Apple Dumplings 101

Last week, I searched for the perfect pound cake. I did it by searching 'perfect pound cake' into Google. Because that just seems to work most of the time. Anyway, I clicked the link to Ree Drummond's literal Perfect Pound Cake, and for some reason she decided to mention something about her sinful Apple dumplings that should not exist. All I could say was, count me in!

This week I finally decided to make this delicious recipe, cutting it in half. The only ingredients included an apple, crescent roll dough, butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and Mountain Dew (I used 7up because that's also what I need to make the pound cake.) I didn't believe this soggy creation would turn into a light, buttery, sweet, crisp and soft treat. It was amazing. It was perfection. And I think everyone who isn't concerned with diet issues should try it. 

Cut an apple into 8 slices. 

Roll slices in the crescent roll dough and place in a pan. 

Melt butter, add sugar and stir a little. Add vanilla and stir completely. Pour butter mixture over dumplings. 

Pour 7 up around edges (but really over the whole thing) and sprinkle cinnamon on top. 

Bake 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

Enjoy!

I used 1 honey crisp apple, 1 stick of butter, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 can of crescent dough, one capful of spice islands vanilla, and enough cinnamon to taste. Here is a link to the original recipe from the Pioneer Woman herself. 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/02/apple_dumplings/

You'll see i deviated a little from the recipe, but the point is to make it your own and make it for yourself.

With love,

Cookie

It Was Food All Along

I've always been the person who wanted to know and do everything. I set myself up as a Jack of All Trades and I was a complete hoarder, with both tangible items and information. I do have a horrible memory. One of my greatest fears is that I will learn something and subsequently forget it. To retain information I have to practice over and over again until it becomes second nature.

In my early years, I've done everything from cheerleading and dance to Michigan Youth in Government and academic games. I juggled both DECA and volleyball competitions. I never nailed down my true calling because I was always interested in EVERYTHING and I always changed my mind and I always needed everything to be particular. But… usually in stories, no matter how chaotic, there's always a central theme. Maybe even a few. I can look back on a ton of things I've done in my life… some of the earliest things I've loved was reading and writing, but even those weren't surrounding my everyday life. It's weird that I didn't think of this before, but it was always food that everything connected to. Let me explain.

I used to keep a daily journal. Like I said, I loved to write all the time. I loved composition books and those flimsy tan journals the most… in fact I kept tons of them. I loved fresh notebooks and interactive or lockable diaries. Each day I would write down mundane things… but I always made sure to write what I ate. My favorite times to write was during a holiday because I could write down the exact things that my mother made and what I would eat later. My favorite thing to do on those mornings was watch the food channels to see what the celebrities cooked.

In reading, I used to read the Baby Sitter's Little Sister series often. I ventured to the Narnia and the Harry Potter books as well, but what were my favorite parts? What they ate and what they cooked. Karen's Turkey Day had to be my favorite because of the food they prepared and I got a new recipe to melt sliced cheese on top of saltine crackers in the microwave (the book had them do that to Fritos). I chose later books based on the titles (Karen's Pizza Party), and still remember that Karen's favorite food was Hamburgers with Mashed Potatoes. In The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, there is an eating scene with Mr. Tumnus that I used to reread and the same with the beaver family. I didn't know what Turkish Delight was, but it sounded delicious! I lived for Harry Potter's feasts at Hogwarts and loved the various new foods of the magical world. Another secret? I never read the Boxcar children series… I skimmed through them to find the inevitable scene where they would find something to eat and prepare a meal.

If there's nothing to watch, I switch to the Food Network. One of my favorite shows growing up was Iron Chef. I used to love to receive fake food for my dolls. My mom had a subscription to a recipe card service and I used to separate them by category and decide which ones I wanted to cook. There are still stains all over some of them. Light reading was a food magazine or a cookbook. With all this, I don't understand how on earth going to school for Culinary Arts or Hospitality Business was not my first choice! Food brings people together and food attached to a memory helps me remember that memory.

