Diamonds, Rough Patches, and Cutting Things Close

Yes, I know it's hard to believe but I'm actually posting something.  I know it has been a very long time since I did, but every time I got online to post, I had a massive writers block so I decided to get away for a while. 

I'm back now and feeling excited and nostalgic about being here again!  I'm going to add random pictures in here for you to 'ooh' and 'aah' over while I tell a few stories!

My final practical exam is this Friday....I'm nervous, excited, worried, and mostly just ready to get in there and get it done!  6 hours of making things like this sugar sculpture ^, and truffles, and brioche....I can't think too much about it just yet or I'll freak out!  I will do great, I know, I just wanna get it over with! 

I officially have 3 more classes I have to wear my uniform for, then a debriefing of my exams and then graduation before I get to come home!!!!  And yes, it's officially 21 days till I will be back in the US of A!  I can't wait and the days are passing so slowly not that I've not much more to do and even fewer pounds to do it with!

So from my last post way back in-oh my god January!!-I've completed Intermediate and most of Superior successfully!  I've moved into a new house with different friends, because it's way easier to take a train into London than a coach.  I've lost some friends, but made new ones to make up for it.  I've been sunburned and sweaty, then cold and shivering the next week.  I've walked more miles than I can count and my feet are taking the brunt of that pain.  I've cut my own hair, well bangs, so that they were out of my eyes...but they've since grown and are at the annoying stage of the tips being in my eyes. :(  I've been happier in the sun shine, but more depressed when it's cloudy. 

I've seen the beauty of yellow fields of some plant (no one will ever give me a straight answer as to what they are), and I've seen the same fields turn to a pale green when the flowers fell.  I've officially seen every season in England, and realized I've been here longer this year than a fellow English gal!  I've changed; I've grown stronger.  I know who I am at this point in my life.

This is what I'm capable of-and as of last week I didn't think it was possible!  I call this my Pear and White Chocolate Symphony.  It's an almond sponge with poppy seed, white chocolate mousse, pear, cinnamon and clove jelly, dark chocolate glaze, raspberry coulis, white chocolate tendril, coconut creme anglaise, and a tuile (cookie) on top.  All made by yours truly and painstakingly put together!  It's another exam piece and we have to make 2 identical ones!

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee is this year, and more specifically this weekend.  It's a bank holiday, and is supposed to mark the anniversary of her coronation with the boats on the river a couple days ago.  All the celebrations got me to thinking about what it would be like to have been the Royal of a country through so many years of changes.  I mean, think about the fact that she's seen countless wars, the age of technology take off, the world becoming 'smaller' as a by product.  She's been the Queen through all these events, and been alive through much more!  Can you imagine looking back on your life to see the world change so drastically and know you were a ruling monarch through a vast majority of those changes?!?!  I envy having that knowledge and the kind of memories she does!  To be 'patriotic' for the country I'm living in atm, here's a Union Jack pic!

Ah, this is an Entremet I did in class several weeks ago.  It's a peanut butter fudge brownie, caramel mousse, vanilla brulee center, dark chocolate glacage, honey and black tea 'macarons' and some sugar decoration.  It was the first time we had to come up with a recipe all on our lonesome, and was quite a frustrating week to be sure!

One of my favorite pictures to date!  I walk to the train station every day, taking a different route when I have time by the river, and there's this gorgeous tree!  I took this at 5:15am on my way to get the train for class...can you believe the sun's already that high?!?!

I'm feeling quite drained now, catching you all up on my life.  I realized the other day, when I thought about writing on here again, that originally I thought this blog was for the people back home to keep up with my life in the UK.  I now know it's more of a way for me to remember the way this journey started, and where the past 9 months have taken me; it's to help me think back on the laughter and tears that changed me.  I know I'll come back one day, hopefully not so broke, and see the things I couldn't afford now...but I know the experience won't change me the same way.  It will move me, as all new experiences should, but they won't drastically change my life the way this one has. 

Until next time!

Time's war over our hearts

Give someone a smile today, all my lovely readers, and hug those you love!  A special prayer goes out to the Anderson family who lost someone they loved; I know we aren't that close, but I felt the need to keep you in my thoughts today.  Worlds apart, know that that you are loved and supported in this time of grieving.



On a different note, I felt the want to blog today and I consider that a good thing so here you go!


Things I saw today that I never expected to see:

1.  (The most shocking)  A drug deal...in front of a tube station...by two white guys in business suits!  It totally caught me off guard and I was in so much shock I couldn't think to report it to the police man not 20ft away!

2.  ...^ that was pretty much all I expected never to see but let me tell ya what else went on today!

