Baking in Review

Sorry for the lack of posting activity lately... things have been pretty busy between school, home, and a new job (more on that later). In any event, I finished up my three weeks of baking and have moved on to Cuisines of Europe and the Mediterranean, as you already know if you've checked the sidebar recently.

Baking wound up being one of my very favorite classes, and Chef Higgins is now in my all-time top three chefs here at school (joining Chefs Vanoli and Kanner). Extremely knowledgable, a great teacher, and an all-around good guy to boot. I wish I could take the block over again, both to work on different projects than I did the first time and to learn more from him.

Here's a quick list of things I made after those first three days: puff pastry, chocolate mousse, edible almond cookie bowls, cottage cheese and dill soft rolls, baguettes, donuts, palmiers, apple turnovers, chocolate croissants, marshmallows (rolled in graham cracker crumbs and dipped in chocolate, for a sort of one-bit s'more), pastry cream, bialys, and Italian buttercream. I also frosted a cake (and did a darned fine job, if I do say so myself), tempered chocolate, and learned to make roses out of marzipan.

Moving on, I also started working for the hospitality office here at school as a student tour guide. The pay is awful, but the hours are very flexible. Most of the tours are bus groups of senior citizens who come from such exotic locations such as Buffalo or Rochester, have lunch and then take a tour, or take a tour and then have dinner. We also do daily public tours (your $5 fee goes to a general scholarship fund), prospective student tours, new student tours, new parent tours, and so on.

The most exciting news of the day, however, is that I'm taking on big business. Oh yes. Stay tuned.