Week 2...Pairings

Going into week two I felt calmer and a bit more confident since I now have worked in the kitchen, seen the process and was fairly successful on the first round.
Walking into the set we see Jesse, our very handsome host, standing by a table with burlap bags. Something is in those bags that we have to use somehow, I am sure! Listening as he goes on about holiday pairings and the importance of doing this right. He then explains that we will be working in teams and to find out who we are paired with we need to grab one of those bags. We all look around at each other smiling knowing that there won't be a bad pairing and we just need to find out who it will be! This time we casually stroll up to the table and pick a bag and walk back to the designated line. Jesse tells us to open it up and I have a maple leaf and am paired with Jenn! I am thinking this will be a great pairing since we have chatted about our styles and they seem very similar! I am stoked! Next, he explains we need to make 12 hand pies using this cutter and decorating them "out of this world holiday extravaganza"...or something like that :) in 90 very short minutes! Geeze!!
We go to our station the first thing we both think of is maple syrup and Jenn tells me she knows how to make Maple butter! I have only eaten it from a jar and am so thrilled she will make this for the glaze. I then suggest my maple bourbon pecan pie but am worried about it being too liquidy and running out, so I think of apples that have pectin and the apple pecan maple bourbon hand pies are born. We then start talking crust. She mentions she has a very good one made with cream cheese. Surprisingly, I tell her I have one too! We then realize we have the same family recipe! What???
High five and off we go to work. We split the work up she does the maple butter, I make the filling and we both make a large batch of dough. The dough needs to chill for a while, preferably an hour but that is not going to happen!! It's in the fridge and we head to our tasks. I make the filling and it is very liquidy even with the apples. I was hoping they would thicken in the oven. Butter is done and is creamy and I want to stick a spoon in it and suck on it but we had work to do! A lot of work. We need to roll and cut 24 leaves. Fill them, fork the edges. egg wash, sprinkle some sugar around the edges and bake them for at least 20, preferably 25 minutes. AND THEN, figure out how to decorate them in a spectacular fashion. I run to get a couple platters for them. All that are left, that are big enough, are large ovals. Jenn had mentioned a wreath of leaves. I loved this idea and encouraged her input. I told her I could make some multicolored leaves from fondant to fill in the wreath. The only maple leaf cutters that were smaller than our was very small but I didn't have time to go negotiate with the other contestants for the other cutters (and that wouldn't have been difficult since we all have so much mutual respect for one another) so I ran back and made small maple leaves using yellow. orange and green fondant. The colors swirled into each other and they were bright. Jenn melted chocolate and piped it in strings around and around the edge of the platters. Then she instructed me to pipe little wisps of green boughs coming off the strands she piped. I thought it was going to look great when we put the pies on... OMG three minutes... pull them out of the oven and glaze them and get them on the platter. Then throw the little fondant leaves on so they makes sense.... and time is up! Done. It's in the judges hands. We go first. The platter is presented and right away, without hesitation, Nancy says, "Well, it looks like a tornado!" OH NO...you are kidding me? I knew we didn't get fancy enough but really? A tornado? Well, our tornado just died out, I'll tell you! Wind out of the sails... Ok, now we are praying they taste amazing. Mixed reviews there too. Duff said not enough goo. Lorraine loved the crust and Nancy (I think) said not enough filling... they all were very impressed by the maple butter and the punch of flavor it gave. I walked back to the lineup with my tail between my legs.
How could we have done that better? This will haunt me forever now!!
I read Jenn's blog on this and she mentioned that we should have divided the work up more like the other teams did. I suppose she is right. That would have saved time and energy. I am a collaborator. I love to share ideas and grow off each other. I believe we did that. I had fun working with Jenn and learned how to make maple butter from her!! She is an amazing decorator and baker and I will always watch her work online and hopefully one day our paths will cross again!
Next challenge. No time for frivolities and emotions...HA!
I am feeling a bit silly now both from the excitement and the hours of work it takes to produce a show. OH YES, the timed challenges are TIMED and it is so hectic and then its over... for a bit, while they clean up our messes and they change the set and then makeup, bathroom break... you know, stuff. Your body feels like it just ran a marathon and rode the fastest roller coaster in the world simultaneously and then just suddenly stops. You know that in a little while you have to pick back up and do the next elimination challenge in which everything is on the line. Sigh. Don't get too comfortable, I tell myself. Lineup! It's time for the next one! We line up, do jazz hands...except for Ian...laugh the nerves off and the doors open... in we go.
This time Jess is standing in front of a door and there a christmas tree all decorated next to him. As he starts with the story to preface the challenge, something about christmas and putting the right things together... I notice mistletoe hanging in the doorway...hmmm...and sure enough he walks under the mistletoe pointing it out... a little birdy whispers in my ear...run, chef, run...so I did, I ran for the kiss. I got it just as though I caught a fish, I ran back to the line with my prize. All my friends/competitors were cracking up, wondering what in the world got into me? I wondered that myself!
Now we get down to business...Josh and Ian have won and their prize is, they get to pick their teams! Ian goes first picks me! I am thrilled because he is such an awesome guy and I love his work. He is a brilliant chef and an instructor like me! We will be a good team. The next thing we have to do is run back and grab a box with the flavor pairings we are to use. We get pecan and caramel. I am feeling really lucky now because each one of the flavors I've gotten hit with so far, are great! Well, except for the peanuts...
Since they wanted a pairing I suggest two desserts working well together with textures. I do crunchy and Ian will do creamy. We throw our ideas out to each other and it's go time! I run for the pecans and small pans to bake them. I don't want cupcakes but something that size. They have every pan and shape of pan you could ever imagine. I find a really cute square shaped cupcake pans and I grab it and run back to get started. As I am about to make my ice cream Jesse calls out, stopping the action to let us know our next twist is Egg Nog... First I am thinking about the peanuts and this will not go with my plan but suddenly I realize that egg nog and ice cream have the exact same ingredients! I pour in some caramel sauce to give it a complimentary flavor and pop it into the ice cream freezer. I need a garnish now and with caramel being one of the flavors I make caramel fences and spread the rest onto a silpat spread it paper thin and sprinkle on some crushed pecans. When it is cool I crush it up and sprinkle it in the finished ice cream. Now it has the perfect crunch added! And crunch is what I want!
I am very confident in my dessert and very excited to plate. Ian however, is a little nervous and I look over and he has made a perfect dacquoise! I taste his mousseline cream and it is dreamy. I see his beautiful brandy snap tuiles and that is his crunch! We've got this one, I am thinking! Just praying Josh doesn't do some show stopper wiping us off the map!
We are first up and the judges have not one bad thing to say about my dessert, except it could look more holiday, even though it does look fall and that is holiday? Ok I'll take it!
Ian's only mistake was calling his fallen eggnog mousse a mousse and not a sauce. I'm want to dance out of the set! That was a great review and Duff called my cake RAD!

