Submitted by Carolyn Jones on the 2013 fall semester exchange program with the Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality…
This week marked the beginning of my start in the pastry kitchen. The chef I worked with is truly incredible and taught us everything from tempering chocolate to spinning and blowing sugar. We made pies and cakes which are a pre-existing love of mine, but the best part was plating and making it all come together. On Wednesday we tempered chocolate and then piped it into beautiful designs and shapes as a decoration for our dessert. Thursday was equally amazing because we learned how to melt sugar and spin it into beautiful bowl-shaped web. We also tried blowing the sugar into different shapes and designs, but I completely underestimated how difficult that would be. Luckily all of my disastrous attempts were able to be remelted.
After a long and stressful week, it felt good to finally get away for the weekend. My friends and I traveled to Zurich on Friday to spend the weekend with a friend from school. She is originally from Spain, but now she lives with her family in Zurich. Within the first 20 minutes of our arrival we managed to spill all over the white dog while attempting to swat away bees (turning him pink), so we knew we were off to good start. Luckily, her family commendably managed our chaotic bunch, and welcomed us with a delicious and traditional, home-cooked Swiss meal. It was a wonderful feeling to be in a family setting after being in school for so long. We finished our welcome dinner with ice cream and chocolate, feeling fulfilled and ready to take on Zurich. Our friend lives about 20 minutes from the city, but we took the train and spent as much time there as possible.