Cereal Tastes Better Here

See the title of the post? It's a true story. Today I got a box of Raisin Bran Crunch, which I've had before only because the store was out of my favorite cereal, Special K with Red Berries. Before, I thought it was just ok. I could eat it because I was hungry, but I never craved it. This box, however, was ridiculously delicious. I'm not even joking. It even made the milk taste amazing to the point that I actually drank the residual milk in the bowl. I'm not usually that person. You know, the person who drinks the cereal milk. But today, for the first time ever, I was that person.

Is it because I'm in New York? Is it because of the DuaneReade store I got it from?Is it because of the milk? Is it because I'm sitting in my cousin's fantastic apartment in Chelsea lounging on a comfortable couch and watching TV on a monster sized screen? Maybe I was just super hungry. Whatever the reason, it was truly an enjoyable bowl of cereal.

Thank you New York, and thank you Raisin Bran Crunch.


....also, thanks dad for buying it for me!

Read more...

NYC

So, I'm moving to New York tomorrow. Crazy, right? But I have a wicked awesome internship for the summer with the Food Network, and I'm kinda excited about it. Tomorrow I'll be going to my cousin's apartment in Brooklyn to stay for my first week, and then I'm moving into a sublet for the rest of the internship. Why should you care? Well, because I'll probably encounter some crazy/frustrating/awesome stuff this summer, and you'll want me to write about it. So I will. Also, chances are that if you're reading this blog then you're probably a friend or family member and therefore find my life to be fascinating.

I'll admit, I've been remiss in updating this blog, and I've barely updated Cheesy Rice due to finals and moving, but I imagine I will be writing more often to document my epic summer in a new city. How epic will it be? Well, first of all my internship is with the Food Network. Seriously, it's going to be amazing. Also, it's NYC. Duh. I'm planning on doing many cool activities (I already have tickets to see The Daily Show!).

Get ready, this blog is about to explode with interesting!

Read more...

Smart Worker vs. Hard Worker

I've had this discussion with friends before, and I was recently thinking about it this week due to some things one of my professors said. He's mentioned, several times now, that he would hire a D average student who is a very hard worker and struggles to get that D grade before he would hire someone who is an A student, who doesn't have to try quite as hard. So he would pick someone who works hard at not succeeding over someone who is naturally good at whatever it is they're trying to accomplish? It both makes sense, and is also incredibly mind-boggling.

What many people don't take into consideration when pondering this dilemma is that people are different. Sometimes a person will struggle to accomplish a task that someone else finds to be simple. Does that make them better or worse? It depends on the attitude of both people. I have friends who are insane when it comes to studying, and will completely freak out for a test and study for a crazy amount of hours and then end up getting a decent grade. These people do work hard and if that ethic is applied to their jobs then they would be good employees. Once they get the hang of things, they can be counted on to continue doing good work.

However, I also know people who say they stayed up studying all night, and worked so hard, and why oh why did they still get such a bad grade! It's because they're frequently lying. Yes, they might have had their books out near them all night, but chances are they procrastinated like hell and would get distracted by Facebook or Cracked.com. These would be the people who come home after work and talk about how stressful their job is and why does it seem like nothing ever gets done, but really they just don't like doing work and really like complaining.

Then there are the naturally talented people. Let's first look at the ones who may not have to work as hard as other people, but do still work. The people who can review for a quiz a few minutes before class and get at least a 90. Does this mean that these people are slackers? Umm...no. If they don't need to stay up studying all night, then why the hell should they? And just because they are good at something doesn't mean when it gets time to enter the work force they're going to be lazy. They can still work hard, do a good job, and take pride in their work. They can still be the employee that shows up early for work, and doesn't mess around while there.

But they can very easily be the person who knows that they're good at what they do, and assumes everyone else is an idiot. These people tend to think most jobs are a joke. They'll show up late, play around online, and try to leave early. They're obviously intelligent people, but they can still be idiotic at being a good worker.

