Menu

For the last couple weeks I have been working a menu that I will present at the end of my Senior Project class, so far I have come up with all the courses that the menu is going to consist of, now all I have to do it is sit down and make it! easier said than done! Not only that I have to make a food cost percentage chart or something that will help the audience further understand the behind the scene of menu making.

blogs!

I haven't blogged much lately and its not that I don't want to, its that I've been so busy between everything from baseball to work that I just haven't found any time to actually sit down and think things through and blog!

LIttle Tuna!

This week Darien and I, went over the menu and finished it up, after that I basically cooked for the remainder of the time, there is no better way of learning then actually getting some hands on work!

senior trip week

All this week our senior's took a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Fl, I chose not to go, but I enjoyed myself. Monday was a regular day for everyone, and Tuesday I attended my sponsor and spend my day cooking, what fun! Wednesday I slept in and took a nice drive around and hung out with some of my friends and spend some quality time enjoying nature. Thursday I just slept all day, lazy I know, but I was in need for some serious sleep, but Friday was just too fun for words. Some of my baseball buddies went on a journey to find this one lake that nobody has ever heard of, but to be honest just the wrong turns and the U-turns was fun, not to mention the random act of stupidity. We finally found this mysterious lake, which was located some where in Winslow township, it was called Picasso Lake. From the looks of it, it use to be some kind of paintball place. What a week!

WEATHER!

Darn weather, because of all the spring showers our baseball schedule as been put on hold, and it as effected me in many levels! Not only do our games get canceled, I have to let my job know that I' m unable to go. And if I miss a lot of days at work I can get fired! I know that my head is suppose to be in the game and nothing else but I cant afford to lose my job over a baseball game, but I don't really care cause I want to make it to the playoffs, and set a new school record in wins.

Countdown!

With the impending senior trip, the end of baseball in two weeks, the prom in three weeks, my senior project presentation in four weeks, and the last day of school in a little over five weeks, time will truly past a lot quicker than I wanted it to. Don't get me wrong I have senioritis as much as the next senior but man, life starts in just a few short weeks! No more mommy and daddy there to hold your hand, it'll be time for the cubs to fend for themselves! To be honest even though high was crap, I will truly miss it, not sp much the building itself but people that made the building what it was. I'm just hoping that in the next fives weeks and I hang out with as many friends as possible!

Anecdote

You know, growing up my parents would tell me that I should do something productive with myself; they would suggest becoming a doctor or lawyer. It wasn’t until just a few years ago, when I found myself home alone and hungry that my friend Will and I started throwing ingredients into a pan and found my passion for the kitchen. I can’t say that the chicken and mashed potatoes were that good then, after my years of practice I know that I can whip up some mean chicken and mashed potatoes. After that, I found that the kitchen and I went hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly.

Haddonsfield!

Today we played Haddonsfield, which in case you didn't know are rated number six in all of New Jersey, and we won! To be honest I thought that we was going to lose, not to be negative or anything but I was just playing realistic. Since Lindenwold doesn't have the reputation of being a strong ball club, people don't take us serious but not no more, we came out today looking for blood, and we got what we were looking for but our thirst isn't quenched just yet! We are looking earn a spot in the playoffs!

little tuna!

With the project coming up soon, Darrien and I having been talking about how I shall go about it. At one point we came up with the one of the dishes that I'll be presenting. Since it is going to be summer when I present, I've decided to go with a pretty simple summer salad, and this way I can use the audience in my presentation. After discussing all that, it was time to get to down to business in the kitchen. With in just a few moments, the orders just started swarming in. It was just two hours of quality practice!

Playoffs!

Our school hasn't really been known for our accomplishments in baseball, but this year we have a chance of going to the playoffs. Last week we won two games, that put us on track for the playoff cuts. Today we go up against Camden Central High School once more, we played them Thursday and came up victorious. We are hoping for another win against them. Even though we need to win six out of the eight games we have left till the playoff cut off date, I believe if we play with determination we can definitely upset some people.

Summer Weather!!

This weekend was one of the best weekends that I have had in a long time. Friday night we won our game versus Woodrow Wilson high school, and after that I headed out to Coney Island in New York! The weather made it great to just stroll the board walk and go swimming. Since Coney Island is said to be the birth place of the hot dog, I couldn't resist hitting the board walk and trying the world famous Nathan's hot dogs! Great weather, great food, and great friends call for good times! But all good things must come to an end, unfortunately I had to go to work Sunday. I was stuck indoors all of Sunday when I could have been enjoying the great weather, but at least I enjoyed myself Saturday.

Meeting!

Yesterday we had a meeting with Mr. Vick and Mr. Paul, wasn't as enlightening as I thought. Most of the things that they said I kind of knew. The only things that I learned was the cover page and what as to be on it. But now that I know almost everything that I need, I have to start actually sitting down and start my drafts!

