Friday, December 18th

Have I got pictures for you!!!

So since we finished our finals yesterday, we were ordered to clean the kitchen from top to bottom today. THE WORST. Luckily, one of the other classes that uses our kitchen at a different time did the bulk of the cleaning.

But before cleaning, we started class with a pot luck (hurrah).

Here is what it looked like at first...



And then Erika brought in some super cook Japanese food...



And our table just continued to grow. We had SO much food that we fed all the Chef's on our campus and still had leftovers...




At one point, Monica said, "I bet I could put that whole cupcake in my mouth in one bite."



It turns out that she could. And as you can see from Pharyn in the background - it was brilliant.

So Pharyn had a go, too.

And as a bonus, we got to keep the cupcake topper holiday rings (as well as bracelets that Donna made for all the girls).

The class next door to us was working on their final this week as well. They are doing the second to last module of the program - wedding cake decoration. Te students are required to incorporate hand made edible flowers and I thought some of them were awesome...

How pretty is this flower below!?

Under the doves the cake said, in shaky piping, "till death do us part" which we all found kinda creepy.

I like the concept of this cake.

Look how intricate...

Next module we are learning Bavarian creams and custards!

Until then, have an awesome holiday and a wild New Years!!!!

Thursday, December 17th

Dear Friday,

Please CHOP CHOP and arrive already.

We finished our finals today and I am BEYOND disappointed in myself. My croissant dough was over worked so they were hard and totally unattractive. My Patavier and Palmier's came out well, though. So there is that....

I was visibly upset with myself when I went up to Chef to present my final and she asked what was wrong. I told her that I hated not doing well and she said something to the effect of "this is school! You did well the first time you made them! Stuff like this is supposed to happen so that you can learn from your mistakes and never do it again. Not only that but I would rather have you make mistakes here in school versus out in the real world!" Sigh. She made me feel SO much better. So I trashed everything but my Palmier's (the little cookies you can see in the upper left hand corner) and gave a few to Jessie who I met for a late drink tonight at BLD and the rest to the wait staff at the restaurant! They were totally thankful which made me feel great. Mitzvah = smiles.

You know what else ='s smiles? 100% on a product ID test!!!! HOLLA!!!!



Chef let us out of class early today so we (me, Pharyn, Jessi, Vicki and Monica) went to Frank's Famous Deli in Glendale which is owned by the Chef we had in our last module, Roger Frey. We got a bite to eat and he arrived and joined us for some catching up, gossip, and goo-gooing noises towards his new grandson, Noah.



Should you ever find yourself at Frank's - get the create your own sandwich on Dutch Crusted bread or the grilled cheese with a side of french fries and the homemade ranch dressing.

Wednesday, December 16th

Two things:

1. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. We have been working on our final for what feels like an eternity but by 3:00 tomorrow, we have to be done. Awesome Chef Gomez let us bake off one of our doughs today, so I did my Danish. They are filled with chocolate pastry cream, apricot jam, regular pastry cream, apple filling, and a traditional lemon cream cheese filling and finished with a flat glaze. We had to present eight. Four shapes. Two of each. \

Tomorrow we bake off our croissants, pain au chocolat, Pativier and Palmiers. SIGH.

2. Happy early birthday shout-out to my favorite (and only, ahem) sister!! I love you, BLS! Geracie's night to celebrate when I'm home!!!!

P.S. How cute is this shot? It was taken by the bar tender on the deck of our cruise ship last year around Italy! Viva Gelatto!!!

Thursday, December 10th

Two words:

STICKY. BUNS.

No further commentary.



Today was a busy day today, which was great! We used our croissant dough to make the following, which I immediately had to give away in order not to devour them all...

Bear Claws which are filled with a hazelnut filling:



Apple, cheddar and Bacon croissants... I mean, honestly.




The good old stand-by:



The best of the best, in my opinion, ham and cheese....

Pain au Chocolate. Need I say more?

(no, I need not).

Tomorrow we begin prep for yet another three day final. The day kicks off with my favorite of favorites - product ID.

So, my pictures uploaded backwards, so I apologize!!!

Today we had a practical exam (tomorrow is the written) and we made Brioche cut into Danish shapes and filled with our choice of fillings... I made hazelnut pastry cream, chocolate pastry cream, apricot jam and traditional Danish cream cheese filling....



We also made Danish (with the same fillings) and a flat icing glaze.



Friday was pizza day!!! This was a piece of meat lovers. And I love meat.



