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I spent one of my weeks in New England with my friends Amanda and Art from UConn. It was great to spend some one on one time together before the wedding pulls me in a million directions. I have come to the conclusion that Amanda is NOT human. She was in labor for, oh, about an hour and a half and by the time she thought some drugs would help-it was already too late-the baby was on her way out.
All 7lbs and 4oz of Miss Amelia is the cutest, most well-mannered baby I have ever met (not counting her explosive farts and untimely poop schedule). I’m not saying that because I’m biased. I’ve babysat for tons of brats and this little fragile doll is pink and calm and reminded me to slow down for a little bit. I’m sure most of her attitude is because her parents are calm around her and provide a secure environment, even if dogs and cats sniff her and chase each other around the house. I felt a quite maternal spending so much time with Amelia. Not right now, but one day, I have been inspired that having my own little parasite could be a lot of fun.
Welcome to the world, Amelia Grace.

I spent my internship for culinary school at Candle Cafe and Candle79, both vegan restaurants in NYC’s upper East Side (note: $$$). I like to think that I’m an organized person-I called ahead, set dates and times, mailed in my externship paperwork to the sous chef…..yet when I arrived, dressed in my dorky culinary hat, he had no recollection of me even coming in. So begins the hectic week that is restaurant kitchen life. There was no room for me in the high-end kitchen, so I had to walk a few blocks to the “cafe” (still $15 entrees…) and I worked among 8 men from mexico, all related to each other (for real). Most of them didn’t speak english so I definitely got to improve my Spanish skills. I made some dressings and components of meals, but definitely felt like an outcast. The rest of the week I was in the high-end restaurant, where everyone was much friendlier and not related (still 99% mexican, which is interesting to me-not in a bad way, I had a lot of fun working in the kitchen—but TV makes you believe it’s all white older guys behind the scenes. From the dishwasher up to the sous chef, todos son de mexico) There was one girl who worked there and another girl doing an internship from the Natty Gourmet School which only costs about 4x as much as my school does—I met someone who had graduated from there and was working part-time at Candle, but was quitting to work in an office to pay off her loans from the school….something’s wrong when the school you go to costs more per year than you could even hope to make in your field. Anyways, in the fancy restaurant, the kitchen was bustling and they gave me projects and things to make. I got to use the gigantic industrial equipment and taste test a LOT. (the food is freakin’ delicioso pero muy caro).
I have learned that I do not like the fast pace of the restaurant industry (already known).
I want to put love into the food and appreciate the steps along the way, not just push it out on time—this experience reinforced that. I didn’t lose my love of food or cooking, but I do know that I want to have a more direct connection to the consumer.
Perhaps scratch cooking classes? Harvesting and making preserves….cheeses…we’ll see.

I have returned from my journeys afar and have returned a married woman! There are too many stories to tell, as usual. I’ll separate my trip into weekly entries and try to keep it simple for the a.d.d. population. I arrived in NYC a few weeks ago to a lovely indian summer. I stayed at Marc’s fabulous digs in Astoria and we somehow made gourmet delicious dinners most of my time there. We took a foraging field trip with Steve Brill who is quite kooky but knows his wild edibles. Marc was very adventurous and pulled out a few young sassafrass saplings to make some homemade Root Beer (end result–delicous!) We collected a number of items: oxalis for salads, spiceberries supposedly for smoothies (which was not made) and a ton of mushrooms! We gathered giant puffballs (which became puffball parmesan), honey mushrooms which were sauteed with butter and garlic, and inky cap mushrooms with which I made a gravy of sorts out of and we poured that over Quorn nuggets and rice. Marc was very scared of the wild mushrooms and it made me doubt myself for a bit–but we both took the plunge and ate up and it was delicious. I need to join the Myco society and learn more about mushroom i.d. It’s very satisfying and joyous to find something growing in it’s natural habitat and then EAT IT. Plus, it’s free. And it’s fresh. And it’s local. ‘Nuff said.

Matt and I spent last weekend backpacking on the Pacific coast. Since the weather is very unpredictable, we packed for rain and we got clouds and occasional sun instead. I couldn’t have asked for better weather (although a part of me wanted hot and sunny so I could jump into the ocean) We hiked to Cape Alava late Friday night, where I learned that my headlamp needed batteries a bit too late. Luckily the trail is basically a boardwalk through a marsh the whole way and Matt bought a headlamp that day (his favorite one is mia). So we got to the coast and couldn’t find a campsite except the one directly across from the pit toilet…very smelly. So we quietly set up camp near some guy’s tent, hid the food in the bear lock box, and fell asleep. Poor Matt was cold the whole night–I attributed it to his 50 degree bag and my well-ventilated tent. The next morning we discovered it was because his pillow was comprised of the bite-valve for the Platypus. He was sleeping in a few inches of water.
But no worries, we broke camp around 7am, I found some campers on their way out and we got a very nice campsite all to ourselves, complete with perfect tree to hang best hammock in the world. But we weren’t alone; an island just off the coast was the party zone for the local seals and they barked all day and all night!
Saturday we hiked along the coast, explored some tide pools, waded in the water, and took a nap in our hammock, at another perfect hammock spot. Our Treehugger hammock is the best purchase I have made in years. It fits both Matt and I comfortably and is only 19 ounces. We had to wait out the tide to cross Ozette River, it was about 5 feet deep at medium tide. Waiting wasn’t boring, since we made friends with a cud-chewing deer and a sandpiper who had no fear of predators. We just sat and watched them do their thing until the tide went out. You definitely can’t hike as far as you think you can when it’s rocky and the tide controls YOU.
Sunday we hiked south on the coast to Wedding Rocks, which included over40 petroglyphs such as whales, faces, and lots of fertility symbols carved into the rocks. After that, we hiked back to camp, packed our packs and hiked out. I’ve always wanted to camp out there, and it was beautiful, rugged, and remote. Now I want to do a traverse from Shishi Beach south down to Rialto Beach, where Matt and I got engaged. For that, we will need more than 2.5 days.

My block is 20x20x5″, about 75 pounds. I get one day out of summer quarter to play with ice. (and it was the best day besides farm days–summer school has been very demanding. Planning the wedding will be cake..) My teacher, Keijiro Miyata, ranked 2nd in the WORLD for ice carving, is one of my instructors this summer. He is very humble and seems to have patience for our ice carvings. That amazes me because it must be such a waste of ice to him for us to carve butterflies and flowers and guitars. My carving was going to be a penguin, but two people this quarter already did penguins and I wanted something different. I carved two lovebirds sitting on a branch today and it was not as hard as I thought. The ice was softer than I imagined and I was able to get a rough sketch quite easily. The hardest part was making these birds three dimensional. Their heads were blocky but I only had so much time before the ice melted too much. I will do some finishing touches in the morning and get a picture to post. But for now, enjoy one of the sculptures my teacher has done.