A Study in Sweets

2009-10-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

Yes I know it's been a while. I'm accepting that, and moving on.

School has been a a fast-paced ride. Since I've switched to just doing diploma instead of AOS it has also cut my time in half. My stay in Portland is coming to a close, and though I'll miss it tremendously, I'm looking forward to moving to Chicago. It's a new city, with new opportunities. Hopefully my externship there will give me lots of experience and guide me on what is currently a very unknown path. My way of going through life recently has been to just take things as they come and choose the path that seems to sort of work itself out. While I'm directing it, I'm not trying to make something happen that just isn't going to happen. I think I'm generally going with the flow, and as of right now it's all worked out pretty well for me.

So since I've been neglecting my duties to show pictures of all the delicious things I've been making, I'll give you a little montage

And my most recent masterpiece, The Wedding Cake! We spent all week on this guy, baking the cake, filling and frosting, covering in fondant, piping lace, attaching lace, piping borders and designs, making the topper, making the gum paste flowers and painting them. It was a lot of fun, and I was very pleased with my final product. I got an A!

It was a fun week, tedious, but fun. I sort of enjoy that. So, who wants to pay me for a wedding cake?

My roommates had been planning a dinner party so I told them we were having full on wedding cake for dessert. The cake got lots of oohhss and ahhs. Plus they loved the flavors (the bottom tier is chocolate porter cake with coconut buttercream and the top two are lemon chiffon with lemon buttercream).

My last class starts tomorrow. We're doing candies! Also we get to make gingerbread houses and a sugar showpiece. It's going to be a lot of fun but also bittersweet. I feel like I only just got here.

I've eaten too many carbs

2009-06-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

I'm in love with making bread. There's something so beautiful in the combining of four ingredients to give you the food of life. Learning to make it is like getting to know a new friend. At first you know nothing about one another but with time you learn the quirks, behavior, reactions, and that you sometimes can't know what to expect. Bread has a mind of its own and is most definitely on its own time schedule. There is by no means rushing it and it's therein that the beauty lies. You just have to let it happen. The crackly crust, the chewy interior, the sweet tang of sourdough...I just can't get enough. Perhaps I'll dry some starter and send it in the mail...or give it away as Christmas presents.

Last week Liz and I went to Bombay Cricket Club to eat Indian food. We ordered some Naan (which I was doing a bread report on at the time, so this was merely a research outing ;) that's how I roll). It came out on a plate far smaller in diameter than the piece of naan itself and it was immensely tasty. We ate Saag Paneer and Vegetable Jalfrezi...I think I spelled that right. It was all pretty tasty, and maybe a little pricey. But the best part was the Mangorita

This little gem was five fingers of tequila, a splash of lime juice, and the rest mango pulp. Can you say "WORTH IT!" It was phenomenal and only $7.50. I think I'll start taking plastic bottles and cans in for refunds and start to save up for these babies. So I'm sipping on mine and as we start to eat I drank down some water to quench my serious thirst. Not Liz. She got thirsty and just went to the Mangorita and became very giggly indeed.

We ate loads and left very full and happy.

The kheer also became a new favorite of ours. It's an Indian rice pudding with coconut milk and saffron, what more do you need? We made it last week during class as part of her bread report (really just an excuse to learn how to make it). Hopefully we'll be cooking some good Indian food in the very near future. One of the pastry chef instructors as school is Indian and I have a feeling when we get to her class we'll be grilling her for all kinds of recipes and tidbits. Liz has a love for Indian food that I have never seen the likes of before. And I think I've convinced Chef to let us make cardamom and saffron ice cream this week in the very neglected ice cream maker at the back of the kitchen.

I don't think that I could ever get tired of the scenery in Oregon or in the Pacific Northwest in general. It beats a lot except for maybe the Alps. This is a picture of the Columbia River Gorge. That there on the other side of the river is Washington, which I have yet to set foot on. Someday soon though. I'm beginning to wish I really had a car.

School continues to be a very good learning experience and I'm getting a lot out of it. It's an eye opener. But I've still got the warm fuzzy for making desserts. I'm not feeling like I've made the wrong decision because I know for certain I've made the right one and that feels really good. I won't deny there are days when I wish I had stuck with Chemistry and gotten the lucrative job. Money stresses me out...or rather the lack there of. But I accept that, and I accept the debt acquired from going to school. WCI is a really great school and I know I'll get the most out of it. I am, however, switching down to the Diploma program. It only makes sense since I already have a B.A. from a university. It'll save me several months and several thousand dollars too. I'm not sure exactly how this changes my timeline yet for my externship but I'll figure all of that out this week.

