cheflez: Week 9 of SP

May 27, 2013 Monday
Free Double Demo: We had a Free Double Demo by Chef Didier Chantefort (Cuisine) and Chef Hervé Chabert (Pastry) tonight. Chef Didier made Crémeux de Fenouil à la Vanille, Crevettes Fraiches et Condiments en Gelée de Légumes (Creamy Fennel with Vanilla Bean, Shrimp and Condiments in Vegetable Jelly). And Chef Hervé made Baguette, Epi, Charleston, Turtle, Daisy, Grappe, Crown, Auvergnat, Braid, and Bow tie breads. As usual, we got to taste the food after the demo. I LOVE bread and butter together!!!

Chef Didier Chantefort (Cuisine)

Chef Hervé Chabert (Pastry)

May 28, 2013 Tuesday
Demo #111: Our Master Sculptor Chef Armando Baisas demonstated how to make sculptures sur gras (lard sculpture), it looked amazing!

Chef Armando Baisas

Our last demo......

Voila! Lion!

Love our school

Cindy

Jason

Moi

We went to have mexican food in Lone Star Texas Grill http://www.lonestartexasgrill.com/Locations

I love Fajitas!! Haven't had that for a very long time!

May 29, 2013 Wednesday
Workshop #221: This morning we were standing outside kitchen 3A waiting to get in. I took a picture of a poster with some great chefs. I only recognized Chef Eric Ripert from Food Channel, and Chef Heinrich Stubbe from Stubbe Chocolates, and really had no clue who the rest were. Then something interesting happened later today which I would mention below.

Men's changing room in the morning :-)

It's a full circle that we were working in kitchen 3A today, we had our first practical class (Basic Pastry) here. I will miss this kitchen.

This was my first working spot, and my last time working in this spot here in kitchen 3A.

These 2 ladies were my practical partners who stood next to me every class. Basic Pastry partner, Cindy.

Intermediate Pastry and Superior Pastry partner, Jocelyne. We were chatting so much while working on the sculpture. Best students, eh? :-)

My lard sculpture (Pug):

Styrofoam

Thanks Chef Armando for the drawing!

Thanks Chef Armando for carving!

Thanks Chef Armando for fixing the face!

My pug lard sculpture and moi. Photo courtesy of the wonderful Jocelyne :-)

Today, I bought a Chef Bear in the boutique, and the staff gave me some gifts!

After class, Jason rushed to the States. And Cindy and I went to have Pho in Chinatown. After getting off the bus, we walked by an Italian bakery called Pasticceria Gelateria Italiana http://www.pasticceria.ca on Preston Street. We walked in and checked out their cakes, then decided to come here for pastries after Pho. And we had:

Yummy!!
Then, we noticed there were many awards, medals, and articles about the Chef and the shop all over the walls. Then I found these:

Interesting?! Chef Joe Calabro is the owner of this shop, and his name was on the poster I saw outside kitchen 3A this morning! Coincident? I don't think so! :-) We liked this place, I think we should come here to study sometimes before the final exam.

May 30, 2013 Thursday
Study Day 1: Cindy and I met up at Bridgehead Coffee Shop http://www.bridgehead.ca to study.

And I had a chocolate pecan square, and a lemonade

Then, we had dinner in Elgin Street Diner http://www.elginstreetdiner.com

Yummy Liver and Onion with fries!

Red velvet cake wasn't that great.....

May 31, 2013 Friday
Study Day 2: Today Cindy and I met up in McDonald's to study.

Healthy meal.....NOT!

I created an event on Facebook inviting friends to watch a French movie called Amour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amour_(2012_film) 2 weeks ago, and only Dina replied going. Some were not interested, some said it would be too depressing to watch. So after studying, I went to Bytowne Cinema http://www.bytowne.ca myself. Dina was in the kitchen shift so couldn't make it. I always love French movies, this one was quite depressing, and it reminded me of my dying mom. But I still enjoyed it very much.

June 1, 2013 Saturday
Doors Open Ottawa and LCB Ottawa 25th Anniversary Celebration: I was helping in school today for the Doors Open Ottawa event http://www.doorsopenontario.on.ca/Events/Ottawa.aspx and also school's 25th Anniversary celebration http://www.cordonbleu.edu/index.cfm?fa=NewsEventFrontMod.DisplayNewsPage&ElementID=2013&LangID=1 Did you know that Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa is a heritage home built in 1877, called Munross House? http://ottawa.ca/cgi-bin/doors/build.pl?id=70&lang=en
We had breakfast and lunch prepared in staff kitchen today. Saad and I were assigned to greet our guests. We had approximately 1600 guests showed up! Eventually, Saad were being a tour guide, and I was there greeting everyone and counting the number of guests, and also answering questions. We had so many guests coming unexpectedly that all 30 cakes and 500 macarons were gone in a short period of time. Guests were asking me where the cakes were.....