One chocolate bar a day!!!!

Hi family and friends...

so... my doctor told me that I need to cut my chocolate intake... I said, doctor how about one bar a day!!! he said, no problema...!!! he he ...sucker!!!!

he told me so, right!?!?!? we did not talk about the size of the bar,.... I am just following the doctor's instructions... ;)

Im just being silly with some pics we took at school....

This is one giant chocolate bar that we used to make 800 chocolate mouse desserts.

Sure can make one kid happy, or Mandy happy, right Mandy !?!?!?

PERFECT ROAST TURKEY

Roast Turkey:

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

• 1 gallon vegetable stock
  
• 1 cup kosher salt
  
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
  
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, quartered
  
• 1/2 onion, quartered
  
• 1 cinnamon stick
  
• 1 cup water
  
• 4 sprigs rosemary
  
• 6 leaves sage
  
• Canola oil
  

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area(I left mine outside the house, pretty cold that night) for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. (I know what you are thinking... 500 is OK... keep reading)Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine. Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 151 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Best-ever gravy

Ingredients

• 1 Roast Turkey ( no the actual turkey, just the roasting pan )
  
• 24 ounces chicken broth
  
• 8 ounces red wine
  
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 tablespoon fresh herbs such as oregano, thyme or rosemary
  
• Kosher salt
  
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Remove the turkey from the roasting pan and set aside to rest. Leave the drippings from the turkey in the pan and place the roasting pan over medium heat. Add the broth and wine at the same time. Whisk to combine, scraping the bottom of the pan until all of the bits have come loose. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes in order to reduce the mixture slightly. Transfer the liquid to a fat separator and let sit for 5 minutes to allow fat to separate. Return 2/3 to 3/4 cup of the fat to the roasting pan and place over medium-high heat. Discard any remaining fat. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Cook, whisking continuously, until the mixture starts to thicken and become smooth, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Once this happens, gradually add the liquid back to the pan and whisk until smooth and you have reached your desired consistency, approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Remember, your gravy should be slightly thin in the pan as it will thicken once you serve it. Add the herbs and whisk to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

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Descúbrelo: NUEVO Windows 7.

T H A N K S G I V I N G

Happy thanksgiving everyone!!!!
What a great opportunity to watch the Lions...... Go Lions!!!! (ha ha ha)
I am totaly not grateful for turkey, poor turkey atleast it tastes good! ;)<----- Alan
We are Grateful for the gospel
We are Grateful for each other
We are Grateful for Mom and Dad
We are Grateful for our brothers and sister (Alan has 3 brothers: Barry, Brad, Casey, one sister Christina. Anahi has 4 brothers: Carlos, Alejandro, Ernesto, Rodrigo and also one sister Sarai)
We are also Grateful for their wifes and husbands
We are Grateful for our nephews and nieces
We are Grateful for grandma
We are grateful for our crazy dog Pas
We are Grateful for cousins, aunts and uncles
We are Grateful for life

No more chocolate... But... What about some sugar?!

Everything you see here is made out of SUGAR!!!! Crazy, Crazy!!!

It took us 5 hours to make 1 apple, 1 pear, 1 flower, 1 base, 4 leafs, 5 Lillis... FIVE HOURS...

In order to work with sugar and make all this beautiful creations you will need...

1.- Special sugar that will cost you 10-15 bucks a pound

2.-Some water

3.- Colors... 15 bucks a 8oz. bottle

4.- Lamp Set... 600 bucks

5.- Tons of gloves ( to "protect" your hands )

and finally and most important

6.- HEAT RESISTANCE THUMBS!!! yup... thumbs...

-First, melt the sugar with some water, let it reach 340 F

-Add some color

-Shock the pot on an ice bath to stop the cooking proccess

-"Let it cool down" ( you can only work with the sugar while still HOT... like... lets say... really HOT )

- Place under the heat lamp and start playing

.... and after 5 hours and a couple of blisters... tah dah!!!!

see ya guys... thanks for reading our blog... it wasn't that bad playing with sugar after all.

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More chocolate!!!

I told you guys its all about the chocolate!!!...

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advance baking class....

angel food cake... best cake ever!!!, love it!!!

its all about the chocolate in this class, seriously... i eat chocolate every day because of this class...
(i love going to school!!!) ha ha

playing with chocolate

H A L L O W E E N

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

crazy pumpkins

WE HAD TO DECORATE THIS LITTLE CAKE AT SCHOOL ON FRIDAY, AND I DECIDED TO ADD A LITTLE BIT OF THE HALLOWEEN SPIRIT...

ALAN SHOWING MY CREATION...

A PIECE OF BAT ANYONE????

SEE YA

Vamos a Mexico en Diciembre!

We are both really busy with work and school. Anahi is busy preparing for a culinary competition in SLC in November. I am really proud of her and how pasionate she is about being a great chef. She is a great example for me! We are getting really excited to go to Mexico in December! It will be really weird to take three weeks off of work. Anyways>>>>>> Happy Halloween to Everyone!

The Shop!!

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Party after dinner ... 1

outside the hotel...

ready to go to dinner...

the table and all the chefs from utah

Vicky... she compited for Student Chef of the year... to bad did not win...

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Party after dinner ... 2

team Hawaii, getting ready to be called for the winners of the Student Team national champions!!!

really nice and juicy steak

Chef Diaz making faces...

BFF Chef Peter and Diaz

Cheese it!!!!

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