Starting the summer right, with my first baking class
During my finals, my breaks typically involved some kind of baking or cooking, whether it was to feed myself, to clean out my pantry/fridge, or to feed my friends, or a combination of all of these…. I would always find an excuse to bake and/or cook.
My friend asked me why I wouldn’t just take a break to watch a tv episode/movie, & I told him it’s simply because you can’t even share that with people. you can’t talk over it. but food? food is something you can always give, share, & enjoy with people. & have great conversations over. especially during finals. once you make one batch of cookies, you can give it to SEVERAL acquaintences, friends, professors, etc :) everyone gets a little bit of something.
….& oh, I learned that studying off the computer is a terrible idea, because my roommate & I constantly found myself wandering off through so many websites looking for some cooking classes I could enroll in. Even the night before my ballet final performance, I’d slide a batch of green tea cookies into the oven in between each of my run-throughs my petit allegro. (I prob spent more time baking than dancing & studying combined)
It was one of the most intense & tiring nights. but so. worth. it. mixing the green tea powders together, testing out the green tea cookie batter (& consuming too much caffeine through that) + saute-ing up & down & chasse-ing side to side.. well, you can be certain that i was sore for a week after that.
Honestly, culinary arts is something that I am considering. Whether or not I actually pursue baking as a profession or just keep it as a side hobby, I decided to sign up for a cooking class. While I was shopping at Sur La Table (therapeutic during finals), I I noticed that they had an upcoming macaron baking class. The $69 cost was very painful to see….but I could not resist. I’d go back to the class registration every day, in some hope that the fee would magically decrease, but of course, it didn’t. I ended up enrolling in it. I figured that if I learn the secrets to baking these RIGHT, then I’d no longer be a slave to Bottega Louie or ‘Lettes, but could reproduce them myself & for my friends :)
piping out raspberry buttercream onto each hazelnut crust :) i was scared of making misshaped rounds & overfilling the macarons, but they came out almost perfect!
Me + Chef Katherine Torres, a sweet, knowledgable, patient woman & baker. She graduated from the Art Institute & emphasized to me that those bakers who are artistically talented, are more likely to be skillful in baking than those who aren’t creative/artistic. She has not only inspired me, but she encouraged me. We’ll see where it goes from here ;)
p.s: please don’t ask me to make macarons for you. i received lots of help from her & other women. gotta practice them myself now ;)
