Culinary Arts Club Cookies Sale

Hello mates! I am letting you know that the Culinary Arts Club is selling 4 dozen assorted Christmas cookies for $8.00. Starting from December 9-13 we will be taking orders until everything runs out, so make sure you buy some tasty cookies which are great for friends and family as well. You can purchase cookies by the cafeteria and there will be somebody there to assist you. This fundraiser will support funds for our culinary club which benefits our trips to the Food Show in Chicago and our German Exchange program. I hope you get a chance to purchase some and support our group! Cheers, Lee IV

Fun Day in March

G’day Mates, welcome back to another exciting voyage back to Milwaukee. On March 13, I headed back down to the Food Expo with the baking crew early in the morning. The baking crew was preparing quick breads and other tasty treats to demonstrate for guests to learn new techniques. Since they were doing that I was able to check out the show floor since I missed it the previous day because of competing. I met a lot of people that day from Fox 6, reporter Justine, Cheese Lady Sarah and many others. I was astonished about all the people I was networking with because they gave me a lot of tips of how I can improve my goals and help others with theirs. Not only did I talk to a lot of people, I was able to eat a lot of tasty foods from steak to gyros. The abundance of samples made me full, but I made sure I tried everything to experience flavors I never had before. I recommend if you ever have the chance to check out a Food Expo you should, otherwise you are missing out on a lot of things. After having a good time at the Food Expo it was time to head back to Fond du Lac, because I had class that evening. I must say although I haven’t had much sleep this week, I am having a great time! On my next voyage I’ll be sailing off to Moraine Park’s Beaver Dam campus. I am excited to tour the campus and help select a candidate for the Student of the Year Award. See you soon, ciao!

Cheers,
Lee IV

Finals Week

Ah the best part of the school semester is finals week; actually I’m just kidding because the last week is always a lot more pressure on people. Especially this time of the year people are eager for winter holidays, or its crunch time for people with finals and getting a good grade on their last exams is a must. Then as for some this is their last semester and will be graduating in the spring. As you can see there is a lot of mixed emotions around school, plus the cold month’s lies ahead although it has been unusually warm.
For me my finals started on Monday for my Food Principles class. We had a written exam and a knife cutting skill testing, I felt the exams went pretty well, but I guess I have to wait and see. After my class I had to work at Qdoba, and work wasn’t too bad. A steady rush of people came in which isn’t too bad because it makes time go by fast. Afterwards I went back to school to help make cookies for the Culinary Arts Club. For the first time I actually made cookies from scratch and they turned out good. I made a batch of chocolate jam print cookies, the raspberry is a good color with the chocolate, and the taste is even better. Making cookies is a little tough for me but the ending results is worth the time and work. Later in the night I went to one of my friends’ house to play the board game Life; I haven’t played this game since I was little so it brought back memories as a child. It was a lot of fun, and we played about two hours without realizing how time flies. After we finished I called it a night I was a bit tired after a long day. Well I will catch you soon for day two of finals. Ciao!

Cheers,
Lee IV

Saturday Fun day!!

As soon as I thought I had nothing plan for the weekend my agenda slightly changed. Since we needed extra people to help to make cookies for our fundraiser, I decided to come in to school to help make cookies. My friend Chellsie and I made three types of cookies ranging from spiced cutout cookies and preferment. We had a lot of fun cutting, organizing and baking cookies. Since we took time out of our morning our instructor, Tom, made us breakfast consisting of toast and amazing cheesy scrambled eggs. This was a rare occasion because Tom usually never cooks since he is always baking something. We baked cookies for about three hours, before I had to work at Qdoba. Once I finished my shift I went home to change before I went Appleton with a friend to get dinner at Sairam Indian restaurant. If you have not been at this place I recommend coming here because the food is beyond amazing, and the ingredients are fresh, spicy if needed, and tasty. Since I haven’t eaten here in such a long time I decided to get a lentil soup for my appetizer, a masala chai, and chicken curry for my main course. After eating all of these foods I barely had room to fit more food in, so I took some home for leftovers; which is perfect for a midnight snack.

Since I drove to Appleton, it only made sense to do a little shopping to get the best use of my gas. I went Barnes and Nobles to check out the newest arrival of books and the newest tablets that allow people to read books on them. There were so many choices; sometimes I get lost at this store because there are so many genres to choose from. The best area of the store for me is the Travel corner because it encourages me to keep traveling and checkout pictures of places around the world. Afterwards I quickly went to the mall to get some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery before they closed for the night. It was totally worth the rush because the ice cream is so good. Once I got my ice cream fix in it was time to head back home. As my voyage ended for the day there will be another voyage ahead, so until then see you later!

Cheers,
Lee IV

The Big Day!

