Days 179, 180, and 181. Thanks London.

Days 179, 180, 181.  London.  Its been real.  Well.  My London adventure is coming to a close.  I sit here in Heathrow Terminal One waiting for my gate to show up on the board trying not to get overwhelmed thinking that this is the end.  For the most part, I think I am taking a little break from school and will be back to class on Monday.  I will probably go into shock when instead of seeing Maine, Essex, Vermont, California, HongKong1, Hong Kong 2, Indonesia, Poland tomorrow I will be riding rides with five of the cutest kids on earth.  Its over.  London.  You will always have a piece of my heart.  Yes it was memorable, fun, frustrating, courageous, exciting, annoying, cool, fantastic, treturous, unimaginable, hard, and wonderful.  Its been real. Real life. Dreams coming true.  Now on to bigger and better.  

Day 179. Monday.  We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant.  After that we attempted to go to the beach, but 1. it was raining 2. it was extremely windy and 3. it was a very rocky edge with no direct access to the beach.  We took a picture and moved on.  We ventured around Girvan, driving the streets.  I loved the little houses that lined the road.  We found Chestnut Drive.  I got out to take a picture.  Dad was good with a shot from the car.  On the way to Ayr, we stopped by Trump Turnberry Hotel and Golf Course.  Google Maps had us going in the Employee Access, but we never actually found the real entrance to the hotel.  It was perched up on a little hill overlooking the golf course and ocean.  Even with the rain and wind there were golfers out playing.  CrAzY.  But if you have a tee time at Turnberry I suppose you better take it.  We drove around some more.  Then headed to the Gilardi's....

My cousin Lynette and her husband had served a mission in Scotland a few years back.  The Gilardi's were some of their favorites.  Awhile back Lynette called my mom and asked her why I had never gotten back to her.  My mom called me and I had no idea what she was talking about.  I had not spoken to Lynette.  Apparently, she wanted to see if I would want her to contact the Gilardi's about a job as they own several bakeries in western Scotland.  Before I had given my mom and answer, Lynette had written the Gilardi's and asked them if they would hire me. 'Of Course.' Was the reponse given to Lynette.  Lynette forwarded me on the message, and told us to contact each other.  It was over a month in the works to get it to happen, but today was the day I would meet a potential employer.  As we pulled into the neighborhood, dad said he would wait in the car as I went in to talk to them.  Um no.  You're coming with me.  I rang the bell, a nice blonde lady opened the door, and invited us in.  We walked into the kitchen where her husband and brother were eating lunch.  "So why are you here?" the lady asked coldly.  Say WhAt?  I tried to remain calm and I was shocked by the question, she knows why I am here.  I gave the above tale, and they were satisfied.  Her husband in a very thick Scottish accent said that he would take me to the factories to see how everything works/runs.  He said something about an apron, but I could not understand it, as we briskly got into the bakery van.  We talked about the business as we drove to the cake bakery.  It was in an old warehouse like facility, and it would not pass cleanliness standards I had at school.  The husband introduced me to four people, one being the baking manager.  He handed me the apron, and said the girls will show you what to do, I will be in the office and I'll be back in a bit.  #awkward.  The two bakers were really nice and chatty as I helped them.  I made empire biscuits.  Never heard of them before that moment.  Shortbread cookies filled with raspberry jam, topped with another cookie, a disk of fondant like substance, and a cherry on top.  I was making balls of fondant, and putting them on top of the cookies.  Mine did not look as nice as the others, but they didn't seem to mind.  Dad stood there and watched.  About 45 minutes later the husband came back, talked to the baker, turned to me and said 'alright lets go.'  And off we went to the bread warehouse.  The smell was good.  The men were busy working, wrapping up for the day it seemed, and so there was no work for me to do.  We wandered around awhile as the husband took care of a few things. I don't think it is a good fit for me.  Dad described it as a working man's bakery and I need something with an accent I can understant :}. We talked the drive.  When we got out at the house the husband said, 'can I help you bring in your things?'  Um, we had a B&B booked.  'Oh no, we had rooms ready for you. You must come for dinner at least.'  After the warm greeting earlier, I was hesitant to accept.  But we did.  We went to the B&B and checked in.  Then we went to the registry office in Ayr to see if they had any records for Ellen and Betty.  Their records started in 1855, and we needed 1844.  The lady told dad to check the local parrish offices, but not knowing which one to go to is challenging.  Dinner was good.  Conversation was over two hours.  The lady kept trying to Skype Lynette, but no success.  We thanked them for their time and hospitality, and off we went.

Day 180.  Tuesday.  The B&B we stayed at had a very chatty owner.  The breakfast was good.  Typical british fair, eggs, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, toast for me, sausage w/it for dad.  We walked the beach for a bit, collected some shells, I love the beach.  I want to live in a beachhouse.  We drove in town looking for the husband and wife bakery, and picked up a few things to try.  We also went to a bakery the B&B lady recommended for lemon merengue pie.  As we left the other bakery, dad pointed to something and asked the lady, 'What is that?"  "Dooouuuughnut." Was the response.  Ha!  We drove to Robert Burns Birthplace Museum (yep Mindy we saw the statue and now I saw his birthplace) because 'when in Ayr' you do it.  We did not go in the museum, but enjoyed the giftshop.  Took a picture of the cottage, and were on our way.  

In some of dad's Sunday night research he discovered that we are the ancestors of Rowallan Castle.  It was in the area, so we took a drive out to it.  When we pulled in, some of the land is a golf course, and some is being turned into housing developments.  Weird.  We drove by the castle, all the entrances were blocked off, we kept driving looking for a place to park.  We found another castle with a parking lot.  We were not there 20 seconds when a car pulled in, a man got out, and came over to the car "May I help you?" "Yah my dad's ancestor owned Rowallan Castle and we wanted to take a look."  "Oh this is the new castle, that is the old castle [pointing] you'll want to go over there. I am the director of the castle and a direct decendant..." and he walked off not really wanting to give us a tour or anything.  We took pictures, and drove on.... Google maps was fading by this point, so I figured out how to get to another nearby castle.  It was a walk up to it, but we had been sitting for a good chunck of the day.  It was a lovely walk with trees, a creek, and of course a castle to walk around.  We headed to Glasgow for some last minute items and dinner before heading to the airport.  

From the airport, we took a train to get to the tube to get to our feet of walking.  The train stuck for 30 minutes.  We did not get home tell a bit after midnight.  And I still had to pack.  I had everything in baggies/organized, it was just a question of getting the weight right in each bag to not go over.  It was a jigsaw puzzle at its finest, and a bit after 4am, we were done packing my London life up in 2 big, 2 small, and 4 carryon bags.  

Day 181.  Got up to say goodbye to my landlady, but she had already left.  Washed the towels and sheets.  Took all the luggage downstairs by the front door.  Took a walk to the post office to mail something to Tamara, and then to the grocery store to buy a big reusable grocery bag to fit all the stuff dad was taking home.  Stopped by a cafe for a bite.  Came home, put the laundry in the dryer, vacuumed, washed a few dishes, and as I was half way through my blueberry crumble, the doorbell rang, and our cab was there.  It was time to go.

Goodbye London.  You're every description. You've been good to me.  Thanks for everything.  

Growing up I always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower.  It was an amazing piece of architecture I dreamed of seeing.  Ten/Twelve years ago I got my chance to see the Eiffel Tower.  When I saw it I thought to myself, "I need to dream bigger."  That has been a slogan for me in life.  I need to have big dreams and make them happen.  Culinary school.  A dream I made happen.  May we all have hopes and dreams that become our reality.  Thanks London.  It's been real.  

Days 174, 175, 176, 177, and 178. Crazy.

