#86 - Finals Practice Day 2 - Free Interpretation Plated Dessert

Well, it's Day 2 of the finals practice runs and there is some recipe rewriting to be done.  It seems everyone else is finished with their portfolio but I was stuck in a quandary of where to start.  I think it's one of those things that was so overwhelming that only the impetus of knowing I had to execute today made me rewrite today's recipes on my computer rather than having scraps of recipes and various different versions in my notebooks (sometimes starting from the back).

Compulsory Elements

Certain elements are required but we get to choose between options for those elements.  However, other requirements (i.e. the dessert has to be at least 50% encased in something) do mean that our desserts are going to have certain things in common.  I think a lot of people are encasing in oval or round cylinders, although I saw a lovely elliptical one with pointy ends (ladies - think Marquis cut).  They all have to have a jelly in the middle (you can see it in the cross section after it got destroyed in the tasting).  It has to have a glacage that's a different flavor from the jelly in the middle of the mousse/bavarois/chibouste (basically the filling has to have some sort of whipped cream mixture component).  We all have to have tuiles, although my poppyseeds got somewhat lost and a tempered chocolate decoration and a couple of sauces, one of which I managed to get completely lumpy.  It's not supposed to be.

I had done components of the dessert, but not all of them together so today was an interesting run through.  It's amazing how much you forget in a short period of time so thank goodness I wrote my notes with a view to what I might need to know a few years from now.  They don't need to be as detailed when you do it for so many days on end but it's inconvenient when your brain prunes various neurons which encode the information you deem vital but they think are superfluous.  I suppose knowing what the joconde biscuit ought to look like isn't a survival imperative, but it is if you want to pass Patisserie!

The last 3 hours of our final

Anyway - so it kind of seemed like things were on track and then it kind of felt like they weren't.  For instance, I didn't make back ups of my piped chocolate decorations so when I knocked one over, that kind of sucked.  Luckily I had enough time and I still had chocolate in my bowls, so I quickly warmed up the chocolate and piped it again.

We were meant to keep track of how long it took to do what, but other than things like baking times, I didn't do a very good job of it at all.  I wrote the times of a couple of things, then got lost in just making stuff.  There was a little bit of "and then what?" going on, but I think I'm just going to do a big checklist on the day so that I can cross things off my list as I do them.

Chef GB didn't like the decorations because he said they were too fussy (below left) and the hearts were too old fashioned (he didn't say that to the other person who had hearts on her plate - what's up with that?).  Something was wrong with my coulis so it messed up his plating (below centre).  I'm still fighting with knowing that my plating is not pretty and since I don't have a Kitchen Aid at home (nor the right puree) I don't intend to try this again before the exam.  Perhaps you can weigh in with your preferences or any suggestions you may have:

It was so hot in the kitchen that I came home with a migraine for the second day in a row.  I'm not sure how we ever made it in the kitchens at the old school.  I heard a couple of girls in the locker room complaining about the heat and thought, "They have no idea."  Our kitchens are air conditiioned!  Made it to the osteo who put me to rights (to the accompaniment of cracks and winces) and finally it's to bed and getting ready for tomorrow.  I'm still waiting to hear whether I have to take the theory exams again (please no!  I already took them and I don't have my notes anymore) - the trouble is the first theory exam is tomorrow so if I find out that I do have to take the exam, it will be with just a couple of hours' notice.  It almost seems premature - perhaps they ought to wait until 5 minutes before the exam.

On the other hand, if they let me know earlier, maybe I can take a dance class in the afternoon to make up for eating the white chocolate after I piped a message to V...because after dinner, just for fun and to make up for that bleeding raspberry white chocolate mousse from last Sunday, I decided to have a little piping practice...

Tomorrow is another day and as always, there's a ton of stuff to be done.  It's getting close to my bed time so I will say good night for now.  And until next time, may your dreams be sweet but not filled with white chocolate mousse.

#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.

#74 - Getting back into it...

I forgot I had gone on a tour of a cocoa plantation (a very small one) as part of a chocolate festival.  Apologies in advance regarding the formatting - it tends to look different on my screen than it does when it posts and I don't know how to fix it.

But first - breakfast by the water...
They were doing yoga and big surfboards (left).  Kite surfing on the right.  Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of the guy who went airborne with a big gust of wind...

   

I had the small omelette.  A friend had the poached eggs (the sauce was a bit split - rats, I see my sister's point about how it could spoil their fun a little when I apply school's criteria to food when we eat out.)

The Chocolate Festival was a bit disappointing.  I suppose given the name, I thought there would be more booths or something.  They were at the end of the Haleiwa Farmers' Market (pronounced Ha-lay-ee-va for those of you not from the Islands).  It seemed like there were only two producers, although I may be mistaken.  I remember the Wailua Estate and one from Manoa - ok, but not something I would go out of my way to buy, unless as a way to supporting the local economy.  It may be that my palate is not sufficiently developed to appreciate all the bits and pieces that our guide (yes, we did a tour) said had won rave reviews in London for a Chocolate Festival (or something like that) from critics.  So that was that for the chocolate tour, tasting and education.

