Pets require petting....

Day 6. If I could have any pet...

To be honest.. I'm not really a pet person. I never really had them growing up (except a hamster... but all they ever really did were pee on me and run on their wheels until the wee hours of the morning). My roommate has a dog though... so I'm becoming one.. sort of. :)

But I think this pet would be great. So little care involved. It's fabulous.



I also think that a dinosaur (a nice one of course) would be a way cool pet! How many people (other than the Flinstones) can say they have a pet dinosaur?! It would be neat. (I'm also mourning the loss of my dinosaur shaped cookie cutter named Alberto that I took to my baking class today so we could have cool shaped sugar cookies but then a boy in another group borrowed it and now he's missing! Alberto... not the boy who borrowed it... WAHH!)



Yeah. That's how cool I am. Pet rock. Dinosaur. Woo.

2 Years Ago... wow.

Day 5. A picture of yourself two years ago

By two years ago do you mean literal years or school years? Because that makes a big difference. 2 years ago in year time would be Oct. 2008. And 2 years ago in school time is my senior year. So whaddaya want?? I will do a mixture I guess.


So I am pretty sure this was a little longer than 2 years ago... but I really wasn't into taking pictures like I am now. This was the summer of 2008... that's close enough right? I spent my summer in New York with some friends I met the year before. It was such a great memory! :)



Katie, Mary, and I had so many great times in choir! I'm not sure which year all our pictures are from so I just picked a couple. They're from '08 or '09. I forget which hair Katie had at what time. :)



People who don't believe I ever had long hair... LOOK! The proof! ...It is so much better short though, huh?! I know... it's because sometimes I actually do something with it so it doesn't look like POOP! But on another, less poopy subject, Heather and Miranda were my go to girls in '08. I hung out with them literally every day.



I only picked this picture because it emphasizes my signature look back in the day when I had hair: never doing it. It looked gross. And I'm surprised anyone wanted to be my friend. The truth is... not much has changed... I still don't know anything about making hair look cute... but at least now that it's short it looks almost decent (except when I have to wear my chef hat and have hat hair all day). But yes. That's why this gross and disgusting picture is in here. Please don't judge. :)



These are probably a little closer to the actual time desired in this post. Gondoliers. Hated it. Loved it. Learned a lot. And made some really great friends from it. I loved acting crazy with the musical theatre kids... and goofing off and getting in trouble. My favorite memories are probably the sea monster story, Lynda's mom calling me a whore and then the director telling me she loved everything I was doing, and that time those people were making out behind the set and it was super gross. Oh, and of course that epic battle most of the girls had over being partners with Greg in every scene because everyone was super in love with him. bahaha.



Sadies. Ha. Fun. Awkward. Crazy. DELICIOUS. We had such a random group... even though most of us were in Gondoliers. But it was pretty intense. CALZONES. Yum. :) All our hair looked good though... with our gondoliers hair and makeup. YES!

Well... that was more than one picture, but that's what you get. ha. :) I hope you enjoyed this little trip into my "past" ...because 2 years ago was oh so very far away. But whatever.

Ciao. Adios. Aloha.

Heh...

So my day was UBER Crazy yesterday So... I'm going to do days 3 and 4 today. Then I will tell you more about my wonderful life. Anyway. Onwards.

Day 3

I can easily describe the perfect first date in three easy words. They are: ACTUALLY. HAVING. ONE.
Yep. That's pretty much all I need. I'm not picky. But yeah... actually having a first date with someone would be okay by me. I'm a loser and I've never really been there, done that. Welcome to loserville. Population ME and that creepy kid that sat behind you in Math last year...

Day 4. Oh boy. This one is rough. In order to do that, you would actually have to have friends. :S I lack in that department. oh yeah. Just kidding actually. Because everyone loves me! Yeah! That's right! Be jealous. Okay. On to pictures now.


Katie Wan John Silver has been my friend for a loooong time. We've been tight since the days of elementary... I even went to her birthday party one time. We played in her backyard. And ate cake. And chips. I remember very clearly. Our relationship can best be described by two words. You will probably not understand when I tell you what words these are... unless of course you do understand. But those words are... Banana. and Producers. That's all there is to it. :)

No one ever made me feel like someone... Til John. Life was really nothing but a glum one... Til John.... She filled up my empty life. Filled it to the brim. There could never ever be another one like John

This is my friend Weird Al... who occasionally goes by Maddie. I love her to pieces. She was the best co-author of girls camp songs a girl could ever ask for. She still inspires my music writing ability and I would be no where without her. She fills my heart with gladness takes away all my sadness... And she fills my day with youtube videos. She has a knack. Yes indeed. I love her so much. Always have. Always will. And if you don't like it... (I know it's because you're jealous)... then you can just go eat a big helping of I DON'T CARE BECAUSE I LOVE HER AN THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERSpie with a big dollop of SO THERE on the top. :)



This, ladies and gentlemen, is my dear friend Nate. He likes long walks on the beach, hot tubbing, convincing people it's his birthday when it really isn't, being a heck of a lot smarter than you, and of course, re-enacting his favorite scenes from "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

Why is there a cork on the fork?

