4/27/05-Wednesday 10:30pm
Just returned from an evening walk in the park to see the small scattered lightning storms pass through the city. It's warm and humid out. I love spring thunderstorms.

Today I made Key Lime Pie and started fruit tarts. Chef Steve encouraged us to break the creative tart flavor barrier so I made a pastry cream with the essence of Orange Blossom that will be topped with papaya and mint then thin rolls of honeydew.

Ruth , Chef peggy , and I made a sugar scultpure today. I'd post a photo if it hadn't shattered when the sugar sphere I placed on toppped toppled the whole thing over. My first sugar sculpture crash!

My mantra : Know you can't control everything in life. Let go, Let go, Let go....and things will fall into place.

4/26/05-Tuesday 11:50pm
I finished my cheescake, lemon tart, pecan bourbon tart today.

Cheescake

There's this weird guy in class who keeps sniffing and licking his hands and it's grossing me out.

4/25/05-Monday 9:30pm
The next 3 weeks we focus on tarts, cheesecakes, and buffet style petit fours. Little bite sized treats. We return to laminated breads later. It's nice to get a breather from bread. Chef Steve Gazda is instructing the class. I like him. He showed me how to temper chocolate during an open house before I even started school. He's very smart, only in his early thirties he has a bachelors degree in religion and philosophy. He's studied Hebrew history and attended several archaelogical digs. Cooking was always a passion for him, so he was naturally interested in the history of yeast, bread and wine. He attended Culinary School in Vancouver B.C. thinking he wanted to be a baker, but found chocolate work was better suited to him.

Today we made cheescakes and prepared pie & tart dough for tomorrow. 4 tarts on my schedule tomorrow.

4/24/05-Sunday 11:30pm
I guess most Thursdays I'm just too swamped to post entries. I had open lab followed by piano class then book study time. Friday I was sleep deprived from late studying, didn't feel so hot. The practical was on puff pastry and Challah. I did fine. The whole class was so stressed. We were running into each other aimlessly and so very clumsy. Peripheral vision must be heeded in the kitchen. The Executive Chef and Owner of the French Laundry in Napa says he can tell if a cook will workout in the kitchen just by the way he/she walks through his kitchen, "It's like a dance". Moving in the kitchen with grace and speed without collisions is very important. Note to self: Moving in the kitch....

Friday evening I baked tarts for Shelly's baby shower. Unfortunately, I missed most the shower to attend "bread Club" , but caught the after party wine sipping chat about babies, relationships, and tips on how to live life happier and healthier. Girl time! I eat up such moments.

Kiwi, Strawberry, Pineapple Tarts

At bread club Saturday I made biscuits and baguettes. My baguettes need serious help , so I had the chance to shape and slash 50. Chef Peter is head of bread club and we meet every other Saturday. A student attended as an open lab just to make tamales with her parents visiting from out of town. They were Mexican, so had the process down. I was in awe. I love the spirit of culture cooking. And they gave me some to take home! Pork tamales and pepper & cheese. Delicious!

Baguettes

Sunburst Vienna Bread Braid

Today I nested, such abusy week I finally had the chance to clean up a little, go for a jog, planted sunflower seeds, poppies, chamomile, feverfew, columbine, cosmos. Rich worked on plumbing all day. Had a horrible stoppage due to laundry lint.

This evening we attended a Passover Seder meal with Shelley and Adam. I like rituals, always been curious about Passover Seder food and what it represents. It was pretty loose.

Meaning behind the unleavened bread:

During the Passover week, only unleavened bread or matzoh is permissible. The bar against leavened (chametz in Hebrew) foods applies only to these five types of grain: barley, wheat, rye, oats and spelt. Although wine is fermented, it is permitted, since it is not derived from any of these five types of grains. Food items made from these grains may be eaten only if they are cooked before the leavening process begins, a matter of time deemed to be some eighteen minutes from the time they are mixed with water.

• Matzoh: Three unleavened matzohs are placed within the folds of a napkin as a reminder of the haste with which the Israelites fled Egypt, leaving no time for dough to rise. Two are consumed during the service, and one (the Aftkomen), is spirited away and hidden during the ceremony to be later found as a prize.

I thought the meaning behind the Charoses was very interesting:

• Charoses: a mixture of apples, nuts, wine and cinnamon, as a reminder of the mortar used by the Jews in the construction of buildings as slaves

Better get to bed soon. I have a new instructor tomorrow and start the second half of bread class.

4/17/05-Sunday 10:30pm
I've been busy studying then decorating cakes in preparation for a little photoshoot this weekend. Thursday class had an early practical on Danish and Croissants. My Croissant dough needs more fluff. I had gaps inside, but wasn't marked down since this test was about shaping. Next we focus on the dough itself. Croissants should be full and fluffy-flaky inside. They should not have large gaps of space.

