It was a bright, sunny, really warm day today, and overnight the trees budded. All the trees on my walk to school had tiny, bright green leaves this morning and I found it so exciting. After living in New Orleans where the leaves never fall, I forgot how wonderful spring buds are.

This afternoon, I made a vanilla/chocolate mousse cake called “Plaisir,” or “Pleasure.” It was anything but. The problem with a warm, sunny day is that they cannot regulate the temperature in school and it was so hot inside that none of our mousses (or meese as it were) would set. Several others in the class and I had the horrific experience of lifting the mold off our two hours of work and having it flatten out and ooze all over the marble. I saved myself the embarrassment of taking a photo. And I had been doing so well in pastry…