A Semi-Nautical Adventure

Me and some missles... what a fabulous combination.


Dad is thinking that at this rate, maybe he could compete in the Strongest Man Competitions.. Hmmm. Possibilities...

A true submarine kitchen. Complete with fake food!

Adri and Dad try to look cute by the submarine. Dad thinks he's got the Gene Hackman thing going on here... any opinions?

Did I mention that Dad made more friends this weekend than I have the entire 3 months that I've been here? Yup, Dad is quite the social butterfly.....

Weekend with Dad =)... Part One

Check out this beauty! My home has slowly been getting filled with toy animal stuffing because i haven't yet met a vacuum that could conquer the mess that suki can make. I had this amazing blue one back home. It was a trooper. It sucked up so many things... well, anyways, Dad and I were at Target on Saturday and lo and behold, what did Dad find just sitting there, basking in it's own glittery puke green glow... yup, you guessed it. this beautiful green vacuum! AND it is exactly the same one that i had had back home! so woo hoo!!! no more will suki and i have to live in fluff!

Oh wow, what is this? Suki got a new present! Dad broke Suki a squirrel!! Yea!!!! (thanks mom) Suki loves her squirrel very much. She played with it quite a bit this weekend.

Aww, Suki loves Dad and Squirrel..... and Dad loves watching Enchanted.... =)


We are wiiing it up!! There is Dad in the picture above trying to beat me up in boxing. He was getting awful wild and was taking this great big swings, nearly knocking me over! There I am in my winning bowling stance. I swear, I am a champion. =) Challenge me, anyone. I'm good. =) Okay, so I've only played against a few people a few times in my life, but hey, I'm a champion so far.

Just another day of TV and making out... =)

Good evening my lovelies! Tonight marks the end of my first semester of baking and pastry genius. Woo-hoo! The sad thing about this is that we will be changing groups and I have grown really fond of my girls. =( But we still have plans to hang out all the time, but it still won't be the same in class... I like the speed with which my group works. We 'get' each other. I must apologize for the many typos that appear throughout these late night blogs. My mind is apparently falling asleep ahead of my body. I do have some cute pictures that I want to share with you, so here goes.

Oh, by the way, the girls and I went out to dinner after class tonight at this pub down the street called The Leaky Roof. It was pretty expensive but the food was yummy. I really wanted to try their stuffed meatloaf, but they were all out so I settled on the Leaky Roof Burger. A burger with cheese, bacon, ham, and a fried egg. Whoa. And fries. I ended up bringing most of it home. A couple of the girls ordered wine and I thought that I would live a little, so I ordered an Irish Coffee, light on the whiskey. It wasn't light enough for me, though. Wow. Some pretty strong, stuff, let me tell you. I had to bow out after about an inch.








Look! Suki and I like to make out.




Uh oh. I fear this picture could cause an uproar. But it was so cute I've decided to post it anyways. I am already picturing the raging comment wars on the brink....

This was the cutest thing I've ever seen! Suki didn't get to watch Animal Planet last night because something was wrong with the TV. I think she has a thing for Jeff Corwin. But anyways, no TV last night. She did watch a few hours of Desperate Housewives. So this morning when I am studying I caught Suki just staring at the No Signal sign on the TV. Just standing there with her paws up, watching the words drift across the screen. She was mesmerized, I was standing there taking many pictures of what seemed to be the same thing.

Right now I am watching Lars and the Real Girl. I have been waiting for this movie for months. I am a little bit in love with Ryan Gosling. I have seen everything he has been in. This movie is really weird. But I like it. I am getting awfully sleepy, though. Tomorrow I am really going to try and get Animal Planet on for Suki. And I have to clean because Dad comes on Friday! Because I love Dad sooo much, I make him his very own batch of coconut macaroons at school tonight. Yummy!!! And on that note.... Goodnight! =)

Let's Pretend You're in My Pocket!!

Good evening all!! Boy, do I have a treat for you guys tonight!! I brought my camera to school tonight and I took some pictures of life inside the OCI kitchen.



Here is a picture taken from the back of the kitchen. THere are four tables, 16 students, and 2 chefs. The black cords hanging from the ceiling are the outlets we use to plug in our mixers.

