Autumn in Muskegon

Hello everyone!
I have made it through 2 weeks of class!  The only interesting thing to report... in my Product Identification class, I got to try rabbit and quail meat!  Neither were that good, but it was fun to try something new!  The final for that class will be to identify 75 different foods (ranging from produce, meats, spices, herbs, etc) by their taste or smell and I have to know the best way to prepare them and how to spell them correctly... it's like a quickfire challenge!  A lot more fun to watch on television, so hopefully I can get most of them!

The month of October has been SO beautiful here!  Most days are in the high 70s and it is nice and sunny. I have some pictures of all the fall leaves-I'm obsessed with how amazing it looks right now!!  These were taken today...

On a walk with Jasmine, Lake Michigan on the left

Jasmine on the Boardwalk around the corner

Pretty trees!

Another major announcement... I am now employed!!  I am working at Ryke's Bakery and Cafe (click the name to check out their website).  Now, as many of you know I have had many jobs, thus many job interviews in my day.  This one was the hardest one yet-seriously!!  In addition to the face-to-face with the owner, I had to build and ice a cake to show my skills and there was 2 other girls going for same job, so we were all together in this mini-competition trying to ice a cake as fast as possible!!  Even though I though mine wasn't very good, apparently is was good enough!  My official job title is Cake Builder and Icer and this place makes hundreds of cakes a week, so I am going to become a pro at icing a cake (which is actually pretty hard to get right)!  It is a great job to see the daily operations of a bakery and now I can make some friends!  The only downfall is that while I am in training I have to be in at 4 am... yikes!  Never had to be at work that early in my life, so I'm a little worried about that... but, hopefully my body will adjust.  I am hoping that I will not have to work that early all the time, but that IS part of working in a bakery, so I might have to like it if I ever want to do something like it!!

I did get all of my stuff from LA yesterday, but am a LONG way from having everything unpacked and arranged.  Plainly put, I have a lot of crap!  I will have pictures soon of the final look (my goal is before the new year)!!  =)

More to report soon...  hope everyone is doing well...

Getting settled in Muskegon and my first day of class!

Hi everyone!  Well, today was my first day of school!  I just had one class, but it was really neat being in a classroom again and back in student life.  This first quarter I will not be in any labs (kitchen), so there won't be many pictures of my work, but the classes are essential before moving on to the "good" ones (or so I'm told!).

These are the classes I am taking this quarter:

*Culinary Portfolio Preparation: basically writing a paper about what I am going to achieve while in school and how I will apply my skills to make me the best candidate for a job someday.  I also have to start my portfolio (a notebook, basically) and put items in there throughout my time here to keep it all organized and neat-fun!

*Product Identification: have this huge encyclopedia-book of most naturally occurring foods that exist in the world, that class starts tomorrow night.

*Culinary Math: yessss!  I get to take a math class again!  It has been awhile, but it has been one of my favorite subjects in the past and I look forward to seeing what new formulas I will learn!  (I realize I sound like a complete nerd right now!!)

*Workplace Communication: this is my only non-culinary related class I will hopefully have to take the whole time I am here.  I guess we learn how to write memos and other office-related documents. Snooze.

And here are my books for this quarter (along with my "free" t-shirt from orientation and Jasmine's head!)... forgot how pricey they are!!

Also, I have been getting settled in my new apartment.  Only have a few things, so it looks pretty scarce, but I will have my stuff soon.  It's a one-bedroom apartment, about 650 sq feet.  A bit outdated, but not too bad....

Here's the living room as you first walk in:

From the opposite corner, looking into the kitchen and out my window (on the ground level, but down a half of flight of steps, so kinda like a basement!)

The kitchen.  Why two-tones cabinets, I'll never know...

Bathroom

And, bedroom, complete with blow up mattress.  (I've already made the joke that I am living a bit like a drug dealer right now, so no need for the comments!!)

So, I had some free time this past weekend since I don't have cable or internet yet, so I decided to paint a few walls since I am used to bright colors and couldn't imagine living in a white basement for two years!

I painted the two opposite walls in the living room  a crazy purple color (the couch will back up to one and the tv on the other).  Here it is:

(couch wall)

(tv wall)

Jasmine offering her help that day-ha!

Hopefully, once I get some stuff in there, it will all come together!

Mostly, I have been either at Walmart getting random stuff (even though I really dislike going there, they have the best prices-dang it!) and walking Jasmine around the neighborhood and at different parks in town.  

Here's one close to Lake Michigan (you can't really tell, but the lake is in the background!)

So, hopefully Jasmine will be looking a lot more trim the next time I bring her around (I tell her she is getting her waist back!)  She is also very excited to have about a thousand squirrels in the complex and adjoining neighborhood to keep her occupied!!

That's it for now.  Time to enjoy the beautiful fall weather!!