Days 174, 175, 176, 177, and 178. Day 174. Wednesday. Did a bit more tidying up. Headed to lunch with Kami, from church (the girl that jumped on me at the corner of Borough Market in October) at Barossa, australian food. I got the veggie brekkie like last time. Great chat, and that was that. Promised to keep in touch. After that I headed to school for Career Class. The class was about how to write a cover letter/resume for potential employers, the chefs talked about their backgrounds/how they started in the business, and then there was a career fair afterwards. 7/9 booths at the fair were England only businesses with no international sponsorships. Great help for an audience of 6/42 being British/EU citizens. Not. I left early and I had dinner with my landlady. She wanted in on the goodbye meals too. After that I headed to institute for the second time to say goodbye to my peeps there. I brought chocolate chip cookies and they were a hit. Stayed up way too late packing up my things as I realized this was my only time to do it before.....the dad comes. Day 175. Thursday. It was results day at school. I walked into the room, and told the chef "I don't want to know my score, I just want to know if I passed or failed." "You don't want to know your score?" "No. I don't want to judge myself by the number. I am not a number. I'm still the same person with or without the score." "Alright then, you passed." Yay. And on he went in the feedback cough critique of every layer of my entremets. I knew what was wrong with it, so I knew some of what they were going to say, but those can be rough if taken seriously. "You sure about not knowing the score?" "Yep." and with that out the door and on my way....to pick up the dad. A couple of weeks ago, he called, I was in class and did not hear it ring, then he texted me and said call me when you get this. I thought something bad had happened. When I called him he said, "Would it be alright if I come for your graduation? I want to come." Say what?!? I was floored then as I am now. He came. Seven days of me and my pops. I waited at the airport for 1 1/2 hours after his plane had landed at the international arrivals. His plane was no longer on the arrivals board, and I was getting worried. I forgot to tell him Heathrow has free wifi, so I had no way of texting him to tell him where i was. Luckily, he showed up smiling and ready to go. We dropped his things off at my house, then headed out. We walked through Hyde Park past Kennsington Palace, to a bus to take us to dinner at Granger & Co where Tamara met up with us. Dad had fish, and when it came, it was the whole fish on a plate (head and all). Veggie options were not generous here, I had lentils with spinach and butternut squash. After dinner we headed for a tube stop, took a wrong turn somewhere, and walked a bit more than anticipated, but eventually we made it to a tube near where we needed to be. Then we walked some more before we got to..... the musical Matilda. Seriously amazing. Based off the Ronald Dahl book. So good. Took the bus home, to do little walking as possible. Day 176. Friday. Graduation Day. Got up and took Dad for a walk along my dearly loved walking path. We did not go the whole distance, but it was good to show him a bit of the beauty. Came home, got fancied up, and headed for graduation at the Intercontinental Hotel at Hyde Park Corner. The go to color to wear was black. I did not get that memo. I wore my most colorful dress. Someone asked me if it was cultural. Um no. Unless internet shopping is cultural, than yes. It was great to see everyone so happy, all dressed up, and taking selfies. The principal gave a dry speech, and then it was on to the chefs reading off our names, us each walking across the stage, and receiving the largest certificate I have ever seen. Really big. Vermont, California, Maine, Poland, HongKong1, and me were the last to leave the party....the hotel kicked us out.... we did not want the party to end. There on the street outside the hotel, I said 'see you soons' to my favorite people of my culinary adventure. They were all smiles and waving to be like the end of 'Edelweiss' on the Sound of Music....it was a moment captured by my heart. I dragged dad to one more place on my must see before I leave London list.... Abbey Road. I had been there 10 years ago, and decided it was time again. This time, we came from a different direction via tube (this time bus) and there were so many cars driving the street. Last time, it was desolate. I wondered why these cars would even drive on this road based off of tourists taking pics amougst the cars. Took our pics, and we were on our way.....for a quick change of clothes before our evening out. Tamara had arranged a group as a going away party. There were six of us in all. We ate at a bowling alley, and moved to another bowling alley 20 minutes away to play, as the one we ate at did not have lanes available tell 1130. We ate we bowled we chatted. Tamara surprised me with a cheesecake (she devops flavors for a cheesecake company) that had "Bon Voyage Michelle" on the top of it. So sweet. She also gave me a parting gift. So so so nice. After that, we called it a night and headed home. I was exhausted but needed to pack for..... Day 177. Saturday. Scotland. Got up early to catch our flight. Took the tube to a train (the wrong train whoops) to a taxi to an airport (stansted) to a plane to Glasgow. We had not booked any hotel/place to say as we did not know exactly where we would end up. The rental car line took 1 1/2 hours. They gave us a Mercedes A180.....not exactly my good ol 1979 mercedes of hawaii, but a nice ride. We drove to Carbeth, Scotland, a place where a lot of Buchanans are from (family history we are walking it). It was the smallest village I'd ever seen....more of a cluster of homes with one pub. Then we drove to Sterling. There is a castle there, 'the most famous in Scotland' said the parking lot money collector. We did not go in the castle, but we got some pictures around the outside. There was a statue of Robert I the Bruce out front. Apparently he is my ggggggggggggggggggggggggggrandpa. We took a pic with the statue. After the statue, we bought water and spent way too long trying to fix the 3G on my phone so that we could find a place to sleep. Found & Booked a Best Western on the Eastern part of Loch Lomand where the Buchanan clan used to live. When we got there, it was discovered that I booked the room for in two weeks. Not that night. As they were not charging the same rate as online, we pressed on. I called a few more, one leading me to the next B&B. Finally, we got a place with a happy gent on the other end of the line, saying come on over. He was as happy and jolly in real life as well. Nice room. Nice people. He recommended a pub for dinner, we went, I got the eccles cake and dad got bangers & mash. Classic British. When we got back home, I started looking for a hotel/place to stay tomorrow night, only I was so tired, I fell asleep, with all of my clothes on. Exhausted. Day 178. Sunday. Had a lovely English Breakfast at the B&B. Filled me up for the day. Scrambled eggs, tomato, mushrooms, potato cake, beans. We headed off to church. I tried google mapping the address given on the churches website, but it kept telling me it could not find it. I put in the post code (zip) as I figured it was like London and would lead us to the church. It lead us to a cemetery. Literally a dead end. After comparing websites, I dropped a pin where the closest to where I thought the church could be, and miraculously. It was found. After church, we took a drive up Loch Lomand, stopping along the way for picture taking. We stopped in a cute village called Luss as well. At breakfast at the B&B another guest told us that if we wanted great kilts at a bargain price (compared to Edinburgh/Glasgow) that we needed to go to the town of Strone. It was a bit of a drive, but it was a part of Scotland I had not been, so we went. We followed google maps directions, and ended up on a dirt road with an overlook of the lach and town. Once we got back on solid ground, I had dad go into an Inn to ask for directions, as this place did not seem to exist. Dad came back to the car smiling.....it closed sixteen years ago. Haha! The man at breakfast said that it was still open. Um sir, you need to get back to Scotland more often. From there we headed towards the hotel, a two hour drive from where we were, via ferry (fun/cold/windy) and driving. On the drive we saw a sign for Dundonald Castle. Why not drive and see it. We got there at 5pm, there was a sign on the visitor center wall that said open april - october tell 5pm. Well it was after five and not yet April, but we headed up the hill to see it up close. Dad was breathing heavy about 1/4 of the way up. I slowed down my pace. We got to the top, I walked around the castle, and met dad as he started the descent on his own. We drove on to Girvan, Scotland. Birthplace of Ellen Chestnut, my great great grandma, and her grandma, Betty McDonald. I booked a farmhouse hotel on the ocean. It is too dark to see/enjoy the ocean, so hopefully tomorrow we'll see it. Dad checked in and discovered that the hotel is a converted dairy farm. Say what? True. Our room once was the grainery. It is totally redone, no sign of wheat tares anywhere. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant. As i write this, dad has been reading up and family history and discovered we have ancestors from the place where we went to church, and the castle we randomly stopped at. Crazy. Well, I have fallen asleep multiple times writing this, and I am sure you have too in reading it. TTFN.

Days 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, and 173. We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that. Reverse It.

Days 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, and 173. We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that. Reverse It.

 Day 173. Tuesday. One week to go. Today I spent the morning cleaning out and decluttering my room. So exciting I know for only one week left, and I am spending it inside and not out on the town, but don't worry, my day got funner. I threw away two shopping bags full of stuff away. It's nice to get rid of stuff. Not so nice to look at all the stuff I still have. Ha! But it was great to clean, tidy up, and evaluate all that has to still get done. In the afternoon I met Tamara at One Aldwych Hotel for a 'proper afternoon tea' as it was on my list of things to still do in London. She had heard of this particular one as it was "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory inspired". As we had been to see the musical months ago, we decided to give it a go. The menus had printed on the backside picture of one of the families of characters from the book/movies. I had Charlie & Grandpa Joe, Tamara got TV Mike. As we sat down, the waiter put the napkins on our lap and asked, 'any allergies?' I said, 'I'm vegetarian, not sure if that is an allergy, but I thought I would let you know.' 'Yes madame, we will cater to your need.' First round, sandwiches. Five Petit four sized sandwiches arrived. Tomato and cheese on puff pastry, Cheddar, Cucumber, Egg Salad, and a Leek quiche. So good. 'What kinds of sandwiches would you like more of?' the waiter asked. 'Is it included or does it cost extra?' I asked. 'It is included madame, as much as you like.' Shoot. He did not know that these two girls can eat. We had another round of cheese, tomato, and egg sandwiches. After we finished those, he asked if we wanted more but in the same breath told us that he thinks we should hold off for the dessert section of the menu. Boy oh boy did we have a sugar high by the time we left. Golden chocolate egg filled with vanilla cheesecake and mango (for the yolk), Candy floss (aka cotton candy), cake pops with coconut and lime, Eton mess (meringues, cream, and strawberries), Chocolate Caramel Milk in the cutest tiniest glass bottles, chocolate financiers (cake), blueberry brioche, and scones with jams and clotted cream. Other than the golden egg, I didn't see how it was C&C related other than a paradise of desserts. Everything was sooooo good. We had multiples of some of the items, won't say how many of each, but it was rather enjoyable. After that we walked around London a bit as I had some time to kill before my next meet up. Tamara showed me some places that I did not even know existed. Shops, cake bakeries, Liberty department store, Anthropologie (I know that exists, just not in London).

 Next up, I met with Dierdre, as it was the only night before I left that we both had free. I got the time wrong, and she was about to leave when I messaged and said that I was there. We got tacos at a place called Tortilla. I was so full from the afternoon tea (we had tea too, I forgot to mention that) that I had Deirdre eat my other taco. We talked for awhile, and then called it a night. Came home, talked to my landylady a bit, and am now embarking in novel writing.

 Day 172. Monday. Monday was the day of my final exam, the day I made the entremets. I was so calm it made me nervous. I got up early enough to eat some eggs before heading out the door. I chanted "Courage. Commitment. Calm. Peace." Practically the whole way to school. I got there plenty early to slowly get dressed. Then it was time. They had us come in staggered, with two people starting every 10 minutes. We had 20 minutes to prepare our stations (get equipment, bowls, ingredients, line trays with parchment, whatever we wanted/needed to do before our four hours began. My time plan was extremely tight. I knew it would be close to get it all done on time. The first hour I was ahead in somethings, behind in others, but the flow was steady, I kept calm, and carried on. About half way through I don't know where the time went, but the last two hours seemed like only one. As I was piping chocolate butterflies, I got a bit down/overwhelmed as I was running out of time to get everything done. As soon as the negative thoughts came, I whispered to myself, "Courage. Commitment. Calm. Peace." and I went back to a good place to get everything done. With about 10 minutes left I remembered that I had chocolate decorations (rings and the butterflies to put on the cake, and I had barely put the glaze on. I was wondering if everything would slide all over the place, but miraculously, it all came together in the end. I finished with thirty seconds to spare. For the first time in three attempts I had everything on it that I wanted to. It was not an exact replica of the imaginary cake I had in my head, but shoot imagination brings inspiration, and it was pretty good. I was eighty percent happy with it.

After it was over I could not believe how much I had stressed, worried and cried the week previous preparing for just a dumb cake. Ok it is not just a dumb cake, but still not worth all the agony I put myself through. It was surreal to think that my adventure in those kitchens were over, and on to bigger and better.

