California Culinary Academy OR The New Adventures of Super Chef - Culinary Girl Genius

2004-11-24T13:23:00.000-08:00

Last Monday Adam and I went to the French Laundry as my graduation present to myself last Monday. The link above is to Adam's blog. Dear man! He took pictures of almost every course and I went back (sadly, not until last night) and commented on all the pictures. The staff at the restaurant was wonderful. They even took us back to the kitchen so we could see how everything worked. It was delightful!

Anyway, I've linked to Adam's blog over to the left and below is a link to his business site (wedding photography). There are some amazing pictures, so feel free to send comments to him.

http://webs.lanset.com/smit/

I also have some class photos that I'm going to post. Here we've been out of school for a month and I'm finally getting pictures from people. Well, at least I know I'm not the only procrastinator. Speaking of which, I know I've been promising to add the new site, but I haven't. I've got it all set up, I just haven't written anything. Maybe I can get that started today. My new blog link is over to the left too.

I've so enjoyed sharing this experience with you all. Feel free to continue reading about my adventures.

Carissa

2004-11-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

Well hello hello! Sorry it's been so long since I've written. Here are the few grad photos I have. (hint hint... if any of you readers have pics from graduation feel free to send them my way)

I got my grade for confections... I got an A. Not surprising. No +, no honors. I was very short on inspiration and maybe concentration. Well, it's done. My overall GPA wound up being 4.11. Now it's time for real life.

I'm starting a new blog tonight. I'll link to it as soon as it's set up.

I had fun. I learned TONS! I could have gone on for another 8 months, but it's time to start working. I'll catch you all up on the work front in the new blog.

Thank you for keeping up with me. Thank you for all the advice. Thank you for all the encouragement. I couldn't have done it without all of you.

2004-10-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

My cuttie patootie marzipan figures. The pig was, poorly, modeled after the little piggy bank in Toy Story. The penguin is entirely my design. I'm pretty proud of him.

2004-10-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of post last night. I got chatting with Adam and the next thing I knew it was midnight. Bed time for this girl!

Yesterday we made marzipan characters... 2-3 oz little figures. Very cute. I did a pig, a penguin and an inch worm. I really liked the penguin and pig... the worm, well, not so much, but we needed three figures so I made him. Pictures will be posted shortly.

Today we did cocoa painting. What a waste of time. OK, maybe a little esoteric, maybe something I'll do in the future, but it's basically painting, just with cocoa and cocoa butter on a pastiage surface. No, I didn't take a picture, it was just, well, not great. I've always had issues with the whole light and dark thing and painting, in any medium, is just not my forte. Anyway, the cocoa painting was the last project for the course. For all intents and purposes I'm done with school. Tomorrow is just getting my jacket signed... hmmm, wonder if I have a clean jacket??? :) We got a couple of class pictures taken tonight, so I'm sure I'll be posting one of those in the next few days or weeks. Sunday I'll do some retrospective writing on the program as a whole, but, for now, I'm just basking in the joy of the program being over. Funny, I feel like I could keep going for another 8 months.

Work: Yesterday was a little better. There was a little misunderstanding with the ginger shortbread (I thought I was just supposed to make it and freeze it, but Candice wanted me to actually roll it out and punch out the cookies. Whoops!) and I didn't get the chocolate cookies scooped, but other than that I got most of the production list done. I was totally hustling... I was sweating by the end of the shift and totally wiped out.

Today was a VERY good day. I finished the production list before the chef came in to work. Boy was I happy. Of curse, there was still trouble in paradise, but nothing she said could bring me down from my mini-milestone high. I even got a bunch of other things done. Very exciting. Anyway, I caught all the right busses and I got to school 20 minutes before class, so I had to share my good news with everyone!

Well I'm going to finish up my thank you notes and then go to bed. Good night everyone.

Carissa

2004-10-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

My apartment is too bright so I'm having difficulty telling is you can see the trees on the right and left side of this piece. I'm thinking you can't, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I made it in two hours and it turned out pretty well... well, scary at least! :)

2004-10-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

Last night was great. I tracked down something to use for my 2-D chocolate sculpture and made it... all in one night. I got my Tigger graded and Chef said he liked it... that's about as good as it gets.

Anyway, here are the two pictures. Since the chocolate sculpture was supposed to be a 2 day project, I've decided to do another one for today. Should be a hoot! This time it'll mostly be dark chocolate with a little white chocolate.

Sorry for the short post... I've been a slug the past couple of days so I need to get moving and into the shower. I was up until 2 last night doing research for the marzipan project and for another idea for a 2-D chocolate sculpture.

Here are the pictures! Enjoy!

Carissa

2004-10-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

Here is tigger. This is a flat plate, all made of chocolate. Well, kinda chocolate, coating chocolate. It was a little sloppy. Part of the process intails banging the surface on the counter to shake out bubbles. Well, I must have banged a bit too hard because some of the orange smeared. Whoops! Well, I figure it's not bad for a first try.

2004-10-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Here is my lovely pelican. There are several different pieces here. The boardwalk base, the fence, the sun/moon, the background, the body of the bird, the beak and the foot. All separate pieces. I used spacers to push the body of the bird away from the background to give a more 3-D effect.

2004-10-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Friday was fun. Chef Doug was out and Chef Than came in to substitute. Most of the class finished their chocolate boxes and bows, so I had time to track down some coloring book pictures so I could do the next project... chocolate enameling. It's actually pretty cool. You lay acetate over your picture and then using a cornet you outline everything in one color of coating chocolate and then you fill in with colored coating chocolate. I chose to do Tigger. He turned out pretty cute! I'm pleased. It was a pretty low stress project. Once thing to remember if you want to do chocolate enameling at home... once you start you have to keep working until you finish. If you stop the chocolate will cool and bow, so you need to make sure you have all your colors pre-mixed and ready to go. I'd even go as far as to have all your cornets made and ready to use. Anyway, with Saturday being graduation day, there were a lot of parents coming in to visit their kids. Some even hung out in class.

Saturday was graduation. Boy was it hard to get up. Amy and I went out to the Red Room for Cosmos and after three I was done! Wow! I'm really turning into a light weight! We had to be at the auditorium my 9, so I left the house at 8:30 and had to stop by the school to pick up my dress apron. What a scam! As if we don't spend enough money on school that we have to buy an apron that we'll only wear once. Oh well. It's done now. The ceremony was nice and the speeches were, for the most part, very good and insightful. After graduation we, popped over to the school to look at the chocolate sculptures the we went over to lunch/dinner. After amazing Viet Namese food and then a quick trip to Ghiradelli Square it was time for home. My little nephews were troopers, but they were so tired by 6PM that it was definitely time to head home. Last night was totally uneventful. After less than five hours of sleep Friday night, I crashed and was soooo glad that I didn't have to work Saturday night. (Friday my boss said I should take graduation day off and spend time with my family.)

Today I'll be heading up to St. Helena, but if I'm going to do that I'd better get my butt in gear and get moving.

Talk to you all later!

Carissa

2004-10-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

Chef Doug said that this was the most difficult chocolate box project that he's ever seen. I'm not sure what problems everyone was having, but we all had numerous problems. The box was a piece of cake for me, but the bow was a serious problem... as I mentioned in the text attached to the picture. Anyway it's done and tomorrow is a new day and a new project.

Work today was better... at least I didn't totally suck. I wasn't great, but I wasn't horrible either. I got almost all the production list done. I didn't get the chocolate cookies scooped and I messed up the cat's tongue cookies (overmixed... more below), but other than that, it was all pretty good. I'm having difficulty cutting apples so they are the same size. When I "sauteed" them I wound up with some apple sauce and some apples... a bit disconcerting. So the cookies I messed up. Cat's Tongue (Longue du Chat)... basically they look like little, less exaggerated, dumb bells. Long and skinny with little bulbs at the ends. (I'm doing a horrible job describing them.) Anyway, it's a weird recipe. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg whites. (what is this batter supposed to look like at this stage???) Fold in the flour. Mix in the salt, ginger, almond extract, ginger extract. OK. So those were the written instructions. WHAT A PAIN! After the flour is folded in the was just about no extra liquid to be able to mix in the salt and ginger and extracts. So, as expected, I wound up overmixing the dough. Great. Of course I didn't know I'd overmixed until after I'd baked off the first batch. Grrr. So I asked Candice if I couldn't just sift the ginger and salt in with the flour. She said, "Well that is where your culinary education should come in to play. You should be able to look at the ingredients and know how to mix something. So you should have mixed the dry ingredients in together from the beginning." Well, GEEEZZZZ. It was HER RECIPE! What's the point of even having written instructions if I'm supposed to figure out the mix methods by myself?!?!?! Anyway, next time I'll mix the dry ingredients together and I'm going to throw the extracts in after the egg whites. I can't think of any reason why they shouldn't turn out with my modifications, but I mean REALLY what about the next person who's going to have to make this recipe? What are they supposed to do? It just seems silly to me. Oh well.

Anyway, I've got another slightly annoying bit of news. So I'm only going to work Thursday, Friday and Saturday until the cafe opens. It looks like the cafe will be opening in two weeks, but she sounded pretty non-committal. Fine. I can get temp work (crappy boring office stuff) on Mon-Wed, but how long is this going to go on? What if I'm not going to be able to get full time? I mean I'd be able to make ends meet much more easily by doing the temp work/ cook work combo, but it's not what I want to do. We'll see. Anyway I need to figure out if I'm going to be a real full time or not soon or I'm going to have to look for another job. Grrrr.

On the upside, I got my first paycheck today. My first real paycheck for making people food. Very exciting... even if it was only $129. My first thought was, YEA!!! My next thought was, GOD GRIEF... how am I EVER going to make rent on this measly amount???

Well, it'll work out I'm sure (like there is an option for it NOT to). Good night for now. Talk to you later!

Carissa

2004-10-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

What a nightmare! Tonight was the chocolate box project. I actually made the box in about 15 minutes. I couldn't believe that the box construction went so easily. I thought I might even finish the project with tons of time to spare... no such luck. The DAMN bow was a huge problem. I had to re-make it 5 times. What a pain. In the end I just about gave up. I got something that kinda sorta looked like a bow, but it wasn't as nice as it could have been. Next time... no white chocolate on the bow... it's just too delicate and the melting temperature is just WAY too low. It's well below body temp, so, in addition to any other difficulties I had to worry about my hands melting the little pieces. What a pain! Anyway, it's done and I learned what NOT to do. (Sometimes that's even better than learning what TO do... or so I keep being told.)

2004-10-20T23:39:00.000-07:00

Cuttie patootie... It's a little hard to see her hair, but everything else is pretty plain to see. Soooo, what do you think?

2004-10-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I've been terrible about updating. Well, OK, I guess it was just Tuesday. So I went on Dad's route with him on Tuesday and met many of his customers... they were great, so nice. Anyway, Tuesday was nice, even though I only got 5 hours sleep it was a nice day.

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I've been working on my 3-Day chocolate sculpture. When you see the picture you aren't going to believe that the sculpture is actually made out of chocolate. Pretty cool. Anyway, I'll take more pictures with the digital camera tomorrow, the one that is going to be posted I took with my phone. Not too bad for a crappy camera phone! (OK, so it's not crappy, but heaven's only knows how much it cost me to send the one picture.) Anyway, I ran out of fabric for her dress, so that was a challenge, but it all wound up working out ok. I also melted the hand while i was working on the arm.. DANG... so I had to re-make that too. I'm still not happy with how the hands and feet attach to the arms and legs. Frustrating thing is that I still don't know how to attach them more naturally. The hair however was my pride and joy. I specifically did what I wanted instead of what Chefs Doug and Alex suggested. I knew what Raggety Ann's hair was supposed to look like and I successfully did it. Chef Amy said that she liked the floppy look of the figure... like the doll. I agree. I tried to have the angle of the arms and legs look a bit off to get this effect and I think it worked. If I'd had time I would have put red and white stockings on her legs. As it was I was one of two people who used color. The other person set out to make a Smurf but wound up making a blue M&M. Other than us though, everyone else did basic black (or brown in this case) and white. There were some very cute sculptures: Bob's Big Boy, Homer Simpson, a couple of South Park characters, a couple of Mickey Mouses, various animals and monsters, there was also a very memorable Hamlet (with Orick's skull at his feet) and bride of Frankenstein. I'll take pictures of the others tomorrow. Very impressive lot.

