#63 - In which the Grinch fails to make an appearance

The Whos in Whoville (aka students at LCB) are beginning to breathe sighs of relief as the unrelenting pressure of finals end with the exclamation of "finished!"  Well - that's true for everyone else who happen to be taking their exams.  The Who writing this post is bummed she's not partaking of the final dash and the commiserations/celebrations which follow as the Sword of LCB finals still hangs over her head.  In some ways, much more painful than the Sword of Damocles will ever be.

Last Superior Cuisine Demo ever at 114 Marylebone Lane
Anywho...ok, that was bad.  However, you'll live.  We had our final Cuisine demo on Friday - and here's a photo of some of the happy Superior Cuisine students.  What's not to like?  Delicious food cooked by an amazing chef and since some people didn't show up, extra for everyone.  I have to admit, it was a really good dinner:  Coulibiac de Saumon (salmon in a brioche crust with dill sauce) and Grilled rack of lamb with pepper sauce and pressed tomato/chevre/cream cheese mix.  Those of us who were still there after everyone had had their first smidgen of a taste went back for more - it's the whole good manners thing.  You can't take a whole lamb cutlet from the rack until everyone has had some, but once they have (and the photos have been taken) it's pretty much a free for all.  Since I can't cook at home (more on that later) it was really nice to have a meal that wasn't cold pizza or some random takeout.

Bread Street Kitchen again
Then tonight I had dinner with UP down at Bread Street Kitchen.  Yes, again.  And I had the same thing as last time so I didn't bother to take photos (still yummy).  UP had the mutton with potatoes which turned out to be Shepherd's pie so he was very happy because he loves Shepherd's pie.  Dinner was fun - there was a couple not looking very happy at the table next to us, so we spent a little time speculating as to what the reason might be.  This naturally turned our attention to several other tables - in front of us, a table of 4 girls + 1 guy.  Speculation that it was friends out for dinner, not work colleagues (I wonder if the guy was an honorary girl?) although hard to say - at one point after the fellow had left, all 4 of the girls were on their phones at the same time.  I think my objection to phones at the dinner table are well founded (subject to certain exceptions - like family emergency, the dog ate someone's homework, etc. etc.)  Behind us was a table of 5 guys - speculation that they were work colleagues and given the area, most likely in the finance sector.

Night photography
UP had a bit of amusement while I tried to get some pretty photos.  These don't do the actual view justice - partly because I'm not even an amateur photographer (there's a reason why these things are called point-and-shoot) and partly because I probably need a more technical camera to get good shots.  But - it was too pretty to pass up an attempt at the dome of St Paul's cathedral and the lights around.  The clouds were blowing around so the shot of the moon by St Paul's didn't come out well at all (hence not being included in this post).

Horses!
After a delicious dinner and yakking away about Christmas parties, travels and a few other things, it was time to go home.  Then a bit more amusement for UP:  the police horses who were wearing blinky lights which makes sense safety wise - but also had tail lights!  I had to get a photo of those although I'm not sure if the lights are just flashy safety ones (like on bicycles) or if they serve an additional purpose.  In any event, I missed the first pair of horses who went past the bar under the restaurant before I had a chance to get the camera out of my bag, but managed to get the zoom to work for this shot.  They may have this in other places, but for me, this is only in London.

No taxis were to be had at that hour in that part of town (slackers!) so I hopped on a bus headed my general direction then hurriedly pressed the stop button when I no longer knew where it was going after Oxford Circus.  Possibly in my general direction, but possibly not.  So then a walk home from Oxford Street - not too late so there was plenty of foot traffic.  A bit too many tourists for my taste, but I finally had my camera with me so I took some photos and did as the tourists did.

There are pretty lights in quite a few places - all along the high street outside my window, up and down Regent Street and Bond Street - they're quite pretty.  The Oxford Street ones are nice as well, and some of the ones for the department stores are very pretty (John Lewis and House of Fraser are in the photo above).  I have to admit there's one I'm not a huge fan of but I've forgotten which store it is.  The lights are rainbow colored but not put together in an attractive package - I say this both as a slightly snotty, but also as an aesthetic observation.  What looks right on Rainbow Drive-Inn's sign just looks wrong next to the pretty lights along Oxford Street.  And I finally got a shot of the moon!

Remote and distant
It's strange - I love the moonlight on water and on snow but here, where there's neither (unless it rains, in which case no one's looking anyway) the moon seems to be a lot further away and colder.  The nimbus, which  looks like a rainbow when we look at it in Honolulu only looks like a distant halo around the moon when I look at it from Marylebone High Street.  The halo can be obscured by the clouds but is nevertheless present.  I suppose the thought of being homeward bound at this time in 2 weeks is making me start to think of all the things I am looking forward to seeing, doing and experiencing upon my return.

