use real butter

I went to pick up some lovely ring molds this afternoon in addition to a few truffle tools. Anyone can slop together things that taste good (well, maybe not anyone), but I think incorporating presentation with taste, texture, and structure is the most fun challenge of plating desserts. I picked up a hexagon mold too. I hope to make something striking, yet elegant. I have no idea what it will be other than chocolate.

After my small pastry equipment acquisition, I met with Jeremy and our friends at Brasserie 1010 (aka Brassiere 1010, Bra 1010, Lingerie 1010) for Happy Hour. The food here is pretty good and aside from the regular crew, we were joined by Dave and Fran – two incredibly nice and fun people. There was food, I had camera in tow – what would you expect of me?

**Jump for more butter**

I don’t think that expertise necessarily means everything you do is perfect. In fact, I think expertise means that you are able to maneuver through adversity and salvage/save/recover where amateurs and peons would crumble and whimper in failure.

Case in point, today in class Shan was showing us how to assemble a triangle torte. He didn’t like the cake recipe given in the book, so he substituted his own. While the cakes were baking, he commented to me that they shouldn’t be rising. After they had cooled and he released them from the pan, he noted that the texture wasn’t strong enough. Turns out he forgot to adjust for high altitude (he realized this while working with the crumbling cake as Allison, Katherine, and I were discussing our adjustments for chocolate chip cookies at elevation). As he transferred one delicate sheet of cake on top of the chocolate hazelnut praline filling, we could see it begin to break apart in mid air. My partner stood behind him, watching, with her hands clasped about her head in suspended horror. But he pieced it together and no one would be the wiser who ate a slice.

Later my partner said aloud, “You know, Shan, I’m so glad to see that you screwed up because it makes me feel better about how often I screw up.” The difference is that Shan is a professional – even his screw ups turn out.

We made more petits fours tonight, but these were more along the lines of what I always considered petits fours – cake layered with filling.

**Jump for more butter**

Jeremy and I went out for dinner this evening. When we got home, there were flourescent squares on our door. Imagine my delight when I opened the envelopes and found these: