Day 3 of class

OK, I was going to just make one big post after my classes tomorrow, but then I took more pictures than I thought I would, so here is part one of my post aka my 3rd day of class. The above picture is not from today but actually from a couple of days ago when I went to a different Starbucks. Apparently that is how you normally spell Kayla. I can't believe I've been spelling it wrong all these years.

ANYWAYS, today in class we started out by talking about gelatin and other gelling type agents. Our main project today was to make Pâtes de fruits. Which are apparently super expensive to buy, but relatively cheap to make and pretty simple. Pâtes de fruits are a jelly candy that are made using a fruit puree; we used apricot.

You have to bring the puree to a simmer on the stove and then you add a sugar and pectin mixture and whisk for awhile and then when it's almost finished you add citric acid. Then you put it into a parchment lined baking sheet (as seen above.) After awhile it sets and you flip it out onto more parchment and coat it in sugar! I was pretty weary of it since I hate those jelly candies that you buy in the store and since I haven't had apricot since I was a small child; but I am happy to report that it was quite good! Definitely better than what you would buy in the store. 

 

We also today learned some knife skills and how to slice/cut certain fruits and herbs. I finally tried a fig and I have to say that I actually hate them more than I thought I would. It was seriously gross! Anyhow, we had to skin and segment oranges and then peel and slice some apples and pears. Our instructor didn't want us to waste so much fruit, so we baked some muffins. We got to choose one of two recipes and then add any fruit that we had on hand. So my partner and I made some sour cream coffee cake muffins, with apples and cinnamon. They turned out really ugly but tasted delicious!

After we were finished baking the muffins it was time to go home. I had to stop at a Duane Reade, which is a pharmacy out here - there is pretty much one on every corner, for some allergy medicine, my sinuses have been killing me! Anyhow, I went to pay for the Claritin and the clerk said, "you look really cool in those glasses." Hahaha That pretty much made my week. I think that's it for today, tomorrow I believe that we are learning about eggs, so I will try to post about my day when I get home from class. I thought that I would leave you with a picture of the Flat Iron building, which is right by my school. Hope you're all well!

-Kayla (or should I say - Kala)

P.S. Yesterday I faced my fear and went to a movie all by myself! I had a giftcard to use up and wanted to see the movie 50/50. The movie was pretty good and it was not bad at all going alone. So I would like to officially apologize to my Dad (and for that matter my Mom) for making fun of you for going to the movies alone. Lol