Back to school!

So the snow was here and now it's not.  It lasted through the holidays though, so I wound up driving to pick my mom up at the airport for her visit, which was fine while I was on the freeways - they were clear - but the city streets were covered in snow and ice with big 'pothole' like things in the ice that made for a bumpy ride.  But Mom for in fine and we had a white Christmas with more snow falling as we opened presents, so that was quite nice!  Mom had a nice visit and enjoyed some shopping, but unfortunately since I was on school break, my school's restaurant wasn't open either, so she didn't get a chance to eat the school as she wanted to, so I guess she'll have to come up again another time!  

New Years was fun as well.  The other buildings all around me had people out on their balconies or up on roof tops with all the noise makers and poppers going crazy, but we were all having fun.  There were even some fireworks going off, though I am pretty sure they were illegal, but still nice to watch against the dark sky!  And here I am celebrating the new year!

So back to school it is.  I started back this week (after yet another short snow fall on the Sunday night before!) and we are still playing catch up but it looks slightly like it might be able to happen!  Natalie luckily came back after being snowed in and then sick over the holidays, but it was nice having her back to work with.  Hannah was missing today though, so once again were down to 3 for service tonight, but it was okay and we got it all out fine.  I got my rosettes checked off tonight, which was good because it was one of those "easy" things on my check-off sheet i just couldn't seem to get checked off and it was annoying!  

I am trying to get better at remembering to take pictures of my stuff before i eat it, so here is what I have from this week so far:

This is a fruit tarts filled with pastry cream and topped with pears, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, and a raspberry in the middle.  I shared this one with the ladies at Curves since it seemed like it was the healthiest of the three I had that at home that morning!  :)

This is a lemon meringue tart with lemon curd on the bottom (that you can't see) and topped with meringue that I accidentally got the torch a little too close so it browned quite a bit more than I'd like but was still quite yummy!

This is a ganache tart  filed with a dark chocolate ganache and white chocolate for the design.  The feathering in the design looks better in the actual product than in the picture though.

This tart has fresh apple slices in a sweet custard filling.

This last tart is filled with a poached pear and frangipane, which is an almond flavored filling.

Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of the breads we made this week - I will try to take pictures tomorrow of the ones I have left here.  But we started our bread section and have made olive rolls, baguettes, cheese and dill breadsticks, butter braids (2 strand braid and 4 strand braid), and cheese rolls, with more to come the rest of this week!  I can't believe it is already the end of our first term.  It seems like I started only yesterday, but our first test is on Monday with the term ending that night, so I have to finish all my products by then.  It is amazing to think I should know all my basics by then and will be moving on to more and more complex things from here on!  I am excited but sad to be already one month through the course.  I am really liking my classes and enjoying learning in the kitchen!  

And so my laundry is done, and that means I am off to bed!  Yay!