All my life I wanted to cook a large meal for my family and friends and I would cross my fingers in hopes that they would like it. I took pictures of food. I kept a little review book for restaurants I attended. I think going to Culinary School will be a large step for me mentally because it is pure and concentrated joy for me. When I see fresh ingredients, I can't contain my excitement. When I step into a place full of cookware, I'm in ecstasy. My best Christmas was the year I got a stand mixer and a food processor. My graduation gift was a set of bakeware, my birthday gift a cast-iron pizza stone, and Christmas of 2013 featured my cake turntable, a flour sifter, and a Couture Chocolate cookbook. My craziest dreams included a batch of truffles and milk-chocolate leaves.

It might sound gluttonous and I may be obsessed, but it is what it is. Everyone knows the risks of following their dreams. Everyone always believes that they will be the exception. I still want to do everything and know everything. I still want ten kids who will look up to me and I still want to build my own dream house. People say don't hold on fast to dreams because not everything is realistic. All I can say is, technically, everything is realistic if you just do it. If you make sacrifices to get it done, it’s never too late. I know for a fact that I'm still procrastinating, but in the end, unless I die prematurely, I'm going to get it done.

Catch me if you can.

10 Things That Delighted Me During My First Culinary Course

                Last time I told you about the 10 Things That Irritated Me During My First CulinaryCourse. I didn't want to unbalance the system by showing all the negatives, so here is a list of the positives! And believe me; these alone make it worth it.

               

1. I learned a lot about knife cuts.

   This may not seem like such a big deal, but before, I just randomly chopped things up, impressing everyone with my speed. I never truly 'diced' things… more like cut into weird little bobbles. I thought dicing celery was just chopping it down its length and chopping a carrot was making half-moons and cutting that in half. Herbs were a little rough, garlic wasn't fine… I look back like damn, what was going on? Now, I take my time and I've gotten faster with perfecting perfect squares. I'm a little obsessed with making them exact squares as well. I can almost tell the difference between small, medium, and large dice as well, which is probably one of the hardest things. Another great thing is that I now know how to have less waste!

                               

2. I have committed basic things to memory through practice.

     I have a really poor memory- that's no secret. One of my worst fears in school is that even though I have get a degree, I will forget everything, so I'll be worthless in my field. How could I commit a ton of basic recipes to memory? With this class, there's no way I will forget how to make white stock, roux, or Velouté sauce. I know the percentages of mirepoix, a bouquet garni, and a sachet. I was amazed how easy it was to commit these things to second nature and I'm so glad that is happening. Now I'm hoping to get that with my baking!

                               

3. Good people.

     The entire class was one big family. Even the nut-jobs and the annoying people were part of our special group. I could talk to anyone and ask them a question, we could all laugh as a group, we all chatted about our exams after we took them, we all rolled our eyes at the same things… we had a good bunch! I really thought everyone would clique up and leave me out of everything, but it was completely the opposite! Which brings me to my next point…

                               

4. I thought I would be the old outcast, but everyone was of a different background and had different stories.

   I thought it would be typical. I would be the chunky black female that's too old to be starting an introductory culinary program while everyone else was perfect, skinny, white, high school graduates who had the best chef knifes, had to pin their jackets to fit their small torsos, and practiced every technique in the book through their high school vocational courses. I thought no one would talk to me, and I would just keep to myself the whole semester. Boy was I wrong! In the group of girls I told you about alone, two were lesbians (one black with a wife and two kids and one a white high school graduate), and one was a mixed girl. The class was sprinkled with different races and backgrounds. Some were old enough to maybe be my father. No one was stuck up and everyone had the attitude that they wanted to learn. Except for those who dropped out… that was cray cray. Anyway, I appreciate diversity and acceptance in a school, especially when Wikipedia will tell you that Livonia is the whitest city in America.

                               

5. Great, caring chefs.

    Each chef may have had their unique personalities, and each chef might have been a little tough, but you could tell instantly that they cared about every one of us. There was nothing that indicated that they didn't love to teach. Each conversation and lesson was given with warmth and tough love.

                               

6. The beautiful and unique facility.

     The reputation of Schoolcraft College's Culinary Arts program precedes itself. I've only heard about good things and success stories (one baker going on to work with a Food Network chef, another becoming  a personal chef for Lady Gaga) and I plan to be one of them. One of the things they don't talk about enough is how awesome and state-of-the-art the facility is. The VistaTech center is huge and beautiful. The various culinary kitchens have almost everything you need, and everything is curated specifically for that purpose. I still love that we obtained that panning machine! The school is proud of and cares about the culinary program for sure, and that makes everything an even higher quality.

