First Lesson - Sugar

I got to class after a very long day where I used almost every possible land vehicle (bus, train, car, taxi, train, bus, car etc etc)... Had to go up north to the northern boarder of Israel with my work and then was in a hurry to make it to class.
It was worth it!!!
I thought I'd be too tired and that my attention span won't be so good, but I was proven wrong.
We are 12 in class, 11 women and one men, a rather weird ratio but quite obvious too. We set in a huge kitchen full of appliances, mixers, scales, ovens etc. The way you would expect a professional bakery to look like. All the ingredients and tools were at their places ready to be picked up. Order is the name of the game in this school!
We received our uniform (the same uniform chefs normally wear... COOOWELL) and we were told to come with comfortable close none slippery shoes, and hair cover. Since it was the first class, we had a theoretical lesson about sugar.
Beside all the very important chemical facts that lay behind sugar, I also learnt that sugar was first produced in India from sugar cane, therefore the root for the word Sugar is Sanskrit. The British were the main merchants with the far east and so they were the one who imported sugars to Europe. However, during Napoleon's rein the naval route to India was prohibited to the British and sugar was scars in Europe. The only Europeans who were able to grow and produce sugar from sugar cane were the Sicilians. Hence all the sweets and goodies which are typical to this area. In 1862 two French scientists answered to Napoleon's challenge and managed to produce sugar from beetroot, which until then was animals' food only.
Well this is the little history we've learnt about sugar. I love these anecdotes!!!

Tomorrow is D-Day first class of my Pastry Chef Course

The moment I have been waiting for has arrived.
I cannot even describe in words how excited I am about tomorrow.
For the past six years I was dreaming of taking this Pastry Chef course, life took me to differnt directions until I made up my mind and set a goal of going to study professional baking no matter what.
So I finished my BA, then I started my MA and all the time this dream was there. Some of my friends can realy testify for me and tell how many times I spoke about pursuing this dream. Tomorrow it starts... Its is such a great feeling of accomplishement as it is something I have been saving for for so long. I wonder how will the people be, what recipe we will receive, how will the teachers be and how fun or tough baking and desert making might be.
I have surveyed so many people from the food industry about the life and work of pastry chefs and most of them tried to discuorage me saying its a tough job both physically and mentally, and that its hard to make a disent living out of it. But I donno my inner voice tells me I must find out for myself. So tommorrow I will be a little bit smarter... I cannot wait.
Anyhow, will keep you posted. Hope this will encourage me to write more in the blog. It will sure give me a lot to tell about - the time problem remains however.