1, 2, 3, 4, tell me that you love me more.

This past week was full of victories and great accomplishments.

Victory number 1#

I finished my special occasion cake. After multiple sketches, an extensively planned colour pallet, and countless hours in the kitchen I finally had the joy of handing in my cake. I had all the components made in the weeks before so I just had to hunker down and awaken the inner engineer to put the cake together. I was doing great, my flowers were blossoming beautifully on the cake, the whimsical forest I had created was coming to life and the wobbly and wonderful tea cups begged to be filled with my favourite brew. And then a daisy fell over and took a pansy on the way down. It shattered a pedal, took out a leaf and toppled to the flour exploding, sending shattered pieces of fondant all over the floor. I took a breath, picked up the pieces, salvaged what I could and carried on.

Next, I moved to the tea cups. I built a sturdy tower, rotating the cups and angling them perfectly so they could support the weight of each other and of the caterpillar that rested on top of them. Things were looking up until I gently placed the caterpillar a top the colourful and creative scaffolding. The lean of the caterpillar pushed against the highest tea cup and pushed it out place, the tea cups beneath began to loose their footing and began to fall away. Not wanting to let them shatter on me a removed the caterpillar and quickly molded 6 more tea cups out of fondant. I painted them, secured them with royal icing and was back in business. The caterpillar rested peacefully and comfortably on his tea cup bed.

A few more details were added, and at last I stood back and admired my excellent craftsmanship. But the hard part was yet to come. I carefully picked up my cake and at a snails pace carried it to Chefs office. I had a long insightful chat about my cake with the Chef. We talked about it’s weaknesses, I explained my concept, Chef complimented my craftsmanship, and gave pointers on where the engineering could be stronger but was over all extremely impressed. I walked away with a smile on my face and a 7.5 out of 10 grade. I was ecstatic! My cake now sits proudly in the Lucy Maud Dinning room.

Victory #2:

I made homemade Ferro Roche’s. That’s right. The rich velvety interior texture was simply achieved by boiling cream, then adding it to butter and dark chocolate. Before dipping each morsel into melted milk chocolate I gently rolled a fresh hazelnut into the center. The finishing touch was to generously cover the top with roasted ground hazelnuts.

As the chocolate set I noticed Chef Christian eyeing them eagerly. I cleaned my station thoroughly and snapped some excellent photos of my creation. As soon as I put the camera away Chef Christian was there, his hand hovering hopefully over the truffles. We both sampled the delectable chocolate and the verdict was the same: delicious!

Victory #3

I survived chocolate rotation.

The past two weeks were over whelming with chocolate orders and special Valentine demands, not to mention I had my own special chocolate projects I wanted to accomplish. We already know the Ferro Roche’s were a smash, and I have a chocolate box that just needs to be assembled and filled with chocolates on Monday before I can completely wash my hands of chocolate for the rest of the term.

Victory #4

The weekend brought the promise of another classically terrifying Atlantic storm. Saturday was generally quiet with a gentle rhythm of continuous rain fall. As the day melted into evening and the temperature dropped the thin layer of rain that had fallen hardened into ice, and the rain turned into ice pellets. The sky opened up and hurled punishments at the gentle island for crimes were didn’t know we had committed. I tried to sleep but the freezing rain rapped against my window like an outraged loan shark demanding payment. Around 3:00am the pelting stopped but the wind picked up and snow whipped through the air. I could barley see the neighbours trees in the backyard. The city lights reflected off the blinding snow, and it looked like Charlottetown was bleeding from the heavy weather.

But when dawned slowly opened her eyes she uncovered a gentle, quiet, glowing white world. Charlottetown was generously covered under a thick quilt of snow. The roads weren’t plowed and there was no rush to get them clear. Around lunch time I joined the neighbours in digging our way out of our apartments. After robustly flinging shovel after shovel of snow into the bushes I took a brisk walk, well waddling like a self conscious penguin on fresh ice is more like it, down the road to mail some letters. Safely back in the comfort of my home I turned up the tunes, sipped a cup of tea, and read a good book. Never underestimate the power of a good snow storm. Don’t try to fight it, don’t rush out to the store and stock up canned stew. Keep the kettle boiling and dive into the left over Christmas chocolates, wrap a blanket around your shoulders and watch the snow fall. Enjoying moments like these will always bring you a victory.

                    Special occasion cake. Alice in Wonderland themed.

                                                      Ferro Roche