 Hong Kong 2 and I were the last two in the room, so we decided to go to lunch. When I got to the lobby, Indonesia and Hong Kong 1 were there waiting for us to go to lunch. Indonesia went in for the test first, and had waited an hour for us. Wow. We went to a Japanese Steakhouse, not the most vegetarian friendly, but I got veggies with noodles, pot stickers, and halloumi cheese for the grill in the middle of the table. The others enjoyed barbecuing beef tongue, pork, and other things I did not recognize. I was so thirsty. I did not have a water bottle with me during the exam. I asked for two waters, the waiter looked at me funny, but obliged. I drank five glassover the meal. I was stuffed. I got home about half past four, and did not know what to do with myself. I tried to take a nap, but my mind was going over the entremets too many times. I got a text from Tamara asking if I would like to join her at Selfridges food court. Shoot. I needed to get out of the house and be glad courses were over, so off I went. We walked around a bit looking at the food stations, bakery, cheese, chocolate, and more. As we walked around we talked about how we had talked about going to Andina for dinner, but had just never made it. Well, we might as well go now. I was still full from lunch, but timewise, this was the time to go as I did not know when else I could go. Andina. Peruvian Food. Amazing. Background: We had gone to a food show back in November where the owner of Andina did a demonstration. We were captivated by it. They had a food stall at the show and had the most amazing doughnuts (perhaps you remember me talking about them), pumpkin with honey purple maize sauce. After the doughnuts, we needed to get to the real place, but never found a time to go until now. The menu sounded so good, with a full stomach, I still managed to order three 'tapas' for sharing. Corn Cake was so so so good. I thought it would come as a fritter, but it came like a piece of cornbread but it was soft, fluffy, delicate, slightly cheesy and topped with an onion salad with a sauce in the side. So flavorful. It was my favorite of the night. We had plantain chips with a dipping sauce, 1/2 a butternut squash topped with salad, and Tamara got some of the best pork she's had in her life and a spiced prawn with green potato mash underneath. I tried some of the potato mash. Every item we got had all the elements of great food, salty, sweet, crunchy, bitter, and sour. And then we had doughnuts. I don't know how I had room for it all, but it was so so good. I like it that here, waiters have no problem with paying seperately. They have hand held credit card machines that you pay the bill with at the table. Tamara paid first, and I was to pay the difference. '$XX.38.' I told the waiter. '38?' I thought he was repeating the cents, so I said yes. When he handed me the reciept, I saw that he had charged me thirty eight pounds. Say what? Shoot the food was good, but this guy was not getting that kind of tip. 'Oh sorry I thought that is that you said.' Um no. He said that he could not refund my card, but would give me cash instead. Fine. And could you please pay my currency conversion too? Thanks so much. The waiter could not put a bitter taste in my mouth after such a great meal to celebrate a significant day being over. Day 171. Sunday. Church. I was so nervous for my test I was on the verge of tears. The Senior Sister Missionary at the front desk (whom I am chummy with) asked if I was getting excited for my courses to be over. I started to cry, telling her I was so nervous I did not know how I was going to pull it off, as I had never made what I wanted to in the practice exams. She told me 'I know you can do it. You can do it!' We talked for a bit before I headed into reverse church RS. I said goodbye to a few people that I have gotten to know in the ward. Michelle wished me luck on my test, I got teary again, as she and Brandon, Chris, and Kami looked at me, probably wondering why I was crying over a cake. They all gave words of encouragement and said that they would pray for me. :) I could use all the help I could get at that point. After church, I headed one more time to the V&A. I love that place, especially the fashion exhibit. Late 1800's early 1900's fashion amazes me. I think it would have been cool to have lived in that time only for the clothes, I'd pass on the circumstances of living without our conveniences. Came home, revised my notes, time plans, recipes, knife kit, and ran over things way too many times in my head. Talked to my parents and went to bed. Day 170. Saturday. I did laundry and ironed. Michelle started work at a cafe in her neighborhood, and had told me to come on Saturday to check it out. It was a delightful place. She said I had perfect timing, as she was just about to take her break and her husband Brandon was on his way over to join her for some lunch. Michelle sat down at a table with me, I ordered some food, Brandon came, we all chatted, and then our food came. i got avocado on toast with poached eggs. So good. Michelle had raved about the cupcakes, so I got a salted caramel one. My french pastry classes have tainted my sweet tooth, as this cupcake was more american super sweeet style. I got through it though. Who denies dessert? Not this girl. As I hopped on the tube to go to the cafe, I noticed a lot of guys getting on with football (soccer) jerseys. At the cafe I looked up the games for today and found out that Fulham was playing at home! Say what? That is at the end of Bishop's Park where I walk to! The game was starting right then. I debated going (as it was on my list of things to still do in London) but I had already committed to Oman and Jordan to a movie. I needed to get my mind off the entremets so I headed to the cinema to see 'the second best marigold hotel.' I had never seen the first movie, but it was not needed for this one, older people living in a hotel in India post retirement. It was funny, but I was not laughing. Still thinking about that darn entremets. At one point in the movie Oman leaned over and asked if I was ok. I nodded my head yes. After the movie was over, and we were waiting for Jordan to come out of the restroom, I told Oman that I did not think i was going to be able to do it on Monday, that I was doomed to fail and that there was no chance of my entremets working in the four hours. I cried. She encouraged. When Jordan came out of the restroom and saw me crying, she said, 'Michelle I am the one who is not going to pass, not you so stop worrying everything will be fine. Come on! Let's go have some fun.' There was a group from school getting together for dinner, I told Oman and Jordan I did not want to go and that I did not RSVP, and that I should go home and study. "You are already stressed enough Michelle, you are coming with us." I went. We met at a pop up shop near Chinatown. 'Curls best friend.' The others we were meeting had walked past it, thought the all pink boutique looked cute, and the man at the door invited them in for a tour of the shop. Once in, they were offered cupcakes and cocktails. They were hooked. We met up, talked for awhile, and then decided real food was in order, so Shake Shack was the meal. That veggie burger is amazing so I did not mind. #yesiameatingoutalotbuttimeisrunningfast . We talked some more, then called it a night. Day 169. Friday. I stayed up until 4am finishing my portfolio, making sure it was all there and complete, so all I had to do was wake up in four hours, find a print shop to print it off, and turn that darn sucker in. I gave myself another hour in bed before getting up at 9. I called two places to get quotes, and to see who would be willing to help with my request (some in black & white and some pages in color but not separate orders to mess up the page numbering). A nice gent said that they would work with any request I had. And they were cheaper than the place down the street. I emailed it to him, called to make sure he got it, they did and they would call me when it was done. I ironed and did laundry to pass the time waiting for the printing to be finished. About four hours later, he called and said it was ready. Yay! I picked it up, and even got hole punching done for free (I had a hole punch at home but it pays to ask). He was super friendly and helpful little print shop. #thankyoufulhamcallprint I put all the pages in the binder, under the right tabs, and headed off to turn that puppy in 22 hours early. As I was turning it in at the front desk, Hong Kong2 was walking up the stairs from the basement. She said that she had just turned hers in and was leaving her hole punch in her locker in case someone needed to use it. She said she was going to go get a coffee. I asked if I could tag along, and she said of course. We chatted for over an hour about our six months in classes, jobs, and the upcoming exam. I told her how thinking about it made me physically ill. She told me that in her basic exam, her group had the lemon tart, and one girl's lemon curd was not set at all, and her merengue was practically foam floating over the bad curd. HK said, 'that girl is still here. Don't worry, you will pass.' I still feared that I would. I had texted Tamara and a few other people to find out their weekend plans. Tamara wrote back about the time I was done with my watered hot chocolate and said that she could meet for dinner. We met at a mexican place in Notting Hill. It was so good. It was the style like Bario Cafe in Phoenix, fancy mexican rich in flavor. Yummy. We talked, well actually I did a lot of the talking, telling her all about how nervous/anxious I was for the test, to meet all the requirements in the specific time frame...... you get the idea. She was an excellent listener. As we headed back to the tube station, we came across a bubble tea store. I had never had one, she said that they were good, it will probably be my last one. Nevertheless it was good conversation. Day 168. Thursday. My last practical. It was to make the modern tart. We did not know which one until we walked in the room. Kind of like a game. We each picked a slice of paper, and it gave each layer we were assigned to make. Everyone's was different. Mine was, Pate Sucre (sweet pastry crust), pear compote, white chocolate raspberry crunchy layer, coconut sponge and passion fruit mousse topped with a glaze, and to complete it, chopped fruit around the edge. We had Chef Yes. The first time in all our superior classes. I really like him as a teacher. He explains things really well, if we don't understand he tries a different way, and is patient with us. My passion fruit mousse was more of a pillow shape, than a perfect squared edge (my cling wrap job was not the best apparently). For the colored glaze, I asked him which he would suggest, he said either yellow or orange. 'Orange will trick those eating it to thinking its something else underneath. I choose orange. It came out bright orange. Everyone else had pale colors compared to my traffic cone alert of a tart. A cuisine chef came in from next door, I watched him as he rounded the corner looking at everyone's tart. He stopped at mine. 'Woa, you need sunglasses for this one." Ha! When I went up for grading, Chef Yes said, "What happened to your mousse?" (referring to the pillow shape). 'I cling wrapped my square tin with a curved edge." "Alright then, I am not going to punish you for your interpretation of what you think a modern tart should be, all the elements are there. Well done." At the end of class, chef yes gave his recap. He said that he had faith in all of us to complete the final exam on Monday. He gave us great advice/tips. He said 'youall just need to have some confidence' [tears start forming] 'especially you' [points to Jordan]. She starts crying, I start massaging my hand to prevent tears from falling down my cheeks....Jordan is crying by this point. Chef dismisses us, a couple stay to ask questions. He gave Jordan a hug, and said that he did not mean for her to cry, just wanted her to know that he believes in her. As I am waiting to talk to chef, I talked to Brunei, I start crying telling her I am never going to make it on Monday, as she assures me that we all will get through it and be just fine. She gave me a hug, and a pep talk. Finally, its my turn to talk to chef. I had my tears under control, but they came back. I told him that i did not think that I could do it. He asked why, and we went layer upon layer of my entremets. He gave me improvement tips for everything. It was great. We talked about jobs, applications, many things. He answered all my questions. In the end, he said that if anyone could come back from a difficult situation, it would be me. [He was the chef in the room for my Fraisier from Intermediate class disaster turned miraculously half good dessert.] I left feeling a bit better. Went home and started working on the portfolio. Day 167. Wednesday. Mock Exam. Started off great. Then I got flustered. Then I got rushed. Then I plated whatever would work. I went 34 minutes overtime and thought I was doomed. I dont know what I was thinking (other than I was super rushed) but I put my chocolate on cardboard to set instead of on acetate. Dumb. It stuck to the cardboard, and my chocolate rings that were to go around the top of the cake were now not useable. After it was all over, and I was one of the last ones to be marked, chef told me that if I presented this dessert on exam day, it would get a 55-60% grade. Say what? He asked where I got the mousse recipe from. I said it is a recipe from home. He said that this test was not for out of the box thinkers, and that I should use the one in the manual from last terms class. Chef Head never told me such a thing, infact she told me she was proud of me for thinking outside the box. I was so confused and felt like a failure. Day 166. Tuesday. Had our last demonstration class for our last practical, the modern tart. As we would all be randomly assigned a dessert components (crispy, sponge, mousse, etc.) he demonstrated 2/4 in all categories. It looked easy enough to do. After class i joined Maine, Maine's girlfriend, Vermont, and California to eat fish and chips. That's right people. I ate fish and chips. #wheninlondon #yougottajustdoit Must confess that for researching (and finding them to be in the top five places in the city) they were good, just not great. I did not feel good later in the day of the next day. But shoot. I did it. The rest of the day is a blank to me, as nothing more is documented from the day. Probably a nap was in order. And that ladies and gents was my week..... bless you for making it this far. I have fallen asleep multiple times in writing this. One week to go. And that is my week. Stricken and Reversed.

Days 158-165. The shortest recap ever (hopefully).

Days 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, and 165.  The shortest recap (hopefully) ever.  

