The Best Thing My Mom Ever Made

Getting things done.

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:19:34 -0500

So far I’ve had two interviews- not as many as I would like to have gotten done by now, but I can’t complain considering my work load.

Alex Betts and Anna Pollom- I can’t thank you enough! Seriously, you guys have helped so much.

Next up is Caitlin, Hanna, and Sarah. Plus Jess and Annamarie wanted to give me some recipes too. I think I’m still waiting to hear from Milana, but she’s actually responded to me. No word from Annie or Dave, so I won’t push that too much.

When I finish creating Anna’s page, I’ll be at forty pages before adding in her recipes.

WRITING LIKE A BOSS.

On a side note, I’ve applied to a ton of internships and jobs at the Tribune Company lately. But… I just applied to work at Vosges last night. I’m freaking out with excitement! It sounds like the best job ever. Plus it just feels like where I’m supposed to go after school. I really hope it works out for the best. If anyone who reads this is into prayer, I’d appreciate you praying for me to get this job! Otherwise, just cross your fingers for me!

GETTING MY BOOK WRITTEN LIKE A BOSS.

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:35:37 -0500

I’m just getting the barebones of the outline done, but man it feels good to see this thing come together. I’m expecting to start interviews this week.

Back to work.

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:51:00 -0500

I’m finally back in school!!! Thank God. Disney was such a waste when it came to my academics. Regardless of all the interviews I collected, I didn’t receive recipes from anyone with the exception of Robert Bourjac. Thankfully, my friends back at school have tons and tons and tons of family recipes.

So! When I meet with my advisor on Wednesday, I will be getting ready to do the real final interviews and data collection. Meaning, I’m going to be writing like a boss the next few weeks.

I’m terrified but excited.

Definite interviews with recipes lined up and ready to go-

Anna Pollom

Caitlin Prim

Alex Betts

Hanna Coleman

Sarah Van Tassel

David Cameli

Annie Trincot, maybe the Trincot sisters?

Jess Schumacher

Annemarie Bustion

This is looking so much better already.

edit 1/16/12: added David Cameli to list of folks to interview. Can’t wait to catch up with him!!! Plus find out what all the fuss is about his family’s Thanksgiving dinner. He went on about it last year when we worked together.

another edit 1/16/12: added Annie Trincot to the list, thinking about interviewing her possibly with her siblings. How could I forget about Annie?! My oldest foodie friend, she and I have been cooking and baking together since fifth grade. All we ever do is talk about how we want to eat food. It’s awesome.

edit 1/22/12: added Jess Schumacher and Annemarie Bustion to the list. They both volunteered! Yay!

Time-out.

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:09:50 -0500

So I’ve decided to lighten up on interviews because I had a big realization-

This cookbook is about MY family.

As much as I’d like to interview all these kids and get all their family recipes, the basis of this cookbook came about because I felt so greatly influenced by my family’s own food. Hell, I could make the cookbook just about recipes from my family!

My concern is this- I’d really like to put in a lot of family recipes, from Mom, Dad, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles. I can’t just cut out all of the family recipes, there are too many.

When I’ve been interviewing folks, they only list off a few family recipes. I know that most people aren’t going to ramble on about food, but even when I’ve tried to bring out more food stories or recipes… nothing. Nada. That’s why I haven’t been posting interviews. There’s been nothing really strong enough to use for my book…

I need to take a step back and start from my origins. I can’t have most of the book be mostly my recipes and a few recipes here and there from other folks.

Another issue I’ve been having is that no one has given me any recipes. At all.

I’ll be updating more in the next few weeks.

Mom feeding me on my… first birthday? I think?

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:00:44 -0400

Mom feeding me on my… first birthday? I think?

A bit more of a personal post.

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:18:50 -0400

I’ve been doing my best with the project lately, considering the fact that I’m working 10 hour days at Epcot and I’m taking 12 credit hours. Yet it has still been slow progress. And even better, I have personal stresses distracting me from everything, as usual. One of my bigger distractions lately has been my career choice.

