Going
back to school I knew this semester was going to be CRAY-ZEE. I’m taking one of
the hardest film production courses. I’m talking late night classes, filming on
the weekends, scouting locations, casting actors, etc. It’s all one big hot
mess, but it’s exciting. And you’ll be pleased to know that my film is about
FOOD. THAT’S RIGHT!!! That’s one thing I’m super amped about. My protagonist is
a baker who tries to win over her love’s affections through her baking (I swear
this isn’t based off my life). Now, coming back to USC, you know I had to get my
hands messy with some flour. I haven’t baked for two months (I made Oreo
truffles, but that isn’t real baking… no oven required), so I’ve been itching
to bake. ITCHING.
If
all y’all didn’t know by now, I’m part of a Christian fellowship on campus
called Cru (aka Campus Crusade for Christ). We had a leadership meeting about a
week ago and I decided to show up with cinnamon roll cookies. I’ve never made
cinnamon rolls or cookies in this roll fashion, so it was a fun challenge. It
came out well and one of my friends had five or more that night. I would say
that they were a success. =P I also had some at home and ate them for breakfast
occasionally. They’re like cinnamon rolls, but denser. I recommend microwaving
them for like 30 seconds (if you refrigerated them overnight) if you want to
eat them for breakfast. I also made dark chocolate banana banana bread (that’s
right! TWO bananas. It’s that banana-y. All this banana talk makes me want to
rewatch the Despicable Me banana short with minions! And I just realized that I’ve posted that before. Oh wells, no
hurt in watching it again!). That was gone real soon. I just felt sooo good
baking again.
And
onto something not baked! So a little unknown fact about me: I don’t like to
cook meat. In fact, I want my future-husband to be great at cooking meat—it’s
an actual quality I’m looking for. You could kill someone this undercooked
meat! So I tend to shy away from it and overcooked meat is just unpleasant.
However, thanks too good ol’ Gordon Ramsay, I learned a thing or two about
cooking meat this summer. If you haven’t watched it yet, go watch ‘The F Word.’
It’s currently free on Hulu and a great show. I use to have problems cooking
chicken ‘cause it would get too dry. Or even when the outside looked all
golden, the inside was still raw. From watching the master (not a pun to the
show ‘MasterChef,’ which is a great show by the way), I learned to first season chicken (just simple salt and
pepper will do) and then place it into a hot pan of olive oil skin down first.
I use to put butter right away into the pan, but you’re not suppose to do that later ‘cause the butter burns faster. So after cooking the skin side until it’s
golden and crispy, flip it over and do the same to the other side. When the
non-skin side is cooking, generously place butter on top of the chicken. To add
flavor, I mixed minced garlic and basil in my butter. As the butter sits on top
of the skin, it will slowly melt and slide to the bottom. You want to
occasionally tip the pan and spoon the butter back to the top of the chicken.
After the chicken is gold all around, place it in the oven at about 400 degrees
for 20 minutes. Voila! The chicken will come out crispy and juicy. So proud of
myself!
Sadly,
I won’t be able to food blog as much as I’d like this semester ‘cause of all
the film production madness, but I’ll try to update you time to time. I’d love
to show my film production pictures eventually as well! And, I’m planning on
studying abroad in London next Spring, so that will bring exciting food
adventures! So much is going to happen this year and I can’t wait to share it
with you!
