Author Archives for Have Fork, Will Travel

About Have Fork, Will Travel

Office by day, home cook/baker by night, maker of many things. Food groupie always. Life is too short for bad food.

Student Cupboard Milestone – 10-years

One of my passions on the Fresno State campus is the Amendola Student Cupboard. I’m a little partial since I’m both student and staff, however, I can attest that it has made a huge difference towards improving student food security. The coordinator that runs the pantry is Michael Ballin, who was one of the students when I worked with the MSW (Masters of Social Work) program. It has been very rewarding to watch him grow as a person and manager while using the skills learned in the Master’s program.

There was a ceremony on campus today, along with a proclamation from the City of Fresno, about the impact of the pantry for the campus and students. In my estimation, the student cupboard and essential services provided to the Fresno State students are some of the best. It’s a giving time of year and if anyone would like to make a donation to a truly worthy cause, please consider donating to the Student Cupboard. They accept monetary as well as food donations. If you want to check out the food security project to learn more about it, click here.

End of the semester….

Whew! It’s the end of the spring semester, almost the end of the CSU fiscal year, and lots of tidying up to do for the academic year. I have to say that it hasn’t been total zaniness all of the time. Quite a bit, but not all the time. Homework has been turned in. The Wind Symphony of Clovis concerts are done for the semester. The test interviews for the Anthropology department’s podcast project have been completed and uploaded. I’m sure that we’ll be editing them more before they are put on the department’s website, but I did post my homework ones on YouTube.

The folklore project that I had been working on with one of the retired professors from Fresno State was completed enough (from the professor’s point of view, not my secretarial standpoint) to send to the Library of Congress. My Honors undergraduate thesis was revised, revised again, and revised still more. That was submitted over a week ago. I can finally box up my papers for a few months.

The person from the library that booked my cooking videos for the last three years retired in December. Apparently the new person wasn’t interested in programming adult cooking videos, so no go for this summer. That means…….HFWT videos will be in production soon. You can watch the original ones for the library here. With having free time this summer, I can also work on the podcast and Food Groupie Cinema. I’ve been looking forward to this project for awhile.

The icing on the cake is that I was elected to serve on the board of the Southwestern Anthropological Association as one of the two Members-At-Large. I don’t know exactly what that will entail, but it will be interesting and I will learn a lot.

Whew (again)!

If you have a suggestion for a cooking video, food or beverage to try, or even a question about food history, let me know.

2023 in review

It’s been a fast year, and so many things have happened in the last twelve months. I completed an Honors research project and presented as several conferences, placed well in the Fresno Fair Home Arts building with crafts and baking entries, had successful live cooking demonstrations with the Fresno County Library, and joined the Food Science & Culinology Club on campus. I am a few semesters away from completing the degree, so the end is in sight. What’s new for 2024?

On January 1st, tune into my YouTube channel for the first episode of Food Groupie Cinema. I’ll cover different things each episode – recipes, food history or trivia, mystery basket ingredients, trying new food or beverages, or whatever sounds interesting that week (food related, of course). It will be fun, informative, and a different mix of things each time. There will be a new episode every 2-3 weeks to start with, and I’ll be adding new cooking videos in between. There are a few new cookbooks in my collection that I want to feature with delightful and easy recipes.

Tune in and see what silliness I can get into.

Where has the year gone?

As I write this, we are one month from Christmas. One month. Did you do any shopping on Black Friday or the following weekend? We did not. Too many people, and we really don’t need anything that won’t go on sale again by the middle of December. I worked on homework and things around the house. This semester has been hectic even though I only have one class this fall. With 2024 around the corner, it’s time to start planning video ideas for the library and start creating content for my YouTube channel. There are only a few weeks left for the fall semester, so December will be a good time to tune in.

If you have any ideas for videos or recipes you’d like to see, drop a comment below.

Summertime is here

It is almost the middle of July, and we’re in for a hot time for the next week or so. We’re used to seeing hot (100+) temps June through September, but the first few runs are brutal. One of the challenges in the hot weather is figuring out what to eat. I have just the solution you need for several meals: roasted corn, poblano, and chicken salad, chicken lettuce cups, and an easy chicken Waldorf panini. The video and recipes will be up in a few days, so make sure to try them out and let me know what you think.

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