Is there anything better then freshly baked bread? No. And especially when it's made by ME. He, he.. I really like the class. The first day was kinda hectic, cuz you don't know anything, everything seems so confusing and hard to memorize, but already the next day it was a lot better. We're divided into groups of 3, so every each group has different duties and different breads to make, but we help each other with shaping most of the time. Just so you know, bread making isn't that easy as everybody thinks, that's why bakers are also considered as chemists ;)

I didn't get my roommate yet which is cool, so I have room by myself for another 3 weeks! Yeeey!
And everything's ok with writing. I talked to the teacher and she was like, it's ok, don't worry, you have enough grades, everyone can be abscent sometimes. Way to go!! I'm so happy, you have no idea.

Ok, now the really exciting thing! I finally came up with my possible externship site! I can't believe how I didn't think about that before, it was there, all this time! Think..WHo is my absolute FAVOURITE Chef, my biggest influence? That's right, Jamie Oliver!! I already sent my resume and cover letter, so we'll see what they say! I'll keep you updated 4 sure! Keep your fingers crossed that Jamie says yes!

Ok, going to switch to Croatian now! And oh, the weather is so nice and warm that Stacey and I were eating outside again! Niiiiice.


Chao ljudi!

Kao što vidite, sad sam 100% baker, napokon! :)) Nastava ide pomalo svojim tokom, snalazim se već dobro. Prvi dan je bio baš grozan. Svi su nekako bili loše volje, pa i ja. Možda je to bilo zbog vremena koje je bilo baš tmurno, prava južina.
Ali jučer i danas je tako prekrasno i toplo, čisti užitak. Stacey i ja samo kao što vidite jele vani :) Kako smo podijeljeni u grupe od 3, svaka grupa ima svoje zadatke počevši od pripreme kruha i održavanja bekeshopa urednim. Chef Temme koji je Njemac je stvarno super; mi Europljani se dobro slažemo ;) Pitala sam ga ako zna koje dobro mjesto za externship u Njemačkoj, pa me upoznao s ovim drugim Chefom, Welkerom, koji je isto Njemac i on će mi dat par savjeta gdje bi mogla otić, jer razmišljam o NJemačkoj...Čini se da sam se odmakla od NYC pomalo..

E sad, važna objava. Poslala sam potrebnu dokumentaciju (resume i cover letter) na jedno mjesto za externship, u Engleskoj. Ne mogu vjerovat da se nisam prije sjetila. Iako se interesiram za NJemačku, ovo mi je br. 1. Bilo mi je svo vrijeme pred nosom. Ajde razmislite malo...Tko je moj apsolutno najdraži kuhar? Moja najveća inspiracija? Da, Jamie Oliver!! Zamislite da odem!! Pa to bi bilo...ne znam ni kako da se izrazim! Drž' te fige da Jamie kaže yes! :))

OK, idem sada, pogledajte slikice, pa se čujemo!



Kako su svi usredotočeni...neka, neka..




Stacey, Corey i ja.



Ove kuglice se zabavne, ali ako ima više brašna, nema šanse ih ''zavrtit''



Ekipa u fazi pečenja. Chef Temme je u sredini.



Nisu baš najsjajnije, ali super za početak!



Što može bit ljepše od ovog?

Yeeey! I'm done with Culinary Skills! I got an A-! I can't believe I'm actually done.
I also worked Wednesday and Thursday. It was crazy! On Thursday especially, it was soooo crowded. I skipped my writing class, for the first time, and it's ok, you're aloud to miss 7 classes + it is nearly the end of the whole writing class, so I said why not, cuz I need that money. And they did a in class essay that will be graded. Damnit. I'll get a zero on that now. I have to talk to the teacher on Tuseday, se we'll see...The weather got warmer by the way. I really enjoy it!
Most important thing, we start the breads class on Monday, that's right!! We already met with Chef Temme, who seems to be nice. We work in groups of 3. In my group I have Stacey and the Indian kid Vedant. It should be interesting...
p.s - I opened a bank account today!
''Welcome to the adulthood''

Da, upravo tako. Nema više rezanja krumpira, plakanja od kapule i kuhanja. Ma bilo mi je super, ali kada se sjetim da u ponedjeljak počinjem novi blok...kruh!!! To mi je puno draže.
Bilo smo na sastanku sa Chefom Temme. Čini se ok, još kad ja progovorim njemački..uh. Bit će interesanto. Sam program se čini vrlo zahtjevnim, ali vidit ćemo.
U četvrtak sam radila, baš im je bio potreban food runner. Bilo je toliko ljudi, nevjerojatno. Čak sam komunicirala s gostima, donosila im kavu, vodu, kruh...ah, baš su zahtjevni. I tako sam radi toga prvi put propustila writing class. Možeš imat 7 izostanaka, pa sam rekla, zašto ne jedanput. Iaonako smo pri kraju programa. I baš su taj dan pisali essay na satu za ocjenu. Zamisli peha. Sada ću dobit zero. Moram pričat sa prof. u utorak...
A ništa, idem sada spavat, sutra radim.
I da, otvorila sam bankovni račun! :)) To je velika novost za mene. Osijećam se odraslo, he he.
Laku noć.

