Timothy P Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of all. Because my mom always makes the best food especially sweet potato casserole with marshmallow in it. Its only one time of the year to get that food. For me dark turkey meat is one of second favorite with no gravy on it. Another favorite of my is that all my relatives come over. And say I’m looking forward seeing my uncle James when he comes down from New York City and I only get to see him 2-3times a year. There are about 12 people at my house and always enough food to grub on. There a time spend time with my family and eat great food and no one has to worry about giving gifts or being stress for someone. Even though were all full at the end of this meal we have the best desert tiramisu that my all-time favorite desert out of all other deserts and I only leave room in my tummy belly for this special desert. The fact that my birthday comes around thanksgiving is that makes it even more exciting, this year I’ll be 18. Hopefully I’ll get my license this year

When I go to Florida for spring or summer vacation, I force my dad to take me out to Dominic’s Italian Restaurant. The restaurant makes one of the best pizza’s I have ever had. The serve a pizza called the Grandma’s pizza and it makes you want to cry because it is so good. The pizza is cut into squares but the crust is thick, not thin at all, and they put a very light tomato sauce on the dough. Then on top of the light sauce they put thick slices of mozzarella over the whole entire pizza. After they put a whole slice of tomato on top of the pizza, and then add some oregano seasoning. When you open the box to see the pizza, the mozzarella is melted all over the pizza so when you pick up the slice, the cheese is clinging to everything, which is annoying but worth it. Then when you take the first bite, the pizza basically feels like it explodes in your mouth. The amount of flavor is unbearable and it is so crispy yet juicy at the same time. My dad and I get two pizzas just for the both of us because of how addicting the pizza is. When people think about Florida, they think about Disney, the beaches, and the nice weather, but when I think about Florida, all I think about it Grandma’s Pizza.

Recently my cousins from Maryland came down, and I tried some things that they like to eat. They are partially Puerto Rican, so they like a lot of spicy foods. One night we got pizza for dinner, and they took out some hot sauce from my fridge, and put it on their pizza. I thought it looked pretty good so I tried it. It was actually very good. Also another night, we had mac and cheese, and once again they put hot sauce on. That also looked pretty good, so once again I tried it. And once again it was very good. It tasted pretty much like regular mac and cheese, but there was a slight spice that my cousins and I love. I have gotten to like hot sauces a lot more, and are regularly trying them on new foods like rice, and mashed or baked potatos. Christian M.

About a week ago I went and visited my sister at her college for her birthday. After school I was going to stop by Andrea’s bakery and pick up a small chocolate mousse cake. I called my mom on the way to my car and told her about my plan; she then informed me that Andrea’s bakery had shut down. To say this was devastation would be an understatement. Chocolate mousse cakes from Andrea’s for birthdays in my family is a long standing tradition. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t like that type of cake, you still eat it. We went up anyways and decided we would just get a normal ice cream cake when we got up there instead. When we got there it turns out that my sisters roommate had made her a homemade ice cream cake. She had used ice cream, m&m's, crushed up oreos, and whipped cream, then froze it all in a cake pan, and tasted delicious! -Emily A.

Last Thanksgiving, I helped my mom make an apple pie for my family. First, we made the crust. We mixed 2 ½ cups of unbleached flour, ¼ sugar, 1 teaspoon of apple pie spice and 1 teaspoon of salt in a processor. I added 1/3 cup of vegetable oil and cut up 1 stick of chilled butter into tiny squares and added it to the mixture. I added 7 tablespoons of sour cream and blended it until the dough formed. We cut all the dough in half, flattened the 2 halves into disks, wrapped them into saran wrap, and put them in the refrigerator for 1 ½ hours. Next, we made the filling for the pie. First, we preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then, we tossed 2 pounds of golden delicious apples, 2/3 cup sugar, ¼ all purpose flour, 3 tablespoons minced ginger, and 1 teaspoon of apple pie spice in a large bowl and mixed it until all 5 ingredients were fully incorporated. Finally, we had to form the crust. We took the disks and rolled them between plastic wrap with a rolling pin. We placed the dough in a 9 ½ inch pie dish and peeled the plastic off. We fluted the edges of the pie and cut 5 slashes in the top of it so that steam could escape while it cooked. We brushed the top lightly with milk and added a sprinkle of sugar. We baked in the oven for about 1 hour. The crust was light and flaky and it went great with ice cream. I really gave you the feeling of fall. -Justin C.

