If it boils, it's dead.

So today was creme brulee day. Exciting, since I know it's easy and it's about time to show the chefs that I know what I'm doing. It's really weird, as I'm sitting in class waiting for the chef to start teaching, I get this odd rush of excitement. I think it's just weird for me to realize how something I find FUN can now be taught in a class and taken really seriously.

So our task was a creme brulee and a creme caramel (which, uh, I didn't realize was flan until it was taken out of its mold during presentation day), along with a couple sauces. We worked with a partner, and things were going really well with our creme brulee. I'm usually one of the slower ones, so it was exciting handing my creme brulee to the chef to put in the oven before the rest of the group.

Ok, let me back up a bit. There's a new sherriff...errr...chef in town. Today we had the other French chef teaching us. He's a scary guy, but oddly comical at the same time. I mean, the guy sings hip-hop songs in a French accent. And not just any songs, but the ones with odd lyrics. Someone asks "Where's the ice, chef?", and he starts singing "Ice, Ice, Baby." And while he's walking around doing his rounds, he's singing "Baby if you give it to me, I'll give it to you..." Mind you, all with an impossibly strong French accent. So strong that half the time you think he's speaking French when he's speaking English. And the other half of the time, he really is speaking French, and assuming you understand that he wants you to stop beating the egg.

So even though the creme brulee went well, I really think I do stupid little things to embarass myself and show myself to be a little slower than the rest of the gang. Then I gotta play the "Oh right. I'm stupid. Haha" bit. I hate that bit. Reminds me of high school during basketball when I sucked so I decided to just be amusing to the coach about my retardation on the court. (Ok, pastry school isn't that bad) The stupid thing I did this time--I still don't really understand what the problem was, but nonetheless, Chef didn't like it. "Khoo did thees?" asks the chef, as I'm facing away from him. He repeats his question again, and I finally notice him at my station, holding up a piece of butter. Oh god, do I really have to own up to this in front of the whole class? "Do you cut through a pizza box when you cut yourself a slice of pizza?" Mmm...takes me a second to realize what he was saying. I cut the butter with the wrapper still attached to it so as not to get the whole butter in contact with air. Apparently not the thing to do.

So things were a little more high stress than I would have expected with easier dishes. But, then came the Creme Anglaise. For those of you who don't know what that is, its a vanilla sauce that pretty much tastes like melted vanilla ice cream. What you do eventually, is add hot milk to an egg mixture and put it on a flame until "the foam disappears." At demonstration, the chef said "If it boils, it's dead." I found that funny cuz it was so dramatic. Didn't realize it would happen to me. The egg separated from the milk on the stove and I was left with scrambled eggs and milk, so I had to start again.

So much for an easy day!