A Pearl, a Puzzle and a Plethora of Pics

Oops! I did it again. Weeks have passed since the last post, and while it fits in the 'less than six weeks' promise in June's lone post, it's still much longer than I had intended. Like most of the times before, I have no real excuse - just living life and ignoring online responsibilities. Looking back I don't know why I didn't blog (don't know why I didn't call...) sooner. If you'll forgive the abandonment and give me one more last chance, I'll try to bring you more up to date.



At the end of the last post, I hinted at some drama in the school house. We've had multiple ambulance visits, but the most recent was because an expectant student was having issues with her baby. Other visits have been for various reasons such as students passing out or having seizures. Another previous post mentioned a student threatening to cut someone, and we finally had it happen in the bakeshop. It wasn't intentional, but it still caused a ruckus. My lunch buddy was at the sink when another student walked up with knives. Before the knives ever made it into the water, the student carrying them had somehow cut the hand of my Bueno partner. This led to a profanity filled argument which led to tears for the cutter. The cutter actually left the room and never returned. She has been on an official leave of absence from the school since that day. We also had two students who dropped out and one who transferred to night classes. The student who transferred was the same student who suffers from body odor, so his transfer at the start of the Oklahoma summer heat was timed perfectly.

Moving on the the educational portion of school, we started the Chocolates & Centerpieces course after the cake class. The chocolate class started with a few days of chocolate candy making. My partner and I were assigned an orange butter ganache that was quite good. How bad can large amounts of chocolate mixed with liqueur be, right? The candy was pretty simple to make. Once the butter ganache is made, it's piped onto a dark chocolate base. When it dries the entire thing is dipped in milk chocolate.

Pieces of Orange Butter Ganache candy in the making.

The most difficult thing about working with chocolate is making sure that it is tempered properly. Tempering chocolate is basically bringing it to it's melting point (which varies based on type) over a water bath, removing it from the heat and then seeding and stirring it until it's temperature reaches somewhere in the 80s - though the temperature isn't really checked that often. The chocolate is usually tested by placing a small amount on a piece of metal to see if it sets. It is a time consuming and arm tiring project, and I don't enjoy it. Unfortunately the candy does taste good, so I've suffered through the process at home since trying them in class. The at-home version wasn't as good. When I asked the chef about the differences and had her sample the homemade version, she said that I used cheap chocolate. At the checkout counter, I hadn't found the ghirardelli to be cheap.

The rest of the chocolate class was spent on making chocolate objects and a few gumpaste and fondant items. Each student had to create a chocolate plaque using a template provided by the chef, a hat and a centerpiece. We had creative control of the hats and centerpieces. To be completely honest I had seen the hats of the previous class and thought the project in general was less than thrilling. When it came time to make our own, I wasn't excited. In the end I went for a Minnie Pearl look. Unfortunately there were quite a few students who had no clue who Minnie Pearl was. For those who may not know of Minnie, please see below.



For the centerpiece assignment, my first thought was to go with a Bueno theme, and I made it as far as the mexidip bowl before changing my mind. I had added yellow coloring to some white modeling chocolate and then chopped a few pecans and added them to the yellow mixture to look like a corn tortilla, but the chocolate was crumbly. I wasn't feeling it. In the end a friend suggested I make a Scrabble puzzle, so the bowl was scrapped and the game board started. During this time I skipped a day (or was it two?) of class and was behind on my projects. So on a very hot day a few weeks ago, I waited for the chef to leave and then smuggled a large square chunk of chocolate out of the bakeshop and raced across Tulsa praying it wouldn't melt before I got home. I used fondant, the airbrush, a liquid glaze and half the night to finish the board. The plan was to sneak it back in the school before the chef arrived, but of course I overslept. It worked out though because the class wasn't in the bakeshop when I arrived late with the game board. I took it into the bakeshop before joining the class, and nothing was ever said about it. Pics are below.

An edible version of a Minnie Pearl hat.

The white chocolate & pecan 'corn tortilla' mexidip bowl.

The Scrabble board.
(Yes, I know that allpurpose isn't a valid word, and proper names aren't allowed.)

