Tell them about your lunch with the famous chef! Start a new thread for it!

It's a long story that no one really cares about but me mommy .

Today we assembled our Bavarian Cream cakes with chocolate sponge ribbon cake, raspberry gelee, chocolate dacqiose (I think I spelled that wrong...too tired to drag my notes out of the car), vanilla bavarian cream and mango bavarian cream. Ours would not have set by the time class ended so they're in the freezer until Tuesday. Yay for a 4 day weekend! We also produced a jelly roll charlottle royal, we made an apricot jelly roll and froze it, then slice it and arranged the pieces in a dome in a bowl. Added a layer of vanilla bavarian cream, a chocolate dacqiose, and mango bavarian cream. That'll set until Tuesday too. When you turn it out in the plate all you see are the jelly rolls, it's pretty. Chef did both of his demos early enough in the class that his were ready before the end.

We had a practical on creme anglaise today, it's a sweet cream sauce and can also be used as an ice cream base. I got a 100 (and the only 100 in the class! Next closest was a 93) which helps boost my miserable test score (over-reaction, it was an 82 which is fine it's just the lowest test score I've gotten since starting) from last week.

Two men encountered a bear in the woods. One is frozen in terror. The other bends down to adjust his running shoes, preparing to flee. The first guy says, "Are you nuts? You can't outrun a bear?" The second guys says, "Doesn't matter. All I have to do is outrun you!"

You just keep on outpacing those other soon-to-be-chefs, baby. They don't stand a chance.

Muffin had a similar experience yesterday. She told me she made an 86 on that Algebra II quiz I was helping her study for on Tuesday. I noticed she wasn't using that tragic, "I-made-a-B" tone of voice. I thought she'd finally gained some perspective...realized it's okay if math isn't her favorite thing...maybe forgiven me for shoving her ahead a couple of years in math.

Then she said, "And almost everybody else failed."



Well, I guess that observation displays its own special form of perspective.

Just tighten up those running shoes and keep those other students between you and the bear, sweetie.

Thanks mommy I'm trying!

FINALLY found my camera cord and then finally got the energy to mess with my slowww computer to upload pictures.

From last class:

Sweet potato + cranberry bread:



Pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving:



One of our last practicals, Pithivier, I wasn't even there on the day that we made it/learned what the heck it was and I still managed a 90 on it



This class:

Bavarian cream cake:





Of course we had to recreate that for our practical and it turned out little like the "practice one". Of course. Still squeaked out an A because my chocolate tempering was *that* much better than everyone else's . Yay for Home Depot tools to help me pull that one off!

quote:

, Pithivier,

Do you cut away from the crust or cut out individual pieces and lay them on?

Everything looks so professional!

I remember that pumpkin pie!

I give it two enthusiastic forks up!

quote:

Originally posted by lilylady:

quote:

, Pithivier,

Do you cut away from the crust or cut out individual pieces and lay them on?

Everything looks so professional!

It's just scored, like you would score bread etc but it's puff pastry. When you serve it you just slice it like a cake and ignore the scoring lines unless you want to give yourself a real hassle

Thanks Nina!

I was driving to work this morning and noticed for the first time that there’s a Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School here in Chicago. It's near the downtown area. LCB must have taken over the previous culinary school (forgot the name) that was in that building.

By the way, automated croissant making was once the subject of a TV show a few years back. Some Japanese bakers decided to place a croissant under a microscope and study it. They noticed that the croissant’s layers alternate in different directions which give croissants their light flaky texture. So they invented a croissant baking machine to do just that. The machine pours a layer of batter in one direction. Then it rotates the batter holding crucible 90 degrees. The machine then pours another layer of batter, etc.

QL - Our school used to be Scottsdale Culinary Institute, but now they've changed the name to Le Cordon Bleu College Scottsdale, it's always been a LCB school. Branding branding branding. Maybe the same thing happened to the school in your area? That's pretty neat about the automated croissant maker! We still have to do all the rolling by hand or with a sheeter, what really makes the layers flakey is it's alternating layers of dough and fat (usually butter). Yum.

