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. :)