Christmas Cakes and Kisses

Chapter 1 Saturday Evening, November 7th Zanesville Technical College and Culinary Institute “Good evening.” “Good evening, Chef,” the twenty-four students standing at workstations called back to Chef Tomas Fourneir, in near unison. “We’ve been working pastry for the last month. You’ve all done well.” He glanced around the room, his eyes lingering on a few students. Hannah couldn’t hold his gaze. She looked away, toward the older woman she shared a workstation with, Sandra Teeter. Sandy scooted her right foot toward Hannah’s left and gave it an encouraging tap. Hannah blushed and looked away from Sandy too, back toward Chef Tomas. He’d moved on and he was smiling at Sandy. “Who is ready for cake?” he asked in a more excited tone than his usual more measured one. Hannah smiled and nodded. Sandy did too. It’s what they were both really in culinary school for and they’d talked about it often. The chef rubbed his hands together. “In class, we’re going to go through all of the usual exercises and modules.” He emphasized, ‘in class’. “This year, unlike in previous years, we have a special project right out of the gate, as well. A very special project.” Hannah and Sandy glanced at each other, Sandy with one eyebrow c****d. “Bring it on,” Sandy mouthed to her table mate. The younger, strawberry blond, couldn’t help but chuckle at the 40 plus year old woman who’d spent all of her adult life toiling in commercial kitchens, baking up a storm and getting none of the credit. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Sandy was the only person in the class who knew about her bakery. She’d said she made it her business to know all of the competition in Zanesville and the surrounding area when she showed up at the shop one day, unannounced and not a bit surprised to find Hannah at the helm. Hannah didn’t even think the chef knew about her store. Every time she thought about telling him she shuddered from the pressure to perform that she was sure would follow. “First, I’m going to pair you with another student,” Chef Fourneir said. “The project will be a team effort, therefore we will proceed through cakes as pairs.” The two women glanced at each other. “I’m picking,” he continued as a low rumble rose in the room. The class grew quiet again when he stepped toward the front workstation to his left. “Mr. Clay,” he addressed the student facing him on the right, “please step aside.” Fourneir waited while Randy Clay picked up his knife kit and his class binder and moved before turning toward the workstations to his right. He looked past the two front tables and focused on the table where Hannah and Sandy stood. “Ms. Teeter,” he called to Sandy, “please take Mr. Clay’s place here.” He placed a hand on the now vacant workstation. Hannah grimaced but she didn’t dare look at Sandy. Instead she imagined having Randy as her baking partner. He was good with pastry and a hard worker. She swallowed, drew in a breath and then, as she let it out, half smiled at the man, as he waited in the aisle, watching Sandy gather her belongings. The chef didn’t place Randy at Sandy’s former workstation. Instead, he zigzagged among the twenty-four students and their stations, moving people here and there until there was only one student left standing in an aisle, sans partner, Morgan Barber. Hannah swallowed again, harder this time as Fourneir directed Morgan toward her. She didn’t know anything about Morgan. They hadn’t talked other than to say ‘hello’ or ‘excuse me’ in passing. Morgan didn’t really talk to anyone, always going off by herself when they would get a break in class. When the pairings were finished, people started chattering. Some were obviously happy with their new partners while others, it seemed, were not. She wasn’t sure what she felt but, from what little she’d observed, she didn’t think baking and pastry were strong suits for the woman now standing next to her. Fourneir motioned for quiet. “Some of you have grown quite comfortable with the people you formerly shared stations with. That’s great. Teamwork is important. However, I remind you, in a commercial kitchen, you will always be working with all sorts of people at all different skill levels. You must learn that they’re going to be part of the team and that you have to become a part of the team wherever you go.” “I’ve separated the stronger bakers and moved them around because of our special project. Each year, there is a TWIG sponsored charity fundraiser for Genesis Hospital. Local companies contribute decorated Christmas trees for a public display. People donate money to walk through the display and see the trees and then, before Christmas, they’re auctioned off. It’s been a successful fundraiser for many years. But, as with all things, they’ve reached a ceiling on what they can raise with just the donations and the tree auction.” “This year, the TWIG group has decided they’d like to try something a little different. The also want to do sweets and specifically cakes.” “For auction Chef?” a student called from the workstation behind Hannah and Morgan. “Yes, for auction. What they hope will be a very competitive auction. Now, I know cookies are the most popular Christmas dessert but, in many parts of the world, Christmas cakes play a very large role in family gatherings as Christmas is the celebration of a birth, after all.” He paused to let that sink in. Hannah smiled, memories of her Amish upbringing and Old Christmases spent in church, still very much in her mind. “Twelve corporate donors have each commissioned a cake,” the Chef was saying as he scanned a paper he held in front of him. “They will be auctioned off at a very special auction at the private dinner party to honor the Twig volunteers and their families and the corporate sponsors after the tree auction which is open to the public. The cakes will be on display for the public at the display of trees, behind a glass wall. The public can vote on a fan favorite.” He looked up at the students. “Each team here will be assigned to one of the corporate donors by random draw. You, as a team, will meet with the donor, outside of class, to get his or her vision for the cake. The overall theme for the festival this year is ‘Family, friends and fun at Christmastime’, but the donors are free to deviate from that with their trees and, presumably with their cakes. Even so, that theme gives everyone a lot of latitude to be creative and being creative is highly encouraged here. Don’t play it safe. I suggest you put your heads together and come up with a few themed ideas before you meet with your sponsor...among other things.” He pursed his lips and nodded his head but didn’t elaborate. Hannah suspected she would have to quiz Morgan about what she could and couldn’t do and how much time she had to devote to the project, especially if their sponsor wanted something really detailed. Chef Fourneir changed course. “Has anyone here ever been to see the tree display in the past?” Hannah looked around and saw a few hands go up, including Sandy’s. “Ms. Teeter,” Fourneir called out, “tell the class about it.” Sandy chuckled. “Seems like it might be pretty cutthroat to me. There’s a fan favorite for the trees too and they give awards for them besides that for best use of the theme and such. Plus, I’ve seen big write-ups in the paper about it.” “Exactly,” Fourneir said as he smacked a hand down on the closest workstation. “It’s competitive. Expect the cakes to be treated much the same, all in the name of charity, of course. The volunteers, the corporate donors, their invited guests and some local dignitaries will be on hand for the cake bidding. The TWIG committee expects the cakes, if they’re good, to be as heavily contested as the trees and to go for big money, folks.” No pressure, Hannah thought. “I’m told by the TWIG committee that some of these sponsors commission the decorating of their trees out to designers but some do it all hush-hush, in house. Given that, I expect that some teams will find their corporate sponsor gives them free reign, others will find their sponsor is very particular and still others will find the sponsor wants to be hands on and help. Be prepared.” Hannah blew out a heavy breath. “I have a packet for each sponsor. I’ll hand them out at the break. Right now, we need to get to work on the science and the art of cakes if we’re going to have a good showing. Please open your syllabus to...” He was off and running. ###