 I  am making  muffins for thanksgiving but don’t know which ones , I  have three recipes I would make a pie but most of family hates pie. The choate has a sweet favor and  creamy filling. But the blue berry  is  favored by most of grandparents. There is also this Spanish muffin  which makes the most sense to make. It is from Colombia. It this raisin muffin  that  taste like  a fruit muffin it a pasted down it a secret to me because I don’t get it yet . but it arare muffin that is very fruity

 aep

For my older brother Scott's birthday, him and his family came up to visit from their home in New Jersey. His wife Nicole and two daughters, Bailey and Norah, had been staying with us for a day or two when he finally flew in on Saturday night from Paris where he had been on business. His wife was cooking his birthday dinner all evening before he arrived, which I had the pleasure of assisting in cooking. She was making a recipe for enchiladas that she had found online and didn't know how it would turn out because she had never made it before. She had gone to the grocery store earlier that day to gather all the necessary supplies to make them, but as we stood around the kitchen counter, she realized that she had only gotten one bottle of green enchilada sauce instead of the two bottles that the recipe called for. We kind of panicked, but figured that it would taste okay, but that they might be a little dry. We continued to prepare everything, and finally after they were rolled and placed in a glass pan and sprinkled with cheese, they were placed in the oven as Nicole turned it on: or so she thought. The sat in the oven for 40 mins while it wasn't even on, and we waited patiently as nothing happened since we didn't check on them, we just set a timer. So when Nicole finally looked at them and they were exactly the same, she realized her mistake and turned on the unfamiliar oven. Another 30 mins, and finally Scott's birthday meal was ready. She apologized for the delay and the fact that they might be gross and dry from the lack of green sauce. As I prepared for the worst, I put some hot sauce on mine in case it might cover up some of the flavor, but as I took my first bite it was absolutely delicious! I was blown away by how tasty they turned out to be in spite of our setbacks. I ended up having three helpings before dinner was over, and we polished off the night with cupcakes and Ferris Acres ice cream. It was a perfect ending to a nice birthday celebration. --Sam G.

Its thanksgiving time again and you are basically in the kitchen all day. Everyone is helping out… well almost everyone. Sometimes those little guys of ours feel left out not being able to help. But what can they possibly do to help out? So maybe they can’t cook and stuff the turkey, but they can help make the stuffing. They can add in all of the ingredients and mix it all together, the best way using their hands (of course make sure their hands are washed :) ). If there up to it, let them pour in the cream, milk, or other items that are needed for thanksgiving dishes. If measuring is a little difficult tell them to help keep time of the cooking, we can’t let those rolls burn! Have the kids wash the vegetables, though letting them cut may not be the smartest idea. You can also have the kids be test tasters, which are always a yummy job. Have the kids test the macaroni, juice, or even some nice desserts that will be served later. When it comes time to actually cook everything the wait can be quite boring, to past time have kids make thanksgiving decorations. They can do this by making leaves, hand turkeys, Native American hats, wreaths out of leaves, and they can work together and make a huge center piece. Thanksgiving takes a lot of patience from everyone but with some fun things during the wait it can be a great time for the family!!

Haley C.

Throughout this fall, I have been to quite a few pasta parties. I am very pleased to say that each one was not like another. Tonight (or last night, whenever I decide to post this) was very special because it was my first Cross Country Banquet. I was pleasantly surprised when we got up to get our dinner; it was just like the food we had at one of our pasta parties! My favorite thing the entire night was the chicken fingers, the French fries, and the salad. The salad was simple; romaine lettuce with grape tomatoes and cucumbers. The absolute best part about the dinner and every other pasta part was the bread. One of our captains makes these homemade fantastic sweetbread rolls and everyone always takes one. They had larger versions of them at the banquet and everyone at my table was running back, and I am not exaggerating, to the buffet table to get more. They were bargaining with the people sitting next to them to split the rolls. Anyway, they also had rice, other styles of chicken, creamy mashed potatoes, and a kind of fish that I avoided (mostly because I had no idea what I was going to eat and that’s kind of scary). The entire night was so fun and everyone loved the food. So I got to thinking about what makes the food so good. It was nothing fancy, even though we went to some ridiculous country club here in Newtown. Maybe that is what made the food so good. I don’t think so though. I think the fact that everyone was just having so much fun and it the food was just like a normal pasta party so everyone felt at home and that’s what makes good food. I think that if I made a pie (which I plan on doing for Thanksgiving) that, even if I messed up five times, it would still taste really good to everyone around. So it’s the people around you that make a meal. The meal can be super fancy but if you can’t share it with everyone around you there’s really no point. I think that’s why I really like Baking and pastry. I get to make really yummy food with a couple of friends and we share it together! There’s no point in making the food if I couldn't share it with everyone. -Jillian V.

