Drew Szarka

Snack Shack Day 1: Intimidation. Mild as it was, I had no idea what the experience was going to be like. Would there be a ton of people for this soccer game? What job would I be given? As soon as we got there, I was allotted with a shrug the Fat Sandwich station, and given the task of getting out the sandwich stuff. I had no idea what this meant. Great, I thought, this was a sink or swim type deal. Fortunately enough Hayden stepped in and told me what was actually supposed to happen for a successful Fat Sandwich station. We went through station upkeep, organization, sandwich composition and keeping tabs on how much of everything I had left. After the confusion was over, it took some time to get comfortable with the orders coming in. There weren’t too many orders for Fat Sandwiches this game and I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I thought it was a blast. And given it was a first time for the majority of the people there I think it was pretty successful. I think it was really necessary for most of us to get in this trial run before things really start to get crazy during football season.  Rotating stations will be fun, but I’m sensing I’m going to have to hold myself back. I always want to jump in when I think I could do something better (a reason I don’t like group projects in school). Doing it right is doing it my way. I will abstain and stick to my station. That’s not to say I won’t lend a hand if I can; I’ll just do my best not to kick the person out of their own station. I’m sure they can handle Fat Sandwiches at their own pace.

  This should be a good year. 

I worked my first day in the snack shack on Tuesday and it was very fun. I didn’t think it was going to as fun as it was. Everyone worked together as a team and that was the key to success. Nobody was being selfish and that it the main reason we did a good job. At some points we had a few big crowds and I think we did a good job by getting them the food as quickly as possible. The things that we can improve on is the candy by separating the candy into 3 or 4 different baskets because we had one huge basket the other night and it was very hard to find some stuff. The other thing we could improve on is cleaning as we go even though it’s kind of hard to do that it would help us out a little bit. Another thing that we did well was cleaning up after we were done. It didn’t take that long because everyone helped out. Overall I think we did a very good job considering it was almost all of our first time working in the snack shack. The next time we work we will definitely be better because we will have experience.  Michael P.

This past weekend I went to two Italian restaurants one called riccardo's and
one called ruzzutos. The riccardo's was in Boston in the north end. The place
was great it was only my family in it because we were early. We were served for
appetizers meatballs stuffed with three diffrent types of cheeses. It was so
good and they were very big aqaqzzmeat balls to so I was already starting to get
full even after appetizers. For my entree I had linguine alla clams, it was the
most delicious thing I have ever tasted. I've never been to a more Italian place
then this one, If I was to ever own a restaraunt this would be my dream one. The
other place ruzzutos is Danbury was also very good. It was extremely similar and
because I wanted to compare the two places I ordered the exact same thing. The
linguine I had in Boston tasted a lot better but the clams I had at ruzzutos
were absolutely delicious. If I had to chose the best out of the two I'd pick
riccardo's in Boston it was great and if I ever come back I will definitely go
again.

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