So, Candace called me last night and left a message saying the tit was a little slow and that I shouldn't come in until Thursday. Great. This is all well and good while I'm still in school, but this had better morph into a full time position after school gets out or I'm not going to be able to make rent! Sheesh! She did say I should come in on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Great, now I'm working graduation evening. Guess it's going to be a short celebration. Oh well. Talk about congratulations, you've graduated, now get your butt to work. Oh well, this is just the beginning of the special celebrations that I'll be missing due to work.

Speaking of work, over the past week or so I've re-formulated my five year plan. I see this industry being made up of four different components: restaurant, hotel, bakery, catering (catering just replaced casino tonight after sharing the four year plan with Chef Amy). So after spending one year at each place I should have a good idea of what I really like to do. I'm thinking that I'll save the hotel experience for last and do a combo of hotel and casino with a year in Vegas. Funny, I really have NO Desire to live in Vegas, but it would be a wonderful opportunity. I'm thinking Bouchon, but it's really too early to even thing about it. So, as I was writing this Candace called me (It's almost 11:30!) and asked me to come in at 10:30. She also said something about us talking. Great. Tomorrow should be interesting.

Anyway just wanted to catch you all up. Things are plugging along. As soon as I graduate I'll be starting a new blog to keep track of the new working experience. I'm guessing I won't be able to update it daily, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm going to post the picture of my Ragetty Ann and then go to bed... talk to you all later!

Carissa

2004-10-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, After Saturday night (don't ask) I slept all day yesterday. Didn't get out of bed until 8 and only then to order delivery. Thank goodness for Big Nate's BBQ!

Today was another relaxing day, on the upside I got the house a bit tidied up and almost all the laundry done.

School tonight was good. We are beginning our 3 day chocolate sculptures today. Of course, since I was a total slug yesterday I didn't have a THING ready, but, I came up with something. Don't ask me where I got the idea from, but I'm making Raggety Ann out of chocolate. I got the body, arms and legs, feet and hands, and head and face all made. I also got some milk chocolate modeling paste made. Tomorrow I'll make a batch of white chocolate modeling paste and then I'll be ready to rock and roll. She'll have a white chocolate face, red string hair, white mittens, dark chocolate feet, red and white striped stockings and a blue and white dress with a white apron. I sure hope it turns out, it sure looks like it might, but it's still too soon to tell.

I also talked to the Chefs tonight. They assured me that I can do this work thing. Yes, it is hard, but it will get better... or so they say. Chef Amy actually said she just about threw up every day for the first two years she was a line cook. (OH NO! TWO YEARS!!! I don't think I can be this wreck for two years!!!) On the upside they said I could do it. They also said I chose a pretty big challenge for my first job (new restaurant, new pastry chef, new career for me), but, again, that I could do it. They also said it would be a big challenge for anyone, green or otherwise. (Boy do I know how to choose them!) As for working alone Saturday night, even though I don't feel prepared, they assured me that I could do it and that it would work out. As for the quinelles that I don't know how to make, they suggested that i get a box of instant mashed potatoes to practice with, so I guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow! :) So I'm not in over my head, sure feels like it at times, but they assured me that I could do it!

So, I just checked my voice mail and it looks like Candice has hired another assistant and now she needs to work on scheduling, so it looks like I've got tomorrow off work too. (That's actually OK, my Dad is in town on business, so I'll probably just hang out with him.)

Well, I'll post pictures of my little sculpture and keep you all updated on the job front. Still alive, still plugging away.

Talk to you all later!

CJ

2004-10-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Oy, what a day. I know my chef at work is under pressure, but so am I and, there is no nice way to put this, THIS SUCKS!!! Every day I feel more and more inept. Why weren't cooking basics taught in this program? Things like sauteeing, poaching, roasting and even things as basic as simmering. This is nuts. I've roasted pears three times at work, never in school. I got my butt chewed today for not sauteeing right. (OK, saute in French is translated "to jump", so, by definition, it's over high heat and you are tossing the pan contents in the pan, maybe with some liquid... ex. butter... read on)

So, I made two different batches of madeleins. (Not what I was told to do last night, so, again, I looked like a moron because the chef said, "Did you make the second batch of madeleins?" to which I responded, uhhh, No, just the one. Fine.) The first was with some Italian chestnut honey, the second with Marin wildflower honey. OK, so after talking to the chefs last night we agreed on what I was doing wrong. So I had everything ready. I transferred the pate a bombe to a bowl for folding and Candice asked me what I was doing. She said, I thought I made it clear on Sunday that you should do that all in the same bowl. OK, so, how is one supposed to effectively fold in flour and then butter in a K5 bowl? I'll do it her way next time, but this just seems VERY silly to me. I'm just imagining lumps of flour. Call me silly. She said that transferring the contents of the mixing bowl (the pate a bombe) to another bowl would cause the mixture to loose air. Yes, I see this point, but I've always thought of this as negligible. It is certainly a risk, but so are lumps of flour. I know the next time I made the madaleins (her way) I'm going to feel that much more awkward. Great.

Next, or more accurately, in between, I made the quince compote. I was totally prepared for rock hard, impossible to work with fruits, but honestly they weren't that bad. The down side was that Candice wanted me to peal, then cut in half and then use a melon baller to remove the core and then chop out the stem and bottom. OK. I did it, I'm not entirely sure that it was the easiest way to do it, but I did and after the first couple I did get the hang of it. I got everything together and on the stove when I ran into a problem. The instructions said to put a parchment lid on the pan. ??? What is that? So I ask. Candice says that I should just cut a circle out of parchment and place it on top. So I do. I lay out a piece of parchment, cut a circle and put it in the pan. She sees the remains of what I did and asks if I've ever done this before. No! DUH! If I'd done it before do you think I would have asked how to do it???!!!! She shows me to fold the parchment into a triangle and then again and again and again until there is a thin, almost cornet looking triangle of paper, then she used scissors to cut the top and then the point off. So the end product is a rough circle with another circle in the middle. OK, this I can do, but that was not what she told me to do.

anyway, I started this post during a break from class. I'm done talking about today. No, really, I think I've vented to EVERY ear that would listen to me. After I got to school I broke down and cried in the bathroom. Then went to get some water and started crying again. Chef Renee and chef Malia saw me and were sweet and sympathetic, but we all had to get to class, so I pulled myself together and got to class. Overall it was a good day in class. I got my fruit jellies re-made (totally screwed them up yesterday) and got my nougat dipped in chocolate. Chef Renee told me to stop by the chef table during dinner, but I just didn't want to talk about it, but sure as the sun shines, they tracked me down in the dish room. As soon as I started talking about it again I started crying. What a baby. Anyway, they reminded me of the pressure that Candice is under. I think the exact words were something to the effect of, "You'll never know the pressure Candice is under until you are there. She'll be the one skewered by Michael Bauer (Chronacle restaurant reviewer). Not you. She'll be the one getting her butt chewed by the executive chef. Not you." So that said, I also need to remind myself that I'm not stupid. I also need to remind myself that I will get faster and I will learn more and this will get easier. This is not a reflection on my worth... it may feel that way, especially in this field where we put so much of our heart and soul into our work. I mean really, how horrifying is it to think you totally suck at the one thing that you love. (I'm not sure if I'm alone here (I doubt it), but I still feel like I've gambled so much on this new life that if, for some reason I'm wrong I'll have no where to go. I mean really, how many times in your life can you REALLY start over and create a new life out of nothing? I'm not saying this is my last chance, but it's the first time, really EVER, that I've done what I wanted to do... something I love. No pressure.)

All the above being said I just need to keep reminding myself what Chef Ken said yesterday, I was born to be a pastry chef. So now, I cook. Now I learn. Now I suffer. Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow I will be better than today and the day after I'll be even better. (Geezz, I feel like I'm on some sort of sadistic 12 step plan for how to BECOME a pastry chef instead of 12 steps to STOP something.) Patience. Concentration. Dedication. Repetition. It WILL all come together. I'm sure of it.

Good night for now. My legs are tired so I'm going to take a couple of alieve and go to bed. Talk to you all later! Tomorrow I'm working 4pm until whenever it's all done. First time doing any sort of food service. VERY EXCITING. (I'm going to miss all these firsts if and when they ever stop coming!)

Well, good night. Sleep tight! Check back in with you all Sunday... some time.

2004-10-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have no excuse for not updating the blog sooner. I had Tuesday and Wednesday off of work. My first two days off with no work in months. It was wonderful. I got all sorts of silly little errands done. I got my 2005 area parking sticker, did a little clothes shopping so I'll have something cute to wear after graduation and even got to see a movie. What a luxury! Anyway, I didn't get the house clean, but I should be able to do that Saturday morning... along with the much needed TON of laundry. At least I've been pretty clean so it hasn't been too much of an issue (aside from safety and sani basics!) to wear the same jacket multiple days. I'm going to have to ask to wear a work jacket at work because I just can't keep doing laundry like this!

Class: I made some damn fine caramels. The grouping was two different caramels. I made chocolate (which I overcooked a little, so they were a little firm) caramels. The soft caramels however were lovely. Thankfully I put a nice identifying mark on top of them because I raided the consolidated box several times for Chefs Amy, Ken and Renee. I also made cashew brittle and some very nice toffee. The brittle could have been stretched quite a bit thinner, but I was talking to Garth, so I was a little distracted, which was fine because we needed to do either the toffee or the brittle and I did both, so I was in good shape. Yesterday Chef demo'ed divinity, fudge and marshmallows (made with honey). Can I just tell you, these are some of my favorites, but by the end of the night I was totally nausious and I felt like my teeth were about to fall out of my head. Ryan asked me to try his fudge and I did, but, for the first time ever, I tasted it and the promptly spit it out. It was good, but I just couldn't eat it.

Tonight we made nougat montellimar (sp) and fruit jellies. Desiree and I made the montellimar together and it turned out lovely. The fruit jellies however turned out horribly. I forgot to add in the second amount of sugar and the glucose when the mixture started to boil. It looked ok, but it just didn't set up. I'll have to pay closer attention tomorrow. So tomorrow is a re-make of the jellies and dipping of the montellimar (basically a white nougat with candied orange and almonds... YUM!)

Work: So last night Chefs Amy, Ken and Renee gave me a little gift (no, it wasn't another box of salt!)... a Saint Martha medallion. I have to say I was a bit confused (at first I thought of Martha Stewart... silly me!) and terribly flattered.(Of course St. Martha is the patron saint of cooks...they said that the think the Pope un-sainted St. Honore... how horrifying!) How thoughtful and sweet and, again, totally unexpected! Very flattering. (http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm05.htm) So, of course I ran to the bathroom and put it on and haven't taken it off since. Today was much better, I didn't screw anything up. I diced four sheet pans of brioche and toasted them. I also punched out 4 or 5 half sheet pans of ginger shortbread (stacked in the freezer to establish our par levels) and 6-7 half sheets of salted butter cookies. I also MEP some chocolate ice cream for Candice and a batch of custard for the bread pudding. The custard, what a pain in the butt!!! One of the ingredients was almond paste. Just silly. After everything was whipped together (frankly, there really is no point in whipping it... it's just cooked in the oven) it got strained through a chenois... do you have any idea what a pain in the butt it is to force almond paste through a super fine mesh? WHAT A PITA!!! The chinoise made sense... I guess... to strain out the orange zest, but I without adding heat I don't know exactly how the orange oil in the zest is supposed to get into the custard. So Candice saw the difficulty I was having and told me to heat up some of the base to help get the base through the chinoise. It worked, but the whole process is silly. Ok, while we are on silly, or maybe just plain bad, the brioche that I cubed for the bread pudding IS JUST PLAIN BAD!!! I tasted a little bit and 1/2 of it was under cooked (which made it impossible to cut). The bit that I tasted was just too salty. I talked to the Chef gods and they said I should make it. Well, as soon as I try the finished product (and maybe feel a bit more comfortable telling the chef exactly what I think of her brioche.). I talked to Chef Malia and she said that I should check the baker's percentage. The salt in brioche should be 2%... good to know. I'll pay attention to the salt percentage as soon as I get a chance to make it.

Well, other than that, I also started the pot de creme. (Yea, the one that gave me fits in Chef Alex's class... se la vie.. I'll be an old pro in no time!). The one we make is infused with earl grey tea.