I just wanted to say hi! I'm in my last days of Culinary Skills, way to go!! My team did a pretty good job today. We roasted pork loin, made potato gratin and stuffed tomatoes + our choice of another vegetable and starch (we chose broccoli and risotto - mmmm).
Now I have to go and study a little for the quiz tomorrow and do the homework. It started snowing again. Crap (sorry for that, but I want Spring!). It's not cold though...

Evo samo da se javim da ne ispadne da vas zapostavljam. Nema nikakvih novina. Vikend sam provela u sobi i da, radila sam u subotu. Nije bilo toliko gužve kao prošli put, jer radi sniježne oluje dosta je ljudi otkazalo rezervacije. Ušla sam u zadnji tjedan Culinary Skills i danas smo dobro obavili posao. Pekli smo svinjski but, zapečeni krumpir sa mlijekom i sirom, te punjene pomidore + još jedno povrće i škrob po našem izboru (mi smo uzeli brokule i risotto). U biti, uvijek moraš uzet nešto extra (što si već radio prije) uz ono što radiš po prvi put taj dan. Chef je rekao samo Good, very good. Yes! ;)
Idem sada napisat domaći i spremit se za quiz sutra.

I da, pao je snijeg, OPET. Ahh....

The reason I didn't write is because there haven't been many happenings. Classes are going pretty well. Everyday we're practising knife skills; usually we take one onion, slice 1 half and other one gets minced. Then we finally chopped some garlic and parsley and out of 1 potato we cut 2 different sizes of stripes and cubes. I kinda got over the onions, used to cry like a child...Everybody did, so it was fun!
The other day we made cream and pureed soups, yesterday was vegetable cooking day, and today we made cream mushroom soup and our own hollandaise sauce! I did a good job and so the rest of my group ;)
It also got very warm so I love sitting outside with Stacey during dinner time! :)) Oh yea, I got my social securuty number!! And I immediately went to the American Bounty restaurant, takled to Damir Juric and Stacey and I started working the next day! We are working Saturday's now as food runners! We basically deliver food to tables. It is very intense though! There are so many tables and you have to know what nuber is what table and also seats by numbers so you don't mix up plates..
Since it's Saturday, we earn $9 per hour+tips and 5 hrs of work so it was a pretty good job.
And one more thing...we got robbed back home in Split couple of days ago...Mum and dad are ok, they weren't in the house, and mostly everything is ok.


Dragi moji Hrvati, puno mi falite.
U školi je sve super, Culinary skills idu svojim tokom. Rezuckanje mi vec dobro ide, dosta sam novog usvojila. Danas su na meniju bile krem juha od gljiva, bešamel i Hollandaise umak (kojeg sam napravila sama!). Sve u svemu je super, iako nam je svima malo dosadilo...Jedva čekam kruh!!
E da, dobila sam NAPOKON social security number! Sada mogu radit, kupit mobitel...Već radim! Stacey i ja smo otišle u American Bounty restoran kod Damira Jurica i odmah nas je zaposlio. Tako da radimo subotom od 11 do 3 ipo! $9 po satu + napojnice :) Perfect! Inače, mi radimo kao Food runners - dostavljamo hranu na stolove. Nije to baš tako jednostavno; ima toliko stolova i sjedala i svi imaju brojeve tako da ih moraš sve znat kako nebi nešto pomiješao...
Ali sretna sam da radim. Tražim isto nekakav posao kroz tjedan....
I još nešto...Provalili su nam u kuću u subotu. Sva sreća da mama i tata nisu bili tu, tako da su oni ok i nema velike štete. Sada sam posebno aktivna u traženju stipendija!

Ne možete se nikako usporedit s Amerikacima :)

I'm finally posting the pictures from the bakers trip to NYC!! It was absolutely an amazing!! I had so much fun. First the whole group had some tours in the Chelsea Market and then we had like 5 hours of free time - wow. The reason why I didn't post this before is because I had to figure out how to post this many photos on my blog...
Well, I didn't mention but Chelsea Market is located on the ground floor of this building (you'll see it on the photo) and the interior is absolutely stunning. It looks like a sewage..hehe, but very cool.
I had lots of sweets that day, as usual...

