Today was a long day, not difficult, just took forever to end. I’m not saying its a bad things, since I love what I do, but today I just felt like sleeping in. But it’s a good thing I didn’t, because then I wouldn’t been able to put these in my portfolio…

Look, it’s a Tiramisu. Usually made with lady fingers, a sponge has been soaked in strong coffee, then topped with a white mascarpone filling, cocoa powder is dusted on, repeat and you have a delicious Tiramisu.

The full title of this is: Date-Stuffed Poached Pears in Phyllo Crowns with Brandied Mousseline Sauce. LOL, Chef is funny. It’s amazing how easy this is. It’s so easy I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how to do it… HA.

I’m not sure how, but a dessert snuck by me. I did this a while ago but for some reason didn’t make it here. These were made 4/5 and nine days later it makes it to my porfolio, oops. These are Panna Cottas. Enjoy it before it melts away!

Today was a free day. Basically, we’re allowed to do anything we want. It’s mostly a day to make up anything we’ve messed up, missed because of absence, or just to redo because you didn’t like it. Luckily, I didn’t mess up anything this section so my free day really was a free day. So much, in fact, I probably could have not come in today, but then I wouldn’t get points for the day even though I didn’t miss a lecture or demo. Instead of sleeping in, I decided to redo a recipe from a previous section; my personal favorite, the Florentina Surprise. I’ve mentioned it before, but I didn’t get a good picture, so finally here’s my chance.

Here I give you the Florentina Surprise. Shortdough cookie topped with a hazelnut flavored buttercream (I finally succeeded!!!), with a secret filling of rum spiked ganache, coated with coating chocolate, then topped with a florentina cookie. MMMmmm mmmmmm goodness.

Above is my fun rendition of the dessert (cookie). Ok so I had one more bottom and no more top florentina cookie so I too a bunch of scrap florentina cookies and put it on top and called it ”rustic.” LOL It still looks great tho.

Disclaimer: THIS IS NOT MY CREATION. This beauty belongs to a fellow student, Stacy. No matter how much people love my art I call pastries, I can still learn a lot from Stacy. I’m not even sure what to call it, but wow is it nice. I still forget to break out the camera and take pictures of everyones’ pieces. Maybe next time I’ll be faster with the camera and get pics of everything.

Well, here I am halfway through my program and I haven’t decided where to try to do my externship. I’m still looking for a worthwhile part time job, but being picky as I usually am, I’ve still come up short. Well, no more ”short” than usual. I came home from school today, surprisingly enough, not tired. On the other hand I had this huge headache and I’m not sure what it’s from. In any case I bring you my latest creations. I was a little disappointed with my presentations for both of these dishes. I felt it was missing something, also the fact that it both included frozen type desserts. Having fresh frozen type desserts don’t last very long with out all the preservatives. =( Actually, I’m mostly just disappointed with my crappy photography skills. HA

Here is my Red Currant Sorbet in Magnolia Shells, made with strawberry/raspberry puree instead. Heh, we were a little slow in grabbing the fresh fruit, so we had to sacrifice. The magnolia shells are made with the same tuile paste as some of the other decorative items in my ”portfolio.” I could have used an extra set of petals that the recipe calls for but it’s ok. Like I said before, the frozen sorbet melts too fast to take any good pictures. I would have like to pipe it, but because of the forementioned problem, I decided against it. Also, I could have used more kiwi sauce, but it too was gone before I got to it.

Next is what Chef calls his Tropical Surprise Package. Surprise! It’s made from tamarind. To tell you the truth, I snuck a taste of the parfait after it was ready, before one was put into the tuile package, and I’ll have to say I will try to NEVER EAT IT AGAIN. So, one might say that I should definitely avoid durian. I like the look of this dessert, but if I ever make this anywhere I work, or for personal use, I will be using some other flavor like lemon. Honestly, I’ve done better ”sauce hearts” before I started class. Another thing to add is that I should have spread out the kiwis more. =P Oh well, this is how I learn…

Today was a slow, slow day. With four people out today (plus Chef), the kitchen was bare. That left us with six people, and it hurts when just one of us are gone. I’m pretty sure we fuel each other, so today was mildly quiet. Well, we survived, so that’s a good thing. Plus we plated some more pretty things. Below is a Chocolate Banana Tart. Two layers of layered phyllo dough, a chocolate ganache round in between, topped with caramelized bananas and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Oh, and the sauce around the whole thing is a sweet kiwi sauce.

I told you I’d get on TV!!!…………. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=assignment_7&id=4061437 Wait, NO, THIS IS NOT ME! I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I’m not gay and hooked on meth. It was discussed I should go pick up his vouchers, LOL. j/k man.

Seriously? I can’t wait for my small spot on TV, I hope they air it soon.

Today, we made one of the hardest things I’ve had to do yet. I guess the process was not too hard, it was just the timing and execution. Below are pictures of the Baked Alaska Behives I made. The complicated thing is, when you make fresh ice cream (Yes, fresh. Not the crap with all the preservatives.) it won’t last long in room temperature ~70°, then you have to quickly pipe the meringue behive around the ice cream, dust powdered sugar on top, then brown the top. Most of the class had a problem with plating the desserts before the ice cream melted. Luckly, I got a few pictures in before it melted. Check out the closeup of the marzipan bee. I decided to close its eyes (kinda hard to see in the pictures), I thought it looked better.

Here’s an example of a dessert I’ve done many times. Cr

I’m no photographer, so stop nagging me about the quality of my shots. =P

OK, for starters, I didn’t make this, my old partner did. Isn’t she so talented? Or lucky, HA. What does it look like to you? Rorschach would be proud, LOL. This is easily made with sweet condensed milk and flour. Simple enough recipe but an effective garnish. Especially for the following project.

Above is my rendition of Jasmine Rice Pudding with Coconut Milk and Caramelized Coconut Chips. Actually, I such a hectic Monday, that I didn’t even have the chance to taste this one. We ran out of the blueberry sauce that we had to make our own, and that stopped us from finishing on time. Very sexy…

Today a camera crew came to film the school. So, I may be on TV soon! I’ll post when it’s on. No, it’s not a feature on me, at least not yet. I’m sure I’ll have my own show soon =). Today, we started plating desserts. Not a single fingerprint can be on the plate, and it MUST look perfect. This’ll be interesting, since everyone knows Adam is not a neat and clean guy. LOL

Here are my first attempts at plating desserts. The sauce was sitting around the kitchen so it warmed up, and that’s why the circles ran together. So, this is a Chocolate Mousse in a Florentina Cup with Cocoa Nibs, caramel sauce, mango slices and mint. I know the flavors are all over the place, but damn, ain’t it sexy?

Above is a Brandy Bread and Butter Pudding with brandy-flavored whipped cream, a Vanilla Tuile Paste Cookie Tumbleweed, and raspberry sauce. I’m not a huge fan of bread pudding, I really like buttered toast though. So I gave this thing a try and it is quite tasty. Plus, you can’t go wrong with some alcohol in your pastry. =) Enjoy!

So, we’re starting our cakes and plated desserts section. This is gonna be interesting. I totally suck at piping things. I’m gonna need lots of practice.

Above is a Chevre Cheesecake made with goat milk cheese and creamcheese with a layer of sour cream, vanilla bean seeds and sugar mixture with a graham cracker crust. YUM!

This one is a Marbled Cheesecake with Quark Cheese, but I believe we replaced the quark (since it’s a hard to find item) with cottage cheese. Yes, that’s a chocolate marble. Double yum!