Here is a picture of my butter braids. The one on the right hand side is a two strand braid and the one on the left is an 8 strand braid. I am awfully proud of that one. =)

And here are my two amazing chefs! The guy on the right is Chef Hall, who is my main chef and the guy on the right is Chef Parks, who is a truly fascinating man. The little paper boy between them is Flat Jayden. My friend Kim, who you will see in the next photo brought him today. Her nephew Jayden sent a flattened version of himself and he's going to track everywhere he's been. Tonight Flat Jayden was in the kitchen!

The last picture is the four of us girls! From left to right: Katie, Kim, Sarah, and me. We're standing in front of the deck ovens, smiling and looking androgynous. These are some wonderful girls and they have really helped me not feel so lonely here. Sarah and I carpool every day and we're supposed to go our for drinks tomorrow night. Speaking of tomorrow, we have our first exam. It's the end of my first 240 hours of school. Whew! I will officially have 7.5 units and either an A or a B. But I've got to go to bed soon so I can get up early and study. Wooooo. =)

Another lovely day in the neighborhood...

Hello! Today was a nice lovely Sunday for me and Suki. A couple of great things happened to us today. First, that pesky tonsil of mine is receding back down my throat a little bit. Yea!!! And second, Suki had a play date today!! She has finally met someone who is close to a zsa zsa. She misses her friend dearly. But, in this picture you see my friend Sarah and her baby Shana who is sniffing Suki's butt. I think the two girls were a little confused about what kind of date this was about because they started to engage in some slightly inappropriate behavior. Sarah and I quickly put an end to it. Suki is far too young to understand matters as complicated as sexual orientation.

Here they are having a standoff about some dingo bones. We took them on a nice long walk by the river and they mimicked each other's actions. Shana took a big poop, then Suki would take a big poop.

Yummy! They loved playing. Suki was heaving and completely out of breath but she had a great time.

Shana is the kind of girl that can run down the stairs in about 2 seconds and poor Suki screams all the way down trying to catch up. Shana looks behind her to see if Suki is there and Suki tries so hard to keep up. Here we see Shana turning the corner and poor Suki struggling to keep up. It is too funny!!

Here is my spicy new knife holder. It is quite nice and colorful. I like it alot. I do think that there should have been one centered around the groin area, though.

Oh, and by the way... Suki's favorite toy is this little white eyeball thing. =)

Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed?

This is a picture of Suki taken at around 5:00 this morning. In case you aren't aware, little miss suki is not a morning person. She's a oh, 11am or so person. Let me back up. It's been awhile since I've written, so I'll try to keep things in order. After my wonderful trip with Auntie, I got sick. And no no no, it was not because of Auntie! =) But all week I've been struggling with this nasty little cold that has turned into a sore throat and given me a deep man-voice. If this keeps up I'm afraid I'm going to have to find a doctor. Yuck. School has been a long, long week. I am finally realizing what a normal monday thru friday work week is like. I look forward to the weekends and am sooo sad they are only two days long.








I am bringing home soo much food lately. In this picture there is a chocolate cream pie, a chocolate chiffon pie, 2 ganache tortes, a pear frangipan tart, a carmel nut torte, a lemon meringue pie, and an apple custard tart. Whew! So much! This week I also brought home cheese rolls, whole wheat rolls, olive rolls, pizza, baguettes, gosh I can't even remember all the things I've brought home.
Here is ny brand spanking new Wii Wii!!!! It's beautiful and it's pink! I love it!! And for everybody who thinks I am not technologically savvy (myself included) I had this machine put together in like 5 minutes?!?!?! I was up and playing MySims in no time flat.

Tucked into my package that mom sent was a lovely little furry bunny for suki which she just loved to pieces. She managed to gnaw one eyeball out already. Michael sent a Mavs clapper and Suki was just thrilled. She loves hard plastic for some strange reason. This clapper is a rather large one so she ends up dragging it around. Suki has had a happy week. She is very in tune to the sound of the UPS truck, and when she hears it she goes zooming down the stairs and waits for the doorbell to ring. Lucky for her, I had two deliveries this week!

