Kitchen Diary

My Deepest Apologies!

I KNOW OK?! don't remind me of what a terrible blog friend i have been, if you could only have a day in my shoes you wouldn't scold me. here, let me show you...

school has vamped up to an exhausting pace. i think they think that we're spoiled newbies that need to be punished. work involving a baby 24/7 is harder than it sounds, and when i'm not doing either of those things i'm doing the mounds of homework i bring home, or babysitting, or cleaning, or trying not to starve myself seeing as the only thing i buy anymore is granola bars. I have completely abandoned trying to cook for myself, there's just no time, and when you do it for a living, some of the charm is lost, just like most everything. I'm tired, body, soul and mind. life just seems to be a roller coaster that i can't get off. i miss home, i miss peace, and most of all, i miss watching life, instead of trying to keep up with it.
but not all has been bad. i've gotten really plugged into my church, PRAISE GOD! and i made a friend!! outside of school that is. she goes to my small group and we hit if off immediately... lauran, if you're reading this, thank God you were born. I am enjoying things more, i feel like have really started to make myself a home here, which is a big step, but it still doesn't quite measure up to my real one. Finals are today, and then i have three weeks of summer break, from school that is, not from work and the rest of my life. but it will be cherished none the less.

so yes, things are still bittersweet, thanks for asking.

God has grown me in immeasurable ways, and i am closer with Him than i have ever been. that alone negates any bitching i have just done.
I'm posting some pictures for you of life while i've been away... i will post more later. at least you now know that i live and breathe..... barely :D

Spring in Chicago

Fullfilling my pasta dream

In class on Thursday we made something that i practically came to culinary school to learn how to make! PASTA!!! it was pretty much everything i ever thought it would be. the only problem is you have to have a pasta machine to actually form it... have not fear, i'm already saving for one.
i'm going to give you the recipe so you too can enjoy the wonderment of pasta making. it's almost as good as having a baby.... well, almost. you work and work, feeding it through the pasta roller, getting smoother and thinner by the second and then all of the sudden... it's there. pasta, gliding out the other end of the pasta machine like magical ribbons. you swell with pride knowing that you just brought a new nest of linguine into the world.


Basic Egg Pasta
equivalent to 1# or dry pasta

3 cups all purpose flour, or cake flour
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp. salt

1. place the flour in a high mound on a work surface, (wood is best). make a well in the center.
2. crack the eggs into the well. add the salt. with a fork, ox together the eggs and salt only to not mix in the flour yet.
3.gradually start incorporating under the eggs to

keep the dough from sticking to the board.
4. continue adding more flour in this manner until you have a soft dough. remove the dough from the flour and set aside.
5. sift the remaining flour to get out any small lumps of dough. THROW THESE AWAY. don't try to incorporate them into your large ball, it will only make holes when you roll it out.
6. knead your dough in the "clean" flour until dough is no longer wet and sticky and is smooth and elastic. 10-15 min.
7. wrap dough well and let rest for at least 20 minutes before rolling.
8. coat VERY well in flour before putting it
through the pasta machine.
the rest is up to your creative self!

i went home and cooked mine, then tossed it in a homemade pesto with pinenuts, spicy red pepper, and basil. mmmmm mm.

Now that's a heck of a doughnut!

This is a blog post is dedicated entirely to doughnuts, probably my favorite sweet thing of all time. but wait... not just any doughnuts. i would like to say that i won't eat a doughnut unless it's a good one, but the fact of the matter is that i'm a fiend, and if you put any kind of doughnut in front of me, i WILL eat it. end of discussion. this post is about Holtmans Doughnuts. the best doughnuts you will ever taste in your life, hands down. i can say this because i've tried so many. Krispy Kremes have NOTHING on Holtmans! Holtmans is a little doughnut place in Pleasant Plain Ohio, the tiniest little town you've ever seen. we have to drive about an hour to get to the actual shop, but let me tell you, every minute of that drive is worth it! Holtmans has been making doughnuts since you can imagine, and every employee in there is a family member. when you pull up the little (and i do mean little) yellow striped building the air is thick with the smell of frying dough and sugar, you start to salivate right then and there.

Holtman's is open in the morning, but if you know what's good for you, you will go around 7:00pm in the evening, that's when the real action happens! they start the night before because you could not imagine how busy they get! when you get there they have have christmas lights sparkling in the windows (year-round) and there are literally rows, and rows of hot off the press doughnuts. they give them to you in white paper bags literally steaming.

every kind of doughnut you need and crave is there. fluffy cake doughnuts with crispy edges topped with homemade cream cheese icing, yeasty long johns filled with chocolate cream.

