Daniel Gunther Proctor Kitchen

Today, I jumped right into the preparation for my final meal, which actually ended up causing me to have my longest work day to date. Not to fret, I enjoyed every last second of it. I began by making a vinaigrette for the salad that I will present tomorrow. I also made a sourdough dough, which I will bake freshly for tomorrow. Another batch of chocolate cake was also prepared, ready to jump into the oven tomorrow right before two o'clock in the afternoon. I also made a beef stock for a soup tomorrow, of which I will not disclose the contents yet. It tasted great though and I am excited to present that one tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, I am getting up an hour early, to get a head start on the sauce for the main entree. I also spent about an hour and a half working on my presentation for express fest. I'll be sad to say goodbye, but am proud of all that I've accomplished. Time: 9:34 p.m. Hours Today: 7:52 a.m. - 2:53 p.m. Total Hours: 72:49

Yesterday was pretty brief. Just a minor addition to the hours, but was helpful in preparation for my presentation at Express Fest. Annie, Nelson and I threw the cookies into the oven after balling them up and essentially waited for them to be done. In the mean time, we ate some of the sourdough cake that I had made the night before. It was short, so there isn't much to talk about. I suppose, I also spent the day writing my reflection paper as well and planned out my four course meal. Excited to nail that one home. Time: 9:30 p.m. Hours Today: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Total Hours: 65:48

Today was a short day, but nevertheless as successful one. Although my mentor wasn't there, I worked with a few of my friends under the loose supervision of Caleb to bake a sourdough chocolate cake and make cookie batter for Express Fest on Wednesday. Today was more just fun for me and messing around, rather than structured productivity, but all the same, I got to have some fun with a few of my friends, applying skills that I've learned for my final presentation. The cake is cooling overnight, but from what I can tell, it tastes pretty great. I must thank Diane for the recipe and Annie for the recipe for the cookies. Overall, great day, mildly productive day and an enjoyable day. We had strike this morning, so I was already a bit distraught and exhausted, but being in the kitchen significantly brightened my day. I'm excited to get started on the final meal on Tuesday. Time: 8:33 p.m. Hours Today: 4:00 p.m. - 6:39 p.m. Total Hours: 64:48

First of all, big shout out to Fiona for reading all of my blog posts last night, I appreciated the comments and acknowledgment of the work that I’ve been working at, so vigorously for the past three weeks. Although, this week began with a bit of a roadblock in the forms of AP Exams, I banged those out, one day after another and jumped right back into the kitchen on Thursday. That was the most excited I’ve ever been to get up at seven a.m. in my life and that was a sign to me that I was doing the right thing with this open-ended period of three and a half weeks. I did a bit of thinking and considered my other and what was initially my first choice as a project: working on Roseway for their yard period. Although that would have been awesome, I am eternally grateful that that fell through. The way that this spring has gone for me, has been an incredible journey and learning experience that I don’t think I would have been able to achieve living and working in Gloucester. The chance t

Today was another good day, with a good amount of learning, mixed with enjoyment. First, I threw my lasagnas in the oven and let those cook for about an hour and a half before they got to temperature. They were a bit difficult to cut, but I was happy with the appearance and flavor once they went out onto the line. I also spent a lot of the morning cooking and then frying up some beans. The last piece ended up not so great, but was neither the fault of mine, or Nate. I made some pineapple, red pepper and rum sausage, but when we started to fry it in a pan, it smelled rancid and we had to throw the entire batch out. At least I now know how to make sausage though. I also spent a bit of the day sorting out what I am calling the judgement meal, a meal that I will cook for my advisor: Spencer Corkran, my two committee members: Fiona Mills and Caleb Dunklee, and last but not least, Nate and myself. Hopefully this meal will showcase my culinary abilities and taste pretty good all at the same t

Today was another day. Although I was in the kitchen for a number of hours, I was more focused upon my Dad's imminent arrival for tonights performance. I hope to see all of you here tonight by the way. In the kitchen though, I made all of the components for my lasagna and then compiled it. This took a number of hours, as I needed to make the sauce, roast the vegetables, grate the cheese and then put it all together. I will be cooking it tomorrow and hope to be happy with the final product. In other news, my sourdough starter is ready to go(nice and sour). I also had my daily dosage of mango(I found out that I can snack a bit from the cooler, within reason). Tomorrow, I'm baking lasagna and making sausage. I'm excited too get back at it yet again. Time: 5:09 p.m. Hours Today: 7:27 a.m. - 11:31 a.m. Total Hours: 57:43