May I go to the bathroom... thhhhank you

Even though Nate is thoroughly convinced we will never see each other again after he goes on his mission (which I found out today is February 16th and he's going to Mexico...even though HE'S NOT EVEN THE ONE WHO TOLD ME! GAH!) I still count him as one of my best friends... because I'm just that kind of a person and I love him anyway.



Steven and Justin. Oh can I just tell you how many times I hung out with these boys. It was a lot. I loved those nights when the three of us would just chill in my basement and Justin and I would beat Steven at pool... or we would play Call of Duty... and Justin always won. Or their epic battles with each other... including Steven's HULK moment! They are seriously some of my favorite people in the whole world and I love them with my whole heart.
Steven:

Flip me I'm getting Crispy!

Justin:

Coin Slot!

Abi and Katie. Oh can I tell you how amazing these girls are. They truly helped me exist my freshman year of college. All our late night randomness was the best. Our long heart to hearts. Our talk about boys... ^_^ and other random assorted things that should not really be brought up in a public place! :) ha! I have some of the best memories with these girls!
Abi: Eating ice cream in our Hawaiian hideaway beneath the pool table, making and eating egg free cookie dough, talking so late that we could barely get you home because we were both so tired!
Katie: Making our way awesome message in a bottle, taking pictures in my scary apartment, being hippies in trees, Psych, Pineapple Wednesday!



Cami Jo is one of the nicest, sweetest, and most amazing people in the world. Without her as my roommate last year, I never would have survived. Nope. Not at all. We cooked together, we bought shoes together, we prepped linger longers together. I love her so much it is ridiculous. I love her crazy self, and yet admire her ability to like... do homework. I still need to work on that. I love love love her craziness and her love of cooking. I wish she was at culinary school with me! Get your butt over here Cami Jo!



Courtney my lost boy brother. I miss her terribly when I'm not with her. It makes raindrops fall from all the usually puffy clouds. We have so much fun together... even though she steals boyfriends. :) We have the best inside jokes, the best secrets, and the most fun a person could have when we're together. She is my brother... and the only person to whom I will send clips of myself singing. I love talking to her, being around her. I also love the fact that she's crazy (in all the best ways) and not afraid to be herself. She is so great. ...Except for when she picks her nose in public... unless she draws pictures of me with it. haha. :) I LOVE YOU!




The Three Musketeers!
Yest I know Katie is on here already... but I LOVE this picture of Dallon, Katie, and Me. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. The three musketeers. :) Can I just tell you how much fun I have with these people. They are some of the greatest friends I have, had, and ever will have. They are always there for me... even when it's really super late. I loved all our late night conversations. Our epic picture adventures. Exploring Utah State. Watching that one building being built. Playing super smash and super mario. Having the best time ever. I love writing letters to Dallon (especially joint letters with katie) and visiting Katie in Logan. I loved our adventures in Riverton and Logan... and exchanging stories of our adventures around the world. I love serving as Quartermaster alongside First Mate Katie and Cap'n Dallon. I love our long talks and everything we do, have done, and will do together.

There you have it kids, my best friends. I know there are a lot. But I love them all and really just couldn't pick only one favorite. I love them all way too much. They are all amazing. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

And now... about my day. It was CRAZY! I had class from 7 am to noon. Where we made DELICIOUS food. We made roast duck. Spaghetti squash. Applesauce cake. and a whole cornucopia of other delectable items. After that I went home and did my homework. After that I went with my roommate Kristi to a print shop where the guy asked if her photography was going in a gallery! She's that good! Really, she is! Then we headed to Hobby Lobby to pick out a good frame. After that, we met Stacy at Chili's for a great roommate dinner! We then went to Halloween City so Stacy could pick out a mask for the masquerade ball she's going to. She picked a good one that will look really good with her dress! We accidentally missed the relief society "sweet moments" activity... even though I made apple crisp for it. ooops! So I guess we will have to eat the apple crisp ourselves! yummy! Well, after we got back from Halloween city our neighbor came over! She was locked out!! She tried calling maintenance to help her but they weren't coming very quickly. So we called Travis... who brought his roommate to pick the lock. Which he did. I was amazed and now I want to learn how to do it... in case Kristi or Stacy decide to lock me out! I doubt they will... but you never know. Then Stacy and I got hyper. Yeah... that was crazy. But not as crazy as the night we were both hyper and embarrassed Travis by posing for pictures like we were about to kiss him. :) It was great. But anyway, that's my rambling about my life portion!