Am now  back in Sydney, once again unpacking only to start packing again.  Have received exam dates for my finals - and a date for the Mock exam, which happens to be quite a bit before the exam.  Great, except I had already booked my plane tickets before I knew about the mock exam date.  Whoops, once again a little bit of procrastination might have helped.  Have started reviewing recipes again and found out to my horror that I have forgotten quite a bit - especially in relation to the main plate (pigeon - haven't seen it anywhere, must ask the butcher), so study will once again commence.  Commence panicking now.

So until next time, may your organization be less stressful and more enjoyable than mine is.

#51 - Mystery Basket

AKA - thank goodness I have a day job!
Today as our Mystery Basket.  It wasn't actually such a mystery for my group because we had class at 6pm, by which time the first 3 groups or so had already done theirs.  The main ingredient:  duck.

We were given a list of 27 ingredients.  I used 18 (plus substituted one flour for another).  Chef's comment was that I hadn't used that many ingredients.  I'm really not sure how I would have gotten away with putting pasta and potato on my plate when it already had a savory short crust pastry (trial run for the exam - timing will be fine but technique needs a bit of work) and a few other things.

Like a cooking show - but not
This is apparently like cooking competitions.  You have ingredients, you have some time and you cook.  Sometimes it's a compulsory item and sometimes it's do whatever you want.  Which would be fine, if I were an Iron Chef, this might have been a breeze.  Since I'm not...and since we're all students...let's just say that we heard "2 hours" and everyone froze up for a split second.  It's the time aim for our practical classes but because people take time to present their dishes and take comments, sometimes you have a bit more time to refine a couple of things on your plate (i.e. fix your sauce 3 times like I did yesterday).

Lead up to the Mystery Basket
But first - back to the beginning.  Some people had been stressing about the Mystery Basket.  Me, not so much - mainly because I kind of forgot about it until yesterday.  We also happened to have class today from 12 - 6pm so by the time the not-so-mysterious Mystery Basket was on the agenda, I was already brain dead, having half- fallen asleep for part of the 3pm cuisine demo.  Interesting notes...it looks like a chicken walked across the pages and mixed up the methods (wild mushrooms on the scallop dish which doesn't list mushrooms anywhere on the ingredients list).

We'd also had a review of 3 of our compulsory Patisserie pieces for the final (as in, even if it's crap, turn it in.  Otherwise they disqualify you - I assume this means a fail for the course even if everything else is splendid) so that was a bit of a sit-up-and-take-notice time block.

Clueless much?
I have to say, I saw the list and the tray and didn't even think - I just butchered the duck and hoped that inspiration would strike.  Also I wanted to keep things pretty simple - simple, clean, neat.  Well, that was the idea - probably not a bad one.  The execution, on the other hand...not so much.  I braised the legs (not enough time to confit them, although I tried to confit the tenderloins - "try" being the operative word - they were really bad.  As in, I would eat them and like them, so they are definitely not something I would present to the chef) and produced a nice sauce.  The breast pieces felt like they were going over so I took them off.  Nope...way, way under.  And looked very strange.  There was a certain amount of quiet panicking when it was time to plate.  Only idea was about the tarte but the rest of it was all a blur.  They say to diagram it out - but that's a bit hard to do when you have 2 hours to do the dish.

Humiliating - Wild Mushroom Tartelette,
Braised leg of duck and roasted duck breast with
Poached Pear in Red Wine glaze

Learning time - aka "Chef - this is what I won't do for the final"
I finished the tartelette but it was overcooked - so I know what NOT to do for my Cuisine final when we have to do the tarte for the poached egg and Hollandaise sauce.  I totally messed up the Jerusalem artichokes so they didn't make it on the plate (should have made them into a puree like Chef "suggested" at the beginning of class).  Luckily he liked the sauce, but other than that, today was pretty much a write off.  I liked the pears but Chef wasn't such a big fan.  On the other hand, he had been tasting pretty much all day and if even half of the dishes were as miss as mine, it was a looonnnng day for him.  As for me, I am so very glad that I have a day job already.  We laughed at the chefs when they said some people will never pick up a knife again after the course.  I wouldn't go that far, but I have to say that I am not confident enough to cook restaurant style dishes without a recipe.  Certainly you could throw something together, but the questions today were:

1.  Was the technique correct?
2.  Would someone buy this at a restaurant?  If yes, would they eat it?
3.  Chef's personal preference...

"Home cooking" after a long day - a confession
It's almost bedtime and I have my uniforms in the laundry.  To tired to do much of anything except to try to unwind so I can sleep.

So I made 5 minute noodles.  They're actually 3 minute noodles but I had to wait for the water to boil, while cleaning a leak in the fridge and getting out the vegetables for the noodles.  So if you had a vision of fancy food at home, you just heard my deep, dark secret.  Beans on toast with gruyere cheese were on the menu when we did our Boulangerie module a couple of weeks ago.  Very gourmet, non?

Tomorrow:  Bath.  I need a break, then it's on to work on the portfolios for Cuisine and Patisserie with a classmate on Sunday.  On the one hand I can't wait for this to be over.  On the other hand, I am already waxing nostalgic for student days.  I've run out of hands so it's time to say good night and scrub off the day.

Until next time...may you have the satisfaction of a job well done.

#40 - A long time ago, in a culinary galaxy far, far away...

Ok, maybe not such a long time ago.  A small band of students were either recovering from the brutality of final exams or getting psyched up to take them.  Weary in mind, body and spirit, they gathered to chat, laugh and eat lots of yummy food.

