I have a confession. I think I'm going to throw up.

Boom. Big month.

July 2. Mid-term review. The dreaded Seaside Terrace. The disciplinary dock. When we are going to be scolded, this is where Adam takes us, torturous bliss. Yes, please look at that gorgeous view of the ocean while I crack the whip. 

I cower and avoid eye-contact with oncoming co-workers as I follow the chief Titan to the deck.

 "Are you scared?!"

"Just a bit....?"

"Really????!!!! WHY?! Don't you think you'd know if I weren't happy with you?"

I begin to breath again, and attempt to make eye-contact. Bahhhhhhhhhhhhh! All-in-all it is a positive review with mention of a future with The Ocean House. I leave happy. FANTASTIC!

Seaside Terrace, torturous bliss

July 3. Pull into the warehouse parking lot, (the employee gathering point where we wait eagerly to see which shuttle broke down on it's 352 mile daily adventure to lug all 400 employees to and from the big yellow house by the sea) I have about 8 minutes before Bob is expected to pull in to escort us to work, I think to myself, "I don't want to wait a year to get married, meh. Wait. It's leap year, November 2 is a Friday this year, people get married on Fridays all the time. Let's do this." My thoughts become reality after my text asking permission from the Mr. says YES! Please! And my Mother responds to my inquiry about an available date with a confirmation voicemail saying it's a go!!!! Now I just have to break the news to the rest of the world, including my bosssssssssssss.....

Besides the awesome LOVEFEST that our wedding will be, this lady/genius right here is what I am most pumped about!!! I have loved chatting and planning with her!! GROUP 5 NEVER SAYS DIE!

July 4-6. Go America. An All-American Quiche, Turkey Ranch BLT. Delish. Normal A.M. prep, mignardises, and Red, White, and Blue everything possible. Duh. A nice journey to Greenwich for my day's off, grilling with the Friend and fireworks. Boom Boom BOOM! Literally. 

Go AMERICA, Corn on the cob, hot dogs, and ddp. True American.

July 7. Let's do this. Except it is the ONLY day Adam doesn't come in until 10:30, he must have secretly known I was going to "call a meeting" and he was trying to torture me. Bah. So, once again, without making eye-contact, I told Adam that we moved the wedding up....

"So, um, Adam, Curtis and I got impatient and moved the wedding to THIS November....."

"Hannah! That is awesome!!!!"

"....which means, I won't be returning after my internship is complete....(I wince as I fear his reaction)"

"What?! WHy!?"

"um, I'd like to live with my husband...?"

"Oh Hannah......If I have to lose you to someone I guess it can be your husband"

Honestly one of the scariest moments of my life. 

The reaction from Adam was much more positive that I had imagined, Chef John has been threatening to have "his people" fire Curtis. His version of problem solving. whatev. 

So that is my month in a nutshell. 

Kidding. 

In the learning realm, I am still going strong, everyday is a new technique and secret. I am gaining more and more responsibility and my timing is improving daily. Ahhh. I LOVE it!

Monday-Wednesday, heavy restaurant prep, mignardises, and daily refreshments! Saturday: Brunch prep. Sunday: My little corner with the view! Crepes made to your liking, guest interaction, sweaty legs (200 degree burners with little ventilation and thick pants makes for a bit of discomfort.)

Key Lime Macs....proud of those feet!

"Greek Salad" Quiche. pre-bake. love these dudes.

An additional learning experience this month, Mignardise cart showpiece that doubled as a showpiece for Mrs. Royce's Bastille Day party for her 90 closest friends! Mrs. Royce is the wife of the fella who dropped $200 mil out of pocket to buy the little cottage we like to call The Ocean House. 

I'm on a Boat!!! Chocolate Sailboat!!!

Crashing waves, pinstripes, and an OH flag. DUH!!

High tide.

Aside from work, I don't do much socially. I WORK OUT!!! wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. yeah. And I do homework, and plan a wedding. Yep. That's about it. I visit my Friend Curtis on my Thursday and Friday's off and when my friends from home come to the big city, I go and spend the day with them!!!! Thank you Aimee for the phone call, I LOVED our reunion in NYC!!! 

I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of my ring bearer and my return home to Augusta to find my dress with my mom's and sisters!!! Can't Wait!!! bahhhh!!!! EEEEE!!! Big things happening, big, giant things happening. So, So pumped.  

Grand Central with my fav event planner!! Miss you cutie!

Until next time.....

