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.
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