Today, December 1st, we had a guest speaker in my RFT class. Her name was Annie Novak and she is founder and director of Growing Chefs field-to-fork food education program and the Manager of the Edible Academy at the New York Botanical Garden. She is also the co-founder and farmer of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in partnership with Goode Green and Broadway Stages. She is the author of The Rooftop Growing Guide: How to Transform Your Roof into a Garden or Farm, published by Ten Speed Press. As she spoke to my class about her experience with plants, she had done it in such a passionate way and it really inspired me. Annie explained to the class why she chose to do this job for the rest of her life and the reason is because she wanted to study something she never knew about. She explained how she wanted a change and needed motivation for the rest of her life and that is how she is where she is now. Learning about plants was interesting for her and she became so involved and starting loving her job more and more each day.

Annie tells the class all about plants and rooftop gardens and how they are put together. She also explains in steps how fruits and vegetables are picked off plants and what happens after that. Annie prefers fruits and vegetables to be organic and she explained how it happens. She showed us on maps where rooftop gardens are located and how all of them are different. She spends a lot of time around plants and she really loves the concept of bees and soil because she tells us that the two help with plants. She taught me  so much about plants in such a short amount of time.

After Annie talked to my class, it really inspired me to take advantage of plants and trees and everything that gross on them. It is important to eat fruits and vegetables because provide us with so much nutrients, and they taste amazing as well! I enjoyed this guest speaker and I feel she is helping the environment and the world in such an amazing way.

Thanksgiving is a very important holiday that my family celebrates because it is all about giving thanks and appreciating family. My moms side of the family comes over to my house and brings all different kinds of food to feast on. My family is so big, that my mom has to move furniture around and so many tables and chairs so we can all fit. We all sit together and talk making memories to remember. My mom and aunt love to cook so while everyone is gathered together, they are in the kitchen cooking. They make an abundance amount of food that we have leftovers for the rest of the week. My mom and aunt put together the turkey and make stuffing and yams and cranberry sauce and artichokes and so much more.

We all fill our plates and even grab a second plate for more food because it is that good. My whole family agrees to put our phones away so we share this moment and not miss one thing. Being able to have such a great family means a lot to me and I am so thankful for everyone in it. After we fill our stomaches with all that food, we play fun games such as heads up and LRC. We then prepare for dessert which is my favorite part. There was all sorts of desserts like pumpkin pie, apple pie, ice-cream, brownies, eggnog and chocolate chip cookies. We end the night with a cup of coffee or hot tea and relax as a family. At the end of the day I’m feeling so full that it feels like I never want to eat again. I really enjoy thanksgiving with my family because we all get along and It’s nice coming home from college and seeing everyone.

Thanksgiving has made me realize to cherish every moment I get with my family because you never know what could happen. My family means so much to me and I would do anything to stay with them longer but I must wait for the next holiday to see them which is Christmas. I am so thankful to have such amazing people in my life and getting to spend Thanksgiving with them makes me realize more how important they are to me.

At least once a week, my soccer friends and I take a trip to Adrienne’s Pizza-bar in New York. Adrienne’s Pizza-bar is located on 54 Stone Street in New York and it’s a casual pizza bar with thin-crust pies and they also provide an outdoor seating area on historic, cobbled Stone Street. As beautiful as the scenery is outside, it has been too cold to sit out there so we go inside and it’s just as beautiful inside then it is outside.

Adrienne’s is a very small pizzeria with hardworking employees that get your food out as quick as possible and make sure everything is good. The outside of Adrienne’s is very busy and is always filled with people and there are tents and lights set up for people to sit at and eat outside. The inside is very laid back and relaxing with low lights and high tables and chairs. I really enjoy eating here just because it is such a comfortable setting and the also because the food is so irresistible.

Adrienne’s is best known for its brick over pizza, but also has fantastic Italian food. My team and I usually order two pizza pies, one pepperoni and one plain. They come out in a rectangular pan, steaming because they had just came out of the oven. The pizza is probably the best pizza I have ever eaten, and my team thinks the same. The pizza comes out and it’s cooked just right, the cheese is stringy, the bread is fluffy and the sauce is like no other. My team and I enjoy Adrienne’s Pizza-bar so much that we come eat here at least once a week. We try to break up the school week by going out together and getting a nice slice of pizza. Every time I go to Adrienne’s, I make sure I go with an empty stomach because I always leave extremely full.

