(no subject)
Unbelievably, the first month of the school year ending and it already feels like I've been there for 6 if not more. I thought I'd recap as it is a rainy Tuesday morning with a bit of time on my hands.
After a day missed due to my ridiculous attempt to work full time as well as go to school (more on that in a later entry, perhaps) and a day spent in the wrong class (very easy trap to fall into - I was not alone) I finally located my correct Skills lab with my correct chef. She is everything I would want from a chef teacher - super tough, a self proclaimed hard ass - but with a sense of humour and fairness. Our first month has been spent on cookies - piped shortbread, piped sandwich, chewy pecan brownies with ganache, ice box. We had a round robin day where group of four (we are usually in groups of two in Skills) each made a different sort of cookie and then we gave each other 4 of that cookie to make a mixed box. My team had chewy oatmeal - so good - buttery and falling apart. We also made hermit cookies that day.
In order to get ready for Christmas we started massive amounts of fruitcake - giant bowls of jewelled fruit that we had chopped up, later soaked in rum and wrapped until December when we'll be decorating it to the nines. We spent a hellish morning with the previous day's sugar cookie dough creating petit four sec - teensy sandwich cookies in 5 shapes with intricate designs in chocolate, nuts and jam. That was the only day that almost made me cry. We ended off the cookie period with almond macaroons sandwiched with apricot jam and big coconut macaroons - both dipped in chocolate.
All my classmates (you move through classes with the same people except skills where we split in 2 groups) are very nice, some are super awesome. We've definitely cliqued off to a certain extent but I try to stay on the fringe of most groups, while still maintaining a close knit gang. Oh, the complicated physics of interpersonal relationships! ;) We do try to have fun throughout the seriousness of skills though. On the round robin day, while part of a team assembling boxes, we started singing. Soon most of the class joined in, singing all we knew of random 60s, Disney & Spice Girls songs. Chef, contrary to how we thought she'd react, told us to sing louder and nicknamed us The Bakerettes. There is only one boy in skills with us - and he doesn't mind :)
Otherwise there is Theory - that's where we have studied everything about the whys and hows of what makes up a cookie - creaming method, make up methods, leavening agents, types of flour. Intro to Wine - a 7 week course that has been dry so far but still interesting. We learn everything about where wine comes from, different regions, different grapes, terroir. Math - fairly simple, people rarely show up for more than half the class. Finally, English - a true disappointment with the world's most boring teacher - I keep expecting her to say "Bueller...Bueller"
So, in basically every way school is pretty amazing and great. I love all that I'm learning, love my friends there, love the hours. I'm going to have to start ending my entries with a <3 like Tim!! :) Next we're moving into bread...
<3
After a day missed due to my ridiculous attempt to work full time as well as go to school (more on that in a later entry, perhaps) and a day spent in the wrong class (very easy trap to fall into - I was not alone) I finally located my correct Skills lab with my correct chef. She is everything I would want from a chef teacher - super tough, a self proclaimed hard ass - but with a sense of humour and fairness. Our first month has been spent on cookies - piped shortbread, piped sandwich, chewy pecan brownies with ganache, ice box. We had a round robin day where group of four (we are usually in groups of two in Skills) each made a different sort of cookie and then we gave each other 4 of that cookie to make a mixed box. My team had chewy oatmeal - so good - buttery and falling apart. We also made hermit cookies that day.
In order to get ready for Christmas we started massive amounts of fruitcake - giant bowls of jewelled fruit that we had chopped up, later soaked in rum and wrapped until December when we'll be decorating it to the nines. We spent a hellish morning with the previous day's sugar cookie dough creating petit four sec - teensy sandwich cookies in 5 shapes with intricate designs in chocolate, nuts and jam. That was the only day that almost made me cry. We ended off the cookie period with almond macaroons sandwiched with apricot jam and big coconut macaroons - both dipped in chocolate.
All my classmates (you move through classes with the same people except skills where we split in 2 groups) are very nice, some are super awesome. We've definitely cliqued off to a certain extent but I try to stay on the fringe of most groups, while still maintaining a close knit gang. Oh, the complicated physics of interpersonal relationships! ;) We do try to have fun throughout the seriousness of skills though. On the round robin day, while part of a team assembling boxes, we started singing. Soon most of the class joined in, singing all we knew of random 60s, Disney & Spice Girls songs. Chef, contrary to how we thought she'd react, told us to sing louder and nicknamed us The Bakerettes. There is only one boy in skills with us - and he doesn't mind :)
Otherwise there is Theory - that's where we have studied everything about the whys and hows of what makes up a cookie - creaming method, make up methods, leavening agents, types of flour. Intro to Wine - a 7 week course that has been dry so far but still interesting. We learn everything about where wine comes from, different regions, different grapes, terroir. Math - fairly simple, people rarely show up for more than half the class. Finally, English - a true disappointment with the world's most boring teacher - I keep expecting her to say "Bueller...Bueller"
So, in basically every way school is pretty amazing and great. I love all that I'm learning, love my friends there, love the hours. I'm going to have to start ending my entries with a <3 like Tim!! :) Next we're moving into bread...
<3