Intermediate Exam is over~~~

i was physically not nervous but mentally, yes i am nervous =x i didnt sleep well at all even though i went to bed at 2230. when i woke up my eyes were still red from the lack of sleep :(

anyhow, i got to school and i wasn't feeling at all nervous and hoping to get what cake etc..i just wanna get it over and done with. I am so glad my class was the first to have the exam instead of having to wait as long as next tuesday for the exam.

As usual when we were in the kitchen we had to pick a number and i got Fraisier (which in everyone's opinion is the easiest to bake). I wasnt expecting myself to get that. i had been practising hard on Opera and Sabrina. Oh well, thank you Lord for the blessings :) It all went smoothly. All my classmates were awesome as all of us finished on time. During the exam, people are stress and rushing here and there. As for me, because i have got Fraisier (the less time consuming cake) i just did it in a calm and steady manner. =x I wasnt very satisfied with my cake as it is nowhere near perfection.

Why do I think the cake is nowhere near perfection:
#1 Slicing of sponge was not straight.
#2 I not not have enough sponge for the centre of my cake (hmm does it mean that my sponge did not rise? but my batter didn't collapse and the air bubbles in the sponge were perfect)
#3 I forgot to chill my cake with the cream filled before placing the top sponge.
#4 I placed my top sponge upside down -.-
#5 My royal icing was watery when i piped on the marzipan (it was perfect texture on the parchment paper when i tested it. I swear it was!!!)

Anyway, we shall see what chef says during the debriefing on the 8 Sep. i will update the result then :) Chances of failing will be low. But chances of getting good grade will be low as well. I will think my Practical result will be 65/100 maximum :( oh well at least it's a pass.

tmr is THE day...

exam tomorrow and everyone is so tired today. why? because..we had 12noon demonstration class on sugar work (which we will be doing for Superior exam). This is like a sneak preview which i think is redundant at this stage. the lesson was so long that ended at 2.30pm which i was freaking hungry but i have a practical lesson right after at 3pm...shag! -.- and we had to make souffles for this pract...there were so much whisking to do!!!! it's like double recipe as we did in pairs...geez how can they give use such lousy schedule!!! i didnt practice since saturday as i am afraid my arms will hurt from all the whisking and internship on Sunday. seems like i cannot escape doing too much whisking just before exam. :(

oh well currently i am totally blank out on what to do for exam. i just hope everything will go on smoothly and that my hands will just whip things up automatically like how, back in University, i will memorize all the statistic formulas, FRS, etc and just puke them all out during exam which i score with flying colours :)

shall relax a little and watch my Running Man while waiting for my dinner to be cooked :)

as usual, ending with pictures of my souffle fresh from the oven....

Mid Term Review

Geez how time really flies! it's mid term already??!!! felt as though i had just started on Intermediate.

this time round, Chef M is my mentor. Since Basic, he was quite concerned about my speed in class which i was extremely concerned as well. so he asked me how i was coping and i felt it was all good except that i am still one of the slowest in class. However, i am still able to make it on time most of the time =x hmm ok i am not sure now (recalling that i was actually told by Chef C today that my Biscuit Joconde should be in the oven at that time) 

Haizz Pam Pam Pam, u need to buck up. how to pass the exam if you are so slow. (the audit syndrome of talking to myself is back)

the 3 exam pieces for Intermediate are Friasier (which is the simplest, i can do it quite all right), Opera (the most technical piece. we did the Opera today and i layered it horribly. in my opinion it's not a piece that will pass. however, Chef C said it's a 60-70ish% score if presented for exam) and lastly Sabrina (one of the busiest cake with the many little details. hence, a very time consuming cake to make).