So until next time may your inner Grinch be mollified or banished by all the pretty, twinkling lights.

#57 - Sugar, fish, lights, action!

Long day Wednesday
Wednesday was Day 2 of sugar in Patisserie.  I got so used to Patisserie being late sessions (3 - 9pm) that I completely misread my schedule.  I want to say it was because I was on painkillers, but that would be untrue.  On the other hand, although I was still (mostly) in bed at 11:45am, that was more due to the fact that I was trying to get my back into working order.  Back spasms are kind of inconvenient when you have to push, pull and carry things.  Anyway - got a text from one of the girls in class - I was late!  Major rushing (also not good with bad back) and staggered into class.  Managed to finish the bow and ribbon, but I think I didn't pull the sugar enough.  For whatever reason, I didn't cool it enough before I put it together, so the ribbons looked ok when I put them together.  A few minutes later, however...


Then the centrepiece.  A second try - I tried out a couple of things, quite unsuccessfully.  I say unsuccessful because the second try turned out worse than my first try.  Also, I managed to drip some sugar on myself - a couple of burns on my fingers.  The blister on my middle finger burst in class on Friday morning while I was cleaning my knives.  The other one is still on my pointer finger, so we'll see how cleanly they heal.


Wednesday afternoon was the official ceremony to turn on the Christmas lights for Marylebone Village.  I was in class during the time when the street was closed off, but the lights were on when I was on my way home.  I must admit that any Grinch-like tendencies which normally want to rear their heads around this time of year have been quiescent - mainly because lights at nightime are pretty, regardless of the time of the year.  They are just more effective at the moment because the sun sets before 4:15pm so it's pretty dark by the time we get out of class and head home after 9pm.  No Christmas music yet (thank goodness) but the lights, the cold wind at night and breathing air which feels cleaner because of the drop in temperature all help alleviate any slightly depressed feelings that might otherwise make us a little more like Scrooge rather than Tiny Tim.


Cuisine Thursday...
Normally they give us a little leeway when plating now.  I took this to mean that the spinach could go the plate the way I wanted - as a swirl instead of a quenelle.  Apparently not.  I presented my plate and Chef FJ said "funny."  What do you mean?  "Funny plate, funny quenelle, funny lemon...are you feeling all right?"  When a teacher says they can tell you are tired and sore - that's not a good thing.


So the dish - halibut grilled...with Bearnaise sauce and other stuff.  I gave my fish to Chef P in the production kitchen.  I didn't give him the Bearnaise sauce because it was too light in texture (and I hadn't cooked the sabayon well enough at the beginning so I had to fix it by cooking another yolk / sabayon), but at least it tasted ok.  The potato is supposed to look like a rose but having to slice pieces that thin and long, like an apple peel, almost caused a nervous breakdown in class.  Apparently the potato rose tends to do that to people.  The potato is slippery, the peel gets oddly shaped and breaks off in short pieces which makes it hard to fasten into a rose.  Then when you cook it, it expands a bit - great if well assembled, but otherwise it falls apart or looks like mine.  It's supposed to be crispy outside and creamy/soft on the inside of the rose.  The centre was ok but something was wrong with the outside, I just can't remember what.


Then we had our wine tech class. It was the Patisserie wine tech (dessert and wine pairing), which means sweet and sticky wines. I like the flavors much better but generally this is also where we run into fortified wines. Even with the (inelegant) spitting, my ears still got really hot. Good thing it ended a little early so that I could actually get to the theatre in relatively good repair.


Chicago!
Tursday night capped off a slightly crappy practical with a show in the West End - Chicago, in case the heading to this section didn't tip give it away.  It was at the Garrick Theatre, near Leister Square.  I was expecting something like Broadway but this was almost more like off-Broadway.  Some of the singing was good and some of it mediocre (America Ferrera, of Ugly Betty fame, was Roxie Hart) - oh dear..her voice isn't bad but there were a few spots where I couldn't tell what the tune was.  She can carry a tune, but it's like she dropped it for just a couple of notes here and there.  Quite an entertaining show - I'd only seen the movie before - and the staging was great.  I loved having the characters move around the orchestra / band which was sitting up on stage, as a part of the set.


Thoroughly corrupted?
Afterwards I wanted something sweet.  Very unusual, I'm not normally a big sweets person.  My parents would be surprised by this picture.  I was a bit shocked - at the size of the ice cream thing whose name I've forgotten.  Something to do with chocolate.  Anyway, managed to get LM to have a teeny, tiny taste.  Pretty good for that time of the night, although it wasn't something that I could finish on my own.