The plaque of white, milk and dark chocolate and it's chocolate stand.

On the first Friday of the course, we had a substitute teacher who spent the day showing us how to make gumpaste flowers, and it was one of the most enjoyable and well received days we've had since January. Many of my peers and I would like to focus on custom cakes, so this was a welcome change from tempering chocolate. Unfortunately the day flew by and left us wanting more hands on training with the substitute (exciting information on her and her cake shop coming soon [and very soon...]). The substitute brought an example of an edible flower arrangement that was over two years old, but it still looked great. Without her pointing it out, I wouldn't have noticed the broken petals on one of the roses. Under her supervision and with her help, we were able to create some decent looking flowers.

The amazing edible flower display brought by the substitute as an example.

My attempt.

As far as the grades for the chocolate course go, I have no clue. The course ended about three weeks ago (yes, I'm behind on blogging, but you already knew that), and we've received no feedback on it. I find this incredibly frustrating. I've tried to come up with an explanation or an excuse to justify the delay and lack of information, but I'm at a loss - especially for a school that seems to expect so much from their students. A grade for a class before the next class ends isn't too much to ask for in my opinion. But I'm not bitter.

I'll close tonight with photographs of my peers' work from the chocolate class and a tune that is frequently sung in the bakeshop by an often barely sober but entertaining classmate (I finally told him not to call me if he's drunk or high). You have my apologies in advance, because the song is likely to get stuck in your head. Click cautiously.

This hat was my favorite.

Paula's 'In God We Trust' centerpiece was impressive.

Happy Grubbing!

The Prodigal's Return

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was..." the last six weeks of my life. I've been away from the blogosphere, and it hasn't been pretty, but I'm finally back and ready to share what's been going on. Grab a snack and get comfortable, because this may be lengthy - even by my standards.

The last post went up in the middle of May, and I had to revisit the blog (newly found typographical errors and all) just to see what was last discussed. As far as school is concerned, we completed a short course on interviewing and resume building. It was much better than I thought it would be going into it. The instructor presented some new information in addition to revisiting some old with a different perspective. She was professional and helpful. She gave extremely long lunch breaks, so of course I'm going to sing her praises. She rocked.

After her class we moved into the Tortes and Gateaux (AKA cakes) course. This was a course that I had been looking forward to, because I hoped to learn alot about cake decorating, and I wanted to try some new 'from scratch' cake recipes. In the end I was a little disappointed. Aside from one wedding cake project, the class didn't focus much on decorating. We spent a good deal of time on layered mousse cakes and such. These cakes are visually appealing because of their multiple layers, but they're very time consuming and tricky to create. Because of the multiple layers, we had to make up to five different recipes just to finish one cake! It's insanity - especially considering the fact that they don't taste that great. Frankly I'd be happier with a plain chocolate cake.

There were a few good recipes in this course. My favorite was probably the cheesecake. Who knew that you could make a cheesecake with just three basic ingredients (eggs, cream cheese and sugar)? The only other thing you need is your choice of flavoring. Mine was orange and vanilla for a dreamsicle taste. The first time we made it we cooked down some orange juice to assist with flavoring. We also used some vanilla, orange extract and some orange liquor. The second time we made the cheesecake was during the practical exam of the course, so I skipped the time consuming cooking down of the OJ and just used the other flavorings. It was about the only edible thing I made for the test.

Another good thing about this course is that we made a pear mousse for one of the cakes. This mousse involved an old friend, the poached pear, from a previous course. There's just something about the poached pears that I like. It's probably a mix of the smell of them while they're simmering or the flavor of them afterward, but I'd rather just eat the poached pears instead of pureeing them for a mousse. To poach the pears I used a water/sugar base and flavored it with vanilla and almond extracts and some amaretto. I'm not an alcoholic, but the smell of the amaretto made me consider becoming one. The amaretto also made me think of a song. Amaretto. Amarillo. Amarillo By Morning. Or Amaretto by morning, but that makes no sense.



