Days SIXTY TWO, SIXTY THREE and SIXTY FOUR. Night Classes. This week has been nothing but being at school until 10pm, getting home around 11 and detoxing from the day tell I should be sleeping, but instead am interneting tell the wee hours of the nights. Luckilly I am a night owl, and it gives my days time to be lazilly filled with nuances. Wednesday was a demonstration and a practical for an exam dish. I do much better when I learn about a dish one day, have time to process it overnight, and then go in the next day and make it. This was not one of those days. We went straight from learning about it to making it (as is done most days). Fraisier. It reminds me of the Boston Cream Cakes my sisters would get for their birthdays when we were kids. It is a sponge cake cut in half, the bottom half is lined with strawberries around the edges, then cream is filled in around the strawberries, the top half of the sponge on top, and a marzipan disk with piping and a rose on top. I was extra jittery starting this one, and it showed. Whisking my eggs & sugar together (a task I've talked about before that I love Kitchen Aids for)....I over whisked, the chef helped me make another batch of eggs & sugar, and in my hurry to catch up I over folded the flour in and when I baked it my sponge flopped, and was two inches tall rather than being four inches.....oh and it was crumbly, not cakey [oddly enough the next day it tasted great & was cakey]. My base of the cake was a bit wobbly (the bottom of the sponge has to be the top of the cake for the flat surface) like a boat's bottom (not really that bad but it was a bit rocky pun intended). We put a ring around the sponge base to make placing the strawberries easier around the edge of the cake & fill with cream mousseline. I had to be really inventive with the strawberries/filling as the cake had shrunk, so the ring was a bit large for the cake, but somehow I managed. At this point I really didnt care what it turned out like, but I made do and kept going, made my flour, piped some decoration & spelled "Fraisier" on top and was thankful it was all over. Chef Yes was complementary of my cream mousseline and said for what I had been dealt, I handled it very well. I think he knew I needed some positive reinforcement after a hard three hours. He gave me lots of tips for the sponge as well which I will use from now on. I was on the verge of tears by the end of class, but encouragement and smiles from my classmates helped a lot....and their amazement that I could turn a bad thing into an okay thing.
Thursday we only had one class at 630pm, so that meant lots of time to do nothing. I kid. I was a bit down from the fiasco of a cake the night before, so my jog turned into a long walk. I came home and worked on marzipan flowers and piping for a couple of hours, and worked on my notes. I headed out for a treat before class. I have a cookbook back home called "Plenty" by Yotam Ottolenghi. It is filled with pretty dishes, and fancy things I dont have time to make. Well, he's based in London & has three restaraunts! I dont have to cook it, I can just eat it! I stopped into Ottolenghi and picked up some take away (sold by the pound) of Eggplant with Tahini & a wild rice salad....oh and a brownie. All were really good, simple and clean, good for you kinds of food. The displays for the food were amazing and it was a feast for the eyes and for the belly.
Class that evening was a demonstration on our next possible exam dish, the Opera. Chef Arizona did the demonstration...he's never done one of ours before. He was very fast and was a bit all over the place. I had been reviewing this cake during my afternoon studies, and was frustrated that he was not going in the order listed in our exam book but at the same time fascinated with how fast he moved....like he was in a busy hotel kitchen trying to push the order out, only it was our exam dish. During our break I had a nice conversation with Maine. I told him about my frustrations over the cake the night before and during the demonstration. He kindly reminded me that it is just cake, and not life changing events. We are improving. We could have never made what we are doing now in the first few weeks of basic, and we need to be proud of the simplest improvements. It was just the chat I needed to keep going.
Opera is a multi layered cake incase you have never heard of it. Sponge cake on bottom, brushed with soaking syrup infused with coffeee, topped with chocolate ganache, another layer of sponge brushed with soaking syrup, topped with coffee buttercream, topped with another layer of sponge, thin layer of ganache, a layer of chocolate glaze, and chocolate piping on top. I didnt stay for the tasting after class as I am no coffee drinker.