Friday - Breakfast of champions?
We had an 8am demo on Friday morning. The practical which corresponds to this demo is our mock exam next week. Similar (but not same) conditions during the mock exam. In the meantime, Chef FJ prepared a standing rib roast, a Bordelais sauce, some mushrooms and mac 'n cheese.  Let me just say, normally I hate blue cheese. There is now an exception to this rule, which is gorgonzola in mac 'n cheese. I think they did something like this at some fancy restaurant - Ducasse? - although of course they call it by it's proper name, macaroni gratin. Anyway - wow! I don't think I can post pictures from demo because I don't have permission from the school or the chef, but I have the recipe so it's definitely on my list to make at some point in the near(ish) future.


Our dish for that day's practical was a Dover sole and crayfish timbale.  It was a fish mousse, blanched crayfish and crayfish sauce encased in a fillet of sole, served with more crayfish sauce and a champagne sauce.  Maybe it's because I don't drink, but I could really taste the champagne in the sauce so I put in butter at the end to soften the alcohol.  The result:  "too much butter".  Then Chef JB looked around and asked if he had just said there was too much butter.  We couldn't believe it - on the other hand, it wasn't that the sauce was super buttery (it kind of was, but I don't eat much butter at home either) - his objection was that he couldn't really taste the champagne.  I had put some aside to add at the end but didn't, so I added the reserved champagne and asked him to taste it again (marking was over).  Nope, still too buttery.

Then it was a bit of a hurry because I had dinner plans with MD.  We were going to meet for drinks in Gerrard Street, then head to dinner in Chinatown where her man was going to join us.  But first, the fish, mousse and crayfish needed a home.  I went to my go-to guys and even got a little cuddle.  Apologies for the school uniform - Michael had himself a little laugh but I felt so disgusting and sticky after cuisine, I couldn't bear the thought of changing into my civvies without having a shower first.  Not even the croquembouche decoration helped because it was quite a warm day so we didn't cool down much between end of cuisine and leaving school altogether.  Having seen Chef NH in action, I can only see how far we all have to go before we could even begin to look as smooth as he does when he works.

Harder than it looks (or else any monkey could do it) - aka guess the chef

It's actually like that with all the chefs.  Somehow they make it all look so easy, then we go to class and things fall to pieces.  People forget about the sugar ("Geraldine, I see blue smoke!  Who's burning the sugar?" or "The monkey used scisseaux to cut that.  I don't remember the monkey tearing the foil."  Or "I didn't say it was easy.  I didn't say a 2-year old could do it, did I?"  to which the reply was "No chef - you said a 5-year old could do it with one arm tied behind his back.")  Sometimes we forgot other things ("you can't pour the sugar on the side - you can't get it out")  In any event, it always seems that the thing which looks so easy in demo then is super fiddly in practical.  Occasionally it can make you want to throw the stupid potato across the room.

I'd write more but I have been falling asleep for the last 2 paragraphs so it's time to get some sleep.  so until next time, patience, Grasshopper!

#52 - Bath & Harrods

aka "In which Bath does not include a tub and No One goes inside Harrods"

First - Bath
On Saturday morning LM and I went up to Bath.  She said she hadn't been there in years (not since a trip during an exchange in high school) and I had never been there.  I didn't get my coffee from the place I like when I have time (Sensory Lab, 75 Wigmore Street, W1 - http://www.sensory-lab.co.uk/) because - oh, the horror! - they don't open until 10am on weekends.

I suppose that's a civilized hour but I had a train to catch.  The cafe doesn't open early because most normal people have been out the night before and only start to venture into the streets a bit later.  I suppose there's no point in opening early for a lone early bird.  So feeling quite sorry for myself (but not too sorry) I had a Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks instead.  It bore testament to my oft repeated phrase "put enough milk, sugar and other crap in it and it won't taste anything".  Anyway, there was the usual quick walking to the trains once we arrived at Paddington Station, then waiting for our platform to flash up on the screen.  No, it wasn't Platform 9 3/4.  I guess they rounded up, it was Platform 10.

The train ride passed quickly, then it was a meander around town.  LM already had a couple of places in mind so by the time we hit all of the things on the list and the things that caught our eyes as we passed, it was dark.  There was the Pump Room and all the Bath Spa things (Temple of Sulis Minerva), then what were the Assembly Rooms (think Jane Austen times) which is now the Fashion Museum.  One of the things I love about the old buildings is that they have these really high ceilings.  There's something about the height which gives such a light feeling.  Even if there isn't much space horizontally, the vertical space always makes it feel like you're in less of a shoe box (or tomb or whatever).  The age of the stones here reminded me a little of Castel Sant' Angelo in Rome.  There was even a similar wet stone smell in some of the rooms as we went through.

Second - the Fashion Museum
High ceilings were also a big part of the upstairs rooms at the Fashion Museum.  The ceilings to the rooms where the exhibits were were a bit lower, unlike upstairs which I assume used to be the public gathering rooms upstairs - I associate with them with older (but not old) buildings.