For the wedding cake project in the course, we had to design a cake and present it to the chef as though she were the bride. We could do any basic design we wanted, but we had to incorporate two tiers, three marzipan roses and some filigree piping work. We used Italian buttercream frosting over pound cakes with lemon curd filling (gross). Because I had alot going on with cake orders outside of class, I wanted to keep it simple at school. The less work involved the better off I'd be in my opinion. I strategically used the two smallest sized pans to have less to decorate and opted for a plain white on white frosting to avoid the mess and extra work of tinting. The design included extensive piping for a classic (almost gaudy) wedding look. In the end my cake became more of a yellow on yellow look, because the buttercream changed colors. It had something to do with the air and the fact that I didn't re-whip the frosting before decorating after leaving it sitting overnight. It hadn't been refrigerated, so I didn't realize it needed the additional whipping. As far as scoring of my cake project goes, I got 21 out of 25, and I was a little disappointed. Chef said I used too much icing for that size of a cake, and she would have liked to have seen color (even though she seemed fine with and approved the design plan prior to it's execution [but I'm not bitter]), so taking strategic shortcuts didn't work out too well. Pictures of the wedding cakes (mine and my peers') and my cakes from the practical are below.

My yellow on yellow but not enough color too much icing gaudy cake.

My Dreamsicle Cheesecake from the practical.

Top view of my Chocolate Caramel Pear Mousse Cake from the practical.

Side view of the same cake.
The swirl look is achieved using a joconde cake. The mousse layers and more joconde are housed within.

My ganache glazed cake from the practical.

During the tortes and gateaux course, our class size dropped. One guy transferred to the night program, and another quit school altogether. I hated to see the guy drop out, because he was talented, and we're very close to the end of our program. We're down to nine students, and we rarely have everyone there at the same time.

The tortes and gateaux course was my least successful course, and I ended up with a C. This was my first non-A class, and while it was hard to accept, it was completely understandable. I'll try to explain. It's been awhile, but I remember it all (very well looking back, it was the summer I turned 18).



In late May I kicked off a long string of cake jobs. They were every weekend, and some weekends contained multiple orders. Such was the case on the weekend of June 5th, the weekend that seemingly everything changed. There were two wedding cakes and two groom's cakes that had to be completed and delivered on that Saturday. I had enlisted mom's help with the baking piece of the cakes, and I stayed home from school on the Friday to work on icing and decorating. Even with the extra time it was going to be a close call on getting them finished on time. I was stressed. Things were going fairly smoothly when the phone rang at about 8:00 on Friday night. It was my sister who asked if I wanted a ride to the hospital. I had no idea what she was talking about, so she explained. My grandfather who had been at the lake was very ill and was being transported from the Eufaula area to Tulsa in critical condition. The details were sketchy. Nobody seemed to know what was wrong. All I was told was that it wasn't good. I had a long way to go on the wedding cakes, so I waited for more news. When more news came it was still sketchy. They had stopped at the Henryetta hospital to save time, but Papa needed to be in Tulsa. The air ambulance said that they couldn't fly to pick him up because of weather (though everything around the area seemed calm), and there were no ambulances in the town of Henryetta. The nearest one was in Glenpool and would have to make the drive from Glenpool to Henryetta to pick up Papa and then backtrack past Glenpool to Tulsa. My brother who happened to be at the lake with my grandparents had driven them to Henryetta while his wife and daughter stayed at the lake with my young cousins who were there camping with the grandparents. When the phone rang a third time at about 2 AM Saturday morning, it was my sister strongly urging me to get to the hospital. Papa had made it to Hillcrest, but things were going downhill fast. I was still in the kitchen surrounded by unfinished wedding cakes, and there was no way that I could leave and still finish them on time. As much as I wanted and felt like I needed to drop the cakes and be with family, it was impossible. I don't have a Plan B or a back up cake person to call for emergencies. I was alone and in a dilemma, but I didn't see how I could leave the house. The next time my sister called it was after 4 AM, and Papa was gone. I never made it the hospital. He had passed while I stood 12 miles away in a kitchen that he helped build.

