How Cool is Cool

G’day Mates!! Welcome back from a wonderful time in the Windy City. On April 9, I learned some fascinating skills in my Food Styling class. One of my friends Jenny from class invited her twin sister to come into our class and demonstrate how to blow glass. From our previous class when we learned how to pull sugar, learning how to blow glass was even more amusing. Jenny’s sister has been doing this hobby for years, and she usually blows glass in her basement. It is amazing the artwork you can do with glass, and create numerous things using fire. During this process we had to wear high tech glasses to protect our eyes from the flames that could eventually blind you if you stared at it too long. This is why we took precautions before starting. After Jenny’s sister finished demonstrating how to make a flower and mushroom necklace, each person in class had the opportunity to make their own art piece. Everyone in class did an excellent job creating their own color and design. As a warning “never touch the glass piece after it had been touch by fire because the burn is not pleasant.” This is why once the piece is completed you must may sure you let the glass cool down and cover it. Besides this I had a blast watching and learning about blow glass art. This class was the highlight of my day. I have some cool pictures below showing all the cool stuff that we did! On that note we must dock for the evening, I’ll catch you soon!

Friday the 13th

G’day Mates! Some people are suspicious about Friday the 13th, but I believe it is all in people minds. On April 13, my classmate Kathy and I headed down to Madison Technical College’s west campus. We headed down to the campus to discuss the topic of diversity. This open panel included presidents from numerous technical colleges in the state of Wisconsin. We were able to speak on our behalf as students on how we feel about diversity, and ways to bring awareness to other cultures. The discussion panel went really well and I heard stories from two other students from MATC and from the presidents of the different colleges about their perspectives. I think we all came out of the meeting learning new information, and forming a great community. After our discussion came to an end, Kathy and I, along with two other students took a tour of the campus. Although a small campus, there are numerous of things to offer to students. As the tour came to an end Kathy and I figured it would be a great opportunity for us to head downtown to Madison on State Street. If you never been down on State Street, I recommend you do because there are numerous of restaurants, shops, and plenty of other things to do and see. On State Street we stopped by STA (Student Travel Agency) to book my hostel in Dublin for my Europe trip. Then we headed next door to a cupcake shop; the cupcakes were amazing! I had a red velvet and a guacamole cupcake. I know it sounds odd, but the flavor was beyond amazing! We continued walking down on State Street passing numerous shops to see what catches our eyes. During this we worked up an appetite, so we decided to eat at a restaurant called Five Guys. This place is a must have because the burgers are fresh, amazing, and you can put whatever you want on them and then get a cup of fries. This combo is beyond amazing, so if you don’t try Five Guys Burger, then you are missing out! After a hearty meal we figured it was time for us to head home because we both had to work, unfortunately, but if you’re going to have fun you have to work. The ride back to Fond du Lac was not too bad for a windy day. After another fun time in Madison, I must say I was beyond tired; therefore it is time to dock the ship! I’ll catch you soon as we set sail for shopping in Appleton! Cheers, Lee IV

Visiting the Windy City

Howdy mates, on April 5, I traveled down to Chicago to visit my family and to celebrate my religion Feast of Unleavened Bread. I was super excited to see my family and people I haven’t seen in a long time from church. I drove down to Milwaukee to take the Greyhound Bus to Chicago. The reason why I took the bus is because I hate driving through traffic, so I figured it would be easier for someone to do the driving in heavy traffic. As I entered the Windy City of Chicago, I realized how much I love big cities due to skyscrapers, variety of food, and the numerous things to do. Once my parents came to pick me up we headed to church to feast. I had a great time with everyone talking about the past, and discussing future events to do as a family. After we finished our meal I was super stuffed, but everything was delicious. Afterwards we headed home, and since I was super tired I fell asleep immediately when I got in bed.
The next morning my mother made breakfast for the family. We had eggs, beef bacon, potatoes, and coffee. I must say nothing beats a home cooked meal, although my family misses my cooking as well. After we finished breakfast we headed downtown so I could catch the bus back to Fond du Lac. I decided to hang out with my family a little longer to check out stores, and shop around. Of course when you are having fun time goes by fast, so I had to sadly leave. As I was walking to the bus station I made sure I stopped by my favorite places before going back to Wisconsin. I stopped at a restaurant called Pre-A-Manager which is a place where they serve fresh food daily, and the left over foods are donated to a local food pantry. Next I stopped at my favorite coffee shop Dunkin Donuts; I love this place because the coffee and the price are amazing. Afterwards I continued my journey to the bus station to head back to Fond du Lac. The ride back was smooth and the weather was very pleasant, and I finally made it home. I was a bit tired from the journey, but hopefully next time I will to see my family longer. Well mates I guess it is time to dock the ship, for the weekend ahead.

