Baking - Fruits and Spice

Today was my first baking class. As most of you know, I don't care for baking, I'd rather cook savory dishes. However, I knew I had a good teacher and can learn a lot from her. One of my baking teachers is Lisa Raffael. She's been on 3 Food Network Cake Challenges and owns her own bakery here in MA. It was really cool to see her in person since I had just watched her compete on national television!

This baking class is the 2 Food Basics classes put together. I am a little disappointed by this simply because the kitchens are small. You are always running into someone, which is not the safest thing in the kitchen. The class started out with a lecture on fruit and spices. Then we got our recipes and started cooking.

My dish was the Prosciutto and Brie sandwiches with Rosemary Fig Confit. I've made something similar to this on my own. So, it wasn't much of a challenge. It was also a very simple dish, so I was washing and drying dishes most of the day. Some of the recipes were savory, not so much into baking yet. The chef's said it will be a lot more baking soon. I am kind of excited about baking and decorating a cake!

There were so many sweet recipes today that it was hard to eat the ones that came out later in the day. By the end, we all felt like puking and the thought of anything sweet made our stomachs turn. I think we need to learn to pace ourselves!

I also had my 3 hour seminar tonight. It was the knife skills class. This is where we get our chef's knives. We had to choose between the 8-inch or 10-inch. I picked the 8-inch. The 10-inch was too much for me to handle! This seminar was fun because it was all chopping and that is what I love to do! My brunoise was right on point, which shocked the heck out of me since it's difficult and I had never done it before.

At the end of the day, I am exhausted and my feet hurt, but I still am so in love with it!!!

Today's Recipes: Poached Pears with Caramel Sauce, Fruit and Spice Granola, Bananas Foster, Blueberry Cobbler, Strawberry-Rhubarb Sorbet, Filled Baked Apples with Fruit Coulis, Peach Fritters with Spice Infused Whipped Cream, Applesauce, Dried Fruit Compote, Gratin of Fresh Berries with Creme Fraiche, Candied Citrus Rind, Caramelized Pear Crisps, Hum-Zinger, Passionata Smoothie, Grilled Chicken with Spices Kumquat Chutney, Mango-Tomatillo Salsa, Guacamole, Fried Plantains