Entering the home stretch
Somehow it's sinking in that two weeks from tomorrow, it will all be over (assuming all goes to plan). I can't believe that I have been in class for almost 2 weeks now. In some ways it's like I never left and in other ways, I still feel a little like a headless chicken. Hopefully that feeling will abate prior to exams, although there's a mild panic at the thought that my cuisine final will take place in a kitchen where I have never set foot (except to get a couple of band-aids).
I packed half a rabbit with sauce and veggies for a friend from Cuisine who is now doing Basic Patisserie. I notice the order of some of the desserts have changed. Anyway, he likes rabbit so some of Peter went home to become breakfast (or so I was told). I packed a bit more of the rabbit and brought it home for other people to taste. I've had enough of it to know that it doesn't taste as bad as I thought the first time, nor does it smell as strong - maybe it has something to do with the fact that this time we cooked it a little after noon instead of first thing in the morning.
Anyway, we then went out to dinner to celebrate GS's birthday from earlier this week. It was an early night - he wanted to hang out a bit more with NH (who also finished Cuisine last term and is doing Basic Patisserie this term) and me, but I was too tired and I think so was she. We've actually had quite a lot of hours in class and I have been falling asleep for the last couple of days in the middle of the day. Dinner was at the Senior Citizen hour of something close to 6pm...
Cooking with your heart
The chefs used to tell us that if you are happy, your food is happy. If you're not happy, your plate will reflect that as well. Maybe it's knowing that the worst (not being able to finish) has already happened or maybe it's something else - it doesn't feel like much has changed but somehow the cooking seems to have improved. "More love, less passion" as one of our Patisserie chefs likes to say. I mentioned this to other friends who finished Cuisine on time and they said they noticed the same thing - on the days when there was unhappy conflict in the kitchen, their plates were invariably "shit". Hopefully things will continue to improve - we only have a few more classes to go before we hit finals. I have been using classes as an opportunity to strengthen my hand as well - somehow there's always a little adrenalin rush - maybe it's the knowledge that there's continuous assessment every day, maybe it's that exams are almost here and the time is fast approaching when things will be over, one way or the other. In any event, it will be a relief once it's all over - I have a feeling that there will be a few tears of tension finally receding when we have presented our pieces. There's definitely a plan for people to get together and get some dinner after the 6-hour Patisserie marathon. Still seriously considering whether to get Astronaut diapers - you know how it is, you always have to go to the bathroom at the most inconvenient time. My current time plan does not have a bathroom break built in because I have used that time as a cushion against something going wrong. Too much information? I wonder if anyone has ever done it - I've heard of people who complained they didn't have time to go to the bathroom...
Monday and Tuesday will be our Patisserie skills test - a run through of the exam pieces. Recipes will be refined/finalized after chef comments and we will see where we are with organization and seeing how long it takes to execute things. There's a bit of waffling with a couple of components, but otherwise things look like they are on track. Then it's the last minute panic of printing out our portfolios. A bit more to be done for Cuisine, a lot more to be done for Patisserie.
Must go now - it is early but definitely past my bedtime. So until next time, may your cooking adventures be full of more love, less passion...
No photos in this one, but there is a little bit of bitching...
Let the nostalgia begin
Today was our last class ever. A career lecture (different from the one last week for Patisserie which was more about writing a CV and a few other tips) - there was a man from a recruitment agency as well as our head pastry chef, Chef JW. There was discussion about career progression and the amount of time one expected to see on CVs as careers developed. So short and sweet, then I cleared out my locker. Others still have their exam on Wednesday but I am pretty sure I will still not be deemed fit to work in a kitchen so a decision was made to start organizing. Ok, I can't believe I was silly enough to think I could just pack up a couple of things on Thursday and Friday, then have movers here next week and be out of the flat. Had to start a list (or rather, a list with 3 parts) so that I can keep track of what's where as I am going to store a few essentials (uniform, knife kit) here for when I return for exams. Then there's a question of what do I send where so all in all, more in the way of logistics than I had anticipated.
Covent Garden - again
Tonight I took myself to see the opera. Originally supposed to be a study break from preparing for exams, but then changed to a packing break from sorting stuff out - a much bigger and more stressful task (how is there so much junk after less than a year when I've been trying to be so careful about not buying stuff???).
