The first week of class

Sooo I made it threw the first week of class and I really enjoyed it! Even the french class, the teachers here really know their stuff, and I feel like I've already learned alot. This weekend I went to Montpeiller and did some much needed shopping. They have a huge semi outdoor mall there, its called the shopping odesseum. It rained horrible off and on yesterday more on than off, which was unfortunate for us because we missed the last bus coming back to Agde and had to wait 20 mins for a train. I've not yet gotten into this whole being European thing yet and I dont think I will;but I intend to get all I can from this experience. Here are some highlights from this week.

 Hyper - U is a popular...hmmm its like Target if they sold fresh seafood and was twice its size. Yea that was one of the highlights of this week!

 This is a mixture of peppers, carrots, onions and a few other veges all cooked together with cream annddd the egg on top was cooked for 2 hrs in water, how cool??

 This is a mackeral that I gutted myself! De-boning it was hellish but I got it done. It's served on beet root skin boiled like pasta with carmelized onions and a pear garnsh. It was pretty good.

So thats that, now its time for week 2! Have a blessed week.

South of France Cap D'Agde

Here I am in the South of France at International Culinary Academy. 
Do I seem happy? Well I'm not really... There are so many things that have gone on here that are really completely out of order. Way too many hidden fees and I really could go on and on. Tomorrow is the very first day of class so I'm going to try to keep opinions to myself until I can really accurately tell yall how I feel. Just know that alot of things aren't as they should be. All in all I got my chefs jacket, shoes and pants so I'm excited about what tomorrow brings. I'll also be taking a french class in the afternoon. This town is really really small. Tomorrow we're going to Agde to do some shopping. Everything around here closes around 8ish. Yea I dunno how this is gonna work!

My book is on Amazon!!

Sooo who listened to Tone Loc in the 90's?? Wait has he made any music since then? Anyway today I bring you a rather humorous rap song. You might remember The Funky Cold Medina, well have you ever listened to the lyrics....yea its rather raunchy and quite funny...to me anyway.

Yes I know I haven't blogged in a while. I've been so busy with getting my student visa and buying my ticket and loads of other stuff! Even though I'm only going to be gone for 7 mos, their is sooo much to do. Whew, anyway I need to get it done because I'm leaving in a little over a month. 

I wrote a book! and its on amazon.com. It's a really fun and informative modern day book on etiquette. Here is the link if you like to buy or preview it. It is not yet in print so you must have either a kindle or the kindle app. It's only $5.99 and I'm super excited about it, I put alot of myself into this book and I can't wait to hear what you think about it!!

Real New Orleans Beignets

I've never been a huge Beyonce fan but Signs 
has got to be one of her best tunes. She doesn't do a ton of screaming or crazy adlibbing, it's totally laid back and hott!

Remember when I went to New Orleans a few weeks ago and I bought that box of beignet mix from Cafe Du Monde? Well I finally got to use it. This sunday and and the boyfriend got a chance to make some tasty beignets...also known as french donuts! There are directions on the box, but you know we didn't follow those.All you really need is water and powdered sugar.

It starts with a box

2 cups of mix makes about 20 mid sized beignets.

You add water,we also added 2 pinches cinnamon and 2 tblspns sugar.

almost ready

Now we are ready to fry. Allow the oil to heat on med for about 8 mins. You only need about 2 inches of oil.

turn them only after they have browned and puffed on one side.

Finished product. It's just like a donut ball, and the powdered sugar is the perfect finishing touch. These are super easy to make and perfect for in bulk if your having company.

The Original House Of Pancakes

Ya'll know I'm not really into rap, but when I like somethin; I like something. Dear Mama is a really great Eminem song. Not great in the typical sense, but you know.. it tells a great and relatable story about life. 

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of visiting the Original House Of Pancakes,located in Kenwood;previously located in Hyde Park. As soon as you walk in there is a sign telling you that they will not seat you unless your whole party is there. I appreciate that notice. We got there around 1130am and only had to wait about 12 mins. We sat at a table that was waaayyy to close to everyone else. I don't like that, however the food was good!

Nah I never got around to having any pancakes. The waffle was good but it literally had a whole can of peaches on it.... Not good. The waffle was super soggy, I love a good crisp waffle, don't you? Absolutely no complaints about the sausage tho.
Now for the age old question: Am I going back?? Yep but I will request a booth. I simply can not sit the close to random people.

My time in New Orleans

I LOOOOOVVVEEE  this song. El Debarge did it on his album Second Chance, and he did a slightly different version for the movie Jumping the broom. Here
is what he did for the movie. This rendition has less instruments and background and more pure El, and I love it. It is a great choice for a wedding song.

I went to visit the Big Easy last weekend!! Thats right I was in New Orleans, saw a little bit of the Essence Music Fest and ate alot of great food. The weather down there is CRAZY. 3 times that weekend it rained like a torrential downpour, than minutes later it was perfectly sunny. I did not like that at all. In spite of that I had a really great time, I even got up and sang at a jazz club! Do you believe it? Here's my weekend in pictures:

We Went on a boat cruise,(in the pouring rain) and saw some of the more popular New Orleans sights. The bottom picture is me and my sister, I'm not going to New Orleans alone!

Saturday night we visited Maison Bourbon Jazz club, this is where I sang at. Bourbon street, was even more crowded than I thought, fuuulll of ppl, oh we had a hurricaine to, and it was awesome.

Have I ever talked to you about my love for beignets?? well I love them. This picture was taken at cafe DuMonde a very popular spot in N'awlins. They weren't to greasy but perfectly delicious.

Of course we had to visit the epic restaurant Mothers. It did not dissapoint. I had a salty but strong bloody mary and the fried catfish po'boy. We did have to wait outside for about 10mins but it was worth it.

This is a banans foster bread pudding and damn! it was sooo good. Me and my sister split it and neither of us had ever encountered a bananas foster with a crust  but it was tasty!

Isn't this amazing? I didn't buy this but I bought two of the artists paintings. I met the artists as he sells the paintings himself, I can't wait to hang them.

Well that was my weekend, a great little city full of culture and scrumptious food. 

My birthday!

I'm sitting here watching City SLickers Pt 2. and I wanted something really festive and western for ya'll. What better than Howdown By Aaron CoplandWe performed this in high school and it was such an awesome song to perform. Slightly difficult to pull together but completely worth it.

Finally I have pictures from my birthday which was june 24th. I catered the event myself and boy was I tired. No, I'm not catering another birthday party in 88 degree weather, anyhoo, here are the pictures!

The caprese bruschetta, the name explains it all.

You know I always have to do something in the crockpot, makes life sooo much easier. This is crockpot sesame chicken. Here is the recipe.

Coconut lime cupcakes, they were alot more dense than a cupcake, more like a muffin, but tasty none the less.

My sister came all the way from DC!

Fresh flowers are always a good centerpeice, no matter what time of year it is.

Have ya'll noticed that I like taking pictures by the tables I design??

Mushroom and onion tart= Sauteed mushroom and onions in a pie crust topped with parmesan cheese and warmed just before serving.
....I made a pasta salad but those pictures seemed to have dissapeared.. 

Well thats me on the first day of my late 20's. It was a pretty great party.