'Tis the Season To Be......(fill in the blank)

As soon as we fill our bellies on Thanksgiving, we wake up the next morning with a hangover of Tryptophan from the turkey and sugar-high headaches from all the pie and we go SHOPPING! Yes, I am talking about Black Friday: the official start to what I call Holiday Shopping Madness. I am talking loads of people in mall isles not meant to fit that many people, cash register lines 10 people deep, oh and who could forget the insane bargains and deals and our wallets filled with coupons (but unfortunately, they always seem to exclude the things we actually WANT to buy....why is that?) Anyway, I will be honest:

I love this time of year, but it also gets to me by about the 15th day of December. Why 15th you ask? Well, hopefully by this time, I have finished my holiday shopping, so all I have to deal with is the traffic caused by those who are doing their last minute shopping and creating the madness that this time of the year causes. It is quite silly really, it is supposed to be the time of the year that we all love, time for us to sit down with families, retell stories from the year by the fireplace, drinking wine (if we are of age of course, hot chocolate for the kids, or just spike it with Bailey's?????), and watch the snow fall.....but nope. Quite the opposite. I try to stay as calm and relaxed while I watch everyone else run around like they are chickens with their heads cut off (best reference I could come up with). By the 15th, I am tired of hot chocolate, tired of traffic, and especially sick of hearing the Christmas music! Why is it that we have to start listening to it the DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING??? At least give me a week to digest my food before you start singing about Christmas. Do we really need a whole month to sing songs? Though I am quite pleased to see that GLEE came out with a Christmas album :)

Oh and those people at the Kiosks??? They drive me INSANE!!!! They are just waiting in the main walkway of a mall, purposely in your way, so that you HAVE to practically walk into them, which, by that time, it is too late and you have been seduced by the mall sirens! They lure you to their kiosk to share what they are selling. The other day, some lady grabbed my hand and put salt on it. My friend and I were both puzzled, staring at this pile of salt in our hands thinking, "what do we do?" Well, in order to wash it off, we HAD To to go her cave of a kiosk. While we both knew we weren't going to buy any of her products, it was quite fun to get hand make-overs....Dead Sea Salt exfoliates, lotions, gels, nail buffers, it was quite nice. She was disappointed when we said we were cooks, so there is no point in spending money to have nice hands, and that we are college students who don't want to buy an $80 dollar jar of gel stuff for our face. We walked away without buying any products, despite the incredible "deal" she was going to give us, but with super soft hands that even two days later are still soft!
Earlier this weekend, another man at a hair straightening kiosk put a black packet of gel into my hand and pulled, literally grabbed my wrist and pulled, me over to his station where he tried to let me let him straighten a piece of my hair. I held onto that free packet of hair serum and walked away, feeling a bit like a B****. But the next day, I tried that serum on my hair before and after straightening it and holy smokes, it was amazing! My hair was so smooth, for the WHOLE day, I did not even have to brush it throughout the day. I give him kudos.
I decided to return to buy the serum....I am always having problems with my hair frizzing up after straightening it and becoming ratty looking, requiring a brush, and finally I had found a serum that did not grease my hair up! When I returned, a different man tried to sell me a straightener. I WILL NOT GIVE IN, I told myself. He wanted so badly to show me how well it worked, but when I explained I already had one, he asked which one I had. " A CHI..." I responded, confidently, knowing that CHI is the best brand out there. And he had an immediate look of, "shoot, I won't be able to sell my straightener to her", but he continued. "But THIS one has ceramic plates"...."So does mine," I said to him, "how many times do you have to go over a piece of hair to straighten it?" he asked, "Only once," I said, "And how long does it take you," he asked? "Only 15 minutes," I was truly loving this. I continued to shoot down every single angle he had been pulling on everyone else. And then for kicks and giggles, knowing I had won the argument that mine was better and I did NOT need a new one, I said, "And mine has pretty red felt on the outside, so its nice and soft!" He was pretty frustrated with me by this point, But I was still buying his hair serum, he had something to be happy about.....

So back to the title of my post: Tis the season to be......I don't really know. Some days I am quite jolly, just as the song suggests, and I even walk around thinking Falalalala. I try not to become one of those angry shoppers and drivers who roll their eyes when someone cuts them off...what is the point in getting frustrated? Like my mommy always says, Don't Sweat The Small Stuff....and to the ma'am in front of me in the line impatiently tapping her foot, I can guarantee there are worse things in life to be frustrated about :)

Happy Holidays!!!!!

