#111 - Continuing education (aka Toys, toys and more toys!)

Kitchen toys
Williams Sonoma opened their first store outside of the US.  Of course I had to check it out.  They have different things in the store, but the really great part is that they have my brand of cleaners which I was having a hard time finding (Murchinson Hume, if you're interested).  They have a cooking school with pretty stations so I had to check that out too.

Class - because you never stop learning...
Class was on a Sunday - a seasonal dinner party class.  I was hoping it would help with timing.  I'm not sure if the dishes we did would work for me, personally, since risotto always seems to be a bit tricky to serve correctly if you're doing more than 4 portions.  It was good for things like alternatives, variations and seasonal ingredients.  I have to say, the classes are a perfect way to sell their products, from kitchen equipment to ingredients.  They offer a 10% discount on anything you buy on the day of the class - an incentive that I believe a few people took advantage of during the break.

I got there just a little after class was supposed to start, but luckily they were still setting up for coffee / tea and the last station.  This is a sample of one of the stations.  People worked in groups of 2 but since there was an odd number of people, I got to work alone.  It all worked out really well because one of the girls was tiny so they swapped us around the stations after we made breakfast.

Breakfast
We worked at this station (above) for breakfast.  They had us make breakfast - an organic polentina which is like a more runny polenta-ish porridge but made of organic corn, served  with bananas and honey.  Gluten-free, since it's made with corn so definitely something to keep in mind for my gluten-free family members.  I'm not a huge fan of how sweet it is with the banana (my own food prejudices are alive and well) but it was pretty good.  Also another example of how you have to think about plating before you start spooning things on the plate.  The honey was really runny, but delicious.  It's the polentina which was a bit problematic - a bit too runny and loose to make a good quenelle.  The leftovers came home with me so tomorrow will be an experiment - frying the leftover polentina in a tiny bit of butter and brown sugar for breakfast.  I'll be skipping the bananas.

There were also some nutritional tips, so I felt like the time was well spent, in that respect.

Kale chips for snack (I was still waiting for the dinner party bit).  Not my favorite thing to eat ever, but a healthy snack and possibly an inspiration for variations.  I know it's supposed to be really good for you and apparently it's expensive to buy at the health food store so I'm happy to make my own at home if people want it.  Some were a little burned where the oven was uneven.  Smoked paprika, salt and olive oil - very simple. 


Lunch
Then "the real work" - risotto and fruit salad with a red wine vinaigrette, which might sound weird but the vinegar is hardly noticeable.  The teaching chef demonstrated the lamb shank (and made it - we didn't cook it, sadly enough).  It was a  straightforward pumpkin risotto and fruit salad for the last little while, then eating what we cooked.  It was a bit of a luxury not to have to weigh out ingredients, but it felt wrong somehow.  I think because I'm used to having to do all the prep as well, but our fruits and veggies were already washed and ready to go as well.  Leftovers are currently residing in my fridge, but slated for tonight's dinner.

The current courses are geared towards people who might not be used to cooking a couple of things at once.  I quite liked having the risotto to stir while I sliced the fruits for the salad (they caramelized the onions in bulk after everyone chopped their own) and I peeled a couple of grapes because there was time while cooking the risotto.  They like more butter to finish it (it makes it a little more creamy) but personally I like it a little less rich.  Especially since the lamb shank was still to come.  Love the lamb shanks with gremolata - the smell of the red wine in the sauce was mouth watering.  I have a feeling that it was part of the reason why store shoppers were coming to the doors and looking into the kitchen.

A great class for those who want to learn how to multi-task a bit more and the chefs said Williams Sonoma plans to add advanced classes so I'm interested to see what those might be like.

Until next time - happy cooking and eating!

#77 - Death by paper

No photos but some bitching and moaning
Oh good grief.  As much as the burned hand hurt (and the corresponding inability to cook for a few months) the preparations to go back to London have taken on a whole new dimension.  I caught the plane tickets early enough to amend the dates (i.e. before I paid for them) but I ran into a couple of new wrinkles today...the first being my prescription medication and the other being the paperwork to go back to London.  I forgot that going to school in a foreign country means visas and paperwork and lists of more paper to provide.  I think I'll need a file cabinet in my suitcase to present to immigration upon arrival.


Hearing faint laughter in the background - the universe laughing...
I think various karmic forces laugh at you when you make plans.  I thought I was supposed to take classes the week before the mock cuisine final, then the week of exams - that is to say, about 2 weeks of class.  It now appears that I will be attending most classes for almost all of March...which is great, except it looks like there might be grading in the practical classes.  Agh!  Cooking for exams is great...extra cooking which isn't for exams - oh dear, cuts into my practicing time for the plated dessert.