Tomorrow I'll be making a double batch of the custard for bread pudding. Single batch of madeleins (more on these later). Double batch of quince compote.

First, quince compote. The only things I know about quince are what I've read in the Chez Pannise Fruit cookbook. Hmmm. So I know they contain a LOT of pectin (more than any other fruit out there!). I know they turn a lovely pink color when cooked (according to Chef Amy this happens from the skin and core, but my recipe had me removing these, so we'll see if I get the color... oh and this only happens if the fruit is ripe). I also know that they are hard... really hard. So I took a trip up to Chef Amy's class (she's in the middle of cost control, so I knew I'd get a chance to actually talk to her!) to learn how to actually CUT a quince. (I had to ask Candice what a quince even looked like! I've always been pretty good on the fruit identification front, but this is kind of out there!... well, not so much any more, but most of my fruit identification skills are from childhood.) Here are the instructions I got. Peal, sharpen your chef knife, cut the fruit in quarters and then core with your knife... don't even bother to do it with your melon baller. She also mentioned that many people cut off the tops and bottoms and mix a poaching/roasting technique to cook them down a bit. Once cooked the skin is easier to remove and they are also easier to cut and core. Tempting to mention this alternate method to Candice, but we'll see how her way turns out. (Her way may be stupid, but until I'm the chef and other people have to do it my stupid way, then I just need to suck it up and do it her stupid way. Sad, but true.) I'm also going to scoop out more of the chocolate cookies. All this being said, I saw the list that Candice had for me today and she much have changed it at least two times.

OK, madelines. So I talked to Candice Tuesday night and she said that my madeleins were heavy. So when she said that I was going to make another batch tomorrow I asked her what I could to to make sure that they turn out better this next time. She said, pay attention to the recipe next time. Excuse me!?!? What was I doing the first time? Well, I have to say I was a bit thrown last time because I burnt the browned butter and then had to wait for it to cool and I'd already made my pate a bombe... which then had to sit... loosing air. (This is where my problem occurred... I'm SURE of it.) But she didn't think back to the difficulty I had, she just told me to pay attention to the recipe. I did push her a bit and asked for something a bit more specific. Then she said that she'd noticed that I tend to overmix a bit. OK, point taken. So I followed up with Chef Rob and the other Chef gods and they said that madelines are tricky, basically a genoise. Then we discussed the problems I'd had before and they confirmed what I'd already thought, it was the pate a bombe. Make sure everything is ready before I start the eggs and sugar beating. You just can't let them sit. OK, this should be a lot easier tomorrow because I browned two pounds of butter today, so it is waiting for me... one less thing I have to fuss with. I'm sure it will work out perfectly tomorrow. Chef Amy also pointed out another detail... back when Candice was in school they didn't have a Food Science course. So it's no wonder she wasn't able to tell me what the problem was... she probably didn't know. (She actually said, It's easy... it always works when I do it.... yea right! What a load of crap!) Chef Amy also emphasized the need to only say at this job for a year. Yea, I know... it's in the plan.

This last point is even more funny, more ironic than funny really. I was talking to Mom this morning and I said that in 3 years I expect that I'll be a better pastry chef than Candice. Yea, I know, this sounds terribly cocky, but I think I'm already a better teacher and I just started at the place. I'm impressed with her constant smelling of the products and the emphasis she places on tasting things, but I've noticed twice that some of her desserts are just too sweet. Case in point... the fig tart (the fig jam is almost a toothache in the making) and the vanilla ice cream she made today. The first flavor you get IS vanilla, which is good, but then it's so sweet it just smacks you! She said that the flavor will develop and mellow while the ice cream sets, but I just don't see this happening. We'll see. Anyway, it was all interesting. (She also wasn't familiar with adding a little milk powder to ward of crystally ice cream.)

Anyway, one year. I'll try to suck her brain dry, but we'll see. In the mean time I'll just do the best I can and keep learning and getting comfortable in a real kitchen. Refining my taste, concentrating on the subtlety of flavors and my skill at production. I don't think I've said so before, but I'm SOOOO glad I'm still in school while I'm starting this job. I love that I can ask the chefs all the questions that cross my mind. They are so helpful and so willing to be helpful and encouraging. Well, that's it for now. More tomorrow night. OH, I did get a chance to talk to the chef gods about the big plan (3-5-10-15-20). They just thought it was perfect that I had the plan. I said they should check back with me in a year. :) Chef Ken said I was born to be a pastry chef... that it's in my blood. Well, I don't know about that, but I certainly do love this stuff and all the intricacies that go with it, lets just hope that I can hold on to that love during the painful learning process.

Well, it just hit midnight and I have to be to work tomorrow at 9, so good night! Talk to you all later!

Carissa

2004-10-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today was my first real day of work... 9-2 and then a mad dash to school by 3. Thank goodness for the Walgreens on the way to the train or I wouldn't have had anything to eat. (Thank goodness for Cliff Bars and Snapple Meal Replacement drinks!) Anyway, I was having serious difficulty at work. Burned the butter for a browned butter chestnut honey madeleine and put the flour for the madeleins into the shortbread. What a pain... how frustrating. I would have lost confidence in me by that point. That and I was moving really poorly. Candice kept telling me we were on a time crunch and that she needed me to move faster. At the end of the day I told her that I just wished that I had more experience so I could do more. The upside was that she said that by the end of the week I'd have a lot more experience. At least she still wants me to come back tomorrow. It looks like tomorrow we'll be working on ice cream. Looks like we'll be starting with three flavors: chocolate, vanilla and black pepper. I know that ice creams are anglaise based, but I couldn't remember what temperature to cook it up to so I went down to plated desserts and asked. Can I just say that I'm so happy I'm still in school so I can ask these questions? For some reason I had 118 in my head, but it was actually 180. Good, now I know.

So after sharing my good news with my teachers now they all want to come to the restaurant. hmmm, is that a good thing? Of course Chef Ken was making cracks about coming on October 23rd... graduation. Oh I DON'T THINK SO! There are two days I won't be working: 10/23 - graduation and 11/15 - French Laundry reservation. I think both are pretty good reasons to get off work.

I'm pooped. Tonight I finished up my nut candies (Rochers and Dragee hazelnuts) and started on the caramels. I got my chocolate caramel made (VERY VERY yummy if I do say so.) Tomorrow I'll make a nice soft caramel and then move on to the next batch that Chef Doug is going to demo for us tomorrow.

It's official, I'm not quite up to the working 13 hours in the kitchen stage. 5 hours today and then 7 tonight... it's a bit exhausting. That and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to make my uniforms last the whole week. So, the question of the hour is: How long can you wear a uniform and still maintain safety and sanitation standards? I have a suspicion that anything over 12 hours is pushing it. On the upside I work in pastry and not butchery!

Lastly, I've officially wimped out. Dad wanted me to do it and it's the laziest thing that I didn't want to agree to, but with as tired as I am it just seems like the best thing to do. I'm paying Desiree to drive me home every night until the program ends. I figured $2/night would be more than fair. She agreed, so for $30 I don't have to worry about schlepping home at the end of the night... up hill... 10 blocks. I know, I know, I'm a lazy lazy chef. Eh, why not take advantage while I can. On the upside Desiree benefits and I benefit.

Well, nighty night. I've got to run some errands tomorrow and then be at work by 11. Looks like it's going to be a short day tomorrow. (I'm curious about how we're going to make ice cream in a couple of hours. Maybe we'll just make the base and then churn on Wednesday.) Speaking of which... I wonder how I'm supposed to keep track of the hours I've been working... and even mroe importantly than that, when I'm going to find out how much I'm making. Oh and Chef Rob said that I shoudl be asking for WAY more. Well, we'll see. When the discussion comes up I think I'm going to ask for my pay to be re-evaluated after 3 and 6 months. That way they get off easy while I'm learning and then I get a couple of chances to earn more once I actually know what I'm doing. We'll see.

OK, this time for real... off to bed. Talk to you all soon.

2004-10-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

I'M OFFICIALLY EMPLOYED!!!!!!!

I am the first assistant pastry chef at Myth, a brand spanking new restaurant sandwiched between the Financial District, Chinatown and North Beach... the place isn't even open yet. Tomorrow night is the party for the investors and it looks like next Tuesday will be the soft opening, but who knows.

Anyway, tomorrow is going to be my official first day at work. 9-2PM and then off to school from 3-10. The pastry chef (Candice) wants me to split my time between production and plating, so I'll be working a couple of days in the morning and then a couple of days in the evening. Overall it should be a great experience. Candice also wants me to collaborate with her on ideas with desserts. She's been great about having me taste every product she made and asked my opinion. Very nice.

I'm tickled pink! Couldn't be happier and I'm NOT MAKING $8 and HOUR!!!! Even better.

Had to share the good news.... I'll be catching up with the normal blog from the past couple of days.... including my birthday before I go to bed.

TTFN!

Carissa

2004-10-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've been a little busy. Sorry for not writing sooner.

Thursday and Friday were good days in class. Chef Doug is either warming up to us or we're warming up to him. I've even seen him smile a few times. I finished my fist three truffles (nougat truffles, hand rolled dark chocolate truffles, mocha diamonds) and moved on to the nut truffles. On Friday I finished the Three Brother's (2 caramelized hazelnuts cemented onto a chocolate disk and then dipped in chocolate) and tomorrow I'll do the dragee hazelnuts and the, ummm, what are they called, candied almond slivers tossed in chocolate and then grouped into little clusters. Anyway, those are due by 9 tomorrow night. I'm kind of curious how well I'll do in class after working all morning. I'm sure I'll do fine. The nice thing about this job is that I can just pop over to Market street and catch the street car up to the school (which is 4 blocks off of Market). Perfect.

OK, so it turns out that the truffles we are making are going to be served at graduation. hmmm, I don't mind eating my truffles, but I KNOW I don't want to eat some of the truffles from some of the other students. Oh well, guess that's one more thing for me to avoid! :)

So Friday was my 30th birthday. Very nice, lots of drinking, lots of good friends and a very strategically placed photo booth. ;) Anyway I had fun. Desiree and I wound up waking up around 1 and were human by 2 and off to breakfast by 3. We went to the old Titanic Cafe, which is now Dennis Leary's new restaurant Canteen (right next to the Commodore Hotel). They were just closing, but the chef said we could still come in and order. Thank Goodness! I was ravenous. Desiree ordered the Caesar salad and loved it, I thought it had a bit too much dressing, but she liked it. I was craving something sweet and something salty, so I ordered two breakfasts. I never expected to be able to eat them all! I got the apple pancake (a bit too much cinnamon in the cinnamon to sugar mix). It was composed of perfectly tender apple slices and a nice eggy batter. Tasty. The second breakfast was corned beef hash and poached eggs. The corned beef was fresh and in perfect proportion to the potatoes. It definitely fit the fill on the salty scale. The eggs were a bit too poached, but this is my fault because that's how I asked for them. I should have asked for exactly what I wanted, but I was hungry and a bit hung over so I wasn't as exact as I could have been. (Last time I got corned beef hash with poached eggs they were a bit snotty, and I really don't like snotty poached eggs, runny, but not snotty.) Anyway, it was good, exactly what I needed.

I went back to Canteen for breakfast this morning and got the breakfast bread pudding with Mexican Ibarra chocolate. I was disappointed that I couldn't taste the cinnamon-y chocolate that has been one of my favorites since childhood. (My dad used to keep a box out in the garage and I would occasionally run into it and sneak a bit... it's so wonderfully different from American chocolate!)

Well, it's the beginning of a new week. Filled with new food and new challenges. Tomorrow morning I'll be making the cutest little Twinkie shaped pear (amazingly ripe pears!) and sour cherry claufouti and some plum upside down cakes. Candice said that she's expecting 300 people for the party... I can't imagine that I'll be able to make enough of anything to take care of 300 people. Well maybe. Let's see, let's assume 5 desserts to choose from, that's only 60 servings of each. So, cookie sampler (not too sure that 3 cookies counts as a sampler, but we'll see), fig tart, pear upside down cake, cloufutis. Not sure about any others, but I'm sure the ideas are out there.

Well it's getting late, I should probably head off to bed. Just wanted to catch everyone up to date. Talk to you all later!