I think I must be even more fashion challenged than I ever thought - there was a wedding dress display (yech), then fashions up to the 19th century (ooh, fun - think period dramas). Then there was the more recent fashion stuff (20th century and on) - most of which I didn't understand and most of which I couldn't picture anyone wearing.

We had lunch at a little cafe called Cafe Rouge (a chain, but not a bad one - I love their fries!), then a certain amount of time at a store called Kitchens.  Given that LM has finished Patisserie and I am (hopefully) finishing it, there were a lot of things we wanted in the store.  Somehow having managed to curb ourselves (we would have been pretty happy to have most of everything in the store - I told her I would need to have a house with a very large kitchen one day) we then ended up at another kitchenwares shop (Lakelands?).  It was a bit more pricey than Kitchens.  Having exercised a bit more self control, we had a look at some shoes (I bought comfy boots - on sale), then more Starbucks.  It really is insidious...

We were exhausted after such a long day so the chatter was a bit more subdued on our way back to London.  However, we did get to enjoy some of the fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day.

Actually studying...
Sunday required some work.  I met up with one of the girls who is taking a little break before finishing Superior Cuisine next term.  Then it was study time with AM in South Kensington.  It was kind of a drizzly and cold day so pretty good for studying if you couldn't curl up in front of an open fire with a cup of hot chocolate (yes, corrupted by Patisserie!) a good book and a warm, fuzzy blanket.  Instead, we were ensconced with our laptops in front of us and discussing (having a difference of opinion) over some of the methods / procedures.  Got the braised lettuce sorted out today but it was cause for a little discussion yesterday.

Then LM and I had dinner at this funky little sushi bar / club in Knightsbridge.  It was so funky that we couldn't find it.  We approached from different directions as she was coming from work and I from studying.  The result:  wandering up and down the street.  I happened to be passing when a couple in front of me happened to stop in front of a couple of bouncers and I heard the name of the restaurant.  I followed them in and down these stairs - it was dark and dimly lit with a mirror facing the stairs as you came down from the street level.  Enough to make you check your step a bit.  We forgot it was supposed to be kind of clubby - until the music turned up all of a sudden near the end of the meal and we could no longer hear each other talk.  The people over by the bar loved it though - they were having a little boogie as we were leaving.

Avoiding the Labrynth known as Harrods
There had been discussion of doing the tourist-y things we hadn't done yet (or hadn't done in a while).  The result:  a stop for photos by Harrods's windows.  Luckily Harrods was closed but the windows are still very pretty.  A lot of the stores have put up their lights - although I find the different songs at each window at Selfridges off-putting because you can hear the song from the next window when you are standing at a different window and since they are all audible, more often than not you are hit with a cacophony of sound.

I say "lucky" about Harrods being  closed because last April, a girlfriend and I had gone to do a little bit of shopping and to do a lot of gawking.  Shopping accomplished, no gawking took place because we kept getting lost when we were looking for the exit.  There were a couple of stair cases and doors which became awfully familiar and I think we passed the Diana and Dodi memorial at least 7 times.  It was an almost inescapable loop - perhaps Harry Potter's moving stair cases were inspired by an inability to find one's way out of a shop.  In any event, I am now afraid to set foot into Harrods if it involves leaving the sight of the street for fear that I will spend the rest of my life returning to Diana & Dodi's memorial.

Tea Party (Minus the Mad Hatter)

Tomorrow is our Tea Party.  We spent today making the majority of the desserts and the decorations for them.  It was one of those days - I kept spilling things and ended up wearing a great deal of chocolate.  I must have been splashed more after the break at the 3-hour mark (when we took this photo).  The second 3-hour session found me wearing quite a lot of raspberry (from making the jam) and looking a bit "disheveled".  Not surprising, given that I got a recipe where I had to make an anglaise with just egg yolks and raspberry puree.  Not having done one like that before, I went on autopilot and ended up with sugar in my egg yolks.  Only thing is, there was no sugar in that component of the dessert, so I had to start again.  FYI, 480g of egg yolk is about 24 eggs.  Now imagine separating 48 eggs (because you messed up the first 24) and knowing the mousse has to be spread on a cake, then freeze for a while.  First big screwup in a while...but it got fixed and all seems well.

Some of the desserts will require some last minute tweaking (i.e. filling the eclairs, glazing some of the cakes, etc. etc.)  We finished on time and the decorations don't look terrible.  Photos tomorrow (or possibly the next day) - in the meantime, it's time to go to bed.  Laundry is making noise as I wash off the dirt from the dirtiest practical ever.  Must remember - clumsy and neat don't always go together.  Am falling asleep so...

Until next time, may you also have a nice tea time.  And good night.