"Airplanes in the Night Sky"

Life has been crazy since my last post. I learned how to make pastry cream, a fundamental for any pastry chef. I flew home to Georgia. The Bulldogs won, and the number one team in the country lost (Poor Bama). I ate a lot of food. I spent some much needed time with my family. I actually even went to see a movie with my mom (Life as We Know It... it's about a baker in Atlanta... yay). I am amazed that this is the life I get to live as a 23 year old.

On Friday, like I said, we learned how to make pastry cream. Pastry cream is the base for many other sauces in the pastry world. First, ninety percent of the milk, half of the sugar, the vanilla, and salt are added to a pot on the heat. The cornstarch, remaining milk, and sugar are mixed in a separate bowl. Seventy five percent of the hot liquid is added to temper the egg mixture. Then, the tempered egg mixture is added back to the hot pot and cooked to thicken. STIR STIR STIR. Seriously, in order for there to be no lumps, you must stir the pastry cream vigorously. I thought my arm was going to fall off, to which my chef replied that I need to go to the gym. I will call it my buff pastry cream arm one day. (Pastry cream has a shelf life of two to three days, before the starch retrogradation occurs, or starch breaks down, causing the cream to separate.)

In addition to pastry cream, each team of two made fifteen ramkins of creme caramel. The caramel is made and heated first, until the proper color stage, and poured into the bottom of the dishes (where it hardens). The custard is made and poured into each ramkin. The creme caramel is then baked at a low temperature in a water bath. After being baked and cooled, we placed the creme caramels in the refrigerator. The moisture from the custard and baking over time turns the hardened caramel to a smooth sauce. Today, when we served the creme caramels, we released them from the ramkins and flipped them. A beautiful custard with a caramel sauce was the result.

There are three different types of custard:
1. Boiled- pastry cream.
2. Baked- creme caramel and creme brulee.
3. Stirrred- creme anglaise.

My flight departed from LGA at 6 am on Saturday morning. With class so late on Friday, the train schedule, and sleeping arrangements, I decided to let Nate drive me to LGA from Hyde Park. I woke up from my nap (ha) at 1:30 to shower, left the CIA at 2:15ish, arrived at LGA around 4:15, flew out at 6, and landed in ATL before 8 am. I arrived in Athens around 10. I ate a little. I walked to the game. I cheered for the Dawgs. (We won 41-14.) I ate and tailgated a little more. I napped. I watched USC beat Bama. I watched LSU beat Florida. I watched Auburn beat Kentucky. I ate froyo with Katie Weiser. I made an appearance at the YL tailgate to see JCon. I slept. There you go... Saturday in a paragraph.
My mom likes having me in the South. I like to think I am Georgia's good luck charm. We like watching the Dawgs win together in Sanford Stadium. Man, I love Saturdays in Athens. (And, yes, I did burn my face scrubbing that tattoo off. Red scab on my face... sign of a true fan.)

On Sunday, the fam and I ate at Farm 255. My mom, sister, and I shopped. My mom and I went to a movie. We ate yogurt. We went to Target. We dined on sushi. We ended the night with Letters to Juliet before I passed out from being awake 36+ hours the day before.

My mom and I took Chick-fil-a to my sister at her school on Monday before heading to ATL to eat at Chow Baby (one of my favs). We also spent half an hour at Atlantic Station, shopping a little more, and capping the weekend with Cashew Turtles from Kilwin's. My mom dropped me at the airport before heading back to Thomasville. When I flew out of LGA on Friday, it was dark, and when I flew in on Monday, it was dark. My whirlwind weekend ended with Nate picking me up from the airport and me driving in horrible rain.

Today, we made pate a choux, another fundamental knowledge a pastry chef must possess. With pate a choux, you heat milk, butter, and salt until it boils. All the flour is then added. Once a film forms on the bottom of the pot, the mixture is taken off the heat and transferred to a mixer bowl. On low speed, eggs are incorporated until the proper consistency is reached. Three inch eclairs are piped and baked. After cooling, two holes are made on the bottom of the eclairs, and pastry cream (made Friday) is piped to fill the eclair. The eclairs are then dipped in chocolate fondant, made with chocolate, fondant, simple syrup (for viscosity), and corn syrup (for shine) reaching 100*.
We were allowed to take all ten of these home. Now granted I have shared (because I would eat them all otherwise), but I only have four remaining. Yes, I have only been out of class for an hour.

I can't wait to make these goodies for you!

ACLAIRS, CHEF HAYMON? NO, ECLAIRS!

Hay Reh