Well guys, I am still on the hunt for a doctor, it is hailing, suki is snoring on the couch, I am watching the Ladies and wishing I wasn't sick. Oh! Dad comes to visit next week. Very exciting. Hopefully the weather will be nice because there is lots I want to show him. =)

Auntie's Brief Visit in Pictures

Auntie is smothering Suki with great love and affection. Right before Auntie arrived Suki the Hussy decided to throw herself at some old man. He loved the attention and so did she. Hussy.


While eating cupcakes at Saint Cupcakes, Auntie becomes insecure about her body odor.

We made poor little Suki walk for miles and she was exhausted. Auntie carried her home. Although, I carried her most of the way!!

Auntie and I are waiting for the bar to open at 11am so we can have diet cokes and cheap food. Yummy! Although not pictured, we at at Old Spaghetti Factory two nights in a row. And had the exact same meal both nights. I have 4 leftover containers of browned butter and mizithra cheese spaghetti in the fridge. I'm not complaining though. Ever since I got over my fear of eating things that Baaaaaaaa this is my favorite Italian meal.

During a fabulous game of Quiddler, (which I won) Suki fiercly attacks the shuffling cards. We miss you Auntie!!! You wore Suki out. When I came home from school tonight, she was upstairs in bed. Very tired little girl. Right now she is doing weird things in the closet. I must go investigate. Well, in case you were curious, Suki was just curled up on a blanket in there. And no Mom, it was not your blankie. Actually, Auntie left your blankie on the bed so there is no telling what kind of strange secretions are on there......... =)

Wii, Mii, and You

Good Morning!!! Today is a beautiful day here in lovely Portland. Suki and I will be leaving shortly to pick Auntie Mar up at the airport. Hmm. What is Suki going to wear today? Pictured above is a not-so-good picture of my quiche and apple pie. You can't see the details, but I have some hearts on the pie. Chef Hall had to cut into both of them to grade them. My apple pie filling is yummy. The quiche has smoked cheese, potatoes, ham, peppers, and garlic. I think the smoked cheese is too strong. Last night we also made a blackberry pie with a cute lattice top, a pumpkin pie, and a pecan pie. So holidayish. Monday the girls and I will be eating in the restaurant. I'll try to post a copy of the menu up here so you guys can check it out. I'm not sure what I am going to eat. I think I am getting pickier and pickier. The culinary students offered us some dinner last night. Strange meat pates and meat mousses. I have decided that if I can't tell whether something is an animal or a vegatable I will not eat it. I mean, you should totally be able to tell whether what you're putting in your mouth is from a cow or a beet, right? Anyways, off on a tangent. The food was beautiful though. Monday is Fancy Lady Monday. Which means the girls and I are opting for cute, girly clothes to wear to dinner so people will realize we have some style. I am very excited about this. Dreaming of the outfits I could wear.... what a pity we only have one night to do this... hopefully the cute part asian boy will be our waiter and not that nasty, bitter girl who doesn't seem to like the baking and pastry class. Speaking of style, Suki and I better throw some makeup on before we leave cause how knows who we might run into? My friend was up at Chipotle the other night by PSU and apparently there was a TrailBlazer there.... She still doesn't know who it was.. I totally wish I had been there!! Lucky girl!!I love this picture and now I have good reason to post it. Michael found me a Wii yesterday!!! Yay!!!!! Yay!!!!! I am super thrilled about this. Although I think I am going to have to teach Suks how to use it or she is going to feel neglected. Or jealous. Wooo hooo!!!

Let's Eat! Suki

Good evening everybody! Typing is going to be hard tonight because I have some big bandaids on my fingers. (Got into a fight with a knife. The knife won.) The second picture is of my kitchen war wounds. While I'm in kitchen I have this wear these bright blue finger condoms. They are gross!!
The first picture is of my mom's shoe and one of mine. Apparently Suki dragged both shoes up and curled up with them in front of the tv. I left animal planet on for her and when I got home she was watching a dog show about aggressive worker dogs, which I secretly think she wants to be.
Well, anyways, as soon as I come in from the garage suki is waiting for me and we both run upstairs to see what kind of goodies I've brought home. We're in the middle of making pies at school, so I have nothing but a chunk of baklava and I snagged a wheat roll for suks. I got some pictures of her trying to eat her roll. It was so cute! And oh, as we speak, or rather as I write, suki proceeded to throw it all up. Hmm. Roll must have been too big.

