Ahh, Friday night. It’s going to be weird when I can actually do something besides go to class on it! As for right now, Friday night is just another night of the week for me. Oh well…Sunday nights are still part of my weekend so it all evens out in the end. 🙂
Tonight for dinner I made a delicious meal! I had a bbq quorn cutlet (place frozen quorn cutlet in bbq marinade for 10 minutes then bake at 400 for 20 minutes) with roasted asparagus and brussel sprouts and a side of soba noodles (2 ounces) that I sprinkled with nutritional yeast and dabbed some earth balance in. It reminded me of a noodle dish my mom always used to make for me growing up: plain noodles with butter and parmesan cheese. This version is much lightened up, if I do say so myself! I just love the nutty taste of soba noodles, and can you believe that just one serving provides a whopping 9 grams of protein? Combined with the 11 grams of protein in my quorn cutlet I have a seriously powerful dinner here! And to think some people wonder if vegetarians get enough protein…!
Tonight is sadly the last night of bread class. As most of you know by now, each of my classes lasts 3 weeks. That’s why my program is so intensive yet quite short compared to other culinary programs around the country. I wonder what I’ll be doing a year from now when I will be all done and graduated! My next class that starts Monday is Laminated Doughs with the same chef instructor and in the same kitchen I am in right now! Laminated Doughs should be an interesting module (classes are called modules here)—basically its just baking croissants and danishes every night! Well I’m sure it will be more in depth than that…but think of buttery pastries. Lots of them.
I just finalized my plans for Spring Break—which will take place after my Laminated Doughs class, starting March 28. I will be “working” as a pastry chef in training at a private yacht club in the town I grew up in! I was there a few months ago and they offered to put me up for a few nights and let me “follow around” the head pastry chef to get some more experience. I’m a little nervous because it will be a total new experience for me to actually be working in a real kitchen but I’m also super excited! I’ll keep yall posted on that! 🙂
Here I go: on to my final practical and then the dreaded “deep clean” of the kitchen! Have a wonderful Friday night everyone.
hk
March 7, 2008 at 10:19 pmWow,that dinner looks fabulous! Soba noodles really are great, with a bbq combo..sounds perfect!! Good luck tonight!!
VeggieGirl
March 7, 2008 at 10:42 pmMmm, I like the idea of serving the quorn patty “bbq-style”; and hey, brussels sprouts make ANY meal perfect/complete ;0)
You’re going to NAIL that final-practical tonight – best of luck!! :0)
VeggieGirl
March 7, 2008 at 10:44 pmP.S. – what a FABULOUS opportunity you have ahead of you, over spring break – I can’t wait to hear all about it!! :0)
BethT
March 7, 2008 at 10:52 pmI have always wanted to learn how to make croissants (not that I’m a baker, but a croissant fresh out of the oven? WOW!). Can’t wait to see your next round of goodies.
Romina
March 7, 2008 at 11:22 pmI’ve never tried soba noodles. =( I really must! Especially if they have 9 grams of protein per serving. That’s fantastic. I laugh whenever someone tells me “where do you get your protein?” I don’t know how to NOT get enough protein. I don’t think people are really aware of how much protein they really need.
linds
March 7, 2008 at 11:32 pmI had soba noodles tonight too!! Mine were buckwheat soba with 12g of protein per 3 ounce serving, which is just incredible.. I had them with stir fried tofu, broccoli, mushrooms and spinach, mm 🙂
Kristie
March 7, 2008 at 11:54 pmI already wrote myself a note to buy some soba noodles. They look so tasty!
Becca A
March 8, 2008 at 12:22 amI roasted up some brussel sprouts tonight too, they were delicious! I never had them that way before! I love all the ideas I get from your blog Jenna!
Lori- the pleasantly plump vegan
March 8, 2008 at 12:40 amLaminated Doughs are why this vegan couldn’t go to a traditional pastry school. sounds like fun though.
ChocolateCoveredVegan
March 8, 2008 at 1:30 amOoh, have fun during your Spring Break! I don’t have any such ambitious plans for mine, but I AM happily looking forward to sleeping later this next week ;o).
I can’t believe your old boyfriend went to SMU… I might have passed him last year, or even had a class with him, because that’s where I go too! Wow it’s such a small world!
Nadia
March 8, 2008 at 3:27 amok going to go buy some soba noodles and couscous tom! sadly haven’t had either.
anyways i have another bikram yoga related question…i just got into it so i’m still adjusting. tonight in class i started getting really bad foot cramps and couldn’t really do the “rabbit” or “eagle” poses without crossing my feet. the instructor said this happens during the first couple of classes but it still concerns me that it happened. any reason why i got foot cramps that just won’t go away? there were a lot of newbies in tonight’s class and i was the only one who had that issue. anyone know what i can do to prevent this from happening? i’m wondering if it is diet related or just that i have weak legs/feet? i used to run long distance and injured my hamstrings a long time ago so i understand why my legs would be weak but my feet? weird. sorry for the long post but really hoping this doesn’t happen again 🙁
nicole r.
March 8, 2008 at 3:37 amhi nadia–
your cramps aren’t really from weakness, per se. you get a cramp because when you’re in twisted yoga poses (like rabbit & eagle) you’re cutting off circulation to certain areas for a short period of time, and then resupplying upon release of the pose. so effectively, you’re temporarily starving your muscles of minerals & oxygen. your body at this stage isn’t used to having circulation deprived like that, but it will adjust & improve. by the same token, someone with super low potassium or low blood pressure would have the same problem with cramps & numbness because they’re chronically in this same state of deprivation. the only difference is in yoga this is a GOOD thing because you can control it—when you release the pose, you send nice fresh cleaned-out blood to these areas. you’ve allowed it to circulate through all the rest of your body, getting nice clean oxygen from your lungs and filtering it through your liver, kidneys, and spleen. especially in places like the feet, gravity causes blood to pool and sort of hang around for awhile, so with these poses, you’re kind of kicking that stuff out and sending a nice fresh supply instead. it’s a bit more complicated, but i wont get all med school boring on you…unless you’re a dork like me and want more explanation, then i’d be happy to!!
hope that helped—enjoy yoga!!!
linds
March 8, 2008 at 3:40 amI just made amazing vegan oatmeal cookies. Like seriously amazing. Thank you VeggieGirl for the recipe suggestions, but the one I wound up using is one I found online: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6605.0
I made half a batch and added in about 1/4 cup all natural pb and some raisins. Wow, highly reccommended and they pass the picky bf test too 🙂 He couldn’t tell they were vegan
Nadia
March 8, 2008 at 4:01 amhey Nicole
Thanks for the response…that does make sense. Actually when you mentioned low potassium and low blood pressure that does ring a bell…I do have low blood pressure so perhaps that contributed to the cramping? I’m also underweight I guess according to medical charts (because of genetics and the fact that I’m allergic to meat and dairy). I’m going off on a tangent but I’m guessing low potassium may also play a role. I heard that somewhere (I think my mom?) and ate a banana as soon as I came home lol. My sister’s a doctor and I actually called her up for an explanation on my way home from the session and she said pretty much the same thing you did. Hopefully the cramps will subside as I do more yoga. Thanks again 🙂