3.  Brand new, state of the art, shiny, expensive, wonderful kitchen equipment that I could never afford in my wildest dreams!  And I get to be one of the first to use it!! 

4.  This one's x-rated so watch out!!  Two men kissing on the street in front of a police station...not that I'm bothered by it, just the fact that it happened outside a police station.

5.  hmm...I think that's it for today!  Pretty exciting if I do say so myself!

So today was orientation at the new location for my school.  The area and new building is amazing and literally right around the corner from the British Museum!  I couldn't ask for more from a London school location!  Classes are going to be challenging this term, but I have most of the same people from last term in my group so I'm confident things will be alright!  New appliances and old friends-what could go wrong?!?!

I didn't realize how much I missed the school till I took the tour with the chef and got to see the faces I enjoyed being around so much last term!  Again I remind myself, this is where I'm supposed to be; no matter how challenging things in class may get, or how frustrating my personal and living situations might be it is all worth it.  I'm on the coach back to Mildenhall this weekend and I can't wait!  I have great things planned and sleep is #1 on that list!

I do realize that I haven't yet posted about my trip home (which was so thoughtfully requested by Ms. Olmos via Facebook) and I promise I will put it up!  I am making it super special just for you in a message on FB as a thank you for being the only person to vote.  I will be posting the super plain version here.  Mom, I know you wrote I could put anything and you'd be happy, and your thanks is that I Skype with you all the time!

I know it's a bit late to make a new year's resolution, but it took me a while to come up with a few of mine!  Enjoy this last piece of me for a while, but I'll be back soon!

- Take the time to smile at someone with an invisible job.

- Slowly crack open the shell I've created to let people see the beautiful person that lays hiding inside.

- Get over the small fear of public water fountains...you're gonna need it at the new school!

- Find something outside every day that makes you remember how beautiful the world we live in really is!

-  Remember rule #6...and don't take yourself so damn serious all the time!



Love from London  <3

New game; do you wanna play?

Wow...it's almost been a month since my last post.  I can't explain the slight disappointment and excitement I feel at making that statement!  I have a terrible guilt complex that means I feel awful for leaving most of you in the dark about what's been happening in my life.  I also feel rather naughty for rebelling against myself-it's rather strange, I know, but if you haven't realized that I'm strange by now you've not been really paying attention!

Let's see...since last time I wrote to you I have:

• Graduated from Basic Patissiere!  (Which means I passed all my finals! Yay! Go Me!)
• Enjoyed a week off between finals and graduation in Birmingham with a good friend-to be named at a later date.
• I was able to head home for the Christmas holiday and it was a truly wonderful 10 days surprising friends and family!
• Experienced some life lessons that, while painful on my bank account and self, have hopefully made me stronger.

Now I'm sure most of you are on the edge of your seats wondering when I'm going to jump into those long novels I can write about the adventures I've had...but I'm going to disappoint!  You know I'll tell you eventually, but I'm going to try something new here.  This may end up blowing up in my face, but we'll call this another adventure and this time you get to be part of it!

Here's the deal:  You get to vote on which adventure I tell first, this way I can find out what interests my audience.  All you have to do is go to the comments page here or write on my facebook page in the next few days and 'cast your vote.'  I'll tally them and my next post will be chosen by you, my adoring fans! ;)  How about I give you till Tuesday night and I'll post the next story Wednesday?! 

Ready?  Go for it and show me some love!

Love from London <3

Anniversary

So today marks the 3rd month I've been in the UK and that was apparently enough incentive for me to blog.  It's gonna be short and sweet today, simply because I have a final tomorrow that I am 'studying' for...don't frown at me-like I know most of you are!  I got up early to work more on what I had already started, and my final's not till noon tomorrow so I've got plenty of time to review before class!

I feel like I should be writing something nostalgic, being that this term is almost over and today is the anniversary of the first day I arrived in the UK for school...but I think that would be too cliche for my personality to accept!  Instead, I'll just sit here thinking all those nostalgic things without sharing them with anyone, but making you hope I will just because I mentioned them! ha!  Take that, all you people who think you know me!  :D

But seriously guys, this term has been great!  I'll do several wrap-up blogs soon (hopefully with pictures) so you can all bask in the glory that is my patissiere work...sometimes not so much glory, but effort nonetheless! 

Ok, I can't help it-one nostalgic thing before I get back to the 'books'! 

To all my friends and family in the US-please know I think of each of you every time I write my blog.  Most of you are in a huddled mass of faces, but you are thought of regardless!  I hope you look forward to reading about my life as much as I dread having to remember everything in a fun way to keep you coming back to read about me!  I love and miss you all! 

