We’re back! Beans and I are officially Michiganders once again, and talk about a stressful week! Packing, schlepping, hauling, driving, (pity parties, sobbing) arriving, unpacking, unpacking, unpacking, furniture moving, unpacking, unpacking. You get the picture.
But now we’re nearly unpacked, with the exception of a few things that still need to be placed in their appropriate new homes, and it’s fair to say that our new life is finally coming together.
I do feel like I was dropped into the middle of a foreign land, and have no idea how to get anywhere or how to do anything. Most importantly I don’t know where to get my hair cut. Yesterday I went outside and impulsively joined a gym because I saw it out my window and, despite knowing nothing about it, decided it was better than the alternative of never being able to find another gym or worse, finding another gym but never again finding my way to the gym. I understand that this issue is counterintuitive–that I went from “big city livin'” to something that, well, isn’t. On top of that, I lived (kind of) in this area for the first 18 years of my life. I suppose I just haven’t found my landmarks yet and because of that, I’m feeling a little lost. Hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll get my act together and feel like I’m back home. Until then I’m just a visitor in my own city, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless like me, you need a hair cut.
A few quick anecdotes about the last few weeks before I leave you for the day–there’s much to be done in the unpacking and Love & Buttercream worlds!
1. Graduation!
Graduation from the French Pastry School took place on June 18th (hooray)! It was a great event, beautifully produced and simply delicious in every aspect. The students spent the week prior preparing the Grand Buffet, a sort of welcome/thank you/woo-hoo ceremony for family and friends to attend post-graduation. My class was in charge of cakes, chocolates, and a chocolate sculpture. The highlight of this event was the end–not because it was over, but because about 20 minutes before things shut down, take-home boxes were handed out and we were able to take any leftovers home, making Sammy one happy man (especially when we learned we could take more than one box and yes, the Pate and full loaves of bread were fair game).
2. Chicago Bucket List
Jackie and I made a spontaneous bucket list last Friday of things we needed to accomplish in Chicago before I moved. We created this list around 9:00pm on Friday night and accomplished everything on the list (except for one thing…) by 3:30am on Saturday Morning. A few notable items on the list include:
- Take a picture with Beans (common practice at our house)
- Go to a BYOB
- Play Photo Hunt
- Sing Karaoke
- Go to River Shannon (the bar downstairs), drink a 312, play giant Jenga, and buy a t-shirt (we added “sleep in matching t-shirts” after we purchased these shirts)
- Split a Chicago Dog (we didn’t really want to do this but we felt obligated, hence the split)
- Go to Green City Market
- Drink a Killer Margarita
- Ride in a Cab
- Go to a 4am bar after 2am
3. Green Tea & White Chocolate Mousse Tart with Woodland Strawberries, then an Empty House Rustic Tart
I was scheduled to move on Wednesday, and Saturday afternoon was meeting up with some friends for a little dinner party. I felt the need to bake something, but looked around my kitchen to determine my ingredient selection was insanely limited, and my utensil selection even more so. I was dealing with paper plates, one mini-spatula, a few spoons, one mini-mixing bowl, and a cereal bowl. Awesome. I purchased some amazing Woodland Strawberries from Green City Market that morning, deciding that there was going to be some way for me to use them in the next three days, so I determined that these were going to be my “ingredient one.” Happiness struck again when I discovered that my box with a few baking pans was still within reach, and my cute little tart pan was smiling at me, begging to be used. Hooray–step two! I had made some shortbread cookies earlier in the week, and kept the scraps, as any normal person does, so created a crust out of those. And finally, what sane person who is lacking ingredients doesn’t feel complete without the random Matcha and white chocolate floating around the house. Score! Opening up one box to reach some gelatin and running to the store to pick up some whipping cream, a beautiful Green Tea & White Chocolate Mousse Tart came to be. The shortbread crust married perfectly, and the Woodland Strawberries added the perfect tartness (no pun intended). I was shocked at how easily this tart came to be, despite my lack of everything. And then on Tuesday, things got even more desperate…
The day before my move boxes were packed, kitchen was completely empty, and all I could think about was baking. Seriously? Now? I had on hand at this point: one sheet tray, two butter knives, two plastic forks, one spoon. The refrigerator had been cleared out, the spices were packed, the pantry had been cleared, and all that remained were a few granola bars, a few packets of oatmeal, and some prunes (seriously, I love prunes). I had cleared out the freezer a few days prior, and knew there were only a few things left inside, but when I opened it and remembered the frozen tart cherries, I got a little sad. There was no way I was letting those babies go to waste–I had to do something. Conveniently, I had some tart dough frozen from a few months before (one of the other things you couldn’t pry from my dead, lifeless fingers), and remember those instant oatmeal packets? Thaw dough, mix cinnamon/brown sugar oatmeal with tart cherries (obviously mixed in a plastic bag), push out dough with fingers, pour in cherries, wrap dough around cherries…boom. Cherry Tart, or something of the sort. 45 minutes later we had a delicious dessert that surprised all of us and effectively left us with zero clean up. I would say that this little tart was a good way to leave my apartment–a slight smell of cherry and a regression to my two-years-ago baking capabilities.
4. Photo Shoot!
I really wanted this to be the #1 story of the day, but I tried to save it because I feel a little guilty taking over with all of this exciting Love & Buttercream news…deal with it, I guess! The photo shoot that we did for Love & Buttercream was AMAZING! Justin and Rebecca did a fabulous job helping to make my baked goods look incredible, and Jackie of course was the best assistant, as always. Here’s one of my favorite shots of the day– my Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches with Cream Cheese Buttercream.
I’ll be posting more soon, and they will all be featured on the website which is looking amazing–I can’t wait for all of you to see it!
5. Beans
No story here, just a few quick pictures of her being a terror at the old house, and here at the new loft.
Have a great week everyone!
lol, this was great for so many reasons. mostly because i didn’t want to read it as it was about your new home, but now i’m really glad i did.
So sad to see you go, but so happy for you new adventure!
Cheers to L&B, oh and lots of macarons for me 🙂