Fruit Tart

Just a quick post before I get to my homework. We made tarts today in class - pate sucree for the tart crust, pastry cream for the filling, fresh fruit on top with an apricot glaze. I know that the plastic wrap doesn't add too much charm to the photo but I was in such a hurry that I almost forgot to take a pic at all!

Almond Macarons!

Today was a super exciting day in class - almond macarons! I know these are very trendy right now (although the hoopla has not hit Minnesota yet) and I've wanted to try them for a while. These are very basic - egg whites, white sugar, almond meal or flour, powdered sugar, and a few drops of vanilla. Nonetheless, I've heard that they are a little tricky so I was worried. Mine turned out pretty well - could have risen a little more but they had the frilly "feet" that are the hallmark of the traditional macaron.

I sandwiched some raspberry jam in the middle of mine. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to experiment with some different flavors and colors at some point.

I debated about posting a recipe here (our school recipes are all in weight measurements) but decided not to. There are a million recipes out there on the web.

Here are mine:

Here are a picture of Chef's (look how perfect!):

Done!

Well, my knife cut practical is done and so are the first three weeks at Le Cordon Bleu. I know that knife skills are important for anyone in the industry, but there's a reason I'm in Patisserie and Baking and not the culinary side! I just managed to get everything done in the 1 hour 15 min time frame. Unfortunately, I did cut myself in the last three minutes while trying to get my parsley finely minced. I'm proud that I didn't let that stop me; I threw out the product, took care of the cut, cleaned and sanitized, and got more product. Still finished in time, too! Yay!

So, now I'm done with the basic cooking and sanitation part of our program. Next week starts basic baking skills - cookies, biscuits, and the like. Now, that's more my style :)

Below is a pic of my battle wounds.......

Toffee

Here is a pic of the toffee I made over Christmas and never got a chance to post. I was pretty easy but it's really pretty essential to have a candy thermometer. I used the recipe from a book I've had for a while now, Brittles, Barks, and Bonbons by Charity Ferreira. I'd definitely recommend it.

I didn't modify the recipe at all so I'm not going to post it here. This recipe is really close to the one I used, though:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Almond-Crunch/Detail.aspx

I would definitely add a little salt - maybe 1/4 teaspoon.

First Week of Le Cordon Bleu

Well, I've completed my first week of my training at Le Cordon Bleu. I'm enrolled in the Patisserie & Baking program but am learning basic culinary stuff right now. Above is one of the two trays that I have to study for my spice identification test. We're also learning basic sanitation and knife cuts.

On Friday, we made fresh pasta from scratch. It was awesome and so easy, really!

Here's a good place to see how it's done:
http://gourmetfood.about.com/od/cookietechniques/ss/freshpasta.htm

Noodle before cooking above and after below

Goodbye, 2009!

(The pic above is merely a reminder for myself that flowers and green things exist. Stupid winter...why does the new year start in winter, anyway? Should be spring!)

2009 was not such a great year for most people I know (understatement!) so I'm happy to be moving on. It wasn't a terrible year for me, although I did break my arm and get laid off from my corporate gig. Money has been tight but everyone in my family is in relatively good health, employed, and sheltered. I'm not taking any of those things for granted, at this point, and am thankful.

I accomplished quite a few things from my 2009 goals/resolutions list, including:

• Go camping (only once, though!)
  
• Buy a digital camera


• Pick berries at a u-pick place


• Grow a windowsill herb garden


• Volunteer work related to teaching or art (at Articulture, as mentioned, and at Urban Youth Farm last spring)
  
• Show art at a coffee shop (no, but at a non-profit gallery instead!)
  
• Learn how to can/make jam (learned, but, alas, did not make!)


• Buy fewer magazines (much improvement but still a problem)


• Not break any more bones!

There are some things that I'm happy to have done this year that weren't even on my list last January, such as:

• Lost 20+ pounds through a lower-carb diet and moderate exercise
• Applied and got accepted to Le Cordon Bleu's Patisserie and Baking program


• Sold my work, with my sister, at five local art festivals over the past year
  
• Paid off one of my credit cards - yay!

Christmas Project

What do you get when you cross a terrarium with a snowglobe and subtract the water? No, seriously, what do you get? Because I'm having a hard time figuring out what to call these. I love terrariums but either kill the plants or they grow too large. I love the miniature world in a snowglobe but don't care about the whirling snow (it doesn't "whirl" for very long, anyway) and hate the glitter ones.

Anyway, I made these for my mom and sisters for Christmas. I made the birds and mushrooms using Sculpey. I added some holiday picks from Michaels, decorated some branches with glitter from Martha Stewart's collection and sprinkled some fake snow (don't know what it is, plastic? I got it from Target and I think people use it for their Christmas village displays). Everything is firmly affixed to a styrofoam base (that is glued to the overturned jars "lid" or the bottom of the container), using craft glue. The birds are attached to the branches using hot glue. I didn't glue the lids on because I wanted to be able to make repairs, if necessary, but you'll want to make sure they are tight-fitting if you go that route.