It's not over until it's over
Exams are over...but classes are not!  We found out today that they have rescheduled that truffle class which got postponed due to the riots - to Thursday at noon.  They won't mark us absent if we don't attend - but for those of us still in London, it's a chance to do the class because we'll be doing this as part of the Superior Patisserie final exam - that is, temper 2 different kinds of chocolate - so truffles it is.

Drinking the Kool-aid?
In the meantime, there has been a rebellion against French cooking at home.  Friday night was an early dinner for a friend as I had missed her birthday celebrations last week due to panic and preparation for my final exams.

The rest of it was rather an insidious rebellion - Saturday night I made a pasta that any of my French cuisine chefs would have approved of.  I didn't have macaroni, so I made mac 'n cheese with broken up spaghetti noodles - and whole milk, butter, double cream, cheese - then to top it off because it needed a little something, smoked haddock for that salty kick.  I thought I had been indoctrinated by the French cooking we've been doing - certainly it tasted pretty good.  Or it could be because I was really hungry by the time dinner was ready - I had spent the day sleeping, reading and watching You Tube.

However, Sunday morning was brunch with some friends and the rebellion occurred over eggs.  Omelettes, to be precise - the power of more cream and butter failed to sway us to the dark side.  Instead, I used olive oil for almost everything.  We have to make and present things the "proper" way in class.  So I made my omelettes with color (quel horreur!) which is a more rustic way of doing it.  One of the Roux brothers (Albert?) likes his omelettes colorless - i.e. the proper way.  The other Roux brother (so I'm guessing it must be Michel) likes his with a bit of color.  I made mine his way - except my omelette wasn't runny in the middle, although I made runny middles for CD and NR.

Had planned on poaching eggs and making hollandaise sauce, but changed the plan because we didn't have enough stomach space after all the other cooking.

We also had a Spanish omelette (someone said it's called a tortilla - I have no idea) - which is more potato and onions with a little egg to bind it together.  We also had some sauteed girolle mushrooms with garlic, crispy bacon, Scottish smoke salmon with country style bread, jamon, lemon wedges, dill and...I can't remember if there was anything else.

Yesterday was a lovely day off.  The sun was shining for most of the day - I opened the blinds in my flat and enjoyed the sunshine while reading a book, sprawled out on the bed.  It was bliss not having to do anything - although I did take the opportunity to get my things together for class today and to do some laundry.  Yes, we had class today...

In which we don't need AA...
Today was Patisserie - finishing our celebration cakes.  They are basically like the Christmas cakes you find in Australia / Europe - the ones which are rum with some dried/candied fruits thrown in and a little starch to make it all stick together.  It's apparently also the top layer of an English/Australian wedding cake - the layer you freeze and keep until the Christening of your first child.  Anyway - you could still smell the alcohol we put in it back in July and if you wanted to, you could give your cake another "drink".  Mine didn't need more - besides, I'm not sure how Kirsch goes with rum.

So these are the cakes we made back in July - where the smell of the rum was making some of us drunk in class.  We made the flowers last week because they needed a few days to dry.  Then we covered the cakes with marzipan and royal icing today, before putting our decorations on the cakes.  The concept in my head was sound, but I think the execution was a bit lacking.

Well that's about it.  Tomorrow is another fun filled day - more laundry (!), a pedicure and more fun reading.  I promise, I'm not laundry obsessed.  It's just that the washing machine can only fit in a certain amount of clothes - pretty much the equivalent of one set of full uniform (jacket, pants, apron, etc. etc.) or a couple of pairs of jeans and some tank tops.  Also - must sort out my apartment so it doesn't feel like I am living in a storage facility for chocolate.  My practice supplies arrived last Friday - 3 days after my final exam!  So now I have 10 kgs of various kinds of chocolate in my apartment and need to find a way to store everything so that I can practice and still have room to move around and use the living space.




So until next time, wherever you are, may you have enough room to swing a cat.  Or at least, walk around without falling over boxes and recycling.

#39 - And the waiting begins...

One of our Patisserie chefs told us in Basic that you know when you leave the kitchen if you failed.  If you're unsure, you're still in with a chance.

So Tuesday's Patisserie debacle was temporarily put on hold while we studied for our Cuisine theory test yesterday (no idea where my handout is on shellfish) which I managed to finish pretty quickly.  Think I did well on it - which is necessary given the implosion at the Cuisine final exam today.  We had an 8am demo which I thought was a bit hard on those of us who had our final exams at noon (2 groups).

Ugh - we had the lamb for our final exam.  Apparently I looked crappy enough that some nice guy whom I don't know (Superior Cuisine?) handed me a cup of water as he passed by because I was "all red".  I was on Station 6 so had half an hour to stew and calm down until I could get into the kitchen to start my 5 minute prep, then start cooking.  No doctor's note, so the choice was to skip the exam and fail Intermediate or to take the exam and give it my best, which I knew would be far from my best.  I was prepared for the exam, just knew that I wasn't moving very fast.

I'm not the only one who was feeling crappy.  I had a friend in town for work and we were supposed to have a quick dinner last night.  We had just sat down and the food arrived when we had to bolt the restaurant - he had been taken ill and we cabbed it to the London Hospital where we couldn't find the ER - we wandered around until we found it, then there was the inevitable wait for triage where they sent us next door to the NHS (National Health Service) walk-in clinic.  No paying, which was great - and he didn't need to be admitted so that was all good.  A relief that he didn't need to stay the night.

