The Sweet Life

Ah, my holidays have passed. I'm not counting NYE since I've only celebrated twice. I did a lot of baking and candy-making this year outside of work, and I'm glad it's over. This is also the first year I've had to work on Christmas and the first I haven't spent with my parents. I got the blues, but I tried to hang in there. Now I'm going to tell you a little holiday story. The Christmas Candy that Almost Wasn't I was excited about making candy this year. Usually my mom and I bake cookies, but I decided to break tradition (maybe part of the reason was I was homesick and baking reminded me too much of what I was missing) and make candies. I'd settled on four pieces of candy, at least two of which would be chocolate: cabernet truffles , cranberry pate de fruit, chocolate nougat, and salted caramels. After an entire day of shopping I was disappointed because I couldn't find many of the things I needed. My off days were split, and returning to...

You Are a Brownie Decadent and intense, you aren't for the weakhearted. Those who can deal with your strong flavor find out how sweet you really are. What Dessert Are You Most Like?

I used to volunteer at the Tree House Animal Shelter a couple of days a week before my allergies got the best of me. It is a no cage, no kill cat shelter with a special room for cats with FIV and a special program to socialize animals that have previously been abused so that they can learn to trust people again. So many cats in one place had me sneezing, but I made many new friends. It was difficult seeing the little kittens, but they were adopted faster than the older cats. Unfortunately, I had to give that up, but now they are raising money and I am able to use my talents to help a good cause. On December 14, from 6 to 9 p.m. the Tree House Animal Foundation will celebrate Lights of Love by remembering people and pets that have passed away. They will have shelter tours, gift raffles, a bake sale, and many other activities. Check out their website and stop by on Thursday if you can. If you can't make it, you can still send donations. For $10 they will illuminate a white...

My life is measured in minutes: 8, sometimes 2, 1, and 5. On the line at the restaurant, we fire (bake) a chocolate spice cake for 8 minutes, which goes on our Chocolate Share Plate dessert. If a souffle trio is also ordered, then we set another timer for 2 minutes, after which we fire the chocolate souffle for 1 minute, then put the tangerine and chestnut rum souffles in the same oven for 5 minutes. In the meantime, we assemble the rest of the desserts, or arrange the items on the plate and call off minutes to each other so that we can get everything out at the same time. Those minutes add up to hours, and days. I'm extremely tired. I've got a pain in my left calf (it's ok, if it was my arm, I'd think heart attack!), I'm exhausted, my body hurts all over in general. I haven't gone home on time in about a week, and went in early a couple of days last week so that I could get a head start on production. I keep telling myself all I have to do is make it to...

I surprised my dear mom this Thanksgiving by popping out from behind the fridge! I didn't think I was going to make it home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but about a week before Thanksgiving I found out I was off Thursday and Friday. So, I called up my dad and asked him if he could perform a miracle. I worked two hours longer on Wednesday night in order to get more prep done for the Thanksgiving buffet and went home to pack and finish cleaning and sleep. I got about one hour of sleep before heading to the airport. My dad picked me up and of course, we had to hit a couple of stores for last-minute items. I called my mom on the way home and told her that I'd just woken up and that I was going out to eat since I didn't have any time to cook. I then asked to speak to my dad and since he wasn't there, I told her I'd call back later. By this time, we're in the driveway. My dad goes in first and I can hear mom tell him that I'd called. Next thing she kno...

I've had a difficult time lately. I haven't been sleeping well, sometimes staying awake until after sunrise (6:30 - 7:00 am), doze for a couple of hours, get up and go to work, only to start all over again. I think things are settling down now (fingers crossed), since I've been falling asleep around 3:00 am the past couple of nights. Work was pretty exciting today. Early in the evening there was a fire on the line bad enough that it had to be shut down and everything was moved into the kitchen to the IRD (In Room Dining) line. Thank God for that second line. But then IRD was shut down. The good thing was the fire was contained, we didn't need to evacuate, and we only had about 49 on the books. I gotta hand it to those guys, they rocked and rolled and everything went out pretty well as far as I could see. Thanksgiving is coming up. I really haven't started cooking or even planned anything at this point. I'm working 8 days straight ending tomorrow and am ...

I tried my second batch of gingerbread souffles. This time, they didn't rise as much and they were a bit too sweet, due to the increase of sugar for the Italian meringue. I'm still messing with the recipe. But at least the gingerbread base is really good. I don't know about you, but I am ready for the snow. I look outside and see the bare streets and wonder, where is all the snow? While on the one hand, I'm glad that I don't have to walk to and from work with snowflakes being blown into my face, but at the same time, it's difficult to be excited about baking when it's unseasonably warm outside. I want to bake rich, spicy cakes and loaves of crunchy, toasty bread, but even with the window open, it still gets too warm in my home, ruining the effect. Sometimes I think about baking a sweet potato pie, but other than that, I can't seem to get into the mood for Thanksgiving. Looking at the forecast, there may be some snow on Saturday, but with the high ...