It has been exactly two weeks since my last blog entry. I know, I know it is pretty inexcusable. I am not really going to try to catch up.... but I will summarize.
Wednesday night I cooked approximately 100 eggs. Not kidding.
Thursday morning, October 27, I woke up to find that I was locked out of my work computer. For two weeks I had been receiving reminders to change my password, but I kept pushing it off and then I forgot. And I got locked out. Lucky for me I have two other computers - one desktop and one of those little notebooks. I turned on my desktop and couldn't access the internet, so I used my little notebook until my password was reset.
Thursday night I had some much needed non-school, non-work related activity - I went on a tour of the Food and Wine Test Kitchen that was organized by school, then to dinner with a friend and her sweet little girl, and then, with a couple of glasses of wine in me, went to yoga. Michael was in Boston for a meeting and I would join him on the weekend for his law school reunion.
Friday morning I woke up and my desktop computer gave me the blue screen of death. This is problematic and very upsetting as this is the computer that has all of my photos and that I upload photos to. In fact, at that time it was my only way of uploading photos. Now, after two weeks of having no time to take care of essentials, I have a memory card full of photos and no way to transfer them to my computer.
So Friday I also find out that I need to be in Washington, DC for a big work meeting on Wednesday, which means I will not be able to attend class and my perfect attendance award is going down the tubes. On Monday I had brought home a chicken to practice dressing and quartering (part of the Level 2 practical), so I thought to make it for lunch on Friday. I got the chicken quartered, browned, and into the oven and then got pulled into meetings and that chicken sat on the kitchen counter until I left for class, and even after I went to class. Friday evening we start desserts with cremes. I used to love dessert. I used to be good at dessert. Culinary school has taught me I need far more practice that I thought possible, and certainly more than I have time for these days.
I set my alarm for 5:30 AM to give myself time to clean up the kitchen and pack before the 7 o'clock Amtrak to Boston. I roll over. It is 6:27. If it had been 6:35 I would have given up and not gone. But give up with 33 minutes to wake up, pack, and get to Penn Station? No way! So, in my pajamas, I pull the suitcase off the top shelf, throw in anything lying around, and run out the door at 6:35. And I mean RUN. I am sweating by the time I reach York and hail a cab. I hold my breath until I reach Penn Station, pay the cabbie, and continue my run down the escalator (I am thankful I didn't do a nose dive), from 7th to 8th Avenue underground, to the ticket kiosk. The kiosk will NOT print my ticket. It is 6:55. They are going to close the doors of the train and the train is going to leave with out me. I bolt over to Customer Service and attempt to cut the line by ducking the red (metal) velvet rope. The rope catches my backpack and the whole thing falls over on me. But do I stop? No. I get my ticket and get on the train as it is pulling out of the station.
Still sweating 30 minutes later, I open my suitcase to see what I packed and what I might be able to work with for the evening. The clothing selection is OK, but I do not have any toiletries. Lucky for me, the wonderful Westin hotel gives them for free and delivers them to your room! Within five minutes of calling the front desk to inquire the price, and finding out there was no price, a nice man delivered a whole bag of goodies (including nail polish remover!) to my room. Thank you Westin. You have a new, very loyal customer.
Sunday night we return home to a very smelly kitchen, because Friday's chicken lunch and all of the dishes used to cook the chicken are still sitting on the counter.
So Monday flies by, Tuesday I head to Washington to prepare for Wednesday. I stayed Tuesday night in the Sheraton there, which was quite unpleasant and lonely, but getting to bed at 8:45 PM was a beautiful thing and I was totally refreshed and ready for a work out on Wednesday morning. The meeting went well, but facilitating for 8 hours was pretty exhausting, so at 4:30 my team went for a glass of wine in our office lobby. Then I caught the Amtrak back to New York.
On Thursday I finally saw Michael again.
Friday I was refreshed. A day off actually did me good, I thought. It was a great day of delicious quiche and tarts that made up my and Michael's breakfast and dessert for the weekend, and made the doormen very happy. Saturday and Sunday were full of errands, but we did manage to have some fun on Sunday. We started the day with pastries (only one each since we are both on diets) and then drove out to Connecticut. We went wine tasting on a Travelzoo Local coupon I purchased for White Silo Farm and Winery. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time tasting White Silo's wines. They make very interesting, very good wines from fruits and vegetables, believe it or not! The rhubarb and rhubarb semi sweet are my favorite. We had a nice walk through the farm fields, a picnic lunch in the winery, and then went driving through Connecticut.
We discovered some really delicious chocolatier in Kent, CT. Belgique. Absolutely worth a stop, or maybe even a trip. Priced at $65 per pound, you better not show up hungry.
We also found a possible location for Whit's End. The beautiful Chapel Hill at Blueberry Farm... at the base of the Connecticut Wine Trail. We are always finding "possible locations", but this one is special. So special. And so beautiful. sigh.
Then Monday. More pastries. Two awful genoise cakes - on the first I used AP flour instead of cake flour and the whole thing deflated and was like a brick, on the second I didn't butter the pan sufficiently and the cake would not come out. Even after using a knife around the edge (a pretty big no-no), it would not come out. I pulled it. Still stuck! Finally, piece by piece the cake came out. I had to rebuild it. Then? Lumpy pastry cream. Finally, and I think this is going to come back to bite me today, broken puff pastry.
I have got to get it together. I have to reset my "clocks" - my everything!
So today I woke up before 8 AM. Sounds late, for most people, I know. But I am one of those people that needs at least 8 or 8.5 hours of sleep... actually, maybe I need 10. Either way, I got up. I went for a 5 mile run in Central Park. I observed that the trees have finally begun to change color here in New York. The lake looked so beautiful reflecting red and orange leaves in the early morning sun. It is going to be another beautiful day. I can already tell. And I am a new woman. Well not new, actually old. But I am getting back to a place where I will run my life. My life will not run me....
Well, not until I start cramming for the Level 2 Exam, Practical, and ServSafe Exam... next week.
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