Ciao. Adios. Aloha.

Dia Numero Dos

So I ate a LOT of stuff today. YUM. I had American Regional. We're studying the Mid-Atlantic states. Seafood. Buffalo Wings. And Poundcake apparently. Pictured are (probably not in the right order) Buffalo Wings, Ginger Poundcake with a cranberry glaze, Vichyssoise, "Shaker style" turkey cutlet and roasted potatoes. As Rachel Ray would say (and I actually really hate it when she says this...) YUMMO. Tomorrow I get crab puffs and roasted duck! I'm excited to finally say I have tasted roasted duck. I feel so classy. :) (Now watch, they will make us use chickens or something lame like that. boo.)
I don't really have a lot to say today. I trick or treated for canned goods for the Utah Food Bank for FHE tonight. Look at me being all service-y. Woo! Just kiddin'. But no, really that's what we did. It was pretty fun. ...Except for the people with "no soliciting" signs. :( Sad day.
For my Purchasing class, we went on grocery store tours to Harmon's and Pirate O's. It was like spicy day or something because in A.R. we tasted "Satan's Blood" which is a 900,000 on the spicy scale. At Harmon's, we tried Ghost chili's which are 1 million on that scale (I think these are the right numbers) and a habanero pineapple sauce at Pirate O's (it's only about 400,000). They were all good. Very hot. But very good. :) Mmm. We found a lot of cool culinary essentials that you can't usually find at Walmart or Albertsons or what have you. So it was a very good field trip. I think I'm really going to like my purchasing class... even though it has a lot of homework. EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW. Speaking of which... I should probably get back to doing it. heh. So Adios. Ciao. And Aloha for now!

Thief!

So I was reading my dear friend Yentrouc's blog and she's doing this thing... 30 days. 30 blog entries. 30 random things that probably no one really cares about. And guess what! I'm committing an act of thievery and doing the same thing. So here's the she-bang, dealio, thingy, what have you.

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.
Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.
Day 3 - Your idea of the perfect first date.
Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of your best friend.
Day 5 - A photo of yourself two years ago.
Day 6 - A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet.
Day 7 - Your dream wedding.
Day 8 - A song to match your mood.
Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased.
Day 10 - A photo of your favorite place to eat.
Day 11 - What's in your makeup bag.
Day 12 - A photograph of the town you live in.
Day 13 - Your favorite musician and why?
Day 14 - A TV show you're currently addicted to.
Day 15 - Something you don't leave the house without.
Day 16 - Your celebrity crush.
Day 17 - A photo of you and your family.
Day 18 - Something you crave a lot.
Day 19 - Another picture of yourself.
Day 20 - The meaning behind your blog name.
Day 21 - A photo of something that makes you happy.
Day 22 - A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.
Day 23 - 15 facts about you.
Day 24 - A photo of something that means a lot to you.
Day 25 - What's in your purse?
Day 26 - A photo of somewhere you've been to.
Day 27 - A picture of you last year and now and how you changed since then?
Day 28 - Your favorite movie.
Day 29 - Something you could never get tired of doing.
Day 30 - A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

So I'm going to also include DAY 1 in this post! So... there!

Today was a pretty darn good Sunday. I got up. Watched an episode of glee (Season 1 episode 5 ... The Rhodes Not Taken) It made me pretty happy. like this... :D! Then I ate some carrots... because I didn't know my ward here does fast Sunday the week AFTER conference instead of the week BEFORE. (My ward at home does it before). So I fasted that week instead. But anyway, it was a pretty good meeting. Everyone's tummies were growling. It was funny. Then I went home. And ate some chips. Then I got my laundry out of the dryer that I forgot to get out yesterday. Then I watched my roommate take pictures of my other roommate's dog. Then I went to ward prayer where we talked about conference and ate really good chili and pumpkin cookies! YUM! :) Then I came back and did a practice test of makeup for my roommate for her halloween costume. (I will post pictures as soon as I can. She looked pretty good for it being only a practice that I didn't really care that much about so it is kind of sloppy. The real deal will be better for sure don't you worry!) And now, here I am. I am here. Blogging. Isn't my life so interesting?! Don't you just love hearing about my day in great detail?! I know you do!
So the reason I started this today is because tomorrow is take a picture of something you ate... and I have American Regional cuisine tomorrow so I will get to make and eat something especially yummy! Cheating? Maybe. Gonna happen anyway? You betchya!

Ciao. Adios. Aloha.

Once upon a time in a far off kingdom lived a young maiden, a sad young lad, and a childless baker...

