Kali is Graduating!!

Yay!!!!!!!

Kali is graduating this week from 

L'Academie de Cuisine's Pastry Arts Program!

Eighteen months of study which included an internship at an authentic

French Bistro and Cafe.

And for those of you who may think she looks a mess in this photo - they put chocolate below their lip to test the temperature.

A good pastry chef can tell when the chocolate is at the right temperature by the way it feels on their chin. 

Hmmmm. So, Kali looks just right :).

In this post I am doing something I have only ever done 

once or twice before - posting without edits.

For a couple reasons:

I am leaving soon to start driving to Maryland.

(Graduation is on Friday.)

And, last night I managed to rupture a blood

vessel in one eye. I am having massive problems

keeping that eye open and it hurts like crazy.

Doc called it a subconjunctival hemorrhage and

says it will clear up in a couple weeks,

but for now the white of my right eye is entirely red and 

my eye is watering like crazy. 

Light hurts, so my computer screen is turned almost all the way down.

I can't see to edit, but I wanted to post about Kali's graduation 

before I leave town.

 This was the first really cool project Kali made in class.

The blue is cooked sugar - basically a lollipop.

The rose is . . . . chocolate!

(What is that wonderful smell?

Sorry Frozen fans!)

 Kali studied cake decoration with a couple of the

hands-down best women in the industry.

This entire rose (except for the tin foil it's resting on)

is made of gum paste. Kali is super good at flowers!

 Sorry, but I don't really know the names of any of these cakes.

Just that they are really yummy!

Kali is now living in Colorado.

She is living her dream of being a pastry chef -

an assistant pastry chef for now -

in the pastry kitchens of Kneaders Bakery and Cafe.

I am so proud of my Kali-girl!

She knew what she wanted to do, we made a way for it to happen, 

and she worked super hard!

My understanding is that Kali finished 

with a 96.48 GPA

and will be graduating with honors!

Whoot! Whoot! Way to go, Kali!

(And if you think about it, please say a prayer that my eye will heal quickly. Hurts like the dickens right now and I'll be making that 800 mile drive alone.)

Colorado Bound and Tears

 Posts have been irregular lately.

We moved Kali back home after she completed

culinary/pastry arts education in Maryland.

Last week she accepted a job in Colorado - 

as a Pastry Chef!

An excellent opportunity for her - 

just far away from home.

Last night we emptied out her storage unit

and loaded up the U-Haul.

Finished up this morning with a few last minute things

from the house. 

 I did mention she was moving to Colorado,

didn't I?

The day she gets there - the high is supposed to be in the 20's.

So, cute little fluffy hats are in order.

And here is my Kali-girl and her pom-pom Sable sitting in the U-Haul, patiently waiting for food.
Seriously, I am so proud of Kali for reaching out and grabbing her dreams! So many of us never do that because of fear, or finances, or any of a host of other reasons. I am so thankful that we were able to help her reach her goal,  and that she was able to excel and be successful.
Now. Back to drawing. Probably lots of blurred lines today. It's hard to get the tears to stop.

Getting Musical With Kali

My Kali-girl has been up to something new. And we'd like to invite you to check it out :).

Many of you have been following my blog for quite some time, and know that fifteen months ago I had to say good-bye to my Kali-girl as she took off for the north. She went to follow her dream of becoming a professional French pastry chef.

This is the phone picture I took of Kali trying on uniforms the day after Hurricane Sandy went storming through the northeast.  She took her entrance exam and tried on uniforms as the school was open for a couple hours, while people and businesses assessed storm damages all around us. Even wearing the smallest uniform they make, we knew there would need to be alterations.

Now, here it is fifteen months later. Kali completed the classroom portion of her studies, finishing at the top of her class, and is currently almost completed with her internship. Kali has been blessed to be able to work in the field  at an authentic French bistro and cafe, learning the hands-on business from the ground up.

Now that she has a bit more time, Kali is trying to re-connect with her love of music.  She started a new blog, and has challenged herself to post a music video each day. Every instrument is one that Kali has taught herself to play,  learning mostly by way of the internet. God bless youtube! I want to invite you to visit Kali daily. Listen and leave an encouraging word.  She is trying to get her voice used to singing on a daily basis again, and is showing some creativity with some of her instruments, as you will surely see in Day #4 of the challenge. Kali's blog is called Sweets Dream and you can visit here. Have fun! 

Hors d'Oeuvres Buffet at LAC

Most of you know that Kali is attending culinary school to become a professional pastry chef. She is almost done with phase one, which culminates in an hors d'oeuvres buffet and another eight hour exam. The buffet was yesterday and the three students remaining in the evening program did a fantastic job. They each had four items to make, and Chef Claude prepared a couple other items to round out the buffet.

It was a pretty impressive spread of hors d'oeuvres shared with family and a few friends. Everything was amazing! And everything you see was made from scratch, including all the breads and even the mayonnaise in the egg salad. 

Unofficially dubbed the Three Mousseketeers, these three students prepared some fantastic foods! Terry, Andy, and Kali. Evening Pastry Arts Program at L'Academie de Cuisine. 

And here you have the whole team - Andy, Terry, Kali, Instructor Chef Claude, and Teaching Assistant Karen. Chef Claude studied the art of pastries in France, and has worked in the most prestigious kitchens in the D.C. area for the past 30 years, including contract work for the White House. Kali is so blessed to have him as her instructor!

