Oh, how pretty!

Get some nice lotion or something soothing for your poor hands!

Thanks mommy I've tried about everything for my hands. I've about given up for now!

I got another job offer today but I can't post online about it until I talk to SM Sr. That's his rule he knows me so well.

OOh, when does SM Sr. get home from work?

I'm a big fan of Neutrogena Fisherman's something-or-other lotion. It comes in a tube and it's great for really dry, cracked hands.

I like Mary Kay "Extra emollient Night Cream" for hands. A little goes a long way.
i apply it to the back of one hand and rub the backs together first.
It kept my hands in good shape thru Altoid's first winter (washing my hands probably 100x a day, between her, work, etc).

Congrats, whatever the job offer is!

Custom chocolates. hmmmm. we may have to talk.

Yeah, Mary Kay's Extra Emollient Night Cream is amazingly...um...emollient. Can't come up with the right synonym. "Moisturizing" doesn't cut it.

Really heavy moisturizers like that are usually just too much here in Florida, where the humidity is just gooshy. (How do you like that technical engineering term?)

My hand maintenance secret is more appropriate to this climate. I'm pretty religious about using a facial moisturizer with sunscreen, and years ago I just got into the habit of rubbing the excess into the backs of my hands. So far, it's doing a pretty good job of keeping the sun damage down and the age spots away.

For heavy-duty hand treatment, I'm a big fan of Crabtree & Evelyn's Gardeners Hand Therapy. It smells a little unusual (a little like camphor with lavender), but it does wonders for the kind of abuse that people who work with their hands heap upon them. It's really great for chapped skin and self-destructing cuticles. If the skin on your hands is flaky and calloused, their Gardeners Hand Recovery will do an unbelievable job of getting your hands back to normal.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt G.:
For heavy-duty hand treatment, I'm a big fan of Crabtree & Evelyn's Gardeners Hand Therapy. It smells a little unusual (a little like camphor with lavender), but it does wonders for the kind of abuse that people who work with their hands heap upon them. It's really great for chapped skin and self-destructing cuticles. If the skin on your hands is flaky and calloused, their Gardeners Hand Recovery will do an unbelievable job of getting your hands back to normal.

I got that as a gift one year. It didn't last long enough. Wonderful stuff. Best I have ever used.

Must remember to order some.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt G.:
For heavy-duty hand treatment, I'm a big fan of Crabtree & Evelyn's Gardeners Hand Therapy. It smells a little unusual (a little like camphor with lavender), but it does wonders for the kind of abuse that people who work with their hands heap upon them. It's really great for chapped skin and self-destructing cuticles. If the skin on your hands is flaky and calloused, their Gardeners Hand Recovery will do an unbelievable job of getting your hands back to normal.

Thanks Cousin! I'll have to find some.

my hands were horrid when I was cheffing.

religious application of a heavy emollient (i love the Neutrogena.. and Matt's sounds great) particularly around the fingertips before sleeping.

I also love aquaphor.

my hands still look like carp.

Class is over!

I got a 96 on my final written and a 93 on my final practical!

The first day of the practical was a disaster my cake completely sunk in the middle I freaked out. Thankfully it was a huge cake and we only needed 2 1/4" slices out of it. Found out tonight when I tasted the cake I added too much baking soda. How? I don't know. I triple checked my math and quadruple checked my scaling while prepping for the practical. But somehow I scaled it wrong. Stupid error, pretty embarrassing. When making my mousse (take 240 degree sugar/water and pour it into beaten eggs + yolks, then add melted choc and lightly whipped cream) most of the sugar hit the tines of the whip....creating cotton candy at the top of my machine . And then somehow the rest of the sugar pooled at the bottom of the bowl or splashed on the sides. How much actually got into the eggs? But Chef was out of the kitchen so I quickly poured my mousse cake and ran to clean my bowl. He was none the wiser, I got full score my mousse .

I also tempered chocolate in 7 minutes on the first day and I managed to keep it in temper for 45 minutes (I was off and on doing other things than chocolate garnishes) to make my tiles and curls without having to retemper. I was the only one in the class that only tempered once . I weaseled my way into extra credit for that so it made up for the points that my baking soda disaster knocked off.

I forgot my camera. So I took a picture with my phone, but I don't have internet on my phone and it didn't come with a cord to hook it up to the computer...and I don't know our password for our online account . I'm trying to email it to myself now..if that doesn't work then I'm out of ideas and it's just stuck in the phone .

Edit:

It worked! It's off of the camera from a free-with-plan phone so it's not that great

MS, I love your pictures! Yum!

Congratulations on the class! I knew you would excel!

Yay MS!!

MS is a teacher's pet.... MS is a teacher's pet...

Well-deserved. Even on your el carpo phone camera, that cake looks delicious.


(True confession: I don't know what tempering chocolate is, or why it's so hard, or why it doesn't last, or why you have to do it at all. I guess it's GoogleTime!)

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:
Yay MS!!

MS is a teacher's pet.... MS is a teacher's pet...

Well-deserved. Even on your el carpo phone camera, that cake looks delicious.


(True confession: I don't know what tempering chocolate is, or why it's so hard, or why it doesn't last, or why you have to do it at all. I guess it's GoogleTime!)

Tempering chocolate is a process to make chocolate stronger, shinier, and completely set at room temperature among other things. Have to have melt chocolate, create crystals (2 types) by agitation and then kill off one of the types of crystals with heat. Basically, melt chocolate to 114-120 degrees, agitate and cool it down to 80-82, and then bring back up to 86-89. If you go over 89 you have to start over and if it goes under 86 (obviously after warming up over it) if you have to start over. And just because it's 86 degrees doesn't mean it's tempered since it's the whole crystal deal. Chocolate is a pain.

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:
Do I envision a possible graduation present??

We had one of those in our first kitchen. It broke within the first hour. Our Chef said it basically costs ~$10 for every pound that you temper before they usually break (unless you buy one of the HUGE ones they use for the international competitions). I'll do the PITA job for $10/lb!