1st Day of Real work

I've done it! Last Saturday was the final day of my externship. I have sent in my last time sheet and journal to Le Cordon Bleu. After 144 days of school and 30 days of externship, I have completed my Patisserie & Baking program at Le Cordon Bleu. I will still have to attend the graduation later.
Today at Sucré I made candied pecans and worked in chocolate world. Then I heard the good news for the day. They realized that I have completed my externship and so now I am going to be paid five days a week. Meaning I have my first full time job. Yay!!!! :)

Monday - Day Off

On Thursday (Externship Day 28) and Friday (Day 29) I got to work in the chocolate world again. I like getting to work in chocolate world. The two pluses are that the room is cooler and it is quieter. The Executive Pastry Chef, Tariq, pulled me aside on Thursday to talk to me, and told me they are going to start paying me three days of the week filling macaroons. Yes, it’s not the most amazing job but it is something that really needs to be done. I’m not complaining. The other two days I will help out in chocolate world. This really made me feel good and I feel like he must appreciate the work that I'm doing. I still want to work on my speed and I'm confident that I'll get much faster. Also, I now get two days off in a row as before my days off were split apart. Yeay!

On Sunday I made a Roasted Poblano Pepper and Cheese soup. It came out really good. This was the first time I had made a soup from scratch. I made it for dinner on Monday night, to have with my grandparents, uncle, aunt and a cousin.
Sunday evening, my brother and I went to John Besh’s restaurant August in New Orleans. The dinner was my birthday present from my parents. The food was good. I would have to say my most favorite part was the gulf shrimp pot stickers. Mmmmm….. those were yummy! For dessert I had got their version of a napoleon. It had a chocolate cake, then a chocolate nougatine, on top a chocolate mousse, another nougatine, and on the very top was a scoop of salted toffee ice cream. It was yummy!

So today is my birthday and I'm just getting better.

My brother Stephen and I getting ready to go to August for dinner.

Day Off

Today was my day off. I had my hair cut today and cooked dinner for my grandparents and aunt. I've been cooking dinner for them every Wednesday and today I cooked Chicken Parmigiana. It came out terrific. Today I'm posting a picture of the chef jacket that Sucré gave me. Also there is a close up picture of the embroidered Sucré logo on the jacket.

27th Day of Externship

Sucré.

3025 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70115

Today I made more BAC dough, scaled out cake mix and other stuff for Tariq. I made some interiors for desserts, an order for a restaurant (customer) and then 50 pecan squares. So I was busy all day. Even though it's work, I get a great sense of accomplishment from doing it.

I thought I would just include a picture of the Sucré store front. I don't work at the store location. I work at the Confectionery (kitchen) which is much larger and a few miles away from the store. There, the baking, chocolates, gelato, etc, is done. Also internet orders are fulfilled from here.

26th Day of Externship

Boy am I working hard. I come home so tired. By the time I lay down in bed at night, I'm out like a light bulb. Last week we had huge orders of cupcakes (because of our Saints Cup Cake that we sell), and a huge order for a hotel. I got to work in the cake world for a change on Friday. I covered two square cakes with fondant to make them look like presents. They came out beautiful. Then I put together a Doberge cake (on a large scale to be cut into smaller pieces). After I put it together and let it cool, it was time to cut and Tariq said, "No you can't use that b/c of the slant." The problem was a flexible sheet pan, so as a solution I looked for the flattest sheet pans I could find to bake the cake on Saturday morning. When It came to butting it together I used a fiberglass sheet pan (it doesn't flex like the metal pans can in the center). Also Tariq showed us how to make the icing level even if one part of the cake is to thin the icing can be thicker. Well, I knew how to do that but I listened, because there is always an an opportunity to learn new techniques. On the cake I did Friday, I did do the icing correctly, but because of the metal sheet pan flexing down in the middle, well it only looked level. Once I took the cake off the sheet pan and put it on a flat surface, the cake was bowed up in the middle. After the lady cut the new one there was only a slight slant so I came close to being right. Next time I'll get it perfect. I was also presented with a new chef jacket with Sucre embroidered on it. So cool! This week I was given an evaluation from my Sucre supervisor so it could be sent to the Le Cordon Bleu externship coordinator. The review was excellent and I was so proud of myself. I will keep putting 110% into my work.

20th Day of Externship

Sorry, I have been busy this week. Last Saturday I got my first burn at work, then I got another one on Tuesday, and then again today I burnt my fingers again. It is not too bad though, I will live. This week I worked more on making parts of desserts so that they could be put together not only for the store but for a wholesale order. The Saints played on Thursday. It was their first season home game. And in honor of the big day Joel and Tariq made us amazing hamburgers. The buns were even made fresh (I guess you would figure that at a bakery). Also on Thursday, Joel showed me how to cut a pineapple the right way to save as much of the fruit as possible. I can't wait to go to school and learn knife skills and tricks of the culinary world. Today, I was alone by myself, at least as far as the task I was doing. There were other people there in other areas. I took pictures of the six types of cupcakes that I was making at Sucré. They are really good. Especially the chocolate salted caramel cupcake, also known as the Saints Cup Cake. I am learning a lot and having loads of fun.

From top left to right: Chocolate/Chocolate, Vanilla/Lemon, Chocolate/Salted Caramel. From bottom left to right: Chocolate/Caramel, Vanilla/Chocolate, Vanilla/Strawberry. (cupcake/frosting)

16th Day of Externship

Well, the past few days I started working in chocolate world (that's what I call it). I worked from start to finish twice on the gingerbread chocolate candies for the Christmas holiday season. It was fun, and my arm is sore from how I have to hold the chocolate mold container. I also did more macaroons, and finishing touchs on some desserts. I baked off some more BAC's. Which turned out right today. YAY! :) The only downer, that I'll live from, was burning my forearm on the hot sheet pan when pulling it out of the oven.

14th Day of Externship

Well, today was fun. I got to work in chocolate world all day. I made two different ganaches and completely made some molded chocolate candies, except for the foot that I will put on tomorrow. It kinda felt like it ought to be Friday the 13th. When I was spraying the the molds the air compressor fell down three times. First it fell off the the plastic bin it was sitting on that was near the table, but it was okay. Next it fell behind the plastic bin and severed the power cord. Wow, did that give me a scare, even though I know it wasn't my fault. The air compressor vibrates around on its own. So I showed Tariq and we striped the wires and put it back together. Yay! It worked again! Then it fell down again. So Tariq moved it to the bottom of the table. The next thing to go wrong was the electricity went out in the building, but only for a few minutes. Thank goodness. (Apparently we are located on a weak power grid, so it happens often.) Then when I pulled the chocolate macaroons they were purple. So, I was told not to work with them and wait till Tariq looks at them. On my way home, when I went to go fill up my gas tank. The gas station was running low so all I got was 5 gallons. I'll have to go back and finish filling up another time. What a crazy day.