To my other friends not in the US who follow me-thanks for reading and listening to me tell you the same stories all over again in person and on the internet! 

Love from London!

The Plague

So I've been avoiding posting a new blog like the plague...and I'm not sure why.  My creative juices just aren't flowing right now and I've been in a funk for the last couple of weeks.  But eventually the guilt got to me that all my adoring fans weren't getting the insight on my life like they crave, and it was all my fault.  (If you don't really know me very well most of that last sentence was sarcasm lol)

I have 9 days of classes left this term...9!  That includes both of my exams, and 7 classes.  It's crazy to think that this term has gone by so fast and it's nearly over!!  Let's see...I'm behind on what we've been making at school so here's a quick catch up.  We've made madelines (yummy mini cakes shaped like shells and they were quite delicious!) and lemon cake one day.  Again, I'm not a lemon kind of person but it was lightly lemon flavored so it wasn't that bad.  We also made our final exam piece-the Genoise Framboise...or something of that spelling.  Basically it's a sponge cake with raspberry filling and butter cream masking (icing).  It was actually my favorite thing we've made so far and I enjoyed bringing it home! 

Speaking of bringing things home, I've learned something very interesting since I got my own cake box and started using it on a regular basis: Cake boxes (with cake in it) are as magnetizing as being pregnant.  Everyone and their dog wants to come by and check out what you have in the box and comment about every little thing....it's rather annoying in a city of 7.5 million and makes me even more sure that I don't want to be pregnant!!  But having sweets can come in handy when you take a coach back and forth to London on a regular basis!  I gave my bus driver some of the madelines I made as a 'Thank you for driving me/I don't want or need all these sweets so take them off me' gift.   Funny part was the next trip I took to the city, he was my driver again and recognized me!  It's the little things in life like that which make it worth being nice to people-no matter who they are!

This past week we made black forest gateau and a chocolate sponge cake with chocolate bavarian cream.  I wasn't too impressed by the gateau simply because all I could taste was the alcohol...that and it wasn't near as sweet as the black forest cakes I'm used to from the states.  I've noticed that a lot of the desserts we make in class really aren't super sweet like the desserts in the states, and I'm thinking that's part of the reason European's can eat all these treats and still be skinny.  Well, that and the fact that they walk EVERYWHERE!  I think I've walked more in the almost 3 months I've been here than my entire 3 1/2 years at college!  The cool part of that class was getting to work with tempering chocolate and adding those cool designs you see in awesome high class chocolate shops!  See the pictures below! 

The chocolate sponge cake was good, but I've been giving away pretty much all my desserts to ensure I don't eat them!  Again, it's a great way to make friends with the fish and chips shop across the street from my school, as well as the receptionists at school; you never know when you might need a favor that a previously given chocolate sponge cake can give you!

We've also had technical classes over fruit and chocolate (at separate times).  I've got to say that while we're receiving plenty of information on these subjects, neither class has been exciting or interesting the way you would think they could be.  Maybe I just got my hopes up too high, especially on the chocolate lecture, or maybe I just know how a teacher can make or break a lecture.  Thanks to my wonderful mother-who is one of the best teachers I know-I have a very high expectation of how teachers and chefs alike should present information and was a bit disappointed the past couple of weeks.  On the bright side, I get to eat things in class that I wouldn't normally get to because they're a bit out of my budget!  I definitely wouldn't go out and spend money on something I've never tried before and hope I liked-now I have a better idea and got it fo free!! 

-Note: That sentence was supposed to say 'fo free'....I do know how to spell and check my work, but I'm going for a specific speaking style and if you were in my head reading it, you would all understand.  If you don't like it, ignore it and move on!-

Hmm...let's see what other kinds of trouble have I been getting into?!?!  I've gone out to Camden Town finally-a very hyped up place for sure!  Next time, I'll make sure I'm better prepared with no glasses, no jeans, no converse and plenty of sleep the night before!  haha It makes it hard to enjoy the night with all the previous problems in one of London's most exciting clubs!  Live and learn, right?  Other than a couple of nights out here and there, quite a bit of my time is spent studying for finals....yes, already.  I have recipes and French terms to memorize, exam pieces to practice and get timing down, and plenty more information to make sure I can remember in the next couple of weeks.  I am trying to take advantage of my location, but at the same time I know why I'm here and my 'good student' side comes out in full force making me stay in and try to study! 

