Cupid's Arrow, Birthday wishes, Sick boys...

So I had my midterms for both my kitchen class and my lecture. I passed both. This culinary school isn't too hard right now. I don't know if that is just because it's only the first quarter or if maybe it's easy because it's something I enjoy so much? Either way I am happy about doing it. It gives me a sense of purpose and achievement. I look forward to where it will take me in my lifetime.  I just wish for $20k it would be a bit more in-your-face intense.

I had my birthday this week. It was on Thursday.

I woke up not feeling very birthday-ey and then BF got very very sick. Violently sick.  He stayed home from work but I still had to go.

There went any plans of a nice birthday lunch or surprise at work.

I spent an hour in traffic to work because I couldn't carpool.

I almost cried 3 times at work because it was 'just one of those days'.

I then sat in stopped traffic on the 520 bridge for an hour to get to school.

I appreciate school so much. I got there, changed into my chef's uniform and was transformed. I forgot all my shit that was in my head and just got to work. The kitchen just let's you leave everything at the door when you walk in. I was a bit short tempered with my team but they are so great and just understood.

We got out very early and so a few of us went and grabbed a beer at Buckley's in Seattle and just chatted. It was so nice to have a chance to actually get to know the people I spend so much time with 3 days a week.

I got home and BF was still very sick and so I climbed in bed and went to sleep. Not much of a 24th birthday but that's ok. Next Saturday is my party and I have every intention of making up for it!

BF is still sick. Going on day 3 now. He refuses to go to the doctor and I just keep praying he'll get better soon and be back to his old self.  Because of this, I'm pretty certain this Valentine's day will be very low-key and a stay-at-home kinda day.  I did offer to cook a nice dinner for him and he mentioned he was thinking about taking me out to eat, like lunch or something. We'll see if he's feeling up to it.

My outlook is much better today than it has been lately. I decided to just stop dwelling on little details that may mean nothing to anyone and are just bringing me down.

I decided not to let myself drown in that pool of over-analyzing, jealousy and doubt. It just sucks you deeper down with every rotation of that hamster wheel.

I self-medicated last night with some great retail therapy and have never felt prettier. I will continue that self medication tonight with baking and packaging sweet little valentine's day cookies for church tomorrow! I even stole some cute vintage valentines off of Bakerella's site http://www.bakerella.com/  to attach to the cookies. I can't wait to get home and start on it!

I hope you all have a great weekend, whether it's treating yourself to much needed self love or spending it with your hunny bunny.  Love to you all and peace out motha trucker!

Mid-terms, mid-winter, mid-month, mid-dreary....

Tonight I have midterms. It will be my first test that I have to pass on my culinary journey.

It is also the first test I have taken in 5 years.

It has to do with memorizing ingredients and methodology.

No biggie. I was in drama once.

I can do this thing.

It really is almost the exact same. You read the recipe, read the method. Then you write the ingredients down with out looking. Then check to make sure you got them all. If you do then you continue to write the methodology or procedure down. Now check that.

Bam! All done!

You would be amazed at how quickly you can memorize something when you do it that way!

See, we have to have mayo/hollandaise and  bechamel/veloute down perfectly. We will draw out of a hat to see which ones we will make. We have to make one of each. Then we have our group practical. We have to make beef consomme and some sort of to-be-determined cream or puree vegetable soup. With no recipe.

It's a lot to take in. And we need to make sure we watch our waste when doing our vegetable cuts and make sure the final product is perfectly everything.  Perfectly seasoned, perfectly pourable, perfectly plate-able.

All this and it's February. The groundhog saw his shadow.

We have 6 more weeks of winter.

Only one problem though. WE HAVEN'T HAD A WINTER!!!

January's 2010 weather for Seattle brought unseasonably warm temperatures, mostly cloudy skies, and a lot of rain after a very cool, partly cloudy, and relative dry December. There were twenty-seven days in January with cloudy sky conditions and four days with partly cloudy sky conditions. This was the warmest January on record for Seattle with an average temperature of 47.0 degrees --- the previous warmest January was in 2006 with an average temperature of 46.6 degrees. The normal average temperature for Seattle in January is 40.9 degrees.

So we had rain. Nothing big. Nothing to warrant flood concerns or anything like that. But we didn't get snow. We didn't get freezing temps after early December. We haven't had a really bad winter storm at all.

We have even had nice sunny days in the past month.  All this is throwing all of us out of alignment.

Everyone is tired. Everyone is fighting a sickness. Everyone is getting irratable.

We need the sun to come out and stay a while before we all start raiding the closest pharamacy for some Prozac!

I have been beyond tired lately. I'm sure I'm still getting used to the new schedule my life has taken.

 I've been getting sick too. If I don't eat constantly I get nausea. It's horrible and I hate it! I know it's because I'm not drinking enough water but it does make me nervous that maybe I have a slight blood sugar issue. I'm self medicating with chocolate, salty snacks and lots of water. I'll keep you all posted.

Other than all that fun stuff.... Life has been good to me.
I'm looking forward to spring and all the beautiful things that brings to the Pacific Northwest.

The tulip festival, the outdoor concerts, the Harley rides, the camping, the dirt bike riding, the dog beach days, the sun still shining past 5pm.

Good things are coming and I'm so ready to take advantage of it all this year! 


Oh and by the way, it's my birthday in 6 days and 8 hours. :)