Hello again, hello...

Okay, so I've been a very bad blogger the last few weeks. I blame two things. The first is that work was insane for a bit as we started the free dining program. The second reason is because I've gotten back into playing WoW and it is one of my favorite ways to spend free time. I know, I know....people hear that I play World of Warcraft and immediately think 'NEEEEEEEEERD!' in their head. It's okay, I figure everyone that really knows me and loves me already is well aware that I'm a super nerd...so I embrace it. But! That's not why we're here. We are here because I have some updates and I want to share them.

The first new thing in my life is Dijon, Alyssa and I have a plan to start eating healthy. We've all lost a little bit of weight since coming to Florida just from being so active at work (something none of us former desk jockeys are used to) but then the late night meals started. When you get off work at eleven at night, it's easy to come home and sit around eating Taco Bell with your roommates. With two months left in our regular externship program, I think we'd all like to take advantage of the good influence we have on each other.

We went to our new favorite little grocery store and bought a ton of produce and chicken and ground turkey and started making plans to have better meals. When one of us is off, we'll cook for the others anyway so now we just have healthier options in the house so maybe that will encourage us to make good meals. And there is something pretty great about getting enough food to last all three of us a week (at the very least) and splitting the cost so in the end we each only spent about $26. Our last hurrah was stopping on the way there for breakfast at Einstein's for lox bagels and sugary coffee drinks.

So that's pretty exciting. I love eating a bunch of junk, but I really love eating great. You just feel better about yourself and your whole day. We've commandeered the bottom shelf in our fridge and are already planning meals.

Another new development in my life is that I've talked with my head Chef at Artist Point and am currently waiting to hear back from casting about extending my college program. This doesn't mean I'll be out here permanently, but it does mean that I'll be here for another three months. I'm not 100 percent sure it will be approved yet, but lets say I'm 99.99999 percent sure.

I love my job and I really like Florida. I miss my family and my friends and my Willow very much, but I really want to see where this road takes me and I don't think that can be discovered in only four months. If I extend my college program, that means that I'll be able to stay in college housing, which is really cheap, and see if it's just a fleeing 'OMG I LOVE IT HERE' kind of feeling or if this is where I really want to be. A couple of weeks ago, Chef Marco told me that they want me to extend at Artist Point, which was really the biggest reason I decided to stay for a little longer. It's such an ideal place to learn and I feel so very blessed to have ended up there for this part of my journey.

I'll keep you all posted.

The most exciting thing that has happened lately is that they've started cross training me. After two months on pantry, they put me on the fish station to shadow for like an hour a couple of weeks ago. Then, a few days later, they had me work fish station halfway through service until we closed. Last night when I showed up, Chef Matt (not to be confused with Chef Matthew) told me I'd be over there solo all night. He called it trial by fire. Surprisingly, I wasn't very nervous. Only four dishes come off that station and Melissa was next to me on the line and I adore her. She is one of those people that is so helpful and I know she likes me and really wants me to succeed.

To make a long story short, I had a great night. I had no idea what to do for prep, but got help and advice from people and the station was, luckily, in pretty good shape from the night before. We were slow, so it was a perfect night to start over there and I did very well. I didn't have any recooks or missed tickets and we got out of work on time (for like, the second time since I've been there). It's great to feel like they have a bit of faith in me even though I don't have any experience in this field. I know I still have so much room to grow, but I'm holding my own so far and that is worth every sore muscle and swollen joint and cut and injury I've gotten so far.

I really felt like calling in yesterday because I was so tired and I'm glad I didn't because I might have missed a chance to prove myself even further. I just hope they keep putting me over there now and then so I can get better and faster and learn even more. I watch middle a lot when I'm there and I'm learning how to make those dishes too so hopefully if they put me there eventually, it wont' be such a stark learning curve.

So things are great here. I am not looking forward to the beginning of November when my girls might all be leaving and I might be staying here alone. It'll be another test to see if I really do love it here or if I just love the whole experience of having Dijon and Alyssa and Chelsey to share it with. But at the end of the day, I'm having the time of my life and I'm happier than I can even put into words.

Oh! And mom and Aunt Pat are coming to visit me at the end of this month!!!! I'm so thrilled, I can't wait to see them. It will be fun to get to show off my restaurant to my family and get to hug my momma's neck. I can't wait.

And even if I do stay out here until February or so, I'll be home for my graduation from Le Cordon Bleu in January, so I'll be planning a night out. I'll keep you all posted, I would love to see everyone.

I'll end it there. I will post a recipe the next time I write, I had too much to update so I don't want to keep blabbering on now. I love you and I'll talk to you soon!

"I always cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food."- W.C. Fields

Happy eating!
Lauren

The happiest place on earth...

So here we are, a year and a half after I started culinary school. I had the best intentions with this blog, but some things just get the best of me. I'm sitting in my three bedroom apartment in Orlando with four of my five roommates milling around the living room and kitchen on our one week anniversary of being here.

