Gone with the Wind

Epic fail. It's been over a week and no new blog post, as I promised. BUT, I think I shall get a pass on this one. Mother Nature has been unleashing her fury in the Northeast. First the earthquake that struck in Virginia and was felt from the South to Boston, practically. (For the record, no, I did not feel anything, but some of my friends on campus swear they did. Maybe I thought it was the wind or something or a slamming door? Oh well, I say I still lived through it.) Then, instead of hitting my beloved Charleston as predicted early, Hurricane Irene decided to make landfall in North Carolina AND New Jersey, with tropical storm type weather in my area this past weekend. It is really peculiar weather, around here, and I would not be surprised if a snowstorm hit on Labor Day. It would kind of be appropriate, right?! (I'll knock on wood, just in case.)

So, I moved to New York in June 2010, expecting to live in the North for two-ish years. And in those two years, I have halfway experienced one of the worst winters ever, to date. An earthquake. AND, the first hurricane to make landfall in three years, only the sixth hurricane to hit within 75 miles of New York City, ever. I won't even mention everything that comes with these weather phenomenons: shutting down the NYC subways, flooding, etc. I mean, I am used to hurricanes and tornadoes in the South, but all this, which is mostly uncommon in this area, all in just two years. I think the world may be coming to an end, and I'm okay with being a part of that. :)

My class starts at 7am. This is what Roth looks like that early in the morning. I thought I would document it, seeing as I have never been awake at this hour on campus before.

I am loving my class this block, Confectionery Art and Special Occasion Cakes, with Chef Cavotti. This class is basically the Harvard version of cake-decorating but only taught in three weeks time. Class is project-driven, and on an individual basis, except for two assignments. We are given two days for each project, over each medium. And, let me just tell you, I wish I had more time, a lot more time. Tomorrow, we will complete our third official project, though we have started the fourth. Sugar. Check. Chocolate. 3/4 Check. Four-side fondant cake. 1/2 Check.

I have only officially completed my sugar showpiece. (Though, "showpiece" is a stretch because it is rather small.) Sugar is hard, but it is easier than I thought. It is hot, and I found that I like wearing two pairs of gloves when pulling sugar, even though I do have a tendency to burn through one pair. :) Chef taught us the tricks of the trade, and let me tell you that she is very talented: how to make sugar shiny, how temperature affects sugar, how to pull sugar (from granulated sugar to hard crack), etc.

Each person in the class had to pull one batch of sugar. 4 pounds of stock syrup (sugar, glucose, corn syrup, water). Cooked to 137*C and add color/ 12-14 drops of acid. Continue to cook to 157*C. Pour on marble. Cool. Stretch. Pull. You get the picture. I was the last person for the day to pull sugar, and we were running out of the color white (which just means no color is added). I was slightly disappointed that I did not get the excitement of seeing my sugar turn color (yes, I'm five years old). Chef told me that white can be really beautiful and it shows skill to pull white sugar (and not slightly caramelized, amber sugar). Ok, fine, Chef. I said that I would like it better if we called white, pearl! She was amused. When she critiqued my sugar piece, as she does every project for each person, she asked me if I named my swan "Pearl," and thus, the name stuck. I still have my sugar piece sitting here at my desk (though she seems to be "melting" from the humidity and is rather sticky), and I introduce her to all impressed as Pearl, because, well, that's her name.

Components of the Sugar Piece:
*Straw Sugar
*Swan (or blown piece)
*Ribbons
*Rose
*Bud
*Leaves

Sugar Station (Uncle Gerry, can you make me this? I have complete faith in you!)

Chef Cavotti's Sugar Demo Piece

Pearl!

Back of piece.

Rose and bud.
And again!
Pearl deserves two full body shots.

My partner, Emily's, sugar piece.

Jordan's piece. I asked him if I could include his on the blog because (a) it is awesome and (b) it is a little different than most. His blown sugar piece is an octopus! :)

Our second project was our chocolate showpiece. I am almost finished with this project. I just need to make the rose, out of modeling chocolate, and put it all together. Tempering chocolate, though becoming easier and easier, is still not on my top 10 list of things to do in my spare time. Every time I did a 3-5 minute "temper test" to see if the chocolate shines/ sets properly, I would ask my friend, Liv, if it was tempered, even if it was clearly still wet. Her response was, "Haley, you're in denial." Yes, this pretty much sums up my feelings about chocolate. To finish my piece, I have to put all the pieces together by tempering chocolate during lunch or something. So, hopefully, I will have pictures of this one day to show you, but until then, you get a picture of Chef Cavotti's.

Components for the Chocolate Piece:
*White Chocolate Base
*Dark Chocolate Base
*Scrolls
*Sphere
*Modeling Chocolate Rose
*Striped Ribbons

It is in a display case, and that is why this picture is fuzzy.

On Thursday, as fears about Irene began to become realistic, I decided to get ready by making a hurricane preparation kit. I went to EMS Sports, the gas station, and Home Depot to stock a few things in my dorm. I needed waterproofing liquid, because my rain jacket tends to well, not be waterproof anymore, which is really the whole purpose of a rain jacket, to not get wet; and, well, hurricanes bring lots of rain, rain that an umbrella just can't handle. I figured that in case I needed to evacuate for some reason that I would need gas, to not pay an arm and a leg for it if the time came and not have to wait in awful lines. Also at the gas station, I bought the necessary items for consumption: water, lemonade for my Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka (hello, if I have to sit in the dark in a hurricane...), and flamin' hot cheetos. You know, these are the basics! At Home Depot, I bought a lighter, even though we aren't technically supposed to have candles, etc. in our dorm, and a mini-flashlight, that doubles as a safety device, complete with whistle and strobe light.

