Goofing Off

Before putting orange bubble sugar in the oven, I ran over to Tony and gave him a little hand print love on the back of his too white jacket.

Wedding Cake, again

I was saddled with a pseudo wedding cake this week. They wanted a 6" cheesecake tiered with a 4" carrot cake. I think I maybe spent about 2 hours max (not including baking time) on this $50 wonder.

From June 2007

Cleaning out the old email account and I found this anonymous comment for the blog:

"you suck, get a diffrent job, or shut the fuck up."

Then, it pissed me off. Now, it looks so lame I can only laugh. Free will. Don't read the blog if you think it sucks. Let's not even discuss the grammar.

Heh.

Pumpkin Mousse

The process: water balloons, blown up balloons, balloons shaped with rubber bands, tempered white chocolate, the dipped balloons on acetate await popping.



I have made this dessert three times in the past 5 years. When I think back and compare years 1 and 2 to this one, I am amazed how little stress resulted from this most recent batch. Of course I hadn't written down any directions and was working from my dusty memory. But I'll be damned if it wasn't old hat. Some would call that boring, but for me it was comforting. . . almost as comforting as the fact that we sold about 17 of them last night. (And last night was an evening of what the Cooks and I have termed "Combo Number 1." A Combo Number 1 is the ever so dull order of one molten cake and one creme brulee on a single ticket. I am coming to understand that folks today don't necessarily understand that our restaurant is not a corporate entity. We are not Chili's. There are actual names on the menu. And we are the ones, who through years of experience and education and our own hands, create the food that you enjoy. No microwave. No straight from the purveyor to our freezer to your table finished products. Sure, the molten and the brulee are top notch and made with ingredients you or Chili's can't or won't use. But try something you can't have at every damn restaurant in Charleston, folks.)

Anyhow, the dessert consists of a white chocolate shell in the shape of a pumpkin. I accomplish this look by using small water balloons. Blow 'em up, wrap rubber bands around them, and dip in tempered white chocolate. Dip them twice for better results (a thicker shell sustains less damage when you pop the balloons and remove the rubber bands). Fill the shells with pumpkin mousse and a fairly solid caramel filling. This year we had some fabulous pumpkin seeds from Charleston Nut Company. I toasted them and made sure there was plenty of salt in the caramel. In years past, I used a pecan caramel. Garnish includes "hay." This year I used a chiffonade of spring roll wrappers. Before I have used pasty, blah phyllo. We tossed the shredded dough with a touch of clarified butter, powdered sugar, and ground spices (the ones I used in the mousse), and baked them until golden and crispy. We cut white chocolate tinted green (inaccurately shaped, I know) into leaves. Finally, I pulled out the old sugar corkscrew to simulate pumpkin vines.

Table 65 order one. Then they decided they would have another. The Woman at the table told Mama Server she wasn't gay, but she would go lesbian for the pastry chef. Well, when the MS told her that the pastry chef was gay, the customer said she'd be my sugar mama and all I'd have to do is cook for her. I almost ran to the table. Sugar Mama's 80 year old mother said to her daughter, "if you go gay, don't tell me. Oh, wait, I don't care. Whatever makes you happy."

I should have gone out to that table. I could pay off my student loans with pumpkin mousse.

The Finished Product

hands

My hands are a wreck. They see the most action of any of my body parts and I should pamper them as a result. But do I? No. I beat the crap outta them, abuse them, cut them, burn them, and torture them.

Left Hand (The Weaker)
The thumb seems to be surviving. Same with the index finger. But the ring finger is another story. I sliced the pad of this one wide open last night while concurrently running my cold medicine-addled mouth and cleaning a paring knife. That wound matches the healing cut on my ring finger that I sustained while torting a layer of the wedding cake from this weekend. Pinky, what have you got? A nice cat scratch from the prodigal son, Merle. That scratch has a partner on the back of my hand from Merle as well.

Right Hand (The Stronger)
I slammed my thumb in a drawer on Friday and sustained a lovely blood blister right below the bottom of that nail. This one is sore and I seem to always resurrect the pain receptors when I open my cell phone to send a text. There is also a healing burn on the pad of my thumb that has a partner on the pad of my index finger. These resulted from lighting too many candles on Mel’s birthday cupcakes with a rocket hot lighter.

On the back of my hand under the index finger is a wound inflected by the indoor smoker at work. I slammed my hand into that confounded contraption last week. The bruise has already healed, but the scab remains on the cut. Middle finger, the only damage on you is a preponderance of green food coloring trapped under the base of the nail. Ringer finger shows evidence of another Merle encounter. The pinky here, however, is safe.

Looking at all the scars on my hands, it’s a wonder I still have all eleven, I mean, ten fingers.

Maura and Scott

A wonderful experience on the whole.

More Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Love

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Creme Brulee

Peanut Butter Cookies

Strawberries

Milk Chocolate Deco