Visions of Grey's Anatomy
Preparation for today:  blue paper surgical mask for the coughing.  Definitely did not look like I belonged on Grey's Anatomy.
Outcome:  5 minutes over = 10% penalty on top of the problems with the lamb dish - I think I forgot my mint chiffonade, the sauce was under reduced and greasy, some of the vegetables weren't going to be hot enough and I am praying that the lamb was not overseasoned or undercooked and did I leave smudges on the rim of the plate when I was carrying it over to the kitchen chef?  Rumor has it that the tasting is being carried out by all the French cuisine chefs - I am so going to get killed on the debrief.

Some reassurance by Superior students that if the cake is still standing in Patisserie and you get (most) of the lamb on the plate and if it's still standing in Cuisine, there's a good chance of passing.  Any hopes of doing well have flown out the window and now it's just a matter of hoping and wishing and praying - is that how the song goes?

I suppose if worse comes to worst, I will be the best prepared Intermediate next term - but I really don't want to repeat it...especially cuisine - rabbit and bouillabaisse once was enough.  I can still feel those rabbit bones under my fingertips as I write this post.

Sorry for there being no photos - there was no time.  I think everyone just wanted to go home and have a hot shower after class.  I had a small snack with some friends then fled home, only to find that the work in my bathroom - recaulking in the shower - hadn't finished.  The guys were working on the second coat but they had a very glum audience watching them finish, not bothering to hide the fact that she wanted them out as quickly as possible.  They finished quickly and I had a nice long scrub - it was so nice to wash the lamb off.

Anyway - until next time, may you all have no period of uncertainty where you await your fate.

#38 - In which pride went before an almighty fall...

Today was our Patisserie final practical exam.

The nightmare during final exam
I thought I was prepared, although not as prepared as last term.  Well, the second part of that sentence was correct.  You know how in bad dreams, it feels like you're moving through water and everything is moving really quickly but you're not?  It was like that, except I didn't wake up.

The Basic final was a calm (somewhat nervewracking) experience - everything flowed smoothly except for a hiccup with the masking of the cake and some shaky hands with the piping.  Today was the complete opposite - it felt frantic but time moved so slowly - at one point there was an hour and a half to go and I thought, "plenty of time!"  Whoops.

Hadn't factored in a persistent cough which chose to make itself emphatically known - along with a dizzy spell which sent me out of the room for a bit.  I can't remember if I wrote about it, but I went to the doctor - last week?  sometime before??? - and she said, "there's nothing wrong with you - plenty of fluids and rest.  Oh, and here's a prescription for cough syrup with codeine in it."  This should have been a clue, no?  But the brain not working as it should - I would like to think it's from lack of oxygen from coughing so much but sadly doubt it - it didn't click until a couple of days ago when I was coughing my way through a cuisine class.  This morning one of the chefs asked me if I had taken anything for the cough.  Well yes, I had - but an over the counter one because codeine tends to put people to sleep and I thought it would be a bad idea to take some before a practial exam where we all have knives, hot ovens, hot stoves, etc. etc.  Oh, and I also didn't think they would appreciate a nose print on the top of my cake as that wasn't part of the accepted decoration, as novel as it might be.  I don't remember there being points for originality on the grading criteria.

So - long story short - had the worst practical ever.  Ran out of time while piping because I had a problem with the cream - I think it split, in which case it was my first time - during the final.  Great...just what I was afraid of, although I didn't think it would happen with this cream.  Anyway - had to make a split second decision whether or not to continue piping the border and run into overtime - 2% penalty per minute over (automatic fail after 10 minutes over) or to lose the marks for piping - it wasn't looking that good so I chose to stop.  I am going to get killed for the piping and the presentation (strawberries were falling out the side of the cake - I think the sponge might have been overcooked a bit).

Pictures are on my computer of the worst cake ever - I will put them up when I have stopped smarting from getting my butt kicked by a few mls of evil Kirsch, some sticky marzipan and a sponge could have doubled for the discus (sp?) throw in the Olympics.  I used to say that alcohol makes everything better - well it does, except in pastry, where it just kills your cream and your cake.  I am hoping that the chefs who taste the cake are the ones who like really alcoholic cakes.

So until next time - easy on the alcohol!

#28 - End of Part 1 (or ARRGGHHHH!!!)

I have been getting gentle nudges by various people that I haven't posted anything in a while.  When you see the length of this post you will see why, but keep reading to see what has benn happening for the past two weeks or so.  Also, the formatting is not straightforward and since I can't actually program in HTML, it has taken me a really long time.  It's not perfect or even close, but I can't be bothered to mess around with it anymore because I have been fighting the urge to throw my computer across the room, hence the arrgghh!!! in the title.

Finishing Basic
Basic Cuisine and Patisserie are finally over and I have passed both.  The cuisine was a narrow escape though (see last post as to why).  Found out today about patisserie - not the breakdown of the marks because I was on a plane back to London from Rome, but Chef MH kindly took out the time to hand me the letter with my exam results before he had to dash for tastings.

