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I finally have something that motivates me to get on here and start posting again.
First, Rick Santorum finally dropped out of the Republican presidential race, essentially clearing the path for Mitt Romney's nomination and march to the general election. Of course, Newt Gingrich thinks this gives him a chance at winning more votes...hahaha.
Second, today I went to the Food and Candy Expo 2012 in Sandy. Just like last year, it was a lot of fun, except this year I enjoyed it more because I went to the seminars and talked to more of the exhibitors. I spent 3 hours in seminars. The first was on fortification of foods with nutrients. Dr. Dunn from BYU talked about the project they did in Mexico to fortify the corn tortillas, which was a really cool story to hear. A junior food scientist at FONA International (a sweet and savory flavoring company) did the second seminar I went to. It was interesting information about handling flavors and knowing things about storing them, etc. We got to smell the difference between fresh flavors and older flavors and see how the quality deteriorates. Based on what we smelled, it seems some companies do not use their flavors correctly, because we all noted that the expired flavor smelled more like what you get in foods than the fresh one. (Note, in this case, expired simply refers to the integrity of the quality of the product, so after it expires it is still ok, but the integrity of the flavor is lost. This is important if you use a flavor for a product because if you used an expired flavor, your product would taste different than usual...quality assurance stuff.) The third seminar was really interesting. It was about sensory evaluation and the importance of it and how to do it right. Food is all about taste to consumers and this seminar talked about a lot of cool stuff relating to testing products.
After the seminars I spent two and a half hours walking through the exhibition, talking to lots of exhibitors and collecting all the swag they were giving out. I met a lot of great people and what I liked the most is that no one tried to push me into any direction with my life. I introduced myself to them as a student on a break from classes in food science with a few years experience doing culinary arts. From there, many of them talked about all the fun stuff I do with catering, some informed of opportunities with research chefs and corporate chefs, and some just talked to me about life in general. I talked to them about their companies and their lives and things like that. It was a lot of fun. I spent about 20 minutes talking to a guy named Ty Agaki. He claimed to have brought the fiber revolution to America from Japan. I don't know if that's true or not, but he was a cool guy and we talked about everything from his company to the Kentucky Derby to Mormons, Polygamists and booze. He also was very supportive of me not trying to figure my life out all at once. Several people I talked to echoed similar sentiments, which I will now echo for all my friends around my age and younger. Don't worry about trying to choose the exact path of your life right now. There will be so many twists and turns, just find out what things you like, be adventerous, travel if you get the opportunity, just learn everything you can about everything you can and you will find your passions, the things you can do for years and years without glancing at your watch wondering when the day will end. Ty said that to me about finding passion in something and I realized I am starting to really find a passion for what I do. I work all the time, even Saturdays and holidays, and it really doesn't bother me. I love doing it. I love going in and making food for people and making them happy.
Anyway...the expo was great and I documented all my swag so I could brag about it. I got:
coffee lip balm, raspberry mango cucumber lip balm, a magnetic fridge clip, a black binder clip, a toothpaste squeezer, caramel popcorn, 3 bags (like grocery store reusable cloth ones), a fridge magnet with a cool thermometer strip on it, a wd-40 like lubricant spray in a pen tube spray bottle, a teeny pocket 1st aid kit, regular candy, like milky ways and reeses, sugar free candy, maple bacon toffee, bacon peanut chocolate, various other chocolates from flavor companies, a tin of mints, orange tic tac like candies, an all-in-one leveler, tape measurer, note pad and pen that clips to your belt, Famous Amos cookies, specialty cookies from flavor companies made with different kinds of flour or flavors, 6 different flavors of pear jelly beans, a mini carabiner key chain, golf tees, probiotic chocolate balls, energy gummy candies (which will be interesting), gluten free mushroom soup/sauce mix, a jar opening grip, a plastic thermos, 3 stress balls, a back scratcher, a ruler, chardonnay flavored jelly, blackberry merlot flavored jelly (both alcohol free, don't worry mom), 1 big sticky note cube, 7 small sticky notepads, 2 large notepads, 1 nice pocket-sized book with sticky notes, page markers, and paper in it, trail mix fruit bars, literature from many companies on products, the companies themselves, ideas, trends, etc., and I got 31 pens this year, a few of which are nice, heavy duty pens. And, of course, every item has a company name and/or logo on it.
And because we be talkin' 'bout me booty (treasure, not backside), our song of the day is from the crack-me-up-laughing movie Muppet Treasure Island, it's the hilarious song, "Professional Pirate". And because I'm feeling generous, we get a double song day. The second is also from Muppet Treasure Island, it's "Shiver my Timbers".
Quote of the day from the song: "when you're a professional pirate...you don't have to wear a suit."
