life update september

The last time I gave you an update was the end of May. That doesn’t seem like a long time on a calendar, but it feels so much longer to me. This is likely because I have crammed so much into those three months.

When I last left you I was just about to start culinary school. I finished the first two classes, with straight A’s. That has to be the first time I have ever said that. I wasn’t a horrible student I just only did as much work as needed to get a B. I was always okay with that until culinary school. The new semester of classes has started and I have one class, Intro to baking. It is kicking my butt. The schedule is very demanding, Mon-Thurs 7:30-12:20 for 4 weeks. Which means my 20+ chapter textbook must be covered in that time. You wouldn’t think it but culinary school provides as much homework as any class I have ever taken.

Home

After buying our first lawn mower we realized more flower beds would be the perfect solution to spending less time mowing. We have started a large shade garden in the front yard which will look great when it grows in. We are putting in a fire pit area in the back plus another shade garden. There are lots of planned gardens. In a few years it will all look great, but right now it looks like that awkward stage when you grow out a short haircut.

We did get a new deck. The old deck was built off the ground and had a railing and it blocked of the view of the yard when we were sitting at the kitchen table. That was our big remodel this year and will be great when we get it stained and sealed in a few weeks. Fingers crossed we can do a bathroom next year.

We will be finishing up a bunch of indoor painting projects over the cooler winter months. I am really excited to see my own design and color palette on the walls.

School

As I mentioned I got straight A’s. So far I am on pace to get an A in my third class as well. The first class was basic foods and covered different cooking methods for meat, soups, stocks and other similar culinary techniques. It was a great foundation and a confidence boost. I know more than I think I do. This semester is intro to baking and I am loving it. We just finished pies and I can already tell there will be more pie recipes coming soon. I loved working with the dough, it was so relaxing. The four weeks of class goes by really quickly. Which is good and bad. I am looking forward to having more blog time as I have all kinds of ideas.

Blog

While I haven’t had a lot of posts up lately and probably won’t for the next few weeks I feel so good about where the blog is headed. I have been working a lot behind the scenes to make this blog a place where people can learn and connect with others over food. There are new graphics coming and a couple new series that will compliment the how to store and eat posts. I also have some great information coming on grocery shopping, how to get your first Thanksgiving dinner on the table. That last one came to me just the other day and I can’t wait to get started on it. We are going to have a lot of pre-thanksgiving meals around here.

One thing I am really excited about is the Cookbook Club. We are a small group on facebook right now but I look forward to getting more people in there to talk about cookbooks and connect with other people who love cooking. It is going to be a lot of fun as we find new cookbooks to feature and discuss. Please come join us!

I am working on some other projects that I hope will be live in the coming months, but I am trying to not bite off more than I can chew as well so I will keep you posted as those develop.

What would you like to see more of on the blog? Recipes? Tips? Something completely different?

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