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....
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