Sugar High

I'm almost halfway sure that most of you know where I'm going to be this summer. Not entirely, because whenever I do tell someone who asks, I'm met with a "wtf. Why didn't you say anything?" When I had distinctly remembered going through the same sort of action/reaction bit a few weeks earlier. My memory is shot. But, if I haven't told you, you can probably guess. Yep, Paris. "Weren't you just there?" Yes. I don't think I've gone one year since 2007 without seeing Paris.

If you're wondering what I'll be doing there, besides brushing up on my slowly diminishing French speaking skills, I'll be "apprenticing/learning/interning" at a small family bakery called "La Tradition" in the Mairie d'Ivry general area of Paris. I'm not nervous. Ask me again in about a week and a half and I'll tell you all the things I need to do and how scared sh*tless I am. I don't know exactly what I'll be doing or who I'll be working with or even who I'll be living with. All I know is that I'll be spending the summer doing what I absolutely love.

I tried to assess why at such a strange stage in my life that I concluded how much I love to bake. Could have been the spike in cooking the media -- but then I thought -- that's always been around... could have been the prevalence of "food" in my childhood and how much I lusted for an easybake oven (that I never got, thanks MOM.) Could have been the pastries that made me fat summer '07 during my first visit to Paris. . .

It could have been all those things. But I think the main thing that drives me is that baking makes people happy :) It's a comfort to me -- sugar, butter, eggs, flour, vanilla, and a dash of salt can become so many things, but it always brings out a smile. Yes, you can quote me on that. Put it on the label of a package of cookies.

No, but in all seriousness. I've never baked something for someone and gotten an "oh. Thanks. . .?" The final product is always an enthusiastic smile. And I love that!

So my internship director said that before I jetted off to another country to bake, that I should take some "official" classes. Well. I never thought about that. I've been baking since I was little, and there's not much you can really learn, other than trial and error. But hey, I wasn't going to turn down the "opportunity" to take a fun baking class, so I signed up for Gourmandise Baking Classes. The cake decorating class, and the macaron/financier class. I had mixed feelings about Gourmandise. The classes were 3 hours long, but they were conveniently close to my LA Apartment. Just at Surfas Restaurant Supply in Culver City (near where the grad art studios are). The price was pretty okay for the amount of things you were taught/what you got to take home, etc. Plus, you get a 10 percent off coupon at Surfas (that day only, though. Boo.)

I had worked with fondant oddly enough at Chinese school when I was... maybe 13 or 14. I was the teacher's assistant. The class was a sort of .. confections class, but I was familiar with all the materials. My instructor for the cake class was named Hadley or something... to be honest, she was nice, but she wasn't very helpful. But I mean... you can't not have fun when you're decorating a cake.

The girls who took the class with me were all different age ranges but most of them were.... strange. They were either complete noobs (as in, how-do-I-crack-this-egg? noob) or haughty experts (as in, you're-cracking-the-egg-wrong haughty.) And they kept copying me. I felt like I was in third grade again.

The macaron class, however, was taught by Clemence, and I had a blast. She had so much baking/head knowledge that I really learned a ton that I never knew. She made making macarons easy and approachable, which is a relief :) And they turned out marvelous. Except for the chocolate batch... which Courtney over-folded. Tee.












Before or during all these, we had a series of birthdays. I mean, in one week, I made three birthday "cakes" (one was a pie, but it counts).

Angel food cake with strawberries

And afterwards, I was commissioned to make cupcakes for Amanda's sister's bridal shower! It was a pain in the ass, but I had fun doing it.

I went with
Madagascan vanilla bean cupcakes topped with lemon/vanilla cream frosting
and a pretty fondant flower.
Her theme is teal blue/orange.
More photos from the shower to come!