Week 11 of IP

March 11, 2013 Monday
Bread Workshop: This was our last week of class before the exam.  We usually had a 3-hour demo class and a 3-hour practical class, instead, we had a 5-hour workshop.  Chef Eric Jaouan showed us how to do breads today.  These were my Pain Viennois (Viennese bread)-Turtle, Grape, Daisy; Pain blanc (White bread)-Baguettes, Epi, Fougasse; Pain de seigle (Rye bread)-Epi and ribbon; Two croissants on a peel.  It's always fun to make breads!

March 13, 2013 Wednesday
Plated Desserts Workshop: Chef Eric Jaouan basically just told us to make the plated desserts, some by ourselves, and some with a partner.  But still each of us had to finish our own plated desserts.  I paired up with my bad-ass pal Jocelyne, we rocked! LOL  Until Chef Eric criticized mine..... the Créme brûlée au caramel was under baked, Craquelin aux fruits rouges didn't have enough red fruits, but at least he liked my chocolate decoration.  After class, we took group photos.  Then of course, the best group photo wouldn't have me in it, again! Plated desserts made by me, including Créme brûlée au caramel (Caramel créme brûlée), Macarons à l'anis et aux framboises (Macaroons with Light anis-flavoured cream and raspberry coulis), Craquelin aux fruits rouges (Sweet crisp with fresh berries)

March 14, 2013 Thursday
Pizza Party @ Quinn's: I couldn't believe that we would be having a party before the exam! Thanks Quinn and Matt for inviting.  They had made so many pizza doughs for us.  We basically just paired up, then rolled and put toppings of our choices on our own dough.  It was a competition, but I still think the one Dina and I made looked.... the best.... LOL Cynthia and Cindy tried to make a heart shaped dough... didn't know why.  We had very garlicky ceasar salad, and home made cookies by our host.  Then we played card game, what a night! Thanks again, Quinn and Matt.

March 15, 2013 Friday
Volunteering with Cynthia @ Supreme Court of Canada: http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/home-accueil/index-eng.asp Cynthia and I were excited to have an opportunity to help in the kitchen in Supreme Court.  We arrived 30 mins earlier :-P and the guide was very kind to us.  We needed to sign-in with our ID.  Then Mary Ann (LCB graduate who works there part-time) came and led us to the kitchen.  Chef Oliver Bartsch (Executive Chef) and Sous Chef Chris were greeting us there, we both could feel that it was a place with positive energy to work in.  Another LCB GDP student, Kyong also was there to help.  It wasn't too busy for us that night, 'cos the students in previous night already had done 90% of the preparation.  Basically, we, at least for Cynthia and I, just finished plating the canapé.  While she was cutting Sucre a la creme, I was finishing poached pear, candied beet and cheese block with toothpicks.  Then, dicing lobster and mango.  Chef Oliver was kind enough to show us the courtroom where 9 judges worked.  He also shared with us his experiences working for many world leaders, including The Queen, and our Prime Minister Stephen Harper http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/From+leader+former+chef+heads+Supreme+Court/3600141/story.html As Mary Ann said later, Chef Oliver would like to spend his time sharing with us, even though he didn't have much time in the kitchen.  We could totally sense that! In the end of the evening, he had few bottles of wine for us to try, and educated us about the wine in little time that we had left.  Since I don't drink, I had Perrier instead.  What an evening! I would love to help more in the kitchen if I have the opportunity.  Merci Chef!

March 16, 2013 Saturday
La Ronde des Macarons: Chef Eric Jaouan and Chef Jocelyn Bouzenard were teaching the short course today, Tanvi, Shirley, Cynthia and I were assisting during demo and practical classes.  The demo class was short, and we didn't expect the practical class would be so long.  I think that baking the macarons with low heat like 220C could be the reason why some of the students waited for an hour for macarons to fully baked.  Also, some of them over mixed the batch and it became very liquidly, then it required longer time to bake.

Week 10 of IP

March 4, 2013 Monday
Demo Class#17: Today we had Chef Hervé Chabert and Chef Arnaud Bonnefoy as our instructor, but mainly Chef Arnaud was doing the demo to us.  He made Bavarois aux trois chocolat (Triple chocolate Bavarois mousse cake)

Practical Class#17: Didn't see Chef Eric Jaouan in demo class, so I thought he was fired! (Just joking!! LOL) He and Chef Arnaud were in practical class today.  I thought it wasn't a difficult cake to make.... hell, was I wrong! For some reason, it took me almost 20 mins to temper my chocolate! And it was because I poured too much glaze on top of the cake before I freezed it, the glaze stuck on the side of the cake ring caused me almost 10 mins to unmould! A failing gas torch didn't help neither! I was panicking that Chef would say "Stop"while I was still unmoulding it.  Image I had to present the cake with a ring on! Now the cake finally was coming out of the ring, then the ring dragged the acetate high a bit.  When I looked at the cake, the mousse layers were not even! Shit! But when I cut a small piece for Chef to taste, it actually looked fine inside.  Thank God! Chef Arnaud was grading on our row again, he said my cake needed more time in the freezer to allow the mousse to set.  Also, what else? I needed to practice my piping.

March 5, 2013 Tuesday
Demo Class#18: It was our final demo class in Intermediate Pastry :-( Next week, we'll have workshops instead, then we'll have our final exam! Chef Eric Jaouan's Douceur chocolat (Hazelnut dacquoise with chocolate Chantilly cream, praline crisp, and cocoa glace) and Trésor vanille-fraises des bois (Almond dacquoise cake with wild strawberry mousse and vanilla chibouste) Chef Eric couldn't do the plate dessert of Douceur chocolat, because Chef Arnaud threw away the chocolate Chantilly cream by helping Chef Eric to clean up the table! LOL

Practical Class#18: Today Chef Eric was greeting us when he opened the kitchen door, he actually said "Ni Hau Ma?" to me! It meant "how are you?" in Mandarin.  I don't really speak Mandarin, but I know his brother-in-law is from Mainland China, I guess that's how he knows it.  Well, today was a disaster for me.  I had a cake ring dropped on my cake before I was about to glaze it.  Nice! But the show must go on, right? I told myself that I needed to finish the cake, no matter what! Yeah, I managed to get it done.  I felt crappy.  But we had Chef Eric, instead of Chef Arnaud, grading our row today! He was overly positive on my cake! He had all these good comments on my shitty cake! Shocking, but happily accepted! He said in real life (in the industry), we wouldn't do cakes like how we did in class.  We would mass produce them in days, so no need to worry about the time limit like we had in class. :-)

March 6, 2013 Wednesday
Demo Assistant: I was scheduled to be demo assistant in Superior Pastry today.  They had the ice sculpture workshop with Master Sculptor Chef Armando Baisas.  He won so many sculpture competitions that he was banned to enter any competition! http://www.lcbottawa.com/ottawa/masterchefs/en He was very easy going, I didn't do much at all today.  He first demonstrated how to carve a swan outside our school.  Then the students divided into 3 groups and they made a dolphin, a seal holding a ball, and a penguin.  Our talented artist, Cindy Yu made a so-called baby penguin....