Buffet Practical Pictures

Finally found them. These are some of the pictures from my huge buffet practical. 50 desserts, 5 different methods: sponge, baked merangue, dough, petite four sec, and petite four glace. 4 hours to finish!!!I was totally burnt out after words but this was the end product. I also made some marzipan lilies by hand and painted them.

Birffday

My mom and grandma came to visit Hy and I, for my birthday weekend. I just turned 21. Meh no big whoop. Already got all of my partying out in Israel. The absence of limitations is, as always, a very welcome thought. Ill be able to make bananas foster more often and become more familiar with wine pairings. Both very important in my little culinary world. Anyway we went everywhere with my family. The beach, the rose gardens, the waterfalls, downtown Portland, Portlands Beer Fest, down to the river. I mean literally everywhere! It was fun, but I was definately ready for them to go home. I was tired. Needsless to say we ate a lot of food. For my birthday lunch we had such great Halibut on the beach with sweet potato fries. And for dinner we went to my favorite Indian restaurant ( I am currently eating the ginger chicken left overs!)

Decorating

We are redecorating our house and it is turning out to be a lot of work. Jut got done painting it two wonderful mediterranean colors. Bought some rediculous expensive furniture. Carpets cleaned. My goodness. My mom and grandma are coming to visit this coming saturday, so I have a lot of other decorating to get done too. Plus school. Plus my birthday celebration. And also I am making a fabulous 3 tiered cake all week. Rolled Fondant, ganache writing, pastillage. All the classics. Henna theme. Black ribbon. Can you imagine it all? My girlfriend Jamie and I are going to be working on it all week together. Im really excited and thankful for her help. Its going to take about 20 hours of work to get this baby done by Friday. Ive got a lot on my plate!

Practicals

Had two practical tests today in my Buffet class. CRAZY! Had to make 10 pumpkin chiffon tarts and 10 Pineapple Strawberry baked tarts both with a pate sucree base. Only had 3 hours to do all of it and decorate with Chantilly cream and whatever else. Was slightly stressed, but I do really well in crunch time. Got a 95/100, Ill take it. The written tests went really well too.

And I get to do 2 more practicals on Friday! Arent I soo lucky?!

*Brand Spankin New*

-It has been over 3 years since I have lived in Hurricane and it seems like life is just getting better and better. Been married to my perfect husband for almost 16 months and we have a one year old American Bulldog puppy named Lily. Sweetest puppy ever.
-After I graduated I moved to Ramat-aviv Gimel, Israel; 5 minutes from downtown Tel Aviv. That was one of the best years of my life. I loved all the traveling that came with my job- New York, Nice, Aix-en Provence, Saint Tropez. Heaven.
-Shortly after I came home in 2006, I moved up to Vancouver Washington to be with my sweetheart. Love it up here, much more suited here than Utah.
-Last night was the 4th of July! We had a big fireworks party and launched off $400 dollars worth of huge fireworks. It was great. Especially having a 3 day vacation from school.
-I go to Le Cordon Bleu, Western Culinary Institute and am getting my degree so that I can eventually be a head patissiere. I love it so much. I love international breads, marzipan molding, sugar work, chocolate work, and cake decorating. I love even the essential makeup of cakes. Its incredibly difficult and extremely high paced, but I was definately born for it. It involves a lot of chemistry and math, and a creative mind; but I finally have found my spot.