I had a day off from work today. I didn’t really do much either. I slept in til ten which I didn’t want to do at all. Then I worked on packing up our place a little bit. Frankie and I packed away a lot of our clothes last night into bags. Then I put a lot of our text books into some bins.. that’s about as far as I got. My counselor from SU called me today about what courses I could take this fall quarter. I think I had myself a minor panic attack today. I’ve been incredibly anxious about this move and transfer to another new school. I know its best for me and my future, but I haven’t really come to terms with it. I’m nervous to move to a big city, with no friends and no guidance. Anyway, I am really nervous about school just because my future depends on my grades being raised to an B+/A- average. Honestly, it wouldn’t be hard to keep a decent GPA if I wasn’t aiming to major in biochemistry. Pulling B’s in Organic chemistry was hard enough. I don’t know if I can get even better grades in physical and analytical chemistry. BUT it’s critical that I have a 3.5 when I apply for the masters program. I feel like it’s a lot of pressure and I might crack underneath all of it. All I can say is my anxiety is on high right now, especially since I’ve been avoiding addressing this issue as long as I could.
Anyway, today I attempted making Palestine soup. I failed miserably. Hesser said that you could use a globe artichoke as well as a Jerusalem artichoke. I couldn’t find any Jerusalem artichokes in the store so I used a globe artichoke… and I think that was my main problem. I don’t really know how to cook an artichoke. The recipe said to trim and peel the artichoke…. so I googled how to do that. I came across these website: http://www.5min.com/Video/In-The-Kitchen—Artichoke-24898648. I love that with this project I am learning something new everyday. Today, with artichokes, I learned that you need to cut off the tips of the leaves because for one they hurt like a son of a gun and secondly, you can’t eat them. Also, apparently artichokes are part of the thistle family, which is pretty cool to find out. The recipe also said that I needed to sweat the artichoke. I had NEVER heard about that before. Apparently its a lot like sauteeing but the outcome is different. When your sweating food, your goal is to soften the food to bring out their flavor without discoloring them. When you sautee, you soften and caramelize the food so it ends up a little bit sweeter. Anyway, this palestine soup didn’t turn out at all! I don’t know what I did wrong. I chopped up the artichoke, sweated it with the bacon and pureed it with our blender but it was “grassy”. It didn’t liquify very well. So I squeezed out the liquid and finished making it, but it wasn’t very good. I can’t even describe how it tastes. Very.. not good haha.
Then I decided I would make a drink for us after we put some hot dogs on the grill. I flipped through the recipe book and found one called Roman punch. Frankie and I ran to the store really quick to get some oranges and champagne. This one turned out thankfully. It’s incredibly strong, but not in the concept of taste. However, if you don’t like rum or champagne, I don’t recommend this drink for you. Anyway it has a subtle taste of fresh orange juice and lemonade with of course, rum and champagne. The recipe didn’t specify which kind so we used Bicardi Gold Rum and Andre Pink Champagne and YUMM. This would be a perfect punch to make for a family BBQ on a hot summer afternoon where we all sit out on the back porch enjoying each other like old times! As I’m sitting here sipping on it actually, I can’t help to explain that it truly is a very good drink and I’m very happy that at least one of these recipes turned out tonight! haha.
And now that I sit here and think about what I am going to make tomorrow. I have no idea! I haven’t gone through the recipes to see what I need for this second week of cooking. I guess that will be my goal tomorrow! Wish me luck 
– Michelle
Daily Fact: 1860 – The punch bowl is a fixture in bars.
Some background: “America has never settled the question of whether it’s a wine-or beer-drinking nation, so our liquid preferences have always been a free-for-all. Wine for erudite. Cocktails for the adventuresome. Beer for the mainstream.” Its interesting. Punches, from what I know from growing up, have been completely non-alcoholic. But back in the 1850′s, punches had been a staple of bars and saloons where they would make large batches at a time. I’m glad I was able to experience punch like it use to be.