Friday we had our written test on Rich Doughs and Lamination ( rolling butter into dough). I missed one question, but made up for it in the extra credit question. Felt good to finish the test, I studied extra hard for this one knowing it would rquire thorough details on the roll-in process. Here are my first cream horns ever! I love cream horns! Not bad for my first batch of puff pastry. Those are onion, mozzerella, dill turnovers in the back and a braided loaf of onion rye bread. But look at those cream horns!

I had to pick up ribbon and fabric at "Fabric Depot" after school for my photo shoot Saturday. I was still wearing my uniform, which I tend to get wonderous looks alot, the cashiers said they would accept samples anytime. In fact I had so much pastry leftover I unloaded on them. Their smiles made my day.

Saturday my buddy, Patrick, photographed 4 new cake designs. My portfolio needed more mainstream elegant cakes. Patrick photographs professionally and has food shot experience. He's worked on the "Made in Oregon" holiday catalogs. These are 2 of the cakes.

Rich and I had a visit with his old co-worker , Michael and his fiance Kamarin this evening. We organized wedding cake details! I'm excited about their wedding cake. It'll be a 3 tiered cake. 2 cakes chocolate and one carrot cake. Buttercream icing coated with coconut shavings-curls. Topped with large Gerber Daisies. Also going to be partially vegan. The Wedding is May 7th.

I am freaking out with all the stuff I must take on this next week. Day by day...

4/13/05-Wednesday 9:00pm
Long day. We had open lab after school , so I finished laminating my Danish dough for tomorrows practical. This puff pastry danish laminating is confusing. Alton Brown might have more to say about it. It's layering butter into the dough by folding and rolling over and over. Keeping the edges square and sides straight isn't so easy.

My first batch of Croissants are alright, not shabby for a first time. Tomorrows practical is on Croissant & Danish shaping. Also on Brioche.

Went for a nice walk with Hazel this morning...peaceful.

4/12/05-Tuesday 9:00pm
I finished my buns. Cinnamon , Jelly, and Hot Cross. The Cross on the bun is supposed to keep evil spirits from entering. It's an Easter bun.

I baked off my brioche. It's a buttery rich dough. I think it's too bland, I like sweet doughs better. If you're going overboard on the butter you might as well go all the way and include sugar too. Bring it on! Brioche can be jammed up though.

Chef Julie demo'd Danish Pastry and Puff Pastry today. Tomorrow we bake them. Check out these gingerbread houses. They are on display at school. 2 of my ideas stolen! There are many different kinds of Tiki Bars though.

The igloo has little sugar seals playing in the sugar snow

There's a little Easter Island Sugar Tiki and turtle on the left.

4/11/05-Monday 7:30pm
Chef Julie's demo on sweet doughs was very informative. She flew in from London last night. Cute accent. She gave an inspirational speech about following passion wherever it may exist. If you wake up not wanting to go to school or work anymore, if your passion is gone, it'll show no matter how you try to hide it. Especially when working with food..food must be cooked with love or it won't taste so good. Quit if you lost your passion. Change your path immediately and follow your heart and don't believe anyone who says you shouldn't or can't do it.

I didn't get my breads done today. They are fermenting overnight in the cooler. Tomorrow I'll have Jelly donuts, Cinnamon Buns, and Hot cross buns to bring home.

Mondays are a little hard. Classmates are touchy. I'm touchy. I'm unhappy about the large class size and people hoarding ingredients. I'm further away from the ingredients, so last in line. Some students tend to take the scoops out of the flour and sugar, so when I get to the holding buckets the scooper is gone. I have to wait aimlessly until it returns, or wait in another ingredient line, because I don't know who has it. Those are the students who are always on time or ahead of schedule. My peeve is people who don't work together. I am a firm believer in teamwork and watching out for each other.

I'll have photos tomorrow.

4/10/05-Sunday 8:30pm
Friday I had the practical and passed without losing points. My Baguettes are still have problems, but future practicals will be more strict about volume and texture. We also made Pizza in class! But I didn't eat it since Rich made a big Spaghetti dinner. He makes a unique tastey sauce, he adds olives to the sauce..that's his specialty...plus mystery meat. Robbyn and Dave had dinner with us. Robbyn is very pregnant, so was an effort for her to come out. Dave is a comic artist. He's known for his "Private Beach" comics. Amazing talent! Of course we talked about the Sin City movie. I have no negative opinion of the movie because Clive Owen is in it. You can just make a movie with Clive lounging on the couch and I'd watch it from beginning to end!