Cheers,
Lee IV

Nutrition Class

Ahoy mates, on April 3, I was super excited because it was my last nutrition class. Although, I had a great time learning a lot of useful information, but now I have more time to focus on my other classes, and prepare for the busy month ahead. The day started off with me passing out flyers for Blessed Bee Cupcakes and The Coffee House to promote their businesses, and to bring awareness of the project they are working on. The project is to benefit recovery and resurrection homes in Fond du Lac. This unique service impacts people of the community. To find more information you can check out the website at www.recoveryhomesfdl.com. I recommend participating in this project to help others who are in need.

Once I finished passing out flyers, I started to work on my mostaccioli recipe for my nutrition class. For our last class, our instructor Tom decided it would be a good idea to have a Last Supper theme. The purpose of this last meal was to show us how much food we are supposed to have if we follow our daily calories per meal number. For me I am only supposed to have 932 calories per meal, but It amazes me how little or how much food I can only have. Although it is not hard to calculate, but I find it difficult to count and decide how much of a portion size I am suppose to have per meal. Especially since I love to eat and try new food. I do recommend trying this method if you have any health concerns. Overall I enjoy this class because I was able to learn useful information about the foods we eat. I also enjoyed the research I did referring to use food as medicine, since I am not a big believer using the typical medicine found in stores. I think down the road I would take this class again to further my studies about nutrition values and medicine. We all enjoyed the food we made for our last class, and most importantly we learned a lot by having fun. Well mates after a hearty meal, it’s time for bed. I’ll catch you on the next voyage as we set sail to sweet home Chicago for a day!

Cheers,
Lee IV

Brand New Month

G’day mates, welcome to a new month where April showers are bringing May flowers. After having a fun month of March, I wonder what April has to offer? As the semester is getting closer to the end there is a lot of things to do. Some of the events that are coming up include Multicultural day, Gourmet Dinner, Student Ambassador in Madison, and many more exciting events. To start off the new month in my Food Principle’s class we started to learn about the various cooking methods of fish. I was excited to learn about this section because fish is easy to cook as long you cook it with the right method. In class we made lobsters, perch, snail, cod, and some other fishes. It amazes me how many ways you can cook fish, and each method has a different flavor profile. I have some pictures below of the various fish we made on April 2. Since my class is in the morning, many people are turned off by having fish in the morning but I didn’t mind it. Especially since I didn’t eat anything for breakfast, this was a great start for me to get my protein count in. After class I decided I need to start eating healthy, so I made homemade granola from scratch. I figured instead of buying this product at the store I could make it at school at a cheaper cost. If you want the recipe you can email me at lmcclendon@morainepark.edu, and I’ll send you the directions. My granola turned out really tasty; it’s the perfect snack when you are on the go or mixed with yogurt for lunch or breakfast. Well mates, that’s all for today, but in our next journey I will talk about my experience for my last day of nutrition class, stay tuned.

