I don't know why, but I can't stop thinking about that damn lemon tart. Knowing that it could be my exam piece and that I'll have to make it from memory is freaking me out. It's gotten to the point where I'm waking up early, and I can't go back to sleep because I'll start rehearsing the recipe in my head while I'm still laying in bed. It's not the ideal way of starting your day.
They say practice makes perfect, and I think actual practice (not just in my head when I'm barely conscious) will probably help me feel a lot more prepared so I've assembled all the various bits and bobs so that I could practice at home. That means I've finally made a long-awaited purchase: a stand mixer! They're bloody expensive so I kept dithering on buying one, but I finally bit the bullet on a KitchenAid.
In related news, these 8AM classes are killing me. They're sporadic throughout the week, so I don't really get the chance to fall into the habit of waking up early. I was thinking how absurd it was that a bunch of people all over London were waking up at all kinds of godawful hours to go watch a guy make puff pastry for 3 hours. This may be why aliens haven't yet made contact with our kind.
We got our midterm grades today. Stupid me, I didn't realise we were being graded on our practicals, and they're worth half our final grade. Being practicals, I thought they were essentially just practice! Nope, wrong. I thought the chefs were just checking their emails or Facebook or whatever when they were tapping away on their tablets. Wrong again. Sigh. I'm doing pretty alright, a bit better than average, but everyone's been pretty cagey about their grades so it's hard to figure what that even means.
Ultimately, my grade doesn't really matter so long as I pass. Hell, I don't even need to pass since I have nothing riding on this. The grading scale is pass, then pass with merit, then pass with distinction. Pretty much everyone passes, and almost no one gets pass with distinction, so I'd like to walk away with a pass with merit. It's my greedy little heart, what can I say? I'm not quite sure if I stand much of a chance if chef takes my behaviour into account. Let's just say I don't have anything to lose and a cheeky sense of humour that's not infrequently directed at chef.
Speaking of practicals, we finally had one today after a weeklong break from the kitchen. We made jalousies out of puff pastry with pears and almond cream. Yum.
Chefs creation.
And mine (after I cut it in half).
I definitely could've left it in the oven for a bit longer but we were running out of time since we had rock hard pears that took forever to cook. I also could've done a better job with the egg wash and gone a little easier on the syrup. But so shiny! In all honesty, I'm just glad I had time to finish as someone accidentally stepped on my rolled out pastry as it was chilling in the fridge, and I had to start over again. I swear, January was so not my month and I'm beyond glad to see the back of it!
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