Speaking of externships, I'm working on deciding where I might like to do one. So far I'm considering Chicago, Napa Valley, and Charleston (which I am considering for long term as well). I love it here in Portland and I'm dealing with that big internal struggle of "is it enough to love where you live when you can't be close to your family". I'm trying to decide that still. It's a win/lose situation.

2009-05-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

It's sort of a bummer being away from your mom on mother's day. So I dedicate my devil's food, ganache filled, ganache à glacer covered cake with a pistachio border to ma maman. The writing was a little thin and scraggily and the cake was obviously lopsided which is why it makes the perfect Mother's Day gift, amiright?

This week was cake week. On monday we had the ribbon races. Chef had us all get ready to make our Genoise, combine our eggs and sugar, warm them to about 100 degrees and at the same time, we all whisked our brains out to get the ribbon stage. Our incentive to whisk with as much vigor as possible was that Chef would scale out all our projects for cake week. This would potentially save someone a lot of time and you know they'd be scaled accurately. I have a much greater appreciation for the whisk now, and also a minor love/hate relationship. There were beads of sweat on everyone's brow, muscle spasms in everyone's arms and shoulders, and lots of moans and groans of exhaustion. I must say lot of people tired much more quickly than I anticipated. Sadly I did not win, not even third place! Some of the girls in my class love softball, and apparently that means they're kinda badass....or butch.

Overall, school has been pretty rad. There are unfortunately a large amount of spoiled kids in my class and in the school in general, with trust funds and no money worries. They can pay for school in one fell swoop and be done with it. I find myself resenting them but I'm getting good and just letting it go. One girl in class said in reference to our sometimes very dirty chef's coats "yeah my laundry person hates me when I bring them home like that". I frantically looked around thinking "surely someone must have heard that please tell me someone heard that AND found it as absurd as I did". I just have to find humor in it, there is really no other way around it. I think I'm managing the stress it causes pretty well. Sometimes it's overwhelming but I just put it in a place at the back of my head or I'd never get anything done. And when I'm at school I don't think about it, I just lap up everything, ask every question, and am present as much as possible. I've been volunteering some at school and this weekend was graduation. So friday we made giant vats of mousse

Keep in mind this bowl is not full. You had to reach your whole hand down in there with a bowl scrapper to fold it all together. It was at this point where I had an epiphany. Maybe it's because any food in very large quantities immediately becomes disgusting, even chocolate mousse. But as I mixed, I was no longer mixing mousse per se. It was just product, and though I wanted very much for this product to turn out well and be mega tasty, I had no desire to eat it. Then we piped about 900 mini cups of mousse to be decorated with a strawberry quarter.

The next day at graduation, adorned with their strawberry, I found myself in the mood for mousse.

Chocolate Mousse

1/3 lb unsweetened chocolate

1/2 lb semi sweet chocolate

1/3 lb yolks

2/3 cup honey

1/4 cup liquor (we used brandy)

1 quart cream

Melt chocolate together over bain marie and cool. Wipe cream to medium peaks and set aside. Whip yolks until tripled in volume. Boil honey and add slowly to yolks while whipping (avoid hitting the whip with the honey). Whip yolk mixture until room temperature, then add liquor (not on high to avoid splashing) and whip until combined. Fold chocolates into yolk mixture, and then fold in whipped cream in stages.

2009-05-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted: 05/02/2009)

I made swans. They’re filled with a lemon mousseline.

2009-05-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

(Originally Posted: 04/09/2009)

I just moved to Portland and on a clear day this is what I see on the walk home from the bus stop. I’ve been here almost a month and so far I feel more at home than I thought I would. I haven’t even made many friends, though now that school has started I at least am beginning to. WCI so far is up to standards. Because it’s a Le Cordon Bleu program, they have high standards and the dress code is very strict. Full uniform at all times, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Checks, chef coat, boots, skull cap. This makes it near impossible to distinguish one person from another from behind. It also does a number on my curls. My locker at school is crammed full of books, books, books, a rather large pastry kit (which I may post pictures of since for me it’s like I just had a christmas morning), and various other bags.
I hope to do some more exploring and become better acquainted with the city and I’m sure I will. Now that I broke down and bought the three month bus pass, I’m going to make sure I get my money’s worth. For now, I’m having a cup of coffee. Waking up at 5am every day is taking some getting used to. It’s funny cause it’s like I’m on my normal east coast time again. This will make visiting home easier.