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 […]
Pastries of Paris
My dad and stepmom rented an apartment in Paris for the month of June, and since I’m just a short train ride away in London, visiting my family seemed like the perfect reason for a long weekend in the City of Light. That, and eating all the pastries of Paris. You know, for research. One […]
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 20
I can’t believe it’s week 20! Only one month left of the pastry part of my course. I was only in the kitchen one day this week as we got the opportunity on Wednesday to go to the World Chocolate Masters UK/Ireland pre-selection finals because it was held at my school, Westminster Kingsway College. Thursday and Friday […]
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 10
Week ten went pretty well. We took our first try at a couple of items that will be on our exam in two weeks time and presented our past masters chef project which we’ve been working on for a few weeks. We also got some pretty big news about some upcoming changes, but more on […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 9
Week nine started out a bit rough. I accidentally left my nice wool peacoat in the girls changing room at work experience and someone took it. Despite the fact that it was a nice (and somewhat expensive coat), I spent weeks and weeks last fall trying to find the perfect coat and now I need […]
Pastry School Diary: Week 8
Week eight of pastry school went well. We made some delicious treats that I look forward to trying again at home! Tuesday: Bakewell Tart & Lemon Tart On Tuesday, we made two tarts and used a different kind of sweet paste which I liked much better. It was a bit shorter (more butter). We used both […]