School's Out

I've been very anxious this month. Can't seem to catch a deep breath. You know, once you start worrying about catching a deep breath, you can't seem to do it. I thought it was because of the kitchen remodel but once that finished the anxiety didn't go away. My kids are actually being fairly delightful (I know, right?) so that doesn't seem to be it. A huge amount of the anxiety went away after my soup/sauce final and low and behold started to build again right before the pastry final. I think it is starting to abate now but I think it may take a day to come down from last night.

If you'll remember we had last week to prepare all of our doughs for the big test yesterday. After a tricky written final about all sorts of crazy details related to pastry, we headed into the kitchen. All the groups seemed really organized. Even the dream team was hoofing it. When I was studying for my test it came to my attention that perhaps I had over folded and over worked my puff pastry and danish dough. I warned my team that this could be a full on disaster but there was nothing I could do about it now. I had never made the egg, bacon, cheese pockets I had planned to wing either. This was my entire group of items I was in charge of. No safety net whatsoever. The other groups were having their series of failures as well. Poor Bob the Anesthesiologist. He had these lovely financiers that were baked perfectly and someone shoved a tray in on his rack and they popped out the other side--face-down on the floor. Luckily for Bob he had extra dough. Unluckily for Bob it happened again. A girl in our team ruined this batch. At that point he just picked them up, dusted them off, and presented them anyway. Good for Bob. I would have done the same thing.

My egg, bacon, cheese hot pockets turned out splendidly. The baked up all golden and lovely. I don't eat eggs but I was told they tasted great too. I had a ton of danish dough so I made a lemon and blueberry braid. It was really pretty so I made two of them. I whipped out some pinwheels which came out looking a little crazy but it is amazing what you can do with blackberries and glaze. We had a huge grouping of really tasty desserts all laid out in a big spread for grading. Overall we did well. My danish dough turned out awesome and the folks were impressed. Not bad for the second time I'd ever made it. Nothing was perfect but I'd have given us a solid B+. I'm pretty proud given that we started out in the dumper.

I can't say I'm going to miss this class but I learned a lot. I learned that I really like making Danish dough. It is very physical and really fascinating. I don't think I will ever be in a class with so many kooky personalities. I will miss Nick's ascot and furry driving goggles that he wears for his moped. Frankie's singing even grew on me. She says it has been a problem in her other classes. Cocoa Carol dropped at some point but I appreciated her physical comedy. Bob was always enjoyable to chat with across the table. I'm sure the dream team has another class in mind to take next quarter. They are good hearted and loved to bring us little presents. I like presents.

I'm looking forward to having a break. I know I'll be chomping at the bit to get back once the summer is over. I'm ready for the pool and the lake and maybe singing lessons?