tell me how can i do it if i am so slow...seriously.. but that's not what i should be worrying about. all i should do is to work on my speed. hurry hurry hurry..stop pondering, be organized and plan well. hmmm but actually i did. just that...hmm i do not know why :( please let me be quick from next lesson onwards. i do not like this horrible feeling creeping back on me. get lost u evil thingy (flicking it off *ping*)

oh btw i didnt score very well for this review. the result is kinda upsetting. i mean i do not expect much from it since everyone in this class are on the higher end when it comes to their skills. Chef M told me that i should not think of it negatively as i am doing Intermediate now and that getting such result is considered good enough. Oh well, thank you chef for the encouragement but i am still kinda upset about it. :( since basic i have been telling myself to buck up but i am still one of the last few in class (just like i keep saying i need to lose weight and perfect my Japanese like eons years ago). Guess my talent is not in patisserie. All my life i have been working hard to attain the things that i want. i guess this is no exception. and my aim is to be one of the BEST. yes you heard me. i know this aim seems to be a little too big to attain when i am so tiny at the moment. but i am determined. I know action speaks louder than words, so i will start practising as much as i can and go broke. ingredients are really expensive here. if only i am able to sell my what i had made :( hahaa 

time for bed. going for ice skating tomorrow with the friends :) nighty night...

xx

Demo/Prac 3 & 4 - Viennoiserie I & II

let me back date my entires on the every lessons that had been swiftly past by during the month of July 2011. i had posted about this demo before but didnt talk much about it hence this entry for additional info.

the word 'Viennoiserie' as extracted from Wiki if directly translated, it means 'things of Vienna'. In the bakery world, it refers to 'baked goods made from a yeast-leavened dough in a manner similar to bread, or from puff pastry, but with added ingredients (particularly eggs, butter, milk, cream and sugar) giving them a richer, sweeter character, approaching that of pastry. The dough is often laminated. Viennoiseries are typically eaten at breakfast or as snacks.'

Since during basic, we had learnt to make puff pastry, hence the making of laminated dough isn't much of a challenge to us except that having yeast in the dough makes it a tad harder to roll. your dough just feel so loose. but i guess that's how it is supposed to be. because my dearest friend P kept pestering Chef by telling him that her dough seems funny and ask him to look and make sure he get his hand on the dough to feel the texture of it. it was a super early 8am lesson and Chef seems a little grumpy and frustrated with most of us that morning =x

so for Practical 3, we are supposed to prepare Pâte Levée Feuilletée (Laminated yeast dough), Pâte à Brioche (Brioche dough), Hot Cross Buns and Devonshire Splits. A bit chim hor. haizz french pastry what do you expect...i know nuts about them. but well the zero knowledge on French pastry is building up that is why i am here in school :)

we were told that Brioche (pronounced as Bree-yosh, something like that) is one of the exam pieces to be presented in Superior. we will have to make the super large size kind. geez.. also the dough is best used after chilling overnight and it needs to proof for very long and bake in the oven for super long as well (fyi 45mins baking time in total).

Devonshire Splits is the one with Chantilly Cream (Whipped cream with icing sugar) between the bun which is made with ermm the 'bun' dough (the usual flour, yeast, butter, sugar, milk, egg and salt are used). The hot cross bun using the same dough with the addition of mixed peel and currents.


Demo / Practical 4 - Croissants, Pains au Chocolat, Danois et Brioche
Using the laminated yeast dough and the brioche dough that we had made in the previous practical, we will be making Croissants, Pains au Chocolat and Danois et Brioche. 

Having 2 practical lessons a day, i brought home a whole box of pastry which became breakfast and tea breaks for my flatmate and i. they lasted us for the entire 1 week.

 

Moving on from basic to intermediate, there are so much more to make during lesson. however, i am still coping ok. i realized that i am less panicky as well as i stopped feeling lost (okay i admit i am still slow but at least my techniques are improving and chef did realize that i am progressing as well)

that's it for now. i will con't over the weekend to catch up on my back dated postings.

xx

a new place, a new term, a new beginning...

