In one of my early gigs as a chef, I worked at a hotel. During that job, I volunteered to train as a pastry cook, mainly to liberate myself from being a breakfast cook. Long and short of it, I loved making tarts but pastry chefs are a different sort of creature. My personality, for whatever reason, was not ideal for the sweet side of the kitchen. Regardless, with this latest COVID surge, I used my home as my laboratory and made some pastries. It felt good. I think this dark time lets our minds go back and recharge whatever batteries are low…