Wednesday, November 30, was the last day of the month, and was either “Go Big or Go Home” because I had my test out day for my baking class. For my final I had to make three coconut crème pies and honey oatmeal bread. After a night of planning out my recipes I had everything ready, but for some reason I had a rough start. When I was making my bread I forgot to add the water first, which is a huge component of making bread, but luckily enough my instructor had some sourdough to add to my mixture to make my dough to a good consistency. After that things went a lot smoother and I was shaking and baking literally. While I was letting my dough rest, I started on making my coconut crème pies. All the recipes I was making were made from scratch, and this time I was working by myself without a partner. Baking can be a lot of fun especially when everything tastes good and turns out good. After an hour I finally finished my pies and they turned out really good. I topped them off with a crème, and made a face out of the crème. By this time it was time for me to start baking my bread, and put some sweet designs into them. The breads took about an hour to bake then I had to let them cool off on the rack. Overall my test out went well although it was a rough start; my saying is “it doesn’t matter how you start its how you finish.” All the breads that my class made were sold out within hours; I guess people really love bread especially when they are freshly from the oven.

After my baking test out I could finally take a breather and take away the pressure I put on myself. Then I realized MPTC student life was having a Casino Night event in the cafeteria. This event was free for students to play various games such as roulette, poker, and blackjack to win prizes at the end of the event. I played roulette for about two hours because it is my new favorite game to play especially at the casino, the odds of winning are pretty good. So I stayed until the end hoping to win the grand prize of a $200 Visa gift card, but of course I didn’t win any prizes nor the grand prize unfortunately. At least I had a good time at the event; I hope there will be more casino nights because the thrill of winning is always a thrill. Well until next time, Check you later!
Cheers,
Lee IV

Wacky Wednesday

Welcome back! My favorite day of the week, Wednesday, was once again super fun; this time in my baking class we made apple pies and a coconut crème pies. The pies turned out really good, and I learned that these pies are not that hard to make. I recommend anyone to try making a pie from scratch as you get to enjoy it more because of the hard work you put into it. The best part I like about baking class is doing the decoration of various desserts; it adds an extra appearance to the final product. If you ever want to try these freshly made pies and treats stop on by the culinary corner or just follow your nose it will lead you to the right place. Making these pies were perfect timing because Thanksgiving is one week away, and plus who doesn’t like an extra serving of desserts.

After my baking class I got ready for my hot sandwich; we were preparing a thanksgiving meal for the maintenance staff for all the hard work they do and all the help they do for us, so in appreciation we cooked up a delicious meal. I made coleslaw while other student made some amazing food from turkey to desserts. Once everything was finished we gathered together and ate as one big family. We had ham, cranberries, sloppy Joes, potatoe salad, meatballs, cider, and plus more! I almost got sleepy but then it was time to clean up. We didn’t take long to clean up then we started to help Instructor Lois Zingsheim for her largest salad bar in MPTC history. If you don’t know Instructor Lois she has a big heart and she likes to make class fun and interactive with the public. She definitely takes her ideas to the next level; she goes big without any doubt. Overall I heard people say nothing but good things about the salad bar her class did that night, I have pictures of all the things of this day. Now you can see why I say Wednesday are my favorite days of the week! In my next blog I will blog about my scholarship dinner at Moraine Park Technical College in Fond du Lac.
Cheers,
Lee IV

Snow Already?

You can tell winter is near because we had our first official snow fall. This felt like a dream since we had some nice weather previously, then all of sudden snow started to fall and the wind was blowing crazy. This weather didn’t ruin my day because in my baking class we made several tasty pie treats such as lemon tart, blue berries, and cherry pies. These pies were a lot of fun to make. There are so many creative things you can do with pies. I learned there are different techniques of making a pie crust depending on the kind of pie it is. Out of the three pies my partner and I made, my favorite pie was the lemon tart because I love the color and taste of lemons and sugars. For our blueberry pie we made a special design on the crust with pie symbols that represented fall decorations. After my baking class I got ready for my hot sandwich class, and this week we worked on making different types of hamburgers. During this time we used three different types of cooking techniques such as grilling, pan-frying, and steaming. Making hamburgers for class is defiantly not boring because there is so much you can do with burgers. I decided to add some salsas to my burgers to add an extra flavor profile; I made a corn and tomato salsa with jalapenos. I have some pictures above to show how my burgers & pies turned out.
Later in the day my friend Alyssa from school stayed in town because the weather was not the greatest to drive in, so we decided to hang out in town and go shopping. We went to Wal-Mart to get some food and snacks for the night, and basically chilled until our friend Chrissie got off from work. Once she came to my house we decided to go out to Applebee’s because after 10 they have half off appetizers, and it gave us something to do. As we went to the restaurant there were few people there, but the workers didn’t mind so we ordered our food. We just talked about how we are looking forward to our classes next semester because we will be in the same class for ethnic restaurant. I must recommend for anyone who is short on cash, but still wants to go out to eat, go to Applebee’s after 10 to get your money’s worth and some good food. Afterwards we headed home and called it a night; it’s funny how a snowy day can turn out to have a good ending. Well on my next blog I will be talking about my Aussie presentation!

Cheers,
Lee IV