La Traviata - Spoiler alert - don't read if you don't want to know the ending (although you will if you go to the opera and read the program and synopsis)
Boy sees girl, girl is a courtesan, they meet, they fall in love (after he declares himself a year after they meet and she thinks about it for about 10 seconds), boy's father convinces (dying) girl that she will ruin boy's life and his sister's because of her dirty past which can't be redeemed by their love, girl ditches boy (he doesn't know why, follows her to a party, insults her), boy and father show up just before girl dies in boy's arms and you wonder if at some point he lives happily ever after. Oh, and boy's father finally realizes that she actually was dying - apparently she wasn't clear when she told him that she was going to die soon.
Analysis (Legally Blonde style) of above story
The boy and girl are happily living in the country and I'm guessing he hasn't been contributing to expenses. This based on the fact that she has been supporting them both and he doesn't realize until she sells the horses and carriage. Really? How is it that men seem to be so clueless? (Ok, I'll leave the gross over-generalizing out of this and move on.) Like, how did he think they were financing their life out in the country?
I suppose you could also take it as commentary about the importance of having similar backgrounds as applicable today but that could just be the late hour talking so I'll stop there. All I can say is, love isn't enough and it makes for much better theatre than "and they all live happily ever after" after the boy rescues the girl (from wicked stepmother / poverty / being a courtesan).
The music
So part of the reason why I went alone was so that I could be bitchy about the music in my head if necessary. It wasn't. Oh, there were a few little things [Violetta's high notes in the first act were a little thin and weak but she got stronger as the performance went on, some of her virtuoso bits were a bit mush, Gastone's voice was nice but very weak - he sounded like Alfredo when Alredo was singing in Violetta's dreams (i.e. behind the scenes), Alfredo's money notes were thin and weak] but the way the voices blended for all the duets was amazing as was the musicality of all the singers. Side note re Gastone - he was part of some sort of exchange/young artist development thing so it may be that his voice will eventually sound stronger - it was only that he was singing with such full, strong, controlled voices that his sounded a like it needed to fill out a bit. It sounded the way an adolescent boy looks before he fills out and grows into his hands and feet.
Orchestra was excellent. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but there is a noticeable lack of females in the pit, and those that I have seen are generally in the strings except for the lone female French horn player during Sleeping Beauty or Manon a few weeks ago.
In which love doesn't conquer all
Took precautions during the second interval of stocking up on napkins because I didn't have any tissues. Good thing I did, spent most of the 3rd Act quietly snuffling into the tissues as poor dying Violetta's small voice projected itself into the back of the big theatre. Amazing how many audience members were coughing while she was dying onstage of consumption. However, all misunderstandings were cleared up, forgiveness was sought and obtained, a rapturous reconcilation duet then the death and curtain.
Death by opera
One of the nice things about Italian operas is that they tend to have beautiful melodies. Of course when you read about debuts of the operas, sometimes they were canned at the time for being light and fluffy with little musical merit. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I've heard a lot of these melodies in movies (and I wonder if there was a ballet??? I know La Dame aux Camellias is a ballet, but I can't remember if it's Verdi's music) or elsewhere. Also, the actual dying, at least tonight, was very quick and efficient (having a fatal illness from the beginning doesn't count). This is in contrast to what I refer to as musical medicine - that is to say, Wagner, where it's the same tune (and not a pretty one) for 15 - 20 minutes where they say the same line for that entire time and when someone gets stabbed in the heart, he sings about it for another 15 minutes before finally (mercifully) expiring. Yes, I really must learn how to have an opinion...
Anyway, I just wanted to share this amazing night with you because the singing was truly spectacular. Boy's father was able to hold his own singing opposite Violetta, which is quite a feat because her voice just got stronger as the night went on. Highly recommend going even if you think you won't like it. Frankly I wasn't that enthused about La Traviata when I booked it but I am regretting not having gone to some other ones.
Had the thought earlier that it would be lovely to live here and go to the opera and ballet every few weeks, but that would entail having a job that finishes at predictable hours (instead of always having the possibility that an emergency might keep you back) or not having a job and having unlimited funds to enable such pursuits. So amazing what people can do and the emotions they can elicit.
So until next time, I hope your dreams are filled with music and happily ever afters.
