second semester, first week

well I made it through the first week of my second semester, but let me tell you...it wasn't easy.  I'm really glad I only decided to take three classes this semester, because I am exhausted...and I still have hours of homework ahead of me.

My first class was Pastry Techniques on Wednesday.  2 pm to 8 pm.  And we made EIGHT recipes.  I was exhausted.  But I better get used to it, because that's how it is going to be every week.  I really like the teacher though, and I already feel like I am going to learn so much.  Although if this week is any indication, it will be learning through mistakes...  Out of the eight recipes, two of ours failed.  Completely.  One cake that was supposed to bake in 40 minutes was still liquid 2 hours later.   No clue what went wrong there, except that it must have been some kind of mis-measurement.  We are thinking either too much oil or not enough flour.  The other one, we accidentally substituted baking soda for baking powder.  That might sound like a little technicality, but if you've ever done it, you know it isn't.  SO that meant two cakes in the trash, which was a problem, because the point of class this week was to make a bunch of stuff to use later, pie crusts, tart doughs, cakes to practice icing, etc.  So not having cakes completed wasn't really an option.  So we remade them the next day in between my other two classes.  And they turned out great.  But then I was trying to hurry and get to my next class, and tried to wrap one of them before it was cool enough.  And broke it in half.  And had to throw it away (after I ate a little).  I felt like crying.  But luckily Chef said I don't have to do it again, one was enough to save.  I know I know, school is about learning and if I knew it all I wouldn't be there.  But I can't help but get frustrated when I can't even get a simple cake right.  And nervous for the rest of the semester!

Sad, sorry, golden cake that wouldn't bake...if you look closely it is still liquid in the middle :(

My first class on Thursday was Cookies, Tarts, and Petit Fours, which went a lot better.  Same Chef as Pastry Tech, so I was excited about that.  And my group members were two people I already knew from last semester.  Oh yeah did I mention that we don't get to pick our groups this semester?  They rotate every week.  Probably a better learning experience but man am I gonna miss my awesome group from Breads class!  So anyways, each group did one recipe (this week was focused on Drop Cookies) and then we all tasted each others so that we can write flavor profiles.  My group made the Potato Chip Cookies.  They were great, a little salty and crunchy but otherwise you wouldn't even know there were chips in there.  My favorites were the Almond Crisps, I love anything with an almond flavor. 

And then my last class of the week was Basic and Classical Cakes.  I was really nervous about this one because everyone says that Chef is super scary, but I thought she was alright.  Strict but reasonable.  We didn't bake this week though, just took notes. 

Well I am a little intimidated to go back to Pastry Techniques, but I'm still excited for this semester.  Still haven't been doing a whole lot of baking at home, but the other night we ran out of ice cream (first world problem, I know, but we eat ice cream every night and my sweeth tooth won't go to bed hungry) so I made these awesome no-bake pretzel-peanut butter-chocolate truffles I had seen on Pinterest earlier that day and just happened to have all the ingredients for.  Super easy! They reminded me a lot of the Buckeye cookies my Mom makes, but with a little extra salty crunch I loved.  They did not last long.

And one of Trev's employees has been asking him for about six months now to get me to make some banana nut bread.  I've been procrastinating because it is one of my least favorite baked goods and I just wasn't feel inspired by it.  But she asked again the other day and I don't get a whole lot of requests these days, so I finally made some banana nut muffins.  Again, not my favorite flavor combo, but they were pretty good considering.