Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day was really nice. I woke up Saturday morning to crashing and clanging going on in the kitchen. When I went down, Spencer was getting the fixings together for pancakes. Homemade pancakes. He said that he was going to do breakfast in bed but I had gotten up too early. With all the noise downstairs, I didn't know what to think. He made the BEST pancakes I have ever tasted, it was incredible. He ended up making three batches because mom wanted some and I wanted more. He even shaped them into hearts for us all, even himself. We have these cookie scoops which he thought were tablespoon measuring spoons and he used those to measure, it was special. They were "buttermilk" pancakes and the reason why I say "buttermilk" is because we didn't have buttermilk so he made sour milk with vinegar. What a guy! They were so good I sort of demanded them again this morning for breakfast, and he made them again.

While the girls were at swimming, "Cupid" came and gave them some little balloons on a stick and a chocolate flower. They were SO excited when they saw them on their beds, I think the neighbors heard them screaming and jumping around. Later on, Spencer and I retreated to Old Chicago, a pizza joint here in Denver, and had a nice cheapish meal. It was a good day. At first Spencer had suggested going to the Zoo, but with 30 degree weather, I had to sadly decline.

This week was a busy one for me. In Patisserie we finished our plated desserts portion of the class. This is a picture of the dessert I did:


It is an blown sugar apple with apple sorbet inside, an apple chip that I actually dried for a garnish, and chocolate rods. The sauce is a Balsamic-Cherry reduction. I didn't eat any because it was FULL of alcohol. It was so full of alcohol that I could smell it when I took the plastic off the container. There was one plated dessert though that was absolutely to die for. It was a plate of chocolate ginger noodles with a yogurt sorbet. AMAZING!! My friend, Bonnie, made it and I KNOW that I am going to make it at home. This is a picture of what my plated dessert was supposed to look like:
I think I did pretty well, considering this was the first blown sugar apple I have ever done.

I am at school all day Monday and Tuesday. This last week I volunteered myself to help out my Chef instructor with 500+ Valentine's cookies. It was really fun and I learned a lot from him. I ended up being at school on Tuesday for 16 1/2 hours. These are the cookies we made and they weren't small by any means!


I was really tired when I finally got home at midnight that night. Good thing I didn't have school the next day. I also made my very first chocolate rose this week.

He said it was a nice abstract rose. How the heck does he get "abstract"?! Anyway, I liked it, especially since it was the first chocolate rose I have ever made. I need to make 15 of them by next Monday. A lot of people in my class said that it looked like an English rose or a real garden rose. I am quite proud of it, but I hope I can get his idea of a rose down.