pastor. Two years ago, a graphic designer. Three years ago, an art teacher. Four years ago, a psychologist. This past summer, a therapist.
I went into this school year feeling scared because I thought I had to make a big decision; I had to decide what to do for the rest of my life, and put tens of thousands of dollars behind it. People didn’t seem to understand that I’m only 17 years old, and I have no idea what I want to do. 
Learning how to cook was a humble reminder of that, but feeling like I have no idea what I want to do has turned from being terrifying, to being absolutely wonderful.
I have learning to do. 
I have growing to do. 
I’m still a child. 

I feel relieved, and free. This cooking thing is amazing. I’ve never felt so natural doing something. Maybe this will be it. But if it’s not, I’m not concerned. I know I will find something. There is a passion out there that’s right for me. That will fit into my life. And I’m open to whatever God has for me. 

Anyways.
I’m going to tell you a bit about what I’ve learned in this process, life scoping aside.

CAS Learning Outcomes (and how they apply to my Janterm)

Increased awareness of own strengths and areas for growth:
I learned I am phenomenal at making yeast products. I haven’t posted much about my experiences with those on this blog. But let’s just say I would well hold my own in a bakery. As for areas of growth, I really have to get more comfortable making sauces and cooking meats. I always cook them well and fully, but I just feel uneasy about them. I never want to be responsible for making anyone sick, and under cooked poultry is the leading cause of food-borne illnesses (that, and lack of hygiene in the kitchen but we all know there is NO lack of that in MY kitchen).

Undertaken new challenges: 
I don’t know if I’m cheating by answering like this but…this entire term has been a new challenge. I mean, I knew nothing about cooking before. I cooked out of box mixes and things like that. But now, I’m a creator. I meld things to make better things. It’s pretty enjoyable to see yeast, water, sugar and flour turn into dough. LIKE, WHAT?!

Planned and initiated activities:
I didn’t post this on here, but I had a Chanukah party. Though it wasn’t during Janterm, I still counted it as one of my projects. It was a carb-licious food festival complete with a menorah lighting. I had a lot of help, but remember, I hadn’t even really started Janterm then.  
By the way, it was a huge success.

Worked collaboratively with others: 
Learning how to cook can’t be done (well) solely by reading cookbooks. It’s an art that is passed down through people…like story telling. I had lots of people teach me. Rhonda, my mom, Drey, my stepdad, Liza, and others as well. It meant humbling myself and putting my opinions aside. Basically, becoming an empty cup - a blank slate. The Chanukah party was one of these times. But being able to serve people food was really an awesome experience. 

Shown perseverance and commitment to their activities:
You better believe there were times when I did NOT want to cook. When a recipe failed, I felt like sitting on the floor and just letting it burn to charcoal while I vow never to put on an apron again. But something in me pushed me to keep going, and usually when I did, I succeeded greatly. I love the analogy my friend told me of a man with a pickaxe digging for years to find treasure. He finally stops one day, says “I’m not going to find anything” and goes home, unaware that his treasure was literally laying an inch in front of him, behind a wall of dirt that he had to strike just one more time. 
Too often we give up at 99 percent.

Engaged with issues of global importance:
Two words: Budgeting (and) Health. The most important but overlooked parts about becoming a chef. There are other things as well, besides maintaining a low-glucose,  low-fat and low-cholesterol  menu, such as buying food from farmers in the area to help our local economy flourish. 

Ethical implications:
I think feeding people healthy food falls into this category. Lots of people eat unhealthily out of ignorance. Because I’ve been taught so much from my mother and from others about how to eat right and cook meals that are delicious but also beneficial to your body, I now feel the obligation to teach people about how to take care of themselves. I believe when I know what is right, what can help people, and I don’t share it with them, I’m doing an ethical injustice.

Developing new skills:
I could just say “cooking” here, but I will elaborate. I’d never cooked meat before, I’d never made a sauce before, I’d never made my own pasta, bread, or bagels before and I’d never not used a recipe before. But during Janterm, I did all of these and more. It was risky, but I loved it.

As I conclude this blog, I want to thank all of you who read about my journey. Maybe someday I’ll start another food blog, when I’m more educated an well-rounded.

Again, thank you! 

KÄSESPÄTZLE.

Yes. This is a BEAUTIFUL dish. And easily the most well-loved by my family, particularly my sister who told me at least four times that I should really just drop everything and make this for her every day. 
And the best part is, it was a pretty simple dish (albeit yielding like 7 bowls and pans to be washed).  

The best part was making the spaetzle. They’re so cute! You make a batter for the noodle-dumpling-things, then kind of drop them into the water using your hands to make them kind of stringy. It’s difficult to explain and not a very graceful process, but they come out looking beautiful and tasty (:
After taking them out of the boiling water, I shocked them in ice water then put them on a cookie sheet and into the oven, not to cook them further, but to just whisk away some of the moisture. Then I topped them with a bit of nutmeg (something my sister suggest I leave out next time) and set them aside.
The rest was really easy. Cut up two onions, cook them in a skillet till brown and soft (mmm) and like a little german lasagne, the layering goes like this: spaetzle, onions, cheese, spaetzle, onions, cheese, etc. until you run out of all ingredients.
Then in it goes, to the oven for about 25 minutes.

The result is a wonderful cheesy goodness that’s guaranteed to make anyone feel wonderful, no matter how snowy it is outside.
Which reminds me! During this whole snow storm, we didn’t lose power once!
I rejoiced as I was stuck in my house, cooking random things most of the time. Including a batch of delicious almond sugar cookies….gahhhhhhhh.  

Romanian Ostropel. 

As I said in my last post, every dish has been a journey for me. 
I’ve never made a Romanian dish before.