Carissa

2004-10-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight was another good night. Not as productive as I would have liked, but still good. I got the tempered chocolate on the top and bottom of my mocha diamonds and and got them cut. Tomorrow they'll be ready to enrobe. I also got my hand rolled chocolates piped out. Tomorrow I should be able to roll them and, with luck coated in chocolate and then enrobed. I didn't do anything new on the nougat truffles. I wasn't able to do the nougatine because I didn't bring my silpat to class. No excuses, but it was a little frustrating.

Anyway, tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Make nougatine, cut and assemble on the interiors. Temper milk chocolate and dip nougatine truffles. Temper dark chocolate and enrobe mocha diamonds and hand rolled truffles. Assuming I get all that done, I might be able to carmelize some hazelnuts for the three brother's and dip them in dark chocolate. I'm not holding my breath on the last list item, but it's something to shoot for. On the upside, I'll be able to start working at 2 instead of 3, that should give me a nice head start.

Quick comment on dinner. This batch of students working in Ceryl's is doing an amazing job. Dinner tonight was good, very promising. The soup, both last night's batch and tonight - last night was carrot ginger and tonight was a really good fresh veggie with a nice chiffenod of basil on top - was very nice, very noteworthy... obviously. Anyway, it was all good. Katrina made a good point, this is the first batch of students where someone (the sous chef in this case) said, "Order the soup. It's good. I made it!" That really speaks volumes. Anyone who is willing to brag about something they made has to be proud of their job, not just the work they put into it, but also the end product. I ran into Chef Kate (Butchery) in the dish room and mentioned how pleased we were with dinner. She commented that her and Chef Bob (Butcher Bob) were also happy to have them in their class. She said there were a lot of overachievers. Uh, yea! That's kind of what it takes to do good work in this life. You have to keep shooting high... not just shooting, you have to actually EXCEL! Anyway, dinner last night and tonight was a pleasure, especially after the schlock from the prior three weeks.

So, I called to follow up on the interview from Monday. The owner said he was glad I called because he had so much going on. Now I'm REALLY glad I called. Anyway, he said that he'd hired the pastry chef. Good. He said that he wanted to to give her a chance to settle in and give her a chance to review my resume. So I didn't expect a call for a day or two. You can imagine my surprise when, in the middle of lecture, I get a call from an unidentified 415 number. You have NO IDEA how much I wanted to take that call, but there was a message so I knew I'd be able to get back to it at the first break. I wasn't even out the door before I was checking that message. I called her back and I'm scheduled for another interview tomorrow at 1:30.

After class I stayed to talk to Chef Doug. Even though he can be a real curmudgeon I know he has tons of hiring experience, so I wanted to get his advice on the second interview. He had great advice. Be humble (first thing). Show your enthusiasm. Show you want to learn and that you are a team player. All things I can do and all things that I did during the first interview. So basically I just have to be myself and stick to the basics and I'll be fine. I mentioned to Chef Doug that I was nervous and he smiled and said that was a good thing. Yea, I know it's a good thing, but still, nervousness is still nervousness. I just need to keep telling myself that it will be fine. Yes, it's a good opportunity, but I'm starting at the bottom and they know that, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Well, there was so much excitement today and last night I fell asleep heavens knows when and forgot to set the alarm. Not exactly the way I want to start tomorrow. Oh, last bit of news... I got my last paycheck today, very nice, so Monday I'll be able to go in and prepay my rent for the next couple of months. YEA!!!

Again, this time for real, good night. I'll talk to you all later.

Carissa

2004-10-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

Last night was another pretty darn good night. We started off with a brief lecture and then watched a video. Have I mentioned how much I hate that we watch videos. In addition to the lights being turned off and the monotone voices of CIA instructors, I've already been up for 10 or so hours and I get sleepy... yes, I admit it... I fell asleep in the middle of the video... at least three times. It's horrible! Would it be too much for Chef Doug to actually lecture? He did such a great lecture on Monday! Am I going to have to hold on to that one great lecture to get me through another four weeks of lame lectures and videos? I sure hope not! (I think I'm going to have to slip some caffeine tabs into his water if it keeps going at this pace!)

Anyway, last night Chef divided the class into thirds and we started making truffles. 1/3 made cocoa vanilla or dark hand rolled truffles, 1/3 made mocha diamonds, and 1/3 made nougat truffles. I was in the nougat truffle group. I'm glad. First I started the cream scalding on the induction burner (around the stove just gets too crazy and people are acting like self interested idiots again... or maybe they are just being themselves, who knows.) while I tracked down the other tools I needed. While the cream was melting the chocolate Desiree and I worked together to get all the materials together that we'd need... 2-1/2 sheets of parchment, 1/2 sheet pans, everything we'd need for tempering. Next make the ganache, or more accurately, slowly emulsify the chocolate and the cream. Next, cream up the butter in a small cup and add some of the choc mixture to the butter. Next, incorporate the chocolate butter mixture back into the choc/cream mix. Not too difficult, you just need to think of air as a contaminant and try to incorporate as little into the mix as possible. Next, pour finished ganache into a pie tin. (This will help it cool faster... the faster it cools, the sooner you can pipe it out. Most of the ganaches that we'll be working with need to be piped the same day they're made... if you don't you'll wind up with a hard block of chocolate... still tasty, but not exactly easy to portion out into truffles.) While the ganache was cooling I set about tempering some chocolate. Heat to 120, remove 1/2 of the mass to the slab, agitate until cool, reincorporate into the mass, stir out any lumps (more agitation) - aggitation=crystal formation - , check the temp... at this point you should be at 89. If you're too high, or too low, then you need to re-table the chocolate or re-warm a little. I needed to re-table a little. After my chocolate was tempered I poured it out onto one of the 1/2 sheets and spread the chocolate 1/16" thin. Then I used my 1" circle cutter to cut out circles through the chocolate (this will be the base for the ganache that was cooling and will provide a surface to rest on the dipping fork when it comes time to dip the chocolate. Perfect!) So, of course, while I was spreading and cutting my chocolate cooled too much and I had to re-warm. Not a prob, I got the temp dead on the 89 degrees and then went to do the second sheet. One of these sheets of discs will be used for a candy called the Three Brothers (three candied hazelnuts if I remember correctly) and the other is for the nougat truffles.

Just before dinner I piped out my ganache. I had a nice even consistency (some people's looked very lumpy... downright ugly!) and I wasn't having any difficulty portioning or cutting off the top of the truffle with the pastry bag. (Basically what you are doing is piping out a large pearl - the size of the disc and about equally as tall - and then you stop squeezing and do a little rotation to the right - clockwise - and then you're done. Not too bad.) Chef came by the table and watched my work and said that I was doing a good job (high praise from this guy who seems to be 90% sarcasm and 10% sincerity... but maybe I'm wrong... wouldn't be the first time!). Portions... I got 69 portions out of one sheet of discs and one batch of ganache... at $1 each... yeee hawww! Very Nice! :)

After I piped out the ganache, but before dinner I made the ganache for the mocha diamonds and poured it into the bars. The mocha diamonds are a cut truffle. This is where we pour the ganache between bars of stainless steel until it crystallized and then we cut the bars away and let the mass sit overnight. Then we spread tempered chocolate on the top and bottom and then we cut it into it's individual pieces... at that point we are at the same stage in the process as the nougat truffles. My ganache took forever to set up. I figured an hour would be more than sufficient, but it was about an hour and 20 minutes before it was even close to being able for me to cut the bars away... who knows. I'll show Chef today, maybe I'll re-do it.

So, after this portioning stage we let the truffles sit out at room temperature overnight (I'm thinking a minimum of 10 hours). During this time the outside layer of the truffle crystallized and dries out and creates a surface for the tempered (dipping) chocolate to adhere to. This stage is also important, because if air bubbles form between the ganache and the tempered chocolate, mold could grow... eeeeewwwww! So I got everything together and tonight I'll just make the dark chocolate hand rolled or the cocoa vanilla... who knows, if I don't have to re-make the mocha diamonds I might make both. The more the merrier!

Well, two days until I'm unemployed. No word on the possible job front. I'll be calling today to follow up (squeaky wheel syndrome). Hopefully I'll get good news. My replacement is learning... not nearly quick enough, but she is moving along.

Anyway, I need to go figure out what to do with my remaining retirement money and collect my last paycheck! Talk to you all later!

Carissa

2004-10-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of post on Friday and earlier today.

The pastiage project is done. (I actually finished it on Friday.) Unfortunately, I forgot to put new batteries in my cameras, so no pictures. It turned out ok, but the best part of the project was finishing it. I'm done with sugars. No, it wasn't my favorite, but I did finish it.

Now on to chocolates. As much as I didn't like sugars, that's about how much I like chocolate. The lecture Chef Doug did today was about as good as it gets. He was on fire. In addition to humor he was full of information, not just about the chocolate, but also about the business. It was great. I could have kept him going all night, but there was ganache to demo. Chef demod a passionfruit ganache, two different hand rolled truffles, and the filling for what is going to be mocha diamonds and lastly the filling for cocoa vanilla and nougat truffles. It all smelled so good and I hadn't eaten anything all day besides coffee, a banana, a diet coke and a few tic tacs. Thank goodness for a break, some tea and some nice bread. Breads class did a good job on the whole wheat bread today. It was still a little warm, sweet and exactly what I needed.

So,the last thing we did tonight was our first run of tempering chocolate. I have to say that I'm pretty happy...I tempered my chocolate the first time. Thank goodness. Anyway, it was a relief. No art, just following the instructions. Period. End of story. We'll see how I do when I temper tomorrow.

SOOOO, the big news for the day... (drum roll please).....

I got a call on Friday from Teresa (Shane's Aunt Colleen's Friend... how's that for six degrees of separation?!?!?!). She left me a message in the evening... I didn't get it until late Friday night. Apparently, one of her clients (I think she's in wholesale produce) is opening a new restaurant and is looking for a pastry chef. She told him all about me, my enthusiasm and my good grades and he wanted to meet me. So I called him first thing on Saturday and after talking he wanted to get together and meet on Monday... today. I met him after work and he showed me the place. It's still being set up (the tabletops haven't even come in) but the owner showed me around the place... it's amazing. The kitchens are as big as the restaurant. In addition to the main restaurant there is also a cafe associated with it right next door. So, in addition to the desserts for the restaurant the pastry chef will also be overseeing the baked goods for the cafe too. Overall the restaurant and cafe will be serving the usual plated desserts, laminates, your usual breakfast baked goods and ice creams. Very nice. Anyway, I was just giddy by the time we sat down... to talk and it just got better. He's extending an offer to the pastry chef today and then he's looking for a couple of assistants... I'm up for one of those positions. So we started talking about my availability (it works almost perfectly with what he needs) and about where I see myself. I told him that I was looking for a team I could learn with and from and a place I could have some fun doing it. I also made it very clear that I'm just beginning to learn... and learn how much I don't know and how excited I am to learn. About him... left working at Gary Danko two weeks ago after working with him for nine years, in addition to helping open Restaurant Gary Danko. He also helped George Morrone open the 5th Floor. Very impressive resume! Anyway, he was looking for a new challenge and wound up hooking up with his major investor and settling on a casual California French cuisine. Something a little less intimidating than all the other California French restaurants in town. (There's no reason to be scared of food... it's just FOOD!) I love that idea. Good food that is more approachable than the other restaurants in town. He had similar philosophies on dessert... no fancy tuille or caramel paste garnishes (less froo froo, more time to concentrate on making amazing quality desserts... think Town Hall. So, it was all very exciting. He liked my enthusiasm and passion, so that was all a good sign. So, assuming that the pastry chef accepts the position, he wants me to meet her to see how we get along. All promising signs. Again, cautious optimism. We'll see what happens. I'm getting the feeling that this could move very quickly. I'll keep you updated.

Last note... Chef Amy was right... there really are only 12 pastry chefs in this town... the rest is smoke and mirrors. Than, and it really is WHO you know, not so much WHAT you know. Networking is really the key. Even if it doesn't work out this time, networking really IS where it's at.

Well, off to bed now. Too much adrenaline today... I'm pooped. I've also been training my replacement... it's been interesting.

Talk to you all soon.

Carissa

2004-09-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

last picture

2004-09-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

Alternate angle...

2004-09-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

Finally, here is my sculpture. I don't want to talk about it so don't ask any questions... for this picture only there is a quarter standing on end to give you some perspective on height and width.