If your favorite food happens to be Greek, I know one of the best places to eat. In Astoria, Queens there is a restaurant called Stamatis. Its located in a greek neighborhood with many greek cafes around every corner. The menu is big and the food is wonderful. My family has friends who live out there and we always meet to go there. Every week I’m craving for some Pastitio. If you don’t know what that is, its somewhat like lasagna. It has a layer of cheese, then a layer of noodles, and then some meat.That is my favorite food of all time, sure you can order it at the diner but its nothing compared to Stamatis. Whenever I go its hard for me to try something knew because this dish is so great. For my appetizer, I always get a lemon soup with chicken and rice. That would have to be the best soup I’ve ever had. They also have this fried cheese called saganaki. Must be really fattening but very good. Everytime my family goes, I always have to try what they order because its so good. The restaurant is clean and they have a patio out back and its so pretty. Everyone is so friendly, too. When you finish your meal and waiting for the check or your change, they give you galaktoboureko. It is a cake with a flaky crust and has a really sweet creamy custard inside. I went to Greece last april and the food from this restaurant tasted just like it did in Greece, and usually when you go to the country the food tastes much better. If you are a fan of greek food, i definitely recommend Stamatis. Its only about an hour away and its totally worth it! -Sam P.

Yesterday my family and I went into down town New Haven for my birthday! We went to this cute little restaurant called the Soul de Cuba Café. It was very small and had a bar that only seated 4. There were 6 of us together and while we were being seated, the table looked like it would only be able to sit 4 at the most but they squeezed us together like sardines. First we started off with appetizers, the empanadas. When you bit into them it was bursting with flavor, a mix of spicy but also hot and warm. The outer shell was a little crispy and so yummy. Then I ordered a steak dish which was a long strip of steak, marinated in a white cream sauce with black beans, white rice with a spicy sauce and fried plantains. I normally would never eat beans but my mom told me to try it and they were almost creamy and so warm and when I ate them with the rice and the spicy sauce it was outstanding. Lastly they brought us dessert. We weren’t sure if we should have any because we were already so full but the menu was too tempting. So I ordered custard that looked like a lemon torte but had a caramel glaze on top with a kiwi. The cakes almost look like a sponge cake but it was creamy and vanilla tasting and made the meal complete. I would recommend this place for anybody who wants to try a new fun place. It was a refreshingly different and definitely made my belly full! -Sydney A.

A few days ago I made banana bread. It was a quick and easy process that was worth the 45 minutes of baking! The first thing I did was blend the butter and sugar in a blender. in a separate bowl you mash 3 bananas with a masher and combine it with cinnamon. In separate bowl I combined flour, baking soda and salt. I mixed the dry ingredients and the bananas in with the creamed mixture. The mixing process took a while until it looked smooth and with no bannana clumps. After I poured the mixture in the hotel pan, I waited 30 minutes for it to bake. The result was delicious and my whole family enjoyed the snack/dessert!

I do gymnastics at the Lakewood Trumbull YMCA and because there is a long standing joke between us that my friends mom makes the best chocolate chip cookies, all the gymnasts decided to have a cookie contest. So because the last time i tried to make cookies i ended up adding about 1 cup more of salt than required, I went with a different approach. i decided to make Blondie's. They would have been fabulous if i had used a smaller pan, instead they spread out and became blackened gross gunk. Not a very delicious pastry. Needless to say, I lost the cookie contest. Meagan F

