My life's next Chapter...

It's official. I am going back to school (in August). For those who don't know yet, I've decided to pursue a career in cooking. Yes! I am going to be a certified Chef. So, next year, you can call me Chef Rein. Ha!
Now, I don't really know what to expect what would become of this career change so to speak. It's not really a change for one, since I have been working as a cook for some three years now and for the love of me, why didn't I thought of getting certified before? Well, I did thought about it but never really looked into it and acted on it. I can think of so many reasons why I didn't but you would think I am just making excuses (which I probably did back then).
After all the running around and doing pre requisite exams, this should be worth it. It just gotta be. I have looked into the school, been a student for a day and saw how the chef shouts at those who makes mistakes in the kitchen during crunch time. And my conclusion? I think I can hack it. But of course, there's still some uncertainty here and there. Don't worry though, I am determined to make it all happen. I need that certificate!
In the meantime, I think my meringue smooches are ready to come out of the oven.

Sunday At The Fair

These are some pictures of the Ormstown Fair we went to last Sunday. Yes, it was hot. And I mean temperature HOT!!!
We went there because of Sue's youngest son joining the demolition derby. Which, we go to every time Jon joins in some small town fair. Well, for moral support you know and for documenting purposes (I think he loves it that we put the pics in a disc and with background music to go with it).
Anywho, also take note of the derby pics was taken by Laurence. I gave him an assignment to be the paparazzi this time - to which, my poor camera suffered some bruises and scratches...tsk tsk..my fault.. I let a 10 year old boy handle it. Oh well..
Back to the derby, honestly, upto now, I still don't understand the whole point of bumping these delapidated cars (well, they are pimped and sort of dressed up or should I say messed up) - and the last car running ends up winning! You might say, it's all for the fun of it. But seriously, WHY? WHY? WHY? Or, maybe I'm just being too serious about it.
So there we were, we watched the derby. Watched Jon's poor car get hit by several cars and then stopped running.
We went home all sunburnt. And heck, I turn on the tv, watched the US Open, and fell asleep.
Some sunday eh.

Oatmeal Day-saster

I made a boo boo the other day. I burnt the oatmeal for the kids. Yikes! I know, I know. How on earth can one possibly burn oatmeal - well, for one, I used a different pot. Let me tell you about this pot : The first time I used it, it did easily burnt the milk, so I learned not to use it for oatmeal. Then another time I used it to cook pasta, and voila! it also burnt the pasta. Heck! I think when I used to boil some water, it also did burn the water! So I gave it a rest. I never put it on the stove for sometime. Until one day, I decided to give it another test on cooking rice. And guess what? It cooked the rice just fine! No burning or anything!
So, gullible me, thinking that maybe this pot had a change of heart now (after a long hiatus). So I used it for cooking oatmeal.
Oh poor kids. And for some unexplainable reason, I didn't make the flavor that they'd usually gobble down easy. I regularly make the apple cinnamon flavor of the oatmeal - i make a syrup with the grated apple and dash of cinnamon. That day I just made the syrup with plain vanilla. And the pot just burnt my oatmeal....tsk tsk.
Now, you must be wondering, how did these kids react or did they even notice? Of course! Well, the bigger ones did. As soon as they were given each a bowl, one started to ask me, "tita reina, what did you put in it?". And I go, " why?" and she go, "it smells different". Haha! if only they knew the word on how to say it. Then asked another kid, "ya, tita reina, what did you put?". And poor tita Reina, didn't know what to tell them - should I go, " sorry kids, I burnt it" or should it be, "the pot burnt the oatmeal!" (nah, they are too smart for that). So I just answered with, "I put vanilla in it" end of story. I went back to chopping some veggies. Oh my! I couldn't face my daily critics! They just know if something went wrong with what they "normally" love to eat.
But then again, they were hungry and they know that lunch time is quite a long time to wait. So, they still ate it.
So I just consoled myself with the thought that I will just do better with their lunch. Yeah sure, their lunch that day is just mere cheese sandwich and a chicken ala king (with macaroni). How can I revive my reputation with that? I am so done. My life was over. (so I thought)
Lunch came and they ate. And some had seconds and thirds. It was as if they've forgotten how lousy the oatmeal was in the morning.
And at snack time in the afternoon. I thought the cookie is another flop. Well, it was a flop sort of. It was flat and kinda too sweet I think.
But what d'ya know, when I was saying goodbye to them, one kid tells me, "bye tita reina, thank you for all the food". Ha! I don't think it was sarcasm. They don't know that word yet.
And for some reason, I know, my life wasn't over. Not yet anyway.
Kids. They are so forgiving. And oh so forgetful. Ha!