2004-09-30T09:37:00.002-07:00

Squash... or is it Gourd?

2004-09-30T09:37:00.001-07:00

The entire Veggie Tales vignette

2004-09-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Close up of the flaming heart...

2004-09-30T09:36:00.001-07:00

Another alternate angle

2004-09-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

Alternate angle

2004-09-30T09:34:00.001-07:00

Jennifer's underwater scene

2004-09-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

Dragon's head...

2004-09-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

Allan's dragon... it's really hard to see the face, even in the close up, but it was very cool. He did a great job.

2004-09-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

Ron's clown... the flash didn't go off, but I thought he did a great job... not a creepy clown in the least!

2004-09-30T08:51:00.002-07:00

Looks just like hime!

2004-09-30T08:51:00.001-07:00

Larry Boy... he even has a rainbow cape...

2004-09-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

Bob

2004-09-30T08:50:00.002-07:00

Close up

2004-09-30T08:50:00.001-07:00

Jeremy's Veggie Tales. Too CUTE!

2004-09-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

I just love the fishing pole...

2004-09-30T08:47:00.001-07:00

Close up

2004-09-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Alison's Winnie the Pooh... little bumbble bees and all...if you're wondering what Pooh is hugging... it's a deflating balloon.

2004-09-30T08:46:00.001-07:00

Side view...

2004-09-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hoang's frog... isn't he too dang cute!

2004-09-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

I'm so discouraged. I finished my sculpture tonight. It turned out ok, but I wasn't thrilled with the outcome. It's not like it turned out horribly, I just wish that all the work I put into it actually showed. I've never felt so inadequate. Every other challenge I've faced in this program felt manageable. OK, at the time it might not have felt manageable, but at some point in the project I just knew it was going to come together. I never got that feeling tonight. To add insult to injury I got four new blisters. Damn. As if that weren't enough I can tell that I've got a bad attitude. I don't know when it started, but I don't like it. At least I am aware of the problem and I'll keep looking for a solution every day until it shows up. I'm hoping everything will change when we start chocolates. I have a suspicion that I'll have some of the same frustration when I'm first learning to temper chocolate, but that is more science and practice than talent or skill. Those I can deal with.

Desiree and I took our finished pieces down to Chefs Amy, Ken and Renee to take a look. Chef Amy asked us how we were enjoying the class and we both replied that we weren't. The looks on their faces were heartbreaking. Chefs Amy and Renee more than Chef Ken because I'd already complained to him so he already had an idea of my feelings. I think Chef Renee looked most distressed. They just reminded us that confections and chocolates are an entirely different ball of wax. Thank goodness! I'm telling you, if I had to do six weeks of sugar I'd either 1) get very good, 2) quit by week 4 or 3) slit my wrists from the frustration.

I'm trying to be a team player when I say the following (and you'll see when I post the pictures), but this just makes me feel that much more inadequate :) : There were some DAMN FINE sugar sculptures tonight. My top three favorites were a Chinese dragon, a Veggie tales vignette and a coy fish display (even though the woman who made it used colored Sharpies to color the sugar). I didn't get a picture of the coy display (my batteries died), but it was very nice.

Anyway, tomorrow we start on the pastiage sculptures. The pastiage will be a two day sculpture: assemble the pastiage and make more sugar flowers. Yea. Two more days of sugar. 22 days until graduation.

Sigh. Tomorrow is another day. All I can do is start fresh, stay positive, and do the best that I can... even if it's not very good.

Good night for now. I'll post pictures of my project and the others that I took tomorrow morning.

Carissa

2004-09-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Figure 7

2004-09-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

Figure 5

2004-09-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

Figure 3

2004-09-29T09:22:00.001-07:00

Figure 2

2004-09-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

Figure 1

2004-09-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

These are the two figures and the bow I made last ngiht. Not fabulous, but they are certainly starting to look like figures... especially the one on the right.

2004-09-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight was another good night. I made a ribbon (whop de do!) and two men. I'll post pictures tomorrow morning. I did get a chance to talk to Chef about alternate ways to make my figure, I tried his way after dinner and after one stinker I got one to work out just like it was supposed to. I also talked to Ryan about it, I'm not sure I'm going to try it his way (he suggested blowing the figure out of one piece instead of the two... we'll see. I'll need to work with a significantly larger amount of sugar, but I don't think it's totally out of the realm of possibility. I thought I was going to have to cook up more sugar tomorrow, but I found some more black, so I should have enough to do my figure at least a couple of times. I also got my yellow base and two back up supports made. Hopefully I won't need them, but, just in case I'll have them.

Poor Desiree. She was working on her heart (she's doing a flaming heart... don't ask...) and Chef came by. He told her that it needed to be flatter so that you'd actually think it was a heart...instead of a butt. hee hee, poor dear. Then she said it would look better, more heart like, with the flames. Then someone mentioned that it would actually look like a flaming butt. poor baby. I tried to cheer her up by telling her it could always have commercial value... she could sell it as a hemroid ad. She didn't laugh... much.

On a different note... would it be too much for our class to be quiet? This is getting ridiculous. I know kitchens aren't quiet places, but we're trying to do work here and this work takes concentration. There are plenty of times when I'm so focused I don't even hear my name, but this is getting ridiculous.

Anyway, the three day sculpture is coming along. I'm hoping it will all come together according to plan, but we'll see. If I get done early I'll start working on my pastiage sculpture. Unfortunately I'm going to need to start working on orchids (which I haven't ever done) and roses. I'm sure it will work out fine, but I'm a little nervous about my pastiage being dry enough. Again, we'll see tomorrow.

Not sure if I mentioned it in my post last night, but I sent Whitney an email yesterday thanking her for all her tireless work on the career hunt. Then I proceeded to warn her about an ethical dilemma that I felt the school was stepping into by putting students in contact with employers who were looking for employees during the strike. Basically I warned her that if the position went south it could come back to bite the school int he butt. But, assuming the students had full warning and were aware of the possible conflicts/problems that could arise from crossing a picket line and they decided to do it anyway, then that was their own decision. Well, wouldn't you know it she sent out an email today warning all the students she is working with. Frankly, I expected that email to come from the administration, but this, at the very least, was a good move.

Oh! I also petitioned to graduate today. It all went well and I'm all signed off and ready to graduate. Thank goodness! Once more piece of paperwork down.

Well, good night for now. I'm heading off to bed. I'll post pictures of the figures tomorrow and the ribbon I made.

Carissa

2004-09-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

So I was just talking to Dad and I came up with the perfect analogy for this class. It's like a bad dessert after an amazing dinner. All you remember is the bad dessert... the last thing you ate. Not exactly a fair judgment of the overall experience, but it happens all the time. Just like this class. It's unfortunate.

Tonight was a good night. I know in retrospect that it's due to the fact that I was doing something. Cooking... kind of. I miss making stuff. I don't really care what I'm making, but I like to see the fruits of my labor, or at the very least the pie of the fruits of my labor.

As I mentioned, I had a good night. I got the first base, background, supports and decorations done. I also got my first draft of my man done, my blown sugar component. (OK, so I was silly and said the following with out thinking..."Oh, I'm so glad, I blew my man and he looks good." hee hee, ok, so Desiree pointed it out... little perv that she is. hee hee) Anyway, he did turn out nicely, now I just have to do it again on Wednesday. I'll probably try a couple tomorrow, but I seriously doubt any of them will last until Wednesday, but I'll try. I also played around with my pulled ribbon. I think I'm going to make the ribbon with white and yellow instead of the all white I had originally planned. I think it will give the piece more definition. I also added gold leaf to my blue base and then, once it had cooled, brushed the gold off. This turned out very nice. There are some clean lines, which I wasn't really going for and that I don't really like, but there isn't really much I can do about it. The background also turned out nice, again, not like I'd expected, but nice. I'd wanted the blues of the background to grade from dark down to darkest, but I'd colored the first batch too dark, so the definition between the two colors wasn't as pronounced as I would have liked. But, I did sprinkle some gold powder onto the surface and it made nice celestial shapes that will look very nice on the finished product. If I have time on Wednesday I might re-pour it, but we'll see if I have time.

Well, I got something accomplished tonight. What a relief!

I sent out my thank you card to the Fairmont, I'll follow up on Wednesday. Nothing quite like a squeaking wheel to get noticed!

Good night, sleep tight. Talk to you all later!

Carissa

2004-09-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

As I'd thought, this weekend was pretty busy. Saturday was non-stop from 6-10:30... on the upside it mostly went according to plan and I was able to get everything done that needed to get done.

Sunday the plan changed, thank goodness. Dad missed his connecting flight in Taiwan and won't be coming in until tonight, so, downside, I won't get to see him. Upside, I got to relax yesterday. Ahhh, naps. Too bad you can't make money sleeping... I'd be rich in no time! :)

I didn't get a chance to write about it, but I got a call from the Fairmont on Friday afternoon (after work, before school) to come in for an interview either Saturday or Sunday. I choose Sunday, first thing. So I was at the Fairmont (three blocks from my house, how perfect is that!) by 9:45, filled out an application and talked to the HR person. We talked about why I was changing careers and then she looked at my employer... SPO. Hee hee. She said, Oh, you used to work for SPO? I told her that I still did and laughed. She said, SPO... the one that owns the Fairmont. I chuckled and said yea. It was a little awkward, but in a good way. She said that it was obvious that my enthusiasm and passion would work well at the Fairmont, which was good, and that she'd let me know. I'm going to send off a Thank you note today and then give her a follow up call on Wednesday. I also asked our partner in charge of the Fairmont to do his thing. We'll see how that works out. (honestly, I a little anxious about strings being pulled, but there is only one position and I've wanted to work at this place since I started school, so I might as well do everything I possibly can to not only let them know that I want it, but that I'm the best, most determined candidate they've seen.) Anyway, during the discussion the topic of the "labor dispute" came up. I mentioned that I was very uncomfortable and detailed the rumors I've heard about sabotage and harassment. I was assured that this was not acceptable and would not be tolerated. That's all well and good, in theory, but what happens in reality? I think reality is more of a reflection of the chef's attitudes. We'll see. Again, we aren't on strike yet. I still have a job. We'll just cross that bridge when we come to it.

I took a look at finances today. It's looking promising. I should be able to pre-pay four month's rent, pay off the credit card and still have money for expenses (not high living mind you, just the basics) for at least four months, possibly 5... and that's assuming I don't work at all... at the very least I'll be able to do temp office work, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Well, off to school. I posted pictures of my Mickey Mouse (or, more appropriately Mousse) cake that I made for Victoria's birthday... she loved it and it was exactly what Joelle ordered (or at least that's what she told me). So everyone was happy.

Talk to you all later!
CJ

2004-09-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

OK, so I was trying to make a torso and it just didn't go like I'd hoped, so I dae a fish instead... again, use a little imagination...

2004-09-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

First experimentation with blowing sugar apendages... left is an arm, right is a leg...OK, give me a break and use a little imagination!

2004-09-27T12:44:00.002-07:00

Close up of the writing... which is still hard to see...

2004-09-27T12:44:00.001-07:00

Before I wrote Happy Birthday...

2004-09-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

The Mickey Mousse cake... too dang cute... everyone loved it... of course there are probably 15 things I would have done differently, but that's what keeps this fun... learning.

2004-09-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

Last night was mostly fun and research. I did work with the sugar a bit, but not too much. I blew spheres for the first time. Pretty cool! As you can see from the posts before this, I've been working on my three day sculpture, it's due next Wednesday and it needs to have a minimum of three elements: pulled, blown, and poured sugar. Examples of each are: ribbons, swans, and bases and backgrounds. The three shaded green sculpture I showed to Chef Doug and he said that it might be too simple. There in lies the problem. Each of these drawings that I did today are more like 1-2 day projects. I can easily see the freeform blown man taking the entire last day, but even with my limited skills I can blow spheres in under 20 minutes. Pouring is really easy, there is next to no skill for that part (or so I say now!). And ribbons aren't all that difficult as long as you have room under the heat lamp to work and don't get the ribbon too thin. I just don't know. I think I'm going to have to go into the library today to take a look at the books. I don't really want to do any blown animals. It's just not something I'm really all that interested in. Maybe a fish (I love the way you make the tails!), but I'm not all that convinced... still mulling.

