Exam 2, New Unit, and Other Stuff

My products for Exam 2 - a Paris-Brest in the middle,
which is cream puff pastry + praline flavored pastry cream, and éclairs.

Tomato Tart - super yummy!

What my apple galletes were supposed to look like,
but there was a mishap in the oven.

Fruit Strip - puff pastry crust, pastry cream, and fresh fruit.
Still working on my presentation skills.

I aced the written portion of exam 2, and if I didn't mention it before, I did very well on my first exam (even after all of the mishaps that day). We should get the practical portion of our grade back tomorrow, which is always nerve-racking...you can't flip back through the book and calculate what you might have missed like you can with the written portion. But - Chef C had some very positive comments to say when I was presenting my products...not about the products, since I obviously didn't have enough pastry cream for the Paris-Brest, and my éclairs were too wide, but more about how I'm doing overall in the class. He was impressed by my writing skills (those of you who read this blog might laugh at that, since my writing style is quite basic, unfluffy, and simply spits out information, and thought that I should look into food writing. Maybe people just don't know how to write a complete sentence. Anyways, I felt so relieved after speaking with him, and I'm super pumped about the grade on the written portion.

I've been lonely here, as Luke is on a business trip. Molly has been a pain in the patooty this week - she sulks because Luke is gone, and she's difficult on walks (as always) because there are so many dogs to bark and whine at. She takes forever when doing her business, which makes me leave the apartment late before class. I hate walking her at night by myself, so it's a fight to get her to hurry up in the evenings. And she circles a tree about 12 times, as if that would make any difference, so I look like an idiot following my dog around a tree over and over. Though Luke isn't here, I've had fun hanging out with the girls from class, and we've got big plans for the weekend.

So, Luke is in Texas for work...Austin for a few days, and then he gets to visit with my family and his family before he flies out for the next leg of his trip. However, I do get to go home next month for a weekend - not much time to visit with everyone, but I can't miss any days of class, so I'll take whatever time with the family that I can get. Also, Mom and the cousins are coming up in March!! Not sure how we'll fit 5 people and a dog in this tiny apartment, but the cousins have never been to NYC, so we're going to hit the ground running and see everything we can. Mom's cousins are AWESOME, so I can hardly wait till they all come up here. Just wish Debbie could make it too.

It's always exciting to me when I have a celebrity sighting, just because it never happens back in Texas. Today Katy and I were walking down my street when we saw this redhead gal approaching us. I kept thinking she looked familiar...she was dialing someone on her cell and said, "Hey, it's Molly...." Holy smokes it was Molly Ringwald!!! Who didn't love 16 Candles and Pretty in Pink and the Breakfast Club?!