Julia Child - Buche de Noel

When I finished with Final exams about two weeks ago, I was exhausted. Nights of staying up late studying by myself and with friends had finally overtaken me. Ok, well, it was mostly studying. Some friends had organized "breaks" in which we did things like walk in the rain, watch old movies, head to the gym, and In need of something to help me stay awake while I packed up for Winter Break, I did a Google search for Julia Child's classic French Christmas dessert: Buche de Noel. Thrilled to find the total episode on Youtube, I was glued to the screen when I should have been packing up clothes or washing mugs or putting away textbooks... It was a treat and if you have a half hour to spare, enjoy this French classic... looks so good!

Birthday Treat!

Today I got a fabulous treat! My creative mom arranged a special birthday surprise for me: a meeting with the head chef of the Four Seasons Philadelphia!

Not only were we graciously welcomed by Rafael Gonzalez, but he personally took us on an extensive tour of the hotel/restaurant kitchen, food service areas, banquet rooms and explained the joys and challenges of being a chef. We spent nearly an hour meeting staff, observing the kitchen in action, peering into chilly refrigerators and asking questions about the hotel and the cuisine.

In the above photo, Chef Gonzalez is explaining the balance of staff for the different restaurants in the hotel (The Swan Lounge, the Fountain Restaurant, and room service). The plate heading out is for room service with Eggs Benedict. The smells were incredible!

In the next few days, I will add an update or two on life as well as a more complete report on my visit to the Four Seasons. Touring the kitchen was a perfect way to get an inside peek into one of the finest hotels in the region. The standards of excellence and service are evident in the beauty and friendliness of the hotel.

Christmas Pictures...

For my birthday (which falls on Christmas every year), I made a simple yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.



To decorate it, I attempted to create holly leaves and berries. You can see the green and red frosting, but as for beautiful holly scattered across the cake, all there is are blobs of buttercream. I think I need some more practice!



The finished product had some semi-sweet chocolate drizzled to make "twigs" for the "holly," and was dusted with powdered sugar for a snowy effect. Yum!

Thanks, Mom, for taking the pictures!