#25 - Approaching the end of the beginning...

I'm not quite sure how it happened but the reality of the rapidly approaching end of Basic is finally starting to sink in. I think the email from LCB confirming the spelling of my name for the certificate did it for me. That - and everyone else panicking.  I know that it's just food, but somehow that doesn't lessen the stress.  I have had to do more homework and study for this course than I ever did for law school or any other university class and there is still a much higher chance of failure than I have ever had to face before.  Everyone is tired, sleep-deprived and it has been a hard week.  Tempers are starting to flare and there is more bitching and moaning - quite justified.  Things that no one cared about much at the beginning of the term are beginning to grate as we all buckle down to study.

I haven't looked at what we are doing for next week so have no idea if it's going to be harder, but I suspect so.  We still have our full load of classes, each practice run is currently taking 30 minutes too long and we have multiple recipes to learn for Patisserie.  If we limit practices to 2 per dish (unrealistic for patisserie) that is still a minimum of 24 hours of cooking proper, not allowing for shopping for supplies which are too copious for anyone's kitchen to accomodate.  Then there's the theory to learn and I can't say, "who cares what the coagulation temperatures for various permutations of egg are?" because the dish will turn into scrambled eggs instead of whatever it's supposed to be - unless it's supposed to be scrambled eggs, but we are finished with scrambled eggs...no nightmares about food yet, but I fear they may not be far away.

Challenge for the Grand Diplomes
The 16 of us who are preparing for both sets of exams (with corresponding theory, only some of which overlaps) have stopped smiling so much in class.  Chef N told us on Friday night, "You are allowed to smile - this is fun!"  Which it is - when impending exams are not casting a cloud over our days.  No study week, as we had at university...difficulty getting the correct ingredients (guesswork on the flour, fondant is difficult to find), the equipment (enormous mixing bowls, huge balloon wisks, substituting any size ring shape for our tarts and cakes) and finding time to practice everything...have decided to imitate a sponge for the next week.

End of seafood (for now)
Anyway - quick update:  we finished seafood this week with moules marinieres (mussels steamed with white wine and vinegar) and crabe farci (dressed crab).  I never thought it possible to hear the words "too much butter" from a French chef...until Tuesday (or...Wednesday?) afternoon.

The crab and I had a bit of a disagreement.  It wasn't really awake when I lowered it into the court bouillon (basically - stock) so that was fine.  It was the getting through the hard shell which was a bit problematic.  I'm not that tall and it wasn't really possible to get the necessary leverage so I really had to whack the knife in order to cut it up.  The bruise on my hand was much more impressive the next day.

However, I finished the dish - take that, stubborn crab!  Also - it was the first time we used our cleavers.  Not the sharp edge of the blade, but rather the flat side - to crack the bottom of the shell so that we could use it for plating.  You can't tell from the picture (and I managed to kind of hide it from the chef) but I broke part of the shell, which is why I had to put 3 lettuce leaves and tomato petals...to support the broken part of the shell and shore it up while I was stuffing it.

Incidentally, those tomato petals are an excellent way to put tomatoes in sandwiches.  I always hated how if you packed a sandwich in the morning, the tomato would make the bread soggy by lunch time, even with copious amounts of mayonnaise or avocado "to creat a barrier between the tomato and the bread".

Next week we have to make a bearnaise (hollandaise sauce with added herbs) to go with the steak.  Remember when I said that I was sure that hollandaise, in some guise, would return?  Yup...and I found out that the students doing the Cuisine stream who were doing the bearnaise on Friday night were responsible for the massive shortage of eggs.  We ran out of eggs for our patisserie class - we needed them for our cakes and for the mousses and the patisserie recipes are already reduced to the bare minimum.  The Cuisine students who messed up their sauces restarted them - but since they used 2 - 3 egg yolks per recipe (whole recipe) and they did more than one, they needed extra eggs with a corresponding shortage for those of us baking and mixing upstairs.  Maybe it's time to start putting a dozen eggs into my utensils bag...

