Graduation, Desserts, Sugar, Oh My!

Life. One thing about it that I never am ready for is how fast it moves. It seems like just last week I was moving to Greenville to start culinary school. However, last month I graduated from it. On a side note, I'm taking classes to complete my Baking and Pastry certificate.

Also, my younger seester, Anna, graduated from high school in May. It's crazy to think that my baby sister is graduated and getting ready for college, but I am super excited because she is going to be moving to Greenville to attend Greenville Tech for cosmetology! We are looking into renting an apartment in the area.
Finally, my oldest sister, Becky, graduated from Southwest Community College in Tennessee.

This summer I'm taking two summer classes. Each class is 14 lab hours a week. The first is Plated Desserts. Each week, we are on teams of two, and make a main component for the plate (cake, mousse, ice cream, etc), a sauce, and a garnish. Before coming to class, we are supposed to draw a picture of the completed plate, and think through what we could do to make it stand out. At the end of class we have three mini practicals, where we have to deconstruct a classic dessert or candy, and create something new out of it, yet still have the same flavor.
Day 1
Pavlova
Dinner Desserts

Hot Desserts
Buffet Desserts

Bombe
Bavarians
Dessert Sushi
Deconstructed Snickers Bar
Deconstructed Strawberry Cheesecake
Deconstructed Apple Pie















My second class is Advanced Bakeshop. We worked on cakes for a couple days. 

Napoleon 

Gateau
Almond Chocolate Gateau 

Then we worked with chocolate for about two weeks. We learned where it comes from, types of chocolate, how to temper it (basically make it shelf-stable and able to harden), and also how to create with it.

Noah's Ark: Chocolate Practical
We then worked with sugar for a couple weeks. We learned to pull flowers and leaves and how to blow the sugar into shapes.
Clifford the Clown
 
Pulled Flowers



 
Sammy the Swan
Blown Fruit Basket


Finally, we learned to work with pastillage. It made with sugar, water, cornstarch, and gelatin. It creates dough that you roll out, cut shapes out of, and allow to dry. You then glue it together into centerpieces or canvases to paint.

A View of Italy

Time is flying past at an alarming rate. In between classes, we have been apartment hunting in Greenville. This has caused major stress, but has also taught me that you can’t run away from growing up. According to my dad, “It is going to happen and there is nothing you can do about it.”


God knows how crazy this life is, and I will hold fast to His promise. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

~Rachel

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Small Steps Toward a Brighter Future

Image
First of all, admit it. When you saw that I had updated my blog, you had to stop and think. Does Rachel even have a blog? You had forgotten or better yet, didn’t even know about it. Truthfully, I even forget about it, which is probably rather obvious, since I never update it. However, I’ve been mulling over something for a while and I wanted to share it. Progress What do you think of when you hear it? Progress. Do you think improvement? Moving toward something? Advancement? Most people see it as a large step moving forward toward a goal. What many do not realize is that progress is not always large and moving forward. Sometimes it is taking three steps back, so you can move five more ahead. Sometimes it is saying no to a relationship because it’s hindering God’s work in your life. Sometimes it is taking a job you aren’t thrilled about and using it as a stepping stone for your career. As a chef, progress sometimes means failing over and over, so you can find a new way to suc...
Read more

Life Struggles: Why Are We Just Passing?

I promise we’ll talk about food, but lately life has been more important.  Between homework and heartache, sometimes life hands you things that you don’t understand. It makes that day or time miserable. The last couple of days have been like that. I’ve had two tests, a midterm and a project in the last two days. However, there is one thing that stands out. A friend’s son passed away on Tuesday. He was five. It absolutely broke my heart for her and her family. Tomorrow may be a new day with no mistakes in it. But why wait for tomorrow? Why wait for a day that may not come? Why do we live putting things off until another time? If you want something, go for it now. If you want to change, do it now! Reality check: if you don’t do it now, you’re probably not going to. Tomorrow isn’t a guarantee. Why do we live like it? On another note, I had a conversation with a friend at school yesterday. She said she was okay with just passing a class. I started to think about that. Am I liv...
Read more

Learning: Food for Thought

What are you really learning? I finished up summer classes today and started to think about what I had learned this summer. I loved learning in my classes, but God was teaching me something other than baking most of the time. Here is just a little food for thought: Finals. Summer finals. These words will make anyone who has had to take a summer class cringe. They are finals for classes that were about 1/3 shorter than a normal semester. Where else will you find a class that the final lab practical is worth 35% and the written final is worth 20% of your final grade? Think that through. 55% of your grade in two days. You better hope one of those isn’t an under par day. Unfortunately for me, one of those days was bad. However, God does have a purpose for everything. Do we always see it? No. Rarely do we see why immediately, sometimes we see it later on in life, often we never see it. This time, though, God decided to use this as a sort of slap to the face. I do not want to just pass,...
Read more