School's out for summer!

School's out forever! Mostly forever, anyways. Today was my last day of class and we made Paska and Chelsea buns. We all got to try some Chelsea buns straight out of the oven!

mmm...sugar.

I'm sad that my schooling is over- I'm going to miss the friends I've made. But now I'm on to bigger and better things! First stop: a week-long trip to San Francisco with a good friend! Pictures to follow!

I've been thinking about writing a post about all the things I've learned this year- stay tuned!

ABCs of Thalia

A fun blogger meme: ABCs so you could get to know me a bit more! I'll be sort of back to regular posting after my exams- can you tell that I'm procrastinating just a tiny bit?
On that note- I got a job! I start in May, and I can't be any more excited. I'll be sharing more once I start!

Here we go!

A. Age: Almost 24! Actually, one month from today.
B. Bed size: Queen. It's so high up though...you have to jump like a high jumper to get on it!
C. Chore you hate: Sweeping. I don't even know why- maybe because I had to sweep a carpet as one of my duties at an old job.
D. Dogs: Pugs! Oh my word- they are so cute!
E. Essential start to your day: Coffee, Kids in the Hall and twitter.
F. Favorite color: ALL OF THEM. Gold, purple, pink and green, if I had to choose. Do sparkles or rainbows count?
G. Gold or silver: Both together! (That's right, I break all the fashion rules!)
H. Height: 5'4 I think.
I. Instruments you play: The flute! My mom the piano teacher kept trying to get me to learn the piano, but I wasn't going to have any of that.
J. Job title: I'm a soon to be "Assistant Chocolate Maker"  - I am seriously too excited!!
K. Kids: No thanks, I'm quite alright.
L. Live: Toronto! It's great. I'm finally getting used to big city living.
M. Mom’s name: Nadia- my mom's the best :)
N. Nicknames: Thal, but only like two people call me that. My American friends pronounce my name "Tall-ia" which is kind of a nickname!
O. Overnight hospital stays: Probably once or twice when I was young
P. Pet peeve: People that stop while they're walking to do something on their cell phone. Or people that stop to text right in the middle of a conversation. Also, some grammar things bug me.
Q. Quote from a movie: Oh, man...too many! I just watched Clueless, and I love this line from it: "Well, I know Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn't say that. That Polonius guy did."
R. Right or left handed: Right, but I wish I was a lefty
S. Siblings: I have a younger sister, and she's the best! I miss her to pieces!
T. Time you wake up: If I could choose, probably around 7 or 8- but lately I've been waking up in the 5am area. I never ever sleep in, even if I go to bed really late.
U. Underwear: Huh?
V. Vegetables you dislike: Raw tomatoes. I was allergic to them, and now I just don't plain like them. Unless they're cherry tomatoes.
W. What makes you run late: Poor estimation of how long it takes to get places. I hate being late, but I also hate being an hour early.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Let's just say I always chomped on the dentist's fingers when I had to get a jaw x ray. Those are un fun!
Y. Yummy food you make: Well, besides desserts- I tend to have lots of fun in the kitchen. My tastebuds aren't that great (or I just have strange tastes), so I always like to mix it up! My favorite invention was pasta with pesto and tahini and walnuts and sundried tomatoes! Okay. Now I'm hungry!
Z. Zoo – favorite animal:Tigers and elephants, oh my!

Envelopes!

This past week has been exam week in skills class. It's been pretty stressful, and I'm glad it's done!

We had to leave the room for all of our things to be judged (eep!) so I wasn't able to snap any pictures of my baked goods this week.

Last night, I was finally able to take a little break from the stress and I made envelopes! Envelopes out of two maps of Montreal!

I totally love making envelopes- and all parts of the letter writing process! I also make postcards from time to time. I really like making envelopes and postcards out of old calendars and maps. It's a great way to reuse them!

I love the gold hearts!

Close-up!

Hopefully these little guys will brighten someone's day!
On that note, anyone want a penpal? :)

Bread, delicious bread!

This past week, my class has been making bread type goodies in preparation for our exam. Which starts tomorrow- eeek!

Here's some pictures that I snapped! Also, I have no idea why I decided not to take a picture of my croissants. I would have taken one at home, but I ate them too quick!

Bagels!

Baguettes!

Challah bread with various braiding

My freezer is well stocked with bread now, that's for sure!

We had made baguettes and challah bread in first semester, but they are going to be on our exam. So we made them again- which was great, because I need the practice!

Bagels and croissants were fascinating! Bagels are fun because you boil them in a bit of water first, then bake them! And croissants are amazingly delicious, with lots and lots of work. I think I might make them at home sometime- because they're just SO GOOD. We decorated them with cheese, chocolate and almonds (not all together). I should have bought more than eight, I'm just saying.

Happy Sunday, everyone! Wish me luck on my exam tomorrow! We're making vanilla sponge and dipping petit-fours glace into fondant!

Chocolate tempering

My latest obsession is chocolate. And no, not just eating it (although that's pretty amazing too). My class spent all of last week working on chocolate bunnies and other Eastery goodies, and on Tuesday we learned more about chocolate in Theory class. To feed my obsession, I also checked out a book at the library, called Chocolate: A bittersweet saga of dark and light by Mort Rosenblum. It's got the entire history of chocolate, with really interesting anecdotes from the author meeting various people involved in chocolate. My favorite part so far is when he meets a woman who was incredibly obsessed with chocolate and became a chocolate taster for a well known brand. Apparently she eats a pound of chocolate a day, on top of what she has to taste!

I've been trying to learn all I can about chocolate. Which means watching lots of youtube videos about tempering and making chocolates! I'm also patiently waiting for a really awesome book from the library. I watched some really interesting videos, so I thought that I would share them with you!

William Curley Chocolatier: This clip is with William Curley, a chocolatier who made a video for Hospitality Media on how to make Rosemary and Olive Oil truffles- yum!

Tempering 101: This video made me laugh- these guys are too funny! It's with Chef Jeremy McLachlan from Salty's, a restaurant in Seattle.

 

Purdy's Chocolates- How to make truffles: This is a clip from Steven and Chris, the Canadian daytime talk show. Purdy's Chocolate Scientist (amazing title!) shows the audience how to make truffles. Watching this just gets me so excited about chocolate! Also, I kind of wish that I was in the audience so I could win a year's supply of chocolate.

And now for an Easter bunny picture update:

Last weekend, I took my Easter bunny to a family dinner. Everyone was so excited to eat it- which made me really happy. The whole thing was devoured!

And now, the best question: What's your favorite type of chocolate? I love dark chocolate- any kind!

It's Saturday!

Slow mornings, lots of coffee...and homework!

I had a great night out last night. I went to my second ever lacrosse game. My first was my 10 year old cousin's game, and it got crazy, so I didn't quite know what to expect.

Last night we also got to sit in an executive suite! Free food such a lovely thing. Live games are just so great to watch- you can really get into it. I was hanging off the edge of my seat, because the game went into overtime. I was also surprised at how excited I got about the game- we won!

Today, I'm writing a menu for one of my classes. I'm getting really excited about it, because all my menu items sound so darn good! I'm quite proud of it.

My Shifting Gears mug

I thought I'd share a picture of one of my favorite mugs today. I got it from Peterborough Green-Up's Shifting Gears a few years ago. It's totally my mug, and it's only for coffee (I have tea mugs, too).

Do you have a coffee or tea mug? Or a special mug, for that matter?