Time is truly flying too fast.  And based on the number count above i have 15 days and this adventure is over.  FIFTEEN and that is not enough.  In ways I am ready to go, and in other ways I want to stay longer.....just not forever.....just yet..... its late I am getting too deep.  On with the longest shortest recap (hopefully) ever.  

Day 158 Monday.  I don't remember much of what happened on this day.  I do remember walking to Putney to top up on my cell phone.  I saw a cute shop with a sign that read "Work Hard, Play Hard & Be Kind." I thought the store was worth a go, I even saw a dress I thought was cute, but it was too big.  Dang.  I then went on my usual walk down through Bishops Park and back home again.... probably spent the day doing school work.  No more photos to jog my memory.  I do believe I spent a lot of time looking for flights....and getting no where to somewhere in five hours.....thanks to family help.  Why are there so many options out there???

Day 159. Tuesday.  We had morning class to watch the completion of the croquembouche tower that Chef Arizona started 10 days previous, this time it was completed by Chef France.  [I had no idea that six days in the future this dang croquembouche would be six points of my final written exam....more on that later.] Do you know was a croquembouche is?  It's mini cream puffs, dipped in caramel and stacked up into a cone shaped tower, which is typically served at french weddings.  This is a dessert I would like making.... rustic imperfections...but then he has to go and blow our minds with sugar ribbons and royal icing decorations.  

I had lunch with John from Hong Kong, Hong Kong 2, and Indonesia back at Dishoom, this time for lunch and it was amazing indian food!  I am seriously getting my fill of it here.  Love it.  I was rather time crunched as I was meeting Michelle to go to the pancake races at Borough Market.  

The event started at 1230, so I thought if I got there at 1245 there would be plenty more races to see...like rounds in a track meet.....nope.  I was having a hard time pin pointing where exactly in the market the races were happening.  I heard cheering, and followed the noise.  I caught the last run as they were running cross the finish line with the pan of pancakes in hand.  Michelle said that they were funny to watch.  We then waited in a line for an hour to buy a pancake (crepe) to celebrate pancake day.  As we were chatting in line, I looked down and noticed a twenty pound note on the ground.  I pointed it out to Michelle, and as she was picking it up, the man in front of us said, "Oh that's mine! See I always fold my bills like that." -- but he had no bills in his wallet to prove it that I could see :)  Michelle handed him the 20, and we went back to chatting, and then the man told Michelle that he would buy her pancake for giving him his money back....that started small chit chat with the older man for the rest of the way of the ten foot (minute per foot movement) of the line.  By the time we got to order, he bought mine too.  He then asked us if he could buy us a drink across the square.  We declined.  We wondered if twenty was really his, shrugged it off, and were glad for free pancakes.  We decided to take a walk down the river for a bit.  It was a beautiful day, super blue sunny skies, no wind chill, but crisp nice air to be breathing.  We walked across the London Bridge, to the Tower of London tube station.  Michelle is an artist and we stopped along the way as she sketched, I deleted pics off my phone, and chatted.  After that we parted ways.  I had to get some school work done and prep for the conclusion of the Chocolate module.  I made good ol american style pancakes for dinner.  It was a deliciously carby day.  

Day 160.  Wednesday.  I knew this was my twenty days to go day, but didnt want to think about it too much.  I took a walk along the river again.  I like having afternoon classes to allow my mornings to walk and think and prepare mentally for my classes.  I took a quick shower, and met up with Melanie from church for lunch at a place on the corner near my house.  It was nice getting to know her.  Wishing we had done this months ago instead of now.  Seriously I have met some fantastically fabulous people.  I had a great big trio of salads....seriously took me an hour to eat it all.  After that I headed off to class to make a chocolate egg showpiece.  We were in teams of two to temper the chocolates, white and dark.  Chef would show us how to make the egg, then we would go back and make it.  She would show us how to make a bar of chocolate, and we'd go to our stations and make it..... you get the idea, piece by piece until the whole thing was complete.  It wasn't exactly how I planned it in my mind, but it turned out pretty darn good.  I didnt know what to do with it, and I did not want to throw it away, so I wrapped it up tight in cling wrap, put it in a bag and hoped for the best.  It made it all the way home in one piece.  It was really late by the time I got home.  I made fried eggs and toast for dinner at 1030pm.  

Day 161.  Thursday.  Happy Birthday to the lady that gave birth to me.....aka my mom.  Started the day off with a walk, some studying, and some laundry.  Last day for the chocolate module was to make a chocolate box, using the techniques and skills that we've learned.  I had sketched it all out, and I knew my plan for how I wanted it to be.  I tempered my white chocolate spot on in good time.  Then I doubted myself on tempering the dark chocolate, and retempered it three times.  Tempering?  Melting chocolate to 45 degrees celsius, then cooling it to 28, then warming it to 32.  Sounds simple, but its done without a thermometer, so its all about touch and sight.  Usually I am good at it, but today not my day.  Others were already working on their pieces for their chocolate boxes and I am stirring away at my chocolate.  It took me an hour to get it right.  By that time, my confidence was shot, and I just persevered at that point.  I am so glad I had my time plan and drawing so I knew what/how to do everything on the list.  About midway through the assembly, my white chocolate cooled too much, loosing its temper.  I thought I fixed it, but after trying to peel back the acetate from my petals it was clear that my fabulous 30 petaled flower would be lucky to be a bud of eight.  Whoops...  oh well.... keep moving.  I got done before some of my classmates, and that was amazing considering I was the last one tempering at the start.  It could have been way better.  One day I will make this box again and it will be fab.u.lous.  During grading chef said that she saw the start of my flower looking so good, I was confused and said 'the start?' "Yes, your petals on the tray in the fridge looked amazing."  ----um yah in the fridge when they were still attached to acetate holding them together :)  not when they were melting in my hand.  hahahahahhahahhaa. sigh.  It was another late night, and fried eggs did not sound good, so I headed to the only food place open past ten for a take away falafel in a pita.  I swear that it good middle eastern comfort food at its finest.  Funny story, man behind me in line orders a cheeseburger. "Um, we dont sell cheeseburgers sir."  I snort.  "Oh I guess I should have read the menu."  --- yep Kebab King screams burgers to me.  :)  Called my mom to wish her happy day and tried as always to stay up way too late.

Day 162.  Friday.  After staying up way too late the night before, I discovered a list of places Essex had recommended for me long ago.  I discovered one was 1.2 miles from the house, so I decided that would be a good walk in the opposite direction of my normal riverwalk.  Baker Boy.  The place was a cute shop in the bottom of a newer build apartment tower along the river.  It was a nice place.  If I wanted hip and modern, I would open a shop like that.  I ordered a blueberry muffin and a chocolate chip cookie.  Nice breakfast I know.  I decided to walk back on the south side of the river, to get a different perspective, only got a bit lost after averting a building or two, and what should have taken me 20 minutes, took forty five.  Whoops.  I found my way back to the river to a cute park I'd always seen from across the way and stopped to eat the muffin there.  Boy oh boy was it a surprise inside.....it was blueberry pie filling inside the muffin.  How did they do that? They dont teach that at a french school.  It was good.  I decided to save the cookie for my afternoon class, the last wine lecture.  It was done by someone different than the last two (luckily), this guy actually paid attention to our [board] reactions, kept us engaged and had us participate.  A nice way to remember the last wine class.  After that I headed home, made some dinner, spanish rice & beans & fried tortillas, and started to study.  Studying was a bit tiring because I kept falling asleep even with the TV on as background noise.  Its true.  I pulled out the chocolate easter egg and smashed chocolate box for my landlady to eat and had a nice chat with her on one of my breaks.  

Day 163.  Saturday.  If I went for a walk, it was not that memorable.  I studied for most of the day.  I got out in the afternoon for a "see the sky" kind of moment, bought some laundry stain remover my landlady had told me about to hopefully remove the yellow colored cocoa butter that was staining a shirt & apron of mine.  I had washed it once previous with no luck.  NappySan to the rescue.  All is back to white on the clothes.  I picked up some soup from the place on the corner.  It was about closing time, and they didnt have any more bread to go with the soup, so she gave me extra soup, and a discount.  Score!  Really good cauliflower cilantro lentil soup.  I will miss having places on the corner to go to eat within two minutes walk of my front door.  Back to more studying, dawdling, procrastinating, sleeping, and studying.

Day 164.  Sunday.  Church.  One of my church friends, Becca, asked me to conduct music in primary as she was going to be out of town.  Say what?  I haven't been in primary since I was in primary (with the exception of cheering on some nieces and nephews with talks along the way).  She had it all planned out for me, so really I just had to pick names out of a jar, they picked 'conversation hearts' off the wall with songs on the back.  Those kids can seriously sing.  There were 12 of them and the room was filled with music.  They sang their hearts out.  :)  I heard Kami, Michelle, and other young marrieds talking in the lobby after church about going to Chinatown for Chinese New Year parade.  I told them I would invite myself along if I didnt have to study.  They said think about it, come for a break, and join if I wanted.  I went to my favorite study place out-of-home the V&A, read through my flashcards, decided I knew them pretty darn well, went home, changed my clothes, still studying on the tube rides, and went to chinatown.  By the time I got home from the V&A it was raining, windy, and cold.  I needed a break from the world of remembering numbers, so it was nice to get out.  I messaged Michelle, she had not left yet, but would come later if it stopped raining.  I messaged the others to no response.  I decided to make the most of it and follow the loud drums, and found a dragon and his drum crew going dancing from restaurant to restaurant getting lettuce from the owners for 'good luck.'  I followed it a bit around trying to get a good picture with the 100 others trying to do the same thing.  I had been to chinatown before, I just did not realize how many streets it actually was.  After an hour in the rain, enjoying the sights, sounds and people watching, I went home.  Still studing on the tube ride, still falling asleep.  Talked to the parents.  Studied some more.  Talked to Mel, and went to bed.

Day 165.  Monday.  My final written exam for this school was at 1130am.  I got up, did some laundry, reviewed my notes one last time, and was content that I could not learn any more.  As I was walking up to the school John from Hong Kong caught up with me and told me he only studied for an hour.  Say what genious?  Yep, apparently that was the response from a few other classmates as well.  One girl was out in the hall asking questions to everyone, apparently soaking it all in like a sponge.  Test time came.  I knew a lot of it.  I was greatful.  I spent the entire hour writing as fast as I could, to get as much info down on the paper as possible, the more info the less chance of missing something I suppose.  I went to lunch with California and Vermont to a smancy Indian place.  California said that she had not had indian the entire time in London.  Um, I've had it five times in three weeks.  It was a good conversation, all sitting around talking about how we have no idea what kind of job we will hopefully be having in the very near future.  Really sad to think about not seeing these kids all the time.  Tear rolls down my cheek.  They are amazing, unique, quirky, weird, strange, funny, silly, caring, quiet, loud, loving people.  

