Jan 17, 2007

Every have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? well it wasn't so much that things didn't go right, the day just didn't feel right and i wasn't a happy camper! I had my first cuisine practical at 8:30 and we made puff pastry (like croissant dough...but this is a savory dough). We only made 4 turns to it today...we will make the other 2 tomorrow. I've made this dough before so it wasn't too hard for me, plus the chef used my dough to demonstrate the first turn (meaning the first time he rolled it out). We also made quiche lorraine...which is pretty much an omelete with bacon and cheese in a savory tart. Chef said mine...as usual...didn't have enough salt. This whole salt thing is going to kill me one way or the other. If i put too much in I'll get a heart attack and if I don't put enough in my grades will suffer ;) So i better start saltin it up! Otherwise he said it looked alright.

Then at break I started to not feel well, so I ate my banana and walked with my friends to the grocery store and got some more fruit, but I just wasn't hungry. At 12:30 we had a CD and we learned how to use our Puff Pastry to make this really good poached egg dish which I think I'm making tomorrow. As I've been explaining, we demo and then usually (well for my group) we practical the next day. So when I tell you what I watch, I'll go into more detail when I actually make it. We also watched them make a fresh fruit tart...needless to say that was very good. It was with almond cream. However, by the end of class (even though I tried the food! duh) i wasn't feeling too well. My stomach just felt upset. So at 3:30 we had PD and our teacher was Chef Bernarde! He is the award winning Pastry Chef at school in charge of the entire school's Pastry Department. I knew this was my chance. Well I didn't get off to a good start...you all know me...I have a loud mouth, I talk a lot. I don't think he liked that much! I did tell him I went to the french pastry school in chicago and he said he was going there in 5 days to teach a demo and he knew my teachers well. So that helped me ;) He is also very good looking...so sometimes it was hard to pay attention :) Anyway, as I was working, I dont know what happened but I spilled something and then when I went to use it later I didn't have enough of the pastry cream! I just kept spilling things in class. However, unlike me in my normal life, I am VERY clean in pastry class so I clean up all the time. So it wasn't horrible...but I was just unorganized for myself today. Not feeling like myself! I was behind everyone and it was uncomfortable to work slow. So i finished my Gateau Basque right as everyone else did (i guess there were a few people behind me) But i just wasn't pleased with it. Anyway, time to decorate! OY...what a mess. I just laughed. And when I did i got shushed by Chef for being too loud :) Anyway, in the end when my cake came out of the oven it had a big crack in it, which you can see in the picture. That is from not pushing my apricots down before putting them in my cake. WHAT?!?! i must have missed that in my demo. And I wasnt the only one who missed it...but i was one of the few whose cake it affected. So i wasn't a happy girl. The Chef mentioned that and told me that was the reason why. He said he liked my decoration (we only had two to choose from...but you can totally see the uneveness) Personally, I think he was looking at ME when he said he "liked my decoration" if you catch my drift ;)

After school I went to buy fresh lettuce, dijon mustard, EVOO, and red wine vinegar. I came home mixed those ingredients and made salad dressing then put some of the duck my roomie made yesterday on top of the lettuce with my dressing, plus some of the gnocchi she made also. My dinner was great. Then for dessert I tried my cake. Not bad...not the best thing i've ever made. Anyway...it's been a long day and all day I've just wanted to go to bed...so I think i'm gonna do that early tonite. Another long day tomorrow. Toodles