Could you please push the stop button?

Okay, so this has been yet another interesting/ intense week. We are actually working more with the food; that is more than just cutting and whatnot, we have mostly been working on sauces still. We made a tomato sauce on Tuesday and I will include the recipe either in this post or the next depending on how much time I have (hopefully it will be in this one). Seriously though, we really haven't done anything else aside from sauces this week. In baking we made quiche dough and sautéed the vegetables for the quiche, however we let the girls assemble them the next day (these were for an order that the school got, so we only got to eat the least attractive one :-p). We continued working on cookies, so that included sugar cookies, checkerboard cookies (these require a little more work but look really cool and also taste quite delicious), and macaroons. The macaroons aren't what you probably think of- the ones you buy in a can around pesach time- but rather a cookie that's crunchy on the outside and chewy and soft on the inside. They are really really good ( I ate waaay too many the first day we made them) and my teacher said he judges the quality of a bakery based on their macaroons. Since they require so much more effort than other pastries if they can make a god macaroon they can make other pastries really well. He said that he had found this to be true across the board.

That was pretty much it for the cooking part of school this week. On Thursday we had our first (of six) ulpan class. Ulpan is a hebrew language class. The course is open to those who want to participate. After the class we went over the menu for a dinner that we are catering next thursday night. We is atually a relative term in this case because they picked eight names out of a hat four who are doing the cooking and four who are waiting the tables. My name was not picked so even though I will be in school next Thursday for Ulpan I won't have to stay to help in the kitchen. Don't worry though, I will get a chance to work in the kitchen.

So one more thing before I give you the recipe for the tomato sauce: The title of this blog is in reference to something that happened to me yesterday on the bus. At one of the stops a mother had her child get on the bus by himself (she made sure he got on okay). For those of you who don't know, the buses here are like the greyhound buses in the US (they're coach buses) and the stop button is on top where the lights are. Now I was wondering if this kid would be able to push the stop button, and got my answer when he leaned forward about ten minutes later (he was sitting behind me) and said something to me in hebrew which I did not quite understand but i got the general idea that he wanted me to push the stop button for him. I thought he would have been more resourceful and stand on the seat or something, but alas, he did not.

Tomato sauce:

Mire Poix (50% onions 25 % carrots 25% celery-all chopped) 200G

Skinned Tomatoes 1000G

Tomato Puree 200G

Tyme 2 sprigs

Bay leaf 1

Garlic 2 cloves finely chopped (into a paste is better)

Parsley 1/4 Cup

Salt and pepper

Sugar 5G

Water 750 ML

Directions:

1. Sautee vegetables till clear

2. Add sugar, bay leaf and thyme stir then a couple minutes later add garlic

3. add parsley stir for a couple minutes

4. Add tomato paste and big pinch (using 4 fingers) of Salt and Pepper

5. Add tomatoes- cook for a couple minutes then add water- let cook for 1+1/2 hours then take out bay leaf and blend using hand mixer

** for those who don't know how to skin tomatoes- cut out the tops and cut an "X" into the bottom then put them in boiling water for a couple minutes. You will see the skin start to come off- this is when you take them out and put them into cool water. Keep in mind you don't want to cook the tomatoes at this point. Then take them out of the cool water and take off the skins. Also, for this recipe you want to roughly dice the tomatoes.. they will be blended anyways, but you want them to be small enough that they'll cook nice.

Enjoy! :)