Lead up to basic patisserie exam
There was a frantic burst of activity in preparation for the patisserie exam. Since there was no way of knowing which one of the three possible dishes we were going to get on exam day, I did a run through of each one at least once. The lemon tart ended up going to my neighbors downstairs the day after I gave them some eclairs and swans. Lucky timing, they had guests over when I was looking for a home for the tart.  As you can see from the photos, the kitchen was a bit of a shambles after I cooked.  Limited space and utensils means you have to make do and cleaning takes a lot of time when you are trying to get sticky, sugary, buttery things off bowls and wisks.  There was a brief moment of rejoicing when I saw that my choux pastry had choux'ed for the first time.  It's not as evident on the eclairs but my puffy swans made me do a little happy dance.  Of course I cut them a bit crooked and they don't really resemble what I had in my mind, but they weren't a bad approximation.

The genoise went to the nice people at the glasses store down on the High Street along with quite a few petit fours. Other petit fours and truffles went to people at the Turkish restaurant down the street (they give me nice bread to have with my beans on toast, although I don't tell them that's what it's for!) and to Rufus and the 2 Michaels at the Art Shop. I packed a few extra white truffles separately in case either of the Michaels was inclined to share - I couldn't eat any because our chef made us put alcohol in all the truffles.

There was a moment of panic on Sunday late afternoon when I realized that I didn't know how to do the edges of a St Honore piped meringue...so I did one version (which went to the neighbors) then I did another run just on foil over the tart ring.  It gives you an idea but because the meringe was just sitting there for a little while, it kind of went soft and collapsed.  Anyway - note to self:  don't decide on a new design the night before the exam!

Exam cake
On Monday morning, the tag I picked out said "genoise".  The buttercream frosting, which usually goes without a hitch...well, I had some issues with the frosting.  I did manage to finish on time however, and even get a photo of the cake.  The design leaves something to be desired, but I am hoping inspiration will become a good friend rather than a distant acquaintance.

Intermission 1 - Rome
Then, my reward for making it through - Rome!  I was on a plane that afternoon, having taken up my friend JB's invitation to use his hotel as a base for exploration.  He has been posted to Rome for the past 9 weeks or so and was coming to the end of his project.  So off I went - 2 full days to wander.  Let me just say now - I had a list which grew and grew.  Most things were crossed off, but I had to start a list for the next time I go back, because return I must!

We went out to dinner the first night near Piazza Navona - an opportunity used to show me how to get into the city from the hotel, a tiny bit of sightseeing for me and one for him to go somewhere and not have it be a work dinner.

Eggplant surprise

Chicken surprise

Neither of us speaks Italian, but we could make some guesses, so dinner was an adventure all around. For instance, I figured he had ordered aubergine/eggplant of some description (looked like parmegiana to me) but who knows? And my chicken surprise was delicious.
 

Broccoli surprise

I also ordered some broccoli.  It was kind of, but not, broccoli.  Still yummy, a bit more...it's kind of hard to describe, but it had that featheriness I associate with ferns.  Also some kind of mystery chunky bits which looked like sausages, but without the casings.  I tried it but it wasn't my favorite part of the dish, although I think we finished most of the so-called broccoli, we left behind the not-sausage.

Things started to blur together, but I pretty much walked about 10 hours a day.  Asking what my favorite part of the trip was would be completely futile - there were times when I didn't know where I was and I have to admit that only some of those times were on purpose.  The rest of the time I had a vague idea or absolutely none at all.  For instance, I walked up and down a few hills and across the floors of a large not-quite-flat area looking for the Fora Romana, only to find out I had been criss-crossing it while looking for it.  (Where is it, I don't want to go to the Colisseum until I've seen it...Um, you were walking on it.)

Have found out that I can (kind of) find things on maps.  It's actually somewhat easier to find my way around Rome, despite the language barrier, than in London.  Also, reports of sleazy men have either been grossly exaggerated (not likely) or I have been so absolutely clueless that I have gotten by on the kindness of strangers (much more likely).  In any event, I only saw the gallantry in Rome and lots of friendliness from those whom I took to be natives.  Possibly they were also taking pity on the person who had her nose buried in the Lonely Planet and didn't realize the train had come to the end of the line...

So - what's there to say about Rome that hasn't already been said and with so much more eloquence?  It is a very walker friendly city.  On Tuesday I spent most of the day around the Vatican area - the usual sights (Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St Peter's basilica and the Piazza, the Castel Sant'Angelo and the Ponte) and surrounding side streets.  They were starting to look pretty familiar because I hadn't planned out my route in detail so I would stop in a coffee shop for a coffee while planning the next bit.  I took so many photos that I will have to prune them down - a brutal and painful process as they may bore you readers to tears.  Or at least wondering if I took a photo of the same church several times and told you they are all different...

Italian driving?

I began Tuesday by wandering over to the Vatican via the banks of the Tiber.  There is some kind of festival on at the moment with tents set up along the bank which goes past the Vatican, although not that far up.  It comes alive at night with lights strung up and people crowding the tables under the umbrellas.  During the day it is quiet and the only people down there were those exercising or the workers putting the tents and platforms together.

It was quiet walking along the banks - the traffic noise was still there but muted.  The only drawback was the olfactory evidence that the staircases connecting the streets to the quays are being used as convenient places for (I assume) men to pee.  To be expected I suppose, but not one of the pleasanter experiences.