                               

7. I felt like people were in awe of me in my uniform.

    I've worn a chef coat before. In fact, I get compliments because the stark white looks nice against my brown skin. However, when I wore one for MSU, it was obvious to everyone I just worked as a student cook in the cafeteria. When I walk around after a day at Schoolcraft in my white chef coat, white toque, and lame checkered pants, people stare and ask questions. I like to browse in the produce section of the grocery store so it can look like I'm about to cook something from scratch. It's like I get an instant professional upgrade!

                               

8. I learned about various herbs and spices I would have never used before.

   For our herbs and spices identification as you may recall, we needed to know what certain herbs looked like, smelled like, tasted like, and what it was used for. I've never heard of savory and mace, and I never thought to ever want to use coriander or fennel seeds. Now, when I shop at the store, I want to include new spices to add more dimension to my cooking.

                               

9. I am now the go-to person for everything culinary.

    Ok, this is sort of a win-lose type of thing. I mean, I took one freaking class and people are acting like I'm a Master Chef! Now my family and some of my friends already ask me things because I always knew a little more about cooking, but some people go over the edge! I can't make any accidents or people will be like 'I thought you were in culinary school!' it drives me crazy! However, I do enjoy it when people are interested in my opinion and my techniques. I like when people go for my things  first at work because they know I'm an aspiring chef, or when people request me to make things. My joy comes when people love my food and brag about me. It's embarrassing, but my boyfriend brags about me all the time to his family and friends and he has even told me I'm his inspiration and he admires me. My mom does the same, and random Facebook people will message me asking about something to do with cooking or a recipe. I will never get tired of that.

                               

10. I actually enjoyed school and learning.

      I have always hated school. Now I know it's necessary and I've always worked hard to get good grades but I just want it to be over with! Especially an 8 am class! With this course, I looked forward to spending my entire Saturday in class. It didn't feel like the usual learning. It was so engaging and informative that I couldn't wait until the next class. I had zero problems studying and reading the book because it was interesting. I didn't have that even in some of my fashion and interior design courses which I loved. This is probably the hardest I have every worked in a college course and came out smiling.

So these are some pretty positive things and if you are thinking about going to culinary school, you should start thinking about what is important to you in a classroom setting. You're going to be spending hours at that place! Make sure your dedication lines up with the requirements of any program you are going into. Everything is not going to be easy, but if you really want it and you work hard, you will succeed!

10 Things That Irritated Me During My First Culinary Course

Now that the course is over, the glamour is gone and I can gripe about some of the things that irritate me in hindsight. I still love it and I'm going to do it, but I think there should be some changes to help out new students that are especially new to this college thing!

1. Getting out early but my tuition bill is the same.

After the first few classes, we got out early almost every week. And it wasn't like a few minutes, some was more than 2.5 hours! Yet, I still paid the fool eight-hundred-and-something dollars out of pocket. I feel like if you can't fill the whole long day, cut the credit hours.

2. Constant stains on white jackets.

Okay, this is more my fault. I guess chef coats are white to reflect the heat and yada yada, but come on! We only had waist aprons… I needed one for the top too. For a custom jacket that was a little pricey, I want some protection. I feel like every semester I'm going to have to purchase a new one. Sometimes it was my carelessness, but when mysterious stains started showing up, I knew that some things around the kitchen were coated in something designed to make me look bad!

3. Know-It-Alls were legion.

If you are not my professor, I do NOT, repeat do NOT need you to come over and check my stock. Go away! When you're over here being nosey all in my grilled and the chef is calling to you telling you your stuff is messed up, you need to check yourself bro! Okay, that was one guy. The next guy would just tell me things that I didn't ask nor want to know. Yay, you used to work somewhere where they cooked this differently… sorry but we are doing Classical French cooking and your method is Disillusioned American. I repeat: GO AWAY! I wouldn't be upset with these people if it was a one-time occasional thing, but it happened every class to both me and my girls. Also watch out for the 'know-it-none's'. These people did not retain any information and kept the class slow and constantly asked for answers even in the last few weeks. It's like they didn't even try. One even whined and accused the chef of picking on her when she claimed that a mixture can be 60/60 and he asked her to show where in the world possible that can happen. Sigh…

4. The supply list was a lie.

Ok, not really but come on! I shouldn't have to be scrambling to purchase things for the next week when you suddenly decide we should all have something. That expensive of a facility should have enough wooden spoons and scrapers for us all. Or you could just, you know, figured out it was needed from the prior classes and put it on the supply list. Thank goodness my mom had some 'mesh' that suddenly became required to put underneath our cutting boards!