PS: I have yet to break down and buy a new culinary gourmet gadgets...so Happy Holidays FRIENDS and RELATIVES!!! You know what is on my wish list!

MIA from CIA....but I'm back!!!

My sincere apologies for those of you who used to read my blog and have since my last post not had any evening reading. Life was crazy. But I am back and I have a specific topic to write about! I do not have enough finger endurance to type everything I have been up to recently. The main reason for this blog entry is REGISTRATION FOR MY NEXT SEMESTER CLASSES....its a big deal at this school because it is when the students choose which Wines trip they go on. Let me break it down for you: the Food, Wine, Agri(culture) class (official name of the course) is when we learn about the just mentioned, and we go on a trip to a wine country/region for 3 weeks. Well, I had the option of staying in the states or going to Spain or Italy.....first choice was Italy. I am taking Italian right now and just had my heart set on going. Ok, I don't want to keep you on the edge of your seat for too long to let you know where I am going, BUT I AM GOING TO ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, there is no way for you to see my expression of happiness through a blog, but the amount of exclamation points should be enough!

As for the remainder of the registration process, here is what happened. It was so nerve-wracking my heart was beating out of its chest. Imagine 160 students logging onto the campus's registration website all at once and clicking SUBMIT all. at. once. Yup. The website SHUT DOWN!!!!! We were allowed to register at 2:00 pm today, so EVERYONE was on the edge of their seat waiting to click SUBMIT....well, when we clicked submit, the server CRASHED!!!!!! It was down for 30 minutes.....meanwhile we are all FREAKING out because we all want certain schedules and want a certain trip (there are only a limited number of spots for each trip). So finally the website starts working again, and I had to navigate around it to figure out if I had to re-fill everything out....but here is the good news: in all that craziness, my schedule saved, so when the server came back up, it automatically registered me! So I got my first choice for scheduling!! Karma was on my side, it feels great, no stress!!! I could go on and on talking about the drama that was created from this with the other students, but I shall not bore you with culinary drama.

As for my past couple months, here is what I have been up to, in list format, Beware: Its long: Ask questions via comments if you care to do so.

-Milked a goat (named Audrey, coincidence)
-Went to DC for the John Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally
-Rode 30 miles on a bike tour to some farms
-Ran a 1/2 marathon
-Registered for next semester's classes GOING TO ITALY!!!!!
-Saw Harry Potter 7 at Midnight
-Saw Harry Potter 7 again the next night because it was SOOOO good
-Joined the cross country running team at school
-We won championships!!!
-Got my fastest time EVER!
-Found 10 dollars on the ground, that was pretty exciting seeing how I never find money
-Found out I love organic peanut butter
-Went zip-lining and obstacle-coursing in the beautiful Hudson Valley trees and foliage
-Joined the CSA on campus: Chefs Sustaining Agriculture (slow food movement, local, farmers, etc)
-Drank apple cider made only FIVE minutes earlier, hand pressed with an old wooden contraption
-Lost my cell phone to mouthwash: RIP Samsung cell phone
-Ran the Tufts 10 k for the 4th year!! (6 miles, ran under an hour!)
-Worked at the Hudson Valley Food and Wine Festival where I poured wine for wine snobs all day and talked about it...what a great day! I got paid to talk about wine!!!


That's about long enough of a post for now....what kind of questions do you have so that I can address certain topics in future posts?

Spelling error: my bad

IDLE!!!! Apparently I cannot spell. I meant to say IDLE hands cause trouble, not Idol hands. I am pretty sure my hands are not competing for any sort of hierarchy idol status.

Thanks, Mom.

Idol Hands Lead to Trouble

No, I'm not in trouble. It is just something one of the campus security guards said to me the other day at the school's annual Chili Cook-Off (yes, we have chili competitions). He was asking me how I was doing and how school was treating me after being at it for two years to which I responded that I was so busy I did not have time to think. He says, well, Audrey, what would you be doing if you weren't so involved...getting into trouble with campus safety? (Then he laughs and takes a bite of his chili, which was quite spicy, so his face turned a little red). I believe he is completely right.
I think back to last year when I was finished classes for the day at 3:00. I would go to work only three times a week, and I was only at work until 5. I would eat dinner, go work out, and then do homework. I did not have a lot going on outside besides a club I was loyal to. It just seemed boring most of the time. I wanted to get out, but did not have the motivation.
Since returning to school, I have really reached out and gotten myself involved with a lot of happenings on campus. I am that dork who goes to the student life sponsored events with enthusiasm. I became secretary of the CSA group on campus, Chefs Sustaining Agriculture (we work to bring awareness to students regarding where their food comes from. We go on field trips, host special guests, and have fun little events.) I work a little bit, not much, but enough to keep my contacts. I run cross country, but because of my class schedule and my other extra-circulars, i cannot always make it to practice (and a recent foot injury, slowly healing). I also took up a part time job to work on the weekends as a server at special functions here at school.

