Friday, July 8, 2011

Departure from the Dolls. Just for this one post.

Today is my 43rd birthday and I feel truly blessed to be here.  What will I do on this fine day, you ask? I have no idea.  The first thing I did this morning was work on a new recipe for my cookbook.  About a year ago I had absolutely no confidence in my cooking skills.  I could feed myself, close friends and family, but my food was just run of the mill.  Whenever I had to take a dish to a function, I would just get my mom to do it.  She used to cater, and she loved cooking.  Well that has changed over this past year.  It started with me going to the local "Le Cordon Bleu" school to inquire about getting a degree.  The Associates degree was pretty expensive.  I don't remember exactly, but it was over $20,000 for the 9 month (or something very close to that) program.  The two year degree progam was about $40,000.  Not really what I had in mind.  I had no desire to work in the restaurant field.  I was planning to do my own thing.  

$20,000 can buy a lot of food!  So I decided to teach myself how to cook.  I ended up finding this wonderful on line school called, Rouxbe (http://www.rouxbe.com/).  They focused more on the science and techniques of cooking.  This was right down my alley.  I don't mind cooking from a recipe, but I realize now that being able to develop my own dishes gives me that creative freedom that allows me to embrace cooking and really love it.  Rouxbe on-line cooking school is wonderful.  I lucked out and got in for an unbelievable Lifetime price just before they raised their prices.  


This dish probably doesn't look so appetizing, but it is one of my favorites, and if you like okra, it tastes fantabulous.  It is actually still in the cooking process.  This was the first time I threw in a few mushrooms.  I will add more next time, as the taste worked quite well with the other vegetables and spices.  I tried a few different spices than before, and I think I got it almost the way I want.  Normally, I eat this by itself, but his morning I cooked brown rice as the base.  I will try other bases, like couscous, etc. I like cooking first thing in the morning, before I get totally engrossed in the dolls.  All of the recipes I develop will be reproduced in 1/6 scale....someday.


27 comments:

  1. Looks yummy.

    Happy 43rd. May you have many, many, many more happy birthdays!

    Enjoy your day.

    dbg

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  2. Food, gardening and dolls are my favorite things. So I can relate! You didn't say what this recipe is called? I go to flea markets and church sales for the baked goods and the dolls!:) Nobody young makes a really good spice cake or poppy seed cake any more!:( I haven't worked my self up to it yet but soon. At my last church sale there were these Reese’s Cup brownies! Girl! I bought one, then another, then I asked how much for the whole pan. She just sent me the recipe. Oh Joy! I love okra and have some growing in my garden. I pick all my greens this morning and will start a new crop tomorrow. I am currently grilling 3 different kinds of squash, mushrooms, onions, and eggplant that have sat in evoo and Italian season. When they are done they get hit with salt and pepper and balsamic dressing and surround a bed of couscous. Yummy! I will have to have some meat for the man. You know how they are about meat. OK, I got to go. I got to flip everything.

    You have a Joyous birthday. Every day is a blessing.
    Live, Love, Laught!
    Ms. Leo

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  3. Happy Birthday Vanessa! Enjoy and have many more birthdays to celebrate!

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  4. Happy Birthday! Looks delish. I'm local so I'll be over right after work. hee hee! Enjoy your day!

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  5. DBG and Frannie - Thanks so much for the birthday wishes. I had planned to go dancing, but I have a feeling the only dancing I will be doing is im my Barbie sized ballroom.

    Dani - I didn't know you were local. There are a number of us locals here. We all need to get together and have a dolly day out.
    By the time you get off of work I don't know that there will be any left. I just kept tasting and tasting, and tasting.... It's only about 1000 calories without the rice, which I don't usually eat with it. So it's usually breakfast, lunch, dinner, and guilt free.

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  6. Ms. Leo - I can always count on you for a good laugh. That was my ROTFL moment today. Watch out for those brownies. Sounds deadly, but in a delectable way. I wish I had time for gardening. I would love to grow my own food. I do the next best thing when I can, by shopping at the farmer's markets. They are pretty plentiful during the summer time. Since my doll budget has just about taken over my food budget, I love when I get gardeners who have way too much food growing in their gardens and they are begging people to take it. I have been eating cukes and squash almost daily lately. I love eggplant too. Your dish does sound yummy! Oh my dish doesn't have a name yet. That will come once I get to the final version. Because who knows what all will be in there.

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  7. Happy birthday!!, please enjoy the day, the weekend the rest of the month!! Just remeber once you get the cooking down -baking comes next. Think of it this way, food is about celebrating, enjoying family and friend and just the great things in life.

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  8. Thanks brini! You are right. There is nothing like having a good meal with friends and family.

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  9. Happy Birthday Vanessa!

    If your 1:1 food tastes as good as your 1:6 scale food looks, you will be able to TEACH at Cordon Bleu in no time!

    Hope the rest of your special day was as good as breakfast!

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  10. limbe dolls - Thanks. I spent my day trying to put the finishing touches on the ballroom, because I have to shoot this video tomorrow. I will celebrate my birthday once it's done.

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  11. Happy Birthday, Vanessa! Many more to come!

    I LOVE to watch some cooking shows ... Cook's Country (America's Test Kitchen) and Simply Ming are my favorites. Sometimes watch Lidia's Italy or Ciao Italia, too. Occasionally Mexico One Plate at a Time or Daisy Cooks. There's a Scandinavian one, too, fairly new that I watch and shudder - they show shrimp heads and fish heads. Things no dedicated urban dweller ever wants to see. (My cousin says that fish is supposed to come in a brick - frozen, lol - and I don't go quite that far, but shrimp heads should never be seen.

