A lemon meringue tart, brioche, pain au chocolat, homemade buttercream, and chocolate mousse—these are just a few of the delicious treats I thought I would never know how to make until recently. When joining the AUI Marketing and Communications team in April of 2010, I had a great appreciation and enthusiasm for food, but no formal culinary training. This all changed when I had the privilege to take a 6 month, 20 week Pastry Techniques 101 class every Tuesday night at L’Academie de Cuisine with Chef Mark Ramsdell.

Now, not only has my admiration for food grown, but so has my understanding of what our customers go through on a daily basis. Knowing the steps and specialized skills it takes to produce an end product, I will never again take for granted the many details that make a dessert truly wonderful!

My culinary growth was greatly aided by Chef Ramsdell; whose vast knowledge of pastry techniques (and patience) made learning accessible to all. He often shared with us personal anecdotes from his own culinary endeavors—assisting Roland Mesnier, Executive Pastry Chef at The White House and founding the Pastry Design Studio, an award-winning pastry shop specializing in large show cakes—and taught us the rich history of the many of treats we created,  which brought them to life and added a exceptional richness to the class. For example, when tackling the art of making Pat à Choux, he demonstrated how to make a Paris Brest, a ring of choux pastry sprinkled with almonds, split, and filled with praline flavored cream, and he explained that the dessert is named after the Paris Brest bicycle race. A baker, whose shop was close to the route of the race, was the first to make it cleverly chose the wheel shape! Thus, thanks to Chef Ramsdell and my encouraging co-workers at AUI, I now know recipes don’t matter without hard work, dedication, and true passion for the trade!

The AUI innovations team headed by our Vice President of Business Development, Andreas Galliker spent this past week working with the product development team from Laderach to brainstorm and create new products for the next couple of years. Laderach, are a company founded by Swiss chocolatiers, they create some of our delicious truffles and pralines, petit fours, and petite pastries, as well as our premium shells.

The team spent the week between the conference room and the kitchen, coming up with new ideas and then testing them. I’m not at liberty to say what the innovations might be, but I was allowed into the kitchen to snap a few photos. I managed to catch our Corporate Pastry Chef Andrew Logan tasting truffles with Laderach's Corporate Pastry Chef Guliano Sargenti. I caught them earlier in the week baking something in the oven. I'm not sure what it was but, boy, did it smell delicious. Can you guess what we might be coming out with over the next few years?

Pictured at right in the back row are Ralph Siegl, Laderach CEO, Guiliano Sargenti, Laderach Corporate Pastry Chef, Andreas Galliker, AUI VP of Business Development, and Andreas Truempler, Laderach Marketing and Sales Director. In the front are AUI CEO Philipp Braun and our culinary team consisting of Assistant Pastry Chefs Briea Nathan, and Amanda Haba, and Corporate Pastry Chef Andrew Logan.

During the IBIE (International Baking Industry Exposition) show in Las Vegas, Nevada last week the qualifying competition for the Bakery World Cup was held. Eight countries from North and South America competed for the opportunity to partake in the Bakery World Cup in 2012. The winners were  the USA team and the Peru team, both will go on to compete in Paris at the Europain Show. Each team was composed of three members competing in Bread, Viennese Pastry, and Artistic Piece. Mike Zakowsky, Jeremy Gadouas, and Harry Peemoeller will be competing for the USA Team.

Ritz-Carlton, Washington D.C., 9/30/2010

An elegant and vibrant chocolate showpiece accompanied by a sign which read “Book of Memories: Let’s Reopen the Memories” perfectly captured the spirit of "A Night of Extreme Taste” where top chefs united to dazzle guests with their culinary creations and reminisced about their friend and fellow pastry chef Jérôme Girardot.

Chef Jérôme Landrieu, one of the four founders of the Jérôme Girardot Foundation and the chef behind the poignant showpiece, reflected on the evening saying “There are a lot of emotions because we have his parents and his kids here; it is nice to see all the chefs who have traveled from all around the country just to participate.” The success of the event has already got him thinking about next year, he says it will definitely be in Chicago but the concept is not yet finalized.

In the spirit of a chef who expressed “Anything you can see or imagine I can create in chocolate,” the nation’s most talented chefs unite to create a dazzling assortment of sweet and savory treats. At “A Night of Extreme Taste” guests will indulge their senses: savor the culinary masterpieces of over 30 celebrity chefs (see a complete list below), take in the beauty of their showpieces, sample delicious drinks from mixologists David Ortiz and Freddy Diaz, and enjoy music from contemporary country singer/songwriters Tim and Trent Leclaire and tenor song stylist Fernando Varela.

The event, which marks the second benefit for the Jérôme Girardot fund, established by Laurent Branlard, Jerome Landrieu, David Serus, and Stephane Chéramy to celebrate the life and memory of our friend, will be held at The Ritz-Carlton in Washington D.C. on Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. To view more photographs and a video of last year’s event and purchase a ticket to experience “A Night of Extreme Taste,” visit www.jeromegirardotfund.com.