And of course, let's not forget all of the degrees of personality in between these examples, as well as not forgetting the B and C students.

So where does this all leave me in the great debate? Well, I'm not one to just pick a side because there are always variables to consider. If I were an employer, I would just have to trust my instinct. I wouldn't choose the D student over the A student, or vice versa. I would pick whichever one I thought best exemplifies the position and has the better attitude and resume. I just think definitive statements such as the ones my professor made are too harsh. Why not give the A student a chance too? They might be an amazing worker, who conveniently won't need as much training.

Read more...

Want to see a real bat for Halloween? I don't.

It's been awhile. I know. Sorry, but I've been too busy trying to maintain my actual blog, the one that matters to me, and also going to school and all that jazz. There was an incident this week, however, that must be shared.

I was sitting at my computer on night, dutifully going through a lesson for my online class, when I see a large shadow zoom across my wall. I thought "stupid fly." Then I stopped and thought, "wait, flies aren't the big..." I then preceded to look up, and sure enough there was a bat flying circles above my head. I did the responsible and mature thing: screamed and ran upstairs to get my roommates.

The three of us slowly walked down the stairs, and luckily we could see into my study from the stairs and see the bat still flying in circles. We closed the bathroom door, and tried to close my bedroom door even though it doesn't close from the outside, opened the windows, then looked into my study again. It wasn't there. My very brave roommate thought to check my window. She moved the curtain aside, and sure enough he was curled up on the side of the window, refusing to move. She tried to capture him in a Tupperware container, at which point he freaked out and started flying again and we all screamed and ran to the stairs.

New plan. We decided he was somehow attracted to the light, since it was the light in my room he was flying around. With the windows in the kitchen wide open we turned the light off in my study and on in the kitchen, then stood in the stairwell to wait. After a few minutes the bat finally flew out of my study and into the kitchen, unfortunately it looked like he was flying at us in the stairs and we all ran to the third floor and locked ourselves in one of the rooms there. We waited 10 minutes then went back downstairs. The bat was not in the study. The bat was not in the kitchen or living room. We thought the bat had left. We breathed a sigh of relief.

We went about our evenings. I went into my bedroom to get changed into my pajamas, and while I was there I decided it would be a good idea to check my windows just in case. Window over my bed: no bat. Window by my closet: bat. I of course fetched the roommates. The bat was in the upper corner of the window, and refusing to move, so my brave roommate was able to open the window. Her plan was to then nudge the bat through the curtain with a mop handle, hoping he would freak out, get stuck in the curtain, and fly out the window as the only available exit.

He freaked out and escaped the curtain. We ran out of the room and pulled my door shut. At this point it's been a couple hours, and tired, scared, and fed up my roommate called the guy who used to live downstairs. He came over with a friend and they bravely went into the room. After a few minutes they came back out saying they did not see the bat. They checked over every corner and nook possible, and there was nothing. We're hoping he finally figured out the window was open and flew outside.

That night I slept very uneasily. I had to turn my fan on for white noise, since every little sound was freaking me out. I turned on my desk lamp because I was afraid I would wake up in the dark to the sound of something flapping over my head and not be able to see it. The next morning I went to class and ended up leaving early (my teacher totally understood) and went home to relax before my evening class. When I got home from my evening class, it was to see both my study and bedroom door shut. Uh oh. I went upstairs to ask my roommates, and sure enough the bat was spotted. She assured me that it was gone, and I went to my study and locked myself in for the night.

The next day there was no sighting. The next night, however, holy crap. One of my roommates and I got home at the same time. We walked into the house and she went to turn on the light. She shrieked and ran back outside the door, and I saw the bat was flying around in the kitchen. I had, thankfully, shut my doors before I left earlier. My other roommate was upstairs so we yelled to her about the bat, and she came down to be panicked with us.

