In time of need...

The smell of a slow baking home made chicken pot pie is intoxicating. This isn't the pot pie I made so can't take the credit for it, but as it goes most chicken pot pies look alike. Something about taking the time to make it is so rewarding, the effort you knead into the crust, the cutting for the filling, and the time to bake it. I wouldn't trade that for take out any day. I love spending the time in the kitchen, creating something out of very little, who would think that flour water and lard could create such a carrier for many flavours. With leftover pastry dough, I couldn't just stop there. I had to create a delicate dessert. I made baked apples smothered in cinnamon and sugar, encased in the pastry dough. The smells fuming from the kitchen right now are so aromatic, it's such a test to stay patiently waiting for a late arriving dinner. It will be oh so worth it though.
My title is, In time of Need.. well in our lives right now we don't have a lot, in fact we have very little, right now all we Need is each other. Keith and I have each other, and right now that's all we need and want. So the smell of homemade chicken pot pie is something that can make us forget all about life, and just focus on the simplicity of life and what we can make it be.

Lack of...

I think that this picture best describes our life's situations right now. The world makes it so hard for those to succeed. All is well until things start unravelling. Now i know that computers and TVs are an essential part of living, however, they do add to life's pleasures. So with that said, recently our old computer crashed, and we were unable to fix it, and unfortunately, you can't make it to far without one nowadays, so we had to bite the bullet and get one. So that set us back a little bit, another thing is our TV, one day it decided to quit, which in the first place was free, but our computer and our TV went relatively at the same time, so I'd come home to a empty house. Now we have purchased both of those things, and of course we went for lower prices. At the beginning of our marriage we were given a couch to borrow, fully knowing that we'd need to give it back. So we are very grateful for the couch for this time being. It allowed for many movie nights, cuddles, dinner in front of the TV and so on. We have just been informed that we need to give back the couch, it could not have come at a worse time. With very short notice, and not a lot of money the stress begins to find one with our budget, with the way it looks, we might be sitting on the floor soon. I'm not saying that we Need a couch, but don't we deserve that relaxation, those memorable times. So we're back to the waiting, waiting for school, waiting for jobs, waiting for that day when the last worry on our mind is money. We have done quite well on a very low income, but that with many thanks to both sets of parents, and God. Someone when we thought we were at the end of it all, God provided.

Dreaming

Okay so I have to admit that these are not the outcome of my cooking. I wish that I could take full credit for them, however, I cannot. I do hope that by the end of my culinary experience, these masterpieces will be a piece of cake. I know I'm fully capable of creating something like this, but I need teaching. My heart yearns to be in this program, I think I'd feel devastated if I weren't to get in.

I wish I had some more photos to show you, but, recently we have lost our camera charger. It feels impossible to find it, we have called all the places we think we lost it, but every time news is negative, we've turned our house upside down looking, but cannot find anything. So just praying that it shows up.

Last night, a simple Saturday night i decided to do an extravagant meal for Keith and I, and it was delicious. Bacon, broccoli risotto, with roasted chicken and a mushroom cream sauce to top. It was satisfying to make it, but also to eat it.

I have dreamed for the last few years of travelling to Italy. I have much to learn from the Italian way of cooking, and think that seeing Italy first hand, and experiencing and taking it all in would be a treat. I feel when I'm making fancy meals that it takes me away to places like Italy, or France,though I've never been to Europe I feel that the food is simple and delicious. As if they really embrace the freshness, the simplicity, and turn it into edible masterpieces.

Waiting.....

