Sunday, January 9, 2011

Meet Me!

So, hello, here I am, I have finally done this! Welcome to my blog: A Hungry Teacher, aka, me, Gina Glazier. I have been wanting to do this for about, oh, 3 years now. Really, ever since my life as a culinary addict began. Yes, I said culinary addict. That’s what I consider myself, a culinary addict who is also a teacher. Hungry for food, restaurants, recipes, ideas, and articles, anything that pertains to edibles.
                So let’s dissect “A Hungry Teacher”. The hungry part explains a lot about me. I love anything associated with the food world. I first started off baking and my family knew me as the baker of the bunch. After a while of baking and being overly stocked with cookies, brownies, bars, and trifles, I had to move on to other courses. I became really interested in food by basically being immersed in it. I come from a family where the kitchen is the heart of the house (cliché I know, but very true). My mom, dad, grandparents, and friends all had a hand in making me the foodie I am today. Once out of college and into the real world I realized I had a talent, passion, and drive for cooked delights. I saw an ad asking for people that love food and would like to ride the “Munchmobile”. This is a giant hot dog-topped van that is part of The Newark, NJ Star-Ledger(largest newspaper of NJ) that drives around all summer in a quest for new food finds. How could I not apply? My letter was quite persuasive and the driver of the mobile chose me! This gave me a boost of confidence that my food life could really be “real life”.
                So I went on the Munchmobile, check out the article and trip I was associated with (Gina Bruno, I got married this fall!)http://www.nj.com/entertainment/dining/index.ssf/2008/08/munchmobile_best_pasta_sauce.html
From there, I continued to pester my way into other food related happenings. I wrote a review for Betty Crocker Cake Mix for the Newspaper and it got published! Amazing, right? Eh, okay maybe not entirely but for me it was huge for my life. THEN, I got word of a NJ Crab Cake Cook off and thought I could be a judge because I am a great crab cake cooker and I order them more often than not when given the option. I was told to apply to become a judge, of course I did! I wrote it and a few months later, I was told I was in! WOWZA, me? Really? Okay, so now I have ridden the Munchmobile, published a review and am a judge at the NJ Crab Cake Cook off.
                Now comes the biggest thing that has occurred to me in terms of my food life. I was contacted by the Munchmobile driver to be on the NJ Pizza Patrol team. Let me explain what it was supposed to be and what it actually became. It was originally just a team of people chosen to go around and eat at 50, I think, pizzerias and find the best pizza of Jersey in different categories. It was originally just a summer activity. It was originally just 6 people chosen. Well it turned into an adventure of a lifetime; we wound up eating 1,000 slices from July until December. The 6 people dwindled to 3 and we spent around 3-4 nights a week eating at 6-7 pizzerias each night! Every week our opinions and remarks were published and I kind of felt like a local foodie. It was so great I can’t even put words to it. Eventually we decided on winners and the results were published and there is now a book I’m in! Check it/ me out (Again, Gina Bruno here..): http://www.nj.com/entertainment/dining/index.ssf/munchmobile_pizza_patrol/index.html
                So the teacher part is a little more simple: I teach. Haha, na. I love my job. I am an elementary teacher. I am in my 5th year of teaching and really can’t believe it has been that long. That’s really it though, I am a teacher, I love it. J
                So my new venture: the blog. The hungry teacher has been an idea of mine for a long time. My blog will combine my love of cooking and restaurants. On one side, under the heading, “What I’m Cooking up” you will find weekly recipes and pictures of what I think you should try. On the other side, under the heading, “What I’m Ordering up” will be reviews of restaurants that I’m visiting for lunch or dinner. My recipes will be written in lesson plan format, just like a teacher would write up and include an objective, ingredients, and steps/procedures. Pictures will accompany as well. The reviews will be thorough and offer of course a compliment and perhaps things to improve on. The best part though is the way I will ultimately judge the places: a grade. See my rubric (a table that outlines criteria for each grade) of what makes an A an A, a B a B, and so forth. Pretty cool, right?!? I think it rocks!
                So enjoy the blog! I am very proud of it. As most things that are new, I’m sure it will get better in time, so bear with me. See you soon, class dismissedJ

~Gina, HT

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