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Monday, October 20, 2008
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Currently Listening
True
By Spandau Ballet
True
see relatedI keep forgetting that I have a web journal to write in, so I am going to ATTEMPT to update frequently. You know...to keep everyone posted on how things are with myself.
If it isnt already apparent, I have moved to the 704...Charlotte, North Carolina.
Some people might not be aware of that being that I am still getting invited to parties and such that are taking place in the student commons at VCU on Facebook Weird I know, but if who ever it is REALLY wants me to go, I will be there in spirit.
Anywho, I love living here in the Queen City. Comparing it to Richmond, it is much more serene, calm...tranquil if you will. It is a lot cleaner, and there are not many homeless people hanging around. I live in Uptown Charlotte which is where the main corporate headquarters of Bank of America is located. Wachovia's headquarters is in the vicinty also, so they coined Charlotte the "banking city." Because of that, you will rarely hear of anything bizarre happening around this part of town. There are probably a million and some odd cameras surrounding Gateway Plaza and security everywhere. I was going to class one morning at 6:30am and there was a guard on each block. Something Richmond should take into consideration. Even though it seems semi safe to roam freely around here, I am no dummy. I still have my street smarts that I learned from living in Richmond and I am aware of my surroundings.
School has been great so far. I am learning a lot. The culinary industry is a face paced one and they teach you that here at Johnson & Wales with all of the hands on experience. I have class Monday -Thursday from 7am-1pm. Sounds like a full time job, but it actually goes by supper fast. We are so focused on getting our product ready for service that we are not even worried about the time. Its a good experience. The first day that we were in classes we were put to work cooking and producing food to serve other classes and chefs. Some students had never even held a 7" chef's knife before, but I think its great. How are you ever suppose to know how to do a task without going at it head first you know?
My skills have really been improving and I been here for almost 2 months. It is amazing and I am proud of myself and the work that I have done. The most difficult thing that I have done so far is tournes. If you have never encountered a tourne, be thankful that you haven't. A tourne is (in my opinion) the most difficult knife cut in culinary arts. Its mostly done for show for formal dinner plating. You would take a root vegetable, most commonly a potato, and turn it into this oblong, 7 sided figure. The knife that is used to this is a tourne knife. Think of it as a paring knife with a curved blade. One of my goals is to beable to tourne any root vegetable by the time I graduate in May...which won't be hard because they make us do these a lot...blah.
I have been cooking a lot of good stuff. I have perfected grilling steaks and can finally show up my dad lol. I have made everything from beer battered fish to oxtail stew. It will take me a long time to sit and type out everything that I have made so far, so if you are curious, just ask. I've also have eaten a lot of foods that I have never tried before. Beets, octopus, monkfish to name a few. It is a requirement that we at least try everything that is produced during that class period. It just so happens that I end up liking everything that I try lol. Come on...if yall know me, you know that Dominique can put away some food and rarely finds a food that she dislikes. And yes...all of this eating has given me a few extra pounds. How many...not telling lol.
I have 2 more classes to go through this term and then I am on break Nov 21-Dec1. I am ready to go home too. I miss my family and my friends. I don't know that many people here yet. My friends back home have been telling me to get out and mingle. Well...it is hard to mingle with mostly kids that are under 21. Besides, school is my main focus during the term...reason why I am sitting on a 3.5 GPA right now! I can party when I get back to Virginia on breaks.
Welp that is all for now.
More to come. I am going to start taking my camera to classes to take some pictures of my day and the food that I make; especially on days that I have practical plate ups.
Peace & Love.
Friday, July 25, 2008
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Back in the boonies; BORED is the word.
Ahhh...the boredom.
I'm looking out of the window that is behind my desk and all I see is trees. Trees...trees...trees. The occasional deer will roam through the back yard and make a pit stop at what use to be an apple tree, and birds chirp loudly. Thats about it. Nothing else exciting has emerged since I have been back home. ::SIGH:: As much as I detested the City of Richmond's polluted air, mass amounts of traffic, and rude people, I kinda miss it. I think the part that I am missing is that there was always movement. Where I live in Goochland, everything is at a stand still. I live on a back road that isnt lit, so there isnt much traffic flow. My closest neighbors are through the woods and then some, so you rarely see people unless you go into the mini village of grocery stores and restaurants about a mile or 2 up the road. This is definitely a spot where one can go to get away; clear one's head and get focused, but it is also a place where one can lose its sanity. As you can see, I am still in my right mind lol and that is because I finally have all of the DirecTV channels to watch and I am around family 24-7. I also converse with some friends from school on the daily: Clarissa, Whit, Karise, Jessica, my boyfriend Warren and others have kept me laughing day by day...THANKS YALL! , I got to catch up with a few friends from high school that I haven't seen in a while, so that has been fun. This county has also made some changes. We now have a Hardees and we are able to have pizza delivered. It might not sound like a lot to some of you, but there use to be only one grocery store and a few gas stations here, so having a fast food restaurant is BIG to us. Plus, it is super close to my crib and if yall know me well and how I enjoy ThickBurgers...you know I was smiling when I came home :). I am going to attempt to enjoy whats left of the time I have in Goochland and in Virginia. It won't be long until I leave for Charlotte. But until then, I shall gaze out at the stars through this window...