"Nine Pan? We Do Our Prep in Speed Racks"

WHOA. Yeah. Where to begin???? Yes, so I fell through with the New Year's Resolution of weekly updates, I do apologize. School got real intense and time became impossible to find. I don't think I can recap the last four months better than by saying it has been amazing. School was incredible, I learned a crazy amount in a short period of time, I built some awesome friendships and relationships with my blockmates and chefs, I secured and started my internship, I moved, I helped to marry off my best friends, I had ANOTHER birthday, and I got engaged-- to name a few!! Bahhhhh, it is insane what has changed since January!!

Wedding Cake 

:) Chef Adrian, Pete, Chef Dan

Dinner with my BFF

Birthday in NYC

Our Best Friend's Wedding

EEEEEEEEE, 11/2/13

Part of my internship class is a monthly blog update, what better way to reunite than by requirement?! Perf!

So let's start from the beginning, or April 24, my first day at The Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island http://www.oceanhouseri.com/index-alt.php.

B-E-A-Utiful Ocean House

Boom. Pastry Intern. The first week or so was a bit, err, um, well, uncomfortable-you know how it is when you start a new job. I was yearning for time to pass and comfort to come, I wanted to know where to find a saucepan without assistance, I wanted to come in and know what I was expected to do, I wanted the confidence that I had in previous kitchens. I am now much more comfortable and confident. I have been through two big holidays, a few handfuls of events, and a menu change and I am looking forward to the rise in business as the season progresses!

Mother's Day Dessert Buffet

I am blessed with an incredible group of people to work with and learn from

Spitting Image

• Adam: Boss. Baller, Bahhhhhhh. Hands down the best possible human being to learn pastry from, AMAZING mentor. 

• Meghan: Momma Meg. Has been awesome from day negative 43, helped me with questions I had prior to the application, helped with the dreadful apartment search, and helps me daily with new and exciting recipes. FANTASTIC lady.
• Sarah: Sweet Sarah. PM plater. She joins me at 3:00 and always saves me a cheese puff! Go team pastry. Duh.

Official NECI grads. Sarah and Meghan

In addition to team pastry there are a ton of other fabulous kitchen cuties at OH:

• Chef John: Executive Chef. Refers to me as sideshow or freakshow or whatever affectionate name comes to mind when he sees me and my untamable fur peaking out of my cap.
• Team Banquet: Marky Mark-we have an ongoing paper, scissors, rock war that I am constantly losing due to my attempt at "strategy" which is really just me over analyzing the dueling hand game. JC and Cuz, they're cousins and two of the nicest fella's you'll meet. 
• Team AM Seasons: Marissa, Diane, Jeffery Clark, Andrew, and Christine. All awesome. They call and I come running. Literally.
• Team Seasons PM, Team Verandah, Team Seaside, and Team Dunes. I don't work as closely with them, but they are always a pleasure to be around in our homey kitchen. 

A few of my responsibilities include:

• AM/casual prep and plating
• Chocolate Tart-6 components
• Creme Brulee -4 components
• Lemon Dome-5 components
• Blackberry Jaconde-5 components
• Sorbet Tasting-5 components
• "Daily" Quiche. $22 dose of creativity. Today's beast: Maple Sausage, fennel, apple, pepper melange, and Atwell Gold cheddar.
• Tea Service- macaroons, Madeline's, mini opera cakes, scones, shortbread, strawberry jam, marscapone, and whipped butter 
• Afternoon refreshments-Scones and cookies
• Turndown amenities-macaroons, cookies, and chocolates(Adam's beautiful creations)
• Mignardises- all sorts of goodies
• A few small banquets (a few brownies, lemon bars, and cookies here and there), 
• Sunday Brunch crepe station-Crepes made to order. Interaction with guests. Utilizing BOTH degrees. 

Chocolate Tart

Lemon Dome

Blackberry Jaconde

Vanilla Creme Brulee

Sorbet Tasting: Chocolate, Red Plum, Blackberry, Rhubarb

Crepe Station! Picture me with a apron and a smile.

A mini tour of the new digs? Here ya go!

Production Kitchen, the closest set of ovens is pastry

Production kitchen. The three walk-ins (Produce, Production,  Dairy) are located on the right wall.

A small portion of dry storage

Pastry's fraction of the kitchen. We do work.

My station

Seasons kitchen. (Restaurant)

Season's Pastry station-plating happens here.

Season's Pastry Station

A new state. 

A new kitchen.

A new experience. 

I love it. A very challenging and rewarding internship, I am pumped for what is to come!

