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!