Happy Holidays

Well im back in Vancouver now, Went back home for 10 days for my birthday and Christmas!!

 The one thing that was constant was the reminder of how much i have grown and learnt in these past 3 months.

It was so nice to back with my family and friends. Although it was such a short trip that i didnt have much time to really catch up with most friends. Christmas is more of a family gathering, and i spent mine with 4 different families <3 as There are the families that we are born into, and there are the families that we choose. our circle of friends.


I feel like i hit the jackpot as almost all the gifts i recieved had something to do with baking!!
-Cake Boss Book, Pastry by Michel Roux, Les Petits Macaron Book, Bunch of baking pans (mini and regular muffin tin, 9 x 13, 2 different cookie sheets,and one thats almost like a muffin tin but square) Cookie cutters to make a tree, Snowflake cookie mix with a snowflake cutter, An apron and the design on it is a bunch of cupcakes, Immersion Blender, Hand Mixer, BackPack, Lotion ( that smells like Sugar Cookie, Cranberry Creme, Birthday Cake ) Rubbermaid Containers, Chocolates, Ski Pants, Watch, BunnyHug, Straightner, Mani and Pedi Kit, Cd and Movies! (Horrible Bosses, Gnomeo & Juliet, Red, Grown Ups, Law Abiding Citizen, Shutter Island, Avatar, DodgeBall, Burlesque, Despicable Me, Something Borrowed, Bridesmaids, Transformers Revenge of the fallen adn rise of the moon, One Day, Water for Elephants, and Cool Runnings)

A big Thank You to everyone again <3 I wouldnt be the person i am today without you guys!


Have a good New Year!!
<3 Amz

Christmas Break !

Well Im officially on holdiays!

We get two weeks off for chirstmas and new years <3
So im currently in the airport waiting for my flight so i figured why not update you guys!

Advanced has gotten way better! The first day was very scary but everyday gets a little bit better.

So far i have been on the Confection Station, Production station, and Plated Desserts.
On the Confection Station i made and packaged Macarons, Marshmellow and Pate Du Fruits!

Then Production station
These days i made Sacher Tortes, a Strawberry White Chocolate Cheesecake, and mini apple pies







I find the swirl a very interesting way to make the layers between the cakes but its very smart as well!

Then plated Desserts. I find this the most challenging station but at the same time the more thrilling station. You get to design your own dessert. 

I feel like you also learn the most in this station, just because the other stations is doing what we have learnt in basic but plated desserts is putting it all together and adding other elements to take it to the next level.

The two days i was on this station we had christmas party's so the dessert was already chosen for me but i had to think of garnishes and how to present it.
First day was Pasuwa's.

So i made cigarette tuiles, curled them around the handle of wooden spoons. Also took Gooseberrys and dipped them in sugar and then let it drip to make a string of sugar, and then sat then in a raised cooling rack to harden.

The next day the dessert was Puff pastry with Frangipane and then sliced apple, Caramel Creme Anglaise, Lace nut Tuille, Strawberry sorbet and a Sugar nest

We made 50 of these so I didnt make this all by myself, i made the sorbet and the sugar nests :) Tonya made the sauce and tuille and then Aoran and Genie tagged teamed the puff pastry and apples! 

To make the sugar nests you make cotton candy almost! It was so fun to do!  I really enjoy doing sugar work but know very little about it so far.


























I also played around with coolis art. Its a little bit of throwback to the 70s but still fun. I love all the old tricks! like lava cakes and baked alaska lol

Well thats its for now!
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! and a Happy New Year!
<3 Amz

Officially Halfway done!

Well im officially half way done schooling! Such a crazy thought. Heck it seems like last week i was moving out here. Although these past 3 months has had its ups and downs.  And im sure the next three months will be the same!!

Midterm practical.
Spontaneously went a day earlier than planned! Which was prob the best thing i could have done! I didnt have time to freak out or overanalyze it.
We had 4 hours to complete:
-9 yeasted breads (50 grams each) 3 different shapes
-2 individual sized lemon tarts with italian meringue
-1 individual sized tart shell (unfilled)
-4 eclairs, filled with pastry cream, glazed with chocolate fondant
-6 truffles,  hand shaped

So of course i had to make sure i was ready! i typed out all the 7 recipes and directions on two sheets on paper ( that way i wouldnt have as many papers ! )and make a handy dandy excel spreedsheet with my timing on it :) Someone made a joke that if baking doesnt work out for me that i could prob always get a office job! lol

Well my schedule went pretty well i think. Thought i was going to faint in the last hour but i didnt! there were a few components that i wasnt happy with but what can you do when your time is restricted. I was very happy that i got my chocolate tempered! It may have kicked my butt the first time i tried but now im kicing its butt! Boo Yah!


On a different note, i met Michel Roux today!! Some people may not know who he is, i will admit i didnt know who he was before i started school :s But i have heard about him from my chef (she has done his one book cover to cover twice) looked through some of his books.  It was an honor to meet him, and i also bought two of his books that i got him to sign!

Well it feels like my body and mind have been ran over by a steamroller, so im Going to bed, and then getting a picture with Santa tomorrow!!