Oh, and as a sidenote, I am so sick of selfish, insensitive boys!!!!! Where are all the decent, reliable guys? Hmm. I'll take another pug instead.

A Rainy Day in Portland

Good afternoon.

It's another cold, cloudy day in Portland. Suki and I just got back from a trip down to the docks to check out the Dragon Paddle Boats. They are sooo cool! Whenever I get some serious upper body strength I want to join a paddle boat crew. But those women look mighty strong. Suki has a little life jacket that she has yet to wear, too. Well, it started raining so we headed back home for some lunch and a rest before school.

Tonight we start pies. I believe we're making an apple pie and a quiche. Yesterday we made an apple cream cheese strudel, doughnuts, beignets, and fritters. We'll finish up some crepes and cannoli's today. And now I believe its time to don the striped pants and jacket. Wooo. =)

Little Miss Muffin

Good evening all! School has been a rather tasty week so far... Yesterday we made breads for the restaurant, my friend and I made prosciotto biscuits and the big Head Chef came and complimented them! Yay!!! I made these really yummy white and dark chocolate chip scones. Today I brought home lemon poundcake and banana walnut muffins. Those two are in the picture above. This is my baking table, and suki is really wanting something yummy. Well tonight I'm really tired. And I just ate some ice cream. And a peanut butter sandwich. That's all for now. Some of the girls and I have plans to go out this week. It's a good thing I've been staying up so late these days! All right, got to finish watching Desperate Housewives and then I am going to bed. Goodnight!!

Happy Sunday!!

Hello to all again! Thanks for the lovely comments... I think that in order to comment you have to sign up? I'm still trying to figure this all out... Thanks guys!

Well, this weekend the Portland Farmers Market opened up. I've been waiting since I moved here to check it out, so I was really excited. Suki, Mom, and I hopped onto the trolley and braved the rain and soggy ground to browse stands full of vegetables, baked goods, meats and fish, flowers, chocolates, nuts, and all sorts of other goodies. It was a fantastic little farmer's market. Suki had an awful time, though. She's not the most social little girl. I think she hates being so low to the ground and having people laugh at her all the time. Poor little girl!

Mom left today and we will miss her so much. She's been Suki's only companion while I'm gone for hours every day. Suki's going to be quite lonely. Mom and I have fell into a routine of playing this game called Quiddler most every night. Best game ever. I love it. And now mom is hooked. My auntie mar suggested it a while back and Michael and I picked it up a few months ago. Here's a couple pictures of our midnight games.

Tomorrow we start making quick breads at school. Friday night I got graded on six cookies. Chocolate Chip, Macaroons, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Shortbread, and Biscotti. And yay! I passed. Actually, I was the first one to finish and the chef's only negative remark was that my oatmeal cookies were 30 seconds overcooked. Monday I am also in the bread group where three other girls and I will make all the bread for the restaurant dinner service. We will be making biscuits, butter braids, wheat rolls, sourdough, breadsticks, and perhaps one more. I found a lovely kitchen table by the dumpster the other day and made Mom drag it back with me. It's going to be a perfect baking table. I have a huge delivery from safeway coming tuesday morning with pastry flour, cake flour, rice flour, european butter...... all kinds of wonderful fancy things! The only problem is going to be, who is going to eat all this stuff? I have a couple friends at school and the nice maintainence guy, but I'm going to have to start leaving it out for the homeless people around here. Hmmm.

I'm watching Fried Green Tomotoes right now. I just finished the book, and of course the book is better but the movie's not bad either. I like southern things. Suki is sound asleep and snoring. She misses her grandma. Wish me luck on my breads tomorrow guys! Bye bye! Goodnight!!

There are some random pictures of Suki. I think the one of her on the couch kind of looks like she is just a plastic design or some other 2-D object.... This picture on the left was taken at a pug group meeting that we joined. Suki has never played with dogs her own size so she was rather intimidated and kept trying to get me to pick her up...... Cute, but sad. She misses her Zsaz very much. Speaking of her best friend, how about a picture? If anybody could tell me how to post pics so that they are surrounded by text and not all at the beginning of my post, I would be much obliged.

Goodnight.