Saturday I went back to "Piece of Cake" and bought 6 pieces of cake to sample at home....also spent time reviewing their wedding cake photos. I love their work. This is a photo of the half eaten cakes. I'm in the best career path having to taste cake! Rich had to hold me back from eating all six pieces! The best cake was their award winning "Fantasy Cake". Cheescake topped with 2 layers of chocolate coated with a buttercream frosting. To die for! On the left is Double-Chocolate, then Lemon Coconut, Vegan Carrot-Cake, Fantasy Cake (kind covered up), and Almond Raspberry cake in the front. They also make an outstanding Chocolate Espresso Tofu Cheescake.

I finished my English Muffin report. Click if you want to download it. English Muffins.doc It's not too long. It contains a recipe written in 1747.

Oh yeah! Rich and I walked down to "Powell's Books for Cooks" today. Rich bought me the new Alton Brown - I'm Just Here for More Food cook book. It's all about the science of baking. He rocks! I miss my cable.

Also found a Sugar Paste flower and "Chocolate by Nick Malgieri" book. It has details on how to mold with chocolate.

We mosied into the gourmet food store that's attached to the bookstore and bought a fine 18$ bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from New Zeland "Serendipity Olive Estate". It has a grassy-fruity-slight pepper flavor. Also bought a fine bottle of Balsamic Vinegar "La Vecchia Dispensa-Aceto Balsamico di Modena. Aged 6 years. A mellow sweet flavor. Not too acidic. I was floating on a cloud on our walk all the way home wondering what they would taste like. I made my way to the kitchen fast , tossed a large spring mix salad with chopped prunes and almonds, then drizzled it wth the oil and vinegar. They made the greens taste 100% better than my 5$ bottles of oil and vinegar. Oil is one one of those ingredients that enhance flavore tremendously if fresh and high quality. Kinda like the salt tasting I did, you can use iodized salt and it'll be ok, but buy high-quality "Feur de Sel" salt and it'll rock your palette. My friend , Michelle, brought me some Fleur de Sel from her trip to Paris. Now I have the salt, oil and vinegar to dip my school-baked breads into. A little fresh Tarragon from the herb garden and mmmm

Tomorrow a Chef from England will demo "Brioche" for the class.

4/7/05-Thursday 11:30pm
Another long day. My water bottle leaked all over my baking book. Not happy about that. I made Baguettes again, but still too low of volume. Might be overproofing. My cuts are better than they were. Tomorrow is my practical on them. Also made Pita bread, more rolls, and Foccacia that is very tastey-garlic oregano. I stayed until 8pm for open lab to finish the pita and rolls. Also made a tortilla dough. Tomorrow we have our practical on the Baguettes and Milk Bread (rolls). Then we make Pizza. Oh yeah I made pizza dough today too. Very busy. Piano class was at 9:00. Learned blues chords.

Toorrow i get 5 yards of dirt dumped in the driveway. Filling up garden beds this weekend. I also have a report on English Muffins to write up.

4/6/05-Wednesday 9:00pm
A full day. Baguettes, Foccacia, Fougasse ( which is baguette dough but different shapes), and Ciabatta. My bread shaping is certainly novice. Tomorrow is open lab which I may stay for. I made a rose in sugar club.

I recieved a nice card from Rich's family. I think I'll live by its inspirational words "carpe cakem!" (seize the cake)

4/5/05-Tuesday 9:00pm
Today Chef Peter demo'd Baguette, Vienna Bread, and Foccacia. My Vienna Bread is tastey, but a little flat. My razor is dull and is snagging the dough I think , releasing too much gas. My other breads will be baked off tomorrow. A little more situated today. Tomorrow is already Wednesday, sugar pull club day. My digital camera arrived today! Now I have to figure out how it works.

Rich sauteed a spring vegetable mix for dinner. Perry came over and messaged me. He's trained in message, a good friend to have, as I hurt my shoulder lifting wieghts or yoga or somthn'. I'm trying not to work out my arms and back, but I'm getting ancy.

Garsh, it's not very often a girl is served dinner by a man then messaged by another. Liv'n it up!

4/4/05-Monday
Started class in a new kitchen, a smaller kitchen, with new students. The smaller class I so enjoyed has 6 new students (not sure if they are repeating or extended their program) which makes a huge difference in accessing ingredients. 28 students going for the flour and sugar delays progress. It'll take a few days to warm up to the new atmosphere. Chef Peter showed us how to make basic white and wheat loaf breads and dinner rolls. My White loaf didn't rise as much as it should have.

Rich and I went on a beautiful hike Sunday where the Deschutes meets the Columbia river. Hiked about 5-7 miles. Felt good to get away. I slept like a baby, better than I felt all week.