Last night was the first all Octane staff meeting of 2007. We don't have them often, but when we do, I remember all over again why I love it there. We had lots of fun stuff to cover including the unveiling of the new Octane manual.....thanks to M'Lissa, we all have the information we need to start our journey into Rock Star Barista-hood. Go us! As we're taking our coffee to the next level, we'll be making some changes in the food menu-- making more things in house (thanks, T & D for the new equipment!) and mixing things up a little bit.
Anyway, because none of us can be serious for too long, we eventually tapped into the Corsendonk keg. What started out as a group photo quickly became random party photo shoot! Thanks double B for bringing the lights and the skills! Here are some pictures.

We're not really tough, we just like to pretend.....


Mug shot.

Earlier in April, I was in a casting competition sponsored by The Chicago School of Mold Making.

It was my first competition, and it was much more fun than I expected. I was as nervous and busy and anxious as I thought I would be....but in the middle of it all....there it was. Fun! I had a great assistant named Delecia who helped make things go smoothly. In the end, I didn't win. However, one of the judges said that my name kept coming up, but they couldn't decide where to put me. And that next year they would have more categories. So....I guess I invented new categories!
We had to create a sugar sculpture and a choclate amenity piece using a set of molds that were given to us. The theme was "Modern Nature." I conceptualized the sugar as destruction and chaos with life and growth coming out of it....and the thing on top that resembles a snail in the picture is actually part of a butterfly, but it's hard to tell in the picture.... With the chocolate, I went more with straight up "nature" with a flower.
Pictures....






A close up of the base....The orange was made using more "traditional" techniques, and not molds. I poured the melted sugar over granulated sugar, and pulled it as it cooled. The orange part rising up on the left was made by pouring the melted sugar over ice, causing it to set quickly. The ice melts off of it and...voila! An orange flame coral looking thing.