As I worked on the cakes I was feeling guilty for not being there. And I was angry. I was mad at the people who ordered the cakes. I hated them for partying and celebrating while my family hurt. I was mad at myself for taking so many orders. I blamed and hated HCSC for putting me in this situation. I was mad at myself for being alone. I was thinking of my grandma. How would she cope? Fifty seven years of marriage is a long time. I hated cakes. And yet I worked. I had to. As mad as I was, there was no sane way to get out of it. I couldn't ruin a wedding - much less two in one day. That would have been wrong. What would I do? Pick up the phone and call the bride to say I'm sorry, but your cake isn't coming?

A good friend came over a little after 10:30 on Saturday morning to help. Between the two of us, we got the first two cakes delivered to Mounds on time. The cakes weren't great, but the bride was happy. It was then a mad dash to get back home to finish the other two cakes and get them delivered to Skiatook by 3:30. I was an idiot for taking the two orders that were so far apart. In the end I had the friend driving, while I sat in the back of the SUV trying to finish the cakes along the way. I was spreading icing and sprinkling brown sugar to look like sand while she sped down the highway and tried to avoid throwing me into the cakes. It was insane. After getting lost and driving around Skiatook Lake for over 30 minutes, we found the wedding site in a pavilion by the water. We dropped off the cakes just in time and headed for home, exhausted in every possible way. After a shower and a short nap, I finally made it to my grandma's (Mawmoo's). The same friend who helped finish and deliver the cakes also cleaned most of the kitchen while I showered. (Looking back I would not have made it without her that day. I'm blessed with great friends.)

The next three days were spent with family. By the time I made it back to school, I had missed four days of class, and that's how I earned the C. Attendance and participation is huge. While the chef gave some make up work to me, I was in no mood to do all of it. I did a great deal of it but still earned a high C. In my opinion it should have been a very low B, but I'm not in charge. There was an option to just go an a leave of absence for the rest of that particular course and then retake the whole class over again later, but I didn't want to do the makeup class at night. Looking back I should have. I went back to school the day after Papa's memorial, but I wasn't ready. I hadn't slept much, and I had no desire to be at school. The weekend cake and dessert orders hadn't stopped, and I simply needed a break. Because I went back, I've been tired and in a funk (ow, we want the funk, give up the funk) for weeks. Needless to say the three day holiday weekend with no orders for July 4th can't get here fast enough.

The cakes from the June 5th weddings are below. There are plenty of imperfections in them, and I'll point out a few, but part of me is just glad that they got finished.

A close up shot of the side of the first unfinished wedding cake.

The worst part of this cake is the fat globby border between the green and white on the layers. Once it was on, I couldn't take it off without messing up the green paint. I was more than slightly embarrassed by it, and it detracted from the shapes, which I was mostly okay with. Thankfully the bride was happy, and I've an idea to fix it next time.

The finished cake. The pink color really scared me, but when we arrived to deliver, it actually matched almost perfectly. Thank God for small miracles.

The Superman groom's cake.

The second wedding cake. This one is sad mainly because of the oddly placed flowers on top, but I've also decided that square cakes are off limits until I can get someone to show me how to make good 90 degree angles.

Side view of the groom's red velvet pig cake.

Front view which shows more imperfections... like the missing nostrils, the running mascara and the blue eyes piped with the wrong tip (while in the back of the SUV). The cake was outdoors, and strong winds had blown away many of the flowers.

There have been other cakes and all sorts of interesting events (ambulances, fights, cuts, sales, etc.) at school in the last six weeks, but I'll close for tonight. Those items can wait until the next post - which will happen soon. It won't be another six weeks. I promise. I'm getting back to the basics (these are the basics, we need to get back to the basics of life).


(Uumm.... Who knew that this blast from the past was filmed in Tulsa?)

Happy Grubbing.

A Blog & A Beat

On Thursday I finished the nutrition course and celebrated with a hearty helping of deep fat fried coconut shrimp, popcorn shrimp, cheddar biscuits, salad and more glasses of Coke than I can count. Keep reading, and I'll bring you up to date on everything else that's been going on (...And I scream from the top of my lungs what's going on) in this unemployed pastry student's life.



