Wednesday, October 7th

Today was a 0 star day and as The Mammacita says, “you have to have the two star days in order to appreciate the four star days…” Well, Gail, what do you say to NEGATIVE star days?!!? On Wednesday we baked our Crème Brulee’s in ramekins that were placed inside a cake pan for a water bath (known in French as a Bain Marie translating to Mary’s Bath), then placed on a sheet pan. Evidentially, my sheet pan was dented because all three of my Crème Brulee’s came out slanted which really became a problem when we started to torch the top of our custards and the sugar on mine slipped to one side and proceeded to burn while the other side remained uncolored. I got yelled at by Chef for keeping the hard caramel part of my Flan on the custard instead of throwing it away and she yelled at me, in front of the class “I SHOULD MAKE YOU EAT THAT!” Today we were to make Cream Puffs and Eclairs. I had to make the pastry cream for my cream puffs THREE times. The first time, I neglected to put the corn starch in. The second time, the girl I don’t love in class messed my meise tray up so the corn starch I needed got shifted and replaced with the confectioners sugar that I didn’t need until later so I had to start all over, yet again. THEN the piped out batter for my cream puffs and éclairs didn’t rise, so I did it again and they didn’t have enough time to cool so I didn’t get to present them which means extra work for tomorrow (filling the éclairs with pastry cream and then dipping them in chocolate and then piping the cream puffs with Chantilly cream which is basically a fancy term for whipped cream (yes Mom, you were right)). THEN I got to my car and it had been keyed. As Lisa says: “Fuck the Flan.” Injuries sustained today: Three burns. One to my ego, one to my thumb on the left hand and one to the middle finger on my left hand: how appropriate.

Tuesday, October 6th

Today we made the custards for our Crème Brulee and our Crème Caramel (aka Flan). After baking them, they were set in the fridge and that was that… Not a very eventful day…

Monday, October 5th

Today I made pie for the first time in my life!! Using the dough that I made on Friday, I made two pies – An apple pie (which the Chef said had great color and pretty vent decoration which was enjoyed by me, Jeff and Pong as well as the girls at the table next to us at dinner tonight), and a blueberry pie with lattice work (which Chef said was done very nicely and uniformly, but should have been browned a bit more). Not bad, all in all, for my first experience with pies. Injuries sustained today: one cut to the pointer finger on my right hand.

Friday, October 2nd

Today we designed our tarts. I was NOT thrilled with the outcome of mine – mainly because I used too much nappage (the shiny apricot flavored jelly that covers fruit tarts) because it is very important not just for aesthetics but because if you don’t place the gelatin everywhere, the fruit will rot very quickly. I wanted to challenge myself so I used a lot of berries which are tough to cover because of all their little nooks. After that, we made a flaky pie dough for our apple pie that we will make Monday. This was the first time we had to kneed a dough. You cant kneed it too much or else you start to melt the butter with your hands which completely changes the consistency of the crust. So after completely task two, it was on to making scones. We were told to make scones OR buttermilk biscuits – so, I made both. J We were supposed to make chocolate orange scones, but I don’t like chocolate and orange together so I made mine chocolate and lemon. Chef said that they came out nicely and was impressed that I was able to get both tasks done. I thought, after taking my second batch of scones out, that I completely singed all my eyelashes off… I had Pharyn check and she said I was fine so I made her confirm three more times at which point she stopped taking me seriously. Chef asked what was wrong and I told her it was imperative that I have all my eyelashes. She said that sometimes when you get too close to heat, it will fuse mascara together… PHEW. She said my biscuits were amazing and I have to say that they are what I am most proud of for the week. They puffed up beautifully. I should have taken a side picture and not just one from the top so you could really see how high they got. My commute to school takes about half an hour depending on traffic and to get home, about an hour. Im pretty tired at the end of the day, as you can imagine, since we are on our feet and running around for five hours straight without a break – Its like working at CAA! So that was the end of week 1! Monday is our apple pie and a frozen fruit pie… Stay tuned and let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Thursday, October 1st

Yesterday we prepared to create our fruit tarts so there is no picture for Thursday. This meant that we made our dough for the pie crust (pot sucree) from scratch (after making the dough, you chill it, put it in the oven covered with a weight, remove the weights, and bake the dough until golden… Its tedious because you have to constantly check on what you are making while watching the clock. During this time, we also made our crème patisserie which is the pastry cream that lines the tart. All of these things must either chill or cool so we didn’t have the time to finish them. I think, on an up note, that Im getting a great work out from the 8 pound shoes I hoof around in all day… Pic attached…

Wednesday, September 30th

Wednesday was our first day baking two things at once: peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and Straussburger cookies (pictures attached). My cookies were just okay, and my Straussburgers (which are kinda like the Madeline’s at Starbucks) came out great. We make those by using a piping bag and a star shaped tip. It is super important to use the right amount of butter (or “fat”) so that the batter is thick enough to pipe. When baking cookies, you are looking for a golden brown edge and a whiteish center. J I had been giving things away to other classes as I don’t want to take what I bake home, but want you all to know that should you want to try what I make, bring me some tupper wear and I am happy to put aside a little bit of what I make everyday and you can pick it up whenever you want.

Tuesday, September 29th

Tuesday was our first day of baking. When we walk in, the first thing we do is set up our work stations. This means sanitizing our station, getting out our mixers, writing down what the Chef has assigned us for the day, getting out our tools and our ingredients. Then, the Chef does an hour or so demo (depending on how difficult the recipe or how many things we will be making for the day). Our very first assignment: chocolate chip cookies. We learned one of the EIGHT methods to making a batter – the first of which is the creaming method. So after the demo where we are allowed to ask questions, we are released to begin on our own. After you make your project for the day, you have to sanitize your station again and “present” your project to the Chef (pictures attached starting with day 3) who comes around from student to student to analyze your work. Day 1 was great. J Another part of our day is “meising” for the following days projects. Mise en place is organizing things that you will be using to create something. This means we measure out (NEVER using volume measurement – only weight) our butter, sugar, etc. for the next day. Baking for the day stops at 4 which is when Chef grades us and then starts clean up. Each table is assigned a duty and the tasks rotate tables daily. We have to do a number of things like cleaning out the walk in fridge and freezer – juicing fruit that has been zested, condensing things like egg cartons and packages of butter, etc. We have to sweep, organize the shelves, fill up the bins of dry ingredients, wash all the dishes, clean all the stove tops, check all the appliances to make sure they are clean, etc.