a lifestyle blog
This week was kind of a breeze so I’m not really sure if it felt super short or super long. There were no specific techniques to study and master or complicated bakes to manage. To finish up our study of pastry doughs, we basically spent the first half of the week cranking out cookies. We made peanut butter, chocolate chip,…
There could be an epic love story written about the way I feel about dough. Whether it’s pie dough, cookie dough, bread dough, or croissant dough – I love them all. I’m constantly amazed at how just a few identical ingredients can be combined in different ways to create completely different products. Nearly anyone can make a passable pie dough,…
What a week this was! From cake decorating at the start to our very first exam at the finish, this week was hectic, fun, and a little bit stressful. The first exam is always the hardest in any situation because you don’t know what to expect from the structure and just how deep your knowledge needs to be. Of course…
This was a crazy busy week for me, which means 1. I had very little time to be taking notes and snapping photos of what we did each day and 2. I’m exhausted. Although it was only a four day school week, I was a TA for a breadmaking class one evening, worked catering a private event another evening, and went back…
You know how parents say that the days are long, but the years are short? I kind of feel the opposite. Each day at school flies by, but the weeks feel so long because of how much is packed into them. By the time I look back on what happened on Monday, it feels like it was about a month…
Week two at SFCS has wrapped up and it was a great one. This week was mostly dedicated to discussing and experimenting with eggs, but we spent some time early in the week focusing on fats and dairy products too. Making our own cultured butter was one of the easiest tasks of the week, but as a butter enthusiast, of…
Week one of pastry school at SF Cooking is done and the overwhelming feelings are excitement and exhaustion. It was never a fear of mine that I wouldn’t like the program once I started, but I’m happy to say that I am having so. much. fun. I can hardly believe I get to do this every day. We talk in…
In case you missed this little announcement, I’m going to cooking school! More specifically, I will be starting the Pastry & Baking Arts program at SF Cooking School on January 2, 2019. Baking has been my most consistent hobby since I was a kid, and it’s surreal to think that I’m taking the first step to turn that hobby into…
The process to create this recipe was my very favorite kind. A couple months ago in DC, I had dinner at the newly opened San Lorenzo restaurant. I live for good Italian food and San Lorenzo serves up some of the very best authentic Tuscan cuisine that you’ll find without boarding a plane. To cap off my meal, they brought out…
As the archives of this blog could tell you, I love anything almond. It’s my very favorite flavor to use in baked goods and I regularly have to convince myself to branch out and do something different. Frangipane is the queen of almond desserts so it was about time for me to post a recipe for a classic frangipane tart….
