Thank You!

Throughout my time in New York City I was blessed to have the support of so many of my family and friends. I am so thankful and blessed that so many people have believed in me all along. I hope to make everyone proud and continue to follow my dreams. Thank you for always encouraging me to spread my wings. Love always, Kala

Graduation!

After a day full of packing everything from my dorm room it was time to head back to school one more time and put on my uniform for graduation! We all excitedly warmed up our pastries and set up the buffet that would be held after the ceremony all of us very happy to finnally be done. Then it was time to line up and head into the amphitheater. I smiled and held mu composure as I walked past friends and family and sat down. One by one we were called up to receive our diplomas after some great speeches by our chefs. Then it was time for special awards. I received awards for Perfect Atendence, Outstanding Community Service, and Graduate with Distinction high honor student. It was all very sureal and soon after it started it was over.

I smiled and hugged family and friends and was overjoyed to see that my room mate Chelsea and my friend Meghan from Jacques Torres had come to support me. After hugs and pictures we went upstairs to look at my showpiece and do a tour of the school. It was all very surreal and I couldn't believe that my time at The French Culinary Institute was over.

The Final Four

Still running off a wedding cake high we were all reminded that the final four days were upon us. The Final exam is four days long and consists of a 2 hour written exam and 3 days of practical exam. We are all given one large and small tart or cake, one large and small vienoiserie item, one dozen petits fours, and one dozen chocolates that we need to make plus a showpiece demonstrating our favorite thing about NYC to hold it all. Mine were Dacquoise cake, Challah bread, Dark chocolate caramel bonbons, and petits fours glacee. And my showpiece was a tribute to Strawberry Fields.

Day one went well with the written portion in the morning and I was pretty confident that I got a good grade on that. Then the practical started and we were off. All of us following our own personal schedules and trying to get as much work done as quickly as possible. The four days flew by as we all tried to balance our time between making pastries and creating a beautiful showpiece.

We then had the frightening task of carrying our showpieces all the way down the hall and placing all of our pastries on them without them breaking. I was glad that it went mostly smoothly with minimal damage and nothing that couldn't easily be fixed. I blushed as people awed my chocolate painting of John Lennon as echos of the song Imagine played in my head.

We all were very nervous as we waited to be called in by the judges who were top industry professionals that had never seen our work before. Judging went well and she complimented my artistry and said what had set me apart was that just from looking at my work she could really tell that I cared. Phew it was all done... almost!

Tiny Bubbles!

On the day that I did my tour here at FCI the Level 3 class was making wedding cakes as we walked by and looked in the windows. And now my FCI wedding day has come. This is the project I had been looking forward to most.

The Level 2 class came in and did a presentation about a hypothetical wedding they put together for us. The theme was to be "classic island chic" set at the four seasons Bora Bora. The colors were to be coral and green and the flowers were orchids.

Immediately my mind went in different directions and 5 sketches latter I decided on the wedding cake. A white cake soaked with framboise with a strawberry filling, it was then covered with an ivory fondant. There is shimmering coral piped on the bottom tier with piped pearls bordering every tier as well. It is then decorated with crystal clear blown sugar bubbles, dusted sugar sea shells, and green sugar paste orchids.

For once I was happy with a cake I made. And my class was as well. I was voted best wedding cake from both my class and the level 2 class. Very pleased with myself I took the cake to Jacques Torres Chocolates for everyone to enjoy and Chef high five'd me and said I did good work!

A Menu of My Own

As we continued on to our 3rd level of plated desserts there were other things on our minds. And that other thing was our future. A somewhat far off future for me. The assignment was to design a plan and an executable menu for a future place of business that we can see ourselves actually opening. This was a lot to think about. what kind of place do I want? What is important to me?

What did I come up with? "The North Star Inn at Lorenzo" A country Inn serving brunch and dinners in Cazenovia's Historic Lorenzo Estate. With overnight guests and a reputation for wonderful home cooked pastries. The real focus for the restaurant though is to promote sustainability and seasonality with a dedication to representing and promoting local family farms and small businesses. I even brought in several samples of locally grown products that I bought from Nelson Farms.

After we all did our business pitches to the class the chefs chose two items on our menu and we had to make it and plate it exactly to our diagram. The Chefs chose a Pumpkin and Gingerbread Parfait with Cinnamon and Anglaise. And a Rum Mocha Roulade with a Cranberry Drizzle. The plating went very smoothly and the Chefs said they both tasted great.

This project was my baby, and possibly even my future. But who knows, I fully expect my plans to change a million times. But the devotion to sustainability will remain the same. We need to know where our food comes from and how gets to our plate. Think about it. Do you have any idea where that chicken your eating came from? And I don't mean the super market.

Sugar!

Our next unit was sugar. The thought of stretching and pulling hot molten sugar amazed me and I was excited! We first practiced making poured sugar and with that I made a poured sugar fish. Next we learned how to make pulled sugar decorations of course I was most excited to make a rose with this new medium!! Sort of like babysitting one always needs to watch the sugar when under the heat lamp if you don't they will melt too much and crystallize and ruin the batch, and we wouldn't want that would we?

Next we got to make some blown sugar, I have always been fascinated with the blown glass at the corning museum so I thought that this would be a lot of fun. And it was! I made several different color bubbles and even a little blown bird! Then we made a magnificent Christmas sugar showpiece towering 5x5 feet and 4x3 feet and my task was to make the angel for the top of the Christmas tree.

What was more intimidating than that was that when it was all finished I had to put it on the top of the Christmas tree. And well I'd liked to say that it didn't break but when it started to lean my friend fifii went to catch it and half the tree came crashing down. Yes it was sad but that's how things work in pastry world. You spend a lot of time making it and then its gone just like that.

Hello Momma!

While I am starting to get used to city life I do still get home sick a lot too, although I do try to go home when I can it's hard with my hectic schedule between studying for class and interning. So I was overjoyed when My mother and Grandmother decided to come see me for a weekend to help pass the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Their visit came with perfect timing. They got to come and dine at our afternoon of desserts at school. As a class we had prepared for this day all week Mise en Place-ing our desserts and then when the orders came in from our families we fired them and sent them out. I even got to be in charge of calling out orders and making sure that they got to the table timely, ( they should have known better than to give me permission to yell!)

After a quick tour of school we settled into our hotel room. The next day we went exploring some and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I all ready can't wait to go back again. Everything was just simply beautiful and completely inspiring.

Before they left on Sunday we went to L'Ecole for brunch. It was good I got Steak tartar with a raw quail egg. I think better than eating it was watching the look on my mom and grandma's faces when I spilled the egg on to the raw meat and dug in!