During the final pick of the winner and the elimination, what really happened that you did not get to see on the show is, Ian and I were chosen the winners of the dessert pairings and then Jenn won the individual dessert. I am not sure why they cut that out other than they have tons of extra footage and something had to be cut. Perhaps they didn't want to distract from Jenn's win. We will never know but you now know a little secret, I put that win under my personal hat even it they didn't show it! HA!

Episode one, A Starry Sky

The first morning of the shoot, we must be up and ready to go by 7 AM. I wander to the breakfast room for coffee and food. I only met one of the competitors (Aristo) on the shuttle from the airport, so I look around carefully for others that might be looking around too. Sure enough we all spotted one another, some how, and sit at a table together. Introducing as we eat, we tell short versions of our personal stories. We notice a good looking guy just standing by the elevators with a placard around his neck hanging from and lanyard. It's now 7 and we all approach him asking if he is our driver and he confirms. We then notice the placard has all of our pictures on it. This way he can make sure he doesn't pick up some stranger. We all found this very humorous. We all pile into the long van and off we go to the studio. We get a quick tour of the green room where we hang out waiting for the next call to shoot or to interview, and where we eat our lunch and chat. As we walk around checking out the set (the back of the set since they want us to be surprised when we go into shoot) and meeting the rest of the crew, we all notice everyone on set has our pictures around their neck! Cool!

