Survived the First Week of School

DAY ONE

October 9 was the orientation day.  We started at 10am, the chefs and staffs were introduced, and they talked about classes, the history of the building and school, the schedule, events....etc. And I thought it was gonna be a 2-hour thing, but it turned out that we, the students in Pâtisserie de Base would have a Seminar#1 at 3:30pm!

As a "shy" person myself, quickly met some friends in school.  A few of us went to grab a sandwich in Subway nearby, and chatted about where we were from and where we went to school.

It was a very looooong 3 hours seminar about ingredients that we will be using.  That's the orientation day.

DAY TWO

The next day we had our first Demo#1 class (3 hours) at 8:15am and Practical#1 class (3 hours) at 3:30pm on the same day!!!!!!! Really? Seriously? Chef Jocelyn Bouzenard showed us how to do Pâte Sablé (short cake dough for tart and cookie), Pâte Brisée (shortcrust dough for salty pie), Pâte Sucrée (sweet dough for tartlet), Pâte à Foncer (pie dough), Petits Sablés Nantais (small shortbread cookies), and Damier (chocolate and vanilla shortcake)  I learned some French terms and some techniques.  Oh, forget to mention that there will be no KitchenAid mixer needed for Pâtisserie de Base.  We will do everything by hands.

Group A today, we had Chef Hervé Chabert in the kitchen helping us in Practical#2.  We only needed to do Pâte Sablé, Pâte Brisée, and Pâte Sucrée, and when we had time, we would do Petits Sablés Nantais from Pâte Sablé.  Guess what? I cut my finger already! I cut my finger on my first day of culinary class in George Brown College! It always happen on the first day in kitchen!! It is my luck or what? Well, those knives were sharp I must tell you! Anyway, I was calling Chef Chabert, and said "First cut, Chef"! He was nice enough to sanitize my finger AND put the bandage on while I was mixing the dough with my right hand! In the end, we all finished those 3 doughs and the cookies.  No bad for the first class.  And the cookies were yummy.

DAY THREE

We only had Demo#2 today at 3:30pm.  Cindy, Cynthia and I went to Canadian Tire to get cake box, and had lunch at Shawarma Palace before class.  Today, Chef Jocelyn Bouzenard demonstrated us Génoise (Genoese sponge cake), Biscuits à la Cuillère (Lady Fingers), Biscuit Roulé (rolled biscuit), and Daquoise (nut cake) He whipped the eggs like an maniac.  Well, I was sure that I had to do the same thing in the practical too.

After the Demo class, Tanvi, Cindy, Jason and I went to get spatula in Dollarama.  By the time we got there, it was closed.  So we went to Metro and Loblaws, but no luck.  What's up with Ottawa? Don't they bake? We ended up having dinner in a bubble tea place... Cindy suggested to go there, but she didn't order bubble tea.  Poor Tanvi ordered a veggie dumpling disc, but disappointed with the small portion.  I think Jason was okay with the food.  I ordered a bubble tea and poutine, and surprisingly, Tanvi and Jason never had nor had seen a poutine before.  They both went to university in the States.  One thing I had to mention here (with the permission from Tanvi), well, Tanvi told us that in her practical class, she went to the chef and asked quietly "Chef, how do I crack an egg?" SERIOUSLY! I tried to hold my laugh.  Well, to be fair, she is a vegetarian.  She had never touched meats, chickens, and eggs.  But there's always a first time, especially if you signed up for culinary school.  I told her she was lucky that I wasn't in her class, 'cos I would LOL very hard.

DAY FOUR

Some people hated to have a practical class from 7 to 10pm on Friday, but I didn't mind it.  I just organized my notes and studied the recipes before class.  Practical#2 Chef Eric Jaouan was monitoring, and we were using a different kitchen tonight.  A lot of whipping for Génoise and Biscuits à la Cuillère! I didn't cut myself tonight, in case you wanted to know.  My piping of the lady fingers were not great.... needed more practice.  Oh, I pulled the baked lady fingers out of the oven then put on top of the stove (the oven is right below the stove), I turned around and did whatever I was doing, then I smelt something burnt... yes, my lady fingers! Apparently, the stove was hot on top of the oven, DUH?! Oh I forgot to mention that we "perler", put icing sugar on top of the lady fingers twice, before baking.  So there was caramelization going on on the tray! LOL Chef came and saw my burned lady fingers, and said "well, I guess after tonight, you will never put the tray on top of the stove, 'cos you will not forget tonight." Indeed! After Chef saw our products, then he told us what to repeat, either Génoise or Biscuits à la Cuillère.  He told me that I could do either one, but preferably what I felt most weak.  So I picked Biscuits à la Cuillère 'cos my piping sucked.  Plus, I could whip the egg whites faster then the egg yolks.  I must say, the second time piping was better than the first.  But no near perfect lah!