C is for Cooking

Did you know that fortune cookies were invented in 1916 by George Jung, a Los Angeles noodle maker??

Over the summer, I did a cooking camp at a local restaurant. I went to 2 cooking classes over the summer. One class was to learn basic cooking and the other cooking class was to learn how to make desserts. I am now going to list the items that I learned in basic cooking and desserts below:

Basic = Rice

Fresh Pasta (Scratch)

Tomato Sauce

Béchamel Sauce

Tart Tatin

Fresh Cheese (made from milk)

Homemade Chips and Dip

Spicy Potato Wedges

Mayonnaise (homemade)

Coleslaw

BBQ Sauce

Herb Aioli

Sandwiches

Waldorf Salad

Vichyssoise ( a creamy potato soup flavoured with leeks and onions)

Desserts = Coconut Cake

Lemon Tartlets (pastry & lemon stuff)

Meringue

Giant Toblerone Cookies a la Mode

Brandy Caramel

Chocolate Soufflé

Strawberry Flambé with Whipped Cream

Chocolate with Cream Semifreddo

Muffins that taste like doughnuts

White or Milk Chocolate Mousse

Apple Streudel

Pie Pastry

Apple Pie Filling

Butter Tarts

Over the course of my cooking classes I have learned how to make stuff I have never know how to make before. Some of the thing I made I enjoyed so much that I would make them again.

I was making a couple types of food every day over the course of the week. We would make the food and then eat what we had made to see if was any good. Well, of course it was! Sometimes if we didn't finish eating our food, we could bring it home for our family to try. They sure liked when it was the dessert cooking week. I was bringing home three kinds of dessert every day!!

On the Friday, My whole class would invite their friends and family to come have a dinner that we would prepare for them. We ran the evening like a restaurant. Our family would make a reservation, we would seat them at the table that we had set. We would serve our family and then clear the table afterwards. Like all serving staff we would give them their bill because dinner was not included in the camp fee!

After the dinner the main chefs presented us with a binder and a wooden spoon with our name engraved. The binder had all the recipes that we made during that week.

It was a fun camp, and I am looking forward to taking another camp this summer and so is my family ( for the food!!).

Life Lesson: Cooking is an important life skill that everyone should learn.

D is for Dance

Ever since I was a 3 year old little girl I have been dancing. That is a long time, right? I have always been meeting new friends over the course of the time i have been dancing.

Once a week I go to my dance studio where I learn new dance moves. Some of the dance moves are reviewed from pervious years. Around Christmastime we do a small performance in front of the parents and students. This performance has a Christmas theme and it is held at the dance studio.

One of the big things that we work on during the dance year is getting ready for the end of year performance. This takes place at a Theatre on the university campus. Family has to buy tickets to see the show. If you want to get good seats you have to be in line early. There are four performances over three days. We have to practice at the stage where we dance to make sure that we are comfortable on the stage and know where we are supposed to be, and when.

In the past, for my May performance, I have been a bunny, sparrow, chocolate fountain, yellow brick road, a cornstalk, Straus Waltz, and Aque. The year that our class were cornstalks, one of the girls in my class didn't put her hairpiece all the way into her bun. Halfway through the dance her cornstalk hairpiece fell on the ground! When something falls or we drop something by accident, we are not allowed to pick it up until we are done our dance.

One time, there was a class dressed as squirrels, who had acorns the size of footballs. Two little 5 year old squirrels were picking up their acorns and they both wanted the same one and they started to fight over it. The whole audience was laughing! Finally the teacher brought out another acorn, so they were able to finish their dance.

This year the theme for our show is Dr. Suess. Our class might be "The Foot Book" or some other Dr. Suess-related thing. Around March Break we'll start learning our dance for the show.

Life Lesson: "Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."

— Mark Twain