The Formula

Now for some logistical and practical details of the course that I am taking. It is a one year diploma program split into four quarters. I attend class twice a week this quarter. For 8 hours each day. I am taking Introduction to Baking, Kitchen Skills for the Bakeshop and Sanitation, Safety and Supervision - a lecture class where we receive our Servsafe certification. My classmates are, for the most part, just out of high school. This puts me at just less than a decade older than most. I was told yesterday by one of my classmates that I looked 20 -tops! I told him I would take it.

After my various adventures in tertiary education - a BA in International Relations and part of a law degree - this is a very different experience. It reminds me of being in high school again. Homework assignments involve reading and making notes, researching topics in the news and studying for quizzes. I am taking to this like a fish to water. Instead of waiting until the morning before and frantically skimming the text I do my homework the night I am assigned the work. I know that this is because I am older, I have chosen to take this course, I am paying for it and I love it.

The subjects covered in the first two weeks include: food borne illnesses, sanitation, flour - how it is made, the different types, what they are used for, gluten development - basic quick breads (cookies, brownies, muffins and biscuits) and using the baking scales to measure and convert recipes. It is the kind of math and science that I love. This is a lot coming from a graduate of a liberal arts university known for having zero requirements in those departments. I haven't taken a math course since I was 16 or a science course since high school. Now that I have a practical use for the numbers and reactions the subjects seem magical. I can control everything if I understand these numbers. I can create anything if I understand the chemical properties of the ingredients, the effect of heat, moisture, oxygen.

So each day that I spend as a pastry student I learn something. And isn't that what life is supposed to be about.

First Quarter

So I have done it. I have started pastry school. It all happened very quickly. A phone call. A few letters. A visit and a loan . Now I wear a crisp chef's coat, standard checked chef's pants and carry a knife kit on the bus twice a week. I always thought that I would do something like this. I thought that I would do it later - as a hobby or an empty nest activity or as an indulgence. Instead I am doing it now, at 26, after spending a few years floating around trying on different hats. For awhile it was law, in a law firm and in a law school. That didn't take. Then I helped open a restaurant. I liked doing that. Alas, like many restaurants, it didn't last. The concept and the execution did not suit the venue and the clientèle. Then I worked in sales. I was really bad at sales. Then I lost my job. I went on many interviews, big non-profits, event planning, small non-profits, wine tasting. One day the phone rang and it was an admissions director at the pastry school I now attend. About two months later here I am. I still don't have another job - I am working on it. But I now have a focus. A focus on something I really like.

I don't really know where this is going to take me. What I do know is that I spend a lot of time reading about food, talking about food, thinking about it, making it, eating it and looking for it. Much to my parents disappointment, I have not turned into the high flying corporate attorney in a power suit (I tried though) or the doctor, or the accountant or the politician. They ask me about pastry school like you ask a little girl about her imaginary friend. It is ironic because every single one of my closest family members is deeply committed to their food. They grow their own vegetables, fruits and herbs. Catch their own fish, have butchered cows and pigs. Own restaurants. As we say at home - I come by this honestly. And irregardless of what they hoped I would be, I think they will soon understand that this is what I am supposed to be. When I worked in a law firm I would go to the bathroom, sit in the stalls and take naps. I would have slept a full 10 hours the night before, but the air-conditioning, the muffled corporate cubes, the constant typing would lull me to sleep. This would be a t 10am! Now I get up at 5am, spend 10 hours in the kitchen and look around for more to do. This is the sign of something.

I think that this year is going to be a very important one in my life and I want a record of it. This blog will be about school. It will be about my search for a job, my success in the kitchen and I anticipate, many failures. It will be about dates with my husband, at home and on the town. I am also using this forum to improve. I love to write but I need a lot of practice. It will also be about me learning how to take a decent picture of what I make, where I shop, what I buy and what we eat. I am very excited by all of this and I hope to to provide at least a little entertainment.