The nutrition class was an eye opening experience. As part of the curriculum (or kricklem as one of my old bosses would say), we had to track everything that we ate and drank for over a week. Considering my infatuation with Bueno, I knew that I eat alot of fattening foods, and I knew that I drink alot of pop (soda, cola or whatever other regional term you may choose to use), but I had no idea exactly how many calories that pop adds up to. I went back and calculated one week's worth of drinking and was shocked to realize that my drinking addiction (Hi, I'm Dustin, and I'm a Coke-aholic) added up to over 4100 calories! In seven days! That's over 16,000 calories a month or almost 200,000 calories per year, and that's just sad. What's even more shocking is that it converts to over 50 pounds of fat in a year's time. I seriously need to change my ways (I'm gonna make a change for once in my life. It's gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference).


For those who may be interested in tracking your own calorie intake, there is a great website that allows you to do just that. And it's free. The link is www.everydayhealth.com. Go ahead and check it out, but brace yourself. If you're anything like me, you may not like what you find.

Please let me clarify that I don't eat everything in sight. I'm actually quite picky. It's just that my preferences are deep fried foods smothered in honey mustard or gravy [insert shout out to the Brothers Houligan here] or Mexican food swimming in queso. This is one reason that I struggle from time to time at school. Certain chefs take great delight in pushing our taste boundaries. If they make a dish, we basically have no choice but to try it if given the opportunity. Such was the case last week. One of the chefs had made a pesto as part of an alfredo sauce, and the pesto was green, very green, and I balked at the thought of eating it. When I asked what it was, the chef politely told me the ingredients (which I have forgotten), but it was my lunch buddy who bluntly told me to 'just eat it'. I did, and I survived to blog about it, but I couldn't help thinking of my mom (who never inflicted such cruel and unusual punishment) and Weird Al and his parody of Michael Jackson's 'Just Beat It' (How come you're always such a fussy young man? Don't want no Captain Crunch, don't want no Raisin Bran). Perhaps I was spoiled, but I remember numerous times during my childhood when my parents would stop at a drive through to get me a meal before continuing on to their preferred restaurant for dinner. If I didn't like something, I didn't have to eat it. Mom just didn't roll that way.

And speaking of my amazing mom, Sunday was Mother's Day. I believe that my fondness of cakes and cookies is because of her. Until about the time I was in the sixth grade, mom was of the stay at home variety, and some of my fondest memories are of walking in the house after school to find fresh baked cookies, cinnamon rolls or a cake waiting on the kitchen table. Mom had whipped up a snack while my siblings and I were at school. These fresh baked goodies magically appeared more often than not, and they were always 'from scratch'. To my knowledge mom has never purchased manufactured cookie dough (or mac and cheese but that's another topic). To this day she doesn't believe in it. She also doesn't believe in stand mixers, but she will soon see the light (I saw the light, I saw the light, no more in darkness...) when she starts helping me bake cakes in bulk.

Mom always came to our elementary school holiday parties. She would ask what I wanted to take, and my choice was almost always iced coconut sugar cookies. I could put them away (and still can). Mom also made some of our birthday cakes. One of my favorites was a square cake that was decorated to look like a clown. It was classic Wilton, and I remember thinking that it was the coolest. Another one that I thought was great was a fish cake that she made for my brother. It was curved to look like a fish in mid jump, and we happened to be celebrating while at the lake, so it was perfect to me. I'm rambling in an attempt to say that my mom rocks. Always has. Always will. I'm 31, but just today she was arguing with me in an attempt to get me to drop my laundry off at her house so that she could wash, dry and fold it. (Calm down. I told her no.) She's just a giver, and I hope to be like her when it comes to benevolence. And don't think I say this to suck up. Mom isn't online often and may never read this, but it still needed saying. Moving on.

We had another online exam last week to close out the nutrition class. This was the fourth of five certifications up for grabs. It is highly probable that I would have failed the test if not for the chef. The instructor was the same instructor that we had in the food costing course a few months ago, and I've grown to really enjoy his teaching style. He has a great sense of humor and treats us like adults. He seems to genuinely care whether or not we succeed - not only as students in class but also as human beings in general. My only complaint is that he believes in homework, and I don't. Just as you should leave your personal life out of the workplace, I think we should leave our schoolwork out of the home. Chef doesn't agree. As a result of my lack of homework and a couple of late arrivals, my A for the course may or may not happen. I passed the certification test with a 97%, but the grades for the actual class haven't been made available. To be honest the only reason I passed the certification exam was because Chef was compassionate and gave us a review test that was very similar to the real test. We'll see what happens. The same chef is also teaching our current class, and I'm glad.