First, Rick Santorum finally dropped out of the Republican presidential race, essentially clearing the path for Mitt Romney's nomination and march to the general election. Of course, Newt Gingrich thinks this gives him a chance at winning more votes...hahaha.
Second, today I went to the Food and Candy Expo 2012 in Sandy. Just like last year, it was a lot of fun, except this year I enjoyed it more because I went to the seminars and talked to more of the exhibitors. I spent 3 hours in seminars. The first was on fortification of foods with nutrients. Dr. Dunn from BYU talked about the project they did in Mexico to fortify the corn tortillas, which was a really cool story to hear. A junior food scientist at FONA International (a sweet and savory flavoring company) did the second seminar I went to. It was interesting information about handling flavors and knowing things about storing them, etc. We got to smell the difference between fresh flavors and older flavors and see how the quality deteriorates. Based on what we smelled, it seems some companies do not use their flavors correctly, because we all noted that the expired flavor smelled more like what you get in foods than the fresh one. (Note, in this case, expired simply refers to the integrity of the quality of the product, so after it expires it is still ok, but the integrity of the flavor is lost. This is important if you use a flavor for a product because if you used an expired flavor, your product would taste different than usual...quality assurance stuff.) The third seminar was really interesting. It was about sensory evaluation and the importance of it and how to do it right. Food is all about taste to consumers and this seminar talked about a lot of cool stuff relating to testing products.
After the seminars I spent two and a half hours walking through the exhibition, talking to lots of exhibitors and collecting all the swag they were giving out. I met a lot of great people and what I liked the most is that no one tried to push me into any direction with my life. I introduced myself to them as a student on a break from classes in food science with a few years experience doing culinary arts. From there, many of them talked about all the fun stuff I do with catering, some informed of opportunities with research chefs and corporate chefs, and some just talked to me about life in general. I talked to them about their companies and their lives and things like that. It was a lot of fun. I spent about 20 minutes talking to a guy named Ty Agaki. He claimed to have brought the fiber revolution to America from Japan. I don't know if that's true or not, but he was a cool guy and we talked about everything from his company to the Kentucky Derby to Mormons, Polygamists and booze. He also was very supportive of me not trying to figure my life out all at once. Several people I talked to echoed similar sentiments, which I will now echo for all my friends around my age and younger. Don't worry about trying to choose the exact path of your life right now. There will be so many twists and turns, just find out what things you like, be adventerous, travel if you get the opportunity, just learn everything you can about everything you can and you will find your passions, the things you can do for years and years without glancing at your watch wondering when the day will end. Ty said that to me about finding passion in something and I realized I am starting to really find a passion for what I do. I work all the time, even Saturdays and holidays, and it really doesn't bother me. I love doing it. I love going in and making food for people and making them happy.
Anyway...the expo was great and I documented all my swag so I could brag about it. I got:
coffee lip balm, raspberry mango cucumber lip balm, a magnetic fridge clip, a black binder clip, a toothpaste squeezer, caramel popcorn, 3 bags (like grocery store reusable cloth ones), a fridge magnet with a cool thermometer strip on it, a wd-40 like lubricant spray in a pen tube spray bottle, a teeny pocket 1st aid kit, regular candy, like milky ways and reeses, sugar free candy, maple bacon toffee, bacon peanut chocolate, various other chocolates from flavor companies, a tin of mints, orange tic tac like candies, an all-in-one leveler, tape measurer, note pad and pen that clips to your belt, Famous Amos cookies, specialty cookies from flavor companies made with different kinds of flour or flavors, 6 different flavors of pear jelly beans, a mini carabiner key chain, golf tees, probiotic chocolate balls, energy gummy candies (which will be interesting), gluten free mushroom soup/sauce mix, a jar opening grip, a plastic thermos, 3 stress balls, a back scratcher, a ruler, chardonnay flavored jelly, blackberry merlot flavored jelly (both alcohol free, don't worry mom), 1 big sticky note cube, 7 small sticky notepads, 2 large notepads, 1 nice pocket-sized book with sticky notes, page markers, and paper in it, trail mix fruit bars, literature from many companies on products, the companies themselves, ideas, trends, etc., and I got 31 pens this year, a few of which are nice, heavy duty pens. And, of course, every item has a company name and/or logo on it.
And because we be talkin' 'bout me booty (treasure, not backside), our song of the day is from the crack-me-up-laughing movie Muppet Treasure Island, it's the hilarious song, "Professional Pirate". And because I'm feeling generous, we get a double song day. The second is also from Muppet Treasure Island, it's "Shiver my Timbers".
Quote of the day from the song: "when you're a professional pirate...you don't have to wear a suit."
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