We called animal control, pest control, police non-emergency, but they were all useless. Apparently they only respond to calls about bats if there is a child or elderly person in the house. How useless is that? They did give us the advice to open all of the windows, turn the lights off, and stay inside our rooms with the doors shut based on the theory that the bat was probably hiding because we scared it. So that's what we did. We haven't seen the bat since, and it's been two days. Our landlord called a professional bat-man, who is coming over this afternoon to check the place out.I'm hoping I'll soon be able to sleep without my desk lamp on (I really should get a night-light).

The point of the story? I don't care if the bat is a fitting theme due to it being Halloween weekend. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Flying things are creepy. I look forward to being able to laugh about this in the future.

Read more...

Julie & Julia, and how much I hate Julie

Ever since people found out about my decision to go to culinary school I have heard many of the same comments. "Oh you're going to be like that Rachel Ray person!" "So you want to be on that hell show with that guy in the kitchen?" or "Ah yes, many people were inspired by 'Julie & Julia'."

There are many problems with the conclusions people come to. Just because I enjoy cooking does not mean I want anything to do with any specific celebrity, or that I was inspired by any specific TV show or movie. Why don't you just ask me what inspired this decision? It's simple, I enjoy cooking and I wanted a career doing something I enjoy, so I decided to try my hand at being a chef. I just happen to also really like Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, and Nigella Lawson.

The major complaint is with 'Julie & Julia.' I finally saw it. Just finished watching it not 20 minutes ago. Everyone told me I would like it, or has assumed I was inspired by it, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It is an entertaining concept. It was annoying that everyone in the world assumed that I had already seen it just because it's about cooking, and that it inspired me to go to culinary school. No people, I am not a sheep. I made the decision a while ago, it just took me a while to get started.

The thing is, the main character, Julie, annoyed the crap out of me. Not Julia Child, I love her, but Julie. She sucks. Regardless of what people may think about cooking enthusiasts, we do not instantly love everyone else who shares this same interest. I'm sure many people dislike me. I am somewhat off-putting and bitchy. But really? Julie? She just plain sucks! Let's examine, shall we?

Before I really get going, let me start with the fact that she had never eaten an egg. I know, I know, we're suppose to think "How interesting and zany she is!" instead of "What a crazy loser! What the hell is her problem?" I can't help the way I think. Can you guess which one was my initial thought? Now let's get started for real:

Her life is miserable and she hangs out with people she hates but claims are still her friends and orders food she doesn't want in order to fit in with said hated non-friends. She is wildly unsuccessful, but the way the restaurant scene is filmed it is clear that we are suppose to sympathize with her and think her successful friends are vapid and selfish. I attribute this attempt to the economic shit-show that's going on that makes it necessary to make wealthy rich people who work hard look like the bad guys. And the article her friend published with her in it? Is the journalist suppose to be evil too because she interviewed someone and wrote the truth to bring out the point of her story? That's what journalists do! Trust me! I know many journalists, and I used to be a journalism major. Get over it, it happened. Maybe she should have asked more questions about the article before agreeing to be in it.

She is clearly bad at her job and hates it. It seems as though throughout the course of the day all she does is let people down because she has no power to do anything at all. If she manages to even remotely assist one person she feels as though the day was a success. And we're led to believe that her job is stressful because she's suppose to be a kind and caring person who wants only the power to help people...and yet does nothing. She just puts people on hold unless it's someone she knows and will then chat with them for a bit. Because, you know, a food blog is way more important than helping people who are suffering. It's all ok though, because there was that one scene where she gave her boss a weak, kittenish glare until he gave her the name of someone else who won't want to help. If she really wanted to help people then there are plenty of other non-profit places she could work at besides a shitty call-center.

