Days 83, 84, and 85. I owe Maine lunch.

Days 83, 84, and 85. I owe Maine lunch. Day 83. Started the day off with a Tech class all about chocolate work, demonstrated by Chef Arizona. Seriously, the man has skills. He was just in a competition last week, and the team he was on won silver. His sugar work is unbelievable and he is competing at the Olympics of sugar work in January. Needless to say it was amazing to watch him work. He made a chocolate box (like we will be making in superior) -- but he made it like a grand piano (on small truffle size legs), then he did two big easter eggs (about 1 foot tall) and put them in display form, and attached a chocolate rose/flower and a whole bunch of other stuff. We were captivated and entertained. After that my class made the tropical mousse (mango & coconut) with a red currant jelly in the middle, encased by sponge. My landlady seems to like them....there is only one left. Day 84. Thursday. We had three classes. All of which did not involve cooking, but watching. The first one though was a fun one. Chocolate tasting. Yahoo. My kind of class. Twelve kinds. All varieties from lime to 83%. Then we had a demonstration class where we watched sugar work by another chef. It wasn't as fascinating as the chocolate work the day before, but crazy to think that next month I'll be doing sugar work! There was a break before the next class, so I opted to study over lunch at a cafe with a girl from another class. The cafe closed, so we went back to school's library to study there before the cheese class. In the library sat Maine, diligently studying. I think we all distracted each other enough to not really focus on getting down to business of memorizing recipes. Maine said that he thought that the chocolate fondant would be on the test. No way. I protested, and with that we made a wager on if it was on the test, I would owe him lunch, and if it was not on the test, he would owe me. And I was so confident in my choice, I did not memorize the recipe. More on that later. Let me talk about the cheese class. The school brings in a guest lecturer for cheese. Tom the Cheeseman. Seriously. That is what he calls himself. As he was setting up the counter full of cheeses before the lecture has begun, he unwraps one of the cheeses and says "oh hello beautiful." I look and I swear the cheese is oozing like some bubble pond you would see at Yellowstone. I was as much shocked as I was curious to eat such a cheese that looked like it was ready for a Harry Potter film. We had over twelve cheeses he had personally selected for us to taste from Feta's to Blue Cheese. He had stories and histories of every cheese we ate. It would have been more delightful had my nose not turned into a home for snot that past five days, as I could barely even taste the first half, and the second half, only after a good sneeze was I able to taste....the no longer bubbling gorgonzola...it was strong...creamy...and pretty good. There was also a cheese from France that is cured in baskets that have mites living on the cheese. That's right little tiny creatures right there on the slices of cheese for us to eat. I ate around the rind of mites. He was most delightful to sit and listen to the Bill Nye/Alton Brown of Cheese. The tube ride home, Malta, HongKong, and another girl were quizzing each other on recipes. i was impressed with how many Malta knew and she said that she had only learned them in the last two days and that I would be fine. As Malta quoted the eigth recipe, Hong Kong said it right, "You're scaring Michelle with how much you know." Apparently I have really good facial reactions. I came home, studied, memorized as much as I could and went to bed. I know I was no where near prepared as I was for my basic exam. Day 85. I got up, revised some of my notes, got ready and headed off for the only class of the day, the exam. Yep. It was today. And everything that I did study, was rarely on the test, and everything that I didn't study, was. Ha! There are three sections, multiple choice, short answer, and True/False. I breezed through the multiple choise section, and then as I turned the page for the short answers I thought I do not know any of this off the top of my head....and then I saw it, "List the ingredients for making chocolate fondant. Then draw a picture of how it could be plated with three accompaniments." Um what? Yep. I sat it dread, shock, and sadness that I did not study this one at all. Then I immediately started to laugh as Maine was right, and I owed him lunch. Dang. I drew a lovely picture, and did my best worst guess on the ingredients for it. On with the rest of the test, I was writing up tell the very last second, when Chef Bread told up to put down our pens. After the exams were turned in, I turned to Essex who had a shocked look on her face and she said, "What was that?!?" That's what I was thinking. As we left the class, the room was roaring in conversation about how that was nothing what we expected it to be. Maine came over and said "Can you believe it?! It was on the test!!" "Um nope. And now I owe you lunch." We laughed at the irony. I should know not to bet. It was California's birthday, so eight of us went out for a bite after class. I was exhausted, and still fighting this darn cold. I came home, took a nap, and did laundry to try and get my room back in order. I went out to a kitchen supply store to buy some things for practicing the cakes this weekend, only they didn't have what I needed. So I bought the ingredients instead. This weekend I am getting my bake on, re-memorizing sixteen recipes, and the methods and assemblies for all three cakes. This is gonna be good. The past week Delhi has been telling me I don't dress warm enough and that is why I am sick for so long. Well, I am pleased to report I have been wearing tights and long-johns under my jeans and three layers on top for the past three days. I must say it is really lovely being toasty warm all the time. And with that goodnight.