Saturday, October 30, 2010

Rice Pudding

For one of my classes we are required to to do ten hours of community service. I decided to go to a place called International Hearing Dogs, Inc. (pawsforsilence.org) They work with dogs and teach them to hear for those who can not do so for themselves. Today they had a dog-o-ween where you dress your dogs up and you can dress up too. The dogs were really cute in their outfits. One of the dogs was dressed up as a caveman, there was a bumble-bee. The dog that won the contest was dressed as Austin Powers. (I didn't have my camera on me so I didn't get pictures, otherwise I would post them.) That's pretty much all I have to say today... Oh and my mom made some awesome rice pudding today for dessert and I now thought I would share the recipe with you. Also my mom told me that I have pretty crappy grammar, but I don't care because I'm not an English major and because I don't like English class.

2 1/2 cups of cooked rice
2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
cinnamon
nutmeg
raisins

Place rice in medium saucepan, add milk stir carefully and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes stirring frequently.
Beat egg yolks, stir in sugar, the add to rice and milk slowly while stirring. Continue cooking about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and remove from heat. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. And raisins if desired and how many you want. Serve warm or cold. Keep refrigerated.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Carrot Cake

I recently saw another blog where this girl had a list of 100 things she wanted to do before she died. It got me thinking about the things that I want to do before I die. I haven't got 100 things yet, but I have accomplished some of them previously to putting this list together. If anyone actually wants to give me ideas or help me accomplish goals, feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

1.       Parasail
2.       Go to Australia
3.       Get Married
4.       Have kiddos
5.       Go to South Africa and swim with sea turtles
6.       Make a recipe famous
7.       Go to Vegas again
8.       Go to Alaska
9.       Scuba Dive
10.   Pyramids at sunset
11.   Ride a camel
12.   Travel to over 30 countries:25 so far
13.   Travel to over 100 cities outside of the U.S.: 75 so far
14.   Travel to all 50 states: 24 so far
15.   Go white water rafting again
16.   Learn to snowboard fully
17.   Jetski in Hawaii
18.   Own a boat
19.   Own a house near a lake
20.   See a glacier in Antarctica
21.   Dance with my father at my wedding
22.   Go skydiving
23.   Race a sports car
24.   Fire a gun
25.   Go Zorbing
26.   Oktoberfest
27.   Test drive a Ferrari
28.   Own a Mustang (car not horse)
29.   Go bungee jumping
30.   Visit the Acropolis
31.   Visit the Pantheon
32.   Visit the Parthenon
33.   Visit the Great Wall of China
34.   Start a blog
35.   See Steve Irwin’s Zoo (modified since his death)
36.   Ride in a hot air balloon
37.   Take a canopy tour
38.   Ride the 10 largest roller coasters in the world
39.   Visit the Fjords of Norway
40.   Visit the Great Barrier Reef
41.   Visit Niagara Falls
42.   Visit Easter Island
43.   Go to Stonehenge
44.   Make a Koi Carp out of a Dollar Bill
45.   Try oysters
46.   Try escargot
47.   Try caviar
48.   Heli-snowboarding
49.   Snowboard into a different country(Austria to Switzerland)
50.   Hang Gliding
51.   Collect a  100,000 pennies: 1091 so far
52.   Actually finish making a blanket
53.   Learn to sew
54.   Drive at 100+ mph
55.   Learn to write calligraphy
56.   Learn to write with left hand
57.   Get tattoo
58.   Volcano Boarding
59.   Complete my Bucket List
 * And yes I do realise it is kind of silly to put complete my bucket list, but whatever I'm a strange sort of person who does that sort of thing.

And now to the recipe. I actually created this recipe myself.

