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"The beauty is in it's simplicity." After making creme´englace yesterday, which is basically ice cream without the flavor, I had to make up my own mix today. We weren't allowed to use recipes as the idea was to learn that you can make this one base (the creme englace) and then numerous ice creams could come from that. It was neat, but a little overwhelming because I wanted to make something remarkable, but not ordinary. So I saw the Kahlua and the scene from "The Big Lebowski" where The...

It's a strange thing, but I bet if you go to a fair in every state, it'd have the same vibe. You're guaranteed to find the "zipper" and as much funnel cake, deep-fried goods, and corn on the cob you could ever want to enjoy. The Dutchess County Fair was no different. Go enjoy more pictures @ Flickr!...

I don't think I've EVER read anything so incredibly profound, yet shockingly simple. Kyle Lent has done it again. Conservative Christianity, here's the rebuke to end all rebukes. It's amazing what you learn from your own mistakes... I have no doubt that Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are evil and hateful men. I have no doubt that what they do - or did, in Hussein's case - is terrible and wrong. But here is the quandary, and this is where things become complicated: they are supposed to do those things....

If there's been one thing I've learned from all of my personal disappointments and troubles, it's that life doesn't wait around for you. I was struck today, watching the Lubbock Little Leaguers crash and burn, that for many people, there's not an understanding of how things really are. When I think back on the, literally, hundreds of opportunities I've squandered and bumbled in the last 8-9 years, I'm amazed at how far I've still managed to get, those mistakes aside. I can vividly remember some of the lowest points of...

Right now, I'm in my second block of my second year, here at the CIA. On Monday, I started a class I'd been looking forward to for the entire duration of the time I'm here. It's Baking and Pastry Skills Development for Culinarians; my Baker friends call it the "outing class for cooks" because it's the class where all the cooks realize they should have been bakers. Thus far, I can see the point of their argument; it's been a lot of fun. (pictured is streudel dough stretched paper-thin over...

This morning I walked up to FDR’s estate, just about a two-mile walk up the river. I’m not sure if it’s sanctioned, but there’s a trail between the Culinary’s campus and the National Park System’s property where the home of FDR and his National Library are located. It’s an impressive area and you can still see the remnants of its former life as the home to one of our most popular Presidents and First Ladys. I saw quite a few deer, got some pictures of a few and got to...

Sometimes the Onion is scarily true... Two weeks after the hourly federal minimum wage was raised from $5.15 to $5.85, families across the country were still celebrating the historic increase by running their electric fans, buying coveted half-gallons of milk, and, like Charice Williams of Shreveport, LA, purchasing name-brand ketchup to share with loved ones. "I can't remember the last time I could afford Hunt's," said the 41-year-old mother of six, who for more than a decade has purchased ValuTime ketchup to garnish everything from Hamburger Helper to Tuna...

I've been buried in mind-numbing homework. Here's an example, a presentation I designed that we gave today about my group members' extern site. It's a little compressed, but you get the idea. iWork '08 is quite grand. It's been out two days and it's already gotten me an A. Thank you Steve Jobs....