Saturday, January 30, 2010

One More Final Completed

I just finished my final for PBK 131, Viennoiserie and Laminated Dough. Those are both fancy words for puff pastry, croissant and danishes.
My danish dough gave me trouble from the very beginning, it just kept growing or was too soft. My future is definitely not in making danishes. I was able to proof my croissants on Tuesday and realized this morning I needed one more Pain au Chocolate so I had to quickly make one up...not an easy task and this left me with five giant ones and one itty bitty baby one. Everything else had already been finished on Tuesday, they just needed to be pulled out of the freezer to bake. This was the first class I didn't feel stressed about time for my final and it was nice. I'm not 100% happy with my final product but overall it was a success. I actually woke up this morning (at 5:30am) feeling very prepared for the day. Even the homeless man who harrassed me at Starbucks this morning couldn't distract me, though he did make me spill coffee all over my pants. I still feel good about the day.
I have posted pictures of my Pain Au Chocolate, Palmiers and Gateau Pithivier. These were my favorite items from today.


Thursday, January 28, 2010

Let the Sweet Journey Begin

Let me first start my blog by introducing myself. I'm Andra, a 25-year-old culinary student at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, CA. I will be graduating this August with a diploma in Patisserie and Baking.
Sweets are my passion and I'm finally trying to make a career out of my passion. I went to a workshop yesterday at school hosted by Chef Denise Fennell and her advice for aspiring chefs was to start a blog. The only way to get my name out is to do it myself. So here I am, trying to get my name out.
I invite you to follow me on my journey as I go through these last seven months of culinary school and try to make a name for myself as a Pastry Chef.