P.S. 'Ole Regis Philbin shared some time at OH today, a return visit based on this gem: 

Willy Wonka and Trick Daddy Know Where It's At

The beautiful world of candy and confections, a place in which your blood sugar soars and your belt is binding, but a smile forever remains. This magical place is so alluring that The Archies, Baby Bash, Trick Daddy, Sammy Davis Jr., and 50 Cent have found inspiration to deliver lasting lyrics and memorable melodies,"I'll take you to the candy shop, I'll let you lick the lollipop".... truly compelling. 


This week in Candyland wonderful things went down. 

• CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE. We played with $564 worth of chocolate in 3 days. Boom. We created truffles, chocolates, transfer sheets, spheres, rods, hearts, eggs, pods, and so on and so forth. Our creativity was tested when we were set free to practice the newly acquired techniques in preparation for our chocolate showpiece final this upcoming week. We painted with cocoa butter, carved, and free handed delicate shapes, and miraculously I came home with MINIMAL chocolate embellishing my whites!

DELICIOUS Disaronno cordials

Peter making those tasty cordials

My chocolate spheres prior to being assembled

A little chocolate contraption

Filled Chocolates!!! Caramel, Gianduja, flavored fondant.

Creepy Chocolate Hand

• Made Gianduja, chocolate nut paste, like Nutella! mmmmm 
• In lecture this week, we were assigned to do a short project over a particular confection and then present it to the class. My assigned confection was salt water taffy, an Eastern seaboard treat that originated in the late 1800's, mmmmm, I prefer Laffy Taffy myself, "A joke on every wrapper", how can you possibly resist? 
• SUGAR!!!! Following our presentation's we started creating some fabulous treats. We spilt into teams to experience the different cooking stages of sugar: Simple Syrup, thread, feather, soft ball, firm ball, hard ball, soft crack, hard crack, and caramelization. Chef Adrian named us "Team F" and was throughly entertained by his joke, seeing a British man of small stature giggle exceedingly is incredibly entertaining. Each of us created a sugary treat. Taffy, nougat, chocolate nougat, lollipops, gelees, buttercrunch, sponge candy, brittle, fudge x2, turtles, and red hots. I made Taffy, which is quite a work-out, with the help of my fantastic assistant Peter, the process became increasingly entertaining. He oiled a dough hook and held it as I wrapped and pulled the taffy, "I'm just an oiled-up hooker", oh Pete!

My "Oiled up hooker"

TAFFY!!!

Our Candy Shop

• We tried to grow rock candy through a supersaturated sugar solution and in doing so we learned the harmful effects of agitation and contamination in the crystallization of sugar. The results were huge chunks of sugar residing in mason jars. meh.

Rock Candy before the contamination

• I received an awkward wenis massage from Chef Adrian. 

Chef Adrian trying Pop Rocks for the first time

• I realized that I have an incredibly literal mind and I am not capable of drawing abstract structures. When given the task of drawing an abstract showpiece following the theme of rotation, the only things I could come up with were geometric shapes trying to form a tornado or a ferris wheel? Yeah, that's what happens when you take math as an elective rather than art, bahhhh.
• Mid-term reviews, ooooooh. It went pretty well. I think. 

With my current class schedule it is nearly impossible to do any extra-cirricular activities. My days consist of rising early and leaving my house at 6:30am and returning home around 8:00 pm, it doesn't leave too much time for additional adventures. The weekends  currently consist of scrambling about trying to prevent frostbite, do laundry, work on homework, and contact internship sites, I am hoping to have a go with my first site this week. So so so excited, I REALLY want this site as my first full-time employer! I'll keep you updated on that journey as it unfolds!

Peter as Chef Adrian

Now I am off to prepare for a busy busy week of work, finals, and a visit to see my Friend!!!

WHOA!! It's been awhile

So.....um, yes, it has indeed been awhile since I have updated on my Arctic Adventure. I'm going to go ahead and blame the excitement of finals, my journey home, and Christmas for the lack of updates....that sounds good doesn't it?!


I have encountered an array of activities since I last wrote home, I suppose I will condensed week by week synopses of my adventures. (With the New Year I have resolved to write bi-monthly if not weekly from here on out)

December 5-11
Week three in my Roomies's 6 week stint in New Zealand galavanting around with sheep and kiwi's.

• Many learning moments occurred that week in class.
• I was assigned original cakes and tarts that week so I took the opportunity to practice for my final and I am soooo glad I did because my experiments definitely needed some adjustments. I discovered that maple syrup may taste delicious, but it isn't a great substitute in baking due to its water content- maple extract is a much more successful product. 
• We made strudel, a really really REALLY thin dough, like cheesecloth thin, that is layered with a sweet filling. Kinda like those really really thin pancakes.....but not really.
• I accidentally, unintentionally tempered chocolate when I wasn't supposed to. I had chocolate melting throughout class to make large ruffles for the top of a cake, but the fluctuation of temperatures caused it to come into temper, which wasn't ideal for the project I was working on, however, Chef Philipe was impressed with the ordeal.