Eventually I made it to the Vatican, having asked directions when I lost sight of the dome while walking.  I approached it from a side street - I think I went past another church - something with Bambino in the name - and then kind of stumbled into the beginning of St Peter's Square.  It is currently dominated by an enormous poster or picture or whatever of Pope John Paul II - they are celebrating his beatification.  I followed the walls of the Vatican around until I found the road to the entrance, then went in search of coffee to fortify myself for the coming day.

No introduction needed

A very nice and helpful man named Francesco helped me at the Vatican ticket office because I wanted to change from an admission ticket to a guided tour.  Unfortunately the Raphael rooms were all closed that day as they were setting up for an exhibition.  He said I should come back the next morning at 9am, but I was already there.  Some of the photos are very blurry because of the low lighting (no flashes allowed in the tapestry room) and/or because I had to be surreptitious (not supposed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel because of the flashes, but I covered all lights and turned off the flash).  The tour itself is about 3 hours long and we had a wonderful guide named Christine who also told us that it was worth going up to the dome of St Peter (the line wasn't that long at that point) and the details of how to do so.  I took so many photos that my camera ran out of battery and the rest of that day was taken on my phone, hence some of the shots not being great photo quality.

Some of the gardens...

A kissable ass

Seal of Leo XIII, Royal Staircase down to St Peter's Square and St Peter's Square (view from the steps to the Basilica)

 

Pope's apartments (left) and the Pope's Balcony (right) from which he gives his first address after being elected

Inside the Basilica - the main dome (a dove in the golden stained glass in the back), St Peter's crypt and Michaelangelo's Pieta

As much as I wanted to go up to the dome, I had to get to the Castel Sant'Angelo and it was already about 5pm. Museums seemed to close around the 7:30 mark and I wasn't sure how long it would take, so I walked through the Borgo. A brief rain shower passed over during my walk - I walked through it, enjoying the cold drops after a hot day of walking and arrived a little damp, at the Castel. I looked up the boulevard and got the effect of all the pillars leading into the Piazza and the dome of the basilica rising up behind it as the darker rainclouds parted and the sun started to shine through once more.

I walked into the Castel up an elliptical spiral ramp, finding it difficult to believe that some of those stones went back to the time of Hadrian. There was the inevitable flash of amusement that in the US and Australia, our "old" buildings might be about 300 years old, if that. Here, the more recent buildings tend to be about 500 - 600 years old. In any event, I could smell the same damp stone smell which permeates any old building I've been into and feel the cool air circulating down from the windows further up.

The Castel actually takes a good bit of time to get through and there were several exhibits - things the Italian government found or reacquired - which are housed in several rooms off the Courtyard of the Angel. I walked through the Pope's apartments and took a photo of the basilica through the windows, since pictures of some the rooms were forbidden and eagle eyed guards were on station in each room.

Tosca's terrace?

One of many ceiling frescoes

The bar/cafe

A couple of hours and lots of photos later, I walked across the Ponte Sant'Angelo and started to wander.  I wasn't ever lost because I had a good idea of where the Tiber was, but I just walked down whichever little alleyway and sidestreet took my fancy.  I found the Piazza Farnese with a couple of musicians playing away (a saxaphone and an electric guitar), past flower stalls, down a few more tiny streets (found a birthday present for one of the girls in my class), went to a local grocery store (!) and then crossed over the Ponte Sisto into the Trestavere where I repeated the process, eventually ending up on the tram which would take me to the train station and back to the hotel.

In which I saw some sights by accident
The lines at the Vatican on Wednesday morning weren't long, but I had a lot more on my list of things to see so I turned around and got onto the subway to Barberini. I emerged by Triton's Fountain (Bernini? I've lost track) and wandered around with the vague notion that I might go visit the Trevi Fountain. The hords of tourists following their guides like a mass gaggle of ducklings quickly discouraged me and I ducked into a cafe/restaurant for a coffee and to plan an alternative. Up on the hill behind me I saw some trees and consulted my map: excellent, the Palazzo Barberini it was.

The Palazzo Barberini houses a lot of antique art, some of it quite famous (i.e. Holbein's best known portrait of Henry VIII). The building itself was amazing - two rival staircases (Bernini, which we could use and Boromini? which wasn't open for use), high ceilings, frescoes, marble columns in the marble room, etc. etc.

It takes you chronologically in the development of art with some icons and works going back to the 10th or 11th centuries. I have to say that my eyes were starting to feel overwhelmed by the time I hit the 20th room or so and I found the mannerist paintings as dampening as ever - all those green tinges in the faces, the anguished expressions, the elongated proportions which made everything look deformed...and didn't quite recover again until I got to the Caravaggios and those inspired by him.

The frescoes on the ceilings were all amazing but I still have a crick in my neck from spending so much time looking up. I feel like they should have a conveyor belt that you can lean back in, with a pillow to support your head. Or I could have done what one of the women was doing - pointed the mirror of a compact at the ceiling and looked at it that way. Of course that would require a compact...

