Days 71. 72. and 73. Piping Like Its Hot.

Days 71, 72, and 73. Piping like its hot. Friday we had a split day at school, 1130-230 demonstration class (ended a bit early), and then 630-930 baking class. We made something with a really long french name, when translated means chocolate sponge with chocolate mousse and caramelized pear. There was a job fair at school for the in between hours, so a few of us just stayed at school, studied a bit, and just had good old conversations....like without our phones. We (Maine & I) did show the old commercial "Pardon Me....do you have any Grey Poupon?" & the Wayne's World spoof on it to our european friends who thought it was hilarious. Job fair was good, a lot of UK businesses present, a cruise line, and Hilton Worldwide....lots of options, just have to figure out what world I want to venture into. The baking class went pretty good. We had Chef Arizona with us again. I asked him to pipe me some pattern options as I didnt like what was shown in demonstration class, and I knew he wouldnt like them either. I showed him a pic on my phone of them, and his silence confirmed his dislike. It was a simple pattern, nothing too outrageous, simple lines and waves. I am a minimalist when it comes to piping designs. Always have been. I rather the cake speak for itself than me ruin it with fluff. After class, I took the cake to Mindy's...her last night in London. A crew of six had been to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park (look it up for more info) and they met me at Mindy's place to eat cake and talk. Everyone loved the cake. And I got the hook up with all of Mindy's unused groceries!! Yahoo! I looked like a homeless person carrying home my duffle from school, and two large reusable grocery bags full of stuff. Nevertheless, I was so thankful and happy to have groceries that I didn't have to buy. I was so tired, I was the first to leave the party, but everyone else pretty much followed me out the door.


Saturday, a friend (I met through Mindy who is born & raised in England) who works as a food scientist for a cheesecake company got tickets through her work to go to the "Taste of London" food festival for free & asked me if I wanted to go. An event that normally costs 25 pounds just to get in the door? Um yes please. Sign. Me. Up. It had 20 restaurants with smaller versions of all their food for $5 and under to try, plus a gazillion food stands with tons of free samples, workshops, and demonstrations. We went to two demonstrations, one of a Peruvian restaraunter, whom we went to their booth and got fried-to-order pumpkin sweet potato doughnuts with corn maize honey spice glaze. So good we got them 2x. The other demonstration, I was more fascinated by the sous chef, then I was the main chef. The duo did a "chef off" and made 12 dishes in 60 minutes, that's amazing all by itself, but what is more amazing is that the sous chef had 1 and a 1/2 arms. One regular arm, and the other one was only half formed, but he still had a hand, right below the elbow joint. I was amazed at watching him work. His adaptability to cooking without assistance and making things work for him in ways I couldn't fathom. I didnt catch his name, but he was really impressive. He started out in pastry, and moved into cuisine. He'd been doing it for 13+ years and loves what he does. I could see it in the way he cooks, and the way the plates were presented. Sitting there I thought about me getting frustrated making a cake, and this chef improvises to get it done. This guy does hard things everyday. I can do hard things too. We were are the event for six hours! There was so much to see and do. I was exhausted and home by 630 and did not want to eat or do anything else for the rest of the night.

Sunday. The usual. I made a grilled cheese & grilled onion on rye for lunch (smitten kitchen has a good recipe for one). So yummy. Then after that I made roasted veggies and turned half into soup (as my landlady commented to me the night before I had a lot of unused food around. um yah thanks for eating all of my sun dried tomato focaccia when I said you could have a slice, and you eat it all. Maybe she thought she was helping me out. :} I hid the rest of my bread btw). I caught up on my notes from classes, studied a bit, and then made French Toast casserole (in muffin tins to portion it out for my morning breakfasts) with my leftover caramel pears (from my cake Friday night). It was a day of cooking and studying and relaxing. Really needed a day of rest. and now a new week begins.