Happy Saint Patrick's Day... how about a cake? >grumble<
Today was a day in which I should have been celebrating my Irish heritage (by getting very very drunk [that's sarcasm]). But, instead, Coldstone thought it would be a good idea for me to spend my day learning how to make the "new" cakes. Oh fun! The training was in Arlington Heights, so I had to leave my apartment at 7:30. And, yes, the 28 or 30 miles from Chicago to Arlington Heights took me from 7:30 to 8:45 to drive. I knew it was going to take me that long... but that didn't make it any less sucky.
The cake training started at 9 AM, and since I was early I was able to meet other franchisees. I met Diane from Buffalo Grove, Alberto and Alberto Jr of UIC, Steve from somewhere, and Dima of the 21 West Ontario store. Why do you care? Because these are all owners or managers of stores in the Chicago area. Why do you care? Because now I have a connection with half a dozen Coldstones in the Chicago area. Why do you care? GOD! Give me a break!

Anyway... the day started with the cutting of the actual cake that we use inside the cakes (that sentence made no sense... but, then again, it did >raises eyebrow<). We then assembled each cake... which is two layers of ice cream and two layers of the aforementioned cake. A lot less ice cream going into these cakes... just so you know (because I know that you still care). It was about this time that Andrea and I decided that we would be so disgustingly "in" to teamwork that we would make all the other owners envious (this sounded like a good idea to us because we were both really tired [I didn't get to sleep until 3:30 or 4 and I was up at 6:30]). So we assembled the cakes together in a disgustingly team-oriented fashion. At one point, she and I even pretended to be communicating non-verbally across the room when, in fact, we had no idea what we were saying. AND Andrea told me to put our "crest" on something, and it even took me a second to realize that she was kidding. Did I mention I was an idiot?
Anyway... from the cake assembly, we moved to making the candy-toppers. There's now candy on top of the cakes... and it's irritatingly lengthy to make them... and we did. Fun. Besides, the cakes take an hour in the blast after they're assembled before they can be decorated. Whatever! By this time... everyone was lusting after the candy (because it was lunchtime), so we wisely broke for lunch (before the product was devoured!).

Andrea and I went to Noodles & Company... which seemed to be a Mongolian Barbeque minus all the self-assembly and cool fire. Which means it's basically you telling them what you want and them making it. What do you call that? Um... a restaurant? Yeah... that's it. Anyway... I got this Japanese Pan Noodle dish on Josh's recommendation (he's an Area Developer... and one of the cake training dudes). It had kind of a spicy sauce and it was good. I ate the whole thing with chopsticks! CHOPSTICKS! I actually told Andrea that I might have to cheat and use a fork because I wasn't very fast with the chopsticks (and we only had half an hour for lunch)... but I did it all by myself! Hooray for me! Take THAT f--king chopsticks!
I also called California to wish a Happy Birthday to Susan. I don't call her nearly enough (which means I never call). But we had a nice (and quick... stupid cake training) conversation... and eventually I learn where she lives so I can give her this card.

So we went back into the factory and learned all about Ganache (pronounced: Ganache). Ganache is basically a chocolate coating for the cakes... effectively "dipping" a cake. So each of us had to ganache a cake and I was pretty nervous when it was my turn... but I went for it... and Josh was actually (mildly) impressed. Andrea seemed very critical of her own cake... it was weird... it was almost like she was unsure of herself. She said stuff that I would've said in high school (about how much I suck), which was a side of her I've never seen. Anyway... I described her cake as "sunset over Tahiti"... and everyone laughed.
Then we had to actually frost a cake. I've never done this before... I've frosted cakes in pans before, but I've never frosted a round cake (especially not with 10 other people watching). But, after frosting the sides, I said "Can you believe this is my first time frosting a cake?" and Josh was, again, (mildly) impressed.
Then the being impressed stopped... as we decorated the cakes. Good Lord is the piping tough! Holy crap... how can people write with frosting? Isn't that against the natural laws of physics and gravity (hint: no)? Well I sucked the big one at the actual decoration of the cakes... probably because I was trying to do it left handed (as that's what felt natural) and I write right handed. Why didn't I switch hands, you ask? Were you there to tell me that? NO! You were sitting at your computer, reading a stupid blog. Oh... wait... that's now. Whoops >shrugs<.

To kind of digress... we have "mystery shoppers" who come into Coldstone and order something and give us a score, right? Ok... so we recently had a mystery shopper and Andrea learned our score was lower than we'd like. She went nuts. Nuts! After we had finished all the cake stuff, the Coldstone dude who was there from corperate (his name was Randy... you don't need to know this for the test) showed us the mystery shopper's report. Basically, we got marked down on sanitation for crappy reasons (there were sticky tables on a Saturday night... that's a surprise >shakes head<)... and it was easy for me to shrug the report off because it was stupid. But Andrea was still going nuts. Nuts!
Well... being the good bitch that I am, I asked if she wanted me to get her some coffee or a bagel or something. There was a Starbucks nearby (big surprise), so we headed over there to (basically) let her vent. I'm not a big Starbucks person... so I tried the caramel apple cider. It came highly recommended by Amy, who said it tasted like a liquid caramel apple. And, guess what... it did! Too bad I spilled some on my shirt, like a big loser-pants. A big loser-shirt.... right.

The drive back from Arlington Heights took FOREVER! I must've left Arlington Heights around 5 or 5:30... and I didn't get back to my apartment until after 7. Yeah... nothing like "working" for eleven and a half hours on a day that I'm supposed to be celebrating. Oh well... next year.
I did have a nice chat with my parents. I'm going up to Wisconsin for my grandma's 90th birthday a week from this Saturday. I think my whole family will be there... plus some cousins and other miscellanious people. We'll see.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone... and may Saint Patrick chase the snakes out of your own personal Emerald Isle.