thoughts on New Orleans

"...about 80% of the city is underwater..."

"...the levees (sp?) are breached and water keeps flowing into the city..."

"...a mandatory evacuation of the city..."

all of these are quotes that i've heard from the news just a few minutes ago...can you imagine what it would be like to be one of the people from New Orleans?  how does one cope?  how does a city cope and rebuild?  how does a country react?  does anybody outside of New Orleans really care?

i wish that i could do something more to help...i don't have a steady source of income, so monetary donations are out of the question for me...i've never felt this way before...my heart really goes out to those people...all that i know that i can do is pray for everyone that was affected by the disaster...i can pray for our country also...that the American people are not as "evil" as other countries think we are...that help will come from outside sources

i ask that you guys continue to pray for the recovery of everyone affected...pray that God's will can be seen in all of the destruction...maybe it can be a new start for everyone...sometimes it takes a "hurricane" to really open our eyes...maybe all of us outside of New Orleans can really appreciate the simple things that we might take for granted everyday...

running water, a roof over our heads, food on the table, a toliet that flushes, electricity, the ability to get in touch with others, etc...

and if you can do more, i ask that you do more...

...i want to do more...

Garde Manger (the art of the cold kitchen)

so this was my first culinary class that i'm not too fond off...it's a lot different than just "cooking" things...it focuses a lot on presentation and making stuff look good, which i don't think is one of my strongest qualities...but you guys can be the judge...here's pretty much a sample of what we did in this class...baking class starts on monday...something i'm not looking forward to either, but we'll see how that goes...it might turn out that i could love baking...hahaha

a simple salad

a pasta salad with grilled chicken

a tuna nicoise salad

a platter of different types of canapes (hors d'oeuvres)

a lobster salad sandwich with sweet potato fries in a potato wedge basket

a reuben sandwich

a croque monsieur (a fancy name for ham and cheese)

my team's first attempt at making a buffet platter with a red bean timbale, potato salad, a red pepper mousse canape, and a poached pear...a pretty whack first attempt

our final platter with a smoked chicken and dried cherry roulade, a corn and squash salad, marinated jicama, and a grilled chicken breast canape...i think this turned out pretty well

a sample plate of how someone would eat all this stuff...there's a cumberland sauce at the bottom

two good meat days

so yesterday was lamb day and today was pork day!...awesome meats!

roasted leg of lamb...this was way overdone...it's supposed to be medium rare to medium at the most

lamb stew

lamb sausages...with a bite out of one...hahaha

"the cottage" shnitzel...a pork tenderloin pounded, battered, then fried

our table in awe of the ribs on the rack just out of the oven!

plated ribs

pork kabobs...messy plate...i should take pics before i show my chef...haha

oh yah...mad cooking done in the last week

for all you meat lovers out there...these past few days have been on beef and veal...mmm....yum!...my heart is gonna stop beating from eating this stuff...hahaha

beef tenderloin with a marchand de vin sauce

braised beef short ribs

steak a poivre vert

blackened steak with a garlic brown butter sauce

red wine braised beef short ribs

blanquette de veau (veal in a white sauce) served over rice pilaf

osso bucco milanese

veal saltimbocca

veal marsala

more food updates

so this is what my xanga entries will mostly consist of...at least for now...hahaha

this is a braised beef bourguignon served over egg noodles

a grilled flank steak cooked medium with a side of corn salsa

we're finally cooking good stuff....that means we're finally EATING good stuff....hahaha