Duets, New Adventures

Hello. For those of you still tuning in, I am still alive.  I have not won the Lottery and run off to Paris to live blissfully, getting fat on croissants and Paris Brest.  I have not been abducted by aliens.

I have been promoted.

After returning to work from my trip, I was asked into the office by the Chef de Cuisine.  They are happy with what I'm doing, and they wanted to offer me the position of pastry chef, which I accepted.  I'm still in shock, and when introduced at tastings as " . . . my pastry chef . . ." It takes a couple of beats for me to realize he's talking about me!

I'm really enjoying things, as much as I can.  We're short-staffed, and I've had people in for interviews, stages, and soon, paperwork.  It's quite interesting being on the other side of the interview.  It's also a challenge to lead a staff, to monitor and figure out what to do in certain situations.  But it's also exciting!  I'm looking forward to what my team can do once we're up and running!

It's been crazy.  I've been working 12+ hours a day, and I pulled an 11-day week!  We finally have a slow week, one in which I can catch my breath.  I'm creating and experimenting, and will be able to use new products soon.

Through all of this change, I'm reminding myself to find balance.  I try to create a balanced dessert; sweet, salty, bitter, sour, creamy, crunchy.  But off the plate, I have to create it in other areas.  My new position takes me out of the kitchen, with meetings and ordering, building relationships with vendors.  I'll soon have an email account, so I will have to make time to check that.  I'm fortunate that the catering staff is very easy to communicate with.  They come to me with updates and questions, making sure that the details are taken care of.  And they also give me great feedback about what everyone likes.  Now I have to balance all of this with time in the kitchen, doing the things I really like doing.

Here's one of the desserts I did for a tasting this past week.  The clients wanted something tropical, a duet with chocolate and passion fruit mousse, as well as some sort of "gold filaments" to celebrate the spider silk tapestry that will be on exhibit.  I pulled some sugar that I colored yellow and added gold dust to.  I used some gold leaf to cover the place where I stuck the sugar piece into the chocolate cremeux.  I'm pretty happy with it overall.  Out of the three desserts, this was my favorite, and when we took them out to the table, I could tell that they really liked it as well!

Manjari Cremeux on Moist Chocolate Cake, Passion Fruit Mousse, Vanilla Streusel, Tropical Fruit, Pulled Sugar, Chocolate Decor, Sauce, Soil

Comments

Anonymous said…
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! AND, YES, I AM SHOUTING. CAN YOU HEAR ME YET?

Oh, yum! Get in my belly! I'll begin with the one on the right. I'd work my way over to the left, then I might just lick the plate. I am so craving something sweet after a great meal.

Again, Congrats! You've earned it. Does your mom know? She didn't post anything about your new position on any of her blogs. Bad Mama!
7:55 PM
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