Mikaela S. I have always enjoyed cooking in a neat and orderly kitchen. I like being able to space out the food I’ve been working with and be sure that each sliced or diced product is neatly placed in a convenient spot for me to use later on. My partner in crime, Drew Szarka seems to have the same idea as I do. In the picture above, Drew and I were instructed to dice celery and garlic, as well as gingerly slice two different herbs. Without planning it out, Drew and I neatly placed our celery, herbs, and garlic all in a similar position on the cutting board. Our teacher, Mrs. Hoagland highly approved, exclaiming that we take the picture.

Troy F. All my life i have never been exposed to sushi because my mother feels that it is too dangerous, along with any raw foods. This summer, I started to train with an ex-linebacker from Newtown high school. He loves sushi and took me once and offered to pay because it was an all you can eat sushi bar for $17.99. When we got the menu, it amazed me because you right the number of orders you want of each type of sushi. Then, after you are done, you can keep getting more. The variety of sushi flavors were jaw-dropping. I became accustom to the rocky hill roll that had spicy crunchy salmon, crab, and lobster. Before I knew it we were on our third giant plate of orders and i was 50 pieces in. I started to hit a food block but fought through trying to keep up with the 6'2" 250 pound man, but I fell short. Even with the failure after the valiant effort, i still ate 80 pieces of sushi and was proud as can be.  Sushi is a unique food that has spread from its Asian background to all around the globe today. But when people think of sushi, they think of raw fish wrapped in rice and seaweed. But the term sushi actually refers to the seaweed and rice wrap, so anything can be inside of it and it would still be sushi. Sushi was invented in Southwest Asia during the 8th century and still lives in society today.

Bread is so Three Years Ago

By: Emma Cizmazia

In this culinary age, chiefs are looking for new ways to improve and update their menus to keep up with their customer’s outrageous and sometimes spontaneous demands.  One of these latest editions is the waffle sandwich. While you may have seen a few of these delicious creations in the last few years, their numbers are steadily increasing, as is the demand.

While waffles are most commonly viewed as breakfast foods, this doesn’t stop people from ordering them, or their cousin the pancake, throughout the day and this action has become increasingly popular in the last few years. In this day and age, people are always looking for another way to stand out and set themselves apart from others. I believe that the waffle sandwich is just the way to do this. Take a look at today’s fashion, where a woman can be seen wearing an umbrella as a skirt and not even get a second glance. People are going out of their way to defy common norms and values to increase the chances of getting noticed. Quality restaurants and dinners are a dime a dozen today and in order to get maximum profits, they need something to set them apart from the rest.

Using waffles instead of bread can bring life into a common, uninteresting sandwich. Some food service providers have even started to add meats to these appealing constructions. I would never have thought to use a waffle on a barbeque short rib sandwich, but now I wouldn’t even think twice about it. Adding the waffle to a hot or spicy sandwich can bring a certain sweetness and balance out the sizzle. Why use boring bread when you can use a waffle?   

pressed Ruben waffle sandwich

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aaron-mccargo-jr/pressed-reuben-waffle-sandwich-recipe/index.html



My family has this awesome recipe that has been passed down for many generations. My family loves to make it the morning I have friends over because everyone loves it! This recipe is for Swedish Pancakes. These are very thin pancakes mad out of eggs flour milk sugar and a little salt. These are very similar, and almost identical to crepes. You mix all your ingredients into a blender, and let me tell you, nothing is more exciting than waking up to that sound because you know you’re going to have a good breakfast.  You wake up and walk down starts and you immediately know what’s going on. Dad has the mixture in a blender and some in measuring cup to pour onto the pan. You immediately run to the cabinet to grab a plate. My favorite thing about these pancakes is that you can put anything on them or nothing at all! Personally I like to put some lingenberrys, whipped cream, and syrup on mine; but, I have tried some with nutella, penut butter or, you can go savory and have some eggs, vegetables, and chives! These pancakes are awesome! Sadly, I have not been able to enjoy these pancakes because I have been busy moving and settling into my new house. But, last weekend I had my friend sleep over and we both woke up to the sound of a blender. I was so excited! My friend was also really excited because she had never had them before. The Swedish pancakes did not fail to say the least. They were one of the best I think I had had in a while. My friend asked me if I had ever had crepes and when I said no she was shocked! She told me the pancakes tasted almost exact to them and that I would have to try them soon. I and my friend are planning on going to go to crepe restaurant sometime before the year ends and I can’t wait! I hope you all get to experience something as great as these pancakes! -Bailey S