Back at home I worked on my portfolio.  I thought it would be around 30 pages, but right now it is at 50, and i have three more segments to add to it.  Dear Landlady please don't be mad at me for how many pages you get to print for me.  Sincerely the one that will make you cookie dough.  

So much for not the shortest recap ever.

PS  The couple downstairs has impeccable timing for when I need the bathroom, they are always headed there at the exact time four days running.  

Days 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157. Dang Weekly Recap.

Days 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157. Dang. Weekly Recap.

Day 150. Sunday. At church I was asked by a lady, "Are you alone?" I thought it was pretty creapy question. "I mean did you come here to London with friends or family." I thought that was weird to. "Um I live with [landlady] so I am not living alone if that's what you mean." "No I was just wondering if you had a place to go for dinner." "Oh, well why didn't you just ask that in the first place?" She had invited her third cousin over for dinner as well and his friend, so she thought that a fourth at the dinner would be good. I agreed even after the strange intro to an invitation. I headed over to the V&A after church to work on my chocolate paper. If I am not in my home surroundings I seem to get things done better. I left the required word count at home, but got two full pages done on the history, manufacturing, and developers of chocolate. I got that done in enough time to go to dinner. She had given me her address 853 Blah Blah Road. When I got to the road, there was no 853. I called my landlady to get the address as I never got the ladies phone number or name before. "Oh her house is quite posh." was the response my landlady gave when I told her my predicament. Turns out it was flat 8 number 53. I would have never found it. Landlady was right, it was quite posh, very minimalist and modern apartment (the building is very old victorian). There was a statue in the living room, placed in a position I didnt know if I was to start a conversation about it or ignore it. I chose the latter. Dinner itself was lovely. Great conversation and a good time. Her job is something to do with family history for the government, she had her computer on, so I asked her if she had any ideas about my Tarwater line, as there are some discrepancies on information about his parents. She looked at familysearch.org with me and said that it was a brick wall, and until we get info on his posterity we would not be able to get info on him. Dang.

Day 151. Monday. Woke up not feeling the best, so tried to stay in bed as long as possible. I did manage to get out of bed and go to the US Embassy, but I did not even make it past the gate of the ugliest building in London. Seriously late 60's architecture was not flattering on the building or the surrounding area. I went with the intention of asking someone about the possibility to stay in the country for work. I dont know what i was thinking going there as the US cannot decide if I can stay here, but shoot I got to see the ugliest building ever. The security man gave me a card and told me where I needed to go, according to citymapper, it was an hour from home and I was not feeling up for an adventure like that. I did some grocery shopping on the way home, did some school work, and then met up with my Charlie friends Tamara & Vanessa (sans Mindy :() and we saw Billy Elliot. It was really good. I didnt do any research/plot spoilers before seeing it....those kids can dance. And no children were stalked this time around. Dang. 

Day 152. Tuesday. Woke up still not feeling the best, so again stayed in bed as long as possible. I met up with some friends from school, Indonesia, Brunei, Jerusalem to go to a market in Brixton. I had never heard of Brixton, but was up for a new market. It was indoor/outdoor flea market type. Stalls, selling mostly food, and mini restaurants from all ethnic backgrounds. We got pizza....much like bianco's back home. We talked for awhile before wandering back to the tube station. I am pretty sure I did school work, and ironed the rest of the day. Dang Exciting.

 Day 153. Wednesday. Back to school. Day one of Chocolate. We were divided into teams of three, except me and my partner, Canada. There are 14 in the class, so we were down one person to make six confections that the other groups had 3 people to do them. I thought we did pretty good for being down one person. We split up the chocolates, and each did two on the first day. We did molded chocolate prailines with ganache, and orange chocolate truffles in the morning, and got ginger slab ganache and spiced logs half done by the end of day one. Oh I did not mention that we also had to temper our own chocolate and keep it in temper for the day during different uses. Yep, its busy and time consuming thing to do. And annoying to get chocolate on the uniform that you only just ironed yesterday and cannot wear a dirty uniform tomorrow. Dang. After class I was going to go get a scraper with Indonesia, but Dehli offered to get us some at the hardware store near her house. Indonesia was going to run some wedding errands, so I tagged along with her as I wasn't in the mood to do laundry right away. We grabbed some lunch at a vegetarian place that was so good.... I got roasted veggies that they had tossed in a dijon like mustard. Yummy. Never thought of doing that, but will give it a go sometime. After that I headed home to find flights home [gulp] more school work, and more laundry. Dang.

 Day 154. Thursday. Day two of chocolate. We finished the chocolates we had worked on the day before, this time, Canada and I switched off on finishing each others chocolates, more or a team effort that way. I redeemed myself with raspberry marshmallows, and Canada made sour cherry fudge....sounded gross but ended up being a favorite of the day. And yes dad, its your worlds combined into one. We will have to make it. It was a lot of work, I didn't feel rushed or overworked, but we were able to get things done. They tasted great. The beauty of the day was that we all got to take each others home at the end of the day....thirty treats....oh yeh. I went around collecting all the non alcoholic ones, and was surprised to end up with 26/30 treats. Yippy. Hong Kong2 invited me to go for Vietnamese food after class, and who is to pass up a food find with Indonesia, Hong Kong2, and John from Hong Kong? It was in Shoreditch. Another place I had never heard of, but apparently is not to be missed and quite the party place on the weekends. We arrived at the place at 310, and the sign on the door said closed at 3pm, and would reopen at 5pm for dinner. A lady outside the place heard our sad plight and said "Go on in and tell them I told you that you can eat." She then followed us in the place, talked to the workers in Vietnamese, and as soon as we were seated, she left. We felt a bit bad, but relieved we did not have to find another place to eat. "Since the kitchen in closed, the only thing we can give you is Pho." the waitress said. Looking at the menu, it had meat choices of beef, chicken, pork, or tofu "all served in a beef broth." I questioned the waitress if the tofu version was still in beef broth as I did not eat meat. "Oh yes, they all come in the beef broth, but tofo is vegetarian." Um what? Not in a Pho with beef broth its not. We told her I dont eat any meat product, and she said she would check with the kitchen to see what I could eat. "Um we can make you a bowl with noodles, pickled cucumber, and vegetable spring rolls kind of like a salad, would that be alright?" Sure. When it came out, it was so pretty, bright green veggies on a bed of noodles and crispy spring rolls. It was really good, and my lunchmates were impressed with it and wished that they had gotten it too. :) Hong Kong2 mentioned a doughnut place near by called Dum Dums that did cronuts, so we decided to go there on the way to the tube. Got cronuts to go, only after I gave one of every kind of our chocolates to the cashier, kind of hoping for a "trade" but no such luck. Once home, laundry was started, talked to mom, and school work was attempted. Dang attempts.

 Day 155. Friday. Every term we have a meeting with our mentor chef, only its really usually just a ten minute sit down to talk about whatever we want. This time around, it was with head chef, the one that we have spent the last four class segments (plated desserts, entremet, tea party, and chocolates) with. For some reason, we are really chummy with each other, she likes me, and for that I am grateful. I was the last one to go in my group, and I had lots of questions. A lot were resolved, and it was nice to talk to her outside of a kitchen. I told her I was not doing my best, I wish I could do better, but in the kitchen I clam up/get nervous when I see others plates and think that mine could never be that good. She told me I need to stop being so hard on myself, and that I am actually doing really well in the class. I was shocked. I thought I was one of the worst, and she was telling me I was doing good? I thought her critiques are very detailed, and showed me my flaws, but she said critiques only help us be better in the future. We talked about my entremet, and how it needed major improving. I showed her my ideas, and together sketched out something I am excited to try pulling off. Our conversation went good, she gave me some tips and I was happy by the end of the chat. I texted Indonesia to see if she had lunch plans #apparentlyieatoutalot and she said she was at Dishoom with HongKong2 and were just sitting down. Dishoom is one of the top rated Indian food places that for dinner has wait lists of two hours that I have wanted to try. She texted me the menu, I gave her my order, and when I got there, the plate was in front of me ready to eat. It was the breakfast menu, and I got herbed cheese toast with fried eggs. I didnt know what I had ordered, as I read the first few things running through the streets to get there. In front of me I thought that the toast was a tempeh like substance, as it was thick and dense. but it was oh so good. I headed to the kitchen supply store to see if they had some ring cutters for my new and improved entremet. I decided I needed to solidify widths of circles before making any purchases. I went home and sketched out my ideas. I had made dinner plans with Michelle from church, so I met up with her at her tube station, and hit her street looking for food....and ended up at an Indian place. Lunch at Dishoom was modern fusion indian, and this place was classic indian, with the dishes all coming out in little silver trays. So amazingly good. We went back to her place and talked for a bit. Her husband was at a youth activity with the ward, so we had ample time to sit and chat.

 Day 156. Saturday morning, Landlady had warned me the night before that the furnace man was coming at 8am, so I needed to be up/out by 930/10am. That was fine by me, I was ready to shop for my ring cutters and was meeting school peeps at 1130 at a market. Got my shopping done, the cake decoration store sales clerks remembered me and I did not need to show my student ID to get the discount. The street market was amazing. A bit off the beaten path as it took a tube ride, and a bus ride to get there. It was more locals than tourists, more foodie and frills, and lots to choose from. I was headed for a halloumi burger when a hungarian/turkish/something tortilla like bread was filled with spinach and cheese caught my attention, and it was eaten, and I was stuffed. It was then discovered an adjacent school yard had more food stalls, including an old delivery truck fitted with a pizza oven, that I could have eaten, but was too full to eat anymore. There was a crosstown doughnut stall, and we all pitched in and split one. So good. I went home, talked to HGA on facetime. She said she missed me, I asked why she doesn't call more often. and she said that she is "so busy." Ok ten year old Hannah Grace. Never too busy for me. :) I had to cut the conversation short, as I was meeting up with Tamara, and seven others to go to an activity in Cambridge. We met at a car rental agency. I was 15 minutes late, and thought that was bad. I was 4/9 to get there. The guy renting the car forgot his license at work, and was on his way to get it and the others were yet to arrive. We left an hour after our original start time, and got stuck in London Valentine traffic. What takes an hour by train took us two hours by car. It was a good car ride. Eight countries were represented, France, Italy, Brazil, Columbia, England, Argentina, and somewhere else I can't remember maybe Portugal. When we got to the activity, there were about 30 people there. Tamara said that the one the month before had over 100 people at it. Our nine passenger van increased the party by 25%. They turned on music, the nine of us and five others danced, people that were there before us moved into the hall to talk, and we would go inbetween dancing, standing, and trying not to move one step to the left, and one step to the right. The beat on all of the songs was the same, so not much variety. There was one slow song (seriously mr. dj, you can clearly see only 6 people dancing, and only two are guys). I turned it into a group hug/hold hands red rosies kind of dance.....it was a good laugh. We were almost back to London, when we in the back seat discovered that the front seat navigators were not so great. There is a huge beltway around London, if the beltway were a clock, getting to/from Cambridge is a one o'clock direction. On the way back we had somehow made it to the 10 o'clock segment of the beltway before heading into London. The tubes were closed by the time we got back to drop off the car. Brazil told me the bus number I needed to take, and where to catch the bus with Italy. When we got to the bus stop, the bus was a day bus, and only the night buses were running. I had no idea which one to take, and my phone needed to be topped up for me to have 3G. Italy found on the bus map what bus he needed and jumped on. If I were smart enough, I should have jumped on it, as we were headed in the same direction. But nope. I waited for the next bus to come and ask which bus to take. It was the one Italy took, and the next one would be there in 22 minutes. I wasnt too worried as this was a very popular bus stop and lots of people were waiting at 1250am for a bus. It was not the usual bus routes near my place, so I had to walk a bit in the end, but I knew where I was and did not worry. Its taken me 156 days to get comfortable with navigation. Dang.

