Days 68, 69, and 70. This week has been too fast.

Days 68, 69, and 70. This week has been too fast. Tuesday. I dont know how I manage to fill my mornings, but somehow I do. Oh yes. I remember. Ironing. It takes me an hour to iron my uniform. Luckilly British morning shows keep me entertained while smoothing out the wrinkles of my shirt, pants, apron, tea towel, dish towel, and hat. School was the last of our three exam dishes. The Alhambra. Chocolate Sponge cake with chocolate ganache inside & masked/frosted, with a chocolate glaze over the top, and decorated with a marzipan rose & chocolate piped "Alhambra" on top. Everything is made from scratch & it tastes like old fashioned chocolate cake. Not complaining, its just a chocolate cake with a lot of work going into it. Demonstration class was good & Practical class was the most calm I was out of all three. Yes, there was going back and forth between the oven & chiller to get my ganache just right but overall it went alright. Its a relief to get the cakes done sometimes. I also tried really hard not to get dirty/chocolate on my freshly pressed uniform. At the end of class, I looked down and discovered chocolate was in between my apron & my shirt....so both were dirty!....and then there were spots on my towels!! Ugh! After class I texted a friend to see if she wanted some cake. She met me at the tube station, we walked to her place, had a slice each, I gave her 1/2 of the cake, and took a piece home for myself to eat later. Once I got home, I put my uniform into a bucket of water to soak out the stains. Wednesday I met up with Mindy for one last traveling adventure. She heads back to the states on Saturday. We took a train to Oxford. Yep, the Oxford. It was one place that was left on her list to see. It was an amazing city, so much history and architecture. Mindy planned on us taking a morning walking tour, but not enough people showed up, so they told us to come back at 2pm. So we had a few hours to kill. We ventured around to a church, that we found off free wifi telling us the top 20 things in Oxford from a place that served the worst smoothie I've ever had (water & berries in a blender is not a smoothie people). That was the worst sentence ever written. It is late, give me a break :). At the church we were told by a nice Canadian who worked there that the to climb the tower it would cost money, but the church was free. We walked around the church, and after we left the church, the Canadian pops out of the church and says, "North American discount to climb the tower for free." Luckily our faces do not define our ages, and as we looked like college students, he took pity on us. We climbed to the top and had an amazing view of the city. With the Canadian's help, we picked out some places to go to once back down on the street. We stopped for lunch in what I think is the oldest church in Oxford or something like that. Really cool, really nice lunch (Cheese bread, soup, and salad). We ventured into a gift shop at the library in Oxford (the library is student/appointment only). Crazy cool to think about all the authors that have been there. C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Dodgson, Oscar Wilde. Amazing novels from men and women who studied here. On the walking tour, Oxford University is filled with Colleges, and from your application to Oxford, it is determined for you what college you will be studying in. Much like the sorting hat in Harry Potter. Crazy. The walking tour was nice, but not a lot of content. We headed back to London after the tour. I had one 6:30pm class to attend. It was a tech class where the chef made a 'celebration' of canapés for completing the week of making exam dishes. Mini Beef Wellingtons, Salmon Rolls, Ham & Mustard mini croissants, cheese sticks, and veggie pizza bites. Came home, and washed my uniform that had been soaking overnight to get the chocolate out....Luckily 98% of it did come out, and what didn't come out is barely noticeable. Thursday. My mornings slip by so fast. I was to meet Malta to study, but I forgot I needed to iron my uniform again. I did manage to join her for lunch before heading to school. It was Boulangerie day at school. We learned how & made three kinds of bread, Rye, Focaccia, and Baguette Viennoise (braided breakfast bread). It was a nice practical, because we actually had time to stand around and wait while our breads were proofing and baking. The focaccia I have made at home using the worlds best brother's recipe is a lot different than the one I made in class. Mainly because this one has eggs in it. Chef Bread said that if it does not have eggs in it, it is not focaccia. He said that focaccia is to be thick, and crusty, more dense than ciabatta, and my perspective had always been the opposite. Nevertheless, they were all amazing. I have bread to last me for weeks now. Yay! Tomorrow we start 'early' at 1130. Its now 2am wish me luck in getting to class on time. hahahaha. time keeps on tickin tickin tickin....into the future......