Valentine's, Mardi Gras, and Birthdays.

DISCLAIMER: This is a very long post, with lots of pictures. If you plan on getting enthralled in my baking career and life as of late, then I hope you have a few minutes on your hand. I wouldn't want you to start reading and then remember that you have a more pressing matter to address... Read at your own risk.

Let's just jump right into things...

Friday, February 11, 2011
*Tied about 150 bags of cookies and truffles for the Spa.
*Chocolate Caramel Sauce.
*Espresso Creme Brulee.
*Rolled Raspberry Ganache and Champagne Ganache in dark and white chocolate. Helped Robyn put dried raspberry powder on final coat of dark chocolate.

Look how festive. And they tasted delish too.

*Tuile cookies.
*Baked 6 Cookies each of Peanut Butter, White Macadamia Nut, Oatmeal Raisin, and Chocolate Chip.
*Rolled out around 20 X and O Cookies on the Dough Sheeter and baked. Robyn decorated later.

Here's a picture for you, Mom.

*Helped Temperance with Sweet Potato Scones and Parmesan Sage Scones.

*Dipped Strawberries in Chocolate.
*Helped unmold key lime tarts, chocolate cake, and bourbon pecan bread pudding.
*Robyn showed me how to use transfer sheets, to give chocolate cool designs. She cut some fun shapes and I stamped heart shapes.

Saturday, February 12, 2011
*Tuile. Using a triangle mold, I smeared the batter onto silicon mats, topped the batter with cocoa nibs, and baked them until brown. Robyn then placed them on a rolling pin immediately after removing them from the oven to give them a curved shape.
*Peanut Butter Mousse. I tasted this and it is very peanut butter-y.
*Buttercream. Instead of making an Italian meringue, like I have done at school, Robyn taught me how to make buttercream using a Swiss meringue. I used ten pounds of butter so you can imagine how much buttercream I made. :)
*Cream Cheese Icing (using buttercream). Using buttercream to make a cream cheese icing makes the frosting more stable and less heat sensitive.
*Plating. There was a group at the hotel who had lunch in the Private Dining Room (we call them the PDRs) at the Ocean Room Restaurant. Robyn was in charge of plating dessert. Our dessert was the Expresso Creme Brulee in a tart shell with a Tuile, Chocolate Sauce, Caramelized Sugar Disk, and Chopped Chocolate-covered Espresso Beans. She played around with the plating down in the Pastry kitchen.

This was attempt one.
She settled on this design.
And here are all the plates. Success!

*Rice Krispy Treats. Robyn used these the next day for the kid's table at Sunday Brunch, and in honor of Valentine's Day, we added red food coloring (to make the marshmallows pink) and red, white, and pink sprinkles. I cut these into 2 inch x 2 inch squares.

*Praline Bread.

Robyn let me leave around 2:30 and informed me that I had the next four days off. FOUR DAYS OFF. What do you think this "dumb bunny" (as my dad says) did? I drove back to Charleston, showered, packed, and drove to New Orleans, to spend some time with Nate. As my mom likes to point out, because she is mom and is mostly always right, it is a long way from Charleston to New Orleans, and this was probably my first and last time to make that drive. (My love of maps did not make this trip more bearable.) However, this was my pro/con list for the trip:

CONS:
(1) Charleston to New Orleans is 11 hours, one way.
(2) That is 750 miles, one way.
(3) I would be riding alone, with no hopes of a nap or switching drivers.

PROS:
(1) I would in New Orleans with the bf on Valentine's Day.
(2) Surprising people is worth it. (I called Nate when I finally made it to NoLA around 2:30 Central Time. He was at the bar. I told him he should go back to his house. He probably was wondering why I was telling him what to do at 3:30 in the morning my time from SC. I told him I was waiting outside his house. He did not believe me. Then, he made someone drive him back. How many hours had I been driving again? I can't remember. :))
(3) Stopping in Auburn to see my favorite cuzzy buzzy is always a pro.

So, clearly, the pro list won.

Nate had to work every day I was in town. I mean, I did surprise him, and he had no warning to take a few days off. He did manage to get out of work like an hour early on my last night. While I was there, I walked a bit by myself. I also was Nate's personal chauffeur, taking him to Walmart, driving him to work everyday, and picking him up. We ate a lot, which is not surprising. We ate after he got off work one day at Camellia Diner with a few of his friends from work. (I won't mention what it took for me to drive to this place to meet them there. Oh wait, I just did mention it.) We ate lunch at a deli on Magazine Street one day. We had yogurt before he went to work. His roommate works at a restaurant called Capdeville, and we had lunch there one day. (I had truffled mac and cheese. Mmm.) We ordered Chinese, of course. And, finally, we ate a late dinner at Rally's one night, which was a hilarious experience. I like eating in New Orleans, with my favorite, super critical, and overly knowledgeable chef bf.

