How does a blog end? Like this, my friends, like this....

I am now attending culinary school. I am dedicating significant resources to this endeavour, so I am also rebooting this blog. Please scoot over to:

www.culinaryschoolconfidential.net

Please update your links. In a few weeks this url will kick straight to the new blog. I'll continue to record what I eat in ridiculous detail, but will focus on what I do in c-school.

Thanks to all (three of) my readers: Ilsa, the Hungry Vegan Society and B!

Thanks for reading!!

Last Stab at Homemade Pizza as a Civilian

ADDENDA:
Good day. Freelanced in the morning, shot out to Brooklyn for lunch with a friend, swung by Wholefoods for ingredients and then home to attempt pizza from real scratch, including the dough. Tried not to think about it too much today, but starting c-school tomorrow is the elephant in the room of my mind.

BREAKFAST: 10am, homemade power bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up early to get to the office early, stomach felt a bit tight, not quite nauseous but food was the last thing I wanted.

LUNCH: 1:30pm, 2 fried fish tacos with yellow rice, black beans, chips and pico de gallo, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Lunch out in Fort Greene with Yana. Whenever we get together we seem to eat too much, and greatly enjoy it, too.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, large slice of red velvet cake, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Around the corner to the Cake Man Raven.

DINNER: 8pm, half a small homemade pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
Nervous about tomorrow. Feel a little on edge. I made dough from scratch from this recipe, which after resting to room temperature became very liquidy and unworkable. The first pie wouldn't come off the peel even with lots of semolina flour and folded into a burning mess. The second pie made it in, and looked awfully pretty.

The flavor of the crust was definitely up there, but due to it's liquidy nature, I poured it onto the peel more than rolled it. It wasn't very thin and kind of had an unpleasantly thick gummy layer between the crisp bottom and the sauce. Next time I attempt this, I will use a little less water and get the kind of yeast the recipe calls for.

Passover, Round 2

ADDENDA:
Spent the day cooking and reviewing a hagadah for the Seder I'll be leading and partially feeding this evening. Put the sauer braten in the oven for hours, then made the spent marinade into gravy. Prepped vegan stuffed mushrooms to be baked at my friends house closer to time of serving.

BREAKFAST: 9am, 4 homemade lemon muffins, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Since I couldn't make it uptown for a brunch with B's relatives, I woke up and ran into the kitchen to bake these muffins from scratch before she split. They were pleasantly lemony without being bitter, but not overly sweet either. I experimented with mixing a little zest with dark brown sugar to sprinkle on top, but it didn't form the caramelized crust that plain cane sugar created last time.

LUNCH: 12:15pm, homemade cheese ravioli w/ olive oil, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Good ravioli, but a lot of them formed a big frozen ball in the freezer again, despite drying them before storing them. Hmmmm.

AFTERNOON TASTINGS: 12:30pm-4pm, a gingersnap cookie (for the gravy) here, a teaspoon of vegan stuffing there, a taste of gravy here (needs more sugar), etc etc, hunger 3/5
I wonder if this is the kind of stuff that'll make me fat in C-school...

PM SNACK: 5pm, pistachios, .25 cup, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, salad, gefilte fish, matzoh ball soup, sauerbraten, gravy, vegan stuffed mushrooms, potato kugel, flourless chocolate cake, 2 glasses wine, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
For this Seder at my friend's Karen house, I definitely was not in a passive role. I lead the Seder as best as I could, adding as much of my mom's anti-religious pro-feminist pro-socialist flavor as possible, gave a little rant about gefilte fish and made it quick. At the same time, I was running into the kitchen to try to give order to things, plating and sending out the fish and soup courses, carving the meat and plating the various side dishes.

Unfortunately, the sauer braten was dry, but I know why - if it was served within 30 minutes of it's cooking, it would of been very juicy. 5 hours after it was cooked, a huge puddle of yummy meat juices were at the bottom of the container which no amount of gravy could help. Because I had to cook it at home and bring it, it was unavoidable. If I try another dish like this, it'll have to be cooked in the place it'll be served.

The stuffed mushrooms were over salted and over peppered, but the effort I put into chopping all the ingredients finer made for a much more appealing texture.

Kind of missed a few friends who I would of liked to of shared this with, next year either they'll be invited to this or I'll do my own, darnit! And after C-school, a passover brisket should be a piece of cake, right?