Working as a pastry chef in a restaurant, you're usually the first person in the kitchen to prepare doughs and other things that you need to use later in the day. And since you're working with dessert, the last (and best) part of the meal, you're also the last one leaving at the end of the day. Today's practical only showed me 3 hours of that environment and I was absolutely knackered (hahaha...there's my pretentious attempt at adopting British terminology). Antara and I once cooked for 7 hours straight, but the difference was that at least we would have a couple minutes here and there to rest our feet and sit down. Our kitchen doesn't have any place to sit and not a moment goes to waste. If one item is put in the refrigerator or oven, we start work on something else.
We made a Puff Pastry with Poached Pears and Almond Cream using pre-made dough, and started work on our own puff pastry, made from scratch. The fresh one takes a couple days to make and can be frozen and used in the future, so we will finish that on Thursday. Poaching the pears was fine--we made a sugar syrup and let the pears simmer for a while. Although initially when adding the eggs to the almond cream, it curdled, the chef helped me rectify the situation. Rolling dough is definitely a difficult task for me, but the worst was when I was putting together the whole thing. The top layer of the pastry was to have a nice lattice design made by a lattice cutter, which would then be gently placed over the rest of the pastry. Obviously a delicate task, and I completely screwed up. The dough was all over the place tangled up and the chef just looked at it, then at me, and chuckled to himself. He told me to put it in the fridge before we put it in the oven and I asked, "will that fix it?" He responded in his thick French accent with, "A fridge doesn't do miracles." Anyway, it was so demoralizing because I had worked for 3 hours getting all the separate pieces together for this pastry, and at the end, although I knew it would taste good, it looked like crap. Plus, it didn't help that most of the other students' lattice looked pretty good.
Since Friday, when I had my last class, I've been pretty much hanging out at Mamta didi's place. Saturday, Shikha also came over and me, her, Mamta, and Anna had a girly night of watching House and Love Actually. I think Anna was a bit amused at our drunken antics and our love for Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) and then Hugh Grant as Prime Minister. Both named Hugh, both hot. That was my attempt at alliteration, by the way.
It's been awesome just watching tv (House and BSG), eating good food, and relaxing. The weather's been amazing in London but still, I just enjoy spending time at home. I don't know how it'll be when it's cold and rainy out. I'll really not want to leave home at all!
Oh and, I found out that the Paris Cordon Bleu only teaches in French. Guess that's out. Looks like Sydney it is, then?
4 comments:
Gosh, it sounds a little stressful. Hang in there! Why is it so much easier to tell you to do that than to tell myself to do it... grad school is hard and lame and I MISS YOU. I've had it up to here with awkward conversations.
hahahahahah -- a fridge doesn't do miracles!!!
man, seems like you're really struggling out there. Yesterday even Dr. Vierra was asking abt your pastry school ... I was almost tempted to give him the address to your blog (but I didn't).
Awww..That sucks..I can only imagine how you must have felt after putting that much of effort and having it not look pretty..poor thing..Don't worry, I'll still eat your delicious pastries regardless of how they look.(paadoo)
It's sad that when I read "Lattice Failures" I thought of crystal lattices and dislocations and such. This pastry school thing seems a bit intense and stressful... but I'm glad you seem to be enjoying it. And when are you planning on going to Sydney? I have a friend there I should introduce you to.
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