The First Exam...

Already another week has flown by- my roommates started back to school wednesday just as I was preparing for my first test in culinary school. Our first test like any other professional school consists of a written exam, but the difference for us is following the written exam we have a practical in which we make products that show our knowledge of the different methods chefs use in patisseries. This test covered sponge, creaming, and cut in method. These methods were demonstrated by producing not only edible but attractive almond macaroons, chocolate chip cookies, and buttermilk biscuits.

I was confident for the written portion of our exams and very at ease about the practical part. We had over three and a half hours to complete and present our products which aloud plenty of time to re-do products if necessary. As I said before I was not nervous about the exams, but the tension in the room was obvious especially for my younger classmates who just graduated from highschool. We were not allowed to talk or help anyone during any portion of the test which was difficult at times especially when I saw one of my friends chocolate chip cookie batches turn into something resembling a hockey puck, but a las I kept my mouth shut.

Over all the results for both my test were A's -a great confidence booster in deed! The next day we moved onto a very excited item called pate a choux, this is a french pastry that is cooked on the stove that is a save all in the kitchen. It can make appetizers , keep your mash potatoes creamy after freezing and thawing and is the base dough of eclairs and cream puffs. We made elcairs and swans (yes the bird) and filled them with chentilly cream and chocolate pastry cream. They were quite beautiful and I was disappointed that I have no pictures of my swans to share with you because my cameras battery died! I promise there will be plenty more photo opportunities for pastry swans to come! I did however manage to get some pictures of the scones, bicuits and quiche loraine we made earlier in the week that are featured above.

I also started my new job this week, and its just wonderful! The people I work at remind me so much of my days at my dads animal clinic and I'm catching on to the inventory system fast. My boss even gave me a free cake today that someone did not pick up. I wished I could have sent it directly to animal care clinic when I opened the box to discover a big sparklely pink pig cake! Donna Preston would have loved it just as much as my roommates love my work benefits!

So, pressing on and enjoying every minute of it!