I Am Alive And Ready For Change!!!

Hello world! So its been sooo long since I wrote a post and its so weird but feels great to write again. Its funny how life can direct us in different directions whether we like it to or not. A lot has happened since the end of 2011 that has caused me to drift from the things I loved. When my grandmother had passed away last summer it had affected me more than I even thought it had. I started to slowly not about the things that I had made a huge part of my life such as starting my business, fitness, and even my health. Sometimes we tend to be mask soo much by our sadness that we do not notice we sabotage ourselves. But thankfully with the help of family and friends I noticed that and slowly went back to my old self. Not a day goes by where I don’t miss my grandma, but I know in my heart she would want nothing but the best for me. Becoming strong and fighting my demons is not only for myself but for her. And I am happy to say I’m slowly becoming excited for the future.

Lately I have been really looking into what I really want to do and where I want to be in my life. One of the exciting things that is happening is the fact that I’m in my last semester of my culinary program! I’m finally filing for graduation next week and it feels great! Its so crazy on how much I’ve learned and grown as a cook and to become a chef and to really start working on what I love to do is so wild! I’m also getting a big head start on starting my own catering company and hope to be involved in a couple of fun projects this summer.

Another thing is I’m going back to changing my diet and revamping my fitness regimen. I have lately stop caring about what I put in my mouth and unfortunately gained the weight I worked so hard to lose! That is why I am going to start a new diet called, “The Dukan Diet”. Many of you have heard of it and I have researched and have become fascinated by the whole concept. I plan to follow it till I get to my target weight and hope to share with you my journey

Now that I’ve got my “blogging mojo” back lol I will be posting a lot more and hope to share you a little bit about my journey. I will post a lot of stuff about my classes, my Dukan Diet journey, and of course my fave recipes, I hope to inspire some people and can’t wait to start. So hope you all stay tuned

PS… here are a couple of yummy pics from the foods I made this week in class

Professional Baking – Chocolate Torte w/ Apricot Filling

Breaded Chicken Cutlet w/ roasted peppers and Mozzerella Cheese

Pate Choux made w/ Basil Herb and Egg Salad Filling

Pate Choux Display Table

Brooklyn in the Moonlight

So last friday I had the pleasure of meeting up with my friend in downtown brooklyn for dinner, wine, and of course girl gab time. I had worked that day prior to meeting her so good company, food, and wine were a must. I had not wanted to go all the way to brooklyn but I’m soo glad I had. The streets when walking to the restaurant was calm and peaceful compared to the hustle and bustle of time square and it def was a great change from the norm.

We looked around and my friend took us to Chez Oskar and it was a cute little parisan restaurant. Our waitress was nice and we were automatically given water and bread. We started off with pink vodka lemonade that was freshly squeezed and delicious. Than we shared an appetizer which was crab cake which was soo delicious and fresh that I craved more. I never was huge on crab cakes but this one was the best I ever had. For our entrees my friend had roasted chicken with potatoes while I had grilled hangar steak with potatoes and carmalized onions. They both were soo delicious. One bite into my steak was soo juicy and nicely seasoned. We drank pinot grigio with our meal which was a nice light balance. Lastly we had flourless cake with vanilla ice cream. The cake tasted almost like mousse and it was made to perfection.

This by far was the best meal I had in a while. What I loved most was just the nice calm ambiance and just delicious and filling cooked food. I’m already a fan of french food and I can’t wait to tackle these dishes myself. I definitely rate this as an amazing and worth checking out!

First drink of the night, vodka strawberry lemonade

 

the Best crabcake I EVER had to date

our Pinot Grigio, and yes we bought the bottle

my friend’s roasted chicken

my grilled hangar steak w/ potatoes and carmelized onions…yummm

sooo delicious chocolate flourless cake w/ vanilla ice cream

Let Them Eat Crumbs!

So I’m at work today and it is pure boredom! So I decided to write about my experience at Crumbs a bakery in Manhattan. Their famous items are their pretty large cupcakes that come in yummy flavors like fudge sundae and creme brulee. I was pretty excited and decided to go try out their cookies & cream cupcake. While I like the concept and the cupcake was pretty decent, I expected more. The frosting was hard and the cake was average. The only thing I really liked was their decor was like a lil cafe and their employees were all helpful and very nice. I will come back to maybe try a different item like a cookie or something else. So overall review, I give them a: Average style bakery. So my quest for my fave bakery in the city continues!

Cookies & Creme cupcake

Baking the Night Away…

So last night after watching my sister’s ballet recital DVD (I already went but my sister wanted to relive it AGAIN) I made some cupcakes and cookies as a start to what I would be selling for my catering business. I decided to go real simple and did triple chocolate fudge and vanilla cake. I also did basic vanilla and fudge icing.