Yesterday Chef had to be out of the classroom to assist with a cooking segment on television, so we had a substitute. We didn't know of the substitute until we arrived for class. The substitute was none other than the chef that I've ranted about more than once in previous blogs. It was the chef who criticized my pizza cutting abilities and then called our class stingy MFers (only he used the words) when we didn't want to share our homemade pizzas with him (because he had helped himself to so much of it without asking on an earlier pizza day). When I realized who our teacher for the day was, I wrestled with turning and leaving and accepting the lost points. If I had known in advance I would have just skipped for the day, but since I was already out of bed, dressed and across town, I stayed and was surprised by the time class ended. There were no verbal assaults and no real yelling, and that's an improvement. The room is small, and the chef speaks so loudly in general that I found it difficult to concentrate. He may need to have his hearing checked (Shoot, we all may need to after yesterday). I'm trying to be nice and give the guy a second chance, because I think he means well, but I was very ready for class to be over by the time 3:00 rolled around. It's probably just me. I live alone and have grown accustomed to quiet and peace (I've grown accustomed to her face).

Loud people, be they unruly children or obnoxious adults, make me yearn for an exit or medication. The volume of yesterday's class coupled with my opinion going in made me feel like it was a wasted day, so I was happy to see our normal chef return today.

The current class is Human Resources Management & Supervision, and it's playing with my head. On the surface it's an easier course than the last, and studying shouldn't really be necessary, but it's causing more trips down memory lane than I want to take. The textbook has chapters devoted to interviewing, hiring, motivating, coaching, training, etc., and the past comes rushing back. I'm doing breakfast Pepsi runs with Dana, Linda, Jo and Tammy. I'm venting to Becky about trainees. I'm laughing with Miss Dorsey. I'm chunking stress balls over the wall. I'm playing games in the classroom and looking for opportunities to punish students with William Hung. I'm getting up early to bake a casserole for the most amazing team in the world. I'm having a hard time letting go this week (Although we've come to the end of the road, still I can't let go).

I thought I was over it, and most days I think I am, but then I encounter things like this cursed class, and I realize that the wound isn't completely healed. Ten years is a long time, so maybe these random episodes of grief are normal. I'd like to think so. Another thing that has been bothering me this week is that the memories are fading (Colors fade when you're gone). They're not as sharp as they once were. When Chef asked for certain examples of work life, I couldn't remember the details. In an earlier post, I referenced a line from a country song that talks about people drifting away like the leaves in the fall (Strawberry Wine, Seventeen), and apparently the line is also applicable to memories. I'm starting to see some bare spots. The breeze is cooling. Some leaves have already fallen away and those that remain are sadly fading.


Wait! Don't dial 911 on my behalf. I'm not sitting here popping Prozac while typing, and I'm not on the verge of a breakdown. I'm just having myself another night to remember (AKA pity party?), butI know that life goes on (Obladi, Oblada, life goes on), and now that I've vented to you, I'm actually better. On to more exciting news.

The replacement for the airbrush system that I had to return due to my own ignorance and an incorrect order should arrive tomorrow. I'll be spraying (and likely making a mess) in less than 24 hours!

I've got one cake to make this weekend, and it's important one. One of my grandmothers, Nanny, is turning 80, and her party is Saturday. She has always been a fan of sweets and is a big donut fiend (though you would never know by looking), so her cake will be along those lines. I'm trying some new things and hoping they work out. Pictures and a critique will follow.

The last two weekends have been short on orders and long on sleep, and it's been nice, but all of this is about to change. Nanny's cake kicks off about six weeks of cakes, and some weekends have multiple cakes. It could get interesting. From graduations and weddings to birthdays and baby showers, I'm heavily booked, and this is a very good thing!