5. We had two chefs overall, both with different directions.

I spoke about this in my previous posts. There was Chef Loving and Master Chef Gabriel. It looked as if Chef Loving commanded the most respect, but everyone wanted so bad for it to be that the Master Chef always knew what he was doing. It usually turned out that Chef Loving's methods were the best and not only was that a bit odd, it left the class confused as to who wanted what on the exam.

6. There wasn't enough time set aside to do everything we were supposed to.

Maybe this was just my opinion, but it seemed like we were supposed to learn a little more. The beginning was focused on knife cuts, but it became almost the focus of the entire course. Though I'm grateful for that, I wish we had enough time to make ALL of the mother sauces, make some brown stock, spend more time on fresh herbs and dry spices, and see the uses of all of the equipment. Everything else seemed like such an afterthought.

7. My group never got enough feedback.

It's true that my group did a good job of working together and were usually successful at our attempts, but I wish the chefs and the assistants came over to us more and critiqued more. Sometimes we all got to walk up to show our work, but they paid more attention to others during our cooking process. I guess that means that they trusted us, but still, it would have been nice.

8. There wasn't any real structure, just an illusion.

Not to say the course was unorganized, but we surely did not follow the syllabus. While I'm grateful we got to work more on things the class as a whole was bad at, I still feel like there were other things we needed to strengthen. We never knew which chef we were going to get and I really was disappointed when we didn't actually make that bread.

9. I felt like the homework was a waste.

It was cool that we had little quizzes or whatever, but it just seemed like busy work. There were right and wrong answers and that's it. Nothing to make us reflect, nothing to fill in our opinions on anything. I felt like it didn't even need to be there. We should have just been given a chapter to read and discussed it the next week. To make it worse, a completely different chef was in charge of the homework and it felt like a detachment from the rest of the course.

10. They overreacted on the ability to catch up.

I was really nervous because the attendance policy and syllabus let you know that it was near-impossible to catch up or make anything up if you miss anything. I call bull on that. Mainly because a lot of things were repeats. It may have hurt to miss a demo, but some of the things were simple to learn and practice on your own if you needed it. I really thing that girl should not have had to drop if she missed the first course because we basically learned it all again, plus it was in the book. I can see missing the time where we had to use stock from the previou- oh wait, the stock spoiled anyway so we had to remake it. I could really see missing one of the last few weeks when we practiced the timed exam and learned the herbs and sp- oh wait they tricked us and used other herbs and spices that we didn't learn about at all. See where I'm going here? If someone is dedicated, they will get the work done. If they want to continue and they end up failing out, let it be their choice.

Don't worry, I'm not here to complain. Even with all it's faults, I absolutely love this program and the chefs were amazing! I just wanted you to realize that everything that glimmers is not gold. Go into what you want with an open mind and the faults will be nothing to you. Schoolcraft College really is one of the best out there. I'm going to let you in on a secret. I took half of a culinary course at Lansing Community College before they shut the program down and I had to drop because they tricked me on financial aid. In that course, all we did was attend class, he would hand out various recipes, we would cook them either alone or in groups, and at the end of the night we all sat down for family dinner and ate it. We critiqued. We cleaned up. We went home.

I can do that ish at home.

With Love,

Cookie

Finding the Perfect Homemade Yellow Cake

In my culinary journey- in fact I feel like in almost everyone's culinary journey, we have been searching for the Holy Grail of homemade yellow cake recipes. Some of us own businesses or is the 'baking queen/king' in the family and gets everything down to a perfect science… except that darn yellow cake. So we doctor up Betty Crocker mixes and go along with that because most non-bakers can't taste the chemicals! Well I'm here to let you know that the search for you just MIGHT be over. I say might because I, like you I'm sure, have been told this over and over again with the same fails.

Looks pretty right? Too bad it tasted like nothing.

Really nice texture and very fluffy - no flavor!

