Day Eighty-Nine

on
Monday, November 19, 2012
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(Chef using a bicycle to cut the Danish)

Bread week has been the most delicious week so far in school.  I’ve never eaten so much bread in my life.  Seriously.  It’s probably not healthy to be eating a loaf of bread every night.  

We’re continuing with breads this week as well.  Please send help. 

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We made Danish on Friday.  Danish dough is similar to croissant dough except it has eggs.  We made Danish filled with vanilla pastry cream and pear.

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We also made “cinnamon rolls” with the dough too.  We filled the dough with almond cream, walnuts, and raisins.  I soaked my raisins in kirsch.  Shhh.  Don’t tell.  It makes raisins more fun, don’t you know?

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Baked until French brown.  I think these look burnt, but I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be.  I like my cinnamon rolls doughy and soft. 

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We made monkey bread with the leftover scraps.

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We also made this French country bread… it had walnuts and I’m not sure what else.  I’m getting confused with all of the breads.  I didn’t even taste this one.  I gave away all of the bread I baked on Friday to our apartment’s security guard. 

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Oh yeah – we made baguettes too.  We baked so much bread on Friday that we got out of class over thirty minutes late.  We’re trying to make up the two days we’ll be missing this week!

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On Saturday morning I volunteered to work at the first Chicago Chocolate Show at Navy Pier.  There were booths set up with chocolate samples, chocolate products for purchasing, and chocolate making equipment.  The French Pastry School had a couple of booths set up; one had instructors making chocolate sculptures, and another one had baking demonstrations going on all day. 

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One side of the chocolate show was for the public, and the other side was for professionals that owned chocolate businesses.  The public side kept trying to get into the professional side, so my job was to stand by a curtain and not let anyone through.  It was a glamorous position, I tell you.  This was my view all day.

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And here’s my other angle.  I sat there for hours, and it was very, very boring.  I didn’t talk to anyone all day except some of my chefs.  I was planning on spending time at the show afterwards, checking out each booth, but I was so tired and hungry that I just left. 

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Not a very fun way to spend a Saturday.  Luckily, I had a good evening with Mr. Eric.  We had barbecue and went downtown to watch fireworks over the river. 

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We also got the fixins for Thanksgiving dinner.  On the menu: turkey tenderloin (it’s marinated and all I have to do is bake it!  Ha), gravy, stuffing (Eric is making Stovetop), corn casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with mini marshmallows (mmm), BREAD, blueberry crumb tarts, pumpkin-gingerbread pie. 

What are you having??
14 comments on "Day Eighty-Nine"
  1. Thanksgiving is a multi-person effort for us. We're having it at my mother's place. I'm making turkey, cornbread-apple-sausage stuffing, gravy, biscuits, and triple-chocolate pie. She's making mushroom bisque, sweet potato pudding, and roasted root vegetables. She is also buying a pumpkin pie. Her boyfriend's vegetarian daughter is making brussels sprouts and corn pudding. A lot of food for 9 people!

    I wish your school had come to the Chocolate World Expo in White Plains two weeks ago. Obviously their output is phenomenal.

    Speaking of output, I am still loving all of these lovely breads and patries. I'm in love with the danishes. I know what you mean about cinnamon rolls. Flaky ones would be cool for a novelty, but I like 'em doughy.

    When your post showed up in my follow feed I saw the phrase (Chef using a bicyle to cut danish) and of course the picture wasn't present, so you wouldn't believe the picture in my head when I saw that sentence. I thought, "There has to be more efficient ways to cut dough." :-D

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  2. Have you ever thought of finding a women's shelter that you could drop off your extra goodies at? Many of the women have left abusive homes with just the clothes on their backs and their kids. They don't have their baking things and may not even have a kitchen they can use.
    I know they'd really appreciate fresh baking, especially when you're such an amazing cook!! They don't get treats very often.

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    1. Linda, that's an excellent idea! I will look into it.

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  3. You look so pretty in your winter coat, and you look happy, Emily. We are having a turkey breast, and it's almost 10 lbs - poor turkey probably couldn't even walk. All the normal fixings except I will make green beans Caesar instead of green bean casserole, corn meal yeast rolls, red velvet cake, pumpkin pie, and my daughter is making homemade Snickers. :)

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    1. Thank you, Linda! SO sweet. Haha poor turkey needs a bra. Wow! Everything you guys are making sounds so good!

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  4. Thanksgiving is over in Canada, but we had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, a few veggies, perogies, meatballs, cabbage rolls ... and dessert!

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  5. Those danish look fantastic! That has to be amazing to make all that stuff...I'm so envious!

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  6. The danish looks amazing! That has to be so fantastic to be making all that stuff...I'm so envious!

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  7. I'm drooling over all those carbs! Wish I could come over and help you eat them... :) Happy Thanksgiving!

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  8. Everything you've made this week looks amazingly delicious. I would definitely over-stuff myself with bread.

    I made my first pumpkin pie last night! It looks a little too jiggly in the center right now, so I might throw it back in the oven a bit longer.... oh well.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you!

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