More sponges - and gentle intro to chocolate...
Then it was on to cakes - the Gateau a la Foret Noire (Black Forest Cake) - my first flat sponge...overworked batter so it came out really dense - NOT what we were aiming for.  The chocolate work went a bit better although - you have to be fast.  Some of the stencilling didn't come off because I hadn't worked that patch while it was still warm enough.  Not great, but not horrible.  We happened to go past a pub in search of dinner after class and I didn't want to schlep the cake in the big box, so I gave it to the first person who asked.  Some man who was very excited for the cake (FYI, the box was cardboard and he couldn't see inside).  Little did he know...

The next day (Friday) was our first Charlotte au Chocolat (Chocolate Bavarois encased in light chocolate sponge).  I didn't have the right sized piping tip so any inaccuracies in piping are a lot more apparent - too thin and the cake snaps (like mine did) so you have to make a join and repair it.  Making the bavarois, which is like a mousse except you lighten it by adding whipped cream, has been added to my ever expanding list of things to practice.

For the moment I am concentrating on getting through the next 11 or so days.  We have classes straight through and next week we do truffles in Patisserie.  I forsee many, many days of laundry - cocoa powder tends to stick and chocolate spatters are a lot harder to hide on a white uniform than a dusting of flour or a deluge of milk.

Hopefully today I will make it to ballet class - adrenaline gives a boost to our days as exams approach and the amount of what we have to know sinks in more each day.  The theory is starting not to be so much fun (chocolate is more fun to play with than to learn temperatures for) and I need the activity to clear out my mind...wish me luck, it's the first class this month.  Somehow May has just whooshed by - so much so that I called to wish my niece a happy birthday earlier this week.  Except her birthday is in June!

Well-aimed kick
Tonight I have arranged for a couple of friends to come over for dinner.  Knowing that I have promised to make dinner and they have set aside time to come over is the necessary impetus to make me practice.  I have found reasons to postpone for the last couple of weeks.  Hopefully my lemon meringue and the chicken fricassee will only need one or two practice runs to get the timing right so that I can focus on the others this week.  It's so much easier to learn a recipe when you make it, rather than just sitting and rote learning it.  More delicious when it comes to tasting too...and since we have a max 2.5 hours for all the patisserie, there's also a set amount of time for the practice - going over is not an option because otherwise your kitchen chef (apparently) screams at you to get it done and if you still don't - well, basic is full for next term and visa conditions require that you remain enrolled in your course in order to remain in the country...see where this is going?

Right - must run. Time for a coffee and my grocery shop so that I have time to get set before class. Then it's cooking time - on the menu for tonight - ahi poke (if I can find acceptable fish), mixed green salad with vinaigrette, chicken fricassee with potatoes, carrots, zucchini and baby onion (and possibly rice, since this is my first mini-Hawaii Club in London dinner) and a lemon meringue tart. 

Hawaii Club in London
LM has agreed to give me feedback on the tart as she did this 3 months ag0, although she didn't get the tart on her final.  She got the choux pastry (eclairs) - and of course it was the one for which she wished she had had more practice.

MA and I have started discussions regarding the charter for our multi-national LLC (to be incorporated in Delaware).  We haven't told LM yet, but I think it should be broached after dinner - maybe over the tart.  Not sure about the IRS position, we'll need to check out non-profit status (currently considering UN model but will need to defer to MA's experience and knowledge).

Light at the end of the first tunnel
Am looking forward to the time between end of exams and graduation (22 June 2011) - haven't booked any flights yet, but hoping to get a last minute one to Manhattan to visit friends.  The Columbia alumni in Sydney are also hoping for me to go - they have a shopping list for the alumni store!

Thank you
Somehow I have found out that there are more than 8 readers, which came as a bit of a surprise and for which I am very grateful.  I trust you find the occasional flash of humor in these posts and sources for entertainment.  I am not allowed to give recipes, but if you ever have a question, please ask.  If I don't know it (and chances are that I won't, but you never know) then I know who to ask.

So until next time (which might be after exams! I have a lot of reading, studying, flashcards to do!) I wish all of you well and look forward to (hopefully) giving an account of triumph over the clock.