Today, I spent the day job-shadowing a pastry chef at Ghyslain Chocolatier in Union City, IN. It was absolutely incredible.

I arrived just before 9am and was given a quick tour and crash course. Then, I was matched up with a chef and we immediately got to work on making tiramisu (which happens to be Emily’s favorite from Ghyslain). After a couple of hours, and 900 tiramisu, we moved on to the creme brulee.

We started heating the creme and sugar (20 pounds of sugar…to give you an idea of the quantity we were making). While the creme heated, we prepared the egg and vanilla (the seeds from 40 pods, which is actually the hardest part of creme brulee). We took a quick break for lunch (salad with a killer dressing and a tasty chicken pot pie) and then finished preparing the creme brulee. Best part of the day…playing with the butane torch.

After the creme brulee, we moved on to hand-painting some of the chocolates. It doesn’t take long to realize that they totally under-charge for a piece of chocolate. There is a lot that goes into making their chocolate art pieces. We also assembled some chocolate piano’s and brushed them with edible gold powder. After that, we spent time helping with the croissants. We wrapped it all up around 3pm (when I was sent home with a pretty nice gift package…coffee mug, chocolates, some amazing desserts that Emily and I consumed after Sammie went to bed).

It was an amazingly incredible day. I learned a ton. I am totally excited to try out some of the tricks I picked up.

This all was a gift from Emily’s parents…a pretty awesome gift. If you ever get the chance and enjoy cooking (especially desserts and baking), I would urge you to spend a day with a chef at Ghyslain.

For those of you in Richmond and Zionsville, you can check out their restaurants (where you can get the amazing pastries and chocolates). In Muncie, you can order some of their pastries and desserts at Vera Mae’s (or you could just drive to Union City, Zionsville, or Richmond).