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!
New Year's eve was a relatively quiet affair, for which I thank the various children in attendance. Who knew you could still be tired after sleeping for almost a week straight? We had dinner chez sister and brother-in-law with several babies (tears at various points in the evening since it was past their bedtimes) and lots of parents. As always in any Hawaiian gathering, there was obviously not enough to eat...most of the food was take out, but we did prepare a couple of things at home.
Cooking still requires some careful handling of various utensils and a lot of time so I went back to the basics on NYE. We went up the hill to see the fireworks. Apparently the crackdown on aerials has worked - they have been illegal for at least 15 years, possibly 20 but that hasn't always deterred the naughty pyromaniacs from setting them off. This usually resulted in a number of fires so the fire department was kept busy unless it was a rainy year. Not so this year but the only ones we really saw were the official ones: Ala Moana and Aloha Tower Marketplace. We got a good view of both, then the diehards who were still present were served fruit salad. Yes - that fruit salad from basic Patisserie. Luckily this time it didn't take 2.5 hours to make and I didn't have to submit the fruits for inspection by the chef.
I tried poached eggs and Hollandaise again. We have a friend who cannot have gluten or dairy so I made vegetables for her instead. The quenelles were just for the presentation so she would have something pretty. All bets were off for the second serve and everyone dug in - much better for family dining but it's nice to be able to place something pretty in front of your friends and family. Poaching eggs was interesting - mainly because I got a request to have the yolks fully cooked through (success and no gray ring, but there was a moment of annoyance when I thought I had overcooked it). No English muffins so we used toast instead. As always, I held my breath as I brought the sauce back to temperature because this is usually when my sauce splits.