Chocolate Ruffle

• I experienced the variation in different Chef's teaching styles. Ugh. Some teach and some do, well try to do.

Ginger cake with pear filling and white chocolate buttercream

• Local crazies can try to hold up a bakery with a knife and they will be released from jail within a matter of hours. "I don't have any money, but I can offer you a muffin?!"

In addition to learning moments, my social life took a turn for the better. I had a little gathering with some block-mates in which we watched The Wizard of Oz, made Tornados (a very fitting beverage for the evening), played some Just Dance, and dined on some funfetti cupcake batter.

December 12-18

The anticipation for my journey to Kansas was making me stir-crazy, it was an incredible. 

• Raspberry Mousse cakes, Hazelnut Marscapone Cakes, White Chocolate-Lime Curd Cakes, Ladyfingers, 27.5 lb of buttercream, hazelnut sponge cake, and prep for my final. 
• The Battle of the Mods, a domestic dispute between a wicked Mod 2 and a blockmate. The result was a juvenile lecture from Chef John, Trenton regaining possession of HIS spatula, a few curse words from Chef Philipe, and blubbering. 
• A DAY OF CHRISTMAS. I was longing for it to feel like Christmas so Peter, Caitlyn, Jessie, and I had a day of purely Christmas. Ugly Sweaters, Christmas Music, Sleigh rides, The Wayside Diner for Game Night, a sobriety checkpoint in which we exchanged business cards with the cop, and a Christmas themed Farmers Market. "I feel like I just got B*tchslapped by Christmas!"

Competition

Vermont Family Photo

• A fantastic viewing of Elf and Dirty Dancing and a dinner of Scooby-Doo waffles (I indulged in TWO) with a great friend. 

December 19- January1

IT FINALLY ARRIVED!!!!! The week in which I would return home to my loves. But first I had to do my practical final exam for Cakes and Tarts. 20 White Chocolate Cranberry Mousse Tarts, 3-6in Maple Pecan Mousse Cakes and 10 individual cakes. I passed! Boom! Additional Montpelier excitement included a Mod 3 Tapas dinner to celebrate the completion of Mod 3, A cookie catastrophe-too much drama up in here, the return of my roomies literally 2 minutes before I left for a trip to Burlington to send me off on an airplane!! 

Maple Pecan Mousse Cake

White Chocolate Cranberry Mousse Tart

Individual Maple Pecan Mousse Cake

Mod 3 Block A/B

Tapas! 

Cookies!!!!

Hand made kisses courtesy of yours truly!

Home was everything I imagined it would be, it just went entirely too fast. I already miss it oh so much. 

• Wednesday: The angry elf of a security agent took my only two Christmas presents in airport security. ugh. Seeing my Mom, Kodah, Laura, and Mandy for the first time in four months, oh it was spectacular. Driving home 3 hours to see Papa Bear and Baby Brother. 
• Thursday: A wake-up call from Curtis informing me he was on his way to pick me up to go Christmas shopping. A day full of Kodah's photography, Baby Brother's company, and my Friend to start off the glorious time at home. My first visit to TARGET!!! Then a visit to Curtis's best friends house to see the beautiful new babe.

Baby Brother, Photography by Dakotah

• Friday: Another shopping extravaganza this time with Momma and Laura. The day started off at Sam's to get ingredients for the Spaghetti dinner for the troops. That took a bit longer than planned due to the transformer that was blown causing the power outage in NE Wichita, shopping in the dark and a human powered transaction. Chipotle=delish. Dinner with the fam and troops. 

Family dins

• Saturday: "Aunt Hannah, wakeup, we have sooo much to do today!" Gingerbread house, Gingerbread house accident, Eggnog cupcakes, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Tollhouse Pie, Cranberry Salad, Breaking bread for the stuffing, dicing celery and onions. "We need to get ready for Church, Santa's on his way!!!" that was at 5:30, Church started at 11:00. Traditional Chicken and Noodles and Clam Chowder, opening Christmas Eve ornaments, and A Muppet's Christmas Carol. Dakotah discovered Santa Doppler and was freaking out from the time he got to Senegal to his arrival in the the U.S. Laura and I had a slumber party with Kodah where we were scolded for being too loud, "Zip.Your.Lip. Santa will know you are awake!!!" 

Incredible attention to detail

Love them bunches

"SHHHHH, Santa can hear you!!!"

