The Sweet Life

I baked cupcakes to "celebrate" the occasion. Nothing too inspired, just chocolate cupcakes filled with a coconut caramel and topped with whipped milk chocolate ganache and salted toasted coconut.

I've finished my job at NoMI in Chicago, IL. It was a little less than 2 years. I've learned a lot and come a long way from my first week there. I started my new job today and the place is quite big; I need to leave a trail of bread crumbs just to keep from getting lost! I am excited for NoMI though, because they have a great new pastry chef, Andres Lara and I saw some great things from him my last few weeks there. As a matter of fact, the above picture is his Caramel Garden.

"I'm so hungry and the only thing in this purse is paper stuffing!" Poor thing. She looks like she's starving (or suffering from cramps). Sorry I've been MIA. I've been exhausted and ill (I can't bring myself to say "under the weather" we're all under it). I've been to the doc and she ran tests. I know what it is, and I am ashamed to say that I'm not taking such good care of myself, but I'm trying. It's not easy to eat right when you have no appetite. So, I've been relying on the odd strong craving for something to get myself to eat. It's almost like I've got a picky toddler to feed! As fleeting as these cravings are, after only a couple of bites, I'm turned off by what I wanted only moments before. Even when it comes to tasting stuff at work, I can't possibly imagine putting stuff I once ate pretty frequently in my mouth. But how can you create desserts without testing them on your palate? I tru...

What kind of ape makes floating islands? A Meringue-atan!

Here's a twist: I'm eating a grilled cheese, nice and tan on one side, and erm, nicely blackened on the other (I'm a little out of practice, ok) and drinking my orange juice from a Guinness glass. It's the new classic! Not much exciting going on at the moment. Still trying to get through the process of uploading my photos from Paris, working, and trying to work on a few things around the house and at the restaurant. My culinary projects include (but are not limited to): cashew custard, a wine pate de fruit, and new tuiles for the sorbets. I've worked out my blood orange friands (last night, finally!). Yesterday I made a batch of Jasmine Tea Caramels at home. All I need to do is cut, wrap, and give them away (of course I'll keep some here for myself). Went to dinner Monday night at Sixteen at the Trump Tower with a couple of friends. I didn't take any pictures, but I broke down during dessert and snapped pics with my Nokia. I'll try to get those u...

Thanksgiving came slowly, but it went away uneventful. Next thing I knew, Christmas was here. I spent it at home in Texas with family, quite happy I was able to go home. Last year I had to work, and I really missed my parents because we always spent Christmas together. Just before leaving, I was on a mad dash around the city delivering Christmas candies (I only made three successful candies this year-nougat, Jasmine tea caramels, and Thai chili truffles) to friends. Then NYE was upon us. I had such high hopes for this year. I won't go into detail, but I will say that this time around, only two of us on Team Pastry toasted with champagne, while everyone else cleared out quite early. And now I sit here the first day of the new year with two fingers washed with hydrogen peroxide, swabbed with anti-bacterial ointment and bandaged. Dry torn, often bleeding cuticles are a hazard of the job. Now that the busy holiday season is over, I can spend more time in the kitchen (at home),...

Let me preface this by stating that I am such a nerd. I am. I admit it, with a bit of pride. I mean, who buys a kitchen scale and sends her friend a text message about her purchase with the name and model number? Who dreams about getting her box from UPS the night before only to find that it's filled with a Christmas present, not the scale she ordered and feels disappointed? Me. And I feel no shame. None at all. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'll tell you all about it. Today I welcomed home my newest culinary purchase. I'd been meaning to replace my old Salter Electronic Aquatronic scale, purchased in Houston, TX before I moved to Chicago and started culinary school. As a starter scale, it was great, helping me to mise out recipes using pounds and ounces, liquid and dry. Even in school it came in handy, weighing things out for class since we didn't have a lot of scales, and it was digital. But now that I'm in the "industry" and mo...