The cake is too flat, it rises perfect but tastes bland, it came out more like cornbread or a muffin, it's too dense, it's dry, it's okay but I wouldn't eat it without the frosting… we've all been there. Today, just try this recipe out. If it doesn't work for you, I'm sorry for the wasted ingredients and time. I really hope it does because I've found the best cake for me. If it doesn't work, I say try it ONE more time. Then that's it… if it sucks, you can continue your search.

Weird crumb cake concoction that was the result of a failed yellow cake recipe. Tasty... but tasted like muffins. The second layer completely fell apart...

We want everything like a box-mix cake minus the chemicals. We want flavor, rise, moistness, perfection almost every time- but we want to be able to say we made this with our own fresh ingredients and our own loving hands. Before I move on, I'm going to link to where I got the recipe and add a thank you to this kind soul who posted it:

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/45372/finally-that-perfect-homemade-yellow-cake

I believe it's a combination of two recipes that came out great!

Delicious, moist, fluffy... excuse the mess!

I had to take pictures before it disappeared!

This was delicious, moist, and was definitely able to hold a good amount of frosting. In fact, the layers would have been perfect if I didn't rush the process and try to take the cakes out of the pan while still hot… good thing frosting covers everything!

So as I said, try this out this weekend. I'm going to try them as cupcakes and follow up, but this is the one that I will pass down to my children and their children!

With Love,

Cookie

Perfect Yellow Cake Recipe

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (do not sift the flour)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
Vegetable oil
1 stick butter (not margarine), softened
1-tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°

Cut wax paper to fit the bottom of (3) 9 x 1 1/2-inch round pans. Spray the pans with cooking spray, place the wax paper in the pans and spray the paper.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, mixing well.

Measure the 1-1/4 cups of milk in a 2 cup measuring cup….then add enough vegetable oil to bring the liquid up to 1-1/3 cups.

Add the milk/vegetable oil mixture, butter and vanilla to the flour mixture and beat with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed for 2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed.

Add the eggs and continue beating an additional 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near center of cake comes out clean, or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center.

Cool cakes on wire racks for 15 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely.

Frost as desired.

Note: It rises well, but I only made two out of the three rounds... I had to cook it for longer but it still came out great.

Aftermath

Class is over... what now?

Grades are posted. They were up less than a week after I walked out of the VistaTech Center, head held high. 

3.3. That means I am most DEFINITELY in the program.  I might have been one of the first ones to the advising office to turn in the remaining section of the Culinary Arts application. She checked everything out, filled out the rest of my file, and sent me on my wait. Now... it's the waiting game.

I will receive an acceptance letter, more details of the program, and I will talk with an advisor about which rotation I want to start. During the wait, I'm going to research and share with you everything I can before I enter into the program. I'll figure out how I'm going to pay for it, I'll practice a ton of techniques, and most importantly, I won't leave you hanging until next fall.

Stay tuned!

The Final Test: This Is IT

DISCLAIMER: Today was the only day there were no pictures. I hope my words can paint a vivid image of my experience and my nerves… Enjoy!

Seven weeks went by so fast.

Chopping, slicing, dicing, simmering, tasting, laughing, smelling… all of that culminated into one final showdown. The Final Practical.

Homework quizzes have been done and graded. Whatever you got on that was what you got, what you didn't finish was a plain zero. The end arrived. You either studied or you didn't. You either got those knife cuts and the smell of Old Bay down to a T or you didn't. You either passed this exam or you didn't get into the Culinary Arts Program. If this is scaring even you, imagine how the class felt.

I walked in twenty minutes early. L was already there and we went around smelling spices and checking out large equipment. Surprise! Some spices were those we have never heard of. We scrambled to figure out what it was and what it smelled like before we had to return to the demo kitchen. Once Chef Gabriel and Loving arrived, everything was put away. At that point, it was time to prove our worthiness.

We set up our station first. Mise en place. Then we sat back in the demo kitchen and began our written exam.

What is a demi-glace? I know that it's half veal stock and half espagnole reduced. While taking the written exam, I completely forgot. What are the five grading criteria for stock? Clarity, Flavor, Body, Aroma and… No fat? That is what I marked. The last answer was color.

Once I turned that exam in, that was it. I couldn't dwell on it. Either I passed or I didn't. Don't worry, the other millions of questions I was sure I answered correctly, but I am not without mistakes.

