Trying to get back to regular life after all the traveling around & visitors has been quite the adjustment. I am tired everynight when I go to bed, but when my head hits the pillow, I am wide awake. Grrrr... hence my lack of blogging.
Day 56. The Visitors left in the morning, they were satified with eating the Devonshire Splits I had brought the night before, for breakfast.....no need to leave the hotel, but we got out for a few minutes to take pictures of ourselves before they hopped in a car & took off for the airport. It was lovely having them here in my little world across the pond.
I headed for home after they left to drop off the bus, only to be halfway there when the tube I needed was having issues & did not come for 20 minutes, so I turned around and went to school. As I was exiting the station for school, the tube's speaked system came on and announced to evacuate immediatley, that they were closing down the station. Ahhh what? Yep. Totally closed it. Classmates were being dropped off a station away and either walking it or busing it. Good thing I didnt catch that train I needed afterall. The classes that day were pretty uneventful. They were both Technical classes, no baking day. First class was about our final exam dishes (which I promised myself I would start studying earlier this time) & the other class was about wine pairings. I just sat there again and watched their faces as they paired wine with smoked salmon, chili pepper, lemon wedges, endive, and parmesean cheese. I enjoyed the cheese. In between classes, a few of us went to lunch at an italian place. It was the first italian I have had since being here. Pretty good. After classes were done I headed home with my overloaded bag. I tried to take it nice and easy, and go to sleep fast, but that didnt happen.
Day 57
We had a Tech class on food storage & preparation. It is as exciting as it sounds. Went to Byron's Burger for lunch & I got the mac & cheese and fried zuchini strips. Sweet and totally healthy. For our demonstration class we had the chef known for breads teach the class. If anyone could teach us proper dough, it would be him. I felt for the guy though, it was not his day. He put some breads into the proffer, and instead of setting it for 30 degrees Celcius, it was set at 300. Quite the difference. So the tops were burned, but he slow cooked them to survivable/edible and went on working. Chef was not please with his work. I was impressed. He shaped 4 varieties of brioche dough in thirty minutes. That's impressive. After school, I did a little grocery shopping, and worked on my notes for class. I was still really tired, but head on the pillow = wide awake....and I had class at 8am the next day.....
Day 58
Crossaints. Brioche. Danish. It was worth getting up for to make/bake these items....just a bit hard at 8am to do. When I saw my dough (that I had made on Wednesday), it had been resting on the counter for a bit and looked like it was going to explode inside the cling wrap and I wondered if it would turn out to be anything. Well, it turned out amazing things. Chef Touillee let us alone to do our own work, rolling doughs, and placing whatever toppings (fruit, nuts, chocolate) we liked. He only cares about getting breakfast out of us....aka crossaints. He ate 14 by the end of class of various sizes and shapes. As I was looking at mine and discouraged that they werent as big as other peoples, or as pretty, the thought just as quick as the first came to me that "I freaking made crossaints. They turned out! I've never done that before in my life! Be proud! You did something you never thought you could do. Good job!" And with that I was over how everyone elses breads turned out, and proud of my own.
We had a demonstration class after that, where we learned about the Genoise Sabrina. It is a cake really only known in LCB world, as part of the original film Sabrina was filmed as LCB in Paris, and a Chef made this cake afterwards to celebrate the film. Very intricate details on this one, and the work put into it is more intense than what it tastes like, so we shall see how it turns out. After school, I headed home with my loads of crossaints, pan au chocolats, brioche loaves, bread loaf, and danish pastries, no room to pick up some more groceries, my hands were full. I got home, and my landlady told me about a fireworks display that was going on for "Bonfire Night" (aka Guy Fox Night) at a nearby park, and asked if I wanted to go. I said sure. The fireworks were a few hours away, so I did some laundry and organized my room (aka made a mess). I realized it was raining. My obervance of the outdoor weather conditions needs improving. I asked my landlady if they would cancel the fireworks for the rain, she said that it is a paid event and so they would never cancel them. She was shocked when I told her back home things are cancelled due to the weather. She also said that it was raining like a monsoon 30 minutes prior and she wasnt feeling well enough to go. Luckilly I had texted Mindy to join us, so I went and met her. The paid event was only allowing ticketed members in, so we (with another 100 or so) walked to a place where we could see them outside of the park. About five minutes into the display, the fireworks stopped. A man on an intercom came on and said "The cell phone that was sending the signal to the fireworks ran out of money on it, so if anyone has a ten pound cell phone top up card to let us use it would be greatly appreciated." Seriously? A fireworks person didnt prepare enough credit on his phone? Ha! The fireworks were back up and running a few minutes later for a stunning display behind a tree. After that we got come crepes and talked before going our seperate directions. I was so tired when I got home I fell asleep three times while bloggingg...so this entry has taken days to complete :)
Day 59. Sunday is Sunday. I took my danishes/nut bread to church because it dont need a zillion calories on my hips, and they were gobbled up in no time at the end of Relief Society. Tonight I am headed to Mindy's for dinner with some other people, review my notes for tomorrow, and prep for the week. Really exciting I know. But first I need a nap.
All of those flaky bread sounds delicious!
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