In French, éclair means lightning bolt. But let me tell you, the process of making these cream-filled pastries is nothing like a quick flash of electricity.

Every year a group of ICE alumni travel to France to participate in the ICE Alumni Cuisine Course. Led by ICE Chef Instructor Kathryn Gordon, the intensive course is a unique, alumni-only trip that includes hands-on classes with a variety of chefs and visits to restaurants, farms, and bakeries. The activities include visiting famous fleur de sel marshes, shopping in traditional markets and seeing organic chevre farms. Here is part one of Chef Kathryn’s report from France:

In Beijing’s noodle shops, noodle pullers transform a simple ball of dough into thousands of noodles simply by twisting and pulling it apart with their fingers. It takes years to master their technique and swift and fluid movements. But in Lillian Chou’s Beijing Noodle Making recreational class at ICE, I discovered that making Asian-style noodles from scratch can be very easy.

Earlier this week, Stephane Treand, a world champion pastry artist, made a special visit to ICE to teach pastry professionals about airbrushing chocolate.

Today’s New York Times Dining section includes a feature article on ICE alum (and recent ICE Alumni Hall of Achievement inductee) Matt Weingarten and writer Steven Rinella’s quest to host a genuine pig roast.

When ICE President Rick Smilow and Anne E. McBride wrote Culinary Careers: How to Get Your Dream Job in Food they discovered a plethora of food jobs they had never heard of before. Since the book's release, they have been discovering even more interesting career paths in the food world. We here at DICED wanted to share some of them with you in a reoccurring feature, Unique Culinary Careers.

Over the past few Pastry & Baking Arts lessons we have had the fortunate timing to learn about frozen desserts during a record-breaking heat wave in NYC.

TV star Daisy Martinez demonstrated her favorite recipes at ICE yesterday.

At the end of last week, Chef Instructor Chad Pagano’s Pastry & Baking Arts class was making this buttercrunch candy.

Last night, Les Dames d’Escoffier New York (LDNY) awarded their annual culinary scholarships. Twenty-two scholarships worth a total of $92,000 were awarded to women who are pursuing careers in the food industry. Four ICE students were among the young culinary professionals recognized.