Boston

This weekend, I went to Boston. I drove there on Friday, slept, and then got up on Saturday to complete my second stage at Craigie on Main in Cambridge.

The stage started like this: I walked in at 11:50 and went downstairs to the pastry dungeon to meet with Jess. Instead of working with her, she said, I would be working with Lauren. Lauren is very experienced, she was a former pastry chef and decided to work at Craigie, she said, "to step back and learn again". She really is excellent. After the formalities, we got to work. I spun ice creams again, and poured liquid nitrogen onto purees so they became sorbets. After that, I was in charge of general prepping and making the rochers that I made last time. I kept this up until 5, when service started.

The dessert department doesn't usually start getting tickets until around 7:30-8, because the restaurant opens at 5, and most people do tasting menus, which take a long time to finish. However, when we started getting tickets...we REALLY got tickets. I ended up learning how to plate every dessert that Craigie currently offers.

Caramel filled Crepes over Apple Compote with a Butternut Squash Ice Cream

Cheesecake with a Huckleberry compote, served over a crab apple puree.

Chocolate Malt! Chocolate sorbet, Malted Milk Ice Cream, Chocolate Crispies, Honey Roasted peanuts, and a Peanut Butter Honey Ganache.

The beginnings of an Affogato: Mint ice cream with a chicory chocolate  sauce, topped with chocolate cookie crumbs and chocolate shards. (Will eventually be topped with espresso.)

I ended up staying until 11:00 that evening. That's an 11-hour shift, if you were wondering. It was hard, my feet were killing me, my back felt broken, and I was incredibly irritable. However, Daniel came to pick me up and we ended up going to Chili's where I stuffed my face with skillet queso and downed a margarita flight. I felt much better after my stomach was full and my spirits had been lifted with spirits.

Today, we drove around looking for housing opportunities. I emailed a lot of people and never heard back, which is disappointing. I was, however, quite happy to discover that the area I want to live in is not nearly as expensive as I thought. Plus, Jess offered to help me find a place/furniture/anything I needed to live there.

After the apartment hunting, we went to track down a comic book store in Cambridge that we discovered last time we were in town. It took us over half an hour and completely giving up hope to find parking. Those are two things I do not look forward to about Boston: the traffic and the parking. It is seriously the worst city for having a car that I've ever experienced. Anyway, we found parking. We also found a parade. And the comic book store. (THAT IS FULL OF MIYAZAKI THINGS AND EVERYTHING I LOVE.)

The parade.

While it was super annoying to try to drive through, it was...interesting to look at.

TOTORO 4 LYFE.

Anyway, that was Boston. Now I'm safely back in Hyde Park, and I am EXHAUSTED. I am also a grandmother. I could go to bed in half an hour and not even feel weird about it. Which is fine...I guess.

I love all of you and will post very soon!