In senior year of high school, I finished all of my college applications before fall semester ended. I accepted my college of choice rather quickly, because I knew it was the right school for me, plus the financial aspects were pretty nice (I wouldn’t be graduating with as much debt as I would be with my other potential schools). I was sure that, even with not knowing what I wanted to major in, I would find something that would be the right fit for me.

Right before high school graduation, I received a card from the Culinary Institute of America. I had never heard of them before. And it sounded like something up my alley, getting into a food career. In my last two years of high school I definitely felt a calling to some kind of food career. But how on earth was I supposed to know what’s the right path for me?

It was too late to tell if I should have considered the CIA. I had already paid my fees to my current university and they were non-refundable. Besides, cooking school? Was that really what I wanted?

I went off to college and discovered I could design my own degree, even something like food journalism. It seemed fitting- writing is one of my better skills, and I loved to eat. Maybe I could become a food critic. And I had missed the thrill of journalism; after all, Linda Ellerbee was one of my idols growing up.

But every couple of months I’d have the same passing doubts. Should I have considered cooking school? After all, my university doesn’t offer any actual cooking courses, except for students in the health/nutrition majors. I couldn’t take any of them, nor did I really have interest in learning every food biology detail (science has never been my strong suit).

Here I am, in my senior year of college, trying to complete this senior project and still wondering if I made the right choice. I really don’t know how to feel about my academia coming to an end for a while…

Today I watched Cupcake Wars with my roommate and bonded over different cupcake flavors. I could make so many different things!!! Everyone loves cupcakes!!! If I opened my own cupcake shop, I could cater to college students and do late night cupcake deliveries!!!

I guess I’m just calling out into the emptiness of the Internet, wondering if I made the right choice. Or if I’m on the path to happiness at all.

Ah well. IF I had a cupcake shop, here are some flavor ideas I would have!

The PMS Cupcake- Chocolate cake, chocolate fudge frosting, chocolate sprinkles, and chocolate chips, and cherry or strawberry filling for irony.

The “I Need A Vacation Right Now” Cupcake- Pineapple cake, rum-infused vanilla buttercream frosting, toasted coconut and a cherry on top.

The Lily’s Birthday Cupcake- Vanilla cake, my mom’s strawberry-buttercream frosting, with frosting in the middle.

The James Cupcake- Chocolate cake, peanut butter frosting, crumbled Butterfinger pieces on top, a Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cup baked into the middle.

The Sweet’n’Sour Cupcake- Lemon cupcake, raspberry buttercream frosting, white chocolate shavings.

The Girls’ Night Cupcake aka the Caitlin Cupcake- A Nutella-based cake with peanut butter frosting, crumbled Oreos on top.

interview with lisa yost.

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:17:11 -0400

interview with lisa yost.

After my interview with Euan ended, he took me over to a corner...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:53:00 -0400

After my interview with Euan ended, he took me over to a corner of his gift shop and showed me the book corner. There happened to be the tiniest book of “Savory Scottish Recipes” ever. I took photos of a few of the recipes he mentioned. Sorry for the bluriness, my camera couldn’t focus in the poor fluorescent lighting.

interview with euan findlay.

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:09:44 -0400

interview with euan findlay.

So now I'm just getting sloppy.

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:01:47 -0400

I swear I’m going to get more interviews. I need to. I need plenty more before October 14… guys? Any help or volunteers?

It would be greatly appreciated… as opposed to me attempting to chase down potential interviewees at work with my camera like I have been the past week or two.

Mom's cranberry sauce could cure my cold!!!

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:50:00 -0400

Hey folks, sorry if the posts are a bit lacking the past few days and such. I’ve been fighting off the nastiest cold (maybe the flu?) which has made me want to rip out my lungs and sinuses and die a bit.

If only I had my mom’s cure-all cranberry sauce…

But I do have the recipe!!!

It’s really easy. Buy [n] bags of fresh cranberries from the store, depending on how much you feel like making. You can also freeze the sauce, and it keeps for a few months.

