Lemon Zest

Day 56

My lemon tart wasn't at all a lemon.

I think I finally have it down. The last few times I've made the citrus pastry, it's turned out fairly well. There's been one hang-up, though: the crust.

For the dessert, the ratio of custard to crust should be about 2:1—according to my chef, at least. I've had more of a 1:1 ratio, as I've been worried that rolling the crust too thin will cause it to melt. I have this mental picture of neon yellow goo seeping from the tart pan and ending up all over the oven.

I went for it this time, though, wanting to get it down before the midterm Friday. I'm glad I did, too: The pastry was pretty close to perfect.

Looks like I don't need anymore lemon aid.

Doughs and Don'ts

Day 30

We started off on the wrong foot.

I'll blame it on the fire alarm, which sounded right

before the exam. Then we took the test, which didn't go over well for many of the students. Finally, we started in on Day 4 of pastry, a lesson on doughs and tarts.

That's when things got hairy.

Many of the students don't have pastry experience, so there was a major learning curve to be had. It was especially tough considering the high temperature and humidity, which made the butter in the dough quickly melt. Frustration abounded. It seemed we reverted back to Level 1 mentality, making stupid errors and causing the chefs anguish.

By 11 a.m., everyone was at each other's throats—and it just went downhill from there. I have to wonder if this is what it's going to be like in Levels 5 and 6 when we're in the restaurant kitchen. We better take it up a notch or it's going to be ugly.

For today's recipes, we used the pate sucre and pate brisee (the doughs we formed a couple days ago, thank God) and

made an apple tart, pear tart and quiche Lorraine. I wish it was as simple as it sounds. Tomorrow is just going to be tougher, as puff pastry is sure to take over half the day.

Let's hope everyone keeps it together and doesn't blow up.

After the kind of day I had, it was nice to have some plans that forced me out of my apartment. Ryan and I headed to a rooftop bar in the Flatiron District, and the New York views (and perhaps the cocktails) brought a smile back to my face.

This city has its way of making you forget about the day's problems.