So when we were done with the tour Stacey and I had lunch and then head up to find Jacques Torres chocolate store. In case you don't know, he's pretty famous and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed. Dark chocolate is very good (didn't like the milk one that much) and hot chocolate...oh my Gosh. I tasted the classic one and Stacey had the wicked one which had Aztec spices (cinnamon, allspice..) added to it. Both were VERY good. Do you like my shirt by the way? hehe
We've also been to this French pastry place called La Bergamote where I had the best dark chocolate truffel, EVER. One more place we've been to was Balducci's. The most beautiful grocierie store I've ever seen. It looks like some kind of a government building, you'll see it..And the selection of items in the store? Everything you could wish for. There was lots of cheese, and some tastings, I ate like half of it...No, not really, but the cheese was very very good.

And while we were walking down the NYC streets, it started snowing so much! It was crazy! I couldn't see a single thing in front of me. It was fun though :)
Ok, now..First of all I have all my grades now, and they're all good, what makes me extremly happy. AND I started culinary skills on Tuesday! You have no idea how cool it is. There's no pressure, we work in teams and everyday we have different assignments. Like this morning I was with Stacey and Melissa in the kitchen preparing and helping the people who work in the Apple pie bakery cafe, with things like cutting fruits for fruit salads, washing and chopping the lettuce, slicinig the Avokados and all kinds of breads and rolls (just baked!) and finally making the sandwiches.
By the way, Americans have sandwiches that have so much filling inside! sooo much ham, and then cheese, avokado and cucumbers. I mean, it's a great combination, but a bit too much for me.
It was fun though! So we came there at like 7 and left a little bit before 11. It went by fast so..And then I had writing class, lunch and again class! And I came back to my room at 7pm tonight. Yea, I'm very tired especially because I didn't sleep much last night...

Oh, I totally forgot to say that I don't have a roommate anymore! She left! She quit school! And she was so nice...She got a job offer at this place where she's about to do her extern, and so she decided it was better then being in school...I don't thing it was a wise thing to do, but it was her choice.
Now Stacey's in my room for some time, cuz her roommates were acting weird+one of them is sick. And there's a virus going on here! Norovirus - diarrhea and vomitting. Don't want that!
This guy Carter puked in the middle of the class the other day...it was pretty bad..

So, I have to say i like my class. So far we are practicing knife skills, we made stocks, onion soup, croutons, and myonnaise today! Wohooo! ( I still smee like onions, cuz we do a lot of onion slicing and mincing + that soup...ah)

And one more thing, it is very cold. VERY.
Enjoy the pictures! :))



Ajme, sad na Hrvatski...
Uglavnom, izlet u NYC je bio fantastičan! Toliko sam toga vidila, svaki put nešto novo. Pogledajte slike, vidjet ćete sve. Svaki dan mi je tako ispunjen, uvijek imam nešto na ''repertoaru''.
Sada sam trenutno jako umorna i ne znam hoću li moć dovršit ovaj teks, probajte pročitat na engleski! hehe Nisam sinoć baš spavala a digla sam se u 6 ipo, započela sa rodom u 7 i nisam stala do 7 navečer. D blok mi je super, Culinary Skills su zakon! Nema toliko pritiska i baš nam je zabavno. Super mi je kad svaki dan dobojemo kapulu i mrkvu, krompir, paštrnjak ili što već za vječbat knife skills, tj. određene tehnike rezanja. Do sada smo dosta prošli; Radili smo temeljce, juhu od luka (ne mugu reć od kapule! hehe). To je tipična i svakodnevna stvar i uz to smo morali napravit croutone (hrskaci tostiran kruh), sa gruyere sirom, mmm. Danas smo radili majonezu! Super mi je to što smo u grupama od četvero, tako da to dobro funkcionira.
Još neke novosti:
-cimerica mi je otišla; dobila je posao i prekinula školu (a neka kad je njoj draže radit..) tako da za 3 tjedna dobivam novu, za sada je Stacey kod mene u sobi.
-kolega iz razred, Carter je neki dan povratio u razredu - orostite na izrazu. Bilo je prestrašno, nije se mogao zaustavit. Bilo je svugdje ''ostataka''. Uh...Stvar je u tome da je virus u điru - povraćanje i proljev. Krasno.
-Dobila sam B- iz Food Safety, napokon!
-zahladilo je strašno.