Her cooking ethic is atrocious. I fail to see how one can fall asleep while cooking a potentially life-changing dinner in the oven for the most important person they will, to that date, meet. It only cooks for two and a half hours. That isn't that long at all. Why would you even need to make that the day before? And how could you possibly not stay awake? Oh of course, it's because she made the wise decision to pass the time by sitting in a silent, dark room while curled up on the couch with a blanket. Yea, no chance of falling asleep there. How can this possibly be fixed? Duh! Have a freak-out, skip work while pretending to be sick, sit around all day, and then finally getting around to remaking it. Because god forbid you just ask to leave work early. But no, this needed to happen so we can have the scene with the boss reprimanding her as she ignores him and walks out of the office while he's still talking. Her life is really hard, you know? And clearly her boss just doesn't understand and is therefore the bad guy trying to prevent any chance of her achieving happiness.

I won't even touch on the scene where she is stuffing a chicken and it slips on the floor and she precedes to throw it on the counter blindly, roll around on the raw chicken covered floor while crying like a small child, and then answering the phone with her salmonella coated grubby hands. Nope, I won't say a thing about it!

Then, after all of this and my wondering if I'm the only one who finds everything about this woman obnoxious, there's the scene where some person tells her that they heard that Julia Child doesn't like little Julie. Of course her husband insists that Julia is crazy, and the pretend Julia to whom Julie talks to is definitely cooler and way more chill. Clearly that's the problem in this situation. Julia Child is now the bad guy. Fake Julia is waaaay better because real Julia is only setting out to cause Julie crazy angst.

So after all that, I learn that I just watched a movie about Julia Child and some random chick, who Julia didn't even like the idea of? A movie that Julia Child would probably have been against being produced? A movie that was shamelessly profiting off the death of Julia Child during the rise of food culture in America? A movie that epically sucked?

I think what frustrates me the most is that the idea that she came up with, cooking all of the recipes within a year, is actually really interesting. Also the actresses both did such an amazing job, which makes it hard for me to hate this. The acting was excellent, as well as the lighting, mise en scene, and scene changes; it was all excellent. And yet Julie is so very obnoxious that it totally ruined the whole movie for me.

I will give some props to her. I respect what she did, even if I don't respect her as a person. Some of those recipes do seem hard, and many include things I have never heard of or would have no idea where to even buy them. I do own the book, and I have looked through it. I haven't made anything yet since I was a little intimidated (and I've only had the book for a couple months!), but if nothing else this movie has actually inspired me. If that insipid wuss can make these recipes, then surely I can too.

Read more...

Orientation

I am 24 years old. I have a Bachelors Degree. And I am going back to school for a 1 year Associates Degree program. And yes, they did make me attend freshman orientation.

It was simply awful. The first day consisted entirely of touring the campus that I don't have any classes on, learning how to live with roommates, being away from home for the first time, alcohol awareness, life on campus, and icebreakers.

In order to get to the school I had to wake up at 5am, and leave at 6am. So keep in mind that I was entirely way too cranky the whole first day.

First, let's start with the tours. At my school there are two campuses. One for academics and one for the culinary classes. I do not have to take academics due to transfer credits, and therefore that campus has no true relevance to me. So that was boring. Also, it was hot as hell out, and there was no shade to be found. They had us walking around, very slowly and moving as a pack, for what felt like hours. We even had to eat outside on the pavement with the scorching sun. They made us go inside to get sandwiches, and then leave the VACANT and air conditioned building to sit and suffer. I, of course, did the responsible thing, and ate my sandwich in the air conditioned bathroom. I'm just so very classy.

Next, let's move on to the icebreakers. Any one who has ever had to experience an icebreaker knows just how miserable they are. I'm going to go ahead an assume that the Orientation Leaders are pure evil. The first one involved standing around in a circle. One person would be in the middle, spin with their eyes closed, stop and point to someone and say "bang." The person who was just shot would have to crouch down, and the two people next to them would have to face each other, make guns with their hands, and pretend shoot while repeatedly saying "bang bang bang bang," until someone stopped to breathe. The loser would then go into the middle, be the spinner, and then leave the circle and sit down for the rest of the game. The name of this icebreaker was creatively "Bang Bang." It was awful. When it was my turn to shoot someone, I quickly lost so I could sit out. It was worth it.