L'Academie de Cuisine was founded in 1976 by Chef Francois Dionot, culminating a culinary career from Switzerland, to France, to the United States. Here he is with Kali and Chef Claude.

An awesome spread.

These wonderful things are Cheese Lollipops. Kali made them with cheese and cayenne pepper. Some were filled with roasted red peppers, some with tapenade (olives and anchovies). They were crunchy and surprising. I liked them a lot!

On the bottom, those are Asparagus Vol-au-vant with Beurre Blanc. Kali made these with puff dough, asparagus, and beurre blanc. (She said that with a straight face, like I knew what beurre blanc is.)

Egg Salad Salambo: eggs, pickles, olives, capers, and homemade mayonnaise. Kali's dish. And don't you love her red bird she made to go with the egg salad?

Gougere, made with two types of cheese, cayenne pepper, thyme, salt, pepper, and dijon mustard. This was Kali's fourth item. Delicious!

This is the only shot I got of Kali with the spread of hors d-oeuvres. I wish I had noticed her eyes were closed. Sorry. This is normal attire for class.

Chef Claude made the Cheese Shortbread with cheese and worcestershire sauce. They had a real kick to them, I ate several.

Foie de Volaille en Brioche, made of brioche stuffed with chopped chicken livers. Really very tasty and good.

Another shot of Kali's Cheese Lollipops.

I'm not sure what this one was called, nor what was in it. Sorry.

This looked pretty incredible, almost too pretty to eat. Pissaladiere made with sweated onions, anchovies, and olives. 

Salmon Tartar on french bread.

Savory Palmiers.

I think Chef Claude made the Cheese Straws:  puff dough, cheese, and cayenne pepper. Everyone had one of these! (Or two, or three.)

Quail Egg Bouchee with Beurre Blanc.

Spanakopita, a Greek style hors d'oeuvres made with phyllo dough, spinach, and feta.

Terry made these Ham and Cheese Quiche. They were excellent!

Oh my word! These Blue Cheese Tarts were something to behold! When I ate the first one, I ate the candied walnut first only to discover that it had been candied with cayenne pepper. Quite spicy! The blue cheese/cream cheese mix was a good balance for the spiciness of the walnut. Great job, Terry!

This was not part of the buffet per se, but was on display in that area. Earlier in the phase, each student made a pastillage. Made of all edible materials, but they are not recommended for eating. The students' pieces are on display in the classroom. The tall one on the left was Andy's. It is the coat of arms from his hometown in Albania. Top right was Terry's, based on a photograph from Jamaica, her home. Bottom left is Kali's piece, inspired by conversations she and I had about her dream of studying at L'Academie de Cuisine. 
Wonderful job, students! I can't wait to see what you learn in phase two. Thanks to Chef Claude and Karen for sharing their knowledge and experience every day! You are amazing!

Almost There

I am sure you've noticed I've been traveling a lot lately. Visits with Kali, going back and forth to Florida. I've gotten used to taking pictures of where I am in my journey, and texting them to Mark and Kali so they both know how far I've gotten. State line signs are easy targets. Humongous traffic jams for miles and miles on end always  scream "Virginia!" South of the Border paraphernalia lets them know I am half way there. On this trip, I got caught by this train literally within about a mile of Kali's apartment. What better way to let them know how close I was than with a photo of the train. Haha! And they both knew I would be at her door within minutes.
Photo taken with my iphone.

Trying Something New

Before I start, let me say that, no, I am not working on gradient color, thus making my photo white at the top and blue at the bottom. Haha! That would be my iphone. Sorry. It's the best I've got on the road.
I have long admired CZT Shelly Beauch's beautiful artwork which you can see here :). Her work is detailed, fine, gorgeous, and different from anything else you'll see. I love it! Shelly is from Tasmania, and she works on large scale a lot. I thought I would love to learn how to do that. So, I went to Michael's and bought a 16" x 20" Canson Bristol board to give it a go. This is what I drew during night number one. I hope to provide a step-out soon for that tulip pattern at the top. It just sort of evolved as I was drawing it out on Kali's dining room table. I am going to name it for her. 
That linking of elements I learned from Judy West, Australia, who runs the Celtic Challenge. A lot of her elements are linked. I love Judy's work, which combines doodling with patterning. She has such creative ideas. 
I will continue to work on this piece and let you see it along the way. Hopefully. Have a great week! I am currently driving back to Florida. Will be back at home soon.

Swish and Flick!

 I can not believe I am posting all these pictures - hahahaha! One of our favorite places to go to is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We have all the required paraphernalia - the wands, the butterbeer mugs, the pygmy puffs. ($ for Honeydukes.)

 We made one last visit before Kali moved up north for school. While we were there, Kali got a HP photo frame and wanted to get a picture of the two of us to put in it. So, yesterday we set up some photos and had Mark take pictures.

 Some of these really speak for themselves. It's too bad we don't have an audio track to go with these. I had no idea what we were doing. Can you tell?

 I was getting closer to the right idea, I think . . . 

 . . . and then Kali lost it. Hahahaha!

 So we gave up on that idea and went with collecting memories for the pensieve. Good one, hmm? We almost look like we know what we are doing.

 And then there's this one.

 We finally got lucky and came up with a couple pictures where one of us doesn't look like a dork (the dork would be me.) Mission accomplished.

 There's my beautiful girl! And when we were done, she told me I could keep the wand :). What a great daughter! Yay!!!

 Mark did a great job with the photos.

This is the one we decided to frame. A cropped version of one of the above. From here it's all swish and flick!