Every year at the end of November everyone is so excited for thanksgiving. It is literally the only day of the year where you can eat whatever you want and no one will care. Everyone spends their thanksgiving differently but the thing that is always the same is everyone is around people they love and they have amazing food.
  On  thanksgiving day there is just a nonstop amount of food. Usually I go to my grandparents house and although we don’t actually eat the main meal until around three, there is a nonstop flow of appetizers and vegetable platters all around. The universal sign for thanksgiving is having turkey. My favorite part of the turkey is the dark meat usually found around the legs. I also love the mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce and the bread. So, basically I just love everything about thanksgiving. Normally when my mom or dad makes dinner and we are having mashed potatoes we just have regular mashed potatoes, but on special occasions such as thanksgiving and Christmas we have holiday potatoes which are mashed potatoes but even more creamy than normal. When it comes to cranberry sauce, my sister and I hate homemade cranberry sauce and we love the one that comes from the jar, the one that even after you put it on the serving plate it still holds the form of the jar.
  The only thing better than the big thanksgiving dinner is dessert. My all time favorite dessert is apple pie. Usually my aunt usually makes a platter of chocolate desserts and those are gone in literally two minutes after being served. Also, a dessert that I love to have is pumpkin whoopee pies, which are basically pumpkin muffins in whoopee pie form with cream cheese frosting in the middle, they are amazing. So, with all the food on thanksgiving you really cant go wrong and I'm so excited for thanksgiving this year!

Nicole O.

"My favorite food is pizza. The best pizza place in Connecticut, in my opinion, is Carminuccios. Last summer, I went to Italy, the home of pizza. I went to Rome, Venice, Florence, Monterosso, Vernazza, Portofino, Sori and Sanfratuoso. I had pizza every day there. Carminuccios is good, but it hailed on comparison to the pizza on Italy. I had many different types. Margarita, sausage, vegetable, and meat lovers. I didn't have one bad pizza. But that wasn't the only type of food. The majority of regions in Italy are famous for a certain type of dish. For example, in Florence I had one of their famous Florentine steaks, which is a giant 2 pound steak with mashed potatoes. While in Rome, I had a meal called "Calcio e Pepe", which is spaghetti in a think cream sauce with black pepper. All the food I had in Italy was great. -Justin C"

November Blog Entry

This last month in Baking and Pastry has been great! We have made so many amazing things. I thought it was so weird that when we made soft pretzels, we had to boil them before we baked them. But it made them so chewy! I’ve never been a big fan of soft pretzels, but I’m sure that I’ll be baking them for my family soon.

When my group made apple pie, I learned that I’m the only one in my group who can peel an apple at a rate faster than 1 apple per 10 minutes. I have to say though, listening to Katie Moss wince every time the blade got close to my hand was pretty entertaining. I was not expecting to cook our pies by just wrapping the dough around the apples. I have never seen it done before. I love apple pie, but I’m very picky about the kind of pies I eat. Because I have eaten my mom’s pies basically my whole life, I’m so used to eating that certain kind of pie. My mom puts a sugar and butter crumb topping on the top, and she puts the raw diced apple into the pie shell and bakes it like that. She doesn’t cook the apples ahead of time, like we did in class.  

We made pie crust, and I really appreciated technology then because when you use a mixer it is a lot easier and looks prettier than if you have to mix the ingredients together with a pastry cutter and spoon in a bowl. I know, I’m so spoiled. But why not use it if we have it, right?

I went to a restaurant called The Iron Bridge, which is right in Sandy Hook Center. The food was really good there! However, it really bugs me when restaurants give you potato chips if you get a club sandwich or a wrap or something. I mean, how hard is it to give out french fries with the meal? I can eat potato chips anywhere! The french fries are usually the only thing I’m able to finish, too.

There are three kinds of french fries that I’ve eaten in my lifetime. You have the french fries that taste like cardboard, steak fries, and crispy fries. The ones that taste like cardboard I’ve only seen in a few places, like the Blue Colony Diner in Newtown. They’re not terrible, but if I’m gonna eat french fries I’m going all out (extra crispy). I find it kind of funny that they made a french fry that corresponds to what you’re eating. If you go to the Outback Steakhouse, your meal always comes with steak fries. I don’t really understand why these types of fries can only be eaten in places like the Outback.

 Halloween is one of my favorite days, because you get candy of course! I really can’t decide what my favorite candy is, although if someone asks me I usually say Kit Kat. However, anything with chocolate in it I’ll eat. I’m more of a dark chocolate fan, though. I like the more bitter taste. If it’s available, I’ll always grab dark chocolate Raisinettes, M&Ms, pretzels, and plain Hershey bars. If I’m ever eating candy, I usually alternate between something with chocolate in it and something that doesn’t. So, I’ll eat a fun sized Snicker or something, and to balance it out I’ll eat a Starburst. What a great day Halloween is! 

Sarah L J