After class, Malta and Dehli and I on the way to the tube decided to go grab dinner. Malta was craving Gyro, so we headed off to a place she thought of, to find out it was closed. We ended up eating at Union Jacks. The only restaraunt I have been to 3x since being here. I got the tomato soup with toast again, as it was 930pm. It was a good time chatting and laughing the night away.
Friday morning it was constant rain for hours. I had an appointment to get my eyebrows waxed, and the bus ride that was to take 30 minutes took 50. Whoops. Dang rain. For such a rainy city I would expect people to know how to drive in the rain better. Perhaps more people take taxis on rainy days hence more traffic. On the was back home, I stopped along North End Road with the farmers market stalls and bought some produce. Seven bell peppers for one pound. Cilantro (I finally found the real stuff!! they call it corriander here) for 50p, a dozen eggs for 2pounds, green onion 50p a bunch, 14 bananas for 1 pound. Thats $8.41 in American dollars. For all that produce! What a steal! Malta told me to go to an Arab market if I ever needed Olive Oil. I found an arab marked behind the food stalls. $5.03 for a litre of Olive Oil....um yes please. Cant get that at Costco. Sign me up. Yep. Thanks. Some girls from class were going to go to a street market, but with the weather, they cancelled it, or so I thought, but two decided to go once the rain stopped. Malta, Dehli, and I decided to go for macaroon's at the best place in London before class. Poland and California found out, and joined in after they went to the street market. The macaroon I ate (salted caramel) was probably the best I have ever eaten, (next to my own of course;)) it was smooth, creamy, and just right. Some of the girls were daring in their marcaroon choices (pumpkin & corn, white chocolate & truffle), but I kept to the classics...I have a dark chocolate one saved for breakfast I suppose. After we picked up the macaroons, we headed off to find a coffee shop for the girls to get caffinated before class, and ended up at a chocolate store, (across the street from Ottolenghi where I was the night before). I got a hot chocolate and an Almond Praline covered in chocolate. When my Hot Chocolate came, it came with a homemade black currant marshmallow....for not liking fruity desserts, it was really good.
On the way to school we debated which chef we would most like to have with us vs least like to have. They all have pros and cons to each of them. Some grade stiff, some are picky about organization/hygene, some are friendly, some were drill sargents in a former life.... you get the idea. We got Chef Arizona. The one who marks lower than all the other chefs...he has very high standards, and for a world winning sugar sculpter he should, just not with us beginners. I gave myself a lot of pep talks before entering the room & calmed my nerves before I baked. Miraculously, it was a smooth night. Sponge was made well, my soaking syrup I brought drinking chocolate powder to add to it instead of coffee, ganache good, and my buttercream (with chocolate extract and a bit of cocoa again) didnt turn to soup or yellow, so that was an accomplishment. I thought my layers were good....I didnt realize they were wavy tell chef told me at my critique....I didnt understand tell I went home and started eating it and saw the sponge waves. Before piping "Opera" on it, I had Chef come over and give me a tutorial on chocolate piping. "I have not been proud of my piping before and you havent liked my piping either based off the scores you've given me [yep, I went there/said that; Malta who was next to me laughed], so could you please show me how to pipe properly?" -- It was a nice minute with him learning, and at my critique chef said that the piped word "Opera" was superb (never heard that word out of him) but the overpiping needed some work. Freak. The man said something of mine on the cake card was superb. I'll take that and forget everything else that he told me. Haha.
After class I was so tired, I tripped and almost fell, but I recovered. I came home, made a snack, and am now writing in the wee hours of the morning. Seriousy time passes to so so so so fast here. But. The. Cake. Oh my goodness, it is so good, creamy smooth velvety yummy. Probably my favorite dish so far we've made.....all because of the twists of more chocolate and no coffee make this chocolate loving girl happy.
And with that one of my eyelids is closing to off to bed I go.
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