Returned from Italy

Today was the last day of this week's cooking. So for the last day, we had a cooking challenge! We were given a box of various ingredients that we had cooked with throughout the week. Our objective was to use all the ingredients in the box in at least one dish making a main dish, an appetizer or side dish, and a dessert. While we were allowed to follow some recipes that we used throughout the week, we had to change it in some way. We were split up into two groups. There were 11 of us, so there was one group of five and another group of six. I was placed in the group of six. I have to say that the other group was given the easier box. I mean, they were given a container of Nutella! There's a lot you can do with that! (they ended up making a crostata with peaches. Real pretty). For an appetizer, our group decided to make some Polpettine. I guess that's Italian for 'meatballs,' cause that's what they are. To change it up, instead of using ground beef, we used ground sausage, which was luckily one of our ingredients. Then some other people on our team made a sauce using onion powder, garlic powder, Italian spices, and seasonings to taste. When I tasted it, I absolutely loved it! I enjoyed the fact that they were bite size, which made them easier to eat. For our main dish, we made some gnocchi with a pesto cream sauce. It took a while to make simply because we had a great quantity. For dessert, we made Amaretti cookies, some of them sandwiched together with orange ganache, and others with an almond ganache. I apologize if I spelled that word wrong, I don't know how to spell it and neither does my computer. We added one other dish as a side because we had some ingredients left over. We made a Caprese salad. Our creativity overall won us the contest. As a reward, we were given each a ceramic paring knife. The other group got non-ceramic knives (so hah!).

This week has been very fun. Next on my agenda is Hawaii! I will be sure to take a lot of pictures, by request of my family. At some point, we will be horseback riding and zip-lining! I've always wanted to do both those things!! Plus, I hear the food is gonna be great, and I'm all about the food.

I hope everything goes well and it's as amazing as it is said to be!