Watching You

Here is another one of my photo projects...Riley and Chris were great sports...I think they don't want to take any more pictures though.

Picture to Burn

Here is a photo project I had to do...my friends are so wonderful!!!!

Bannack Ghost Town!

This last wednesday I got invited to go with a class on a field trip to Bannack, Montana. Bannack was founded in 1862 when word traveled that there was gold. This old ghost town is now a national park where you can still explore about 60 standing structures. We had the opportunity to walk around and take pictures of this historical site. My favorite pictures are the ghost images that I took, its fun to make people appear transparent, especially at an old town like this. 

3,000+ Hors d'oeuvres, you're crazy!

I am currently enrolled in two culinary arts classes, pastry and applied culinary fundamentals. In both of my classes we were asked to make hors d'oeuvres for about 300 guests for the BYU-I Presidents Club. Its a meeting for all the big scholarship donors and the board of trustees, then following they meet with students about different departments to see where the money is going. This is where we had the opportunity to serve hors d'oeuvres just before their dinner party. For my pastry class we were asked to make 5 different kinds with about 300 of each. We made mini quiche, pumpkin rolls, lemon bars, meringue cookies with a nut filling, and tartlets. Then in my other class each group of two was asked to create their own hors d'oeuvre and prepare it. My partner and I did a corn cup with a roasted corn salsa. There was also a roasted red potato with a sour cream filling, a salmon cheese canape, a bacon, cheese, tomato canape with a parsley garlic butter, a shortbread with pesto and feta, a teriyaki chicken wonton with a ginger soy sauce, and last a southwest chicken salad puff. Thus resulting in 3000+ hors d'oeuvres and a lot of work. Luckily we got to use class time to start making parts of each hors d'oeuvre but they couldn't be completely assembled until Saturday right before the party. Lets just say the kitchen was a little crazy and the rain didn't help with the transporting of the items. However, it was a blast, a great learning experience and a whole lot of fun!!!

Kelsey's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Kelsey!

It was my roommates birthday and she is obsessed with the Disney Princess Belle, so I made her a belle cake! It was pretty fun!

Summer Time!

Well with having a shortened summer break I didn't really take the time to update my blog. So now I'm trying to catch up. Most of my summer consisted of catching up on sleep, cooking, hanging out, vacation, spending time with the family, making cakes, and working on a website for my dad's company (www.desertwestconst.com). The things that stick out the most was just enjoying being home with my family, I just love them and spend every second I can with them, especially my nieces and nephews! I also lgot the chance to make two birthday cakes (which I love to do), one for shawny and one for my mom. We also got to take a trip to Lake Powell, which was absolutely awesome! I don't think it could have gone any smoother and we all had a blast! I love going every year, its a great trip to just relax and enjoy being together. After Lake Powell I had to head back up to school, where I am not in my third week of my fourth year, hopefully I will get done soon!

Candy Land!

For my confectionery final we had to do some kind of display with a theme. It had to include four candies and two types of garnishes. So I decided what a better way to display candy then Candy Land. With that said I turned the Candy Land board game into a yummy treat!!! 

La vita e' bella

In my International Foods class for our final we had to pick a culture and plan and prepare a six item meal for at least six guests. Well word got around and my Italian dinner for seven turned into a party of twelve. After slaving away all day, really it seemed like all day, we were able to have a wonderful dinner together. Here is what I made...

Foccacia, Prosciutto with cantaloupe, Lasagna, garlic asparagus, chicken piccata, and gelato!

And the group!

High School Musical Party

As mentioned previously we had a High School Musical Party for my roommates birthday. We all dressed up as different characters. So here is the gang...Katie (Mrs. Darbis), Bergen (Sharpay), Me (Kelsey), Kelsey (Martha), Martha (Taylor), Al (Gabriella). It was pretty fun! If you haven't seen the movie you should, they are cheesy but fun. And I think we look close to the characters!

Happy Birthday Al!!!!

So yesterday was my roommate Al's birthday!!!! She is absolutely obsessed with High School Musical so she wanted it as her theme. Of course I had to make her a cake so here is what I came up with. Its not exactly like I wanted but close enough. Tonight we are having the party and we are all dressing up as characters from the movie, so check back for more pictures!

Stud Muffin!

So I have a silly roommate....Her name is Martha and she is from Texas. Martha told us the other day..."Look yall I either need a boyfriend or a puppy!" We all laughed and that was pretty much the end of the conversation. Today Martha came home with a two month old lab named Stud. He is the cutest little thing so I call him Stud Muffin! The bad thing is we aren't suppose to have pets in our apartment, hopefully we don't get caught ;) 

Happy Birthday Jennie!!!!

Today is my friend Jennie's Birthday!!!! She is such a sweetheart and I just love her, so I made her a birthday cake. I spent all day yesterday and a few hours today working on it, but now that its done I just love it! I only came across one big problem and that was my second layer collapsing, but I just cut it down and made it into my top layer so it all worked out. Anyway, Happy Birthday Jennie!!!!!

Paint, Paint, Paint!!!

We aren't allowed to paint our bedrooms here at school so we found something else to paint...each other!!!!! We all got white shirts and we a little bored so we played paint tag. Then we filled some balloons up with air and paint and threw darts at them. It was pretty fun!!!

NARNIA!!!!

My friends and I went to the midnight showing of Narnia a few weeks ago. If you haven't seen it yet you need to go it was really good. I have a story that actually reminded me of seeing Narnia... A girl this sunday pretty much bore her testimony on Narnia, huh???? It was a little interesting and we all struggled to figure out what she was trying to say, but something along the lines of comparing the Lion to Christ and how he was gone for many years and the children were finally united with him. Anyway it was interesting because she was basically advertising for the movie by going into the whole plot. I guess some people just for get the point of testimony meetings. Well here is a picture of Me, Katie and her sister Kristi at the showing of Narnia.