Anyway, as much of a traditionalist as I am, I think it's funny that each of my drawings were inspired by a different, relatively modern, artist. Matisse, Kandinsky, van Gough. There were others, particularly by Matisse and Kandinsky that were appealing, but I only have so much time.

I talked to Chef Mike last night about a gig he's doing down in Porta Viarta (sp) for the International Gourmet Festival. Very cool. When I got home he asked me for some dessert ideas. What fun! I was up until almost midnight trolling sites, looking for ideas, translating traditionally savory dishes into sweets. There were some guidelines, quick, easy, American (north/south) fusion, Aztec/Mayan influences where possible, not so labor intensive that you couldn't do 100 people per dessert (three were needed) in an evening. I think I was getting a little slap happy toward the end, but some of the flavor combos I remember even now are: cinnamon and chocolate, cayenne and chocolate, dulce de leche, mango-ginger-honey-yoghurt, sweet tamale, pina colada inspiration (napoleon of pineapple slices and coconut ice cream), margarita inspiration (meringue tartlet). We'll see what happens, but it was a fun exercise anyway. Wish I could have worked avocado in there some how... hmmmm avocado ice cream quinelle ....nope, can't think of anything. Something hot, or hot and nutty or crunchy. Something to balance out that fatty creamyness. Boy is this going to bug me!

Anyway, we'll see. I'm so proud of him! I was bragging about him and the festival to a couple people at school. It's all very cool.

So, today I applied for a scholarship to the Women Chefs & Restaurateurs conference in Louisville, KY. The scholarship only covers the conference dues, not transportation or lodging, but I figure if I can get in for free (it would have been over $300), then I can figure out a way to get there and where to stay. The nice thing is that I could fly from Vegas (the conference is the 5-8 of November) to Louisville and then back to SFO for less than $300. Not too bad. Heavens knows where I'll stay while I'm there, but I'll work on that later. First I have to get the scholarship, then we'll work on the other obstacles.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I'm going to go into Chef Alex's class and make several cakes. Victoria's birthday (woman at work) is on Monday so I've been asked to make a Mickey Mouse cake... I think I'm going to affectionately call it the Mickey Mousse cake because it'll be white cake with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate ganache. Should be pretty dang cute. Anyway, I'm only making it with 1-6" and 2-4" cake pans (darling Chef Ken is bringing me the 4" pans... thank goodness! I know that 4" is practically a cup cake, but I wanted the right shape.

After I whip up the cake and mousse and crumbcoat the cake I'll head back home. Desiree and I are going to pop out to Building Resource (http://www.buildingresources.org) to see if we can't find her a nice old window pane... she wants to turn it into a message board and since it's been forever since I've been out there it should be fun.

No, that's not it... Katrina invited me to a wine and cheese thing with her at a local shop. Should be interesting. Might even be a substitute for dinner! :)

Somewhere in there I'll need to finish dishes and start and finish laundry because Mom and the boys are coming over on Sunday (2:30 ish) and then we're all going to go pick up Dad from the airport. Sigh, what is it that they say? No rest for the wicked? or is it No rest for the weary? Either way, I'm not getting any rest this weekend. Not to mention I've GOT to decide which sugar sculpture I'm going to do.

Well, it's almost time to go. I'm going to wrap up for the day.

Talk to you all later!

CJ

2004-09-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Starry night. The big moon would be a blown sphere. the other circles would be stacked poured sugar (stacked onto the base). The clouds would be ribbons, maybe surrounded by spun sugar. The hills would be another ribbon and the mountain up front would be the funky lava sugar (for lack of a better name: sugar that you add royal icing to. it bubbles and foams and then sets with all these air pockets inbetween. It's commonly used for coral, but I think I could get a nice shape out of it for a rugged mountain... it also take sprayed color nicely... we'll see)

2004-09-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

OK so this is a little odd, particularly for traditional ol me. But I was trolling through art.com and ran across this and thought it would be a great way to add serious dimention to a flat painting. Each of the colored circles would be poured separately and then attached one on top of the other. So you'd have the discs growing out toward you. You'd also have alternate culminations for the last circle (innermost). A blown ball for two. A clear filled sugar. And absolutely empty space. There isn't much of a feeling of movement, except the growing color progression, but I'm not sure if I care. Kind of cool, VERY MODERN... here is my inspiration http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--10076894/sOrig--CAT/sOrigID--9723/Squares_with_Concentric_Rings.htm?ui=215385AD2FED4CF38D45FD3420A32363

2004-09-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

This is my Mattisse inspired sugar sculpture. It's taken from the Iccarus portion of Jazz. I'm afraid my finished product will look too symetrical. I don't think Chef will mind that, but it's not really being true to the original. This is what I've been contemplating for some time, so it would be nice to try to do it. I'm not worried about the pulled sugar band at all... not in the slightest. I just need to make sure that it's sturdy enough to hold the stars and I need to make sure the stars aren't so big that they'll smash the ribbon. The color graded backdrop may present a challenge, but I think if I pour the blue part first and then swirl a bunch of black color into the same mold then the colors will blur and it will look ok... gotta move quick! The bases I'm not worried about in the slightest, just poured circles. Any feedback? If you want to see the inspiration piece go to: http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--10041555/sOrig--CRT/sOrigId--35/Icarus__from_''Jazz''.htm?ui=6BF2DB37E9E843B78CA96D32991D9181

2004-09-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

First go at sugar sculpture project

2004-09-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/dining/22BEAR.html
So disturbing I can't even begin to discuss it. $29,000 in scholarships? THAT'S IT! That's just a little over (not counting living expenses) what I paid just for the B&P program at the CCA. That's not even half of the tuition at the CIA! What kind of scholarship program is that? In this area of study, 29 - $1,000 scholarships don't make much of a difference to the students. I was under the impression that the foundation funded many students with full (or at the very least half) scholarships to various schools (of which, sadly, the CCA is not one). Very disconcerting.

Awards aside, what would Mr. Beard think of the situation if here were still here to give his thoughts? That is the ultimate question.

2004-09-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

Good Morning All!

I'm feeling awake and chipper and am in a far better state than I was in last night. I'm constantly amazed at how much better I feel after a good night's sleep. (actually the past few have been pretty sound, the bed hasn't even been messed up in the morning. yeash! talk about the sleep of the dead!)

Blisters are still here though they do hurt less.

I'm really starting to regret not having the disk for my camera last night. Dang!

I've added a new link over to the left. I know I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it, maybe you will to. (Simple Cooking... Hello John!)

No new epiphanies to share... I'm just getting antsy about work. I want it to end as quickly as possible so I can focus on life's next chapter. I've been researching new positions and making a list of all the places I'm going to have to bug to death until I get a job. I got a couple of leads from yesterday's Chron Food section... we'll see where those take me. Have I mentioned that I hate job hunting? It's filled with so much anxiety and the desire to please and say the right thing becomes so overpowering! ick. Funny, as I write this I don't think that need to please will ever go away, particularly not in this new career, but funny, it doesn't really seem to bother me. No apologies, no second thoughts. I love to cook. I love to do well when I'm in the kitchen. Dear GOD I hope I can do well enough just to get hired so I can learn more. (Have I mentioned how little I know? It's like with every class and every book I read, I know less. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? It's like with every new skill or concept I learn just enough to begin to understand that there is even more I don't know. It's like chasing a rainbow. Fun, but rather frustrating. hee hee, I must like to be frustrated because I don't see myself ever NOT chasing that rainbow!)

Well, just wanted to make a quick post to let you know I'm not all down in the dumps. Today is a new day! New challenges (new burns and blisters) and new things to learn.

Carissa

2004-09-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

Rule One in the Kitchen...

There is no crying in the kitchen.

I mentioned earlier (in my winy post) that I had blisters on my fingers. Well, I have even more now and if that weren't bad enough, there were students in this class that were in far worse shape than I. (Sure would have been nice if some sort of advice on preventing blisters was given...) So, I started working. I got the trunk of my structure made and I hit a wall (figuratively, although it might have been literal for all the good it did me). I got out of class for a minute to try to clear my head. How was I going to finish this project? I didn't even have one flower made? My fingers hurt so bad and I was so overwhelmed with my total inability to do what I needed to do I thought I was going to crack. (Psyching myself up to even touch the sugar the first time today was a challenge!) I don't know how I started working again, but I did. I got the @)#($* thing done. No I wasn't happy with it, but I completed my 2 day project in one day. Trust me, there is no pride in completing this project early... just in completing it.

Ryan made an interesting note tonight, "It was like everyone was getting a sugar high just from touching the sugar." Everyone was acting weird. Hysterical even. It was like we wanted to do well, but our bodies and skill were so unwilling that we just couldn't and no one knew how to cope. Some people were really quiet. Others were laughing hysterically and making jokes... some were funny, others were just rude and inappropriate, stress relief I'm sure, but BOY as soon as the chef left the classroom the language went as blue as a sailor's. We were all just so frustrated. It was wired. Very weird.

Anyway, it's done. Tomorrow will be another video, yea, and we might do something with blowing sugar. It's supposed to be some sort of a day off, but even blown sugar will need to be lustered, so that will mean even more blisters. I'm having a hard time getting excited about it. This too will pass. I will get through this, but in the mean time I'm trying to take note of the shapes, colors, textures and techniques. At the very least I'm learning how to appreciate this work. Still doesn't mean I like it, but maybe that will change over time. Maybe not.

I rolled out my pastiage and cut it into some nice shapes. Hopefully I'll be able to make some flowers that will do it justice.

The high point of the evening was going with Jeremy and Ryan up to Chef Amy's new class of students and showing them the sculptures and talking to them. (The show and tell wasn't the high point, even though it was fun.) The high point came as we left class and we decided to smash our sculptures in the trash by the door. (I'm smiling about this now, even as I type.) I'd forgotten the disk for my camera at work, and the flowers would have probably melted by tomorrow, so there was no point in keeping it. The smashing and crashing and the audible sucking in of air by the new students was priceless. We were on our way out the door and just smashed the sculptures will one fell swoop. Very cathartic! I stuck my head back in the door and told students what they might not have heard so far, "Don't get attached." It's the best advice out there... it's just food and sugar sculptures are even less valuable because you can't even eat them! :) (You've got to keep at least a little humor!)

Anyway, this day is done. I've licked my wounds (figuratively, again) and I'm ready to go to bed and try to put this day behind me. Tomorrow is a new day. Fingers will heal, so will my pride. Well, it's true... No one can be good at everything ... and now I'm adding... and if they think they are, then they're just too cocky and proud to recognize their faults... not exactly something you really want in a chef.

Well, good night. Thank goodness my fingertips don't hurt... if I couldn't type I'd be in SERIOUS trouble.

Carissa

2004-09-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

I feel like I got hit by a train.

Between the cold classroom and heaven knows what else, I'm sniffly, sneezy and my eyes are watering. As if that weren't enough, the blisters on my fingertips got bigger overnight (on the upside they don't hurt right now!) and my shoulders are sore from that mean, cruel isometrics exercise called sugar pulling. I know, I know, I sound like a winy snivley wreck. PULL IT TOGETHER!

So I'm pushing the OD limit on echinacea and I've taken my daily vitamin. After I get to school I'm going to soak up some sun and then go to class (for pete's sake, you'd think I was a freaking amphibian!) and try not to freeze my butt off. I'm telling you! This is far worse than Vienoisserie!

Well, enough winy. Hope I didn't sound too jaded last night. I was annoyed and I'm still a little off balance with the whole new instructor, new classroom thing. I'll settle in soon and then be able to evaluate Chef Doug a bit more fairly.

Tonight, in addition to more #*&@#$ flowers I'm going to roll out my pastiage and make some initial structures for my sugar sculptures. I'm sure it will go fine.

Not sure if I'll be up to writing tonight, we'll see, at the very least, I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Carissa

2004-09-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Mamma calla and leaf-less baby.

2004-09-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

I have to say this looks nothing like a calla leaf, but I really do like the twist and bend that I gave it. (Carissa's General Rule of Critique: You must find at least one good thing and one bad thing to comment on, for EVERYTHING.)

2004-09-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Calla lilly... eeeee gad!

2004-09-22T09:27:00.002-07:00

Another

2004-09-22T09:27:00.001-07:00

Close up

2004-09-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

7 hours and this is all I have to show for it. I can't tell you how many times I've chanted the mantra, "You don't suck, you just need lots (and lots and lots and lots) of practice!"

