I've got a two tier cake on the way... wanna piece?

Well, I'm nearly on my way to completing the Pastry program at ICE. Time flies... I'll be done on March 19th! We've been decorating cakes - buttercream shells, roses, royal icing "embroidery" and draping, covering cakes with marzipan, working with chocolate plastic (actually not so much a "plastic" as a much more delicious version of a tootsie roll) to make roses, and now we're working on making gumpaste flowers and roses. We also have to design and execute a 2 tier wedding cake - which is due next Friday, all while learning new gumpaste flower techniques and trying to ensure we are ready to rock our own cake. If anyone is in the market for a 2 tiered cherry blossom themed cake in a week, let me know... you pay shipping costs and assume all risk of delivered goods... :)

And... sad to say, I'm not bringing home any goodies from class anymore. Which is terrible... now I'm always in the mood for sweets! Lately I've been craving cookies, but I haven't had any recently. I was in Boston last weekend and so so so close to Modern Pastry in the North End, but didn't drag myself over there for a delish black & white cookie. God, I love those things! I should try to find a replacement in NYC or NJ... not sure it will work out though!

And the last bit of exciting news... As a requirement to complete my diploma program at ICE, I must complete a 210 hour externship at a restaurant of my chosing. For the 6 weekends prior to the most recent one, I worked my butt off Saturday nights at restaurants I was interested in externing at. I loved every second of the experiences! It was insane how different each restaurant was. There were good and bad things about each place, but the one that made me practically jump up and down was Gramercy Tavern. The group I met and worked with was amazing. The Executive Pastry Chef trusted me enough to let me make pizza dough - which is sort of a big deal because it contains yeast, which sometimes can be tempermental. After completing the tasks I was assigned in the very nice production kitchen, I was invited to go upstairs to the service kitchen were I was able to experience Saturday night service. The vibe was great. The kitchen was steady busy, but not overwhelmed - (dining in January in any large city experiences a slump after the holidays). People from the savory side of the kitchen came by to grab something they needed from a refrigerator or to go downstairs and on their way back introduced theirself to me. The guys working dessert service let me plate desserts - okay, okay, fake plate - I messed up more than I sent out. And most importantly, they were proud enough of everything they were making they wanted me to try whatever I wanted... And it was delicious!

So the ending to this tale is that I found out tonight I got the externship at Gramercy Tavern... I'll begin working there about a week after I graduate from the Pastry program...