Jessica was born today… 25 years ago

Tomorrow is Jessica’s birthday (but the date on my blog will reflect her birthday as being today since I haven’t changed the settings to reflect my current time zone), and as a tribute to her and her friendship I thought I would post some pictures that I have of her. I know she’ll probably hate this, but it’s her birthday, and on your birthday you have to take a little bit of extra attention.

But before I get to the pictures, I’ll tell you a little bit about the trip I recently took to visit her in New York. Jessica goes to culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America. She’s in the pastry program, which means she’s making all kinds of delicious cakes, cookies, chocolate things, etc. I got to tour her school and it was really incredible. Since I’ve returned from the trip and people have asked me how New York was, I have been saying that her school was probably the best part, even after spending 24 hours in New York City (which I will discuss a little later). I got to take the private tour at the hand of one of her friends while classes were in session, and when we walked up the stairs to the pastry department (they probably don’t call it the pastry department) the delicious smell of bread baking filled the stairwell and I was immediately excited and overwhelmed by goodness. We looked through the windows into various classrooms that resembled chemistry labs in the way they were set up, but instead of bunsen burners and test tubes there were mixers and baking sheets along the long countery-desk things. The things they were making looked delicious, and one chef saw me in the hall and invited me in to taste some of the wonderful treats. I got to try some things that first semester students were making. Jessica is three weeks away from graduating, so they were making things that she learned almost two years ago. She’s so advanced! The class that invited me in was making quiche and some little puffy savory thing. I guess it was the time in the class where they were learning how to make savory baked things instead of sweet stuff, which was actually perfect for me because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth anyway. They didn’t let me leave the class without a little sugar in hand though, and on my way out one of the students handed me a box of assorted cookies. I ate half of the box by myself the next day when Jessica was taking a nap. I’m still not sure if she’s noticed that.

The tour was awesome. Their library was so amazing because it had a big auditorium in it where famous chefs would come every week and do demonstrations. The stage was actually a kitchen, and on the walls were pieces of ceramic with hand prints and signatures of all the famous chefs who had visited there. I saw the hands of Julia Child and many other awesome sounding people. It would be worth it to go to the school just to hear those guest lectures as far as I’m concerned. It’s really amazing how much Jessica has learned while she has been there. I’m sure I haven’t even experienced a tiny skimming off the top of the knowledge that she’s accumulated, but I did come away with one little tip about whipping cream that she taught me as she made me the most delicious strawberry shortcake I’ve ever had in my life. It seemed so effortless to her to whip up some shortcakes (real ones) and the rest of the parts that go with strawberry shortcake. They really were delicious.

So, her school was awesome and the restaurant that snags her is going to increase their dessert sales by one billion percent. After roaming around her town of Poughkeepsie and seeing how she lives on a daily basis we made some plans and took a train to New York City for a day, a night, and a morning. New York City was completely insane. I just kept saying, “This is crazy,” when I would see something new. Everything was big, busy, and flashy, and it was so exciting. I didn’t know what to do most of the time, and Thank God Jessica knew what she was doing because I was sort of star-struck by all the action the whole time and I wouldn’t have known what to do or where to go any step of the way if I had been by myself.

For only being downtown for about 24 hours we got a lot accomplished. I saw Greenwich Village, St. Patrick’s Cathedral (during noon mass on Good Friday), Macy’s, Time Square at night, the edge of Central Park, Rockefeller Center, went to a wine bar inside the Time Warner Building, and stayed in a Pod. We ate lunch at a place that was recently awarded something like the best new place to have a hamburger called Five Napkin Burger. We both ordered the “original 5 napkin burger” and it was delicious. The craziest part was definitely Time Square, which was far grander and flashier than I could have ever expected. I couldn’t imagine being there on New Year’s Eve with all of that additional excitement. I think I would probably have a heart attack.

I’m glad I went, and I could have definitely stayed downtown with her for about a week and probably not have done everything we would have wanted, but the taste I had was sweet and I am so glad I got to experience it. I got to ride on a train, a city bus, in a cab, and on the back of a foreign guy’s bicycle for the first time in my life.

Ok, now on to some birthday pictures. Jessica, you’re lucky I don’t have my old computer on right now. I’ll stick to New York stuff and a few wedding pictures … but this could have been really fun. Thank you Jessica for a great trip and for being such a great friend:

The End.