I feel a bit discouraged lately. I try to be positive but life weighs you down. Currently I'm waiting on hearing about cooking school. Now, I'm very qualified to get into the school, and I know I would be okay without it, but it doesn't make me want to be there any less. When we're not waiting on anything, time slips by, but, when we're waiting, the clock agonizingly ticks slowly by. We want it so badly, that we're loosing focus on the rest of our life, our minds aren't working as they should. Another thing that I'm waiting on, actually I should say, "We're" waiting on, is a job for Keith. Everyone asks either him and I if he's got a job, and we wish we could say yes but we can't. This doesn't mean that while I go off to work that Keith sits at home and does nothing, most of the days I come home to a very clean house, and a welcoming husband. My favourite part of the day is the hug that I receive when I walk through the door smelling of old lunch food. He looks for work every single day, multiple places in a day, and nothing. This is extremely frustrating for him, and for me. I am not mad at him, I'm mad at the situation. Keith is very qualified, and like everyone else, he too can start somewhere and go somewhere huge with his job. I don't just have to butter him up because he's my husband, but he is an amazing guy that would do awesome and any job put in front of him. Waiting.... is very hard, it's not easy, but I guess in the end it's what we all have to do.

Blogger challenged

So I can't figure out how to put a folder of photos on here to continuously add to, so I've decided to make a folder purposely for photos of food onto Facebook. I will update it as much as I can. I only have the names of the food I've made, but I think I would like to start writing down what I've made, so that I could possibly almost have my own cook book. Who knows how far that would go, maybe I could aspire to have a cookbook that goes public, or just a simple cookbook for my own, and possible friends and family to look at.

Waiting Game

So as I mentioned in my last blog, I am planning on going to culinary school. Today I finally gave them my application, and now it's just the waiting game. I don't think I have to wait too long, the school would start second week of February. I am currently the first one on the waiting list, so unfortunately, me getting in would mean someone would have to drop out, or be unable to attend for other reasons, I don't wish that for anyone, but yet I can't help but feel that I'm a shoe in. Anyways, I don't need to get my hopes up, all I can do is stay positive. However I'm overwhelmed with this new sense of freedom. It was as if the year 2010 hit, and I woke up. I'm filled with joy, and excitement of what possibilities I can achieve, and that all it takes is for me to just do it. This is something I should have done a long time ago, but now i get to do it and really appreciate and take it in.

New Year Resolutions

There's no easy way to jump into blogging. So here it goes. It's 2010, and what have I done with my life since graduating in '04. I've worked, travelled, met amazing people, most importantly I met the man of my life. My husband, going strong just over a year and half. Marriage in itself is a whole new world, but it's amazing being married to someone who makes it that way.

As a new year comes so does new year resolutions. I decided that this year I wouldn't make a goal I couldn't keep, or a goal that wouldn't push me. Instead I decided that I'm going to make new years goals hourly, daily, weekly, monthly. For instance, I right now am in the midst of applying to cooking school. I have put off going to cooking school for years, and for irrelevant reasons. I love cooking, I have a passion for cooking. Cooking is the one place I can lose myself. Even mistakes are tasty, where else can that be true. Making a mistake on a test, fatal, making mistakes in sports, those aren't so sweet to swallow. So to reach my first new years goal, I'm labelling it, Potential. I definitely am not reaching all of what I could be. Without cooking school there's only so far I can develop this love, so that's the next step I need to take. I have the support of family, friends, and most of all my Husband Keith. He also benefits from my tasty creations so he is more than in support of.
So my blog might seem like it's a copycat of the newly released movie, " Julie & Julia". I have to admit I'm a little jealous that I didn't think of doing something like this before hand. While watching the movie, I could reason with Julie, how she felt the sense of satisfaction after a successful meal, or her freak outs about minor things, after all we are allowed to have those moments, as long as they don't control us.
I'm not going through Julia Child's book, but instead I'm cooking my way through Jamie Oliver's new cook book called, " Jamie's Food Revolution". I'm not quite as devoted as Julie, however I do plan to cook my way through as many recipes as I can, with no deadline. I have watched Jamie Oliver for years on TV. At first, this love for Jamie Oliver's cooking was probably more so because I had a crush on him. Of course, now I do in fact love his cooking, and my husband loves to bug me about him when I get to see him on TV. My husband also feeds my crush by giving me Jamie Oliver's cookbooks for Christmas, whats a girl to do? So I hope that as you follow my blog that I can inspire you in some way.