What a shit day.

Blurg. 

 My goodness today was a rough day. It must be because it's Halloween - oh! Happy Halloween! I hope all those going Trick-or-Treating have a wonderful time! And those who are too old, enjoy stealing your childs candy while they are sleeping. 

As I was saying, today.was.rough. Remember how I said I was getting sick of making the same cakes and mousses? And I wanted to do something new? ...... I'm stupid. I take it back. 

 Today he gave us Vanilla caramels. We had to make caramel that would need to be piped in to moulds. I needed help with my dry caramelization because the sugar browned before it was even dissolved. Take it off the heat and stir it. Any time it gets dark to quick just take it off the heat. Seems logical enough, I still needed Chef to tell me that though. Then we added our hot cream. I told sara to add it to quickly and then the caramel seized. Chef tried to fix it, but we couldn't get it to remelt. So we ran what we could through the chinois and managed to save the majority of it. 

 Then came time for making the chocolate moulds. We saw a brand new lip mould and thought it was very cool! We are going to do that and rock it! Oh we rocked it, we hit rock fucking bottom. Melt chocolate, temper it by hand, pour over moulds, tap tap tap, dump out, scrape. Done! 

 Now, I should mention the last time I did this I was in the chocolate room which is air conditioned. This time we were working in the lab (the chocolate room was full)  It was much warmer in there. Last time I did these in the chocolate room I was not quick enough and it set very quickly and I had no space to put any caramel and had to start over. This time I was working too fast and it didn't set enough and we  had shells that were thinner than tissue paper. Chef said to start again. No biggy. I was mad, but willing to try again. 

 So we get all the chocolate out and melt it down again and temper it by hand. This time Sara trys the mould. She gets it done and we put it in the fridge. We got it! We left it in the fridge a little to long and Chef calls us on it. The chocolate is way to cold. We screwed it up - again. Then he looks it over  again and says "why is there so much crap on the top of this?" - Blank stare. We didn't fully scrape the top of the mould. He attempts to save it but when he scrapes the top the inside of the moulds break. CHRIST! Start over. AGAIN! Chef said "okay, try three we are going to do it together." Thank god. Chef to the rescue. 

 We scrape all the chocolate back in to the bowl and I start to melt it down. Apparently the flames were to large and I ended up scorching the chocolate. DONE! Can't hold back the tears and frustration anymore. I just walk out of class and to the bathroom to cry. Reading this, it might not sound likes its a big deal..or very time consuming. At this point it was 9:30 and we had been doing this and accomplishing nothing for 2 hours. 

 The girls bathroom is always a good place to meet nice women who have also cried in there and can sympathize. I had a lovely girl that was in welding or automotive ask if I was okay and chat with me for a bit. Then a girl from the boulanger program that I have come to like, gave me a hug and talked me through it.  Sometimes you just need to cry, let it out and go back to work. So I went back to class to help Sara with the chocolate. 

 At this point I have lost all my confidence in doing chocolate moulds. Chef saw my red eyes and asked if I was okay. I said "Yeah, I just had a moment..I'm okay." he replied with "Its okay ashley, you are still learning. no big deal."  What a relief. He has yet to yell at me, which I'm okay with. 

 In the end Chef ended up doing our mould for us. We just filled them and put it in the fridge. Pathetic. He said "I think we are going to put the chocolate away for now and you two can work on some pulled sugar." "*sigh* Thank you." It is now 10:05 and we have done one chocolate mould. 2.5 hours....

 Break time. Where I learned EVERYONE in the class was having a rough day. No ones day was smooth sailing. Dropping cakes, burning, spilling, chocolate disasters. You could see it on Chef face as well. He was going to blow his lid. I find it worse when he just walks away with this pissed off look and his face in his hands. Him yelling is scary, but I find the quiet worse. Bad bad day. 

 Back to class where Sara and I were given the task of pulling sugar and making leaves! We used isomalt and melted it down to 158 degrees - EXACTLY. Then we poured it out on our silpats and worked the edges in to the middle until it was "cool" enough to pull. By "cool" I mean just slightly warmer than lava. My hands looks like they are sun burnt and feel like it too. So, you stretch it out and wave it up and down to get air in to it, then pull it down on itself and repeat. Once its nice and glossy and beautiful you cut it in two and grab a heat lamp. This was my first time working under one of these and they are no joke. Very very hot. I absolutely loved doing this. Possible candy maker? hmmmm. Definitely not a chocolatier. 

 We made leaves and vines and I really want to do more! It hurt - a lot - but I want to do it again! I might just have to wait a few days until my hands heal. Very excited about this stuff though! 

 Chef called it a day and I was so ready to just split and come home. I had a horrible headache. Luckily Davin is home tonight and making me some dinner right now. So lucky. 

Tomorrow will be a better day. It has to be, right? Please god let it be. 

 OH! hehe on our way out of the kitchen area we walked past the Boulanger lab and heard them yell at us. They filled our bellies with wonderful goodness. God love them. I got a cream puff swan! mmm. The good thing about working with pretty well all women, when upset, someone is always there with cake or chocolate to make you feel better! lol. 

 

haha LIPS! first failed attempt. 

success. finally. 

Once we cover these with red shimmer powder they will look amazing! 

Dark green is mine, bright green is Sara. 

Time to pull some sugar! 

Our leaves and spiral vines

I love them. Not bad for my first attempt! 

My "feel better" swan. 

Delish!!