Pumpkin and Spice

This weekend, there were two banquets at work. That meant it was a busy, busy, busy weekend for me!

Yesterday, I was in early, which meant I was in charge of all of the breads for Saturday's banquet. The bread baskets were going to feature the resort's signature sourdough bread and one other kind. Since the second bread hadn't been specified in the banquet order, I got to choose the type of bread I got to make for the second one! I know it sounds silly, but I was really stoked about getting to choose which bread to make for the banquet. I flipped through the big, thick, notebook o' bread recipes (it's one of those 3" ring notebooks, filled with recipes) and selected onion bread. It looked so good- a soft bread, mostly white, with a touch of whole wheat, gobs of finely minced onions, garlic, and poppy seeds. Yum! The kitchen chef had also requested rye baguettes to be used for canapes. So, I made 11 loaves of sourdough, 15 loaves of onion bread and 15 rye baguettes. While my breads were proofing, I made two starters for Sunday's breads. I also rolled out more (!) chocolate tart dough and made ganache filling for the chocolate noir tarte for Sunday.

Here are my onion breads- which were even more wonderful and delish than I could have ever imagined!

And my rye baguettes, filled with fennel and caraway seeds, and topped with kosher salt.

And a loaf of my sourdough bread!

We were so busy getting ready, we didn't even stop for lunch until 3! The employee cafe wasn't serving, but is always open so staff can have sodas and coffee. Chef and I went in, and he unlocked the coolers (sneaky!) and we rooted around for lunch. We decided to make veggie burgers with sauteed mushrooms and bleu cheese, with a salad on the side. Sorry- I was so hungry I forgot to bring my camera! After our much needed lunch, we headed back to the bakery to finish getting ready for the banquets. I helped clean, and helped with last minute things, then Sissy (who was in later than me), another baker and I made decorative bread for Sunday's banquet in the shape of grapes, wheat, and sunflowers. I got off work late, but I was still gone before those breads were baked.

My original plan was to get off work, go home, change, then catch the bus across town to go see Twilight, but since I got off late, I missed the show I was planning on catching, and the buses stop running at 10:30, which made the later showing out of the question. Instead, I stayed home and played Literati and Naval Command on Yahoo Games with Kyle. For dinner, I wanted something easy- so I heated up some Annie Chun's Teriyaki noodles and topped them with some steamed veggies.

This morning, I got to sleep in an extra hour, which was good- 'cause I was going to need every last ounce of energy today! I ate a "normal" breakfast- coffee, Cinnamon Life, soy milk and an apple. I meant to grab a Cliff bar, because I figured today would be similar to yesterday, and I'd be glad for a mid-day munch. Of course, I forgot to put it in my bag before getting on the bus. Boy, would I regret that!

Today was crazy! The banquet today was a huge foodie bash celebrating the release of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau- a French wine from the Beajolais region made from Gamay grapes. It's released every year on the 3rd Thursday of November, to much fanfare. This banquet is thrown by the resort, and they pull out all the stops! We (the bakery) made 10 desserts plus decorative breads, regular breads, plus some stuff for the kitchen. (Remember all those crusts I rolled out? They became savory quiches.)

Today, we were all scrambling to finish and plate all the desserts. It was the very definition of organized chaos! Sissy and I rolled raspberry ganache balls in melted chocolate to make truffles. I also baked off lemon shortbread and filled them with lemon curd.

And I helped make Concord gateaux- disks of crisp chocolate meringue, layered and iced with chocolate mousse, then covered in crushed chocolate meringue. The meringues were already made, but I helped make the mousse and covered the cakes with the crushed meringue after one of the other bakers iced them in mousse.

Then, I un-moulded bubbling hot tarte tatins. A tarte tatin is like an upside down apple tarte. The apples are sauteed in butter and sugar, then, still in the pan they're topped with pie crust. They get baked in the skillet until the apples are caramelized and the crust is crisp and golden. Then you pull them out of the oven and invert them so they're right-side up for service. Most of them were perfectly golden...

But one was extra caramelized. You may think burned, and I'll grant you, that yes, it does look burned. But the thing about tarte tatins is that this burned look means yummy, sticky dark caramel, and apples that are chewy and soft. But... guests look at this and think "eww, it's burned." So it got tucked away to be served last. I had my eye on it.

The chocolate tartes I made yesterday were drizzled with milk chocolate and sliced (not by me.)

I sliced and plated the tarte tatins, along with a dollop of creme fraiche. Then, I helped Chef carry desserts out to the buffet for set up. Some of the other desserts included passion fruit and pomegranate gelees (think gummy candies), creme puffs filled with rum cream, madelines and several others.

Once the banquet started, the bakery was sort of divided into "teams"- some people were constantly plating and prepping more plates of desserts. Sissy and I were "runners". It was our job to carry trays of desserts to refresh the buffet with new plates. Basically, we'd carry one tray out, unload it, then come back for more. It was constant- at one point, people were taking plates almost as fast as we put them down.

Of course, throughout the banquet, people were drinking the Beaujolais Nouveau. A lot. Since all the desserts were cut and plated, we took the prettiest whole desserts and displayed them. On one of my trips replenishing the buffet, I noticed that someone had helped themselves to our display chocolate tarte! Crazy!

All of this was non-stop! We were baking, prepping, plating, running, carrying and moving all day- and we still hadn't stopped to eat! Finally, when my arms were shaking from carrying tray after tray of dessert, and I thought I was going to pass out from hunger- banquet leftovers magically appeared on the line! Stuffed quail, smoked pike, short ribs, homemade sausages and pates, potatoes, roasted tomatoes with sauteed spinach, cheeses, salads, breads... We all heaped our plates with food and headed back to the bakery to chow down. Chef even brought us back some of the wine to try! I was starving, and everything was so good. I thought for sure that as hungry as I was, I'd eat EVERYTHING, but I didn't finish it all... and only had room for one glorious bite of my "burned" tarte tatin...