Cinco De Mayo!

Since yesterday was Cinco De Mayo, my roommate Katie and I decided to have a little party! We invited some friends over and had yummy Mexican food. I made Guacamole, green chili chicken, Burros, tacos, Spanish rice, all the good stuff! And of course we had the pinata!!!

After the party our friend Mike was having a water polo game so we decided to make T-shirts. With were being silly and thought it would be funny to think that there were playing marco polo...

We've covered the Then so its time for Now!

So now that the busy semester ended, I guessed I decided that I didn't get enough so I choose to stay in Rexburg for a summer semester. I'm currently taking two classes and trying to find a job. I applied for Great Harvest Bread Co. but I haven't heard back so I guess I will have to keep searching. When I am not in class I enjoy cooking, going to the temple, being outside (the weather is sooo nice!), tanning, crafts, hanging out and working out (oh wait I don't enjoy that! What was I thinking??? I guess I'm just trying to develop the good habit and lose a little weight, too much eating when your in culinary classes). 
As for classes I am taking International Foods, throughout the course we are studying main different cultures and countries and how food/cuisines have developed throughout history. Then every Thursday we are given a different responsibility in the kitchen (Grillardin, Entremetier, Potager, Patissier, Garde Manger, and Dinning Room) and we have two hours to make a full menu of items from a certain country. This last week we did Northern Europe and my role was Patissier. I made a Barley Bread and Plum Pudding. The Plum Pudding was yummy!!! Then after the two hours once the dinning room is set up and decorated for the culture for eleven students and our teacher we all sit down and enjoy! It is totally a blast!!! We will also be studying Japan/Korea, Italy, Spain, France, India, Mexico/Central America, Africa, Asia, and Morocco/Middle East. Not only is this class just fun my teacher is wonderful! He really takes the time to teach and make sure you know what he/you are doing and you understand. We all have a great time.

Now if I haven't made you jealous enough there is more! My second class is Confectionery. What's not to LOVE about chocolate and candies!!!! Plus there is a super sweet girl I get to work with, Megan, she is new to the Culinary department so she loves to pick my brain and we have a ton of fun together. Unfortunately she is married and may not be here next semester, thats ok though we are having fun together now! We also work with a girl Danielle. This last Thursday we had to give a demontration on filigree, which is the decorative chocolate or royal icing that you often see stuck in desserts. Here are some things we made... of course they would look better if they were in desserts then on pans. 

Then this last Thursday after our demonstration we were let loose in the kitchen to make anything we want. Throughout the semester we have to have completed three candy boxes with at least four different candies in them each time. Every Thursday we can make anything we want as long as we get all the different items checked off by the end. So we made amazing english toffee, divinity and chocolate molds. The toffee was my favorite to make and it was soooo good! Between this class and my international foods class right before, I was in the lab for over seven hours and loved every minute of it! Time goes so fast in there but it is sooo much fun. This Thursday I am hoping to have my first candy box made so I will post pictures of it when its done!

Bridal Show

Ok so I created a slideshow of pictures from the bridal show. Enjoy!

Rewind and Replay

Since I didn't start my blog when planned because of a busy and crazy end to a semester, I thought I would catch everyone up on what I have been up to with school, projects, and fun! I love to share my projects with everyone, especially after putting so much time into them. One project that took up a lot of time at the end of last semester was for my Advance Visual Media class, we had to create a website. So if you want to see my projects for this class take a look at www.teeanngiggles.com Although this project took over forty hours, there was another project in taking the rest of my free time. Lets just say I didn't get much sleep that last few weeks of school.

As many of you know I am minoring in Culinary Arts and I absolutely love it!!! Every time I am in the Culinary Kitchen hours and hours go by, it seems like only a few mins and I love every single minute I am there. This last semester I was in a Cake Decorating class, what a blast! This class makes me wish I had a nice big kitchen where I could make cakes all the time. Here are some pictures of some cakes I made over the semester...

 

Now for the project that caused me to get very little sleep along with my website. The Cake Decorating class had the opportunity to participate in the Horticulture Department's Spring Bridal Show. For the show you could either place a cake in a themes room or in the halls, I choose to participate in a themed room. The themes of the rooms were the days of creation, the room I was to do a cake for was the third day, the creation of plants. I was to incorporate the colors brown, pink, orange and lime green. I wanted to do something fun but also symbolic of the them, so I tried to have my cake portray the growth of a flower. The base is the dirt with vines crawling up the cake and pillars reaching to the flower. The next tier (petal shape) is representing the flower. And the third tier represents the inside of the flower (pollen). I wasn't so sure of my cake once it was done, especially since most everyone else went with the traditional elegant look and mine was more different then the traditional. However, once the bridal show came and I was able to see the cake in the decorated room with flowers and decorations, everything tied together and looked beautiful. I was so excited! My room took place in the jungle, a beautiful green oasis with a running waterfall and bridge. It was such a blast and I would love to do it again. It is rewarding seeing every one excited about your work.

I will post pictures of this soon!

All Right Already, No More Excuses!

Shawny inspired me a while ago to create a blog, so I quickly got on the internet and signed up. Its now been a few months and there is still nothing on my page. I check Shawn's blog every day to see if she has a new post and I get very sad when there is nothing. She recently informed me that she checks mine often and is always let down when she continues to see a blank page. I am completely out of excuses, she is out of town right now so Im going to give her a lovely surprise when she gets home!!! Love you Shawny!