<3 Amz

                   Here is picture of my class and our cakes!

End of Basic Training

Halfway done school! Its a crazy thought. 
Also Christmas is soon!
So excited to go back home and see my family! I know it has only been 3 months but i have learnt and grown so much that it seems like much longer.

Plus it seems weird to have christmas decorations and no snow!But that doesnt mean this City doesnt have christmas stuff everywhere!

Well I have some catching up to do! oops!
We moved onto frozen desserts, We made Ice cream, sorbet and granita !

Vanilla Ice Cream
Shocked to learn what the base is
Creme Anglaise Basically

                 Chocolate Sorbet
                            

Lemon Granita
Delicious!












We then moved onto Confections!
I must admit that i love these.
We made Pate de fruits (pronouced Pat - Du- Fwee!)

I made Mango Pate De Fruit, and it was amazing!!

 



 We also made Nougat.
Also Phenomenal!!
Although the first time my partner and i made it we did it wrong so it turned out bad. Second time around though it was dead on!







Then we moved onto Plating desserts.
This is something i need to improve on. First day i was thinking too much!

So Its the same components but just plated differently.
Buttermilk Panna Cotta, Raspberry Ganache, Macarons, Mango Agar Squilles Almonds with caramel Sugar strands and a berry coulis

The next day we plated pears. 
This time i tried not to think much. And i was done in like 10 mins!
So this is a poached pear, with caramel sauce, chewy caramel twist, Nut Brittle, and Cherry Compote.










Last day of actual class in basic we made a bunch of cookies for the Childrens Hospital. We did individual cookies to go into baskets, some larger cookies with a backdrop and also decorated some rum soaked pound cakes to sell and raise money for the Childrens Hospital.

Well that has been my exciting life in Pastry School so far!
<3 Amz

Okay going to finish off the week that i started!
We finished our cakes on thursday!

My very first Fondant Basket Weave!

The grapes! I love the bunch to the left sitting up!  it looks way more real than the other one i think.

This is my wine label.
I named it Pica Noir because Pinot Noir is a legit type of wine and PICA is the initials of my school, which opened in 1996. Also March 23,2012 is my grad date!

 The back side, which you can see the flowers.

This one shows the bread and then cheese, also a few more flowers.

I love how you can see how shiny i got my wine cap to get! Also a little shine on my bottle :)










Friday was Souffle day, it has been quoted that"you must wait for your souffle, but your souffle will never wait for you"!   We made and tried a few varieties!

Cheese Souffle

Chocolate Souffle

Creme Anglaise Souffle

Chilled Lemon Souffle, which tasted so good! 

Also Made Bread Pudding!












 Well that was my week at school, Today(saturday) went down to the states with a classmate and her mom! SO much fun! It was excatly what i needed! I got 6 christmas presents and also spoiled myself a bit with some knitted Bearpaw boots, craft and baking stuff from Micheals and movies from walmart! :)

Well have two tests this week! Eek!
<3 Amz

This week has a lot going on!  And next week i have test #3 and my Wine Test! Then two weeks is midterm!

Monday was more chocolate. These are my Garnishes. Yeah im not very good at small detail :(
Just need to practice being steady!

This is Ganache, which was my center of the truffle.

I tabled it on the marble (not very much but still made a huge difference)
i set a little portion to the side so that i could see the difference.














So With the Ganache and our tempered chocolate we made truffles!

As you see they all had little trails behind them, as when you roll it when you are depositing them it will take the little bit of extra chocolate off and then you dont have feet :)

Tuesday i got to help the Gingerbread Team again :)
So here a few pictures!

Then class was Petit Fours, And Dobos Slice

So these are them before i poured fondant over it. My partner and i made them almost perfect with the fondant but i completely forgot to take a picture!

p.s. Before the fondant these take like the jam jam cookies Aunt Clara makes!  Makes me excited for christmas time!!

 Then Dobos Slice,
This was a learning experience. lol.
The top layer of cake is covered in caramel so you have to cut it before it hardens (or else it will just crack!) and you have to oil your knife or else it will stick. And well i was oiling the knife over the cake.. so the top is kind of oily.. and not smooth cuz the oil droplets..  But we finished!


So Wednesday and Thursday is our cake decorating days!  I have drawn out like almost 10 different cakes! But The last one was design elements from the previous ones all combined into one. 

So my final drawing was a basket weaving the bottom tier, making the top tier into a wine bottle, having a checkered picnic blanket drawing off the side and then filling in the basket with roses around the wine bottle.













Day 1 threw me a few snags that i didnt think about. So my final cake is the same idea but just situated differently.

First snag was the wine bottle. A wine bottle does not have a 6 inch diameter base, also i only have two days so my fondant wouldnt have enough time to set.

Second snag was the blanket.. oh the things you learn..

So here was my process after Day 1. And then today hopefully finishing it till im pleased with it!

Well that has been my week so far!
Might be a little delayed on posting these next few weeks as school is hitting crunch time! Two tests, midterm and practical midterm!
<3 Amz