I had to plan my next move and I was starting to fade, so I ducked back into the restaurant where I had had my morning coffee.  The restaurant's name:  That's Amore!  Lots of photos of movie stars (I didn't get a good look but it looked like Katharine Hepburn?  Anyway, that vintage of beautiful looks, immaculate hair and makeup and high fashion...)  Lunch was a rigatoni arrabiata and boiled (urgh) broccoli.  The pasta was delicious, the broccoli uninspiring.  They are apparently known for their alfredo sauce, but I couldn't face cream and butter, knowing I had an afternoon of walking ahead and it was hot.

Lunch finished, along with the discussion with the man at the next table about Kuwait (he thought I said I was from Kuwait, not Hawaii), I decided to bypass the Trevi Fountain altogether and head out for the Colosseum.  I walked down a few laneways, one of them with the inauspicious name of Via Lavatore (really - there are restaurants there!) and I came across so many people that I had to squeeze myself through the little gaps.  Apparently I had arrived at the Trevi Fountain, but given the numbers of people there, I confess I only gave it a cursory glance (oh look, another white marble fountain with way too many people around it!) before heading on my way.

I eventually found my way to what I assume to be the Piazza Venezia - with the requisite monument and zillions of cars driving around.  I took the advice for crossing the streets - you make eye contact with the driver so that you know they saw you, then you walk into the street.  Lights are helpful, but guidelines only, as are crosswalks.

There was a church that took my fancy, so I walked in - The Church of St Mary something-or-other is how the translation worked in my head.  I made a small donation - US dollars because I wasn't sure if I would need all my Euros later - but they were restoring the church and I saw some weeds growing up by the dome (see the photo).  It may be too small to see in this picture.

Then it was on to a small trianglular planted section which ran down to the Via Fora Imperiali (or something like that).  Sorry - I don't have my map in front of me so these names are what I remember in my pastry addled brain.

There were some impressive ruins which looked remarkably well preserved, given their age.  I was on my way to the Colosseum, which I could see down the street but obviously still fairly distant.

I marched with purpose towards the Colosseum, until I saw this on my right.  Of course I had to go investigate and see what it was.  Luckily it encompassed the other items on my list:  up to Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum and I could buy a ticket which also included admission to the Colosseum, for which I was grateful later when I saw the line to get tickets.

The first thing I saw was the Temple of Romulus.  I can't remember the entire blurb about it (or much at all), but I thought, this is where it started.  Remus didn't have a temple, so I wonder if he has spent eternity squabbling with his twin.  As you can see, this sign is quite clear, so do you blame me for looking for something similar when I was looking for the Forum?

A few other things I saw in Ancient Rome:

A hut of some kind



Temple of Vestals -
View from Farnese Gardens

Path to the Farnese Gardens

Please point to the forum...

I eventually wended my way back to the Pantheon so that I could have a look at the interior. I hadn't realized until I got to the doors that it is now a church, although I wonder if they still conduct services there. One of the things that I had no idea about, but which I was grateful to have found, was Raphael's tomb. The inscription said something along the lines of Nature having been jealous of his art. The single red rose was a nice touch.

It was by now time for dinner, signalled by everyone being booted out of the Pantheon as it was closing for the evening.  I ended up going to a restaurant whose name I can't remember at the moment (but it's mentioned in the Lonely Planet).

Rome is a place where almost everyone is stylish.  I was a little ashamed to walk into this cute little restaurant (apparently politicians occasionally get dinner here) in sneakers and slightly dusty jeans but it was too far to go back to the hotel and then out to dinner.  Also, my feet hurt and I wanted to sit down.

I ended up pigging out a little - it was my last night in Rome and I had been walking for two solid days.  Being only one, I sat near a small window that looked into the kitchen.  They eat a lot later in Rome, so I was the only one there at 7:30pm.  Another couple (American) meandered in around 8pm or so and the place started to fill up around 9pm. 

But - back to the important bit - the food.  There was a bresaola, which I love because it's like prosciutto but it's beef instead.  Then I had the house special pasta - fresh pasta with fresh spring vegetables.  All I can say is that the pasta was absolutely amazing - possibly the best I've ever had.  I also ordered some vegetables on the side - it was a relief to be able to eat lots of vegetables and I knew I wouldn't be able to actually eat what they consider a secondi - especially without any help.  How could you possibly not love all this green?  Dessert was a forgettable and too-sweet chestnut semifreddo - it's like ice-cream and I thought I would give it a whirl.

I made it back to London in time to confirm I had passed Patisserie (yay!) and to do a little laundry before preparing for New York.

Intermission #2 - New York
So getting to Heathrow was no problem but there was one little issue.  For the first time I flew American Airlines and my ticket didn't say what terminal to go to.  Luckily a gentleman on the train checked and told me to get off at Terminal 3.

Having packed my rolly with everything I needed (including some space for shopping!) I eventually got on the plane and we headed towards JFK.  The trip was fine (I pretty much passed out as soon as we took off) until we got to JFK.  A thunderstorm reaching from New York to Boston had rolled in and we had to fly in a holding pattern for about 20 minutes or so.  Then an announcement was made that JFK was closed indefinitely and we needed to go to Dulles (Washington DC) to refuel.

I looked out the window when we had parked on the Tarmac at Dulles - there was a line of planes.  Dulles, apparently, is not equipped to provide aid to quite so many plans and refuelling took a while, although we were at the beginning of the line so we were finished relatively quickly.  However, there was the issue of JFK not yet having reopened.  Between JFK and the air traffic controllers and the number of flights which had been diverted, we didn't land in NY until 11:30pm.  This is why I don't check bags if at all possible.