Until the next episode...I'LL HOLLA!
Monday, May 19, 2008
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Looking forward to a good summer because life after graduation isn't any picnic that's for sure.
Been so long since I have written a blog.
Seems like lately I haven't had anything "exciting" to write about.
Speaking of which, exciting has been far from what life has been like since I have graduated from VCU. Yes I have regained the many hours of much needed sleep that I lost since entering the university in the fall of 2003, but other than that...things have been down right dry. My day consists of 8-10 hours of work (which is the highlight of my day mind you), a couple of hours eating dinner and watching either sports or TV shows, and then I am in bed by 10 on most nights. I told you...its just as dry as a salad crouton. This past semester I was all sorts of lonely during the day. I kind of wished that I was in class listening to a professor lecture. Nine times out of a possible 10 I would be snoozin' for a bruisin', but it would have been more enjoyable than sitting in the house. Everyone else would be in classes; I would be at home loafin like Wonder Bread. Sad. Nevertheless...school has ended for yet another year which means summertime and also no one is in classes. YESSS! I am no longer bored. For now.
This summer shall be interesting indeed. My born day returns for another year on June 16th. Usually I am so not excited about turning another year older especially as I inch even closer to the depressing age of 30, but this year I do have something to look forward to. First off, my Ace boon coon Despina will be in VA for my birthday for the first time since...well never. Finally, she will get to see how Pinky gets down on her birthday. Also, I discovered that I am sharing my birthday with a special someone. Ironically enough, his birthday is also on the 16th. How shwweeet is that? Brown sugar cane sweet I'd say. He'll be turning the big 21, so we shall have a good time.
Also this summer, I will be going back and forth to Charlotte to get things ready for me to move there and start school again. Gotta find an apartment, gotta some sort of transportation, and build up enough nerves to hold me together while I reside in a new city as well as a new state. I found out back in March that I will only be in school for a year. That's right...I will have my degree next fall. I literally jumped 2 feet in the air in the admissions office in Johnson and Wales when I heard. From September to May I will be taking kitchen lab courses; each of them ranging from 8-9 hours a piece. Talk about your full time job. Classes will switch every 9 days with a test each day and a practical final at the end of the 9 days.During next summer, I will be able to choose to do a co-op or an internship at one of JWU's partner businesses or choose something to do over seas. I am going back in forth between the two, but I am serious pondering on maybe doing a co-op in Italy.
If anyone ever says that students that attend culinary school have it easy...bullshit to the 2nd power. Chefs are on your ass like white on rice every sec of that class. I am more than ready for it. If you are going to serve food to customers, everything has to be perfect. So I am ready for some chef with a fancy French accent yelling at me when I do something wrong. Criticism makes you stronger; I just hope that the mouth that the criticism is coming from is holding a breath mint.
I hope to have fun this summer, but I know that as it winds down and gets closer to the time that I will have to leave, things will be getting sad. I am not gonna sit here and lie, I am kind of scared to go there. Everything that I hold dear is in Virginia...mostly in Richmond and Goochland County. I have never lived anywhere else besides those two places, so it is going to take a lot of getting use to.
As much as I detest the City of Richmond, I will miss it. Going to miss my fam. I will really miss the friends that I will not beable to see on a daily basis. Despina, Clarissa, Whit...three of the best girls you could ask God to bless you with as friends...I'm going to miss them the most along with my sweety Warren to the G...those 4 keep me sane and grounded. Being away from them for more than a year would be tough, which is another reason why I am glad that I will only be in Charlotte for a year. I'm gonna miss the trash twins Davion and Brandon (lol)...my brothers Jeff and AJ...Mackington...Stix...Ameena, Shannon, and Anna...all of the other Ackell roaches (lol I don't have to mention the names) and a lot of others. I can't forget my bosses at my job, but I will definitely return back after I get my culinary degree...new job position perhaps? We shall see. Gonna be sad leaving, but knowing that my departure will only be short lived keeps me smiling.
Welp, enough chatter for one night. Can't spill all of the beans at once...gotta save some for later! Toodles!
