Princess Peach?

Just when I think I am caught up blogging on all that is going on in my culinary world, almost a week passes and I feel like I am drowning in information and fun happenings that I need to blog about. I am sorry, faithful followers, and I will try and be less distracted. Let's start with Thursday and Grand Buffet Day.
All of the pictures on the blog today were taken with my phone. I apologize that they are not the highest quality. Unfortunately, this is the only photograph I have of my own from Grand Buffet. This is just the bread table, two large circular tables, and it looked incredible. I was proud of our work as a group, and this display was basically a representation of three weeks of work and learning.

You remember when you were in elementary school, and there was an end-of-the-year pizza party. Well, in honor of our last day in breads, we had a pizza party. I go to culinary school, of course, and therefore, we made our own pizza.
I grew to love Breads class, and Chef Adams is an amazing teacher/chef. Just as you begin to settle in a class here at the CIA, the class is over. Final exam done. On to the next bakeshop. It is crazy, and I will miss Bakeshop 6.

On Friday, Michie (aka Nate) and I celebrated his birthday with dinner at Bonefish. He, a self-proclaimed food snob, had never eaten at Bonefish, one of my favorite restaurants. I was a little nervous and hesitant about taking him, but he seemed to enjoy himself.

On Saturday, my sister flew to NY. We watched the UGA game, which was miserable. (Jenny, I still love you, even if your Buffs won.) The highlight of the Dawgs' game was AJ Green's catch in the endzone. I've missed AJ. We ate wings and drank beer, in true football-watching fashion. It was a wonderfully low-key night in New York City, with one of my best friends.

The next morning, Morgan, Jess, and I explored the street fair/market. I am a big fan of street food. I am also a big fan of Nutella crepes. Crepes at a street fair? It was like a dream come true. I asked Jess if we could share and she said no. It was a rudely wise answer, and I enjoyed every bite.
After watching a bit of the NFL on Sunday, Jess and I headed back to Poughkeepsie. We ate dinner with Michie (Jess meet Nate) at Coyote Grille. Jess and Nate gave me a new nickname (see title above and shortened it to Pri Pea). Nate stole my sharpie. I did laundry. Jess watched Sister Wives. It was an eventful Sunday night to say the least. My sister, being my sister, slept in my bed while I slept on an air mattress. Well, for five seconds, we did not think the pump for my new mattress would work, seeing as a dummy (me) did not charge the pump. Oops. I almost froze on the air mattress, but other than that it was fun having Jess stay with me.

I gave Jess a tour of the CIA. When she moved me here in June, it was Memorial Day and there was no one on campus (no classes and no open restaurants). We also ate at the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe for lunch. I had the Corn and Poblano Chowder with Parmesan and Truffle Salt Fries. Jess ordered the grilled chicken sandwich. Our intent was to split the Nutella cupcake for dessert, but Jess ate it all. (I heart Nutella, if you did not know. It is one of my favorite things in the entire world. I enjoy hazelnuts and hazelnut flavoring in general.)
Can you believe I am finished with my first semester here at culinary school? I started my second term yesterday with Baking Techniques. It is only Day 2, and I am still scared. Chef Haymon is intense, to say the least. Most people say that he is a difficult chef but that his class is awesome, with there being so much to learn from him. I am enjoying myself for the most part, and it is only the beginning.

Yesterday, chef gave us an overview of the class and a tour of the kitchen. From there, he lectured on the creaming and blending methods. Creaming, with fat and sugar, is done to create a homogeneous mass, a light color, and increase in volume. The fat used in creaming, such as butter, should be solid. With blending, dry ingredients are placed on top of wet and blended until mixed. With blending, a liquid fat is used, and aeration is chemical. DO NOT OVERMIX BLENDED PRODUCTS. The main things I learned today are to "stop, drop, and scrape" the bowl and that eggs should be scrambled before adding them to a mixture (not one at a time).

Chef demoed how to make pound cake with streusel and corn muffins, and as a class, we performed an evaluation. In our teams of two (Stephanie from NY is my partner for the block), We mised (got everything measured and ready) for today's class, before breaking for dinner and the day.

In class today, each team made their own pound cake, and each person made a batch of corn muffins. Once both of those items were in the oven, chef gave us an additional product to make, sugar cookies.
Team by team, chef evaluated and commented on each product on the station. As far as my products, the pound cake was slightly underdone and there was not enough streusel on the top. He said these things would not affect being able to sell the product.

From our introduction yesterday in class, Chef Haymon knows I have a Food Science degree from UGA. He seems impressed that I am here, furthering my education, and he references it every now and again to the whole class. Chef says that I am the odd one out, having attended a traditional school. Today, while he was lecturing on foaming, he asked why the eggs are heated to a certain temperature. Proteins relax at this temperature or "denature" was the word I used. "Ms. Science, can you explain this in terms that the rest of the class can understand?" I even had the opportunity to talk to him further after class. Chef wants help in finding a book for Baking Tech, a Food Science-type book. He also suggested some organizations and contacts to stay on top of my education; he does not want me to get bored here. "I hope you do not think I am putting you on the spot." I think he likes me. Phew.

I HEART BAKING

Hay Reh