Yes Chef!

Cooking food is a mystery to me. I've tried several times and pretty much every time has been chaotic. I wish I had the knowledge to throw random ingredients into a pot and have it come out delicious. But that takes practice in the kitchen. One thing that makes cooking crazy is not knowing how to use the tools correctly. My boyfriend, Nathan Atkinson, and culinary student poured his knowledge of knife cuts into my hands. There are several types of cuts such as julienne, brunoise, and batonnet. Each one has a specific size. The importance of knife cuts is efficiency in the kitchen, it's a nice way to display food, and it makes it easier to fit on your utensils and in your mouth. One thing I got in trouble for was slide the knife edge across the cutting board because it ruins the knife edge. The best part to use is the back, spine, of the knife to clear food of the board. It's as easy as flipping the knife over. The food industry is some serious business. I'm one baby step closer to surviving.

Guns N Stuff

When it comes to handling dangerous items I get a little nervous. For the most part I try to stay away from them. I wasn't really sure how I felt about guns so I decided to test them out at the gun range. My friend Kiyo Nakagawa and my brother Ben Cote guided me through a series of hand guns: a Glock 17, Walther PPQ, and Sig 1911. The first two are .09 mm and the Sig was .45 in. People who work in law enforcement carry a Glock 17; one, because they are reliable, and two, because they are really easy to use. To me it looks like an old fashioned game boy with it's blocky facade. The Sig 1911 was my favorite, mostly because it looked bad ass. It was intimidating at first but I got used to handling the power. The only thing I know about the Walther PPQ is that it's German made. I still haven't made up my mind about owning a gun but I had a TON of fun! Next time I'm thinking shot guns.

Glock 17 (bottom) and Walther PPQ (top) disassembled for cleaning.

Cleaning duty. This is the Sig 1911.

Kiyo Nakagawa (left) and Ben Cote (right) thanks for the help and the guns.

Glock 17, Walther PPQ, Sig 1911, and Steyr (left to right). I also shot the Steyr 40 caliber but it's not in the video.

Break!

I am going to admit to you that I am a horrible dancer. I will step on your feet and I don't have any rhythm. This is something I've been meaning to work on for a couple years and I finally have the option to. To give you a teaser I will be learning to swing dance so maybe that will help with the feet part. Break dancing will help with keeping a beat.
Eric Tian showed me the basics of break dancing. He took me through a combination including Indian Step, Top Rock, Drop Down, 6-Step, 3-Step, and ending with Baby Freeze. Top Rock takes awhile to get the footwork down, once that's done it's a lot easier to go fast, which is how it's meant to be. Baby Freeze requires balancing your body and ab strength, which I don't really have. In the end I still need practice, I came out with a break dance set and bruised knees. It was worth it.

Note to everyone, wear a beanie.

 

See it here better.