2004-09-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

Dang sugar! I have blisters, or at least hot spots, on 7 out of 10 of my fingers. Yea. So, after 7 hours of pulling sugar I was able to make 2 leaves and 2 small calla lilies. Very depressing.

So, I'm trying to hold out judgment, but I'm kind of getting the feeling that my instructor is a bit of an ass. I totally respect the skills he has and the experience he offers, but his people skills seem, well, not great. I don't know, it's just a feeling, maybe I'm way out in left field, it's only the second day, but we'll see. I just can't seem to let this one alone. I've had difficult teachers. Teachers who I didn't really get along with, but I've never had an instructor give me grief or make me feel uncomfortable for asking questions. Now, let me clarify. I'm IN NO WAY saying that I'm going to stop asking questions for fear of being embarrassed, but hey, I've paid a lot of money to go to this school (as I've mentioned on several occasions!) and I plan on getting the most out of the experience even if that means I wind up leaving a little pride behind (probably won't be the first first time I'll have to do this... should be good practice!), but it's annoying. Yea, that's it, I'm annoyed. It's like the blisters on my fingers... it doesn't hurt, it's just annoying. (OK, if you want specifics lets just focus on sarcasm. Now, sarcasm in and of itself can be fun, even entertaining, but if it's taken too far it's just destructive, at the very least not constructive. There was a lot of sarcasm during the lecture tonight and during the class there were several comments made that, in my opinion, were totally inappropriate.)

Anyway, we'll see. It's only the second day of class, it wouldn't be the first time I've gotten a bad feeling at the beginning of class and it's all worked out just fine. Better than fine even. Anyway, first impressions. We'll see.

Other than that, of all the classes I've had, I'm feeling the least competint in this class. All the other classes seemed like they were based on skills that were learnable... maybe this is my one thing that I'm just not good at. Damn, I was really hoping that my one thing that I wasn't good at was breads. Oh well, maybe there are two things that I'm just not good at. Stink. Then again, maybe it's just practice and effort. Of course, more practice and effort than I've had to expend so far. I don't know. I'm just wishing I wasn't ending this program on such an off note. Time will tell.

So, today was the career fair. Why do they even bother inviting the Baking and Pastry students? I actually had two different employers bemoan the fact that another B&P student was asking them if they had any baking positions open. Excuse me! I did pass out half a dozen resumes, two to two employers who didn't hire B&P students, so we'll see. There was one relatively positive lead, but it was for a position that won't open up for another two to three months. Stink. I'll follow up with them, but I'm not overly optimistic. Now, here's what I want to know... why wasn't the Bay Bread Family represented? Or Tartine? Or Specialties? Or the Fairmont SF, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons or Hyatt? These are major hotels and restaurant employers in this city! A good half of the employers were casinos and a good half of the employers (if not more) were also from out of the city. Who would have thought my desire to stay in the city would make the job search so difficult? Guess this just means I'm going to have to work that much harder to get a job.

Well, good night. I've unburdened my soul... again. Good night nurse!

I took pictures of my poor pathetic calla lilly, so you all can see them tomorrow.

CJ

2004-09-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Candy, Confection, Show work
Let me being by saying that I'm a little bent out of shape at the use of videos to instruct the class. I did not pay $25,000 to learn from a video. Second, the rationale for using the videos (that many students pay better attention to the TV than an instructor) is weak at best and seems like a cop out.

That irritation being said, I enjoyed my first day of this class. Now that I've been through several first days in new kitchens I think I can put this in slightly better perspective. I wasn't as excited as my first day of Cakes class (first date excited), but not filled with dread like my first day of Cost Control (which, all things considered, turned out just fine). Me and my thoughts aside, WHAT THE HELL is going on with my classmates. During the lecture (which covered EXACTLY the same information as the video) there were less than half of us who took notes. My notes, I have to admit, were a little anemic, but at least I had some instructions. Then, when we started to cook it was sheer and utter chaos. What ever happened to MEP? Why don't you have all your tools ready? At what point in your spiral toward chaos are you going to ask questions? It's the first day of class. New teacher. New subject. IT'S OK TO ASK QUESTIONS!!! Good Grief! If you can't ask questions on the first day, then WHEN CAN you?

So, Chef Doug does his lecture/demo on cooking sugar. Take soaked sugar (sugar, isomalt, water), cook it on a low temperature until it just begins to boil stirring the whole time to prevent clumps forming on the bottom that could later lead to crystallization. At this point impurities will rise to the surface. Skim these off with a mini sifter. Add glucose (liquidose). Crank the heat up to high. Stop stirring... excess agitation can cause crystallization. Skim off more impurities. Cook until 250. Add coloring. Cook until 280. Add tartaric acid. Cook until 315. Stop cooking by plunging pan into water filled bowl. Dry the bottom of the pot (very important. if you don't any drop of water from the pan into your sugar will re-introduce water that you've just spent the last 1/2 hour cooking off). Pour molten sugar into forms or onto lightly (1-2T) oiled marble. Flip the outer edges into the middle and then stretch (to slightly aerate) and turn the sugar a couple of times. (How long you're supposed to do this is a little unclear. Maybe I'll get more clarification later.) At the point that the sugar is cool enough to do the little twisty, stretchy, pully part, you can stretch it out and fold it in half (like if you were taking a thin ribbon and wanted to make a thick ribbon). Stretch again and cut into individual portions.

Now, the only reason we made so many individual portions (1/2 of the class chose a color and cooked up the sugar, so this yielded about 15 different colors and about 8-12 individual portions of colored sugar) is so that we'll only have to cook up sugar a few times over the course of the class. This seems a little odd to me. Chef Doug already said that the only way we'll learn how to do this is with practice and experience. That being said, wouldn't he want us to have to cook sugar more than 3 times (max) over the course of the class? I do understand that there is a lot of information to cover, but actually cooking the sugar is pretty much a fundamental that if we don't get it we won't ever be able to practice. Hmmmm.

OK, so, I got my MEP together, and started working. For once in the course of this program I didn't come to class prepared. I must have been delusional to think we wouldn't be cooking the first day! Anyway, I had to borrow Desiree's candy thermometer and mini sieve. Thank goodness she brought her digital thermometer and that she was about 20 minutes behind me in the process. There was a horde of people over at the stove, so I decided to use the induction burner (OK, so it wasn't really my idea, Chef suggested it and those of us who paid attention jumped on the idea.). Boy did that save me a lot of time and grief! Start to finish the process took about 1/2 an hour. Not too bad. I do have to admit that I forgot to skim after I added the glucose and I kept stirring for a couple of minutes after I added the glucose. I also don't think I cleaned off the sides of the pot as much as I should have, but Chef Doug did get a chance to take a look at my sugar, so I'm guessing crystallization either hadn't started yet, or I was lucky. Either way, I'm glad I'm writing this down because next time I'll remember the steps better.

OK, so I have to share an incident from last night. I just about peed my pants I was laughing so hard. It's partly a sad story, partly a scratch your head and wonder story, and part just plain funny story.

So there are a few of us working on the induction burners. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with induction burners, they use magnets to heat (not sure about the whole process), so in order to get them to work you need specific pans. This is not news to any of us. We've been using induction burners in once capacity or another since basic skills. The special pans are also pretty distinct because they have pretty thick solid bottoms. If you don't use the special pans, the burner won't work and may beep at your or flash a red light. Either way, wrong pot, no action. So one of the students decides that she wants to use the induction burner to cook her sugar. Fine. She had already put her soaked sugar into a pot and put it on the burner. The burner beeped at her. She asked Chef Doug to come over and tell her what the problem was. He told her she had the wrong kind of pot and that usually he checks to make sure he has the right kind of pot before putting anything in it. (Makes sense. No heat, blinking light, beeping sound... wrong pot. Quick and painless test!) So she goes, gets another pot and moves her sugar into the new pot. Now instead of beeping the burner is blinking at her. Hmmmm. 3 guesses what the problem is? Oh no, she called Chef over Again! She asks him what the problem is and then says, "Don't tell me I grabbed the wrong pot again.", he looks at her squarely and says in his deadpan voice, "OK, I won't tell you that you've got the wrong pot again." And walks away. Now while all this is going on I'm three workspaces down on the same table as this girl. I'm working and overhearing the whole thing and I'm trying not to loose it. I turn my back to this girl and look at Desiree and my eyes get big and my body is wracked with laughs that I just can't let out. I just wanted to yell, COME ON PEOPLE! Let's just use a little common sense! Good Grief! But as Chef Doug said toward the beginning of the lecture, these days (as if this was EVER the case!) common sense is not all that common. I've been saying this for years, but in the chaos of having multiple new concepts thrown at us we're bound to loose sight of the common sense things. Sure, once you point them out, we're going to hit our heads with our hands and say Oh! Of Course! We're very much like novice jugglers who are just learning how to add additional balls while juggling. Sure we can do two balls, with ease, but then one ball is taken away and a club and a knife are thrown into the mix. It is what is is. There are always going to be people who do better a juggling (inside and outside the kitchen) than others. I just need to focus on what I'm doing. So far so good. I could have done better, but today is a new day and I'll try to do my best again today.

OK, so as I mentioned earlier, 1/2 of the class cooked sugar. The other 1/2 made pastiage (like gum paste, but without corn syrup or gum traganth(sp)). It's actually a pretty cool product (I'll be making it tonight). Powdered sugar, corn starch, gelatin... hmmm and something else. Sift the starch and sugar together, add the gelatin and the other item, incorporate and knead. You'll get a nice soft, slightly firm, but malleable product that you can then roll out, cut into shapes, dry and then use as a structure for hanging other sugar structures (like flowers). Kind of neat! My half of the room will be making the pastiage tonight. It's really easy, so with any luck we'll be able to play with some sugar and try getting it to luster and make petals.

All that said and done, today is the career fair. I've got 20 resumes printed up. The cleanest uniform I could muster and clean shoes. I'm leaving work at noon today so I can spend a couple of extra hours at the career fair. I think I'll hit up the Fairmont first. Wish me luck!

Back to work. I've only got a little bit left of today and, as usual, more to do that I have time for!

CJ

2004-09-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Candies and Confections. We're going to start with sugar sculptures, which I have to say I'm more than a bit nervous about... not because of the difficulty of it (which I know it is), but because of the blisters and wear and tear I'll be getting on my fingers. If I wasn't working at a computer this wouldn't really be an issue, but I type all day so this could cause serious problems... we'll see.

Nice weekend. Lots of R&R. Still don't really know what my problem was on Friday, guess I was just in a funk. It happens. I got almost everything done that I'd hoped. Laundry, garbage and curtains hung. YEA! Everything was at least 2 weeks behind schedule and the curtains had been waiting 3 months! Anyway, it was nice. Stocked up on sleep and Finished Soul of a Chef (which I didn't really want to finish, I wanted more... now I really can't wait until my dinner at the French Laundry!). I didn't so much as cook myself an egg. Funny, even thought I didn't cook, I think I thought about food and this next class for almost every waking moment. Funny. I went to a couple of art galleries and looked at the fused glass products. I keep telling myself... anything that can be done with glass can be done with sugar... we'll see.

Anyway, just wanted to make a quick post. I'm not sure if there will be any picture taking tonight, but I will be taking pictures of my work as it progresses so you all can see.

Wish me luck! (not that luck has ANYTHING to do with it!) :)

2004-09-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

I got my grade in Plated Desserts last night... 104% and another A+ with honors. YEA!!! I didn't get a perfect score on the final (couldn't remember the fat percentages of milk, but that's about it). My menu was pretty, but after looking at it for the first time in two weeks I realized (too late) that the font was down right microscopic, but the process was fun. With the dawn of all these scrapbooking shops making a creative, polished menu is now easier than ever. (Great, now in addition to being critical of every restaurant's food, I'm going to be critical of their menus too. grr)

Anyway, no cooking yesterday. I don't know what my problem was yesterday, but I felt totally dejected... like the wind had been sucked out of my sails. So, no cooking this weekend. Movies, laundry, dishes. I went home last night and slept until 10, then ate like a total bachelor. (pizza, chips, beer, toblerone.. ok so at least I chose a good candy bar!) R&R this weekend. Time to get relaxed and recharge the batteries before a new class.

