I think I'll write a restaurant review

I didn’t have my class this week so I don’t have any school news to write about due to a crazy snow storm last Thursday, but Matt gave me the great idea of writing restaurant reviews on my blog.

Friday night, we went out to IHOP for some pancakes. I noticed the restaurant inspection read “89” as I walked in but I’m not a stickler for those usually, I just eat and am merry. But when we were leaving, I started reading the inspection report to see why they were marked off. One of the reasons read “Mop was not in its proper place”. And guess what was sitting right below the report? The mop. It definitely still wasn’t in its proper place. I mentioned it to the cashier who nonchalantly replied, I never read those inspection reports, I guess I should”. I wish I had gotten a picture. And just in case you order the “smoked sausage” as I did, thinking I was going to get sausage, just know you are going to get hot dogs with your pancakes.

Saturday night, Matt and I went to a semi-new restaurant in Lexington called Sutton’s. http://www.suttonsrestaurant.com/ It’s located right in front of the Kroger parking lot on Richmond Road. I had read about it several times in the newspaper because they make all of their menu items in the restaurant and that had me very interested. We tried two appetizers: the pepperoni pups and meatballs. The pups were pepperoni and mozzarella battered and fried with a marinara dipping sauce. They were especially yummy and I could tell the meat was a good quality. The meatballs were good but nothing special. There was a history with the recipe being passed down generation after generation. For my entrée I ordered the grilled tilapia sandwich with kettle chips. Sutton’s cooks their own kettle chips and they were so good, Matt asked for a side order. The tilapia was disappointing though. It was very fishy and made the sandwich not enjoyable at all. Despite that, I do want to go back and try it again. Their flat bread pizza looked very good.

Let the culinary school adventures begin

This is long overdue. I have no idea why I have been slacking on my blog, other than the fact that I’m just a slacker. But, I’m going to try and get back in the habit of blogging a few times a week. I haven’t been cooking as much lately. It seems as if my life is slightly busier now. I go to the gym after work, I have a new beau, I’m addicted to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills…life is pretty awesome. Two weeks ago, I added another exciting journey to my plate and that is culinary school. I enrolled at Sullivan University in the Associate of Culinary Arts degree program. I have wanted to go to culinary school since I was in high school. I toured a school in Charleston while I was in college and toured Sullivan in 2005. It was always on my mind that I wanted to try it out and see if I like it. Now that I’m settled in my new job and my life here in Lexington, I bit the bullet and enrolled in school. Tuition costs to culinary school have always deterred me but I realized that it wasn’t going to get any cheaper and I was always going to wish I had tried.

This quarter, I am taking a nutrition class on Thursday nights and a Hospitality Management and Supervisor online class. So far, I love both of them. I’m learning so much. Even though I’m not actually doing any cooking until next quarter, I still have to wear my chef’s uniform to school. This includes checkered chef pants, my chef coat, black shoes, and my handkerchief tie. I light up when I put on my chef coat; I absolutely love it so much. It feels so right when I see myself in it.

Well, I am going to keep everyone up to date on my classes and any new recipes that I am creating. Last night, with the help of Matt slaving over the double boiler, I made white chocolate popcorn with M&M’s for work. Today is National Popcorn Day!

White Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients:

2 large bags white popcorn, popped
2 bags white chocolate chips
1 large bag M&M’s

Pour out the popcorn and take out the un-popped kernels. Over a double boiler, melt the white chocolate chips. In a large bowl, pour the melted white chocolate over the popcorn, and then add the M&M’s and mix well. Spread out on wax paper to dry for at least 24 hours.