We also made cinnamon buns with a cream cheese frosting. As if that could be bad...

Thursday, December 3rd

Today was a day of firsts.

For the first time, we made something savory in class.

For the first time, I touched a raw shrimp.

For the first time, I yanked the legs and body off of a raw shrimp.

For the first time, I de-veined and cooked shrimp.

For the first time, I ate shrimp that I cooked.

Below: Shrimp Newberg.

I took a little bite out of one of the shrimp and decided to give this dish a pass. Not that it wasn't tasty, but I have shrimp issues (Chef said that my sauce looked great). We baked the puff pastry and made the sauce from scratch, etc.



So as I do with most things that I don't want to keep, I give it to Kimberly.

She, in turn, decided that while the bread was good, she really just wanted the shrimp.

Below is a picture of both my discarded and her discarded baked puff pastry... Shrimp removed.



And here is Kimberly enjoying the spoils...



HI-larious.

Then we made Brie en Croute. Those of you that know me well know that I love Brie as much as a 9 course meal at an Indian restaurant. Regardless, this turned out well and was tasty. We could make whatever designs we wanted on top so I decided to do some lattice work. Vicki decided to make hers look like a gift, Pharyn crafted a crown out of puff pastry for the top of hers and Monica adorned hers with a robot.

Tomorrow, oh, tomorrow: Cinnamon buns. Sticky buns. Danish dough (to be frozen over the weekend) and another day of PIZZA!!!!!

Wednesday, December 2nd

Happy Week After Thanksgiving!!! I, for one, can never seem to eat enough stuffing...

On Monday we started our Viennosierie and Laminated Dough module. This basically means making things with Puff Pastry which, let me tell you, is NOT low-cal. Our new Chef is Chef Jennifer Gomez who while soft spoken seems to sorta appreciate my table's humor... knock on wood... or butter, for that matter.

To get used to using the dough, we made it, and then made a fruit band with pastry cream which of course, is nothing new to us....

On Tuesday we made a traditional dessert called a Pithivier with the dough that we made on Monday. These had to freeze over night and got baked today. Inside the pastry is what you could call a dense almond cake.

We also made a traditional Tart Tartin which uses the puff dough we made and caramelized apples. The apples are baked in a skillet and then covered with the dough and baked in the oven. When its done, the tart is turned out onto a plate so all the yummy juices can spread around. Sweet, but hello, totally tasty. P.S. You can't see it in the picture, but there is steam rising from the cake...

Also on our list for the day was a Napoleon which is layers of puff pastry which are baked and then stacked in between layers of pastry cream and topped with poured fondant and chocolate...

My table took it upon ourselves to make, with our scraps of dough... well... basically dough covered with cheese. I would show a picture of the delicious mess we made but alas, there was nothing around long enough to take pictures of... except the grease stains on our tables...

Wednesday, November 26

Aaaaaand scene!!!! Phew! Three and a half days later!!!!!

Well, here it is, the final product. My theme was, as you can see, flowers. I did super well even though Chef docked the ENTIRE class because we have some totally lazy classmates who decided not to clean. Haters.

Here is a picture of my entire final.



Here is the L'Opera cake. Chef said it was a tad heavy on the "RUMMMMMMMMM."

Umm... Hi. Have we met?

The dreaded Petits Fours. The decoration is hand colored marzipan.

Lemon Meringue Tarts.

Florentine (which I personally think are awesome. Super tasty). They have all been dipped in chocolate and half are sprinkled with crushed almonds.

Linzer Window Cookies.

Linzer Jewel Cookies.

Baton Marcheaux dipped in chocolate.

I thought you might appreciate seeing some of my classmates' final projects as well. Here is Monica's. Its... wait for it... a Barbie Tea Party. Awe-some.

Sandy's. I'm not sure what here theme is...

Erica's. I think her theme was a tea party.

Hahahaha! Here is one of my favorites: Henry's. Its a medieval theme. Check out the candles, glasses of "wine" (ie cranberry raspberry juice), and sword.

I also thought Jessi's was totally brilliant and extremely well executed.

This is JM's. He couldn't really describe what his theme was...

This presentation belongs to The Russian Spy (Veronica). Maybe her theme was fuchsia?

Kimberly's was a tea party theme.

I'm so thrilled that final is over, I cant even tell you. I have to go finish packing now... I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Next week our new module is laminated doughs. Think croissants.... Danishes....