Cheers,
Lee IV

Guest Appearance

Welcome back mates! On Thursday, March 29 my friend Tyler came up to visit me from Chicago. Since it was my birthday week celebration, we decided it was a good idea for him to DJ at Slim & Chubby’s while I promoted to get more people to come out. We also checked out my friend’s new restaurant located in North Fond du Lac. She was excited to open her new restaurant, and I was happy for her. I figured we should come out and show support. The name of the restaurant is Mangolios, and the theme is a bar and grill. This place is super huge and there are a lot of games from shuffle boards to pool games. Not only was this place huge but the food here was beyond amazing because it is made freshly. My friend Jenni who owns the restaurant wants her products to be locally bought and freshly made. This concept is important because the quality of the food tastes a lot better. When we received our meal everything tasted and smelled so good, and we ate away. As we finished our meal we were super full, and after that meal we weren’t hungry until hours later. I recommend you should try this delicious place.
After we left the restaurant we headed to Slim & Chubby’s to start setting up for the night. I had a feeling that the night would be a great night because I told a lot of people to come out. To make the night even better I realized that the band Gym Class Heroes was performing at Marian University. I figured it was a good idea to tweet the band to have their after party at Slim & Chubby’s. I figured I had nothing to lose to send out an invite, and surprise! They came out after their performance at Marian University. I was shocked but I could tell people were having a great time and dancing the night away. As my friend Tyler was DJing the night away we meet some of the people from Gym Class Heroes, we had a good time playing music and getting the people going. I must say that night was a great time, and I hope there are more nights like that. Well mates that is all for now, on our next voyage we’ll be traveling into a new month of April.

Cheers,
Lee IV

My Birthday Week

Ahoy Mates! After a productive fun week of spring break, it was time to get back in action with school and work. This week is different because I celebrated my birthday all week because this is the only way to enjoy a special day. My official birthday was March 27, but my celebration kicked off with my birthday eve on the 26th. I went out to supper at Gino’s with a couple of friends from school for pizza. It was a great night hanging out with them, as we counted down to midnight for my official birthday. As midnight approached my friends wished me happy birthday, and we had a couple of drinks to celebrate.
On my official birthday I received phone calls from my grandma and mother; they wished me a happy birthday and have a great day. This made my day to hear their voices; at this point I knew I would have a great day. Afterwards I headed off to school for my free 15 minutes massage hosted by Student Activities. The free massages are offered each month for all students, but limited spaces fill fast. If you haven’t sign up for a massage yet, I recommend doing so because it is well worth it! As my massage finished it was time for me to get ready for class. I could barely pay attention because I was eager to celebrate my birthday. Fortunately class went by super-fast, then I was off to get the night started. For my official birthday dinner I wanted to have some Mexican food, so a friend and I went to Mazatlan Restaurant in town. We had a great time eating some amazing food and of course some delicious margaritas. Although I was super full I was eager enough to go out afterwards to meet up with some friends. I must say I had a fun night, and there will be many more to come. On my next blog I will be checking out the new restaurant in town. You will not want to miss this one! See you soon!
Cheers,
Lee IV

Spring Break

G’day mates! Welcome back to another exciting journey. Usually around spring break time I am getting ready for a trip down to Florida or somewhere warm. This year was different because I had to save up for my backpacking trip in Europe this summer. Although I wanted to go on a small trip somewhere, I had to look at the big picture ahead. Anyways my Spring Break kicked off with me celebrating St. Patty’s Day on March 17. The day was filled with recognizing the Irish culture, and having everything in green apparel. I had a blast hanging out with friends, singing, eating and drinking. I am super excited to visit Ireland this summer to see everything first handed in green. Throughout spring break I was able to take care of errands, and did a lot of cleaning around the house and car. I remember when I was younger I used to hate spring cleaning, but now I cherish it more for some reason. I guess it is one of those things you tend to like over a period of time.
Since I didn’t have to work as much through break I had the chance to watch a couple of my favorite seasons of television shows. The television shows I recommend watching are the season of WEEDS and How I Met Your Mother. I recommend these shows because they are funny and each episode brings on new journeys. Since I had a lot of free time at night I finished a single season in one night.
To finish off my spring break I ended the week off hanging out with friends from school. We all headed up to Appleton, to go shopping and for supper. We first went to Fox River Mall to find some items on sale, and look for some items for our ethnic restaurant class. We had a blast hanging out and just enjoying our time off from school. We wish we could hangout more, but with work and school it is hard. We do indeed make the best of everything and have a good time.
Cheers,
Lee IV