On the back of the bag, there should be a recipe for a simple cranberry sauce. All you should need is a cup of water and a cup of sugar. You’re going to follow the instructions, but substitute a cup of orange juice for the water. When doing this, you might want to cut back on the sugar by about 1/3 cup. If you want more sugar, you can add it in.

But that’s not all! Mom’s cranberry sauce has a secret ingredient- fresh ginger. Throw however much fresh ginger you want into the sauce when cooking it. I’ll have to double-check with Mom to see how much she usually puts in hers. Again, lots of variables going on here- how strong you want to make it, how strong the ginger is, etc.

I know this is a rough recipe, and there’s no photo, but you gotta give me a little credit for typing this up at 2 in the morning when I’m sick and have work early the next morning.

So nyahhh.

edit: I KNEW Mom would catch me on this one, it is her recipe after all. When you get your fresh ginger, it should be grated. You can use a food processor to get it grated just right.

interview with robert bourjac.

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:08:45 -0400

interview with robert bourjac.

interview with riyad sanford.

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:48:11 -0400

interview with riyad sanford.

interview with james estes.

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:40:13 -0400

interview with james estes.

list of people to interview.

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 02:07:00 -0400

~~Myself.~~
~~James Estes.~~
~~Abby Boudreaux.~~
Tad Kincade.
~~Abbi Armstrong.~~
Griffen Davis. Maybe.
Catherine Shehan.
Tanuj Bhambri.
Jaz Johnson.
Nathan Wells.
Anna Pollom.
Ivan Reyes.
Annie Trincot.
Dave Cameli.
~~Lisa Yost.~~
~~Riyad Sanford (if I can interview him before he moves back to Paris…).~~
Hana Horton.
Robbie Baxley.
Jenny Wade.
Randall Burns.
Meghan Hutsell.
Josh Warren.
Caitlin Prim.
Erik Petersen.
Jessica Keehn.
Alex Lahmeyer.
~~Rayme McKelvey.~~
~~Robert Bourjac.~~
Abigail Wilcome.
~~Euan Findlay.~~
Erika Noth.
Sheena Long.
Amanda Brunson.
Amanda Heywood.
Molly Mitchell.
Brandi Alexis.
Angelique Reyes.
Anthony D’Alessandro.
Danielle Iozzo.
Hillary Shurtleff.
Farrell Paules.
Jessie Gutgsell

that’s just the list for now. This is still a very rough list. NEED MORE MEN.

self-interview. sort of.

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:50:57 -0400

self-interview. sort of.

Mom and me in Whiting. This is not food related, but I do not...

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:03:23 -0400

Mom and me in Whiting. This is not food related, but I do not care. I love this photo.

I should probably explain a bit more.

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:21:00 -0400

I’m going to interview anyone and everyone who will let me interview them. But for the time being I’m focusing on 20-somethings, college students, and the like. This is mostly because I was told to keep a frame for interviewees (I need to say I’m interviewing a specific group for the project I’m getting graded on).

Part of this project. is to go into family history. Part of this project is to honor families and traditions. Part of this project is to remind folks why these foods and traditions are so important.

I have no intention of publishing ANY works from my project while affiliated with my university. AT ALL. I had the idea for the project long before I went to college.

Ideally, I really would like to interview every single person on the planet. No joke. Everyone has a favorite memory or funny story to tell involving food somehow.

Sometimes they don’t. But sometimes those memories are really important, and you need to hang onto that memory because it can come to define who you are.

Food is necessary to survive; what we make of it and how we create it is a beautiful combination of science and art.

If you'd like to ask a question...

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:21:01 -0400

If you'd like to ask a question...:

ask it here!!! I will answer any and all things that can be related back to my project.

WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:16:08 -0400

hmmmm. I’d love to visit everywhere, to be quite honest. But I’m dying to go to Paris. Mom promised me to take me there when I was young. We still haven’t gone yet. I’m hoping we can go one day.