Since you've been gone...

It's been a decade since my last post and i feel like 'just another one' of those failed bloggers, but i've written a post each day on my mind, you just didn't see it:)

I've started that culinary school i've been talking about for the last two years, the very expensive one:/ There seemed no other options for the moment, so i said what the hack:) So, it started on february 1st and i've recieved a 4-months education in the simplest form.. My answer to anyone whose willing to take this way: The only thing i bought, and you will have bought with this money is a diploma to open up a little path for you, other than that it's a barely-mediocre education, so on that part don't get your hopes up. You still have to educate yourself, but the stamp you get is powerful in Turkey for the moment:) PS: With this you also get the cutest stamp of being a spoiled brat from MSA :P

So let's get on to other things it's brought into my life.

I've had the chance to meet a rising star chef from NYC, watched him like a 5-year-old as he did his magic with liquid nitrogen. Then a friend denied him the pleasures of talking about food ( Sorry that

most of you didn't get this sentence, but the ones who did probably had a good laugh:) )... I've found two great friends that make time pass by so easily that you always end up saying: Damn, it's midnight already, we haven't even watch our movies yet:/

We had a hot hot lecture of biscuits from Biscolata guys Oscar and Haley. At that exact moment i realized what i've actually paid for, and felt reaaaallly good about it;))Here's also a link to their commercial, for those of you who don't already know:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAesQfnvzd4

Anyways,

I now have started my internship at a well-known (worldwide) hotel's pastry kitchen. For diplomatic purposes i'll keep my opinions to myself for now, i'm sure you would all be understanding. It's been 10 days or so, and what i feel when i get home everyday is like somebody beat the bleep out of me all day through. My feet hurt, but not so much as my back... Kinda feels like my spine has been used for a Jenga game, and one of the vertebras is about to slip and lead to a destruction:) But i'm sure i'll get used to it, or to a good massage after it... Yet the pain is also most satisfying as it is from actually doing things. I've never even touched a dirty dish, or wiped the floors... For the 8 hours i work, i'm almost always baking baking baking... cakes, financiers, brownies, pannacottas, creme brules, etc... and ofcourse chocolate:)

Besides all that, i've also had a couple of orders in the last weeks. I'm making my fortune out of nasty nasty cakes and cupcakes. Bachelorette business is good, i may soon rule the bachelorette parties in Istanbul with my cupcakes, so here are some pics of that, too...

So...

apart from how tiring it is, everything is good. Can't wait to finish this internship and actually start working... I apologize for such an unorganised post, but i will spend more time on posting and writing fun and interesting ones again...

Eat chocolate, be good and i will see u later:)

Chocolate Problem

I've been working on a lot of stuff simultaneously. Finding a brand name, finding a secondary brand name, designing a logo, choosing a product line, saying 'wth?! chill!', making bunches of brownies and tryin to come up with new bunches of brownies:) Then, i realized - on a chill moment- i've been parrying the blog, just posting pictures of what i've done. So here comes a new post:

Why oh why my brownies have to be so expensive?

For the last couple of weeks i've been making a whole lot of brownies, and the cost has become an insane burden that i was starting to wonder if it wouldn't be possible to make reasonably-priced brownies without comprimising from the quality.

Some who've seen previous photos may think i'm being quite posh both using Lindt chocolate and complaining about the price, YET, the domestic products we have are insults to the chocolatiers worldwide. If, for example, we think in terms of tea, our market chocolate is like black tea with actually a few drops of tea and a whole lot of hot water, with 6 sugarcubes inside- usually prepared by a five year-old:)

So...

YES, i complain. But, thanks to Cenk of CafeFernando, the nightmare is over:) After spending hours and hours on reading his blog and all comments to his blogs, i found a name and number...I was finally able to get into contact with a distributor of Valrhona chocolates, from whom i don't have to get a hundred kilos of each product:) So yey for that and thank you Cenk:)

It's insane that you can get 100 times the quailty for lower the price. I do have to get at least 3 to 5 kilos of each type of chocolate i want, but the price per kilo comes down to such a good level that some of the cocoa-sugar mixtures they sell as chocolate become expensive, when compared:)

So, i'll go make some brownies now...

Xmas Dinnerish Coctail

It's been a long time since my last post, because i've been falling asleep when time comes to lay down with my laptop:)

Through this period i gave a try to 3 different cupcake recipes. One turned out to be really really bitter, almost like detergent bitter:) I blamed the baking soda for that, apparently you have to do some magic, add some juice to get it into action. The other one was good, cakewise, but the icing melted by the time i got to the car, don't know why. The third one was okay, but just okay. I say dangggg i was gonna take a picture right after i get rid of all the cupcakes:) So i don't have pictures just yet. Hopefully next time...

Anyways, today i worked the kitchen for about 7 hours, fatugied. We have a pre-new year's new year dinnerish coctail tomorrow, of which the guest list started out as 20 and is now 45. Hopefully some will fall asleep and get lost in the way:P

And, just like in every event we try to have at our house, my mom got sick 2 days ahead and decided to cancel once again. Didn't let her, which cost me 7 hours in the kitchen. I think all the things turned out pretty well, especially my sextuple chocolate brownies. We'll find out tomorrow....