Ok, who's ready for pictures?!?!?  You?  Me?  Well, wait just a little longer because I've got one more thing to talk about!!  Thanksgiving-yes that special holiday where we all are allowed (by ourselves and others) to eat our weight in food for about 4 days straight!  Should we, probably not, but do we?  Absolutely!  It is a sad fact that I will be in class both Thursday and Friday so I can only do the binge eating thing for a couple of days, but I am looking forward to getting the weekend to enjoy my own version of the holiday.  I will miss being with my family, but I get to chat with them that weekend as well, so it will kind of feel like they're right there with me celebrating!

Alright, I've made you wait long enough and waddle through enough of my incesant rambling about classes...it's time to reward you with pictures!  Here you go!  You're welcome! ;)

This is the Black Forest Gateau with an awesome chocolate decoration around the outside...pretty much the only part of the cake I really enjoyed.

A better view of the Black Forest Gateau!

Top view of the Black Forest Gateau with rosettes of creme Chantilly and kirsch soaked cherries.

Just in case you didn't get the idea of what my gateau looked like! ;)

Chocolate sponge cake with chocolate Bavarian Cream...and chocolate ruffles that chef helped me make.

The cake was dusted with cocoa powder, the chocolate ruffles placed on, then dusted with icing sugar.

Lemon cake with icing sugar dusting and candied lemon peel.

Madelines...they're usually served this way with sweetened whipped cream in the middle where the 'pearl' is.  The pearl is a bubble of batter that naturally forms when cooked.

Top view of the madelines so you can see their shell shape.

Our last exam piece:  Genoise!  It's got a butter cream masking, piped butter cream and piped chocolate work.  I'm quite proud of my attempt at this one as masking cakes is something I actually do quite well!

SURPRISE!!!

I know...most of you needed to be seated when you heard I posted, yet again, in the middle of the week!!  What has my life come to that I post so regularly?!!?  Who knows, but for my family reading this out there I know they appreciate it!

So the big surprise for this mid week post is that I've changed up the theme and color scheme of my blog! ....wait, that wasn't exciting for you?  And now you're wondering why you were even friends with me in the first place; someone who got so excited over the simple fact of changing a picture and the color of my posts??  Well I did, and out of all the crazy things you have all been around me for, something as little as this shouldn't have changed your mind...so ha!  Turns out you are/do want to be friends with an easily amused color and picture blog changer...girl...thingy...person!

Wow...that kind of got away from me there.  On a brighter note, I have fun things to write about that aren't school related! Yay!!  I went to the Zoo and the Imperial War Museum on my day off today!

I do have to admit I am pretty impressed with the London Zoo...I thought it would be like any old zoo!  In some respects it was-they have a reptile house, an aquarium, monkeys, giraffes, lions, etc.  The thing that impressed me most I guess was the amount of effort that went into each exhibit.  There was a building for rain forest animals and when you walk through the doors and past the plastic partitions you were immediately drenched in sweat/moisture because they simulated the environment so well.  It's something you will have to go experience for yourself because I'm not sure how else to describe it other than awesome! 

The best part was getting to see animals up close and personal that I might never want/need to again!  I was in a monkey section where there was no glass between myself and the little critters-they jumped on your shoulder like it was no big deal!  Monkeys!!  (the little cute ones, not the big scary ones!)  I was in the aviary with all the noisy birds, rounded a corner and on the railing was this huge peacock that looked as startled as I felt!  I've never been so amazed with nature, or so humble about my humanity as when I go to a place that embraces the whole of nature's goods.  I do feel the need to mention that I did witness a couple of otters in the midst of...procreation-again up close and personal.  For my older, more understanding but still shocked eyes it was something to laugh about in a bit of embarrassment and nervousness...for the underdeveloped and innocent eyes of the small child next to me, well...let's just say I'm glad I wasn't her mother today and it was only a pair of otters!!

After my excursion at the Zoo I met up with Sierra at the Imperial War Museum.  (For all of you who are friends with me on Facebook, I've put up an album of what I did today so feel free to check it out!)  Every time I'm explore uncharted territory I feel like I've been transported to a different city-kind of like a suburb in the city.  When I arrived at the museum, I got this sense of how old this country really is, almost like the ground around it was laughing at how young my foot steps were compared to the ones that came before me.  I will have to go back again sometime to see the rest of the museum as I had one focus today-the Holocaust exhibition.

We spent around 2 1/2 hours in one exhibition alone and could have spent more if we both hadn't been so tired.  I have been thinking all night about how to describe this exhibition and the wonders it holds, and I can't come up with the right combination of words to tell you how amazing it really is.  I was affected emotionally on so many levels that my head was spinning, but I couldn't stop looking or reading, soaking up everything they had to offer.  When you read about this kind of stuff, or see it on TV it doesn't have the same kind of impact that an exhibition like this does.  I was literally inches away from concentration camp uniforms, from the yellow stars Jews were made to wear on their clothing.  I could touch parts of the railway carts they were transported in, and the wheel barrow they used to collect the dead bodies.  It sent chills up my spine and put a stamp of reality on everything I had read or seen before about this horrible time in history. 

