Everything Sweet

I cannot tell you how much I love my new class. I am taking a course called Pastry Shop where we are learning how to make so many different kinds of doughs, pastries, and tarts. This class has most definitely been my favorite part of Italy so far.

My class is at 9:00 unfortunately which has already gotten a tidbit old and it has only been a few days. But fortunately Bryn and Kim have class at nine too. In fact, Kim is in my class which is so great. I love spending time with her. If you saw me walking to class, you would probably laugh. I am dressed head to toe in full-fledged chef attire: chef's hat, chef's coat, and black and white checked chef's pants. I haven't taken a picture of my outfit so far because I don't seem to care what I look like when I go to class but I will take one soon so y'all can check it out haha!

Tuesday was our first day of class and we had a substitute because our teacher wasn't able to be there. Our sub was the head pastry chef at Apicius (our school). He is a funny Italian man who knows a lot about pastries. We made a pastry dough called pate choux which me made into two different recipes: Paris-Brest and Bongo (street name: profiteroles). Pate choux is not a very thick dough so we manipulated the shapes by using piping bags. I have not seen a piping bag since the last time I decorated a cake at home before I came to Italy. Being able to use a piping bag for the first time in a while was so excited. I'm the biggest nerd. Chef asked me about my technique and I got to explain to him that I have worked in a bakery for two years decorating cakes. The profiteroles were filled with a chocolate cream and dipped in chocolate ganache and topped with yogurt chips. The Paris-Brest were cut in half and filled with a hazelnut buttercream. The downfall of this class is going to be that we get to eat anything that we make.

Finished product

That night we decided to go get Gusta pizza, our new weekly tradition, where we ran into my friend Isabelle and her sweet parents who are here visiting for a few weeks. It was so nice to see her parents and share a little bit of Italy with them. After Gusta, we grabbed a bottle of wine and sat on the bridge overlooking the Ponte Vecchio and watched the sunset. We hadn't planned on doing anything this night but as we were walking home, we walked by Red Garter and decided that we had to go in, of course. Our spontaneity led to use having ourselves a great time.

The next morning in class we met our real teacher who is an American but has lived in Italy for a few years now. We went through the long process of making puff pastry. I have always heard that puff pastry from scratch is one of the hardest things to make, and now I believe it. We ended up making a Millefoglie cake which is a traditional Italian cake made of puff pastry and pastry cream. We also made small pizzas with the puff pastry. They were delicious.

After class, the pastry chef pulled me aside and told me that he had a cake order coming up and that he wanted me to help him with it. Can you imagine my excitement? Me, nerdy baker girl? I feel more than honored that he wants me to help him with a cake. He does more fondant work and he knows that I only use buttercream but I cannot wait to work on this cake with him. It will be about a week and a half from now so be ready to hear about it.

Last night, we just went to Red Garter to grab some food and then I came home and skyped with Phillip's mom and Riley! It was so good to see them and talk to them for a little bit.

Today in class we made short doughs. We made fruit tarts and mini lemon meringue pies. We used fresh strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries on top of pastry cream on top of a lemon tart dough. For the lemon meringue pies, we used the same lemon dough and then made a lemon cream and then italian meringue. They both were absolutely delicious.

I'm writing this blog from the comfort of my mom's hotel room. SHE'S FINALLY HERE! It was so good to see my mom for the first time in a month. Poor thing is passed out right now but I may have to wake her up soon so that I can show her around my home for the past month. I'm so excited about her being here and we are going to do so many things in the next week. We haven't exactly planned out our weekend but I believe we are going to Rome tomorrow and maybe a wine tour this weekend. I will let you know all about it. Ciao!