Getting Started...or changing from an engineer to a pastry chef

Writing a blog is new to me.  I’m not sure what others write so I decided to start without reading the penned ramblings of the masses to mold my text in advance.

Calling myself a blog writer is almost as pretentious as calling myself a pastry chef.  I’ve enrolled in a class called (and this is a rough translation) mastering the art of confectionery or pastry baking.  To introduce myself to you (a complete stranger or friend, an interested or disinterested person), and since you haven’t been able to taste anything I’ve ever baked in my life I will say that all of my friends call me chef.  No one ever complained at my table about the quality of food they received, all have raved about most of the dishes that I’ve set before them…(yes, there is an occasional renegade that doesn’t like one of the items or one of the ingredients in it.)

I learned most of my cooking from Julia Child.  I follow her methods and recipes very closely and stray only where permitted.  The results are almost always exquisite.  I even made puff pastry once many years ago and it was perfect.  This made me more upset when I tried making croissants and they flopped.  I had butter everywhere in the kitchen except in between the 82 layers of dough that it’s supposed to make.  Besides Julia, I must have 125 cookbooks (I’ve never counted them…remind me to count them all one time.)  I use only around 50 of them—and they are in the kitchen.  The rest are in the storage room—on a shelf—collecting dust.  Here again—the ones that I think are over my ability are the pastry and fancy cakes recipes.  (*not that I can’t whip up a fabulous cake or genoise, just keep me away from decorating it!*)  at least for now.  :)

Anyway…starting my pastry class in 2 weeks…I am afraid that I’ll be over the level of most of the students, but that’s always fun.  They say that there’s no baking experience needed…I rather wish they would say “must be ready to compete on master-chef-in-baking or experts only”.  

Hope you enjoy this journey with me.  By the way, my name is chef eli.