Graduation!

Ok, in the past month, Simon has finally baked for me! He was trying to make his version of a candy bar cookie, but they went in the oven as dough spheres and came out as pancakes. At least he tried! However, he's not off the hook. I got a great new baking book from Dorie Greenspan and I want him to go through it and make something. How are we ever going to come up with some new recipes if he doesn't bake more?

Anyway...

I started the Pastry and Baking Arts Diploma Program at the Institute of Culinary Education back in January. It's been a great 8 months and next week, it'll be finally over. I can't believe I'm almost there! I had a few rough spots like the one time I decided to go out and party with friends on a school night (and that never happened again) or waking up 15 minutes before class started. The skin on my hands are irritated b/c I always finished so early that I was the first one to the dishes and there were days where my body ached so much from standing, I couldn't get out of bed.

However, during the past 400 or so classroom hours, I have never missed a class or even been late. I asked thousands of stupid questions and stayed late to seek advice. I looked into every volunteer opportunity and won several scholarships. I started an externship at a fantastic restaurant with a really wonderful staff and talented pastry chef. Most importantly, I gained the confidence to start Macaron Parlour with Simon.

Since my last post, we were mentioned in both Time Out NY and Daily Candy. I feel like dozens of opportunities have popped up from this exposure and I am so grateful for the generous support we've received from the community. It's been hard for us to keep up with everything since we're a team of two, but it's worth it. I spend almost 70 hours/week in the kitchen now from school to MP to externship and I'm so excited, I don't even get feet/back pains like I used to! I still get tired though...I need like 9 hours of sleep a night to function and my teeth are probably turning brown from all the coffee I have to drink to keep up.

Thank you for supporting Macaron Parlour. We love you and we love hearing from you. If we're slow to respond, please know it's b/c we're on a really unusual schedule, but we read your emails and collect your business cards and Simon shares your stories with me after the Fair on the weekends.

After my graduation next week (I'll share a picture of my graduation cake), I'll have a little bit of a weekend break and perhaps you can finally catch me at the Hester Street Fair or I'll devote that time to developing and testing the 5 or so macaron flavors I have in mind. Either way, good things are to come for Macaron Parlour.