A Belated Holiday Update

Hello to all,
hoping you had a pleasant holiday season celebrating to your hearts delight and eating lots of delicious food.

As for myself I was very preoccupied making this bad boy.
This is a traditional Buche Noel ( yule log) the cake itself was the easiest part.  I make a jaconde sponge flavored with hazelnut extract and a cocoa and hazelnut butter cream for the filling as well as to cover the outside of the cake.  On top is chocolate bark and a little holly.  The mushrooms were made from French meringue and the pine cones are peanut butter ganache with almonds.  It definitely was a task to make, but I enjoyed every moment of it and was sooo glad to finally see it come together.

On Christmas I had some friends come over for a small together which we celebrated with a potluck, watching Christmas movies, and playing apples to apples.  All and All it was a great time.

These next few weeks at work have become increasingly busy we did 529 a night Christmas week and for New Years our reservations are 550 ahhhhhhhhhh scary stuff.  The best part of all of this is that we have been having a lot of call ins.  Yesterday out kitchen was a skeleton crew.  We usually have 12 people on staff, 10 is ok, we only had 7 last night.  It was rough to say the least, but it really shows who are the strong cooks in this kitchen.

One of my favorite quotes that I pass all the time while walking around the lodge is an Ethiopian proverb it says " smooth seas do not make strong sailors."   It constantly reminds me that everyday there is a lesson to be learned and that I am still earning my salts if I want to be the best chef I can be.

Wishing you all the best and a continued happy and safe holiday season.

Cheers,
Ally