• Sunday: "Do you think Santa is gone yet?!" Opening presents, cinnamon rolls, coffee, and nap before the preparation of Christmas dinner began. The production schedule kept Mom, Dad, and I on task while Curtis played princesses with Kodahbear. A perfect Christmas. Then the nomadic adventure began. Curtis and I departed for Hutch and finally saw Shelby and Derek!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An incredible evening of chatter and laughter! When we arrived at Curtis's house I was greeted with 2 hour chat with papa Schriever pertaining to baking-pure bliss. 

Morning Monster

• Monday: Curtis's family Christmas. Ultra nervous but I survived! Football with the cousins, carriage crossing photography, and country road jaywalking. Then back to Augusta to pack for our trip to Manhattan!

"Jaywalking"

• Tuesday: MANHATTAN!!!!! Colbert's reunion! Derek and Shelby's new home, and capturing the lease signing! A Target adventure with Shelby and then the best dinner I had while back home: Derek's Enchiladas and Orange Leaf. A Silly Mr. Gourlay, and the reunion of 1768 Cassell including G-Baby. A quick trip to Aggieville for Nancy's at So Long Saloon and a quick visit with Mr. Maddux. 

Grown-ups!

1768 Cassell Family

• Wednesday: Return to Augusta to lounge with the fam, a quick run, and a lovely trip to Barnes and Noble with Kodah and Laura. Then game night with the Brenner's and the Minard's with lots of Man Vs. Food and sticky corn.

Reading baking books!

• Thursday: A relaxing day with the fam at home, a challenging run, and a AHS ladies reunion at Larry Bud's. Thank you Katy Little, Suzanne Cocke, Mallory Hurst, Jessica Emry, Jenny Hromek, Courtney Schwemmer, Brooke Burns, and Kali Taylor for an incredible evening of Karaoke, dancing, and company. "She bleeds hair powder", Jess I can't wait for you to come visit me in the NE!!!! Oh and an accidental reunion with Kristen Case and Aimee Schumacher!!! 

Jessica Emry with the Volcano Shot, Thank you!

• Friday: Shopping with the fam, orange leaf with Mandy, Kodah, and Curtis, Mandatory Family Game Night where we discovered Kodah's very competitive nature-it ended in tears. 

"Papi, you're embarrassing me!"

• Saturday: Shopping with Ma, Pa, and Kodah, Date Night!!!!, grown-up chat with Curtis, and champagne with Dad at midnight......sadness knowing that it was coming to an end.

I kinda dig him

• Sunday: Pack, say goodbye, and set out for KC. bah, it was awful. A very very short goodbye with the rents because of terminal confusion, more devastation. Having my name called over the loud speaker for last boarding call. A two hour delay turned into a four hour delay, complete boredom, then arriving to Burlington and having a fantastic friend be so accommodating in his retrieving me from the airport.  

Goodbye's are Gross

Back to reality. Gross. 

A New Year, a new mod, and a new class. Advanced Chocolate and Sugar, Noon-6pm M-F, Chef Adrian, an incredible small British man. Professional Development to prep for INTERNSHIP!!!!!

In addition, my Friend Curtis is officially a New Englander now!!! Only four and a half short hours from me, and I hope to visit soon to check out his new digs!!! Also, I have had my first glimpse into the harsh Vermont winters, just in time for my return to the NE we had snow and sub-zero temperatures. Boom. 

So far so good. Lots of playing! We started out the week with Chef Dan, a very tall majestic man with hands the size of frisbees that create the most amazing and delicate sugary treats and art, he conducted my first ever Brigade check, I was a bit nervous but I passed. Day one was prep for petit fours and scrubbing the rust off of half-dollar tart shells for two hours. My hands are still pruney and cut up. Day two and three we created beautiful petit fours and Chef Adrian thought I had mental incapacities due to my not understanding the sharing of our cakes. We got through it when he literally held my hand until I understood. We then moved on to caramels and couverture, each of us had a different caramel recipe, we executed them and tested them, mine tasted like Vermont (honey and espresso, not a tasty combination). Our final day was a glorious day of tempering chocolate and creating chocolate art. Chef Adrian commented on my tempering job and used my chocolate to demo, a very rewarding experience, oh then he called me a corpse from the neck down. Fantastic. 

My Petit fours

Trenton's Frogs

Chef Adrian's, Mine, Jessie's

Frangipane, amaretto pre-coating

Water Lily petals!

Class lillies!

Chocolate water lilly!

Phew, now that I feel as though I have vommed words all over the place I do promise that I will keep the breaks to a minimum.