Nate switched restaurants. I posted a picture of Bourbon House. It is only appropriate for me to post a picture of Palace Cafe. :)

In the afternoons, I spent some quality time with me, myself, and I, walking the streets of NoLA and visiting my favorite spots. I mentioned Sucre on my last post about New Orleans, but I just love it. I thought I would post some pictures this time.

The outside. The sun was shining and cast a weird shadow, my bad.

The front window display. Mardi Gras macaroon tree!

House made gelato and sorbet. I've had the hazelnut gelato and raspberry sorbet!

Beautiful desserts!

I bought a box of eight chocolates to bring back to Kiawah for Robyn and company to try. I still have six left. We tried the salted caramel (top second from left) and the creme brulee (top left with mask).

I also mailed Nate's family a sampling of chocolates and macaroons: two Mardi Gras macaroons and creme brulee and bananas foster chocolates. They packaged them in adorable little Mardi Gras boxes. If I ever opened my own bakery or sweet place, I would want it to be very, very similar to this one. If you are ever in New Orleans, go visit them on Magazine Street!

Speaking of Mardi Gras, the Carnival season is around the corner, and preparations are in full swing. Parade stands are being built. And the decorations in store windows, restaurants, etc. are beautiful. If you live in New Orleans, you decorate your home, as if it were Christmas time. Instead of red and green, everything is gold, purple, and green. Flags, wreaths, lights, garland... you name it. And I think it is fabulous. Check this house out below. I am sorry that the picture is not the greatest and doesn't do this house justice!

Fat Tuesday!

And, of course, one of my favorite things about New Orleans is a tourist staple. But, if you have the best cafe au lait and beignets, you can't fuss about it. I want to live at the Cafe du Monde!

My mouth is watering just looking at this picture!

Thursday, February 17, 2011
*Vanilla Sponge Cake. We made enough batter for three 9 inch cakes, three 6 inch cakes, and three sheet pans.
*Chocolate Sponge Cake. We made enough batter for three sheet trays.
*White Chocolate Mousse.
*Chocolate Sucre Tart Dough. I made this and then wrapped it to store in the refrigerator.
*Chocolate Ganache.
*Another ten pounds of butter batch of Buttercream.
*Chocolate Chip Cookies. I made and scooped jumbo cookies, wrapped them, and stored them in the refrigerator.
*Pecan Shortbread. Scooped and refrigerated.
*Madras Cookies. These are made using curry powder and coconut. The dough was really wet and when baked, they flattened into a mess. Hm. Something was off with this recipe or I messed something up!

Friday, February 18, 2011
*Brownies.
*Sugared Pate de Fruit candies. This is essentially gummy candy made with fruit puree.
*Coconut Macaroons. Scooped and baked. YUMMY.
*Citrus Cookies.
*Nut Bonanza Cookies. These are made with mixed nuts roasted in butter, including pistachio, peanuts, cashews, etc. SO DELICIOUS!!
*Spun three quarts of Salted Vanilla Ice Cream.
*Watched Temperance make pralines.
*Helped Temperance make sweet potato scones for Jasmine Porch. Something happened the first time, either I over-worked the dough or Temperance forgot the leavener. Either way, we had to remake them, re-roll them, and re-bake them.

Saturday, February 19, 2011
Temperance trained me last night on plating desserts for dinner service at the Jasmine Porch Restaurant. SO EXCITING. I worked from about 4-10:30pm, but I felt like I had worked for 2384198 hours. AND, Temperance says we weren't busy. Eh yi yi. I loved it though, and I will admit publically that Nate told me I would (and I didn't believe him).

Sunday, February 20, 2011
Night #2 of training at the restaurant with Temperance. I need to go get dressed in order to leave by 3 for my hourish commute to make it to Kiawah on time at 4! Wish me luck, as I am sure Temperance expects me to take control tonight!

Just an FYI, did you know that people are trying to figure out when they should conceive in order to have their baby on 11.11.11. Well, apparently THE day was February 18th, but I'm sure that if this is of concern to you, things might still work out for you. I think, personally, October 2011 is the month to have a baby this year. :)

Also, my roommate moved back to China this week, and I now have the apartment to myself for a few weeks. I switched rooms and now have the single room. I rearranged the living room and kitchen to make it how I like it. I must say, I could get used to living by myself. I mean, everything is where I left it when I come and go. Fabulous!

CELEBRATE LIFE

Haley "I'm tired" Rehberg