I have been so darn busy!

School has been crazy busy and on top of that I have been involved in two culinary competitions. Finding the time to sit down and jot down my thoughts was free time I did not have. School consisted of writing papers, writing business plans, taking midterms and other test. The most time sucking job was preparing for the competitions.

The first Competition was more of a fund raising event that has "friendly' competition between its members and some outsiders. I entered a Sauerbraten Bison, Carrot, Parsnips and Potato Cakes with a Wine and Bacon Braised Red Cabbage. I received a very good positive response by the attendees, and pretty much had a continuous line of customers the entire time we were there. Received some tremendous feedback and had many repeat customers. The best part was introducing Bison as an alternative "red meat" and the surprised look on peoples faces when they ate it. They could not believe the wonderful taste or the tenderness of this meat. But alas, I was no match for the winning dish, a Chicken Stir-Fry with the plain white rice. Oh well.

The second competition was more challenging. The four teams consisted of three students and one mentor chef. We worked with a mentor chef, who is one of the most congenial and patient men on earth. He gave the team a free reign on what we wanted to cook and how we wanted to prepare it. He just would step in to tweak the recipe and give us his blessing. I really learned a lot from him about how to finish a dish in both taste and presentation. I think I have changed for the better because of this. This was a great learning experience for all of us. Although this competition was not as stringent as the ACF competitions, we did have rules to follow and had to complete the dish in exactly one hour. On the dot!

The judges of this competition are respected in the culinary world and were also very respectfully to us. I appreciated this. They could of really picked us apart, but this was not the time for it or in the spirit of the event. When a you really want to know what a judge really thinks you need to watch their actions as well as listen to their words. Their comments about our dish were cordial, as they were with the other contestants. But, the body language was remarkable. Now I am not going to give up my secrets on body language, but the reactions were good, real good. I knew the results from this competition were going to bring much pleasure to our team. At this point I did not know if we were going to win, but I knew we did well.

And we did do well, we won! And we had to much fun doing it!

Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts

 

The picture you are seeing is that of the frozen desserts and ice cream we prepared in class this week. The picture arrangement is made with the help of Picasa, this program is free and has some really cool features in it to "style" your photos.

Scholarshp! Yeah!

As some of you know I concocted a plan to raise money for school. Before I retired from the city job, I put away some money to attend school during my retirement. At this time the money set aside was more than sufficient. I decided to expand my education in a direction that involved more Culinary classes in addition to the Baking Certification and my hubbie decided to get a Master's Degree. This is why the money saved started to thin out.

Now in addition to the Culinary Certifications, I have been side tracked, of course in a good way. While at Claddaugh Irish Pub (only went there because I had a gift certificate from winning a Top Chef Competition hosted by the Lyndhurst/Highland Heights Chamber of Commerce)for lunch with my school buddy Kelly. The usual discussion of food morphed into a social justice conversation concerning availability of planned menus for certain special needs diets. We discussed the practicality and affordability of the types of food involved in some of these menus. We both believe in treating the cause of the disease rather than just treating a symptom.

As this discussion progressed, Kelly had mentioned getting involved in the Robert L. Lewis Academy of Scholars to do a independent study project to develop this idea. This means filling out an application and enrolling in two classes. Unbeknown to me the Academy offers scholarship money for independent study in Social Justice issues. So I enrolled, got accepted and now I have some scholarship money! I am so pumped!

Damn those Raccoons!

I woke up to this crap this morning. The raccoons totally annihilated my corn crop. I am so glad I am not a pioneer, depending on what I grow to live during the winter. There are literally no corn left from this planting. Raccoons have destroyed every last bit of the corn that was planted.

What would our ancestors have done? When the pioneers populated this land hundreds of years ago, crops must of been a 24 hour a day, seven days a week vigil to survive.

I am so glad for Giant Eagle Supermarkets!