 Day 157. The family history lady emailed me during the week and asked me to drag myself our of bed to play the piano for RS. I thought it would be no problem earlier in the week, but that was before I knew I would be walking home at 2am the night before. Miraculously, I made it, for reverse church time and played. After church, I met Tamara in the hall. The night before we had made plans to go to the flower market (again before I knew about the 2am walking) as it is only open on Sundays. I was tired, but I went. It was amazing to see how many flowers were out for sale, and the shoulder to shoulder people walking the streets. There were lillies of all kinds, daffodils, tulips, peonies, pink pineapples, cherry blossom twigs, potted plants, herbs, everything. I got the most unusually beautiful bunch of "Everlastings" bouquet. Tamara got cherry blossom branches and tulips. We got a treat from Lilli Vanilli (had to laugh at the name as it remined me of my second cassette tape purchase of all times, Milli Vanili) From the flower market, another street lead to Brick Lane Market, which lead to another, and another, and another. I had to call it quits at this point as I was borderline too tired. Came home, made duner, did some school work, talked to mom, and now living off of limited sleep managed to add to the saga of all novels. Dang. Goodnight.

Days 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149. What a week.

Days 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149. What a week. I keep telling myself i need to write more often, but alas another week has passed and here I am. Sunday. Day 143. The usual. Honestly, when it comes to current events happening back in the states, I am not up on much of them. I didnt even know about the Super Bowl without the exception of facebook and instagram pictures. I thought it was funny that they were actually broadcasting it live over here....it said at 1030, but that was pregame. I heard the songs, Adele Nazime did great. :) At commercial breaks, it would cut back to the UK 'team of experts' (one Brit, two former NFL never-heard-of-them) for analysis of the plays. I like the commercials. That is the only reason to watch the game. Anyhow, I did not make it to half time as I had fallen asleep. Luckily, there is youtube to show me the half time show and the best commercials...come wake up time Monday....

 Monday. Day 144. Happy Birthday Lucy!! I had a list of things to do, places to go. I accomplished most of them, in a round about way. I was going to go get day tickets for a play, but by the time I got out of the house, it would be too late to get day tickets. So I went to the local library. I didnt even know it was a library all these months, as it is covered in scaffolding. I found the cookbook section, and there was a lot to choose from. I couldn't find the history section, but doubted they had a book on the history of chocolate. As I was reading, I noticed a lot of moms with prams (strollers) coming in and parking their things near where I was 'researching.' Turns out it was a toddler sing along class, where they all sang loud happy universal songs (the wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy, etc). I looked up some info on chocolate, took some pictures of interesting recipes, and headed out to school. On the way there I decided to stop for a treat at a place that got pretty good reviews on yelp for a snack. The place was so tiny, I grabbed a muffin and carried on, checking in to to theaters for day tickets, of which they were out. I went to school to look at the books in the library, only to find out that the library book cupboards were only open from 230-330pm, and it was 130. I looked at the bookstore across the square for info, and got some good history of chocolate there. The books in our library come to find out, were either recipies or in french. So much for that help. I ventured by North End Road for some fruit on the way home to make cobbler. Which I turned into my dinner.

 Tuesday. 145. Woke up, got dressed and headed out to school at 650 am only to discover snow on the ground!! I did not have time to turn around and put the snow shoes on for good use, so I made due in my trainers. The snow was gone by 10am.) Tuesday was Day one of prep for the Afternoon Tea event at school. I was a mini team leader (for myself and two others) and had the time plan down to a tee. By the end of the seven hours, we were ahead in some areas, and behind in others. Each team of three had to make 3-4 dishes. Our team made Financiers (Almond Cake with Sour Cherry Cream on top), Modern Lemon Tarts (the lemon is piped like a log onto a crust, which then has marshmallow piped on top), Tangy Yoghurt Mousse with Apricot Jelly, and Raspberry Jam. They were all tedious to do. As much as I was tired, I was up all night worried that we would not be able to complete everything the next day.

 Wednesday. 146. When I finally did wake up, it was barely enough time to get ready & be there on time, let alone early. We finished the items. I was so tired I laid low threw the actual afternoon tea event. My main role was to pass out the takeaway boxed to people as they left the building. That was a nice gig to have. After the last customer left, and clean up was all done, we were able to take as much of the leftovers home with us. And there were leftovers alright. As there were four teams in three groups, making twelve teams each making 3-4 items there was roughly somewhere between 1080-1350 pieces were made. The forty nine customers (aka friends/family of us) could eat as much as they could consume during the afternoon tea event. We still had a trolley full of things not taken home. My friend Tamara (from Charlie and the Chocolate fame) was my guest at the tea. It was institute that night, and so in my tired state, I met up with her and 2/3 boxes (one was still in my bag) to share the treats that I had yet to taste myself. Pretty good. Favorite was a praline tart.

 Thursday. 147. It was a much needed day of rest. They probably do that on purpose, and only scheduled us a 630pm cheese class. Oh man. Tom the Cheese Man. Loves. I. Mean. Loves. Cheese. He has passion like no one else....and it is for cheese. He knows the history, and origin of every cheese, and his storytelling & humor are most captivating. We ate cheeses that go for 40 pounds a kilo. So some fancy cheese. So good. Go artisan cheese! Not grocery store cheese. Its worth it in so many ways. I also went to the american supermarket for a "Chocolate Tasting Day" on the way to class. So many good treats, cookies, chocolate fountain, almond chocolate milk, candies, ice cream, and a goodie bag! My favorite was a "chewie" it looked like a flat chocolate macaroon, but had a gooey peanut butter center. I need to find out how to make them.

 Friday. Day 148. Started off with an 8am class with Chef Arizona showing us the start of a Croquembouche tower, making/piping cream puff balls, and making nougat. Not Big Hunk nougat, more like brittle. Chef kept me entertained with his stories of the recent Coupe de Monde Patisserie competition. Its the Olympics of the pastry world. Look it up. They did amazing things. His team came in sixth. The first place team (Italy), trained for three months straight, and had no other job/income to support them as they prepared for the event. Chef said that for their ice cream cake, they piped out stripes of ice cream & parfait and then put it into a machine that turned it into a log wrapping itself around the cake center. 'Chef you have a life, those guys obviously dont.' Was one student's reaction to his info on the winning team. UK team all worked regular jobs, and still upped their place by three since the last competition. After class, a few of us headed to lunch at Scandinavian Kitchen. Essex sure knows great places to eat. It was yummy and healthy. Winner. I headed home after that. I was so tired, I fell asleep at 5, got up at 7, got take out soup & sticky toffee pudding from Barossa, watched TV, and talked to mom before calling it a night.

 Saturday. 149. Got up and got a ticket to see War Horse. I was hoping for the evening show, so I could get some school work done, but they only had day tickets left for the matinee. Oh well, I walked around Covent Garden for a bit, seeing what I thought was trucks setting up for a movie/film [only to later discover they are setting up for the UK equivalent of the Oscars], and people watched before heading home for a bit. I tidied up a bit before heading out again for the play. I barely made it on time. Lame metro delays. The play was amazing. How the puppeteers do their work on being a horse is fantastic. I've yet to see the movie that came about after this play, but it was great. I decided I would get a salted caramel hot chocolate from Shake Shack on the way home. That turned into me getting a mushroom burger and fries as well. Burger was great (a panko crusted portobello mushroom, dripping with cheese and the usual fixings. Fries were good....it was so cold outside they cooled off pretty quick. And the hot chocolate. Dang. Talked to Mel for a bit as I walked more around Covent Garden before heading home. I actually got one of the 456 things I have left for my portfolio to complete. And now this entry is complete too. Good afternoon. Good evening.....and Goodnight.

Days 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, and 142. International Food Week.

Days 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142. International Food Week.

 Day 137.  Monday. My friend Tamara had told me about a doughnut shop that was running a special doughnut for Australia Day. Didn't know that was a thing, but it is. I also planned on seeing if I could get day tickets for a play that evening, and they were both in the same spot, so I figured why not get doughnuts and a ticket for a play. Well, apparently I picked opening night to see the play, so no day tickets were available, but I still got doughnuts. I tried not to act shocked when the lady at the doughnut counter told me that "six doughnuts are only twenty pounds". Twenty pounds for six doughnuts? Say what?!? Um, I got three. And Tamara paid for one of them. The two I got were delicious. I got a Sea Salt Caramel & Banana Cream and a Lamnut. The first is described as, "A winning combination of homemade chocolate soil topping, chocolate sour dough base and fresh banana cream filling. A sweet but silky banana cream filling is encased in Crosstown’s light and fluffy chocolate sour dough. We then top it all off with a generous swirl of sea salt caramel and a divine chocolate soil." It was pretty amazing in the doughnut world. And the Lamnut, "a cake ring doughnut and a smothering of fresh raspberry jam, dipped in that chocolatey goodness we know and love, then rolled around in a generous dousing of coconut" made after a cake eaten in Australia, this was pretty stellar. I messaged Tamara, told her I got the doughnut, and we met up for lunch at the Falafel King on Portabello Rd for the doughnut exchange. Sweet. Falafel king was pretty great too. They sell one thing. Falafels. They serve them in pita w/all the fixings. To get to Falafel King, it is the farthest I have walked down Portobello Rd in 10 years....I remember the place I had fish and chips at was up and across the street from where we had lunch. I like my photographic memory of places, its the directions for getting there that is the issue. Food. Am I making you hungry yet? I spent the rest of the day being domestic, do laundry.