A little while ago my chinese teacher brough in for us a moon cake to try. I don't know where he got it, but he was really excited for us to try some. The outside was soft and sweet, like any pastry dough. That was arguably the best part of it. The inside is where it gets different. It's texture was of a thick paste, being very dense, and it had a very dark color. It's difficult to say exactly what it was. He told us it was mainly made of dates. At first it had a mild sweetness, like anything fruit. It was a lot like a fig bar. Once you got to chewing it, and this is kind of hard to describe, the flavor shifted into almost a sickly sweet smokiness, like woodsmoke infused molasses. It was very unusual. Not bad, per say, just different. I'm sure if we had grown up with it, like he had, we would have liked it a lot more. I don't think most Americans would like it initailly. It also had bits of walnut in it, which added variety to the flavor and texture. Frankly, they made it quite a bit easier for most of my classmates to eat. Overall, I didn't dislike it, but I don't think I'd try it again anytime soon.

It’s hard for me to pick a favorite food, since I’ll basically eat any type of food you can come up with. However, right now, a big thing that I’m interested in in food is crepes. My first experience with crepes was on one random school day afternoon. My mom and I stopped at Big Y after my soccer practice to get dinner, and we picked up a package of premade crepes on a whim. That night after dinner I filled crepes with whipped cream, strawberries, and kiwis, and although that’s a pretty simple recipe, I thought it was great. Of course, there are things you can fill crepes with other than fruit and whipped cream. While these are good for dessert, I knew that a really popular type of crepe is one filled with ingredients that are meant more for a meal. This summer I was shopping in Greenwich when I came across a French crepe restaurant on Greenwich Avenue called Mĕli Mĕlo. A few people around town had actually mentioned it that day, saying it had good crepes for lunch. It looked like the perfect place to stop after hours of shopping, so I ordered a crepe with salmon, goat cheese, and some herbs and vegetables. This type of crepe was completely different than the sweet, fruity ones I was used to, and I wasn’t sure how I would like it. As it turned out, I could easily say the crepe that I tasted was one of my favorite foods, at least of the time being. It actually saddened me that I wasn’t hungry enough to try any more of the crepes. They had all different kinds- some vegetarian, some with other meats and fish. And while the Big Y crepes I bought were great for making simple fruit desserts at home, the restaurant’s version of crepes were rich and fluffy, and made a good filling meal. I know that many people make their own crepes at home, cooking the batter on the stove. I hope that someday soon I get around to trying this, and maybe making my own recreation of the salmon crepes I had over the summer. I’ll also have to make sure to revisit Mĕli Mĕlo in the future and continue to try all different kinds of crepes, one of my new favorite foods. – Hayley D

This past week as been very hard for me, because I have given up my favorite snack food for lent, Chips Ahoy cookies. These are literally the only sweet I eat, and I can eat a pack a day of them. It's so bad that my mom hides them from me because she thinks im addicted, and I prove her point when I try to find them, and succeed and polish off the whole package. It's very hard, but I am managing.

A couple of days ago I made pancakes using Aunt Jemima mix. I usually make these pancakes every Saturday for the family. This past week I tried to make them from scratch with the recipe that you gave us in class, and they turned out better than they did in class. My parents and brother thought they were very good, so I think I will continue to make that recipe every Saturday. Last week I also attempted at making biscuits, and they came out not the way I had wanted them to. The dough was a little wet, and It came out almost like it was just regular bread. I haven't tried to make them again, but I think I will this weekend. My mom made turkey this past Tuesday, and it was delicious.