Our (speaking on behalf of the city of Sand Springs) IHOP construction is moving along nicely. Nearly all of the walls are up, and I've been impressed at the late hours that I've seen people working on it. I don't think they'll make the rumored June grand opening, but it should be soon. I HOPe.

After someone recently suggested I change the name of this blog to something more musical because of the song references, I got to thinking about it. I'm not changing the name, because at some point I will focus more on cakes, but I did want to try to add some actual song videos. It may or may not work, and it may or may not be a permanent thing. I will admit though that I've been struggling with sitting still for the last hour, so the videos may stick around. For health reasons. How many calories does a person burn while bobbing, swaying and busting moves? It's bound to help. One positive thing about the videos is that they aren't automatic. They don't play unless they're clicked on, and even then they're easily stopped if they're not to your liking.

Finally, let me clarify that school is going well. The more I'm around my classmates, the more I enjoy their company and the entertainment they provide. School has become fun. With all of the whining in tonight's post, I can see why you may not have picked up on it. I'm human. We all are, and humans have a tendency to whine from time to time. We need to vent occasionally. What's important is that we not get bogged down in it. The sun really will come out tomorrow (bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun). As much as I miss the past, I know that everything happens for a reason, and I'm looking forward to the future - whatever it is. God is good, and the glass is half full. So... If you happen to be experiencing a rough day, it's okay to vent. If you live alone and it's too late to phone a friend, grab a pencil and write about it. Or wake up a friend. Blog. Get it off your chest, but in all of your venting, don't forget to look around and see the beauty in the world. You'll find it if you look close enough. It's there. Macy says so.



Happy grubbing!

A Super Sized Catch Up

The fat lady has sung, the eagle has landed and Elvis has left the building. Bread class is finally over! We finished our written exam Friday and the practical exam yesterday. Before I move on to the new class (Nutrition), I want to ramble a bit more about the last week.

For starters my lunch buddy recently ended up with her loaded mixer on the floor. It was an accident, but cracked me up nonetheless. If our batches are small enough, we use small KitchenAids (4 qt capacity?) at school, and they sit on the tables attached to power cords that hang from the ceiling. If the dough in the mixer is of a thick enough consistency, the mixer will wobble when set at a high speed (like some washing machines). Such was the case last week. My buddy had loaded her mixer, and the formed dough ball was causing the mixer to wobble. She turned her back for a moment too long, and the mixer wobbled or 'walked' itself off the table. The mixer stayed in one piece, and the dough stayed in the bowl. She picked the mixer up, powered it on and it was fine. It was business as usual except for a small scratched area on the front where the attachment connection is located. This made me think of a few things.

First I was thinking about the mixer walking off the table, which led to Walkaway Joe by Trisha Yearwood (born to be a leaver, tell you from the word go). Then I thought about Technotronic and "get your mixer (aka booty) on the floor tonight, make my day". When I stopped dancing, I was thinking about how durable those mixers are. That floor is concrete. I've always been a fan of and wouldn't want to try to bake without a stand mixer, but I know of others who don't feel the same way. Some say the KitchenAids are excessive or too expensive. I have friends who received one as a wedding gift and returned it to a store for the cash. My mom also refuses to use one - but for a different reason. She likes to say that she mixes her stuff by hand with love, and that's why it tastes so good [insert rolling eyes here]. Last week's falling mixer just solidified my opinion. They're amazing and every home in America should have one (or two... and an iPhone, but that's another subject).

Before we took the written and practical exams, we had three quizzes during the bread course. I've mentioned before that the chef was comical, and he included interesting questions on his quizzes. One such question was as follows.

A baba rhum is a:
a. Prince of India
b. Curry entree
c. Savory dessert
d. Gong to ring for dinner

The answer was 'C. A baba rhum is a savory dessert'. During class each student made and plated a baba rhum. The team I was a part of made a strawberry and lemon simple syrup and a pureed strawberry and Grand Marnier sauce. My plated baba is shown below. It wasn't great, but I would have totally eaten it - had someone not taken it from the fridge and tossed it without asking me.