Well, I just put another movie in. So I'll chat with you later.

CJ

2004-09-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

Barney's sorbet station... this was fabulous. The pineapple sorbet was in a carved out pineapple and then he did hash marks over the top of the sorbet to mimic the pineapple design. The cantelope sorbet was in a cantelope. The honeydew sorbet was in a carved out honeydew. The only eyesore was the blueberry sorbet (which I have to say tasted freaking AMAZING... I have yet to have sorbet this good at ANY restaurant in this city... get this man a CONTRACT and chain to the ice cream machine in the back of some restaurant and you're sure to have a hit on your hands!) If we'd had time it would have been nice to make an ice bowl with fresh blueberries floating in the ice to show off the sorbet, but the flavor MORE than made up for the display. Overall this was a very tropical, and visually appealing station.

2004-09-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

Moon pie... one of the plated desserts... not mine, but they sure were tasty!

2004-09-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

Fruit tartlets... no, I didn't make them, yes, they remembered to use sugar!

2004-09-17T09:24:00.002-07:00

More chocolate decorations... too damn cute!

2004-09-17T09:24:00.001-07:00

More close ups of the chocolate deocrations

2004-09-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

Close up of the chocolate deocrations

2004-09-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

More pate au choux... the swans had little rainbow sprinkles on them... very cute, but VERY Safeway!

2004-09-17T09:22:00.001-07:00

Pate au choux, tartlets table

2004-09-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Chocolate mousse, caramel decoration, creme bruele and creme caramel and puff pastry table

2004-09-17T09:21:00.002-07:00

Custard and bignet table

2004-09-17T09:21:00.001-07:00

More fruit mousse and chocolate decorations

2004-09-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

One of the tables in our buffet (bavaroise, two different types of fruit mousse, chocolate decorations, creme caramel, lady fingers)

2004-09-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

Left to Right: Sous Chef (Group Practical) Amy, Chef Alex, Chef (Group Practical) Ron

2004-09-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

Much Ado About Nothing...

After due consideration I've decided to NOT CROSS the picket lines, assuming they materialize. It was funny, I got some information off the record about what would happen if anyone found out that I'd crossed the picket line... bad, very bad. The kitchen is already a difficult place to work, but if your co-workers are mad at you they can make it down right unbearable. The word sabotage was mentioned. REALLY! I can believe it, but come on! Yes we have to work well together, no this is not a charity. I can't speak for anyone else but as soon a personality and conflict starts affecting the food, then we've got a problem. A Serious Problem. I was talking to one of the other students who went in to fill out the employment paperwork about the whole situation and we were both bemoaning the fact that we feel totally unprepared for this situation because we've always been in professional positions. Actually, from the beginning of this program the fact that we are training to be professionals has been reinforced over and over. That being said, I don't think of professionals as belonging to a union. I also don't think someone is a professional if they even consider sabotaging a colleague's work. It's just not right.

If was kind of funny that all this occurred last night because after we finished our group practical (more on this later) Chef Alex told us that when we leave the school we need to fly away and find ourselves a good strong tree, one of the students chimed in: and don't perch for too long. Truer words have never been spoken. This is what I've been thinking too. Find a good, solid first position, but only stay long enough to learn what needs to be learned.

(I'm kind of constructing this post in a backwards timeline, so have patience with me and try to follow.)

Group Practical
Desiree and I made chocolate decorations. The plan had been to make playing cards, but if you look at the pictures you'll only see half the suites represented. Desiree did the dark chocolate (black) and I did the red. WOW, talk about time consuming and the real kicker is that mine didn't turn out. Boy was I ticked! I used some tinted cocoa butter to paint on the acrylic and then poured white chocolate on the top. Mistake. Next time I'll pour the chocolate and then paint right on it, or, far better solution to the whole piping/painting nightmare... make one long template with 10+ cards and then use the power sprayer (or the mini sprayer) to spray the shapes onto the chocolate. Chef Rob commented that the decorations, although lovely, had a very low ROI (return on investment). You're not kidding! On the upside, this is why we do this sort of thing in SCHOOL. I'd rather try something in school, learn that it has a low ROI and think of a better, more efficient way to do things than have to keep doing it the hard way and wind up loosing my job because I'm too slow. School is where you're supposed to make your mistakes. (and BOY do I make them sometimes!)

So, our theme for the practical was Mardi Gras in Vegas. As you could see from the pictures we went all out. Totally over the top, garish, vulgar, DELIGHTFUL! Those who decorated did a fabulous job. Streamers, balloons, candles, sparkly do dads. Desiree brought in her carnival hats and the extra masks from the invites had feathers added to them. It was all VERY VEGAS!

On top of the great job that everyone did, we were asked to have 2 live stations, we had three. (crepes, flambeed fruit, ice cream). I We also got an additional 5 points because Ryan made the puff pastry, without complaint or even comment, from scratch, start to finish in 3 1/2 hours... and it turned out LOVELY! I guess our class is the first to do this, all prior classes have complained about the time constraints and he let them use the packaged puff... BIG CHEATERS! We were all very pleased. Also, before I forget, I have to comment again on the sorbet. We had to have decorations made out of tuille paste for the sorbet. Fine. Jeremy came up with the idea of doing a jester's hat. He tinted 1/2 of the tuille paste purple and the other 1/2 green, made the template and baked off the shapes. Each dessert would require 4 pieces, 2 purple, 2 green. After they came out of the oven he shaped the base to go around a circle cutter and the top he curled backwards. So, in the end, once everything was assembled it really really looked like a court jester's hat. GREAT IDEA! Great end product. GREAT EXECUTION!

So, while everyone was eating desserts I went to talk to Chef Alex about the job. The more we talked the more nervous I got. He said that he wasn't afraid of any union. Of Course Not! He's management. If I had 18 year of experience I wouldn't be afraid of unions either! But since I'm just starting out I can't really afford to burn any bridges I haven't even built yet! So, I called Shane (friend from work). Her Aunt used to own a union restaurant, was born and raised in this city, and is now a restaurant consultant. This woman knows EVERYONE! I asked Shane if she thought it would be OK if I called Auntie to ask her advice. She said of course and as it happened she was on her way to a restaurant opening and would be seeing Auntie there and would I like to come. Hmmm, could I get out of class. YES! For this, YES! So I went and told Chef about the opportunity and my leaving early and he said I should absolutely go. So I did. Of course Auntie was a wealth of information and had very firm recommendations and advice. As I've mentioned before, if I hear the same advice from several different sources then I would be silly not to take it. (Funny, typing that you'd think that I don't have a mind of my own. I only ask advice on matters that I don't think I have enough experience/information on to make educated decisions. To top it off, these particular decisions could be pretty crucial.) Anyway, I wound up talking with Auntie, her hubbie and several of her friends over dinner and a fabulous cheese plate at Foreign Cinema until 11. (BTW, I had the scallops. A bit spicy for my mouth, but the scallops were so sweet and nicely caramelized on the outside. I kept thinking back to the scallops that I had at Iluna Basque and wishing that they tasted like these. They were SO good! Scallops with heirloom tomatoes and crisp flat bread... the flat bread was really good... I could have eaten that all night! Salty, crispy, nice little flavorful browned bits. YUM!) So, we're walking out of the restaurant and Auntie asks me if I know Angela C. OH MY GOODNESS! Not only do I know her, but I cooked with her 3 weeks ago! What a small town! (I think Chef Amy said it best, there are only 1/2 a dozen pastry chefs in town, the rest is all smoke and mirrors.) apparently they've known each other forever and now both do some work at the SBA. Too Funny! (I don't think I mentioned her name, but Angela is the woman Chef Ken wanted me to work with for a few hours to see how we worked together. I still can't get over it. I wonder what made Auntie mention her?)

Well, as you can tell, yesterday, start to finish, was pretty eventful. I'm almost done with my class. Only have the menu, final and class evaluation to finish. Tonight should be an early night... that just means I can go home and do my laundry, take out the trash and FINALLY get my apartment clean... maybe stockpile a little sleep too!

Back to work. Talk to you all later!

CJ

2004-09-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Striking Hotel and Restaurant Union Employees

OK, so I just spoke with the Chef at the hotel I mentioned the other day. So, maybe I misunderstood when Chef Alex talked about the position, I'm not sure, I thought the Chef was looking for assistants/cooks for after graduation, that may not be the case. (Thank goodness for the cautious optimism!)

As some of you may know management and the Hotel and Restaurant Union are at it again. This time the unions are holding out for a 2 year contract so that all the contracts for all the big chains expire at the same time across the nation. This would be a HUGE win for the Union and a HUGE pain in the butt for the hotels. The hotels would much rather keep things on a small, local level than have to deal with a national negotiation. Makes sense. That being said, when I spoke with the Chef he said that he was collecting a list of names of people who could work in the event of a strike. Ahhhhh, so that's why Chef Alex was pushing so hard.

Now, I've never been in a union and I have rather mixed feelings. From a sociological/ historical perspective I know that absolute power corupts absolutely, I also know that, by sheer force, it's usually easier for the big guy to win. Sad, but true. So in concept I like the idea of unions. All the little guys getting together, standing their ground and fighting for a good wage and good working conditions. That being said, we haven't had serious, human rights level abuses by large corporations in what feels like 20 years. Maybe I'm being naive, I just don't know. So there is that part, then again, I am the child of a small business owner who was raised with the concepts of the less government interference in business, the better. I'm not saying that unions are the government, far from it, but they do seem like a similar type of bureaucracy.

All that background leads to the question: If there is a strike, am I willing to cross the picket line to get my foot in the door, or at the very least get some experience?

It's a big question. If any of you feel like commenting I'd love to hear what you have to say.

OK, so, there is another issue. The hotel Chef mentioned that there might not be positions in pastry, that you may work in the kitchen. Fine. I'd be willing to do that too, but I haven't been trained to work on a savory line. I think I'm competent enough to peal potatoes, but slicing or dicing them, mmmmm, I just don't know.

Now, there is another issue. My last day of work isn't until October 8. What do I do if he calls me sooner? Go for the opportunity? I just don't know!

Lots to ponder... in a hurry. I'm leaving work at 11 today to go to the hotel and fill out an application and meet the chef. On the upside, there isn't any time to get really really nervous! :)

Well, back to work. Focus on the task at hand.

I'll fill you all in later about the results!

Carissa

2004-09-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the back. Yes, I remembered to flip the shap so that when they are put back to back they will match up. I know it's kind of hard to read in this picture, but I think the words will show up just fine once it's printed.

2004-09-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is the invite I drafted last night. I'll print them out in color and then we can cut them out and glue the front to the back, attach them to hand colored masks with some currly ribbon and call it a day.

2004-09-15T09:01:00.001-07:00

Quote for the day:

When facing problems that seem insurmountable you need to remind yourself that it's not a hole, it's a tunnel. Just keep working at it and you will reach the light.

paraphrased from Father Gregory Boyle founder of Homeboy Industries (http://www.homeboy-industries.org)

2004-09-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Close up of the chocolate tartlets. Chef also recommended using the star tip. I don't like the star tip. Too many angles. As it was I was adding a pointy berry to the top. I wanted something smooth and sleek. In my opinion this is more personal preference than anything else.

2004-09-15T08:59:00.001-07:00

Side view.

2004-09-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Chocolate tartlets, citrus cookies, more swans, more eclairs. I was 100% pleased with the chocolate tartlets. Chef said that the berry was too big but I argued with him. I said that I intentionally picked out the biggest berries for these (as opposed to the raspberries I used on the fruit tartlets) because I wanted there to be an equal amount of berry to chocolate (you've got to have something to balance out all that chocolate). Then he said that the tops were too pointy. Hmmmm, I think the aestetic of the point is a nice contrast to the other fruit tarts. I can't help but wonder if he would have had the same comment if all the tarts had been on the same plate and you could have seen, more clearly, the differences between the three different kinds of tarts. Citrus cookies, again I took my tartlet dough (basic 1-2-3), zested (microplane grater) a lemon, lime and orange and then folded the zest into the dough. Then I rolled the portions into balls and placed strips of zest on top and squished down with my fingers. Hmmmm, I don't know if I tasted these. Should have. hmmm. Maybe I'll make them again today just to see how they taste.

2004-09-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Side view. I just love the swans, they are too dang cute!