This Easter was a food extravaganza! My family and I went to my grandmas house on Long Island to meet with my cousins, and we got delicious chicken and ribs from a local restaurant. I've never eaten so much food in my life. It was covered in the most tasty BBQ sauce that was very addicting. Side dishes included corn, mashed potatoes, and salad. The ribs were fall off the bone, and they were extremely tender. I had about 10 of them! The chicken was moist and flavorful and made for a great holiday meal with my extended family. This had definitely inspired me to want to make my own BBQ sauce on day to try and top this one. I wish every day could be a holiday with the great food that holidays bring along with them!

As Pinterest has now integrated into the culinary experience, I found myself spending a lot of time discovering other people’s posted recipes. During the course of Lent, during which I could not indulge in any sweets, I found myself re-pinning an alarming amount of cookies, cheese cakes, and other unique types of desserts. But I did manage to find some great recipes to possibly create in class. While finding the recipes was one thing, I wanted to take advantage of the resource and create some of the things that I discovered instead of just marveling over them. So, after weeks of talking about it, I finally prepared to create the “Banana Bread Granola Bars”; a healthy snack I could enjoy after school, or in the morning. Boy was that a mistake. I had all of my ingredients at the ready, everything organized and measured out. Out came the two cups of rolled oats, chia and flax seeds, mixed with the liquid portion of: honey, egg whites, vanilla extract, a banana, and a few other things. The combined product went into an 8x8 pan and baked for a little over a half hour. When they came out the smell was great and I anticipated something similar to the Nature Valley bars I have had. After letting them cool for a significant amount of time, I finally got to try my home-made concoction. I must say, I was pretty disappointed with myself. The product came out with a taste of pure oats, very dry and coarse, and the texture of the bar was not something to be desired. From the experience, I learned that the recipes posted on Pinterest are often not great recipes. Some are legitimate sources, but other are simply posted by the average person who wants to share something that they make at home. In the future, I will continue to use Pinterest, but mainly for the ideas. Once I discover a great idea on the website, I will look for a recipe from a better food source like foodnetwork.com or epicurious.com. Hopefully then I will have more success with my home creations. Wesley M.

The past few weeks in culinary have been designated to providing food for the homeless. Between receiving, organizing, and preparing the food given to us by the Connecticut Food Bank, we've been pretty busy win class everyday. We diced pounds and pounds of bread, chicken, and pork and passed off whatever work went uncompleted to the proceeding classes. Another neat part of the process is when we have to plan what meals to make. We are required to use our creativity to think of a healthy, yet good tasting meal to present to the food shelter. It has been a constant effort by all classes that has got the job done. What motivates us to continue these efforts is the fact that we're truly helping out those in need. The people we are assisting are lucky if they get one meal a day. It makes us feel good to know that we are supplying these people with high calorie, substantial foods that also taste great. Overall I hope we continue to work on this project within class. It's for a good cause! Matt M.

Ever since I was a little kid I hated cheesecake. The thought of cheesecake would make me gag. I tried everything from regular cheesecake to oreo cheesecake and nothing would change my taste buds minds. This weekend though I was at my Aunts house for easter. I had a fat dinner that consisted of ham, eggs with sausage and mashed potatoes. Now, you know cant have a dinner and not have dessert. So I was looking for the dessert table but found out that the only dessert they had was cheesecake! I was a little upset to say the least. Then I saw it. The last piece of cheesecake that would change my mind forever. I took a small bight thinking I would regret it but no. The apple and caramel hit my taste buds like a huge punch to the face. I can now say I have tasted and liked cheescake.Daddy. Brandon Marks

Food addiction has been becoming a somewhat serious issue here in the United States, over the past few years. For many people, when we eat foods that have salt, sugar and fat in them, our brain’s pleasure centers are activated, simulating some sort of reward for these bad foods. These kind of rewards can stimulate an addictive behavior, because our body is tricked into thinking that this activity is good for the sole reason that we are getting some sort of reward at the end. This is the same sort of process that occurs when a person partakes in using an addictive drug (ie cocaine and heroin). As a result of this, people continue to eat although they are not hungry. People with food addiction usually will start to develop anxiety and agitation. Now, although food can be harmful, and cause all of these bad things through its addiction, it can also cure you from your addiction. Eating well, and being smart about how you eat can counteract many of these negative parts of food addiction. So it seems that food is a double edged sword, and it can either help you or hurt you. Ralph

One of the things I saw/tasted recently was a whole Tilapia fish that my aunt had ordered, this was strange to me because for one thing, I am not a big fan of fish, and two, it had its head and everything still on! This fish however didn't taste very fishy like other fish would, so I didn't mind it but it still isn't the same to me as eating chicken or beef, it was kind of flaky and could pull apart easily. When I brought it home, my mom freaked out. I thought it was funny though, my brother and my mom’s boyfriend enjoyed it a lot though. I showed my brother how to open it, take out the bones, and eat it. My mom kept saying how the poor little fishy kept looking at her and how it didn't want to die. So I proceeded to make the Jaws theme and wiggle the fish towards her. Again, this wasn't the brightest idea because she flipped, but everyone else thought it was funny. Jason Sherwood

During the month of February, I went with my aunt to a food show in New York at the Javits Center. We saw lots of different things there and got to try a good amount of the food there as well. They had everything from Corned beef sandwiches to fresh squeezed orange juice from juicers. The food there was quite amazing and smelled very good. The only thing that I found unappetizing were these little appetizer cups that were made with shortening and left a film on the inside of my mouth that tasted and felt nasty. One thing that didn't surprise me by just seeing it there, but in fact the taste, was all the organic foods. They had lots of stuff like wheat-grass drinks, fresh fruit juices, and even special kinds of water with charts showing you how their water was improved in taste and quality than those of other brands such as Poland Spring. Jason Sherwood

For my Easter dinner we had roasted ham and turkey it was delicious. I love 

Easter because it's basically a second thanksgiving we always have a huge feast 

with the family. This year we stayed over my aunts house who is in Newburyport, 

Massachusetts. We come up here every year for thanksgiving and Easter, and I 

always leave a few pounds heavier. I helped prepare the meal also by helping 

with the mashed potatoes and and cooking green beans. I also helped make the 
gravy and helped bake some of the desert treats for after. For our dessert we 
took out our colored eggs, had brownies with nuts, and had homemade cup cakes 
with frosting in the shape of bunnies, and eggs.

Patrick Ri