oh, what am i talking about? a little somethin' Chef Ron calls sugar flower boot camp! BOOT CAMP. no joke, we were cranking last night.
we worked on a ton of petals, such a variety in 5 hours, it was whirl-wind-esque...
will i be divulging all the magic? the tricks? nope.
but i will be sharing some of the highlights!
so first of all, we all know how much i adore Chef RBI. if you are my friend, my family member, my friend of a friend...my waitress, my hair stylist, my make up artist, my favorite photographer, my neighbor...my cat... well, you know this. the way i will BALK at someone who might say, "who?," or the way i might dry-heave at their ignorance...[smacking my forehead here]...well, just know that if you want to hang with me, you MUST know this with certainty. and you must love him too, or alas, we cannot be friends.
i was so happy that the rain and the train (and all things that rhyme with -ain) cooperated with me yesterday and i got to school with TONS of time to spare. typically, i'm running to and from the sub rails like someone's trying to murder me just so i make it with time to spare. yesterday, i could WALK..stroll, amble even! i enjoyed the ride down, which was not crowded, i enjoyed the cool breezes, the gentle rain shower, even the screaming fire engine [filled with all those hot NYC firefighters - my husband understands this about me... he WAS involved with the fire department and was a volunteer firefighter for a time as a younger guy..long enough to get a sweatshirt with his company's maltese cross, which i now wear around the beach and on bon-fire nights so...] wow, talk about a tangent...
anyway, i got to school without even breaking a sweat, which put me in an even better mood. i couldn't wait to get to class and get to learning from my hero. yup, cake hero. i'm pretty sure even Chef Ron knows i refer to him as my cake hero...and he is and will always be just that!
on the creation menu for the day were petals of all kinds: tulips, lilies, orchids, peonies [oh, peonies how i love thee]. even some leaves for roses and such.
and while this may sound remarkably vapid, the EASE and confidence with which Chef Ron handles his sugar paste is inspiring. i know that's so boring to say, so obvious...but it's one of the first things i noticed. i mean, it's not that i didn't expect that, but it was inspiring...what can i say?
his demeanor as a master of his craft is warm and he seems eager to share his knowledge. i mean, let's face it, it's intimidating to learn from someone like him and what i liked about him was that he didn't seem to mind that our entire class seemed a little star struck...a little quiet...a little nervous. but wouldn't you be? a little??
of course, by the end of the class, everyone seemed to be feeling more confident in their skills, myself included. my hands didn't feel nearly as jello-like as they had in the first hour. i mean, compared to my first leaf, my last petal was 100% more confident and i was steady-handed again. it was a great feeling. to see how much we had done in such a short time was exciting.
what made that even better was at the end of class, Chef Ron had even asked us to take a minute and look at all we had accomplished in 5 hours, and said we should be very proud of ourselves and our accomplishments. his clear vision and direct nature are infectious. and when he corrects and critiques, i welcome it. what a loss to not learn in such a wonderfully supportive and knowledgable environment. it's not like i want to look like a sugar-flower-buffoon...but if i make mistakes and mess up, i WANT him to see it...i WANT to hear it. how else am i going to learn??
the tips, tricks and flower magic [as i call it] that he shared with us..well it is just so amazing, it's impossible to convey! all i can say is, i CANNOT WAIT to get to class tomorrow, see what's next on the menu, and to see what else i can learn!!
with that, i can't be showing all the Chef Ron/FCI magic... i leave you with a few snippets of what i worked on! think of them as teasers! *wink*
i'm going to turn this into a tulip!
and i can't wait to turn these into gorgeous blossoms, blooms and beauties!
much more to come!!
xo
m
1 comment:
What a great opportunity to be able to learn from Chef RBI! His flowers are amazing and yours will be too! Good luck!
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