I highly suggest Adrienne’s Pizza-bar to anyone that likes pizza because I usually don’t like pizza that much, but this pizza is life changing. It will make you want to come back all the time and get more because it is that good.

This past weekend was the first weekend not having soccer. Now that soccer season is over, I have more time to do my school work and hangout with my friends and go back home to see my family. When I went home on Friday, the first thing I did was go out to eat with my friends. We were all hungry and wanted something that would taste sweet. We all agreed to go to Brother Bruno’s Pizza in Wayne New Jersey. We ordered a dessert pizza that consisted of peanut butter and jelly slices, nutella birthday cake slices, dirt slices and smore’s slices. We all split the slices and got a slice of each flavor. They all tasted sweet and sugary, but delicious at the same time. I bought a bottle of milk to drink along with the dessert pizza. This may sound very unusual, but it was a cool experience to get to eat such a unique food. We decided not to order regular pizza before the dessert pizza because we knew we were going to be full.

On Saturday, my family and I went to my cousins engagement party at The Rosewood only thirty minutes from my house. The party provided all types of foods like chicken, steak, pasta, salad, vegetables and more. I decided to take a little bit of everything to have a variety of tastes. The rest of my family did the same as me, and we all cleared our plates because it as so good. Considering I haven’t been home for a couple of weeks, it was great to have food that wasn’t from the dinning hall at college. Also it was nice to have dinner with my family and catch up with them.

Being able to go home on the weekends now is extremely relaxing because I get to see my family and be back in my home town. I like going home so I could eat foods that I don’t get to eat at college and also get away from the college atmosphere.

Every Monday, I take a trip to Port Richmond High School to mentor a sophomore student and his name is Joe. Joe is interested in becoming a chef eventually and that is why he came to Port Richmond to get a head start on his career. Joe plays baseball for the school and likes playing video games. His favorite thing to do is cook. Whether it’s cooking dinner for his family or putting together a quick snack for himself, he always enjoys making new things. Joe is taking a culinary class at Port Richmond that will help him learn everything he needs to know about being a chef. The class teaches the students all different kinds of utensils they need and how to use them all. Joe explained to me all the meals his class has put together and all the ingredients he used in them. The class makes a variety of soups and stews mainly and Joe explained how the beef stew dish was his favorite so far.

On Mondays, the class receives a recipe that they must look over and think about how they are going to go about the task. On Tuesdays, they prepare to cook by getting all the utensils and ingredients they need. Wednesdays the class begins to cook and Thursdays they will continue cooking. Finally on Fridays, the class eats the delicious meal they have put together. Joe feels the meals he cooks in class aren’t as good as the ones he makes at home because they don’t add any spices or herbs. Joe told me he has learned a lot so far in this culinary class and he really looks forward to it during school considering he has it last period. It seems that Joe is extremely interested in the culinary program and wants to continue learning more about it so one day he could have his dream job as a chef.

Today, October 1st, my soccer team all agreed to have a team dinner at the soccer house. We have our first game of the NEC tournament tomorrow at home against Robert Morris. Having a team dinner would give us time to bond with each other and talk about the game. I enjoy being around my teammates because when we are around each other all we do is laugh and have fun. Having a team dinner would help us prepare for the game physically and mentally. As we walked down to the soccer house from harbor view building, we were all hungry and ready to eat.

We walked in and saw trays of pasta, salad, and bread. We ordered from Denino’s on the island which is one of my favorite places. I grabbed a plate and quickly piled food onto it. First I started with a nice house salad that contained tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, lettuce and caesar dressing. Next I had penne vodka with bread on the side. Pasta before a game is good for you because pasta has carbohydrates in it which releases energy. Along with that I ate chicken parmigiana and fettuccine alfredo. Finally, we had munchkins from dunking donuts for dessert. There was chocolate, jelly, glazed and powdered munchkins. I drank water with my meal so I could stay hydrated. The food tasted so delicious, I went back to my room with a full stomach and ready to play in the game the next day.

According to The New York Times website, there is an article that talks about carbohydrates and how it provides energy for the body, especially the brain and the nervous system. Carbohydrates before a game is one of the best sources for the body to take in before running around the soccer field. I remember my four years of high school, my team would have pasta parties before every game so we could get carbohydrates in along with a team meeting.

http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/nutrition/carbohydrates/overview.html