 Day 138. Tuesday. I really need to write more often/take pictures to remember what I did everyday because Tuesday I have no idea what I did other than iron. I know I ironed. Everyday off school, I think I am in London, I need to see this town, but the more I think that, the more I like my bed. Hahaha. Thank goodness for text messages. I remember what I did. I planned my entremets. The layers, ingredients, amounts, the time plan (what to make when), wrote out the recipes, and mentally prepared myself for the next two days of making this thing. I had no idea how it was going to go in the kitchen the next day (were we going to do paperwork, have a discussion, or start baking right away). I wanted to be prepared. And I was. Or at least I thought I was.

 Day 139. Wednesday. Six AM comes way too early. Adrenaline keeps me going on days like today. We started baking right away. Chef said that she would come around and look at out plans/recipes but she never did. She recommended doing the jelly/internal layer first as it needs the most time to set. That was forth on my time plan. I needed to get my baked mousse pudding in the oven right away in order to get that cooled. Then I did my jelly. I have never used cardamom in my life. Another chef had recommended pear & cardamom jelly, so thats what I did. I put a lot of ground cardamom in the pot with the pear puree, I wanted it to be tasty, but not awful. It looked cloudy/like applesauce color when I put it in the chiller, but I didnt think anything of it. I needed a jelly/middle layer, and that was that. Done. Moving on. I didn't even get scattered going out of order. I had a plan & I kept on going. I made shortbread for my crust, while that was mixing I made a tuille to fingerprint on a Silpat mat that would be covered by an almond sponge. Everything was mixed and baked within two hours. Right on time according to my time plan. Yippee. I didn't know that chef had planned chocolate and tuile decoration was saved for the afternoon session, so I had some 'spare time' to kill. I added an extra 100g to the chocolate mousse for good measure, as I didn't have anything else to do, oh well. Spoiler alert: it still stood tall in the end. After a quick break of grabbing some soup, we were back in the kitchen tempering chocolate, making decorations. The vision I had in my head, was not possible with the equipment I had to work with. I had to improvise, and make new things. I was not excited. I planned/made almond brittle & chocolate cardamom tuile, and before I knew it, I spent way too long making stuff I knew I did not want. Oh well. Live and learn.

 Day 140. Thursday. The day we put the decorations on our Entremets. Aka improvise. I wanted flat round circles of chocolate getting larger on the way o 0 O to the edge of the entremets, but since that wasn't possible, I used the tuile triangles to make a circular pattern to the edge. As I pulled my tempered chocolate away from the acetate, it fell to pieces/shards. I thought it wasnt tempered as it was so fragile. It was too much on top, but when in Rome.... i added shards of chocolate throughout the triangles. I was trying to do a desert mountain landscape, but looking around at everyone else's work, I should have gone for a minimalist approach. My shortbread was too thick, my tuile paint on the sponge needed to be darker, my chocolate shards showed 'no skill' (a requirement that i didn't use my pieces that fell apart), my mousse had chocolate bits in it but it was smooth, my jelly was like nothing she has ever had before (not in a good way), but my chocolate was in temper, and my chocolate glaze was nice and shiny. This is the feedback I got from Chef. I swear no matter what I try to do, it is never good enough. I planned, I prepared, and still its rough to have little good and lots of bad feedback. But my fan club back home was impressed, thanks to comments on Instagram. My classmates ate mine, and all liked my mousse, and some liked my jelly (those from the Jordan/Oman especially....apparently they put cardamom in everything). By the end of classes, my entremets was gone. I had lots of people try it, and got some good feedback. 

We still had two more classes that day. Two tech classes. The first tech class was our Tea Party Prep meeting, where we found out how the whole thing was going down, how it works, and what we needed to do. They divided our three groups into teams of three people, where each team will be making three desserts (30-40 portions each) over three (four hour) sessions next week. no big deal. our teams were "randomly selected" and I am with Delhi and Malta. Sweet. We can do this. They gave us the recipes, and from that we had to come up with equipment lists, ingredients list, time plan, work order, etc. To turn into our team captain, to turn into Chef my Monday morning. Tea time cooking starts Tuesday. I should have gone on vacation for the weekend to prep myself, but there is always another weekend for an adventure.

 Second Tech class we watched Chef make Verrines. Basically shot glasses of dessert, with creams and jellies that I got my shirt dirty sampling #wasntworthit. I was deliriously tired through this class, and yet when Singapore & Jordan asked if I wanted to join a group for dinner, I agreed to go. The Chef in this class was the same that did our tech where I used my fabulous fake accent. Chef at the beginning of class said, "I might have my accented assistant come up and help eventually tonight, we'll have to see." "With pleasure Chef! With pleasure!" I said from my seat in the infamous accent. The class laughed. "You don't know what your accent does to me." Chef said after the laughter died down. Uhhh I don't want to know what it does to him, :) so I did not ask, and he never asked me to help.

 For dinner, 10 of us ventured to Diwan Restaurant. It was middle eastern food. Monday's Falafel King I was told is Israeli, tonight was Jordan-ease, I am a world traveler of food without leaving London. Going around the table, we were the United Nations of school. Jordan, Oman, Singapore, China, Poland, India, Israel, and USA. We have good fun loud laughing conversations.

 Day 141. Friday. I got up and headed to the theatre again to see if day tickets were available and they were! I had talked to Jordan about it the night before, but I never told her I was actually going to go see if there were tickets, so I didn't know if she wanted to go. I tried texting to no response, so I texted Oman to see if she could call Jordan. She tried, and no luck, but somehow Oman decided to come along. I stopped by school to reserve a spot at the tea for a friend, and stopped by the american big name expensive grocery store on the way home for fresh ground peanut butter & tortillas. random, but needed. I came home, worked on all the lists/time plans we needed for the tea time to be turned into my team captain, with just enough time to get ready for the play. My first play. I think. What play? 'Taken At Midnight' starring Penelope Wilton. Who? She is on Downton Abbey people.....Matthew's mom. I did not know much about the play going in, other than it is about a lawyer who put hitler on trial (before he became THE hitler we all know) and he was captured and thrown in jail under hitlers regime. the play is about him in jail and his mothers fight to get him out. As the lights were going down and the play was about to begin, Oman told me that this is her first theatre experience ever no musical or play ever before. Dang I hoped this was good. The first bit was strange as it felt like it was already into the story when it started, and the pace was hard to keep up with. Irmgard (Penelope) seemed to be angry the whole play, I would be mad if my son was in jail for no good reason either. Overall it was good, the actor playing her son, was amazing.....he truly captured (no pun intended) his role & did an excellent job. Seriously the acting was great. Oh! I forgot to mention that the Day Tickets were FRONT ROW!! Say what? When I picked them up, the box office guy pointed to row three, but in the theatre, we were there watching the spit come out of there mouths as they pronounciate their words. Front row is so cool. And so cheap. 15 pounds. Better than a pack of doughnuts that is for sure. There was no stage door that I could find for pictures afterwards ( I really wanted one), and Oman was wondering why I was wondering around outside the theatre looking for a door. So there are no stalking stories this time around, just a picture in my heart of Mrs Crowley being five feet away from me :)

 It was 10pm when the play was over, but we were a little hungry. Oman knew a vegetarian place near by with Egyptian food. Chalk another place up for international week eating out. Koshari Street. "Koshari is a satisfying, naturally healthy meal of lentils, rice and pasta topped with a spicy tomato sauce and garnished with caramelised onion and boiled chickpeas." It was pretty good. Not so good on the way walking home when I thought I was burping and ended up having a bit too much come up (if you know what I mean) and no place to dispose of it for half a block. Not the best food memory. Hahahah.

 Day 142. Saturday. My knee was feeling a bit weird when I went to bed last night, and when I woke up this morning, it hurt a bit. Don't know what I did to it, but it must just mean that I am getting old. I rested up the morning in bed, and then decided to go for a walk around the block to see if it got better...and that turned into a walk down the river walk turning into 2.4 miles roundtrip....in a light drizzle of rain. I decided to treat myself to a place around the corner from the house, Barossa, for a late brunch. I've wanted to try this place since I moved here, and finally got to try it. I will be back. Its Australian. I got a Veggie Brekkie. Grilled Haloumi, Sautéed Spinach, Roasted Plum Tomato, Garlic Field Mushroom, Corn Fritter, Sourdough Toast & Poached Eggs. Best meal of the week. Amazing.

 And instead of writing that mysterious paper on Chocolate, I am writing this magnificent piece of literature. typos and all.

Days 131. 132. 133. 134. 135. and 136. Good people.

Day 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, and 136. Good people. Day 131. Tuesday. We had one class in the morning. Restaurant desserts demonstration. Chef showed us what we were going to be making for the next two days. After class, a group of us (Maine, Essex, Jordan, Poland, Delhi, Oman, Israel, California, and me) headed for London's best doughnuts....well at least what five different websites claimed to be the best. It was a bit of a trek, and when we got there, it was a restaurant with a bakery in the corner. They only had one flavor for the day, vanilla. It was a creme filled doughnut, light, fluffy, not greasy, and the filling was creamy, soft, airy, and not too sweet. It was a pretty good doughnut for a trek. After that, we headed to dim sum. We'd been before, and I must say there are plenty of placed to eat in this town, I need to stop repeating places. We split up from there. I was pretty tired. I went home, dropped off some things and headed to the store, for a three things, ginger & clove and treacle. They don't have molasses here. The next best cousin is treacle. As I bought/found it in Wales no problem I figured it would be at the store down the street here. Nope, not at the next or the next. Five grocery stores and I finally found it. It's Essex's birthday on Thursday and I asked her what her favorite cookie/biscuit was and she said Ginger. I asked if she had ever had them dipped in chocolate, and she said never, but it sounded amazing. The recipe I used is now complete with the treacle and spices in hand. I made the dough at home that night, and called it a night...8am class the next day.

 Day 132. Wednesday. We made two of the four desserts for the restaurant segment, and tempered chocolate and tulle decorations for our final desserts the next day. Six hours making mousse, parfaits, sauces, sables (crusts) before having another demonstration class to show us how to put it all together. I think this class would have been nice to have before we made our chocolate & tuille decorations, but now we had to make due with what we had the next day. Nine hours at school is very long. Poland, Singapore, and Vermont were getting sushi after class, I wasn't that hungry, but went for the social part. Two sisters from Canada in the intensive cuisine program joined us as well. It was nice to compare programs/chefs. Came home, made a dozen cookies, dipped them in chocolate, and headed to bed.

 Day 133. Thursday. We completed/plated the two desserts from the day before, ate the remnants after chef critique, and made the other two of four desserts, and plated them as well. We worked in pairs for these two days. She made stuff I wasn't proud of (overcooked sable) and I made stuff she probably was not proud of either (gelatinous mousse). Oh well, we pressed on. We used what we had and turned out with some stellar plated desserts for first timers. We had to do two identical platings for the Ricotta Mousse...I redid my chocolate piping 5 times on one plate to get them exactly the same. That is the way of restaurants, consistency in all plates. It had been a long two days of desserts.