Little Tuna 4/7

New day, new recipes! Today Darrien decided to reiterate last weeks lesson. He further demonstrated how to "en papillote" by making Tilapia with fresh herbs and veggies, such as rosemary, basil and tomatoes. He also added lemon for a bit of tang. After making the Tilapia, Darrien and I spoke about the next step in the senior project class. I told Darrien about the ideas I had and the different themes of menus that I had in mind, he found my idea about the world menu a little bit too complex "The menu should be a simple, and easy to read." Taking that into consideration, started to think really hard of what type of food my menu will consist of, I was drawing blanks everywhere. After a while of hardcore thinking, Darrien suggested we should meet up on his day off from the Little Tuna and sit down and begin the ground work for the menu, not only that he said he knows a few techniques to help me maximize the time for the final presentation. After all the thinking was said and done, we got back to business. In addition to the Tilapia recipe, he taught me a real simple but elegant dish, Fried Penne.

Making fried Penne is very simple. What you do is start by making Penne al dente, then shocking them. When penne is shocked then you take a skillet and add butter. When the skillet is hot then add the Penne to the concoction as the Penne is slowly cooking away you will start adding bread crumbs to add some crunch to the penne. When the bread crumbs stick to the penne and the crumbs turn a golden color then add some marinara sauce, and cheese, then put it in the oven until the cheese is melted.

Little Tuna! 3/2

Well today was like any other day. Darrien and I helped Marcus with the preparation of a catering he had to do later that day. Luckily by the time I got there the chaos of bins everywhere was long gone. But the task was not done yet, I had to help out with the few last bins of food that were going to be taking. Even though the time there felt like another Tuesday it was actually a Thursday, and to be honest I thought that it would be more if a trraffic jam in the kitchen.

Research paper!

FINALLY! I handed in my paper today and I know its still a little rough but man does it feel good to get such a weight of my chest. Now we get to start forming our ideas about the project portion into a physical product. I head is filled with a ton of ideas, from creating a cook book to creating a restaurant. Even though that my paper isn't as polished as I want it to be, I have to hand it what I have Mr. Abrams is allowing us to take some time and revise it and turn it in later next week.

little tuna- 3/24 S.J hot chef week

This week I had was a new adventure, like every week. This week just happen to be "South Jersey hot chefs restaurant week." Restaurant week is basically a group of independent restaurant owners getting together to promote business by offering sweet deals like, a 3 course meal for as low as $35, not a mad price. Like any business, one must be prepared for the task at hand. When I arrived I found Darrien and Fidel slaving away at the kitchen while they tried to get the kitchen ready for the traffic jam ahead! I did my best in helping, I folded napkins, helped with oncoming orders, and even counted stock in the freezer. Not what usually do, but hey if they the help I'm down. On the cooking aspect of things I had a pretty easy day, simple wraps, salads, and basic entrees. One piece of exciting news is that Darrien asked me to drop by Thursday night to see the kitchen in full swing! Can't wait till Thursday!

Weekend Warrior!

This weekend we celebrated my mother 37th birthday, old I know, just kidding. But even though I had baseball practice and work, I had to play with my schedule so I can dedicate some time to her. Her Birthday was until Sunday but who honestly parties on a Sunday? So we threw her a nice little family only get together Saturday night. Chef Jose a friend of the family and I got kitchen duty of course. My grandma took my mother to the mall as we slaved away. Before actually cooking we sat together and planned what to make using her favorite meals. My mother enjoys anything shrimp. So to start off the meal we decided to make fried jumbo shrimp with dijon mustard dip. As the main course we went with something real close to home, a childhood meal that is made in most carribean homes, "Paella." Paella is a seafood rice dish that may contains shrimp, crab meat, lobster, clams, pieces of salmon, and basically any type of seafood you want. To top of the night we got another friend of family to make a traditional puerto rican style cake. You should of seen her face my mother almost cried. Sunday morning her official birthday, my siblings and I made her a nice breakfast to start her big day off. Unfortunately I had work at noon so I didn't spend the whole day with her, but so I've heard my dad took her to eat at a restaurant and stuff.

My own Critique!

Today our Spanish department had a field trip to "El Taller Puertoriqqueno" it wasn't as fun I thought it would be, but hey at least it was a day out of school! After the our tour and mask making we headed over to the Bourse center to grab a bite to eat. That place was packed! The lines were chaotic, people cutting in line, bad orders, Argh! At first I had trouble choosing a place to eat out of the handful of restaurants. But after about 10 minutes of hardcore thinking, I chose Chinese! We all know that we're all visual eaters and boy did that Sesame chicken look good, but there is a difference between looking good and actually being good! In my opinion, the rice was tasteless and dry. Now the chicken was pretty good, but there was way to much sauce on the chicken; it over powered the it. The veggies in the rice were cold, the egg roll tasted like it was sitting on the counter for hours and then preheated! If you ever go to the Bourse center don't get the Chinese food!