2 cups bread flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 whole eggs
3/4 cup raisins
2 cups carrots
1 cup coconut or drained crushed pineapple (optional)

This is pretty simple. Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease pans. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs until blended. Add rest of ingredients and mix until blended. Bake for 35-40 minutes. (Makes 2 9-in. cakes)

For the frosting:
1 lb of cream cheese
1 pint of heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla

Soften cream cheese before hand. Beat ingredients together. Allow cakes to cool off completely before frosting.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Kendra Marie

So this isn't going to be about baking and pastry its not even going to have a recipe. Right now I just want to talk about my bestest friend and why I love her. Kendra moved into my neighborhood the last year I was in high school. And this was the first American that was actually the same age as I was. Sure there were older people and younger kids but never someone the same age/grade as I was, until Kendra. Not only did I get to be best friends with Kendra but her sisters as well. I was accepted into the family like another kid. I guess you could say that we became sisters in a way. We did practically everything together. We went on a ski trip to the Alps. And if we hadn't gone skiing then the tumor would never have been found. Its been two years and not the tumor is back again. Kendra had fallen while we were skiing and had to be rescued by ski patrol. When we got back home Kendra had to go to the doctor and that's when they found out that she had a tumor in her knee. She had surgery to remove it. And it came back. So they did surgery on it again. Now it has come back for the third time. She is in Florida right now and I have no way of being there for her. I can't leave to go visit her because I have school. I just want to be able to do something for her, but I have no idea what I can do for her. I love her more than my own brother. But that's not saying much because I greatly dislike my brother. So maybe I should say that I love her more than I dislike my own brother.
I miss you bunches Kendra.


Its supposed to say Fire! Fire! What Now?! (inside joke)




Saturday, October 23, 2010

Neiman-Marcus

I actually have no idea what to title my blogs so I guess I'm just going to call it whatever the recipe of that day is.
Right now my life isn't that interesting. I'm not in the interesting classes, the classes that I choose Johnson and Wales University, I'm in the boring academic classes. The ones that make you do homework almost everyday. I miss the labs. The classes that you have to stand on your feet for six hours at a time and you get to bake and have fun.

The funny thing right now is probably my cat. She has become fascinated by medicine cups. I mean she just goes crazy over these little cups. She will climb up on the counter and steal the medicine cup to play with it.

I'm getting excited as more snow piles up on the mountains. I really love snowboarding. I can't explain why I love it so much seems how I'm not the greatest at it. I am also getting excited about going to Utah for Thanksgiving. I originally wanted to go for Christmas but my mom felt that she couldn't let me go for the big holiday. The reason that I wanted to go for Christmas is because my Grandma Jo has never had a Christmas with me. And I really love my Grandma Jo. I know it sounds weird that I have never had a Christmas with one of my Grandmas, but when you learn more about me and my history then you will understand. First off my Papa Eddie doesn't fly and my Grandma has never really been comfortable flying alone. And the reason why they would have to fly to visit me and my family is because up until last year my mom was in the military so we would move around a lot. Second for eight years my grandparents wouldn't even have been able to drive to see us since you can't drive over the ocean ( we lived in Germany from the time I was ten to the time I was eighteen). I have absolutely no idea why we didn't go visit my Grandma Jo for Christmas, but I guess it was maybe because its expensive to travel at the holidays? I don't know. But this year I get to go for Thanksgiving, which is something.

I know this blog is called My Life as a Baking and Pastry Student and I haven't spent much time talking about baking and pastry student life and that's because right now all of my baking is done at home and its not really a studying. But I think that maybe each time that I blog that I might share one of my favorite recipes with you guys. So this time I think that I am going to share my take on the Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe.
This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies and can be halved very easily. This is the original and at the end will be my modifications.

2 cups butter, softened
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal
24 oz. chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla extract.

Instead of the Hershey bar I buy a bag of mini or fun sized Snickers and I freeze them the night before.
Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix in the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the chocolate chips. Use a food processor to chop the Snickers into really small tiny pieces. You can also either make them into bars as I do or bake them into original cookie shape. Original cookie shape would be baked at 375 for 10 minutes. And the balls should be placed two inches apart. In the bar shape I place the dough into an 8 x 10 inch pan and bake the pans for about 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean and the cookies look golden brown.