I ended up on YE's doorstep close to 1am on Saturday morning - about 8 hours after I was supposed to have arrived.  She had been anxious - small blame to her.  I had switched SIM cards on the plane so she had texted the card which I wasn't using.  I hadn't been able to email because we weren't allowed to turn on our laptops while in the plane and I don't have an iphone / Blackberry / whatever other phone you use to get email.

Despite the inauspicious start to my trip, we had a few minutes of girl talk and then went to sleep. We had all Saturday to have girly time, which began with brunch in SoHo. We went to l'Ecole, the restaurant attached to the French Culinary Institute - which is also the one where I used to look in the windows when I thought about cooking school more years ago than I care to admit. Let's just say it was a long time ago. So - the pictures:

Yummy breadbasket

Gazpacho

French Onion Soup

Moules Frites

Burger with Ratatouille                      Creme Brulee 





After the creme brulee (which was for research, as was the French Onion soup, the mussels and the ratatouille and salad), YE and I were both struggling. We ended up drinking coffee - lots and lots of coffee. It was a warm day in New York but we were comfortably ensconced in the air conditioning while we drank down the coffee. I daresay we ate more at brunch than what either of us eat for a normal breakfast or lunch. We needed to be fortified for the next item on the agenda - shopping in SoHo.

I had a short list so we started across Broadway and gradually worked our way uptown. I picked up some little things for classmates at LCB and a pretty dress at a store which I had previously only seen in Honolulu at Ala Moana. White House / Black Market - is a lot more expensive in NY. Anyway, several hours and lots of walking later, we ended up at Bouchon cafe in the Time Warner building. Each of us had plans to meet up with our respective friends later that evening around mid-town, hence the jaunt up to Columbus Circle. Anyway - it was time for a snack (for me) and coffee (for YE). Then it was time for YE to go meet her friend while I popped into Borders to browse for books while waiting to meet KC.

KC and her son JC, whom I hadn't yet met, arrived soon after. Unfortunately KC's husband was unable to meet us as he had a work thing which didn't finish on time. It wasn't a problem as we had a lot to catch up on and I was enjoying getting to know little JC. He's absolutely adorable, very well behaved and a total and complete ham. He is very good at saying "cheese!" every time a camera is pointed in his direction. We went to dinner at a little place I used to love when I was in college - JC charmed the couple at the next table as well as all of the restaurant staff.

 

On Sunday we had another girls' day - lucky for me both LC and YE are foodies. I didn't have an idea of where I wanted to go and we all had a rather late start. The girls chose a ramen place called Ippudo. I'd never heard of it but my LCB friends were also in agreement that this was the place to go - of course I found out about their opinions only after the fact, not that it mattered. They each had favorites so we just dived in.

We ended up going to the movies, which I haven't done in quite a while (saw X-Men: First Class - um, but why doesn't Magneto have an English accent in this one?), did more necessity shopping (finally found my strappy sandals) and went to dinner in K-town. No photos, but I'm not sure I want further evidence of gluttony. LC then went home uptown and YE and I walked to the Lower East Side. We stopped by Eataly on the way (somehow affiliated with Mario Batali) and I bought some interesting looking salts. Not sure what to do with them yet, but I don't think salt really spoils.

I saw MD on Monday - whom I haven't seen in years, like so many of my friends in NY. We caught up for a quick lunch, but he had to run as he was flying to India that night. In the meantime, I went to a Barnes & Noble somewhere in the 80's (82nd and Broadway?), had an early-ish dinner and went back to YE's place for a quiet night in. I had a full Tuesday planned before flying back to London for graduation from Basic. Got a message from YE after she finished work (last minute work thing so she had dinner there) and we went for dessert at some place called Chicalicious. So picture:

Warm apple crumble, NY cheesecake, red velvet cupcake (cream cheese frosting) hot tea for YE, ice tea for me - really yummy.

I don't have any photos from my last day in NY, but I managed to catch up with a dear friend from way back in the day - KF, who is building quite the empire. We had a good catch up over many things and I got to see a part of NY I've never seen before - Harlem. It has been cleaned up to the point where I hardly recognize it. We had a light lunch but lingered over our coffee/tea until it got too hot, despite the umbrella. We went to a place called Red Rooster (which isn't the fast food chain) http://redroosterharlem.com- the service was excellent and our waiter was really sweet. We had order envy when we saw what they had at the next table. I've forgotten what it is, but I'll know it when I see it on the menu!

There was also a frantic last minute dash to Barnard to see my academic advisor from student days. Unfortunately it's very hard to get a taxi in Harlem at 4.30 in the afternoon and I was very, very late. We both had to go, he was catching a ride from someone and I had a plane to catch, so it was unfortunately quite a short meeting. Hopefully next time I will manage to plan better.

Finally got back to London on Wednesday morning, a bit delayed on the ground because there was a line for the planes to take off from JFK. Why there was a line, I have no idea - I kind of passed out on the plane. However, made friends with the very nice woman sitting next to me on the plane. MD and I have exchanged a couple of emails but she comes to London regularly so hopefully we will manage to catch up for coffee sometime in the next few months.

So until next time...rest and relaxation!