No one was ready for another lecture class, but we had one. This time a tech on Restaurant menu planning. After about an hour lecture and me zoning in and out it was time for a quick break before an 'activity.' We never had activities in tech classes. Chef divided us into groups, had us draw a restaraunt type from slips of paper, and then each team made a menu, pricing, aimed clientele, etc. There was Windsor, Heathrow Airport, SE London, Hong Kong Central, and we had a Country Manor. As our group was planning the menu, I busted in with my British accent. Its getting better than before I came here. My group was laughing at my attempts at saying "raspberries" and they insisted I be the presenter for my group, only with the accent. I was a bit nervous, hoping I would not pee my pants, but once it was my turn, I got up, and presented our English Country Manor in my best British accent. "Good afternoon and evening everyone, and welcome to our Country Manor." I began in a british accent. Singapore, (who was in another group), later told me that she thought when she first heard me speaking she thought something was wrong with my voice, and then she realized I was up to something. I had the class roaring in laughter with my descriptions and my accents. I could not even look at Poland, Vermont, Maine, Malta, Essex, Delhi, really anyone as I spoke. Chef was even red with laughter. "Our next selection will be a chocolate surprise. If you haven't seen this you need to look it up on the internet, its like a chocolate bomb, or a chocolate shell the size of a ball that when you pour hot fudge over the top it melts and opens up like a flower to discover a a chocolate fondant cake inside. Seriously brilliant!" The group laughed at my "bomb" and "brilliant." It was quite a fun time performing a menu of all things to people.

 Friday. Day 134. We had a class in the morning about the requirements for our entremets dish that we will each be creating/making for our final. There are lots of details and components that go into it. Seriously a bit overwhelming to be planning (a mousse, sponge, crust, insert layer, tuille, tempered chocolate work, and decoration), ingredient and equipment lists, cost sheets, time tables, oh and presentation. No big deal. Ha! I talked some ideas over with the chefs. I have a rough idea of what I would like to do, but it could be different. We will see soon how it all turns out. One of the chefs helping us/answering questions was the chef from teh night before. He is British. I apologized to him if my British accent was offensive. "Quite the contrary. Are you an actor? [No.} Have you done performing like that before? [No.] Best presentation in five years. You had me rolling in laughter. I hope I was not distracting to you." Ha! From behind us, a squeal comes from Delhi, "See I told you it was good!!" I can pull off an accent. My life is complete.....with a backpacker in Amsterdam it would be really complete. Ha! We were done earlier than expected.

I had lunch plans with Essex ,but her group met at 1130, and mine met at 8am. I had plans to work on that imaginary chocolate paper I need to write about, but Jordan, Poland and Delhi wanted to go to brunch. Anything to prolong doing work was good with me. Jordan had been to this hotel before and said it was excellent for brunch. She was throwing her daughter's surprise birthday party here next week. The hotel was amazing. It was formally a car park [garage] turned into a hotel I could see anyone with a designers eye would love. It was a mix of mediterranean, african, and topiary. They had a bowling alley with four lanes in the basement of the hotel....with a dance floor off of it. The wall had Tiffany blue wallpaper covered with colorful butterflies, that was topped off with alligator sculptures made from wood pieces. How do I know about the bowling alley? As we sat down for brunch, Jordan told the man who seated us that we must have a tour of the hotel after we eat. The rest of us were a bit shocked at the request, I didn't know anyone could get a tour of a hotel. But we did. They showed us two of the hotel rooms, the rooftop garden, the party rooms, bowling alley, and library. Amazing hotel. Brunch was good too. I had baked eggs. I liked the ones at St. Francis in Phoenix better (its a good place....go my PHX peeps!) Funny story about brunch. Poland told the waitress that she is allergic to wheat and wanted to know her options. The waitress said that they have 100% rye bread toast with avocado and if she would like she could add tomato & poached eggs to it. Poland said that was fine. On the menu I could only see the toast with avocado for five pounds, not the added extras. When the bill came, it was a bit of a shock for Poland's order. Five pounds for the toast & avocado, plus four pounds for the sliced tomato, and plus another six pounds for two poached eggs!! Fifteen pounds for toast and add ons! Crazy! You can buy two dozen nice eggs for six pounds here....Poland was shocked as the rest of us, as she only really wanted a coffee and bread. Poland said as we were leaving the hotel that a big group was meeting at Borough Market and that I should come. I told her I would see how long lunch went with Essex.

Thus began my expensive weekend. I walked back to school and met up with Essex and Oman for lunch at a cute Italian order at the counter place called Princi. They had slabs of pizza, salads, breads, desserts. I didn't want Essex to know I already ate brunch an hour ago, so I ordered a small salad plate with a pesto curly noodle salad, and a roasted pumpkin salad as well. So amazing. Essex used to work in the area, so she knows amazing places to try. After lunch was over, Essex headed home to meet her sister who was coming for the weekend. Jordan had messaged Oman about the group going to Borough Market and so Jordan wanted to go. She told me that she had never been. What!?! Its a foodie place!! I had to go with the first timer. The 'big group' ended up being Poland, Singapore, Jordan, Oman, and me. It was a good time going around, trying samples, and finding the doughnut stand (the same company as the other day has a booth at the market) that had lemon doughnuts this time. Still amazing. I asked if they were hiring. They said that if we could bake bread like theirs, they needed two bakers. We said we could, and they gave us their business cards. Watched everyone eat oysters.

 Jordan saw The Shard (a massive business building that looks like a shard of glass) from Borough Market and insisted we go to the top to see the view from the bar and hear them play jazz music. Well, we made it to the 42nd floor, but as we approached the bar doors, security told us that they had a strict dress code policy and no trainers [aka sneakers] were allowed. We all looked at everyone's feet to see who was being denied access, myself and Singapore. Jordan persisted with the men telling them that we were planning a party and we all needed to see the bar. Security was not having it. We assured her and the others that we were fine waiting for them, and to go in and check out the view. They all went in, but Jordan came out two more times to try and get us in. No way Jose. I was really fine. I could see the view from the elevator area. There was another bar opposite this one. Jordan said that they were run by different companies, so we could go in there. Denied again. #comfortoveraviewanytime #carryingmyballetflatsfromnowonnot

 I headed home after that to drop off my bag before heading out to meet Dierdre for dinner. Yes, this is still Friday. Three meals out, plus a doughnut snack. It was an adventure of a day. We met at Leicester Square and walked tell we found a place, turned out we went to Jamie Oliver's Italian. I think I've been to most of his places now, and this one was reasonably priced. I got a board with an array of cheese, olives, veggies, slaw for eight pounds. Cheapest Jamie meal yet. After dinner we tried to walk to find dessert, but it started raining and was getting late so we said goodbyes and headed to our homes. Long fabulously brilliant day.

 Saturday, Day 135. I got up, tidied my room and heard the vacuum running outside my door. “Do you want to vacuum your room now?” My landlady asked as I headed to the bathroom. “Um yah sure.” I think it reassures her to hear me vacuuming my room, so that she can believe that it is getting done, rather than me verbally telling her so. After that I headed out for an errand before meeting Maine & his girlfriend for lunch. It was my first time meeting the girlfriend, and she was quite nice. We went to Granger & Co. I had heard great things about it. I didn’t know if it was worth an hour wait, but Maine & GF insisted that the eggs alone were worth the wait. I got the ricotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter with a side of eggs. The eggs looked like a pile of hard scrambled eggs, but in the mouth, they were light fluffy layers of eggy goodness. The hotcakes were great too. Maine bought my meal as my delayed happy birthday meal :) happy me. I had to jet before GF was through with her second plate (seriously she could eat) as I was meeting Delhi and Poland at 345, and it was 330. Whoops.

 After multiple texts we finally met up, and I discovered that it was more than just Delhi and her boyfriend and Poland, but Singapore and Vermont and Vermont’s boyfriend too. Wow. I felt terrible being late. Nevertheless, we walked to William Curley, Patissier Chocolatier shop to have the dessert bar. A six course expedition of strictly desserts. We knew that service ended at five, and the shop closed at six. We walked in at 420. When we all walked in the staff was a bit shocked at our group size, only because they don’t take reservations. There were people at the dessert bar already, and would be there for another 30 minutes. They said that we could sit at tables in the shop area and eat there, but we wanted to sit at the bar. Why? Because the chef makes the desserts right there in front of you at the bar that’s why :) The lady said that she does not normally do this, but she would take a phone number and call us when they were ready for us (the shop was small, and we were big). I pulled out my phone, pulled up my recent text conversation with Maine, and gave them my unmemorized telephone number. We headed across the street to a bar to wait it out. I watched as my buddies all drank. We told the waiter that we were only there for drinks, and they said that his was the restaurant side, and if we wanted only drinks we should have gone to the bar side. We told him we would move, and since we were willing he said that we could stay until they got busy. We didn’t mind, we knew we would be gone in thirty minutes. Thirty minutes came and went. I was a bit miffed that the chocolate shop had not called. Vermont’s boyfriend said that they probably took my number and threw it away. After 45 minutes of waiting, Maine calls me. “Um Michelle I don’t know why, but this chocolate shop keeps calling me telling me that your reservation at the Chocolate Shop is ready.” Oh my goodness. I gave them Maine’s number, not mine! Laughter ensued, as me, Delhi, and Delhi’s boyfriend ran to the chocolate shop to hold the bar until the others could finish their drinks. A drink was included in our six course dessert menu . I got Hot Chocolate of course with praline paster & 72% dark chocolate. Then the courses began. The chef told us we could ask him anything as the menu went along. We didn’t tell him we were pastry students until course four. :) Only two courses had chocolate in them, the rest were fruit based. The menu changes monthly, so February might be filled with chocolate who knows. But the courses were great. Yummy. I almost made it through the sixth course before asking for my petit four chocolates to be wrapped up like Delhi’s.

 It was a lot of sweets consumed. We needed to balance it out with some savory. We walked around for a while before I pulled out Yelp to find us a pub. There was one down a questionable alley.  But had a good soup for me.  After the pub, I was ready to call it a night. The bus line to my house ran the road that we were on, so I said goodnight, and watched my friends walk away. As I watched them, I thought about how great it is to have good people like them in my life. I am thankful for friends. 

Sunday. Day 136. The usual. I came home, and timed myself making the potential filling for my entremets, chocolate pudding, to see if it would even be possible. With an over that only has 9…8…7…6..5…4..3..2..1.. on it and not actual temperature degrees, it was questionable as to how to make this work. I’m pretty sure I overcooked it, but it turned out the same fluffy thick goodness that it has been for the past many years of making it back home. I met up with my friend Tamara for a fireside, and we chatted for a long time after. I worked on this novel during the day too. And bless you for making it this far through. Goodnight.