Until the next episode...I'LL HOLLA!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
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Currently Listening
Go
By Mario
No Definition
see relatedAhhhh...as Kanye said..."sweet taste of victory...go 'head and breath it in like antihistamine."
It feels great to have over come such a hurdle. I graduated on December 8, 2007. I got a B.S. which does not stand for bullshit mind you. Even though I use to think that 4 years of college was a waste of my time, it was definitely money well spent.
My last week at VCU was spent, for the first time in my college career, studying for finals.I have never had more than one final since freshman year and it just seemed like since I was almost to the wire, I was blessed with 3 finals and a film presentation. I didn't sleep well that week. Two of the nights were spent in the library for 12 hours, one day in the editing room until 2, and the others I was playing possum sneaking in a nap in between studying. My diet consisted of coffee, 3 Red Bulls, and pork rinds...NEVER TRY IT. After it was all done, I passed everything and passed out for a day. My GPA still sucks, in my opinion, but I am looking back on it as a learning experience and not a "damn I messed up" one. There were times were I could have had my head in the books more and not up late drinking or midnight runs to my friends rooms for movie night or playing cards. I could have read the material instead of allowing the text book to collect dust on my desk. I can't go back and change what I did at VCU. What I can do is learn from it. With that said, I plan on keeping a 3.0 or higher while at Johnson and Wales getting this second bachelor's degree.
For the next 6 months I will be working, working, and working. I have nothing else better to do. I will be getting things straight to prepare to move to North Carolina, but other than that, I will have a lot of time on my hands' another thing that I have never had in a long time. The whole alumni feeling has not kicked in yet, but when the students get ready to go back in January, that thought will enter my head that I don't have to wake up and walk to Temple, Hibbs, or the Business Building anymore. I will miss it I know; just not quite admitting it yet.
More to come in the near future. Nothing but time on my hands...the perfect opportunity to write!
Until the next episode...I'LL HOLLA!
P.S. My bosses and the chefs at work got me my first pair of knives to add to my one lonely butcher that I have: a 7" santoku hollow edge butcher and a 3" paring...beautiful set. What makes it more beautiful is that my full name is engraved on the butcher and my intials are on the paring. EXCELLENTE!
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Saturday, November 24, 2007
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One chapter of my life is coming to a close; another chapter is about to unfold.
The chapter is finally coming to a close.
In 2 long, but short weeks my time at Virginia Commonwealth University will end. I have enjoyed being taken along this journey of undergrad and I have enjoyed every piece of it. Traveling down each darkened pathway toward this achievement has made me realize how fortunate I have been. Not that many individuals get a chance at going to college, meeting new people who become your closest friends, and experiencing things that I wouldn't have otherwise experienced if I would not have came to VCU. I'm going to look back on everything over the upcoming years and laugh; maybe even shed a tear. Not tears of sadness, but ones of happiness.
Now...to start this new chapter.
My vision at the beginning of this semester was to move to New Orleans next summer. Not all things have worked out as planned, so I am no longer going. I am however going to continue my education closer to VA. This week I found out that I have been accepted to Johnson & Wales' culinary school in Charlotte, NC. I have 2 weeks to make up my mind, but I think that I am going to go. One of my favorite chefs, Emeril Lagasse, graduated from Johnson & Wales Florida, so that is one of the reasons why I am excited about going. That and I love to cook and love everything about food.
When I came to VCU, I wanted to be a news producer. I figured out a while ago that being a producer would be a little boring for me, so I needed to figure out what I could do with my talent as a writer and my upcoming degree in journalism. I thought about it, while eating of course, and decided that I wanted to take my love for food and write about it.
My vision now is to be a food critic...and a damn good one at that. Going to a culinary school will increase my knowledge of food, cooking, and how to perfect the dish for a person's palate. Also by doing that, I will be able to take that knowlege to incorporate it in restaurant reviews and articles pertaining to food. I can see myself having a restaurant in Richmond and other major cities, having a newspaper column, plus being on the Food Network or cooking alongside G.Garvin.
To be the best is to follow in the footsteps of those who have become successful doing what you long to do. I am setting out to become a skillful chef and to grow as a writer. I think I can accomplish both.
Until the next epidsode...I'LL HOLLA!
yellonikki61685
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- Name: Dominique aka Pinky
- Country: United States
- State: North Carolina
- Metro: Charlotte
- Birthday: 6/16/1985
- Gender: Female
- Member Since: 3/3/2004
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About Me
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From the sticks of Goochland, Virginia. I Lived in Richmond from 2003-2008 and attended Virginia Commonwealth University. I graduated from there with a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Religion. I recently moved to Charlotte, NC and I am now attending Johnson and Wales University to pursue a degree in culinary arts. Kind of a stretch from being a traditional journalist, but now I am going along the lines of being a chef/food writer.
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