As far as this past weekend, I spent the majority of the time watching Season 4 of Gossip Girl, which I received in the mail on Friday, and gearing up for the storm. The Rhinebeck (where Chelsea Clinton was married last year, a cute quaint town) fair was also last week and was supposed to be open until Sunday. However, they decided to end the fair early and not open on Saturday or Sunday. Rhinebeck's fair is, probably, the second largest fair in New York, next to Syracuse, and Melissa and I wanted to go with some of our friends. I must say that for $12 plus the cost of food (I didn't pay to ride rides), it was money well-spent on a fun, Friday afternoon adventure. Enjoy my fair picture book below, and I hope you feel like you were there with me!

We stopped at Stop n Shop on our way to the fair. Hurricane Irene is coming, which means people stock up on bread! You don't have to be a food scientist to know that bread is shelf stable and doesn't require refrigeration. Bring on the PB&Js.

We stopped at the horticulture tent to see the pretty flowers.

Not far from the flowers, there were cows from farms across the Hudson Valley.

And just a step from the cows, there were goats, that looked like cows?!

My pretty roomie was brave enough to pet the goats.

And, finally, we saw the sheep, fashionable sheep, if you ask me!

This fair was so awesome that it had two Ferris wheels. Ferris Wheel #1.

And, cool, not the greatest picture, of Ferris Wheel #2.

Jason, Mike, Melissa, and Andrew rode the Ring of Fire or Fireball or whatever it was called. I am not a huge fan of spinning or going upside down in a circle. (Like the swings... my least favorite ride ever.)

And, why pay for rides, when money is better spent on other things?!

No, these were not all for me. If you know me at all, you know I love Oreos, Coke, and Cheetos. (Ask me my opinion on double-stuft versus colored, seasonal Oreos, but be sure you have plenty of time on your hand, as I am super passionate...) Well, fried Oreos are just a step above the real deal. I have only ever had the fried ones at Shokiti, a sushi restaurant in Athens, and while those are delicious, everything tastes better at the fair. (And, sidenote, I also had a jalapeno cheddar sausage dog, with a Coke, of course. Mmmm.)

On Saturday morning, Hurricane Irene made its second landfall in New Jersey as a Category 1 storm. I slept through the worst part of the storm, and honestly, it didn't seem more than a regular rainstorm (which we have had a lot of recently), even though it was tropical storm conditions outside. Though it was not as bad as expected, millions of people in the Northeast were affected by the storm, with flooding, power outages, storm surge, washed roads, etc. The main issue in Hyde Park was the wind. The wind was the cause of our four-ish hour power outage. Below are some pictures of the storm. :)

This is the foot of my bed, a window and a tree, ideal hurricane conditions, right?! I did not wake up to wind, but it was slightly scary on Saturday during the day to look out and see this tree going crazy.

My dorm, Pick-Herndon, did have some flooding. It was not THAT bad, but it was slick. You needed to be careful walking the halls, down the stairs, etc. Compared to the pictures on television, I know this picture seems really dramatic.

Roth, beautiful in the calm after the storm. Not a cloud in the sky!

Irene did seem to stir the Hudson a bit, and it seemed dirty and brown after the storm.

On Monday, Nelson, Jenn, and I went to eat Dumplings at a place in Poughkeepsie. On a whim, we decided to go to the Woodbury Common Outlets, about forty-five minutes away. Well, you have to take I-87 South to get there, and that was closed for five hours. We made it to I-87 but could only take North. We decided to venture to New Paltz, across the river from school, for ice cream and exploring. For about all of the ten miles we were on I-87 North, traffic was bumper to bumper on I-87 North, due to the aftermath of Irene and flooding. Poor people.

Then, Nelson, Jenn, and I went to Nelson's apartment for "bubble tea" and a movie, Tangled. Nelson makes these tapioca pearls with sugar and adds them to a drink, in our case, real fruit popsicles mixed to slush. It was delicious. I can see why Jenn loves it so and asks Nelson to make it often. And, I rather enjoyed the movie, too! Love a fairy tale.

Bubble Tea. I wish you could actually see the "bubbles" or pearls at the bottom.
Our campus newspaper, La Papillote, publishes once every block, or every three weeks, at the beginning of the block. In each edition, it welcomes back all returning externs from the previous block. I thought I should document that I was printed in the paper and am now CIA famous, right?

And, to end, for Confectionery Art and Special Occasion Cakes, we have piping homework for five of the thirteen days. Tonight, I started my piping, which includes six roses, basket weave, dexterity piping, rope, pearls, shells, reverse shells, and lace. My hand is killing me, as I have not piped a lot with buttercream since, well, cakes class before extern, really. I hope it will get better.

My grease cream piping. This is not the greatest picture (maybe on purpose because I am not super proud of this work), but hopefully, I will have a better one to show you tomorrow.

IT'S ALMOST FOOTBALL SEASON

YOU SEE ART, I SEE SUGAR BLISTERS

Hay Reh