Day THIRTY FIVE.

Day THIRTY FIVE. Strong Personality & Character and Frozen Preperations. We had two lecture classes, with a gap in the middle. One lecture on Chocolate, and the other on Ice Cream. Um. Yah, my two favorites in the dessert world. Favorite story from th day: As we were waiting for our classroom to be available for our Chocolate lecture, the regular (slower paced) basic pastry class was getting out. They were all coming out with samples of Lemon Tarte and Chocolate Tart.... the best thing I have eaten here so far, and a dish I am sad we didnt get to make. I was waiting with Dehli, and I asked if she could see who the chef was in the class getting out, so that maybe we could see about getting a sample. She laughed and said it was Chef Touille. Good. There's a chance. I held the door open for those leaving the class, and just as there was a clearing to go in I hear Chef Touille say, "I know you all want to gobble every last bit down, but you must leave." I stepped in the room, "Chef! Chef! Do you have any Chocolate Tart left?" "Meeechelle, what are you doing here?" "Waiting for Chocolate Lecture next door." "Only because it is you Meeechelle, you can have some. I'll see you in the lecture." I smiled, thanked him, quickly grabbed the last two pieces, and went back out in the hall. Those around waiting for my class laughed at my successful attempt. I gave one to Dehli, we laughed, and felt like victors of the samples world. You would think in a lecture on Chocolate we would get samples, but no. That is in intermediate, not basic pastry. So sad. We watched a video on where chocolate comes from, and the process from taking it from cocoa pod to a chocolate in your mouth. It was the basis of chocolate, not the flavor of chocolate. The video featured one of the worlds best chocolatiers, Michel Cluizel. (you can buy his chocolate in Paris, Harrod's, or Amazon). In the video he said that chocolate must have a strong personality and strong character. The way he described chocolate, it sounded like he was describing a person. He truly is a passionate person about chocolate. After that we had 4.5 hours before our next class. The usuals, plus India3 joined us for a round to Chinatown to have dim sum. My ordering was simple as there were only 2 vegetarian dim sums. Both were amazing, and similar in taste, but good to eat. We also went to a chocolate shop (Hotel Chocolat) that Chef Touille had recomended in class to see them actually roast cocoa pods. They werent roasting any when we got there. I was excited to go to the shop, because it was listed in my top hot chocolates of London list I found. Paul's (from earlier this week) beat this one... I didnt but chocolates this go around, but I still have time to come back. Back to class, for Ice Cream. If there is ever a favorite dessert of all time it is my dad's vanilla ice cream. CCC's are a close second. I was excited for this Lecture, but after a morning of no chocolate, I had my doubts. This time around. We. Had. Samples. Glace, Parfait, Granita, Sorbet...we had it all... so we could taste texturally the differences between them all. My favorites were the Mango Sorbet and the Chocolate Glace. But none compared to the ones MET makes at home. Chef said that he doesnt like the term Ice Cream, as it really isnt iced cream. He said that his favorite way to make his frozen preparation is with dry ice. He makes his mix, adds a little dry ice & in twenty minutes he has perfectly frozen treat. I'll have to try that in the future. :) Class actually ended early, so it was nice to get home at 9 instead of the usual 1030. Tomorrow, one more dish to learn before tests next week.