A New Place

i have shifted and the house is lovely. what do you expect? i am living in London~ haha not that houses in london are all pretty and up to standard. i have visited countless of houses and they are, in my opinion, UNinhabitable (there is such word right?).

Till now, i love my current room and the location that i am staying. i will never be hungry as there are shops just below my flat. within walking distance (i can take the bus if i want), there is a huge Sainsbury's Market, many cafes, restaurants, 'wet' markets (selling fruits, veg, fish, cakes, etc). absolutely awesome!!! :)

this is my room with the sunrise and the sunset.. beautiful :)

and to save $$$. haha i......

decided to 'design' my room in this manner during laundry days. Singing: ~this is the way i hang my clothes, i hang my clothes, i hang my clothes~~~

A New Term

My schedule for this new term isn't as good as the one that i had during my basic term. oh well, i shall not complain as it is considered to be better than others who will be having their practical lesson at 6pm -.- 

my practical lessons are all in one day and it is really tiring as we start from 8am to 3pm with lessons back to back (3 lessons a day). so you know, learning patisserie is not all that easy. in this industry, you have to wake up at the crack of dawn to prepare and bake all the cakes, breads, etc so that your customers get to buy them in the morning. i guess this is part of the training for me. the early hour as well as the long hours. Ganbatte~!

Demo / Prac 1 - Pate Feuilletee 1 (St Honore)

it is the 1st lesson and we have to prepare Pate Feuilletee (Puff pastry - one of the tedious pastry to make). my muscles ached after all the rolling of layers during the making of puff pastry. This will be used in Practical 2.

Then we moved on to making St Honore which is made up of puff pastry base and Pate a Choux at the side and Creme Chiboust in the middle.

the photo in the centre is my St Honore which is not good as i added the wrong proportion of milk for my creme. and my St Honore is not round.

Demo / Prac 2 - Pate Feuilletee 2 (Pithivier & Mille-Feuille aux Fraises)

just by the practicals that we had done so far, it feels like we are now working on perfecting what we had learnt in basic (making of Pate Feuilletee, creme patissiere, pate a choux, etc) and assemble a whole new type of cake out of all these basic recipes that we had learnt. and i am just so disappointed in myself for not remembering all the recipes that i had 'digested' in my brain when i was revising for my basic exam.

these are done my Chef M

and these are done by me which is not good as well =x

Pithivier (Puff Pastry with Almond Cream)

 Mille-Feuille (Pronounce as Mill-Foil)

A New Beginning

Since i had shifted, there are many things (toiletries, sauces, containers, etc) that i need to purchase. so i am kinda poor now. not that i was rich. hmm maybe considered rich enough in SG but super poor in London? lol but it (not referring to being poor but referring to marketing) was fun. i love shopping at supermarket. i love to dream of the many things that i wanna cook / bake and buy those ingredients that i need in order to make those dreams come true :)

As i was really busy during the past few days in school (because the day that i moved in, is the day that my intermediate course started) these are the meals that i had been preparing for myself mainly pasta. I had made Curry Chicken for dinner today (Yay! it can be strike off the list of dishes to be done) :) 

they are all so yummy i tell you. but they are just edible home cooked meals which obviously cannot be compared with restaurants.

tomorrow will be busy. the planned schedule goes like this:

1. Church

2. Chinatown in search for Macha powder, Glutinous Rice Flour

3. John Lewis or any departmental store to buy cranked palette knife, containers for salted eggs

4. Primark to purchase Laundry Bin 

5. Kilburn Poundland to buy Honey, Rolling Pin and Silicon moulds 

6.Tesco to purchase Cocoa Powder, Milk

7. Provision Shop to purchase Eggs!

Aim of the week: 

- to bake a loaf of Panda Bread with the leftovers to be made into Creme Brulee Panda Toast.

- Salted eggs.

- maybe Lime tart.

most important thing is to bring back my digital scale....should have gotten another one when there was a sale. 

anw time for bed. oyasumi.:)

xx