I haven’t been much in the mood to write recently…at least not in this style. I’ve been writing a little poetry again, so that’s refreshing, and I’m looking forward to hearing the whirr of the typewriter again.
But, there’s been lots happening in my kitchen – and in other kitchens as well. On Tuesday, I went in for the third time to assist in the pastry team in a professional kitchen and I am so grateful for the experience. The second experience was quite different than the first, as instead of doing production all day, I went in a 2pm and made snickers and 168 monkey balls. ::Extracting your mind from the gutter:: Monkey balls are small pieces of brioche that make up the monkey bread dessert or, at the restaurant I stage at, are dusted with cinnamon and sugar to transform them utter deliciousness.
Then, I learned how to plate their desserts. I’m not sure which I prefer – production or plating – but learning how a plate is put together has helped me immensely with doing my own. While some of the parts came easily, such as creating pretty circles of shortbread crust for cheesecakes to rest on with a side of cherries and a tuile chip…others, namely doing those first circles of port reduction with the spoon, were much more difficult. I tend to lay it on too thick and then peter out halfway through (no comment.) and need to learn/practice so that I can not glob it on and then have to smear it around the plate because that just isn’t as pretty. I also need to practice with scooping ice cream. Trust me, it is not as easy as it sounds. Especially when the ice cream is as hard as a rock.
Sadly, I have no photos to show you of those adventures. But, I do have some to share of my latest culinary trials and tribulations…which mostly ended in success. I’ve separated them into the next few posts. And, tomorrow I go on a short vacation, but tonight will be baking a blackberry buttermilk cake from the newest issue of Bon Appetit. One does need sustenance when they travel, after all.