Days 78, 79, 80, 81, and 82. Lava, The day I went to school in my pajamas and more fruit mousse

Days 78, 79, 80, 81, and 82... Lava, The day I went to school in my pajamas, and more fruit mousse. Wow. I am turning into a slacker blogger. Really been busy. I'll try to quickly catch up. Friday (Day 78) I had googled images of what we were making in class to determine by the description if I needed to bring my cake tin or not. "Fondant Au Chocolate avec Sirop D. Orange et Gingembre Caramelise" aka Chocolate Fondant with orange and ginger syrup". As the only fondant we had used in class thus far was for coating eclairs way back when, and the image of american fondant used for decorating cakes in my head, I opted out of bringing a case for runny chocolate on top of runny syrups. In our demonstration class, we never start out with a picture of the end result (hence why I try to google before class). Chef makes caramel, adds some fresh ginger and orange juice to it. Fine. Caramel sauce done. Then he starts making a chocolate cake like thing....I'm wondering where the fondant is....then he pours it into individual tin moulds (like my tall cupcake tins from Ikea) then he chills it....then he puts them in the oven. He designs his plates quickly as we wait for them to bake...then he pulls one out of the oven onto the plate...it shrinks down and fudgy gooey goodness pours out....wait a second he's making ...... chocolate .....lava .....cakes ......oh my goodness since when does fondant mean chocolate lava cake!?! [Pour chefs cakes weren't standing, its supposed to stand on its own, only for the customer to spoon into it and have the fudge gooey center pour out]. "Chef! This may be the strangest question you are asked all week, but what does fondant mean? I can't find a definition for it. We used the fondant for eclairs, and it was runny, American fondant is like sugar paste here. We call this chocolate lava cakes back home. How does it have so many multiple meanings, but none coincide with the other?" "That's actually a very good question to ask," was chef's reply, "Fondant is many different things, but what it really means is two things that make one thing, all fondants have a crisp edge, but a creamy center. We get that crisp with the fondant on eclairs, and the crisp edge of the chocolate we have here, and both have creamy centers." -- So there you have it folks. Now you know too. Must say I was pleasantly surprised when I got to make these when I had no idea what a chocolate fondant was. After that class, we made them (and the banana mousse filling that we would finish on Monday). My partner and I were the first to pull ours from the oven, and I must admit that I was a bit nervous as it was going to 1. be too early and fall all over the plate 2. be too done and have no runny center, or 3. practically perfect in every way. We pulled one out of the mold on a side plate to see which of the three options we had before plating them and we got....number three!!! I jumped for joy, the class laughed, and we hurried to plate so we could present to the chef. They always find things to say about improvements. If only there was a day they focused on the positives I'd die happy. We finished our mousse prep and we were done for the class. Malta was making a wedding cake that was for Saturday. She thought she might need some help, and as I had offered, she took me up on it, and after class Friday night I did a kind act of service and stayed up tell 3am prepping the cake, cutting supports, trimming it with ribbon, and making roses. Really I was there for moral support and encouragement more than anything. She got me a cab home so I wouldn't have to walk the streets back home. Seven hours later I was back at her house to help deliver it to the hotel. It looked amazing. Three tiers, cream fondant base, when autumn leaves/branches/flowers made of sugar paster all around. Pretty impressive. She was so thankful to me for helping her out so much that she insisted on buying me brunch. I should have insisted on a bed for me to get some sleep, but we had a nice lunch. I came home, started prepping for studying and fell asleep kneeling by my bed. Ha! I studied for a bit before heading to bed, not feeling the best with a sore throat and a cough coming on. Sunday the sore throat and cough were more present and I was in no condition to go anywhere, so I opted for bed and food for the day with the best studying distractions ever...sleep, internet, and TV. It really was a day of rest. I talked to Mom and dad, and as they were making dinner during our FaceTime chat, I decided to iron. Well, apparently my flatmate did something to the iron, because the bottom of it was all black, i rubbed it off, and tried to iron, but it leaked brown water on to my apron & with that I stopped and determined I needed to buy an iron. Only problem is that there are no 24 hour WalMarts around here, and most stores close around 7 on a Sunday night, and dont open tell 9 on Monday. I did my research for where to buy an iron the next morning..... Monday...I headed to the store in my pajamas. For some reason I wore my workout jogging pants, and a sweatshirt to bed the night before, so I didn't look too out of the ordinary. I took the bus to the store, bought the iron, and was back on the bus back in 20 minutes. I got home with enough time to iron my uniform and head off to school. I had to justify why it was ok to not take a shower or change my clothes to go to school, as we always change once we get there so it doesn't matter what we wear. I made it with time to spare for class to start to show us how to finish up our white chocolate encased banana mouse with caramel dollop & chocolate sponge, and how to make a Tart Tatin (apple pie fancied). Then we made it. Honestly the mousse could use a few recipe revisions for me to make it again, really plain & bland, not much textural differences inside. The Tart turned out pretty good. My partner was making the caramel as I peeled/chopped the apples. Our neighbors and myself told her that the caramel was practically burnt and she needed to start over again. She insisted that it was just fine, and got the Chef to say that "it is the maximum I would let it go." I cooked the apples in the caramel sauce, and they actually turned out a nice amber caramel color on the apples. I had barely started my blackberry sauce, when my partner insisted my pot size was too big, and i needed to start over. I obliged, thinking she is crazy as I needed to mix sugar & water together so pot size didn't matter. She added in the blackberries to the water/sugar and we jointly made the sauce "I think your thermometer is broken." I told her. "It hasnt moved up from 102 degrees in 5 minutes." She insisted it was fine. I pulled out my thermometer and the same thing. I finally convinced her to pull it off the heat, it was really thick. We plated our desserts, presented them to chef, and as we were cleaning up, my partner asks me if I want to take her Tart Tatin's home as she "doesn't like apples at all." Um sure. You toast our caramel & you had no plans on eating it?!? I laughed a lot inside at that one. After that Poland, Vermont, and California headed over to my place after school for a Thanksgiving dinner! We had changed the date/time/place on it a few times and it was lovely to actually have it! It was a fun night. I picked up a roasted chicken on the way home from school (no I didnt eat it, but its not thanksgiving without a bird), and roasted some veggies. Vermont brought homemade green bean casserole (Malta, Essex, and Poland had never heard of such a thing) and cheddar apple turnover, California brought potatoes, and pies, Poland brought amazing tomato soup. Delhi was going to come but had really bad back pain, so she opted out of attending, but gave me the food at school to eat at the dinner -- curry & rice pudding. It was a feast for Queens. California told Maine (who wasn't feeling well so didn't come either) the next day that she'd never laughed so much at a Thanksgiving in her life. Wow. Now that's a party. I had to kick them out to get some sleep. Tuesday. Day 82. I woke up not feeling the best, coughing a bit. But I was determined to making it to classes. Today at school, we had a Tech class on Soufflés, and a Demonstration on what we are making tomorrow -- fruit mousse in a sponge plated with fruit sauce and decorations. Its a combo of everything we've done in intermediate pastry. The Soufflés tasted like soft scrambled eggs. I didn't mind, as it was my breakfast. The mousse is a mousse oh give me a mousse of chocolate any day....but fruit.....blasé. More studying tonight, and that is my day. Goodnight!!