Another one was to help us learn each others names. We would say our name, then a type of food. The next person would have to repeat it, and add their own, and it would continue on. Luckily, I was second so I didn't have to pretend to care too much. For my food, I selected falafel. Unfortunately no one knew what the hell a falafel is. Mind you, this is a culinary school. Even the Orientation leaders didn't know! I was visibly annoyed throughout the rest of the icebreaker as everyone else selected safe foods like "apple" and "hamburger."

There were more, but I'm too annoyed now to type them. Maybe I'll add them later. But you pretty much get the idea of how my first day of orientation went. My head was pounding by the end, and I had to take out my contacts in order to drive to my cousins. Thank god they didn't make me stay on campus and attend the activity night. I may have snapped.

Day 2 was actually very useful. Too bad all of the info was horrendously condensed and there was no time to ask questions because by the time one session had ended, another had already been going on for 2 minutes. But they had a session just for commuters while another session of dorm life was going on, and I got the important info on parking passes and such. It really made no sense to me that the useful info day was so short (we were done by 12) while the useless day was so long that it was necessary to fill in all the blanks with endless icebreakers (I was there til 5:30, and it continued after I left).

Well I guess it would make sense if I were a freshman, even though I remember hating my orientation when I went to Northeastern. But they really should have allowed me to skip the first day and only attend the second, like I asked when I called them, instead of wasting my time and making me grumpy.

On the plus side, I got to see Jenna's apartment and it's wicked nice, even if her cat does seem to enjoy watching me go to the bathroom. Cats are just creepy.

Read more...

Black Belt Camp

For some very strange reason, I had decided a while back that it would be a good idea to go to the Black Belt Camp. Nothing wrong with the "Black Belt" part; it's the "camp" that gets me. I hate camping. I'm ridiculously allergic to nature. Bugs love me. But still, I want to test eventually so I figured I should make a showing at this event. Also, I do genuinely enjoy karate.

So I saved some money. And I went this past weekend. It was fun, and I met some interesting people, but I still do not feel the slightest bit more in tune with nature. When I showed up, I set up my bed, was chilling out, meeting the other people in my cabin, when someone said, "Don't freak out, but there is a mouse behind you." Great. Freakin' super. Sure enough there was a cute little mouse prancing along a ledge that was just a few inches above my bed. Of course I moved my stuff, but the only place I could go was up. Bunk beds are fun like that.

Then I went and ate dinner. I don't know whose idea it was to give us all nasty pizza before working out, and then have let's-do-a-hundred-jumping-jacks Mark do the warm-up. It was slightly unpleasant. He's a jerk. We did some forms, some kicking drills, some self-defense. It was good. Then it was time for bed.

Sleep did not come to me. Every time it tried I would hear the damn mouse go sprinting around inside the walls, especially the wall by my head. I would sit up, grab my flashlight, and look around to make sure it was actually INSIDE the wall and not on my bed. Nothing is more fun than trying to sleep while imagining being woken up to a mouse crawling around on your face.

Saturday was fun too. It was a little gross and exhausting, what with waking up at 5:45am and exercising all day in the heat wearing the same uniform I had exercised in the night before. Other than that I was enjoying the camp. It was nice to catch up with people I hadn't seen for a while, and to meet potential friends. And I got to do archery! I'm good at it! A natural! After all that there was a little bonfire at night, followed by a drinking party.

Then the mouse again. Stupid little prat.

Sunday was relaxing, but by that point I was so very done with wearing my uniform. It had a permanent dampness to it that was highly unpleasant. Luckily Sunday was mostly talking and an awesome group sword form in a field, and then we were done by noon.

So, I had a good weekend. Learned some new skills, brushed up on some old skills, shot things with arrows, and socialized. I also found that it is possible for me to fall asleep with the chance of waking up to a mouse in bed as long as I have spent the entire day exercising like a fiend.

Still, nature and I are not the best of friends.

Read more...