Just when you think...

I had been proud of myself lately because I thought I had a solid plan that was going to move myself forward.  One little trip to a place I thought I didn't like too much and I have bounced back into a phase of changing my mind again. 

I recently visited my best friend in Montana...where I had planned on moving a few months back...and the same freeing feelings came flowing back.  The possibilities of restaurants and bakeries made my heart soar...plus it is a bigger town, but not giant, so my safety level wouldn't be shattered...and I would be around my friend, which I miss very much.

I am off to discover what sort of job I can muster up searching the land of falls...figuring out how to keep his pastry spark alive, and how I will manage to get breves at Bev's without breaking my bank ♥

Gaining New Customers Makes Me ♥ Happiness

The week brought a new cake customer and expanded my talents a bit.  I love getting cake orders where I get freedom to be creative and make pretties that WOW the masses. 

The cake I made yesterday did just that...and I got a tip!  I love getting tips...I don't expect it, ever.  That said, it is a great duty of mine to create memories in fantastically decorated cakes....those memories last forever, and in photo, even longer...so my "services" get 'tips' from the cake living on (extremely cheesy...yet fitting!).

I hope for many more memories to create...and practice to achieve!!  I love pastry, and the further I get away from that 'fine' job I once possessed, the happier I am in my career path...even if it is one inch at a time!

♥

Toffee & Passports...someone has been busy :)

Waking up to a raging snow storm in April makes me excited to leave Wyoming!  Even though everyone knows by lunch the roads will be dry, I would prefer to live somewhere where snow is a freak accident.  Keeping that in mind, I am going on vacation to Seattle this summer...and whilst abroad (okay only three states west of my current location) I plan on visiting the fine country of Canada...more importantly, Vancouver!  Travelling across US borders is no longer an easy task ('Thanks a lot Bin Laden.' --Allan, the Hangover), so a passport is a necessary investment.  Getting the said passport is extremely simple, if you like hanging out at the post office for an exorbitant amount of time.  However, this morning poses the problem of getting my small hands on my birth certificate.  My mother thinks it is fun to keep said birth certificate in a fire-proof box, which is smart and probably safe, that is, until there are no keys to get into this box.  Her method of organization depends largely on a 'penny jar' full of random keys...all of which do not fit the lock of the fire-proof box.  Indeed an interesting morning...needless to say, the certificate cannot be retrieved until her expertise arrives home from work.

With passport dreams on hold, I had an itch to create pastrylicious happiness...so I settled for toffee...of course created with a topping of ground espresso and almonds mixed together with bittersweet chocolate and coarsely chopped almonds and cacao nibs...as it cools, I blog :) 

I have been meaning to use up a bag of Meyer lemons we purchased at Whole Foods recently...but I haven't had the urge for a lemony suprise...I should zest the majority of them and freeze my findings for future use before the whole bag dries up in the corner of the fruit drawer in the refrigerator!!

Enough for now...I shall be off to taste my creations and cross my fingers for safe retrieval of the box key ♥ Happy Passports!

Manic Monday ♥

The weekend always proves that I love weekdays so much more!!  I get to create yummies and revise recipes that I learn to ♥ later.  Today I have had the privilege of creating fantastic buttermilk biscuits and granola. 

Since I haven't attempted a truly gorgeous biscuit since Lavallee's lab at JWU, I thought it high time to expand my pastry innocence and attempt a nemesis...and strangely enough, I have NO IDEA why biscuits ever became a said nemesis!!  Super easy and they turned out beautiful and delicious...perfect companion to use with my "A la King" version dinner I am making this evening!

The granola also happens to be extremely fantastic!  I found a generic recipe, to get an idea of what ingredients/ratios I needed and just went to town.  I recently bought brown rice syrup at Sunflower Market and substituted that for honey (thumbs up, by the way)...also, I used Daz Bog coffee beans and cacao nibs instead of nuts and seeds.  I did, however, incorporate a generous helping of flax seed into the mix so the granola seems healthier :)...Espresso Nib Granola is AMAZING ♥

My pastry-ness has been exercised for today so I am off...passport photos and applications to follow!!  I am super excited for the trip of a lifetime in JUNE♥♥♥

Red digits are totally un-pastry like...but inevitably ME ♥

One of the hardest aspects of attending culinary school was the idea that I wasn't allowed to wear makeup or fingernail polish.  I am a girly girl to the core, and appreciate dolling up and fixing my hair, so the thought of no makeup and 'ugly' hair made me feel almost sad and kind of sick.  I had to find a way around it. 

Guidelines at Johnson & Wales University state that females are not allowed to wear makeup, perfume, or any type of nail polish as it is unsanitary for food production.  I can respect refraining from nail polish and even perfume (as it really is distracting), but makeup held a place far too important in my heart, and I just couldn't let it go.  I decided to do a neutral palette of powder and concealer...as I was blessed with the hell known as dark undereye circles, and to go without makeup (especially under my eyes) is just wrong.  The move-in checklist for me included new makeup sponges from Sephora and a translucent powder to set my 'culinary makeup.'  I was doing this, no one was going to stop it.

Somehow, fooling even myself, I as able to get away with the military-like inspections of hair, face, uniform, and socks...the first few months of labs felt very strict and like I was walking on thin ice, afraid to step out of line...even so, I was never afraid to not wear my 'culinary makeup.'

By the second year of labs I had culinary makeup and hair down to an art...and I had little care what I looked like...wearing ugly checkered pants and going to lab at 6:45 a.m. will do that to a person.  After leaving JWU and seeing the provided uniforms employers used, I realized the ones from JWU were designer gear...however, I refrain from ever bringing those checkered pants to see the light of day.

When I did graduate and move home, I still wasn't allowed to wear any nail polish or have my most treasured feature, the acrylic nail, but I was full board on the makeup and hair front...owning a swoop bang and pony poof everyday...because I could and can :).

Now that we know my circumstances, I sit before you proudly sporting sets of acrylics or red polished natural nails (if they are long enough!)...and as I get ready to travel to Montana next week to see my Sally, I have a set of french tips prepped and ready to adorn my small hands...eager to look chic and love the clicckketty claccckk noise they make on EVERYTHING ♥