Paying for School

I have become exhausted trying to win a scholarship to pay for school. I carry a 4.0 GPA, belong to several successful fund-raising volunteer groups, and have a great vision of where I would love to take my abilities in this new career. Alas, I can not qualify for one. While applying for just about every scholarship know to mankind, even going online and taking surveys for Scholarships.com. I can not catch a break.

I am retired and on a pension, my husband works, but is working on his Master's Degree. On paper we look fine financially and we are comfortable considering the financial climate nowadays. What gets makes me mad is that I am expected to deplete my savings for school, when others that have not even matched the qualifications set forth by a scholarship will win it. Case in point, a certain "Ravioli in a Can" scholarship can be awarded to a student in a field that is unrelated. Damn it! I would find that guys dog when it would run off and I would take him back home. I wish that was a qualification for the scholarship. I hate being punished for being frugal and saving money. So here is my new plan of attack.

The food recipe contests! Yes this is the new target for paying for my tuition. By turning my kitchen into a friggin' laboratory, so I can research and develop a mind bending, taste bud tingling, toe curling recipe. I do not care if the contest is for chicken lips I am on it! With all this ranting I am now hungry, I hope I have some of the sandwich left over from one of the "Sandwich" trials. This was a pretty good one for the first attempt. I would share what I am making, but I know some bastard out there would steal it and submit and win.

And on that note...I am off!

Salmon Gyros (My way)

Salmon probably is one of the best fishes for your health. So "they" say today. As we all run and gobble up what ever we think will make us younger, prettier or healthier, until "they" find that they were wrong and what was the "it" food now becomes the "not it" food. But I just like salmon. Damn it! Salmon is versatile, non fishy flavored hearty textured piece of flesh. Oh and did I mention it is not bony? I can not handle bones, no sirree. A fish bone will stop me dead in my eating tracks. A fish bone has ruined more than one meal and I guess it will ruin many more. I always choose my fish based on the possibility of finding a bone, yes Mr. Whitting Fish I will NEVER eat you, again. Enough about my fishboneaphobia, on to the sandwich of great desire.

As I travel past the fish counter at the local grocery store I spied a Salmon, Feta and Spinach Burger on display. Thinking that this might make a great gyro I proceeded to gather my ingredients. The pita bread to me is very important, being from Cleveland I am reather spoiled by the amount of different ethnic food products that are available. One thing for sure we have good pita! Right now my favorite is Assad's Pita from off of Lorain Ave. I took that pita and softened it in the microwave for about 10 seconds. This technique really changes up the flavor of the pita bread. The salmon burger was pan-fried in some olive oil until it had a crunchy exterior. I put that bad boy on the warm pita and a hand full of baby salad greens. The grand finale is the roasted garlic, lemon and dill aioli that I slathered on very generously. What a great sandwich!

Blogging?

Well fellow bloggers, I am gonna give this blogging thing a try. I can see that chronicling ones life has become more like therapy to most of you than it is a hobby. I wonder where blogging will take me and what adventures I may have doing so?

First of all some of you may be wondering ( or maybe not) why I chose the blog name of "The Croatian"? I chose this moniker because; first I am a Croatian American, second this is the name of my under construction website and third this will be the name of the restaurant/bakery I am planning on opening in the next year or two. Presently I am attending a local community college to obtain certifications in Professional Baking, Personal Chef and Culinarian/Cook. I am maintaining a 4.0 GPA so far and only have one class left for both the Baking and the Personal Chef cert. I have two more classes to finish for the Culinarian.

This is a new path in my life. After retiring at age 51 from the police department with 28 years of service, I realized it was now my time to go back to school and hone my skills. I have always been a great cook and a better than average baker. I have a vision of bringing delicacies from that region of the world (Croatia) to this area. Seeing how Ohio has one of the third largest Croatian populations in the U.S., first is Illinois and then following by Pennsylvania. The Cleveland area has a large population of people from Croatia, but only a handful of truly Croatian Restaurants and Bakeries.

Time to go...Mary Ann