Monday, July 13, 2009

Dry Heat My A#*.....

Take a seat because I am back already! It's a miracle. Or maybe my life is just too darn exciting to keep it to myself. Yeah, I vote for miracle, too.

So, I just returned from Arizona. Just to clear one detail up-that dry heat thing is a LIE! Yes, I already was a true believer of the lie, but after soaking up the 105℉(yes the F is extremely important here!!) heat at 10PM(!!!)-okay that may be a lie-but point being it is HOT. Sweaty, pants sticking to you, gum melting, business card ruining, hot. I am still trying to figure out why one of the restaurants has ginormous torches lighting(heating) their outside seating. Or I guess why for that matter I took part in their al fresco dining? Florida ocean breeze I love you!

ANYWAY..., I was there for the world pastry forum. I went to attend a class on wedding cakes and watch National Pastry Team Championship. The winner of the competition goes on to compete in the World Pastry Championship. The competition was 2 days and the teams had to complete a chocolate showpiece, sugar showpiece, entremet, plated dessert, bonbons, petit gateau, entremet glace, presentation piece for their bonbons, as well as being judged on cleanliness, teamwork, organization. It all sounds easy, right? I mean the 2 days it's like 12 whole hours. That's like a crazy amount of time. And you have 3 people on your team except for the one team that only had 2+one broken finger. Oh, and did I mention that you have specific times to present your entremet, petit gateau, etc., throughout the competition. You just don't hit a bell and say done. They tell you. Yeah, hats off to all of the competitors. You prepare for months, mostly on your own dime. Oh, and the whole time you are working, the judges can come over and talk to you about what you are doing. No, seriously, kudos to them all. Just the months of practice takes so much discipline. They should all be winners right? You can check out www.pastrychampionship.com to see the winners and to see pictures.

Now about the wedding cakes. I never really did any wedding cakes. I made gumpaste flowers for a wedding cake. And I made a figurine, not for a wedding cake. He would be more like for some crazy tripped out party cake. Do people have many of those? But I met some great new friends and saw a lot of cool stuff. I actually brought my whole crazy cake man home (he got checked with the luggage) and he sits here with me now. Well in the office and he scares me everytime I go in. But not bad enough that you wouldn't want him for your crazy tripped out party!

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