On the bright side, I found gelatine in sheets today.  They have something called Titanium gelatine here - I think it might be just different terminology - which might be the Platinum gelatine in London.  I have to check the gelatine weights but unfortunately my notes are somewhere between London and Sydney in a container somewhere.  More papers to track down and organize, in addition to the ones for entry into the UK.  Yikes.


The paper requirements have blown out any plans I might have had which do not involve meals (a girl has to eat) or planned for business hours.


The next 35 days
It may be that any attempts to go to Covent Garden are doomed based on the class schedule that just got emailed through a few hours ago.  It appears that there are only a few late nights which is all to the good, given the time difference and adjustment needed.  I believe there was a line in the email about being in class by Monday afternoon - so let's hope there are no delays at the airport - like an argument with some immigration guy about whether my paperwork is sufficient for their purposes.


So until next time, may your paperwork be simple and bureaucratic red tape be minimal.

#64 - Baby steps

I have started to lose track of days because the main purpose of being in London (going to cooking school) has been abruptly curtailed as classes draw to a close and people struggle not to buckle under the marathon Patisserie session this week.

Unintended benefit of being injured and being unable to go to class - I actually have some time to organize myself - very necessary as I have to juggle logistics and try to guess when I will be back in London to take my exams (so planning clothes, potentially some equipment and of course, my uniform) to mention just a few things.

Am trundling along, doing what needs to be done - which includes a lot of rest and allowing about twice as much time to do everything.  You don't realize the little things you take for granted until you can't do them anymore - like tie your own shoes (I've been wearing boots with zippers), not poke out your eye when trying to put on some mascara (preparation for last night's Christmas dinner was...interesting) or tucking in those strings on the dress which you  need to keep it on the hanger (or you would cut the darn things off).

Food for amusement (yours)
Hopefully my little trials and tribulations will give you a giggle or three and thank heavens that you aren't as clumsy as I am.  I debated whether or not to put in this next little bit, but I did promise the good, the bad and the ugly.  I'm not sure where this falls on that list.

So the Christmas dinner - lots of fun, lots of interesting people and I even remembered names!  The preparations were a bit fraught (this is the bit I debated).  Ok - so not having a roommate meant there was a little bit of acrobatics needed as well as a lot of patience in order to get the hooks done up on the bra which needed to go with the dress.  If you are wondering what I did for the last couple of weeks, the answer is that I have a lot of dance tops and I just wore my regular t-shirts under my chef's jacket because the bandaged club at the end of my right wrist didn't fit through the sleeves of my long sleeved shirts.  So yes, it was all a bit chilly.

Then there was the matter of the hair - fairly simple...when you get a hair cut, they blow dry it for you so that was fine.  But the makeup...the 10-minutes normally allotted had to be stretched a bit in order to allow for very slow work.  I was in a hurry the other day and accidentally poked my eye with the mascara wand - not an experience that anyone wants to repeat, I am guessing.  Speaking for myself, definitely not.

Final bit of embarrassment...so I managed to get through dinner with the gimpy hand fine during the starters but hadn't thought through the main very well.  The burn unit says lots of protein to help with the healing so I chose steak.  So far so good.  Until, of course, it's time to eat the thing.  They supplied a steak knife and I managed to cut a small bite.  The only thing is my hand is achy - no idea what from, but I am guessing one of the culprits is the middle finger.  Anyway - a very nice guy sitting near me volunteered to cut the meat for me - until one of the waiters saw and came over to finish.

I am guessing it's going to be a no go for the Patisserie final (even if I were able to do it in terms of the recipes) given the current state of the hand.

Must admit to inspecting the dessert and tasting it in pieces, then together (how they taste our things at school).

More learning!
Anyway, dinner over (in which conversational topics ranged from accents, words and misunderstandings, to Exceptional Men, to Christmas parties past and future, travels, movies, etc.) it was time for more education.  Previous  experiences with casinos have been limited to getting lost in one (Crown, in Melbourne) and going to a wedding (Star City in Sydney).

In terms of betting, I had no clue.  Luckily there were some sharks in our midst...I got a crash course in roulette, or at least this casino's one.  No photos were allowed so unfortunately there aren't any shots of people playing and having a good time.  It was actually more entertaining watching the people in our group playing that I think betting might have been.

Today was a whole day of nothing.  A little bit of organization to try to prepare for packing and vacating the flat but otherwise, a lot of sleep.  I'm not used to being up so late...

Class tomorrow morning - luckily they pushed it to 9am.  After this weekend, that's going to feel pretty early.  This is our last class - who knows, we may all wax nostalgic.

Anyway, must go and rest.  So until next time - may you also feel little stress from the silly season.