Baking is something that I honestly love soo much. Whether its for family, friends, or even profit there is something about making either a cake or pastry that I love. I cannot wait to go deeper into the world of pastries and desserts and I would like to try a different recipe at least 1-2 times a week. My schedule is crazy but I would hope that I can fit it all in. The cupcakes were light and delish and I will later on play around with different types of cakes and frostings. Meantime enjoy the pics

Cupcakes before they were baked

Vanilla cupcake before icing

Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting (yummm)

Cookies before baked

Double Chocolate (Melt in you mouth) Cookies

Graduation Weekend and the Start of Summer :-)

(Humming the theme song that they play at graduation lol) This week was craziness with graduation. Not only did my little sister graduate from 6th grade but also my little brother graduated from high school. I am sooo proud of them. This totally got me thinking life and where life takes you. Watching my brother graduate got me thinking of my very own high school graduation and thinking how I was a completely different person. Life has taken me to soo many different places, from a pre-med student to now a culinary student, I would never know that working long hrs in a kitchen would be a dream of mine. Its an amazing feeling knowing and doing what you love and I have a chance to do it every day. I started a nutrition program at a local summer program in my area and its starting out to be an amazing thing. I’m learning soo much about myself and the kids I cook for and I cannot wait to see what it will bring me. Look out for the countless recipes posts and also post about future food projects I will be doing for the kids, I cannot wait. In the meantime here are a couple of pics of yummy breakfast skillets that me and my mother had last sunday. Also a pic of my two graduates

Yummy bacon and sausage skillet

my mom’s yummy southwestern skillet (I know looks more appetizing!)

Beating the Workday Blues…

So today I drive into work in the pouring rain (it poured so hard I could barely see where I was going!!) and I thought to myself how today was not going to be a busy day…boy I was wrong. I currently work part-time as a cook at a local country club and on fridays its usually a relax day in terms of the morning shift. Believe it or not I love the morning shift. As much as I hate waking up early in the morning I love being the first one in the kitchen and setting up. And on friday’s I usually get the kitchen to myself which means playing my music (occasionally singing along), prepping, and cooking orders. So you would think friday yay, easy chill work day but I was exhausted. Maybe cause of the running up and down or the fact I fell asleep late but I just was not as energetic and peppy as I usually am. So to pep myself up I just focus on what I’m making (aka make my food nice and pretty lol). One item I made which was for our take out box is a Italiano wrap. The wrap contains prociutto ham, ham, roasted peppers, lettuce, tomato, provolone cheese, and is served with basalmic vinaigrette. Its a yummy wrap and also a popular menu item. I also made myself passion fruit tea with splenda which I turned it into an ice tea. It was yummy and so refreshing that it put a smile to my face. It has become a work must have now a days…well anyway before I ramble on stay tune for the next couple blogs I have yummy recipes in store which I know you guys will like

Passion Fruit Ice Tea

Italiano wrap

Caribbean Chicken with a Twist ;-)

As a surprise to my sister I decided to make this Caribbean Chicken recipe that she’s been DYING for me to make but I never had the time to. So as the sneaky sister I am, I ran to the grocery store and got the rest of the ingredients needed for the recipe. What I like about this recipe is that the marinade has a nice combination of sweet and tart…the recipe calls for a lot more spice but I’m not a huge fan of spice honestly lol…so here is part one of my meal…

Caribbean Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

• 1 habanero, seeded and chopped (did not add this item)
  

  Liquid Ingredients

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup lime juice
  1/4 cup orange juice

Dry Ingredients

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (did not use item)
• 2 teaspoons allspice
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 4 green onions, chopped
  

  Raw Chicken Wings!

• Chicken wings

Directions:
In a food processor, blend together all the ingredients but the chicken! (You should already know better than to blend chicken! Lmaoo) until  smooth.

Before

After its blended

Once your marinade is made you can set a side 1/3 of your marinade to make into a sauce. (To make into a sauce all you have to do is add your marinade into a saucepan and bring to a boil or until it thickens).

After your marinade is completed, I than clean my raw chicken with either lemon, lemon juice, or salt under running warm water. Once it is cleaned add chicken into zip lock bags and pour in your marinade. I like to seperate the chicken into 2 bags so the chicken can really soak in the juices.

Marinaded chicken in bags

• Refigerate the chicken for either 4-6 hrs or even up to 24 hrs if you want the chicken to really soak in the flavor.
• Once marinaded load your chicken onto a pan and put into the oven at 400 degrees for 45-to an 1hr or until it is nice and brown
  

  Chicken before roasted

 

• As the chicken is roasting I like to made my sides so it is nice a fresh. Usually I would make rice to go along with the chicken (I will make a rice blog later on) but I decided to mix it up and add roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli that I later sauteed in olive oil and fresh garlic.
  

  Red Potatoes, Garlic, and a White Onion (My fave!)

How I usually roast my potatoes is I cut up my red potatoes into small quaters, drizzle about two tablespoons of olive oil, than add in some fresh minced or finely chopped garlic and onion. I also like to add in some pepper, and any assorted herbs and spices I am feeling at the time. The fun thing about potatoes is you can usually add whatever spices you want and you come out with a great end product.

Before Roasted

 

Once you add your herbs and spices to the potatoes, put them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until brown and crisp.

