Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Adventures in Culinary Education

Bit of a head this morning. I had something of a large night last night – well large for a Monday at any rate. A few of us from the office left work on the dot of 5pm and headed down to the Institute of Culinary Education for Megan’s - our former colleague - graduation into the world of pastry chef-ing and baking.

I knew the evening could be trouble when I read Megan’s email invitation, in which she wrote “it will be fairly short and sweet, so be ready to have several glasses of wine in a short amount of time.”

Uh-oh!!

And then…

“I was thinking of going out after for a little bit, unless people are opposed to a restaurant, meaning we could instead come to my apt to open some bottles of wine.”

There speaks a woman, who didn’t have to get up for work on Tuesday, however she did deserve to celebrate and I’m always up for a challenge. Suffice to say I ate a lot of carbs for lunch yesterday. It didn’t help that much. Poor me!!


…but enough about me and my self inflicted hangover. Just look at how talented Megan is…



...isn't it just FABULOUS?? This was her final exam, to make an 8" by 12" chocolate sculpture with a Holiday theme. Megan plumped for “The Rockefeller Center at Christmas.”

Look at the tree made of chocolate!! She’s so clever! I’m so proud!!

…So should any of you ever be in the market for an extraordinarily talented Pastry Chef, I’m willing to broker all offers :-)

12 comments:

Amel said...

YUM YUM...I LOVE DARK chocolate and the chocolate structure looks SO inviting. It's also SO LOVELY!!!

GOOD LUCK for her then. She IS talented indeed. ;-D

Hope your hangover's gone now. ;-D

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Amel, thanks for stopping by. Isn't it gorgeous? It took her hours to 'glue' - with edible paste - all those leaves into the tree. Have a lovely day. I'm feeling better after coffee and toast :-) F

Mr and Mrs Knutzen said...

I just hope it doesn't get too hot and melts! It looks beautiful! and Yummy!

fishwithoutbicycle said...

It was actually really hot in the room, but apparently if you 'temper' the chocolate it doesn't melt.

Not that I have a clue what tempering means since I can barely boil water.

Victorya said...

I've heard of tempering (food network junkie) isn't that when you heat, cool, then reheat?

But tell me, do people actually EAT those structures?

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hey Victorya I'm pretty sure you're right about the tempering. Megan was explaining it to me last night, but I'd had 2 glasses of cab sauv by then so my memory is a bit fuzzy :-)

We didn't eat the chocolate sculptures. I'm not sure what happens to them, whether they get eaten or discarded. I did bring back lots of chocs for the office though. Mmmmmmmmmm :-)

Writing Nag said...

it's so beautiful...there's nowhere better than New York at Christmas time.

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hey WritingNag, thanks for stopping by :-)

Heather said...

OH MY GOD.

I've had to put a bucket under my mouth to catch all the saliva. seriously. i should take a picture of myself.

i would say your friend is absolutely talented. and i'm absolutely a chocolate fiend...

alcoment said...

That is stunning! Your friend obviously has a real talent. Glad you managed to escape with some chocolate, but I hope the sculptures get eaten - I hate to think of them going mouldy!

Amel said...

WHAT? She glued the leaves with edible paste? Now I'm bowing to respect her!!!!! Such dedication to art!!!!!!! ;-D *bowing*

Good to hear you're feeling better. ;-D

Anonymous said...

Wow!

And here I thought my Elmo cupcakes were masterpieces... LOL

Beautiful cake and lovely post to mention her and show off her work. How much of a commission are you looking at?