Days FORTY and FORTY ONE

DAYS FORTY and FORTY ONE. Paul Harvey. Lets take a moment and acknowledge that it is day 40. Holy moley. Moving on. Day 40 was spent practicing, cooking, piping, and practicing, and reviewing. I went for a jog/walk in the morning. I seriously love the River path. So amazing. It was a bit windier than usual, all I could think of was "Winds in the East....a storms brewin in...." (name that movie) Then, in the midst of making italian meringues, buttercreams, tempering chocolates, I decided that i needed some savory to balance out the sweets. I used the veggies I puchased a few days ago and made carrot & corriander soup and veggie packs (that I froze) to use with currys in the future. Yeh, I was in the kitchen for 7 hours. Luckilly no one was home, and i had it all to myself. I didnt even look up and out the window infront of me to notice that it was raining. My landlady came in about that time, soaked, and that's when i looked up and out the window. She said it had been raining hard for an hour. Well, that shows my level of conscentration :) Apparently it was the aftermath of some hurricane blowing through. After I couldnt been in the kitchen anylonger, and cleaned up all the remnants, I reviewed more and went to bed. In the morning, it was hard to get out of bed. Dread or Fear (couldnt decide which) were keeping me comfortably in my cozy bed. I finally got up and took a short jog (literally short as it was around the block) to shake the nerves and get over it. It is just one dessert, it cant be that bad. I ironed my outfit, got ready, ate breakfast, reviewed a bit more and headed off to school. Everyone was a but nervous. I dont know why, but in crowds when I am nervous, I start making jokes, having people laugh, saying dumb things. It was good for us all to relax a bit. Before..... The test. We were each assigned a specific station...alphabetically I should have known. Luckilly I was by China, the calmest person to work by, and to the other side of me was all the ingredients :) quick access to everything. Then the chef announce the dish we were going to make. The Geniose Sponge with Rasberry Jam filling. We squeled. A few in the class had guessed that would be the one we were going to make. The chefs told us not to squel as this was a "serious thing" we were about to do. We had 15 minutes to fill in the recipee gaps & blanks on the method/instructions, and draw/label a picture of the top & side view of the cake. After the 15 minutes were up, papers were collected, and it was time to bake. Things went alright. My sponge cake....I thought I whisked it too much, than not enough, so i whisked some more, folded in my flour, and as I poured it in my tin, a large lump of flour was there. Oh well, move on. I got my soaking syrup, rasberry jam, and buttercream all measured and ready at the same time. All went well, except my buttercream. I dont know what happened. I probably put the butter in when the other ingredients were too hot, and it melted a bit. It came out super soft and almost runny. When I piped the filling, it managed to keep its shape and I thought well its either good or bad. I knew it was too thin to coat the outside. As I was putting my cake in the blast chiller to cool, Poland mumbled to me that her buttercream was like mayonaise, and she put it in the fridge to chill. Brilliant! I thought, I'll do the same thing! And so I did, which I probably (1) should have never done or (2) not left it in the fridge for so long because... it turned pale yellow.... its supposed to be more on the ivory side than the "one of these things is not like the other" kind of cake....and it hardend the frosting....its supposed to be light and airy, but this was more like good ol american frosting....good for me to use, but bad as I had chilled the butter in the buttercream too long. Wow. I am giving too many details here. After my buttercream was masked on the cake, I was running out of it, no chance to go back and do touchups, so I moved on. Oh well, get over it. I did my almond border, and piped some pretty good chocolate on top, added some rasberries, and I was done. I couldnt do anything more to the cake. I called for the Chef, recorded my time and I couldnt believe it! First one done! That has never happened to me! Yahoo!! Packed up my things, and that was that. My first exam dish over. Afterwards my entire group... all fourteen of us went out to a pub. We've never all done something. It was a really good time. Its amazing that people have to drink to have a good time. I had a good time watching them all :) My group truly is the best out of all three groups that started at the same time. We all get along, all included in plans and if people dont come we dont get mad, and happy to be with. Near the end of the pub time, Essex and I were talking. She was the one that booked a table at the pub. We were talking about our group and how great it was that we all get along. She said that she has so much fun whenever I am around because I make everyone relaxed and have a good time. She then gave me the best compliment. She said I was the joy and soul of the group and without me it would never be this much fun. Moi? Little rediculous moi? Yah, I'll take that. And that is ....the rest of the story. PH signing out.