For yesterday's practical exam, we had to make 12 classic brioche, a three-strand braid and a coffee cake of brioche dough. We also had to make a boule, a baguette and a batard from French bread dough. Yesterday was not a good day for me in the kitchen. I was off my game. It may be the fact that I was up until almost 5 a.m. after drinking too much pop with a late dinner the night before or the fact that I'm more into cookies and cakes, but my finished products were far from stellar. The shape of the brioche was about all that was on target. After the two (or was it three?) tardies and the not so great practical exam products, I'm worried that I'll end up with a B in the bread course.

Breads from the practical. Expectant baguette, bloated batard...

Classic brioche from the practical.

Mix of breads from one day last week. The filled croissants were a bit overcooked.

A bread display made by the night class (but our day class still posed beside it and took pictures).
The basket is made of bread as well.

And with that we say goodbye to breads (Goodbye Norma Jean, though I never knew you at all...) and hello to nutrition. Day one of the nutrition course was today, and I have at least an hour of homework. Other than having homework, it was a decent day. We watched the Super Size Me movie as an introduction to the course, and it was gross - more than a little TMI in some cases. It included vomit, a graphic physical exam, video of a gastric bypass procedure and more bare overweight bodies than I care to see. We also started an online food and calorie journal. It's required for the next two weeks and will make up 30% of our grade. Keeping track of everything I consume for so long will be both daunting and eye opening and brings us to the subject of my weight.

You may recall the previous post lamenting the letting go of cinnamon rolls. I've been eating so many of them and other similarly sweet foods recently that I was concerned about my weight. Since leaving the office and it's basement scales in late January, I hadn't weighed until today. In preparation for the online calorie counter, I weighed and was happy to find that I've not really changed in the last few months. The number today was actually two pounds less than when I left the company. I think I'll go have a cinnamon roll to celebrate. Not really. Based on the computer and my shortness of breath (take my breath away, take my breath away), I still need to drop about 25 pounds (drop it like it's hot).

Aside from school I've done a few cakes since the last post. The first was a 50th wedding anniversary cake on Saturday. The picture below was taken before the addition of a topper that the family had purchased. The topper was added at the party, but in the end we couldn't use it. Though the topper was nice (a clear acrylic circle with etched names and dates), it was too tall or the cake was just unlevel enough from front to back so that the topper kept falling backward. We sat the topper near the cake and repaired the piping on the top. On the way home I realized that we could have rigged the topper with the extra fondant that I had taken to the delivery, but it was too late (Baby, now it's too late, though we really did try to make it). Overall it was okay, and the customer didn't complain.

The second cake for the weekend was for a bridal shower on Sunday. The only picture I was able to get of this one was of it sitting in the passenger seat of the car during a red light on the delivery. There was no time for anything more. The picture ended up cutting part of the cake off. In addition the top hadn't been added yet, so I'll just talk about it. It was a two tier square cake. It had white fondant with black squiggles (like the one above), hot pink buttercream shell borders on both tiers and a hot pink bow made of fondant on top. One thing that I did differently for this one was the cake board. Rather than buying foam boards, cutting them down to the square and wrapping them, I used a black granite tile. The expense was only slightly more than the other, but the saved time and effort more than justified the additional cost. I'll definitely be using this route again when cake size and color allow.

Finally for tonight the airbrush system that I ordered arrived. It came late last week when I was gearing up for the weekend's cakes, so I waited until last night to break it out. When I went to plug the gun into the hose, I realized that it didn't fit. I called the company to ask about it and was told that I had ordered the wrong one. Basically I ordered a compressor that is more powerful than I need, and that's part of the reason it won't fit. I could also be prone to blowing holes in cake icing if I keep and try to use it. The customer service representative asked if I had called them prior to ordering, and I had to say that I hadn't. As dumb as it was, I just went on the website and ordered what I thought was correct. It was the middle of the night, and nobody would have been there to answer the phones anyway. How hard could it be, right? Apparently, it's quite difficult. As a result I'll be packing it back up and paying to ship it back and exchange it for the correct one (Return to sender, address unknown, no such number...)

That homework still waits, and I'm nodding off. Until next time happy grubbing.