No I cannot fully explain the title of this post. It's from "Into the Woods", it's currently stuck in my head, and I am a young maiden and a childless baker (sorta). But I am not a sad young lad... nor do I currently know of any sad, young lads. I'm sure there are some out there though. So I guess I can fully explain the title of this post. Anyway, on to something that you, the reader, care about more than the title. :)
Today I had to do something VERY scary. I had to BAKE. AH. While I am in culinary school, I am not quite the best baker in the world. To be honest, it isn't my favorite thing, and I would rather make stock than decorate sugar cookies. Oh how I hate making stock. It's long. And Boring. Much like decorating sugar cookies. At least that's my opinion. Nevertheless, today I had to bake. Since it was our first class, we were assigned to do some recipes in a way that they were edible, yummy, tasty, visually appealing, etc. I warned my group in advance that I am not the best baker in the world so they had no excuse to get mad at me when I screwed something up later in the class. I got assigned to do the "what not to do" portion of our lemon poppyseed muffins. I began to vigorously mix to remove any and all lumps to create what we as culinarians call "tunneling." I mixed those muffins until they were shiny and smooth and there was not a single lump in them. (Muffin batter is supposed to be lumpy.) I thought I had done a good job... BUT THEN... we took them out of the oven... and I had created the most perfect muffins in the class. I'm not saying this to boast... but because that was what happened. I was trying to make, as I lovingly call them, epic fail muffins. But NO! I made perfect little beautiful muffins that Chef Allie used as an example on how to make muffins. Had I been trying to succeed I would have... but as my goal was to fail... I did not succeed. Thus is my life. That's why this blog is my desultory memoir of my emprise.
In other news though, my group also created one the most heavenly and delicious biscuits I have ever touched with my tongue. It was beautifully golden brown, flakey, soft, and most importantly, YUMMY!!! I had a good group. Even though Tom probably didn't want me in his group after I made him clean the smoker last quarter and because I owe him a popsicle. But he really did want me in his group. Secretly. Pretty sure. ha. yes.
Well, I'm off to probably spend my whole Friday night watching youtube videos because I am a loser like that.
Aloha! Ciao! Adios!

Everyone needs a good kick in the pants sometimes...

Dear Chef Trace,
Today your classes kicked my butt. Aaaand... I have the feeling my butt is going to keep on being kicked until the end of the quarter. Too bad it's only the first day. I am exhausted! Love, Amy Jo
I didn't think that going to school from 7 am - 4 pm would be so bad... but it is. ha. Both of the classes seem like they will be fun, challenging, interesting, stressful, challenging, and oh yeah did i mention CHALLENGING!?! American regional cuisine was fun. I'm excited for it to be honest. CLAM CHOWDER TOMORROW! HOO-HA! We get to study the various foods from different regions. YUMMY. Good ole American eats! Yes! I'm excited for the HAWAIIAN region. And the... umm... whatever region is BBQ! Woot! Except for the fact that I have to write TWO research papers for that class, I am pumped!! The food we had today was good... for the most part. Sweet potato mash, sautéed green beans with fried onions, Chicken rem--- something, a cranberry apple salad, and GINGERBREAD with vanilla sugar whipped cream. YUMMY! I'm excited for tomorrow's recipes too... even though this class sounds INTENSE. Only a few hours to make a TON of different dishes... all with sides and appetizers and salads and desserts and the whole she-bang! ah!
I'm also pretty interested in my purchasing class. Highlight of my day so far has been watching a chef teach a bunch of other chefs how to do MATH! haha. Then it was hilarious watching all these chefs (yes, I am included in that) trying to do this math... granted the computer program with which we were "purchasing" our goods kept changing the prices so it was very confusing. Apparently for the most part we figured it out in the end though! YAY!
I'm excited to see what the rest of the week brings as far as classes. Wednesday is English so that will be RIDICULOUSLY boring. GROSS. Oh. And... One of my books is 200 freaking dollars. How ridiculous is that?! It's not even a big book. ...If all of my books are going to cost this much there is no way I'm going to be able to pay for them all! :S
STORY TIME! Once upon a time there was a hippo named Methuselah Honeysuckle. Methuselah lived in a SCARY place with big scary crocodiles. One day Methuselah was so scared that she ran away from that place never to go back! She went to a hotel and lived there for 2 weeks all alone with only a drunk toothless man for company. Then, Methuselah moved to her lovely home back in Idaho.. where she saw a beautiful bird whose name was Quartney, a goat named I-Seek, and a Muskrat named Janet. Unfortunately she was really busy and didn't get to see pretty much anyone else (sorry hippy hippo soulmate Katie). But then Methuselah moved to a new apartment with much less crazy roommates! YAY! And now her room is all cute... she has a "spider palm tree" on her desk and there are NO Nazi pictures on any of the walls! And Methuselah Honeysuckle the hippo lived happily ever after... so far. :)
That's really all that's going on in my life right now. I got a good kick in the pants with my classes today... and all I really want is someone to make me a sammich and then to take a nap (I'd be the one taking the nap... not the one making the sammich...)
Well... Yeah. That's all. CIAO.