All Done!

Our group

That's it! I finished the pastry chef course ( I even passed the test I was dreading!) and what an ending it was. We spent the last two lessons preparing for the "finale" - an evening with our invited guests tasting our goods.

The evening was a true success - food, atmosphere and a major cooperative work effort on the part of all the class participants. We worked sooooo hard- I am now convinced that working in a pastry shop, being on your feet for amazingly long hours, is not for me. When I finally got home after midnight, I could barely walk and I was out of commission for most of the following day! I'll stick with the small time home-based business for now.

The evening began with roaming waiters ( us!) serving small cups of cold basil zucchini soup with cheese sticks. It was a very hot night and the event was outdoors so the cold soup was a welcome. A buffet table was then manned by more waiters (us again!) serving salads, a variety of breads, quiches and savory bites ( all prepared by us , of course!)

pissaladiere (puff pastry with carmelized onions, anchovies and black olives

Then came the "piece de resistance"- dessert. What a selection there was. Chocolate-nougat mousse, toffee- nut tarts, chocolate-pear tarts, dulche de leche mousse, cheesecake mousse with a cinnamon crumble ( yum!) coffee-pecan cookies, basil-almond lemon cookies ( very interesting), vanilla creme cookies, vanilla-chocolate- coffee cookies, citrus cake, chocolate-poppy seed cake, white chocolate penacotta with passion fruit and a streusel topping, meringue cups with a lemon-mint ganache filling...... should I go on?!

mini chocolate fondant cake and in the background,toffee-nut tart

Krantz Cakes- (plaited yeast cakes with a chocolate/halva filling)

I managed to get a only few pictures in between the serving and preparing and washing up. Feast your eyes!

basil-almond lemon cookies

All in all, it was a wonderful learning experience and I made some great friends along the way! Onward to the advanced course!