Maybe calling Disney World the happiest place on earth is an exaggeration, but after being here and going to all the orientations I can handle and being schooled on everything Disney....I'm not sure that it is. I think I can speak for most of the women in my house when I say that we are so thrilled to be here. There is a reason families and people of all ages have been coming here for 40 years to escape and jump feet first into a world of fantasy. Even behind the scenes, it truly is magical. There's just something about this place that makes your heart skip a beat and your stomach do flips. The fact that I'm actually going to be a part of making that magic happen for other people almost brings me to tears at times.

Culinary school was an experience like no other. It wasn't always good, or pretty, or easy....but I learned a lot about myself, I became a much better cook and I met some of the most amazing people that I've ever known in my life. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have been able to finish this. I wouldn't have had the drive or the desire to do something so well. I am proud of myself, but almost more so because I realize that this is just the beginning. Even though my 'school' journey is just about finished, the rest of this little trip is just starting.

When Christina and I first arrived in Orlando, we decided to explore some local places that we don't have back home. Within three days we had some of the best English (fish & chips and Cornish Pasties), Thai (mmm, Pad Thai and Red Curry Chicken) and Greek (Gyros) that I've ever had. I'm talking mouth watering, smack your momma (though I would never smack mine), fall on the floor and cry good food. I know we can't go out to eat every night, but holy wow there are some amazing little hole in the wall joints down here in Florida. I can't wait to go back to Stage Door on a Sunday and have the English Sunday dinner. And the Vietnamese coffee we had at Viet Thai....I could have finished off a whole pot. There's definitely nothing like living in a house of culinary people who don't mind going into a place that looks a little seedy.

I am going to pick back up here. I think I'll start with posting a recipe tomorrow and pouring myself back into writing. Not having a TV in the apartment will leave me with little excuses.

I think I can thank my friend Jamie for this sudden desire to do all the things I've been wanting to do for so long. I met her when I was twenty-one, she was just half a year older than me. Over the last few years, we haven't been as close, but she was always my J-money and we had a very close bond. I found out after I got out of work today that she committed suicide last night. It breaks my heart in a way that words can't describe, but as I've gotten older I've really realized that you can't internalize things like this. Other people's behavior doesn't always make sense and it's pretty sure that most of us will never understand why people take their own lives. I love her and will miss her terribly, but losing her will only push me forward and remind me every day that this life is too short to take for granted and if I don't reach out and take everything that I want and work for it...I may never get it at all.

So here I am, starting a brand new career at thirty. I am surrounded by friends and family (and roommates) who love me and support me at every turn and I really couldn't be more grateful. Losing someone only makes me realize that more and makes me want to strive to be the very best I could possibly be.

The most wonderful part about all of this, to me, is a conversation Dina and I had when we were vacationing at Disney in 2007. We schemed and plotted and giggled about how we were going to quit our jobs and move to Florida so we could work at Disney World and never leave. What I thought was a silly pipe dream is here, and even if it only turns out to be four months....I can already imagine they will be four of the best months that I have ever had.

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity." -Volta

Eat happy,
Lauren

The Best Place to Start...

Good afternoon food lovers!

I have been talking about getting this blog/vlog/expression of my most passionate self for almost a year. After some of my trademark procrastination, I'm biting the bullet and starting here...at the beginning.

Welcome to The Happy Food Dance. A child that was born in my heart and moved quickly to my brain and slightly less quicly to my fingers. As a person who has been cooking almost my entire life, I don't think I ever appreciated that there were people in the world who could not navigate around a kitchen. This was most upsetting to me when a former co-worker asked me how to boil potatoes and when even another asked me what it meant to preheat an oven. In this outlet I hope to help you, the novice, become more comfortable with a whisk and sauce pan in your hands. And, as I've just started culinary school, maybe share some tips with a few of you more seasoned cooks. I'll even share some of my favorite recipes and will have some demos up as soon as I can.

Culinary school is more than I could have ever imagined. I have never, in my short 29 years, felt that I was in the right place at the right time. After almost 12 weeks of school, my stomach still turns flips every time I walk in the building. I find myself thinking 'I can't believe I'm really here, I'm really doing this' on an almost daily basis. Chasing a dream has been, and is, the most fullfilling thing I have ever done. It is like jumping off of a cliff...spreading my arms wide for a swan dive into absolute bliss. The first time I made my own bechamel I thought I would cry. Making hollandaise for my best friend's birthday that was better than any that we have had in any restaurant ever was the most fun I've had in a long time.

I've known that I was a talented cook for a long time. In saying that, I didn't know I could cook like this. I didn't know how happy I would be when I got my first callus from cutting so much. Who knew I would get a work out from making sauces from scratch?

After six years (or a lifetime, but who is counting) of doing something that I had no passion for, just taking this first step towards my future has made the difference between night and day. I look forward to walking myself through the next 20 months and I hope you join me.

On that note, time to put on my chef coat for the night.

"Happy and successful cooking doesn't only rely on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life." --Georges Blanc, Ma Cuisine des Saisons