I'm almost caught up! Yay! Lucy and Hannah - thanks for understanding! ^_^. I don't think I would've kept my sanity either if I'd tried to catch up last night! Wow! Hopefully I can get some good sleep tonight while still managing to catch up.
I had to wake up so early this morning for salad duty! We harvested rocket (arugula), salad burnet, tatsoy, turnip tops, mustard greens, chickweed, wood sorrel, pak choy, kale, and nasturtium flowers. All good stuff, despite the windy and misty weather. I don't mind having the chance to walk around the gardens and harvest things, but losing even an hour of sleep takes its toll. :( I've found myself eating a lot of chocolate today, so at least it's been keeping me awake - hah. I didn't have any time at all this morning to prep what I needed to make because I got to the kitchen at the exact time when we start the day's cooking (9AM), so from the getgo I was hopelessly behind. When I was starting the meat, I tried singing softly so that I wouldn't get too stressed out, and it actually worked really well! At some point I stopped and transitioned into being in the zone without realizing it. :)
I didn't finish until 12:45 or 1, and only sat down for my lunch until 1:15 (when an instructor told me to leave while I was cleaning). Yikes. It's all a learning experience! Here's what I made:
I didn't present much today, so I just have an action shot of my flaky pastry coming out of the oven. It's amazing how beautifully it puffed up! :D. Normally you'd cook the pastry on top of the stew, but Pam have me cook a couple cuts to put on top of a single portion. My stew wasn't even ready by the time demo started, so they were to no avail. Oh well.
I had to wake up so early this morning for salad duty! We harvested rocket (arugula), salad burnet, tatsoy, turnip tops, mustard greens, chickweed, wood sorrel, pak choy, kale, and nasturtium flowers. All good stuff, despite the windy and misty weather. I don't mind having the chance to walk around the gardens and harvest things, but losing even an hour of sleep takes its toll. :( I've found myself eating a lot of chocolate today, so at least it's been keeping me awake - hah. I didn't have any time at all this morning to prep what I needed to make because I got to the kitchen at the exact time when we start the day's cooking (9AM), so from the getgo I was hopelessly behind. When I was starting the meat, I tried singing softly so that I wouldn't get too stressed out, and it actually worked really well! At some point I stopped and transitioned into being in the zone without realizing it. :)
I didn't finish until 12:45 or 1, and only sat down for my lunch until 1:15 (when an instructor told me to leave while I was cleaning). Yikes. It's all a learning experience! Here's what I made:
- Beef and mushroom pie: well, this hasn't actually come to fruition quite yet. It took me ALL MORNING to get this thing into the oven. I had to trim down a really grizzly chunk of beef, toss it in flour, then sauté it in batches on a saucepan (thinking back now I should've had 2 saucepans on for goodness sake). I also had to sauté 6 or so onions and add them to the casserole dish with beef, deglaze the pan, and pop into the oven. I think it all took me 2 hours to prep, I was putting it into the oven at 11:00, where it had to cook for 1.5 hours at least, then I'd have to cool it and cover it with my flaky pastry and cook for 20 minutes or so again. :O. While it was cooking, I sautéed a gazillion mushrooms in batches yet again and added them to the dish at 11:45. Since I didn't have time
- Buttered cabbage: I managed to cook down a big head of cabbage while the beef dish stewed. Nothing special really, just wilted cabbage tossed in a bit of butter.
- Ganache: or should I say, chocolate butter. It took forever to whip up the ganache, which is equal quantities of heated cream that you melt chocolate in. Today I was supposed to whip it up and pipe rosettes with it, but sadly I turned away for a second to do dishes and when I came back it had started to go grainy on me. Pam let me take it home at least, so I nibbled on a bit tonight :).
I didn't present much today, so I just have an action shot of my flaky pastry coming out of the oven. It's amazing how beautifully it puffed up! :D. Normally you'd cook the pastry on top of the stew, but Pam have me cook a couple cuts to put on top of a single portion. My stew wasn't even ready by the time demo started, so they were to no avail. Oh well.
Demo was great today! Rory showed us how to butcher the end of a cow's side to get out the various steaks. Evidently this is a much more cost-effective way to purchase your meat because the butcher doesn't have to butcher it for you. I guess it's just the trick of having enough space to store and cut it up. In this great big cut of meat, you'll find flank, fillet, and sirloin, and LOTS of it all! Amazing! We're going to be cooking steaks on Thursday (though I'll be doing a lattice tart).
Rory also made a beautiful presentation of various smoked fish and even mussel, which is on the back of the plate. I liked his touch of adding the end of a fish tail from a whole smoked mackerel. I always love Rory's take on presentation. He emphasizes it much more than Rachel and Darina, which I find useful because the presentation of a dish is a diner's crucial first impression! Don't get me wrong, Rachel and Darina's presentations are lovely!! I think Rory just verbalizes multiple and specific ways of plating something with various garnishes.
Rory also made a beautiful presentation of various smoked fish and even mussel, which is on the back of the plate. I liked his touch of adding the end of a fish tail from a whole smoked mackerel. I always love Rory's take on presentation. He emphasizes it much more than Rachel and Darina, which I find useful because the presentation of a dish is a diner's crucial first impression! Don't get me wrong, Rachel and Darina's presentations are lovely!! I think Rory just verbalizes multiple and specific ways of plating something with various garnishes.
After demo, I went straight to do sourdough, as usual :). I've found myself loving the art of making bread! It's addicting! I'm not even eating it really (unless it's sourdough, which sits better in my tummy). I decided to try something new tonight and did a couple sprints and supplements in between folding my dough. I really enjoyed it! I'm definitely going to explore that option more from now on!
I can't believe we'll already by half-way through the week by tomorrow. Dang. Also tomorrow's our last wine lecture :'(. So sad! I've rumors of Champagne, so that'll be interesting!! :D. I hope everyone has had a lovely Tuesday! Sorry again it's taken me awhile to catch up, but I guess it's been for the best.
Sending lots of love home! Thank you for your comments!! I love seeing an email notification during the day about it - it makes me so happy!
Love,
Livvy
I can't believe we'll already by half-way through the week by tomorrow. Dang. Also tomorrow's our last wine lecture :'(. So sad! I've rumors of Champagne, so that'll be interesting!! :D. I hope everyone has had a lovely Tuesday! Sorry again it's taken me awhile to catch up, but I guess it's been for the best.
Sending lots of love home! Thank you for your comments!! I love seeing an email notification during the day about it - it makes me so happy!
Love,
Livvy