Let's go for highlights of the past 10 days, as a summary would keep both you and I up way too long. And I don't know about you, but I value my sleep more than about anything!
The end of Basic Skills week at school was good. We made pate a choux (cream puff dough), pastry cream and dry caramel. Put those together and you have the best bite sized morsel in the world! Kyle and I scarfed those down in no time. We also made French meringue, and used it to practice spreading and piping, but also piped a few and baked them. I think my mom would love these! (I put some in the freezer for you, Momma!) Lots of learning happened that week, especially how to do things the French Pastry School (FPS) way. It was good preparation for this week, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
When I say 'we' I mean my tablemate and I. At school, there are 18 people in a class, or Stream. I'm in Stream 3. There are only 8 tables in the classroom, so we are assigned partners and they change every couple of weeks. I hit the tablemate lottery this first time around. Alix is my partner and she's awesome. We are a good team, work well together, can talk about things beyond if our cream is the right consistency, and have similar ideas about how to go about getting things done. These first 9 days in the kitchen have been much easier because of Alix and I will be sad to have to get a new partner after next week.
This week started our first actual class of school. Each Stream does a different class, so the two morning Streams are in two different classes in different kitchens. I think one is doing Breads and the other Chocolate Candies. The other afternoon Stream is working on Sugar Candy and we are doing Cakes or Entremets (EN-tra-MEY). These are not your 2-layer cherry chip with buttercream icing cakes (cou*UNCLE TIMMY*gh). These are mousse cakes with layers of dacquoise, genoise, or biscuit (types of cakes), candied fruits, gelee and dried nuts. It is so interesting to learn about them and actually get to make them!
We've made a Nougat Mousse Cake and Coconut Passion Cake already and started a Hazelnut Chocolate number that is going to be AWESOME. The Nougat Mousse Cake is comprised of pistachio cake, passion fruit-apricot gelee (a jam-like substance) and a delicious honey flavored mousse studded with dried apricots and cherries and toasted pistachios and pecans. Ohmygoodness, is this one tasty. The other one I brought home today is the Coconut Passion Cake which has two mousses, one coconut and the other passion fruit with thin layers of coconut cake and candied pineapple. This one is my least favorite of the two, perhaps because it is has a little less going on and kinda reminds me of sunscreen. I think my gramma would love it, though, and it may be a contender for her birthday cake. The final one we've worked on this week has chocolate mousse and cake, hazelnut cake and mousse and caramelized hazelnuts. We're going to glaze that one on Monday. I can't wait to taste it!
So, I've learned a lot this week about gelatin, mousses, whipping cream, spreading cakes, slicing cakes, new tools, candying fruit, and the list goes on. The new chef instructor is very knowledgeable and accomplished (a World Pastry Champion!), but is quiet and doesn't circulate/give feedback as much as I would like. I just don't know how I'm doing or how my products stack up to what they are supposed to be. All I want is for him to come by my table and comment about how I'm doing whatever I'm working on- good or bad! We've got one more week with him, so maybe it'll be better in the coming days. We have a Verbal Evaluation next Friday, but have no idea how that goes. I'll keep you updated about that one.
The other thing keeping me busy is work. Starbucks again, about 28 hours a week on average. This time, I'm in a store without a drive through and in a very heavy foot traffic area. I like the neighborhood and the people. I like my coworkers (for the most part). I just don't like working. Some days, I start work at 4:30 IN THE MORNING. Because of the commute, I usually wake up around 3:30 and leave by 4. Work until 10 or 11, back home for less than an hour and then leave for school by 12. School gets done at 7:15ish and I'm home by 8ish. This is a looooooooonnnnnnnnngggggg day. The days I start work at 6 are better, but still exhausting. I talked to my manager and he agreed not to schedule me for more than 2 4:30 days in a week, and not back to back openings. That's a start. I may have to reevaluate this working thing while going to school in the near future.
Kyle's been here a fair amount since I moved down. He went home for about three days over his birthday, but then came back for a good 10-day stretch. He's back home now, back to his real life. I get it, but I miss him! Kyle wants to go out and see lots of the cool things that Chicago has to offer, but doesn't want to do it alone. I'm busy about 70 hours of the 112 waking hours of the week, which doesn't leave much adventuring time. We did get out for two dates this past weekend, however. Hamburger Mary's in Andersonville was our dinner date on Saturday and it was tasty! The sweet potato fries were crispy and delicious and the burgers were juicy and yummy. We tried to see Despicable Me the same night, but it was sold out once we got there. Sunday night, we got to see it after I got off work. Worth the wait! Very funny and touching.
Okay, that's a summary of my life in the past 10 days. I will try to get some pictures of these cakes up soon. More adventures to come!
