Funny Hair and Serious Studying

The best thing about being blonde is not being blonde. I've been cycling through the rainbow, and I think the purple could be my favourite. The girls at school have been making requests, and it looks like turquoise is next! People at work haven't batted an eye at the uncorporate colour, which I see as tacit permission to sally forth.

Don't worry Mom, it'll be a human colour by the time I'm back home. I'll try, anyway.

I have a day off today, which means chores, chores, and cakes! Laundry is nearly finished, which means it's back in the kitchen for me. I feel fairly confident about the Fraisier (minus the royal icing piping), but I get a bit wobbly about the Alhambra and Opera. I don't really like practicing the Alhambra just because I don't think it tastes very good. I don't want to eat it, and I don't feel right about giving someone a cake that I don't think is that good. But I've decided to just do the damn thing.

Let's just say I'm no longer a fan of roses.

It's getting to the end of term so I thought I'd get the chefs a little token of gratitude for everything they've taught me thus far. J and I ended up going to Harrods food hall, and I'm never going back. The service is great but the place is an absolute zoo and heaving with tourists. We couldn't get out of there fast enough! I didn't feel so guilty about taking J there since we also stopped by Bar Boulud for their amazing burgers.

Exams are only a week away, and I feel like I haven't prepared as much as I did for the Basic exam so that means buckling down for the next week and studying and practicing. I guess I couldn't deny my slacker nature, but fingers crossed that I'm still good at cramming!

Desk Jockey and Care Packages

Going back to the office for a short while turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It opened my eyes to the realisation that I can actually never return to sitting at a desk and working on a computer. I'm so much happier running around a loud and hectic kitchen, and I was never that good at sitting still anyway. 

And office clothes suck. It's impossible to walk fast in a pencil skirt and heels, and I'm usually in a hurry to get to where I'm going. It's not like it's pleasant walking around in underground tunnels, and people in the City won't hesitate to trample you if you don't speed it up. I remember thinking Londoners walked so damn fast when I first moved here, but four years later, I get upset at people for walking so damn slow! I honestly get the pedestrian version of road rage.

We only have one demo this week and work is currently on hold until Wednesday morning, which means that I should be spending the time off practicing the exam cakes. I've already made the Fraisier and Opera at home, so it'll be the Alhambra next. The timing works out pretty well since J promised his boss that I'll make something nice for his birthday this weekend and I like to think I'm helping J's career prospects with my cakes. 

In other news, I received a care package from my oldest BFF, whom I've known since we were seven! She's just travelling the world and fighting to end sex trafficking, no biggie. And she still makes time to remember to send me all my crazy little obsessions from Korea. In case you couldn't tell by now, she's amazing, and I'm so lucky to count her as my friend!

All for Show

It was good while it lasted, but the recent heat wave has given way to some schizophrenic weather which included thunderstorms and hail! 

I think both Casper and I are glad of the cooler weather since he has a fur coat he can't take off, and I'm usually in a hot and busy kitchen with no air conditioning! The air pollution also seems worse on the hot and humid days, and allergies I never had before I moved to London start to act up like mad.

We had to temper chocolate on one of those hot days, and it made it near impossible for our chocolate to set. I felt like I was working much slower than usual, but my chocolate centrepiece finally turned out just in the nick of time! Luckily, I got it graded before I broke the ears off, and a friend held up the lopped off body part while I took a snap.

Now that we're back to the regular gloom and rain, I'm pretty happy since it was much cooler in the kitchen while we scrambled to make our first plated dessert in a while. We made a chocolate fondant with orange and caramel sauce with a sugar cage. The last time we plated anything was back in Basic, and it was encouraging to see how far we've come in such a short time.

Then...

And now...

The technicals are still quite fun with lots of tasting going on...

The soufflé technical...

And chocolate tasting!

We tasted 17 different kinds of chocolate to try to figure out the bean, country of origin, chocolate solids content, and roasting method. The bad part was that the class began at 8am, and I don't feel like eating anything at that hour, let alone gobs of expensive chocolate. And white chocolate tends to make me gag. 

As if I wasn't busy enough, I agreed to a lawyer job for the next two weeks since there is a lull in scheduled classes for school. And I'm a teaching assistant at school on Saturday. Basically when I'm not at school, I'll be at work. And if I'm not at work, I'll be doing laundry at home so I have clothes to wear to school and work. Oh, and I have to remember how to walk in heels again so I don't fall on my face at the office. But I did say yes to all of the above, so it's time to buck up, shut up, and walk the walk (in heels that I finally took out of storage).

Casper on a Diet

Casper just had his first birthday! He wasn't so keen since it meant it was time to go to the vet for his booster shots! He was remarkably calm during the whole thing, even though he was surrounded by dogs!

It's been quite eventful lately, but we had time to squeeze in brunch with my cousins and get an update on their upcoming wedding in Colombia! I'm so excited! And we got to eat Js favourite, the Welsh rarebit, at the Wolesley.

And as always, I've been baking up a storm!

I've been sharing the goodies with Js office mates, and one of them was kind enough to buy us a bottle of Constantia wine. I was super excited as I'm a huge Jane Austen nerd, and she mentions this wine in Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austen knows what's up, the wine was delicious!

J had to go to Chicago for a quick work trip, and I was supposed to tag along, but I was dreading the thought of a long flight so I ended up cancelling. Oops. Besides, I was busy in the kitchen the entire time he was away. I ended up making birthday cakes for Js colleague, which gave me a chance to practice two of our exam dishes. The third was a Black Forest cake that I just had to make since the birthday boy is German.

I was in school for the majority of the day on Saturday as one of the chefs asked me to assist during one of the short courses for breakfast breads. We basically had to make sure the students had the right equipment and ingredients for each of the dishes they had to make, and I was insanely jealous since we have to do that for ourselves during our practicals. They also didn't have to wear our super stylish uniforms.

It was the first time in a long time that I spent so much time on my feet, and my legs were dead by the end of the day. Despite all that, it was a lot of fun, and I was really flattered that the chef asked me to assist. In fact, I'm assisting for another chef this Saturday for a different short course. I feel like I'm getting a complimentary appetiser plate of Le Cordon Bleu classes! 

Cakes and Bread

Our last exam dish, the Opera! It's made with a hazelnut sponge with a chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream and topped off with a chocolate glacage and piping. It's pretty fast to make in comparison to the others, but the chefs consider it to be the most technically difficult.

I was a bit over zealous with the trimming, so it turned out a bit undersized (like me), but it was still good enough for J to not share it with anyone. He's very keen on me practicing lots! 

We've had another gateau since, the Sabrina. It's named after Audrey Hepburn's character in the film of the same name. It's a rather girly cake, which isn't really my thing.

It's a sponge filled with strawberry mousse and strawberry pieces finished off with a chocolate glazed marzipan disk. I'm not that keen on the design, the piped batons with chocolate squiggles looks a bit strange. I didn't have any of it, but my partner didn't think it tasted that great with the exception of the chocolate-covered marzipan. 

We also had a boulangerie class wherein we made baguettes, focaccia and a rye loaf. I'm not such a fan of making bread, I find it a bit boring. We've had tube strikes, which meant I ran home that day with all that bread strapped to my back. Was not worth it, especially the rye loaf, but the focaccia was delicious!

The technicals thus far have been quite good. We had a class on savoury dishes, and we got to sample the chef's creations. It was a good thing I didn't have breakfast that day as I stuffed myself with sausage rolls, bouchees, and salmon puffs. Yum!

I find that I much prefer savoury to sweet these days, which also happened to a lot of other kids in my class. I guess you get tired of sweet things after being around them all day.