    Meandering aside, my Mom fixes fried okra, tomatoes, shrimp and yellow onions. I don't eat it because I almost always LOATHE okra - but my Dad used to love it. Just FYI.

    Thanks ever so much for the beautiful pizza. My Joes ran off with the package, but I think Tawny Tommy slipped a slice or two away for himself and his girlfriend, Abby. I can't wait to show the pizza in future scenes.

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  12. D7ana - Thanks, my fellow Cancerian (the zodiac sign, of course). Hope you had a wonderful bday too. Did you get my message on Dollpages about the beautiful luggage? I see a trip in an upcoming video. I, too, love cooking shows, but I don't get to watch them too often. I am so happy that your little people are enjoying the pizza!

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  13. That looks WONDERFUL...Wow! Happy Birthday! I had to sneak a quick minute to wish you a happy birthday when I saw your post. We're fellow summer babies. :) My birthday was last month, turned 43yrs old also. Sure wish I had the skills to prepare something like that last month, LOL. Anyway, hopefully tomorrow I will get to catch up on your videos...I need my Fashion Dolls story fix.

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  14. Happy Birthday Vanessa! I hope your day was grand! I don't like okra unless it's fried, but your dish looks really delicious! I am looking so forward to the video tomorrow...well today Lol, it is in the wee hours of the night.

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  15. Happy birthday, Vanessa! Sorry for not coming earlier. I often prefer not to read or write anything in English after work, because when I'm tired, I begin to forget English words and grammar rules. :D But I could remember the words "happy birthday" of course - just didn't read your blog yesterday.
    I'll also have a bithday in July, in the end of the month. I'll be 34. But I understand absolutely nothing in cooking, it's just not interesting for me. Maybe "cooking" for dolls could be interesting, but I understand nothing in it too.

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  16. Tracy Tracy - What a wonderful surprise to see a comment from you. That was just like getting a really nice birthday gift! We (your blogger friends) hope that you and your daughter are doing well. Happy Belated Birthday!

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  17. Georgia Girl - I love fried okra too, but that takes away from my meal being guilt free. Today I will begin shooting the video, but it won't be ready for at least another day, possibly two. After shooting, there is editing and adding the script. Then there is choosing the music. Typically this is a 3 day process. I will shoot for 2, so maybe Sunday.

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  18. Dukasha - I am always impressed with people from other countries that are so fluent in English. We are so behind the eight ball here in the States when it comes to learning languages. Trust me, cooking wasn't something I was interested in until just recently. I was the carpenter in the house. Give me some tools and I was happy. For the first 2 years of my marriage, my ex-husband did all the cooking. He had dinner in the stove waiting for me when I got home. Now that I think about it, just about every man I dated, seriously was really good at cookinhg. I have to say that learning how to throw down in the kitchen is extremely liberating. I highly recommend it.

    Happy early Birthday!

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  19. Vanessa, thanks. I like English, but I don't know it as well as I want to. Sometimes I think about keeping a blog in English (a doll blog I mean), because practice makes perfect and so on, but I'm afraid I'm too lazy to update it often. And besides my dolls are not so interesting for the most part of other collectors.
    As for cooking - maybe I'll also find it interesting for me, when I'm 43? :) Who knows. :)
    Thanks for the birthday greetings. :) It's also a good reason to have a blog, isn't it? When you have a birthday, everybody can come to your blog to wish you many happy returns and everything. I have a blog in Russian, but it's interesting for me to communicate with English-speaking doll collectors also. Unfortunately, I'm really too lazy. :)

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  20. Dukasha - I would never know that English is not your first language. You speak it better than some English born people I know.

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  21. Happy Birthday Ms Van :O) Sorry to be late but I was tired..LOL. I'm no fan of okra so that's all for you and whomever else may love it. I'll be the one picking it out of my food most time. I hop your day was what you wanted it to be and may you have many many more :O)

    The man here does all the cooking and I didn't set out for it to be that way but I love it. Haven't had to really cook in 8 years. I do cook here & there so the skills don't get rusty ;O)

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  22. Dollz4Moi - You go girl! That is why you will continue to see men cooking in my videos. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a Good Thing."

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  23. Vanessa, you are very kind. :) I try not to make bad mistakes, but I see that sometimes my English is really awkward. English grammar is rather difficult for me, especialy those perfect tenses. :)
    The old "fazenda" house - it's walls are so white...
    Strange ancient legends seem to live inside.
    When you returned in summer to see again all that,
    Dollie for six years had been being dead.

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  24. Big goof, not clarifying Cancerian as in the zodiac sign. Thanks for catching that, Vanessa.

    Yes, I got your message on The DollPage. Thanks for letting me know you got the luggage.

    Looking forward to see who gets the luggage, lol.

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  25. D7ana - I forgot to tell you that I love shrimp with the heads on them. They serve them at the Chinese place I go to. Hmmm, hmmm, good. Of course I don't eat the heads, but the shrimp is good. I am actually cooking (headless) shrimp and salmon for dinner. I am trying capers for the first time. I heard on "Body Fuel" that capers and salmon go well together.

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  26. happy birthday vanessa!!!!1 hope all your dollies celebrated it with you!

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  27. William - Thanks. It was just me, my dollies, and my little pooch. Just the way I like it.

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