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All of this senior stuff is getting to me. I never knew it would be this hard. All these deadlines, credits I have to earn, work I have to do in my classes, essays, homework, classwork.. work, work, work! I can't complain because I knew that my senior year was going to be a handful and it was going to be hard but I think I got into something that I wasn't fully ready for. Sometimes I wish I can just start over but ima stop thinking in the past and do what I have to do right now and for my future. My goal is to graduate in June and theirs nothing that's going to stop me. I actually love my senior project and I don't regret choosing it at all. I really love to bake and I especially love to create pieces of desserts on my own. This is something that I look for in my future and would like to do as a living. I just need to keep my head in the game and make sure that I don't let anything hold me back. I'm going to stick to my project and go all the way with it, i'm not going to quit and i'm going to make sure that I do what I have to do. Friends don't always come first. My school work and my future are way more important. From now on nothings going to hold me back.

Things I want to try

These two images are something that I want to learn and make on my very own. When I look at things like this it just gives me the motivation to try harder. Both of these cakes are so beautiful and I would love to learn how to make something like this by myself. So far I have learned how to make roses but the only thing I have a hard time with is actually transferring the flowers onto the cake without messing the cake up or messing the actual rose up. It's something I need to work on but it's a work in progress. I'm going to learn and i'm going to get it right! I want to learn how to make my cake almost looking perfect.. just like the pictures you see here. Only time will tell. I cant wait until I can learn all of these things then maybe I can teach someone else the same thing (:

Future plans

When I get older I want to either open my own restaurant or get into something that has to do with cooking. My community member Evelyn gave me some advice and told me that it would be a smart idea to get into making desserts. It was a good thing I chose baking as my senior project because I can practice different cooking skills and get to see if it's something I would like to do or something I would even do for the rest of my life. Since owning your own business means you have to put a lot of money into it she works at home and has her own little business right at her house. She has her own business card and gets bunches of customers who seek for her work. Her desserts are very delicious and I think its a good idea that she does everything in her own home. When I graduate college I think I want to open my own bakery. I want to have all types of different desserts that everyone would love. I want to look into cooking in general so maybe I can open my own restaurant but my restaurant is going to be all Spanish food only (: I would love to learn how to make all different types of foods and recipes from different cultures but I personally want an all Spanish restaurant that I own. That's something that I keep in my mind every time I think of my future.  I can even have my own family help me out in my restaurant. I also want to learn how to make all types of different desserts from Puerto Rico. My family is from PR and I would love to learn how to make their food and desserts. It's an upcoming goal that I will achieve!

Alcapuria

Alcapuria is a type of food made from Hispanics. I know it's not a pastry but I learned how to make something else that I was really interested in doing. Evelyn took me step by step and showed me how to make them, which of course.. they weren't hard at all! It's basically smashed up green banana and potatoes mixed together with ground beef in the inside. After their all prepared you could either fry them or if you want them to be extra soft you can bake them. I personally don't like them myself but my mother loves them so of course I brought her some home :) She was happy! She made me use these wax sheets so it would be easier for me to  handle. I had to put the mash in the middle of the wax paper spread it out, put a little bit of the cooked ground beef in the middle and close it with a spoon. I had to make sure their was no meat showing at all. After that was done, we put them all out on a baking sheet and put them in the oven. I feel like it's a good thing I am learning all these different types of foods and pastries to make because when I get older I would like to maybe have my own bakery or restaurant someday.

 

Making cheese filled pastries

For the first time I went to my second community expert Evelyn we made two different things. I went to her house as soon as I got out of school and we went straight to work. When I first got there she was just explaining to me everything that we were going to be making and she let me know that I can write down any recipe of hers I wanted. She's not stingy with her work and she loves to share! (: I get along with her very well. We made cheese filled pastries and something else with bread & pineapple. At first she did a couple of them and said all the steps for each one, I wrote them all down in my notebook so I can make them myself if I want at home. I got the hang of it very quickly and they came out perfect! Here are a couple pictures..

 

 

 

The ones on the left are the bread that have 

pineapple in the middle & on the right are the cheese filled pastries! Don't they just look delicious? (:

For the ones with the pineapple in the middle we coated the top with a brush and lightly spread wet sugar on top of it then sprinkled some confection sugar all over the top, these treats are very sweet. For the cheese filled pastries we just coated the top with some of the wet sugar.