They escort us back to the green room tell us to go to makeup. Then we get into the clothes they picked out of our suitcases and put our aprons on and it's go time! OMG, this is real! I am doing this! Nerves are beginning to set in and my heart is pounding so loud I can hear it in my ears. We stand outside the door to the set, makeup checks our faces, sound checks our mics, they tell us the order to walk in and we line up, and wait. And wait. And wait. If I don't think too much the nerves die down but if I try to figure out what is going to happen when those doors open, my whole body shivers. So I just try to stay calm and breathe. The doors open, and we file in looking around at the amazing set with all the kitchens set up and the wall lined with equipment and food. The nerves are suddenly gone! This is my happy place in the midst of kitchens and food. Now I am getting excited and I can't stop smiling. Jesse Palmer walks out to greet us and he is more handsome in person than he is on TV! And tall! And very nice too. He is not super goofy like Bobby Dean but he puts us at ease and is fun to interact with. He fits right into this amazing group of competitors that have been chosen. As he explains the challenge, (Run up pick and candy cane and make a dessert reflecting the flavor and use the cane in it too) my head starts to spin with ideas...I want those red ones I tell myself. Go! We run up to the table and Ian's feet trip me on the way up, I almost fall but catch myself on the table, grab the red canes and run back to the table. We were instructed to shout out the flavor when we turn over the card with it written on it. "I got raspberry" I call out. The first thing that pops in my head is that chocolate goes really well with raspberry so I run around getting chocolate, fresh raspberries, raspberry puree, fresh basil and whipped cream. I make the brownie layer thin so I can put it on the bottom of a raspberry mousse. I run to the oven and barely get it on the shelf! I guess my nerves were not totally gone. I make the mousse cut out the brownies, assemble the dessert and begin plating. I still haven't found a use for the artificial raspberry flavored candy cane. I decide to cut it up and fold it into whipped cream and put a nice quenelle on top. The color bleeds a bit into the cream but it is way too late to do anything about that. Sauce, sprinkle and done, times up! I just completed my very first challenge on the show! YEAH! And it looks damned good too! 

I take it to the judges, they have a few critiques, which I knew like the cream and red food color bleed. Overall though, they loved it. 
Well that wasn't too bad at all and I'm feeling pretty confident going into the next challenge. 
We file out for more makeup, a set change and interviews. After a couple hours we return for the elimination challenge. For this one we grab a glass off a beautifully set dinner table and inside is a card with the name and ingredients of a holiday drink. We need to make a dessert highlighting the flavors in the drink. I grab one run back to my kitchen and I get Mulled Wine! Yeah! I love mulled wine and immediately think of poached pears. My strategy at this point is to stick with what I know and don't get too wild, yet. 
NONE of us want to be the first one off so we all try to play it a bit safe with familiar flavors. 
I make a classic poached pear almond tart. I poach the pears in a classic mulled wine concoction. 
It smells amazing as it cooks. I know this is going to be a good one! I cut out star cookies and sprinkle gold sugar crystals over each one and pop them in the oven. 
At this point, Jesse comes out to tell us about the twist. We all forgot about the twist. It is peanuts in their shell. What can I do with those?? Peanuts do not go well with my dessert no matter which way I incorporate them. "Peanuts are for elephants!" So since I over baked my first tray of cookies I decide to cut out another tray and put a peanut in the center of each one and then sprinkle the gold sugar over. The cookies are small enough and I hope the flavor spreads throughout the cookie. Then I reduce the wine for a sauce on the plate. Three minutes left I swipe the sauce with a brush, place the tart on the plate and then carefully place one large star and one small star on the plate. 
The judges love it, Lorraine says it looks like a starry night. They all say they taste the mulled wine and the only problem is that darned peanut cookie... well, no kidding. I was so excited I ran back to the green room burst through the door and shouted, "They Fucking LOVED IT!" Everyone turned around laughing and shushed me because there were interviews going on in the other room!
So I made it to the top three on the first round, I feel great and ready for next week! 