Class is going okay. It's really really hard. We had to make 3 identical roses and place them on a cake board with a shell boarder and write happy birthday in melted chocolate for our homework over the weekend. Ugh. I got a 7.5/10 because my roses weren't identical and my cursive still needs work. But I got a 5/5 on my math homework which was surprising.

Tonight we have a written exam. I hate these things, like always they're all short answer (except for the math, and they're 1/2 or more math). The functions of ingredients in sponge cakes are messing me up, I have a lot more studying to do. Of course SM is practically hanging from the ceiling fan whenever I try to do anything important.

I keep talking to SM Sr. about a mother's helper or 1-day a week childcare or ANYTHING and he just thinks I'm crazy. He says a lot of moms work fulltime and go to school fulltime so why can't I go to school fulltime and keep up with the house? Ugh. Oh well. School is almost over! This class will be over Feb 11th, then I have 2 more classes and the externship left. I don't know what we're going to do about childcare during my externship. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there!

Last night we made chocolate curls for the chocolate mousse cake we're assembling in class tonight. I secretly love tempering chocolate in class because it gives me an ego boost . I always feel behind or lost and confused in this class, but I can temper chocolate in way less than half the time of anyone else in the class . But because I got my chocolate curls done and put anyway before anyone else had tempered theirs I got to clean out the freezer. After 20+ minutes in the freezer, maybe I'll take my time next time! I started to get feeling back in my hands on the drive home.

Now I'm off to go try to study. I really really need to get an A on this exam, I've only gotten Bs on the written exams in this class so far. Ugh.

quote:

Originally posted by Muffin's sister:

I keep talking to SM Sr. about a mother's helper or 1-day a week childcare or ANYTHING and he just thinks I'm crazy. He says a lot of moms work fulltime and go to school fulltime so why can't I go to school fulltime and keep up with the house? Ugh.

That boy needs a good talking to, and I think you have just the mother to do it. Or have HIS mother do it.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

quote:

Originally posted by Muffin's sister:

I keep talking to SM Sr. about a mother's helper or 1-day a week childcare or ANYTHING and he just thinks I'm crazy. He says a lot of moms work fulltime and go to school fulltime so why can't I go to school fulltime and keep up with the house? Ugh.

That boy needs a good talking to, and I think you have just the mother to do it. Or have HIS mother do it.

I wish! His mom is unmedicated bipolar difficult to deal with. SM Sr gets along with my mom and I don't want to change that .

When SM wakes up from his nap we're going to McD's for lunch, they have a play place with a nice heavy door that SM can't open without a struggle. So he'll be contained in a play area and hopefully I'll get some studying done!

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by Muffin's sister:

I keep talking to SM Sr. about a mother's helper or 1-day a week childcare or ANYTHING and he just thinks I'm crazy. He says a lot of moms work fulltime and go to school fulltime so why can't I go to school fulltime and keep up with the house? Ugh.


That boy needs a good talking to

+1!!

If all else fails resort to "oh honey, I'm just so tired tonight after having had to do all the housework after school..."

quote:

Originally posted by EHpianist:
+1!!

If all else fails resort to "oh honey, I'm just so tired tonight after having had to do all the housework after school..."

Elena! I'm shocked! Shocked I say! (And laughing my arse off too)

quote:

Originally posted by piqaboo:

quote:

Originally posted by EHpianist:
+1!!

If all else fails resort to "oh honey, I'm just so tired tonight after having had to do all the housework after school..."

Elena! I'm shocked! Shocked I say! (And laughing my arse off too)

Too bad I've been trying that route for awhile


Most days I have school I don't even see him at home, just when we exchange SM in the parking lot. When we do end up at home together I'm usually scrambling to get my schoolwork done with SM hanging on me while SM Sr plays video games . His xbox got the "ring of death" last night and died. Oh no... it'll take 3 weeks to get it back after he sends it in.... I hope it's not repairable and doesn't come back at all

He is a good guy, I just whine a lot .