I think my favorite has to be the toasted coconut. it is heavenly. they are so nice it is not uncommon the get a few free doughnuts thrown into your dozen.

in the summer, when it is still light out at 7:00 they have a big picnic bench outside to sit on, throw a bottle of ice cold milk onto your tab and you have yourself the perfect evening. one that i've spent many a time.

I could go on and on, singing the praises of Holtmans Doughnuts, but here's the gist of the matter, if you are EVER in that side of Ohio it is a must that you go. you will never be the same... oh gosh, i have to stop this.. i'm salivating.

Some things you missed

THINGS THAT HAPPENED DURING SPRING BREAK
let me just warn you, i am not your average 19 year old. my spring break did not include wild partying, or Mexico. that's just not me. my spring break embodied the word "peace" and that is just what i needed.

the last tuesday of every month we have my grandparents over for dinner, well of course because i was home guess who whipped that up?! I designed a salad to die for! topped with mango chutney, spiced pecans, and thyme hushpuppies instead of croutons it was something to behold. i drizzled it with a Dijon dressing and served it with cheddar and leek soup. viola!!! while we ate we got into a debate over how to pronounce the word chutney. is it (Chut-any) or (Choot-ney) any word from the peanut gallery? please, put us out of our misery!

Here's the magnanimous salad. that sounds like something dustin hoffman would have said as captain hook in the movie "Hook."

ok, the only reason this picture is on here is because i felt you should truly know this side of me, considering it's not exactly a "side" it's more of a whole. I have to be honest with you, i sometimes come across as allot more sane than i really am. this poses as a problem because then you meet me and you're not sure if i'm human or not. yeah.... that's a problem.

this was me at Lizzy Hanich's house wearing one of her brother's caving lights on my head. i don't know why, but i felt the need to do this.

this is my dear, sweet, fast maturing sister Naomi. my sunglasses are about as big as her whole head! we had such sweet times together while i was home, like literally, things out of a Hallmark movie.

it think that's kind of it for now, i just wanted to throw those few little tings in there so that i was up to date. i am now back in chicago, after a very difficult parting with the family, and a 5 hour drive... here i am. i feel revived though, a new quarter to do new things.... ahhh, fresh starts. are you not immensely thankful for them?

There's no place like home...and it's kitchen.

Ahhhhhh, home. i am so blissfully happy i cannot tell you. i told my mom as we drove in to town, "at this moment i feel so incredibly safe, just like that." it is so bazaar to be surrounded once again by things that are so familiar. to suddenly fall back into my old routine without even thinking. to hear Naomi's voice chattering in the other room. these are truly the things that make home, "home" for each and every one of us.
let's see, since I've been home i have tried to do all the things that remind me of home. sitting outside in the lawn chairs with mama and Naomi, having "girl talk." getting doughnuts in the morning from the little bakery across the street. but most of all here people, i have the neeeeeed to cook. the huge spacious kitchen calls my name, with it's blue chrome counter tops, and hardwood floors. everything is just as i left it, the jars of flour, and big cutting boards. i am really and TRULY home now....



My first goal was to make these mini raspberry cheesecakes, a recipe i made up on a rainy day in the dining room. they were everything they were supposed to be. to top it all off i made the raspberry sauce with both red and golden raspberries. got get some, their in season! they are sooo pretty, and have a bit more of a sugary taste than red ones. we ate these on our precious sunny day outside before the spring rain attacked us.





Next i drove out to my dad's house to work my magic. the cool thing about going to culinary school is that you have instant bragging rights, who else is going to challenged you alleged know-how?? dinner was served on the big kitchen table with the help of my dear sisters Hannah and Naomi. Naomi insisted on being included in the prayer before we ate because, i quote " she stirred the sauce, and zested an orange ok!" we ate pecan crusted tilapia, served over garlic and parsley cous cous, and leek and onion caramelized in white wine. then I it topped with an orange balsamic gastruiqe and fresh feta cheese. a nice salad and homemade bread and brie cheese from shadow bakery in covington topped it off. so good! it is considered a true accomplishment when you have picky teenage boys going back for more! Hannah made her infamous chocolate chip cookies for dessert. don't scoff at the simplicity, Hannah's cookies are a force to be reckoned with, and have become famous in these parts. you have not tasted a chocolate chip cookie until you've tasted Hannah's. it's a fact.


that night was the first time we all of us kids had been together in a long time, and it was truly wonderful. I am so thankful for my family... dare i say it, even more than food!! This week the phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder" has proved itself true.