 

Crispy and Yummy <3

Once my potatoes were done I made some steamed broccoli than sauteed them in olive oil and fresh chopped garlic. I also added a little bit of salt and pepper, and onion powder. My sister loves broccoli and absolutely devoured this.

yummy broccoli

 Once I was with all these sides my chicken was crispy to perfection.

All done and roasted

 Now everything is completed and I have to say it all came out delish. I happen to like dark roasted chicken but if you do not like it so dark make it however way you want. My sister enjoyed it and I hope you guys make it and enjoy it.

Bon Appetit!

 

 

 

Green Smoothie Anyone?!

When you think of green smoothies you are probably thinking yuck gross! Who would want to drink something like that. Well I used to be one of those anti veggie anything good types of people until a couple of months ago. One thing I have noticed is I love to drink my calories from time to time. With my busy schedule I tend to forget or do not have time to prepare a proper meal so when I researched what I could make quickly and still have all the nutrients and still lose weight, I was all over it! Smoothies are not only a great alternative to a meal (done well) but also taste great and mask out any of the “nasty” veggie taste that people stay away from. One smoothie that I love and have every morningis my “Green Smoothie” . It might not be soo appealing but trust me it taste GREAT! This is what I put into my green smoothie but you can put whatever fruit and veggie mix you prefer.

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• Handful of fresh spinach (I prefer a head of spinach but a bag of spinach works just fine)
• 1/2 cup of frozen tropical fruit blend (Shoprite brand)
• 1/2 cup of frozen peaches
• Couple ice cubes (optional)
• Water (enough to help blend the banana and spinach which equals 1/3 cup)

The way I position it is I cut the bananas first, add the spinach, my ice, frozen fruits, than water…

 

Blend and you pretty much get this, I know it does not look so great but trust me, taste like a yummy sherbet that you would never know contains spinach.

I usually like to put my green smoothie in my fave insulated cup that you can keep ice drinks in. It keeps it nice and cool for a couple of hours actually and I usually take it with me either to work or in the morning while running errands. This smoothie is definitely for the ones who are looking to add fruits and veggies in their diet. It taste great and gives you great energy in the morning. Hope you enjoy this if you do make it and of course…Happy Blending!

Where it all began…

Life as a culinary girl isn’t simple as it sounds. First is admitting that you want to dedicate your life to food. Most people will think, “Oh how glamorous, I will be able to eat what I want, cook what I want, and make lots of money.” Well think again, being a chef takes time, dedication, lots of sweat, loss hours of me time, and loss of sleep. No friend time, no lets meet up with the girls for cocktails because most likely you will be in the kitchen whipping up salads, desserts, entrees and what have you till pass midnight. So how does all that sound? Great huh, I know! You are probably thinking why the hell would anyone want that life, but if you’re a foodie like me you would think different. When I began my first job in the food industry, at first it was a campus job to make pocket-money for things I needed or wanted. But as soon as I walked into the good old West Wing, my life changed. As a nutrition student, your career is about food and I thought why not. Little did I know I would slowly become involved even more with whole aspect of food.

Even though we were making sandwiches and not crème brulees and coco van their was something about making a meal for a customer and watching their face in enjoyment that I loved. Not only did I love the enjoyment in there face, I loved that it was me that made it. Little old me, Norah who used to bake with whatever contents I found at home now made something yummy and enjoyable. Also I found it odd while all my work friends would all grown about being there I secretly loved it. Food at that moment would slowly become a big part of my life. Later came moving to my first college apartment. Now while most college students would hate cooking for themselves and eat out, I loved cooking, I would slowly start collecting cookbooks, look for recipes online (FoodNetwork.com became one of my favorite websites) and cook for myself and friends. My mind became consumed with making recipes and searching for the perfect dish. Now with all this obsessing with food, I slowly thought “What the fuck am I doing?” Is this what my life is going to be just being an obsessed foodie. I would even look at envy towards the chefs on Top Chef and thinking that I want to do what there doing and live to be challenged like them.

It had to take the summer of 2010 for me to realize that what I really wanted to do. While getting another job at a conference hotel for the campus as a prep cook, I fell even more in love with food preparation. (And I know your thinking, can you become even more obsessed with food!) I slowly saw how being a struggling Nutrition student was not cutting it and what I really wanted to do with my life was a chef. Not just an ordinary chef who worked at a hospital or restaurant, but the best damn chef that I can be. To own several businesses, travel the world, meet and work with the best chef’s known to man. You know the path less taken and so hard to do. That is what I want. But before you all laugh and say, “Damn girl good luck cause it is an eat or be eaten kinda industry. Only the strongest chef’s stay alive.” Truth is I feel like have the talent for what it takes. Food for me is not just a career to make me money. It is my life, for all the years of thinking that becoming a doctor was my calling in life when all the while growing up food was my answer. When I was obsessing over it , I was thinking of ways to change the norm about whatever dish, and that is why I feel I got what it takes. Creativity, determination, and drive is the key. So if you want, take this journey with me, see where this culinary girl is going…you know were to find me…