The best part is that I am meeting so many great people from all of these groups that I am really creating friendships that are worth keeping. It is always great to meet people with common interests, and it seems as though they have become my new friends, instead of the ones who sit around and do nothing.

But when it comes down to it, it is all about time management.

I sometimes question my capability to do so much, but back to what the security guard said: Idol hands lead to trouble. I'll let you all wonder what I would be doing (I AM a college student, after all).

Why Do I Choose To Make My Life So Hectic?

A question I am going to attempt to answer...I think it is because I feel productive and accomplished if I am constantly going places, meeting with this person, meeting with that person, completing a homework assignment, going on trips...etc, etc. My first week of class was slightly crazy. It involved me carrying tons of books around to each class, getting 15 minutes to eat lunch before I had to go to work in which I would leave work and then go back to class. My day would finish with me going to cross country running practice (XC), eating a quick dinner and then starting homework. Wake up the next day, repeat.

I didn't even have time to watch my TV shows online until the weekend!!! (life takes priority to entertainment).

This weekend was all devoted to homework, in which I have been very productive. I did take a break on Saturday and went to watch a hog slaughter.

Yes, a hog slaughter.

I have been feeling a bit uneasy and any sort of food tastes a bit off to me since going to the farm. The smells were not exactly those of rose petals and lavender. While we did not actually see the slaughtering of the hog, the screams and squeals of the poor animal were enough to make my stomach churn. The stun gun that is usually used to stun the animal before it is hoisted up on the hooks was broken, so other, more graphic methods, had to be used. I am quite happy I did not have to see this. I fully respect the killing of an animal for its meat (and other parts) now that I partially saw it. Maybe this is why I eat mostly fish instead of any other animal. Its just too much for me to watch. When people asked how the hog slaughter was, I just say it was an....slight pause, experience.

But back to the topic of this post, I have so far accomplished what I wanted when I returned to school, get as involved as possible. I just need to make sure I don't get tooooo involved.

Back in School Mode, Let's Dust Off Those Brain Cells

First of all, please excuse me for my 1 1/2 month hiatus (sp?) from this blog. I became super busy with work and other activities preventing me from writing. But I am back now! Currently, I sit in my room at school with my brain moving in many directions. I am back at school for the Bachelor's Program. It is another 1 1/2 years of education here at this fine institute I call the CIA. While the Associate's Degree was focused on the hows of cooking, more practical techniques, the Bachelor's Program (BPS) is more managerial business information. It is where the students wear business casual attire (no more chef whites) and carry text books, binders, notebooks, coffee mugs (no knife bags) around and drag their feet up the stairs of Roth Hall (basically the only academic building here on campus; the main building where all the kitchens and offices, etc, are). I am a legitimate college student. Six classes. But only 4 days a week (!!). I am preparing my binders and notebooks for class (and my brain). I am excited to be able to think critically again since that is all my high schools days consisted of.
I spent the first few hours of my day in orientation (we were just spoken to by different Deans of the school as to who does what and such and such). I spent the next few hours running into old friends whom I have not seen in a few months and catching up with how their summers were. I just feel so refreshed being back and starting a new chapter of my life.
I live in a single room like I did last year which is fantastic. I have suitemates, but we all have our own rooms and share a bathroom, so it is nice to be able to retreat to my own room. I must be getting back to preparation for tomorrow. I will try to write as soon as I can.

If You Can't Take The Heat......

I think it was President Harry Truman that made this famous: If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen....well guess what? I'm STILL HERE!

Oh goodness, Newport has been so hot the past week, especially Tuesday! The temperature was 102 degrees! Oh but wait, in the kitchen, it was easily 120, maybe 125! We were all drinking water by the quart-full, asking the food runners to fill us up every 30 minutes with nice cold icey water. Sure was refreshing. But we found the best secret was to soak a towel in cold water and then store it in the refrigerated drawers where we keep our food for service, that was its nice and cold to wrap around the neck or face. You don't know hot until you are standing behind a grill in long pants and a long sleeve jacket. And then of course there is the walk-in refrigerator which is a nice cold room that can cool the body temp down for a few seconds...

Yes mom, I am drinking lots of water, thanks for asking.