ROC - Bar Pizza

I've been craving pizza like crazy lately but healthy Emily keeps fighting the urge to. Until this week! Monday class was a rough night so a few of my friends and I decided to go to the bar nearby and get a drink and some food. Because two and a half weeks left of undergrad means let's just do work and not eat all day. Classic college.

Well, we all got drinks and when it came time to order food, I recalled that one of my friends mentioned that the buffalo chicken pizza at this bar is really good. Of course this meant that I had to order it because it's a Monday night and we're at a bar drinking because class was just awful and being healthy doesn't matter so pizza. 

This pizza ended up being really good. It was a blue cheese topped pizza with crispy chicken pieces on top and a hint of buffalo sauce that was just the right amount. Solid. It totally hit my craving perfectly and I was super happy by the end of the night. Monday just redeemed itself. 

ROC - Tap and Mallet

For one of my roomie's 22nd birthdays we went to a place here in Rochester called Tap and Mallet. It's a super cute, kinda rustic feeling place. It's the second time I've been there and the first was great. They have amazing fish fry there. 

This time around I ordered the Shrimp Po Boy with a side of fries. I'm addicted to the french fries here. They're perfectly seasoned and a good cut. Yum!  

The po boy was not what I was expecting. It was pretty sizable but the bread was nothing special. Just your average french roll. The popcorn shrimp was also not expected but it was pretty good. 

Overall, the sandwich was alright. There was a sort of chili aioli that was great but I wouldn't order the sandwich again. The fries however, I would go back for. And the fish fry.. I would just order the fish fry again...   

Vermonster Time of the Year

That's right! It was that time of the year again! Annual new e-board/old e-board Vermonster night. Turns out most of new e-board is made up of old e-board minus me and PR because the two of us are leaving. So we obtained 1 new person for now and secretary will be secretary/treasurer for next year. This means theres 6 of us in both e-boards. But old PR got sick the night of the Vermonster so there was 5 of us to eat this thing. Challenge kind of accepted skeptically. 

5 people, 20 scoops of Ice Cream, 4 toppings, chocolate chip cookies, a brownie, hot fudge, and whipped cream like crazy. 

Let's just say.. we tried. And even though there was only 5 of us I think we did pretty well!  

We managed to avoid another chunky monkey fiasco and nixed it this year. We did have some debate over my strawberry cheesecake as well as the coffee and the mint chocolate chip but in the end it was all pretty good. I think if PR wasn't sick we actually might've been able to finish it this time around! 

This is as far as we got after about 45 minutes which I think is pretty good. Also, no pizza this year... but I think it was alright without it.

Cinnamon Twists!

The sweets just keep on coming! Turns out "bread" day also includes cinnamon rolls and donuts and things of the like. So that's what I ended up making, Cinnamon Twists! 

First off I had to make a sweet dough. To start off I had to 'scald 1/2 cup of milk' which I took as simmering on a pot. Then I stirred in 1/2 cup of sugar, 1.5tsp salt, and 1/4 cup of shortening and cooled the mixture. In another bowl with 1/2 cup of warm water I stirred in 2 packs of active dry yeast, until it dissolved. I added two beaten eggs, and 3 cups of sifted flour. I beat this all together until it was smooth then I slowly stirred in another cup of flour. (The recipe calls for 2 cups but I felt the dough was dry enough with just one cup). I kneaded the dough on a floured counter until it was smooth, put it in a greased bowl, and rushed it on top with soft shortening. I covered it with plastic wrap, then but it in the proofing box that we had in class that was set to around 100 degrees. After about an hour took it out.

I split this dough recipe in half with another one of my friends in the class. So with my half i rolled it out flat on my floured counter to make about a 12x12 square of dough. I brushed it with 1/4 cup of melted margarine. I made a cinnamon sugar mixture with 1 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of cinnamon. I sprinkled about 3 tbsp of this cinnamon sugar on the center third of the of the dough then folded 1/3 of the dough over the center. I sprinkled 3 more tbsp of cinnamon sugar on top. Then i folded the last third over the 2 layers. I cut the dough into about 1in strips and took hold of each end of the strip and twisted tightly in opposite directions. I placed them on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on top and sprinkled the rest of the cinnamon sugar on top and covered the whole tray with plastic. I put it back in the warm proofing box for another 20 or 30mins. Then they bake in an 350 degree oven for 25mins. 

I didn't eat them right away which was my mistake because when I got to one later that night it was a little cold and dense. Not bad though. I'm sure, right out of the oven it would've been great!  

Nailed It!!

April 21st was my cooking practical in class so we all walked into class, got recipes for a main course, and had to know how to cook the side dish that the professor placed with it. Each sheet of paper had a time that we had to serve. No later and no earlier. 

I got salmon cooked in paper with a side of brown rice pilaf. Served an hour an a half into class. Score.

I practice the brown rice pilaf recipe twice before and had the dish memorized. I made the steamed fish in paper in class with the halibut. I just had to do it over again with salmon. I was set. 

Everything was perfect. I got 12/12 all the way down the rubric. Perfect score. I was so happy with myself. I can't believe it did it. Felt incredible. 

I made one for the professor and there was one extra for me to take home. So I brought it home home. Tuesdays are the days my dad is home to make dinner so I still go home to eat with the family almost every week. 

Let's just say I'm glad my dad was not the chef in charge of grading me because he didn't think my dish was so perfect. We spend dinner with him lecturing me about the fundamentals of correctly cooking brown rice. Then he took one bite of my salmon, and told me how to make it better, aka how to make it more chinese. 

I know theres this whole running joke/meme about asian Tiger Moms and all that hilarious stuff that's kinda true, but apply that to my dad instead. This is why I'm so needy and weird. Thanks dad... I tried...