Holiday Baking Championship and how did this happen??

It's hard to believe I am on national television even when I see myself! It feels like it's someone else, someone I know really, really well. But it's me!
I auditioned on a whim. In March of this year, I got an email at work announcing that the Food Network wants students or instructors to audition for the show. I thought about it for a day or two, then on a whim, I decided to just go for it. I pulled out my phone put it on selfie video and walked around the school just ad-libbing as I went. It lasted about a minute and a half, then I filled out the application and sent it off. To my surprise, they called me 3 days later. I chatted with this gal answering questions, she said I may get a call in a few days asking for a Skype interview. I did, it was supposed to last 30 minutes but we talked for almost an hour. She seemed really excited to meet me telling me that I was just what they were looking for! I was cautiously excited. She said the next step was another Skype interview with the Producers of the show and that they will want to see something I baked. I should hear from them in about a week. At this point, I decided to tell my boss that this may happen and I would need some time off to shoot the show. She informed me, which I was well aware, that we didn't have anyone to teach my class because Kathy had just quit. I hoped they would figure something out so I could do this if the producers liked me. I waited. A week passed and I heard nothing. Okay, I say to myself, they found who they need and perhaps they will save my application for a future show. A couple of weeks later, on a Monday at 8 PM I get a call telling me they want to Skype on Wednesday morning at 9 AM and I am to have two christmas style pastries to show the producers. I explained that I work all day on Tuesday and there is no way I could have something at 9 AM since my class begins at 9. She said ok thats too bad, MAYBE I would get another call in a couple weeks. I got to work on Tuesday morning and thought to myself that I can not let this opportunity go by without a try! I called the gal back and told her I wanted to do the interview but could I do it later like during my lunch break at 12 and she said yes! So after class I threw together a cake with gingerbread cookies that looks like houses all around it and a Christmas croquembouche.

I contacted the IT guy at work who set me up in the dining room with natural lighting and the phone call happened. They had very little to say after I described my work. They said all there questions didn't apply to me because it was obvious I knew what I was doing. So this one was quick and they said I would hear from them one way or another in a few days. Well, many days went by and I am not hearing anything. My boss is asking me if this is going to happen since she needs to figure out what to do if I go. I have no answers. We are now well into April. I had asked the first Skype gal when the filming would be and she said May or June. There isn't much time left! Another week goes by and finally at 8 pm one night I get a call telling me, congratulations! I am in the final 15 and they need 11, 9 contestants and two alternates. So I pass on the information to my superiors with a sigh. I still do not have a final answer. They are getting irritated because they do not have anyone yet to cover for me. This is out of my control but if I do get chosen you bet I will go one way or another!
I get a call from a gal who asks for a long interview, again, I talk with her for two hours! Same questions with more detailed answers. At the end I ask her when I will know for sure whether or not I will be on the show and she hesitates, tells me it should be soon and then in confidence tells me how much they like me and I shouldn't be too worried about the answer. So now I am getting very excited, it's beginning to feel real now! They send my contracts I am to sign. It 's looking even better now but still no call telling me I am on the show! We are now into May. I get the call, I'm on the show! Filming will be the first two weeks of June. The school scrambles to find someone who flies out from the New York school to cover for me and I am off to New Orleans to film the show!
Since I have a series of stories to blog about I will keep writing and try to catch up with the shows so you can read the inside story of the shows after they air. I am sworn to secrecy as to what happens so don't even ask! LOL Be sure and tune in to Food Network 9 PM pst Monday nights. Then you can witness how far I go in the show!