Knife cut time. This was the most nerve-wracking. I barely finished last time and that was a few cuts. Here were the cuts we were given:

Medium and large dice of potato

Batonnet of potato.

Small and julienne of carrot

Short julienne of onion

Roast a pepper, slice it, deseed it

Chop parsley

Mince garlic

Perform two of tomato concassé

Perform oblique cut of carrot

Perform weird cut of carrot we don't remember learning

All this in 1 hour 15 minutes.

Ready…. Set… GO!

I have been more scared in my life, but most scares are artificial. This was real. I nicked myself with my knife and kept going. I peeled, diced, julienned, evened out… but soon there was only five minutes left.

I still had to chop garlic, do my tomato concasse, perform the last two carrot cuts, chop parsley, and julienne onion.

I julienned the onion. I minced the garlic. I started the parsley with thirty seconds to go because at least I could have SOMETHING.

11:15 came. I threw my hands up in exasperation… 11:15 went… the buzzer didn't stop.

1 hour and 15 minutes meant 11:30… not 11:15.

Chef Loving came over and calmed me down. He let me know I still had 15 minutes. It was the scariest thirty seconds of that day, but with relief, tears poured out of my eyes. I let out a humorless chuckle as he placed a hand on my should. It wasn't the time for a meltdown. He said now wasn't the time to mess up, helped me figure out what to clean up, and said to keep going. I did. I finished my cuts. My parsley was not perfect, but I finished with time to clean my station.

They scored in front of us. Each cut was out of five (the tomatoes and extra carrot cuts were not on there) I got 5/5 on both the medium cut of potato and the batonnet, 4/5 on all of the other cuts, but a 3/5 on the parsley because it was rough. I didn't care… that was an awesome score to me!

Next we warmed our stock from the week prior and let the chefs taste it.

5/5 Taste and Body, 4/5 Aroma, Color, and Clarity. PASSED.

We made a roux with clarified butter and flour. I used half of my stock and a little roux to start my Velouté. It immediately started to reduce when I suddenly got an idea. My girls around me had a thicker sauce, but L said you can't base anything off of anyone else's because they might be wrong. I added more stock and put in more roux so that it looked like Velouté instead of adding roux little by little until it simmered into a Velouté look. With that method, my sauce stopped reducing. It sloshed around, it had good nappé (coating consistency), so I place it in a little cup and waited.

M- too thick, L- too thick, A- too thick… mine?

"Not bad!" he goes. I sighed in contentment. This was happening. I was passing.

After the clean up, it was time for the Identifications. We were split into two groups. I was ready. I knew most of the items, so instead of wasting time, I went as fast as possible. My group started with small equipment. I waltzed around the room, writing down everything I knew, guessing what I didn't (only two pots looking things and I think my guess was pretty good). After that, I sat in a small area and wrote down the uses. I did the same for Large Equipment.

Imagine walking around a room and seeing the things you either used at home or have used while working on campus in a cafeteria. You have to treat this like this is what you want to do. It's not 'studying', it's knowing what you're using. That has to be your mindset in this program. You can't 'memorize' that this is a buffalo chopper and you can use it for chopping carrots. You need to know first hand in the back of your mind- I want to chop my carrots or mince my garlic quickly- I'm getting out the Buffalo Chopper. It soon becomes second nature.

The herbs and spices were my favorite. It was challenging, but I ran around the room inhaling and tasting spices. That can't be paprika because it's burning my tongue something awful… it must be cayenne! Mace smells like nutmeg, ground mustard tastes like crap! This sage stuff is what I can use to make stuffing! For the herbs, I broke those leafs apart and inhaled. That saved me so much because the basil and the mint looked alike. I broke it open- one smelled of Italy, the other like fresh chewed gum. What would I use this mint for?? CRAP! Oh… I can make Mint Julep!

That's how it went. No lunch break, no bathroom break, nothing from 8am-3pm. I finished that and turned in all of my papers. I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone, but I knew it wasn't good bye… it was see you when we're in the program, crying on each other's shoulders.

I stepped outside and there was my future hubby, in the same clothes I left him in, but well-rested and looking like love and promise. I was exhausted, I was shaken, I was almost defeated, but I smiled at him. First thing I say? "I need a drink!"

Bahama Breeze, Top Shelf Long Island Iced Tea… thanks.