For the 2017 Academy Awards, I was commissioned to cater an annual Oscar party. No, not the Governors Ball but the coveted invite-only Jewels & Jammies 2017. A themed Oscar menu was planned to represent all nine Best Picture nominees. As with an good themed menu, puns were involved. Following pastry school, I’ve been hired here and there to create dessert bars […]
Icelandic Rye Bread
Iceland is a spectacular country with some of the most amazing landscapes and natural phenomena. One of the natural phenomena most used throughout the country is geothermal energy. When planning my trip to Iceland and researching their food scene in the way of pastries and breads, I stumbled upon Icelandic rye bread, which is baked […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 24
Well, we’ve done it. Pastry school is half way over and I’ve graduated from the International Patisserie Diploma portion of the course. We now have two weeks off before starting the higher culinary diploma portion of the course. It’s going to feel weird once we go back not to be in the kitchen with the […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 17
I can’t believe I just finished week 17 of pastry school. It really seems like the month of January flew by. The week was filled with tarts, ice cream experiments, cookies, chocolate motifs and an exam. Tuesday: Dark Chocolate Coffee Caramel & Walnut Tart, French Apple Tart and Lime & Raspberry Tart On Tuesday we had a […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 16
Week 16 of pastry school was busy. We packed a lot in but it was a great week overall. Tuesday: Gâteau St. Honoré, Choux a la Crème, Brioche Polonaise, Poolish & Biga Tuesday was a full day from start to finish. We are re-making baguettes and ciabatta on Wednesday in the bakery and started out […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 15
Week 15 in pastry school went pretty well. Our schedule in the classroom (kitchen) is becoming more packed leaving less time for breaks, but it’s really good for us to be pushed a little harder and learn more skills. I had my first meeting this week with the culinary international students (myself and a couple of […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 14
We just finished our first week back in pastry school since the holiday break. It’s the start of a new year, a new chef and new skills. Excited to start focusing on the more advanced and technical parts of the course. After our first week together, I think Chef Ian is going to fit in very nicely with […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 13
Week 13 was our last week of pastry school before the holidays and also our last week with Chef Andrew, as he is leaving us for an opportunity at another college. We finished the week as a group at the pub to wish him well on his next chapter and another opportunity to celebrate the […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 12
Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been in pastry school for three months! Crazy. We’ve been in the intermediate part of our course since our last exams week six and this week we had our practical exams based on those skills. Pavlova and panna cotta for the patisserie exam and croissants and Guinness bread for our bakery […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 11
I can’t believe I’ve almost completed a quarter of pastry school. Week 11 was a pretty good week consisting of our first try at some items that will be on the practical exam in week 12, a group outing to Borough Market, mulled wine and lots and lots of Christmas music! 🙂 Tuesday: Meringue Pavlova, Floating […]