I am planning a trip to Germany and will spend the time (and money) to see the museums and go to Auschwitz in person.  I think it's important everyone take the opportunity to go see history in the places the books can't describe.  For all the good things we have going on in the US and the UK, compared to the horror our ancestors had to deal with a short time ago, we need a reality check on the worries and things we complain about on a day to day basis. 

I'll step down off my soap box now and tell you guys that fall in London is beautiful!!  The leaves are changing and the weather is brisk but not too cold just yet.  It makes me think of when I was younger and this time of year was spent fund raising for this, that and the other,  planning holiday get-togethers and thinking about decorating for Christmas.  More specifically, I think about selling cookie dough and candles which I always wanted to buy crazy loads of but never could make my parents see eye to eye with me!  I love exploring new areas and searching for the beauty that others might ignore, just to remind myself of how lucky I am to be here.

With that in mind, I have class at 8am tomorrow so it's bed time for me!  Look for more pictures and another post this weekend!  Until then, my advice to you this week is to search for the beauty in things you see every day, and maybe think before you complain about something small this week!

Love from London!

It looks that way on paper...and tastes much better in person

First, more photos!!  Then later, another update about the past week!  (Don't you just love reading my blog?!?!?!)  :D

Soda Bread...Irish in origin and very good buttered with soup!

White Bread Rolls in the 'pull apart' shape (bottom) and the 'crown' shape (top left).  Preview of the turtle on top right.

More White dinner rolls in an 'S' shape and another turtle preview!

White dinner rolls in a 'turtle named Rusty' shape!  *Rusty is my one eyed turtle from back home and I modeled these rolls after her...one eye and everything!

I've noticed as the weeks of class and traveling progress, I get more and more tired!  I know I've worked harder and longer hours than this before, but something about the kind of work and travel I do is wearing my body out.  I have been sleeping weird hours, but longer periods and still don't feel rejuvenated when I wake up.  I am getting plenty of sleep, but man I feel like I've been hit with a Mac truck!  Now don't get me wrong-I'm not complaining about my life right now, because I wouldn't have it any other way!  Not everyone gets to follow their dreams and end up in a city like London doing what they love and I know how fortunate I am to be able to have this opportunity.  This blog is just a place for me to tell about my life right now and, right now, I am dog tired!

I had a conflicting time in class this week.  My group finally had Chef Christophe last week and he is my least favorite chef to work with.  He is very French and my suspicions are that he wants to try to weed out any of the 'weak' in basic patisserie.  This week we had him for our practical when we did the Choux pastry and eclairs, and man that was one stressful day.  When we got to our practical, chef was explaining how things were supposed to be done that day and it was different from the way the chef in the demo had taught us.  Our whole class was confused and chef Christophe was getting more and more upset thinking we didn't pay attention in class or know what we were doing.  I had to find my happy place and just take what he was saying with a grain of salt.  Sometimes you have to just follow directions at that time and figure out later how to make things work for you.  I guess that's the way I will have to deal with this chef; usually some of the best teachers are the ones who are your least favorite because they're hard on you...in the right way. 

The next day we made bread!!  The pics above are what we did in class-white dinner rolls and soda bread!  I think when we have to make something that is in our exam one week, the next day they let us make things that are a bit relaxing so we're not super stressed all week.  I found out that making bread is a very therapeutic pastry-if you do it by hand that is!  All the kneading and mixing will give you super strong arm muscles and a cheaper way to deal with anger than therapy.  I had a lot of fun that day in class and was super excited to make turtles out of bread!  

The rest of the week was spent shopping for baking items and working on Christmas gifts-which by the way are almost planned/figured out!  Just a few more people to decide what to give them and then I'll be ready for the holidays!  Tonight I've been making note cards and studying for my exams already...even though it's 5 weeks away I still want to get ready early so I won't have to cram later!  Tomorrow I'm treating myself to a pedicure and making a lemon tart with a time limit like what I'm going to have in my exam.  I wish I had more to update because I feel like my life-and effectively my blog-became very boring recently.  I guess the more involved I get with only school, the less I have to report about outside of school. 

I am planning something special for this next week here on my blog so get ready!  It may not be much to most of you but for those who actively read this you might find it interesting!  As always, thanks for reading and I hope to have some fun stories soon, so stay tuned!

Love from London  <3