As you can see from the picture, it’s chicken in tomato-based garlicy gravy.
I cut the chicken into cubes, dredged them in flower and browned them on all sides in a skillet of oil. Then I took them out, added the necessary ingredients to make the gravy (flour, some butter, tomato paste, garlic, etc) and added the chicken back in.
I had the perfect blend of spices in mind: rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and a few others. I put in all of them but thyme, wanting to save that for last and it tasted delicious.
Then, I opened the bottle of thyme…

and shook it lightly onto the chicken…
only I didn’t realize it was an open mouthed jar.
So I had put in like four tablespoons of thyme.

Man. I hate messing up dishes. When I do, I usually know exactly how I did it. And this time, it was the thyme, and my heart stopped.
I spooned out as much as I could, but I knew the damage was done. As I had expected, my family beat around the bush. Not saying negative things exactly…but not positive. Critisism that I had already been making myself, as my family (adorable as they are) preserved my self-esteem by finishing off the entire pot.
Am I over-exaggerating? A bit. What’s a cooking journey without a few mega-fail dishes?

Well, now I just know to portion out my spices before adding them. In little bowls or something, haha. Rachel Ray style. 

With the help of my mother, I successfully made one of my favorite dishes of hers: green chili enchiladas. 

I’m just now making this post, though we cooked the enchiladas about a week ago.
Let me tell you something. There is something magical about mexican food.
It carries the most colorful flavors I’ve ever put in my mouth.

We made it with green chilis, of course, and chicken. 
Lots of other things too, but since it’s my mom’s “secret recipe” I don’t think I should disclose the other ingredients ;)

As always, this dish was a journey for me.
Never in this entire project have I started a dish and not finished it having learned something.
I would compare cooking to composing a symphony, or painting on a canvas. You don’t have to worry about not knowing what comes next. You just know that THIS spice would go PERFECT with THIS ingredient. They just…fit.
Like blending colors. Or finishing a piece of music on the right note. It just goes!

Ok, I’m done rambling.
I’m gonna go shopping now and get some ingredients for my presentation tomorrow. So stoked. I was going to make the summer chili with mushroom crustades, but I’ve changed my mind (bulking that to feed samples to 100 people would be really expensive). Instead, I will probably be making butternut squash soup and home-made fancy mac n’ cheese. Ever since learning to cook that, I just don’t see how anyone can eat box mac n’ cheese…

Anyways. BYE! 

Yesterday morning, I made these muffins. 

Can I just say: I LOVE CARBS. ALL FORMS OF CARBS.
Seriously, they’re MAGICAL.
They’re not really good for me, but dang…

Since I started this cooking project, my mom has had nothing but good things to say about my bread/yeast products. Muffins don’t have yeast in them, but needless to say, they fall into the bread category, and apparently, I have a gift for making such things!
They came out WONDERFULLY. I took them to the cast in the drama I’m directing for church camp, and they all loved them. 
There are certain techniques you have to use to keep the muffins light and airy, and not so dense. First rule: NEVER OVER-STIR! Which means when I put the blueberries and walnuts into the batter, I folded them in. Secondly, use room-temperature ingredients. Which means leaving your milk and eggs out for about a half an hour before you begin cooking. It makes for a smoother muffin. Last rule, toss the blueberries and walnuts in flour before you put them in the mix. This helps them stay up when they’re in the oven, and not sink to the bottom of the muffin. 

I liked topping these with a glaze. When the glaze dried, it was almost like eating a healthy donut! Haha…ok. I’m done. 
Off to make more food! Three more recipes?! Dang. 
Tonight is enchiladas! 

And by “a post about scrambled eggs” I really mean something deeper. 
Yes, I will talk about scrambled eggs. But it’s a vessel I chose to use in order to delve into a deeper subject.

Scrambled eggs are a vessel, in that way, but also in another: they can be the carriers of any dish you want to make, but don’t have the time to make it. Let me rephrase that, since it sounded confusing: you can put ANYTHING in scrambled eggs. You like tacos? Make a Mexican egg scramble with leftover taco meat, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream (with a side of lettuce or spinach). You like baked potatoes? Make an egg scramble with bacon bits, hashbrowns, green onions and whatever else you enjoy putting on baked potatoes.  

Scrambles are the origin of any cook’s journey because they’re super easy to make, and can taste like anything you want them to taste like. They’re blank canvases, and the freshly cracked eggs have incredible potential for deliciousness.

You can see a lot of things in this realm of culinary arts in the same way. The way I look at scrambled eggs has now transferred to the way I look at an empty plate, or an entirely empty dinner table. With the right ingredients, any size of food-plating surface has now become my blank canvas, to fill it with whatever I want. That is one of the greatest joys of learning how to cook, and already being an artist. I can create ANYTHING. The possibilities are literally limitless!

Anyways. Thanks for reading my blog. I hope anyone who reads this comes away with a new-found inspiration to create. That’s what I hope to achieve when I tell people about art or cooking.  

This entire term, I have been waiting to try one thing: chicken and dumplings.
Today, I embarked upon untreaded land…the land made of flour, baking powder, butter and milk.

It was quite easy at the beginning. I cooked the chicken in strips first, with a little bit of oil and onion. Then I shredded it and put it aside for later. The other stuff consisted of carrots, onions, garlic, celery, a few spices, water and chicken broth. I  made the dumplings (making sure to incorporate the butter into the flour BEFORE adding the milk) and boiled those in the soup for about 10 minutes. I added the chicken and a few more spices, and boom: Chicken and Dumplings.

I was disappointed to find that it wasn’t very flavorful. But it did fill me up and was pretty warm.
I almost regret to say that this was one of those recipes I had more fun making than eating.
Anyways, later I’m making a pizza and some other food that I haven’t decided yet.