Uglavnom, sada moram ić jer idem na sastanak fotografskog kluba...zanima me što, kako, volila bi se uključit. Fotografije hrane me jako zanima ;)
Uživajte u slikima i javljajte se! :)

First of all, I'm so mad cuz yesterday I spent so much time writing my blog and accidently I clicked on something (that I shouldn't!) and of course, erased the whole thing! Ahhh
Ok, so I finished C block. Finally. I got very good grades, I'm satisfied; A- from baking ingredients and A- from priciples of design.
So on Friday evening Stacey and I went to see some of our friends that left for extern, so it was sad saying goodbye to them. Oh well, we'll be in touch..It was a pretty nice evening especially because of the fact that we were done with the C block. Oh yea, I totally forgot to say that on Thursday during dinner time, we had grand buffet! That's held every 3 weeks, and every class was presenting their work. I loved the dessert part, it was everything you could wish for! Except cakes and pastries there was ice-cream too, and you could even choose in what cup you want it - a chocolate or a pastry one. I had vanilla in a chocolate cup! mmmmmmmm And oh, Stacey and I almost ate the whole bread that was out there..and filled our bags with bunch of rolls and loaves..hehe..

Saturday was very relaxing. I mostly organized stuff for next week and cleaned my room, talked for like 1 and a half hour with my friend Darija..yea, that's us! :) I had a nice evening as well - went to the Mall, ate in an Indian restaurant and watched a movie ''Walk the line'' about Johnny Cash. Really good movie.
And today is Sunday at last. I talked for quite a while with my parents. My dad helped me out with my article that I wrote for the Croatian magazine ''Kuhar'' (the Chef), took some pictures of me in my whites (uniform) and this one you see. It was sooo cold! Actually it was more windy then cold. Right now I'm sitting in Stacey's room, writing this blog and thinking about tomorrow - I'm going to the City! It's a trip with the Bakers club to the Chelsea Market and we're going at 10:30 AM with the train, and then coming back in the evening. It will be so much fun, I can't wait!

Ok, this would be all for now...Remember, Tuesday, first day in the kitchen!

p.s- Hi Ton!! Please let me know when they get it! ;)


Evo mene na hrvatski...Moram priznat da je popriličan posao pisat na dva jezika, ali naravno meni kojoj jezici idu ko' od šale, nema problema..hehe
Eto, završio je i još jedan blok. Zadovoljna sam jako s ocjenama ( A- iz baking ingredients i principles of design), i općenito sa cijelim blokom! Bilo je vrlo zabavno s obzirom na moje kolege kuhare koji su imali indetifikaciju ribe i mesa, uh kako su se čuli po ribi!
U četvrtak je bio Grand Buffet; to je nešto što se ne propušta upravo zato što je svaka tri tjedna. Svaki razred tj. svaka kuhinja ima svoj štand i možeš jesti gdje želiš i koliko želiš. Stacey i ja smo se naravno odmah bacile na kruh i pokupili koliko smo uspjeli uzet u dvije ruke, a po ostatak smo se vratile i nakrcale u torbu! Da vidite koliko vrsta kruha, a tek deserti. Nema toga što nije bilo - sve što se uči u školi je bilo predstavljeno! Super je bio sladoled od vanilije i mogao si čak birat koju ćeš čašicu; čokoladnu ili od prhkog tijesta. Ja sam uzela sam čokoladnu, mmmmm!
Žao mi je što nisam uzela foto pa da vam malo pokažem kako to sve izgleda, ali sljedeći put hoću, obećajem!

Petak večer sam provela sa ljudima koji su već otišli na extern, tako da je bilo i zabavno, ali i tužno što odlaze...ahh...
Subota mi je baš bio relaxing day. Pospremila sam sobu, sredila što sam imala, pričala s Darijom sigurno sat ipo (da, to smo Darija i ja!), čula se s mamom i tatom i tako...Navečer sam bila s ovim tipom Markusom do shopping centra, kupila par stvari i onda smo otišli u Indijski restoran što je bilo vrlo interesantno i papreno! he he. I da, gledala sam film, ''Walk the line'' o Johhnyiju Cashu. Skroz je dobar film, realističan.

Evo danas je nedjelja, sjedim u Staceyinoj sobi i pišem blog. Kako sam jučer bila ljuta kada sam skoro završila s pisanjem bloga i kliknem di ne trebam i naravno sve se izbriše. Ne zaboravite, uvijek treba napravit COPY! Bila sam i u teretani malo prije, pošteno odtrčala i napravila 400 trbušnjaka. Osjećam se puno bolje, ali nemate pojma koliko mi balet fali. Ma ne samo balet nego i sve moje balerine - znate koje ste ;)
Sutrašnjem danu se posebno veselim jer idem u NYC (Stacey i Carter idu isto)! Idemo sa bakers clubom posjetit Chelsea Market - razne pekare, slatičarne, dućame s hranom..Uh, jedva čekam! Idemo ujutro u 9 i vraćamo se kasnije navečer...Vidjet ćete slike ;)
BYE BYE!

Moram sad malo proučit gradivo za utorak...moram bit 100% sprena prije ulaska u kuhinju! ;)