Sorry for the late start!

Hi everyone! As you all know, or should know by now, I started the Classic Pastry Arts program at the French Culinary Institute last month. I moved back to Pleasantville from Philly right before orientation on Dec 18th. My first day of class was Friday, Dec 21st, which was weird, but they probably just need to get the days in. With the holidays we didn't have a full week of class until this past week. The program runs for six months and my anticipated graduation date is June 18th.

It's been kind of rough adjusting to being on a new schedule. Most of you know I haven't worked since returning from our travels in July and now I'm up at 5 AM every morning to catch the Metro-North into the city! Classes are Mon-Fri from 8:00-2:30, and we're on our feet all day... which is another huge adjustment. So far I'm really enjoying the experience and looking forward to the rest of the program. The hardest thing will be living apart from George for the duration of the program.

We just completed our first section on Tarts and Cookies and our first exam is on Monday. Below are some pictures of what I've made so far (I only started taking photos this past week):

1.8.08: Lemon Tartlettes

1.9.08: Chocolate Bavarian Tart

1.9.08: Chocolate Ganache Tart

1.10.08: Mini Tarte Tatin - not the nicest looking creation, but they tasted really good!

1.10.08: Caramel-Nut Tart

1.11.08: Linzer Torte

We also made some mini Quiche Lorraine yesterday, but I forgot to take a picture of them. But again I'll add that they were scrumptious!

My lucky parent's get to try everything I've made. Although, I think I'll stop bringing everything home because I end up eating a little bit of everything when I get home from school even though I'd already tried everything while at school. I must also add that there hasn't been much that I haven't enjoyed. It's a recipe for disaster - it could end up being like freshman 15 all over again!

So the plan is to keep a photo journal of my day to day creations and to just let everyone know how things are going daily. Now I'm off to study for my exam!