Monday, September 14, 2009

A Bittersweet Day - Graduation

Quite cliche -- but-- have the past 6 months really gone by SO quickly? This year I've moved, left my job, traveled alone to France, adjusted to a life of unemployment...and through all of that, the one constant I've had is pastry school. And now it's over. The end of this chapter is bittersweet. While I am so happy to have fulfilled this longtime dream, I started missing school before it was even over. The entire experience has been amazing: making something new every day, having all the ingredients right there waiting for me, messing up and having it be ok, and of course, getting to know and work alongside each of my incredibly unique and creative classmates.


And now off into the world of pastry we go, hoping that school has prepared us for the fast-paced life of the kitchen. Going from night classes to early morning bakery hours has proven to be an interesting adjustment for me, as well as the crazy speed of the work. I never thought I was slow until I saw how quickly some of these people do things! The main shock for me has been the physical aspect of the work. Tante Marie is a small school, so we make things in small batches. Working in production, I've had to lift so crazy heavy things and my back is already letting me know how it feels about that. It's only been 2 weeks, and I'm nostalgic for my pastry school days... 



In the week leading up to our graduation, we each worked on a final project to display (and eat!) at the ceremony. 




My California wedding cake -- orange sponge cake with blood orange buttercream and meyer lemon buttercream








Becky's tart shop -- a variety of fresh fruit and chocolate tarts






Vikki's Napa Valley Cake -- hands down one of my absoulte favorites!





Liz's Tropical wedding cake -- white cake with a coconut pineapple filling and pineapple buttercream





Pei-Yee's flavors of the Pacific Rim



Sieba's rose cake -- 70 handmade fondant roses, she's insane!




Maureen's flavors of the Mediterranean





Vanessa's tea infused wedding cake



Sasha's croquembouche




Nancy's Nanette cake, inspired by her business card






Nicole's picnic in the Tart




Ray's tiramisu celebration cake





Deb's Bay Area harvest


My sampler plate...yes I ate it all!

1 comment:

  1. Dear LaPattysserie, graduation day never tasted better! I cant believe how beautiful everything looked. Thought your cake was so awesome, using blood orange buttercream and mayer lemon buttercream. So colorful and decorated elegantly. I also liked the images of the tea infused cake, and the tiramisu cake. This must be the coolest thing to do, they should make it a rule that it does not matter what you study, people should always have a massive cake and pastry party for graduation. There are some wonderful shots of the students creations. Everything you showed is considered art to me. Very professional and I will definitely be back to have a bite of more.
    Thank you for sharing.
    Cheers, Gaby
    You can visit me at http://ptsaldari.posterous.com

    ReplyDelete