Hi.

Sorry I’ve been absent for a couple of weeks.  I spent my spare time studying for my final exam.  The exam was 2 days and came in a couple of parts.  We had to memorize recipes and methods for several dishes.  Have a timed practical with just ingredients given to you and you do the rest in the normal 2 and 1/2 hours + additional piping to demonstrate your skills.   You don’t know what your dish will be for the exam until you get in the door.  Our practical was the Genoise sponge layered with raspberry jam and a soaking syrup flavored with raspberry eau-de-vie.  This has a buttercream icing with buttercream and chocolate piping for decoration as well.  I used to love buttercream.  This one is made with eggs and sugar syrup brought to a softball stage of heat and an enormous amount of butter.  I always smell butter for sometime after I make a buttercream.   We’ll use this recipe a lot in my time here, but I no longer get excited for it.  The second day was theory (written) exam.  This one wasn’t killer but could have been if I hadn’t done some studying.  So there you have it.

I have 4 days off and Intermediate classes begin on Wednesday the 23rd.  Several chefs have warned us it won’t be as easy and we’ll all have to step up our game.  Ready.  Lets do this!  ( I keep saying that to psych myself up.)

But, even with exams I got a little extra curricular fun in….

Back on Monday the 7th, it was a Bank Holiday here and Joyce and I met up for lunch at Roast in Borough Market.  Excellent food and service.  Borough Market wasn’t open but that’s fine.  We weren’t in any hurry so sat and chatted for a while.  Very relaxing.

Joyce and Roast Beef and I had a wonderful spinach and ricotta tortellini with brown butter sauce.

We were back into class on the 8th with a demo for Macaroons (Italian Meringue) and Macarons (French Meringue), ganache and yep… Buttercream.   I was more partial to the French ones mostly due to the ganache center but we made and ate both!    We could decorate with chocolate and I started to but decided not it just didn’t look nice.   I also didn’t know this but Macaroons get better with age.  If you leave them for 1 -2 or even 3 days they are better.   I was still eating them at my flat a week later and they were great.  Eric Brown (FOX 13 News) told me before I left for London that I had simply never had a good macaroon if I didn’t like them. Which I did not at the time.   He was right of course.  These were pretty good.  All the flavor comes from the filling.

My pic is a little washed out but the green ones are Pistachio buttercream filled.

Our class didn’t start until 630p and Thursday so I practiced one of our exam recipes at home.  This is a Tarte au Citron (lemon meringue tart with Italian meringue.).  I don’t have a blow torch at the flat so had to use the broiler to toast it.

I had a piece for dinner before class.  Turned out nice.  Wish I had gotten this one for our exam piece instead of the Genoise.

On the 11th we had a demo for the English classic, Sticky Toffee Pudding with Sticky Toffee Sauce and Eton Mess. As it turned out, we never had to make either of these in a Practical class because our exam was the next up.  But the demo was nice and we get to taste everything.  Sticky Toffee is a new favorite.  The Eton Mess is interesting.  Not destined to be my favorite. A lot of whipped cream with flavoring and pieces of white chocolate and some fruit.  But if I was a kid I’d have probably loved it.  The old story has it that Eton Mess was a dessert served at Eton College (a private boys school for English elite.) Way back when, as an elegant dessert was being brought to serve the trays were dropped and in a panic the chefs pulled it all together so it didn’t look “neat” and appetizing any longer, but rather a “mess”.  No one really cared and the boys ate it fine.  So now it’s called Eton Mess.

Sticky Toffee Pudding and Eton Mess and Shortbread.  This is a nice way to serve the Eton Mess.  Otherwise it can be spooned out of a big bowl onto a plate with a few extras.  These are the Chef’s finished products from Demo Class. Had to grab a picture quick of the shortbread because we starting eating it so fast.

Friday the 12th was a laundry and study day for me.  I’m sure I made it to Hyde Park as well.  I use that as my main exercise spot almost daily.  I met some of the girls at Steak & Co. for dinner on Saturday evening.   I know I’m not a huge streak person, but this was delicious.  They give you a lightly seared cut with a hot rock and you cut pieces off and cook it yourself.  Very tender and really hit the spot.

Me and Joyce on the left and Ana in back on the right and Elaine in front.  Four women having steak.

My steak is still on the rock at this point.  The server had to come over and show me the process.  You move it over to the plate and then cut smaller pieces and cook them individually.  It’s an interactive meal.  Keeps you on your toes in a good way.

All we had on Monday the 14th was a technical class on chocolate.  Our first day of exams was Tuesday and the second day was Wednesday.  Wednesday evening .. after the exam.. we had a Demo class on 3 different types of truffles:  Truffles au chocolate blanc et Kirsch, Truffes au chocolate noir et Rhum and Muscadines (a praline truffle which was my favorite of the 3).

We had this Practical on Thursday afternoon.  We were all assigned to work in pairs since we were also learning to Temper Chocolate which is a very necessary skill and one we’ll use a lot from his point on.  Its tricky and I’ll be buying a lot of chocolate through Amazon to practice a ton of tempering at the flat.    On Thursday I was paired with Paula and we made the Truffe au Chocolate Blanc et Kirsch.  They got us through this class fast so we could get out early and the next day was graduation so I didn’t get to take a pic of our work, but I do have one from the chef.  In all honesty ours looked very similar.

Paula and I made ones similar to the white chocolate ones.  They came out pretty nice but the pralines on the far left are really good.  Addicting.

So this brings us to Friday, the 19th, and in addition to it being my sister’s birthday, I received my Basic Certificate in graduation.  (Yes, it was Ariana’s birthday on the 19th incase anyone forgot to wish her a happy birthday!).   I’m not really supposed to post a pic of anything that has the LCB logo on it but this is a group shot of some of us with 2 of our chefs.  Chef Nick is in the middle and Chef Nicolas is on the right.  Both good teachers and both nice guys and of course great chefs.   These ceremonies by the way aren’t what you would expect.  Far more laid back.  Couple glasses of wine and you receive your certificate and a handshake.  Perfect in my book.

From left Elaine, Ana, Me, Chef Nick, Ka Yi, Paula and Chef Nicholas.

After our certificate ceremony, our first glass of celebration was at the pub on the back patio of the school.  I should say we are missing Anja, Shivanni and Joyce who all went home for the long weekend.   We joined with the Culinary folks and wandered over to a restaurant called Lobster and Burger for dinner and more drinks.  I needed something substantial by then so there you are… more meat and a decent burger.

I got back home in time to talk to Bob and low and behold, an Audi R8 drove by my flat.  Go figure.  We used to own a 2010 version of this car and it was amazing with, frankly, better looking body design.  I still jokingly rub it in every chance I get that he sold it for the GT4 (at least I got to pick the color – blue).

I never drove it very much but really enjoyed it.  I used to drive it up the canyons early on Sunday mornings when Bob was out of town.  He told me to get it out for a spin.  So I did as I was told.

Saturday the 20th had to be a relaxing day and a picnic with Ana and Ka yi was prefect.  I met Ana at Borough Market and we picked up some bread, cheese, fruit and pastries. Then started to walk to Battersea Gardens but it turned out to be too far so we ended up going to Archbishops Park for our picnic.  Beautiful blue-sky day.  I would say about 85% of England watched the Royal Wedding with from their televisions or on big screens at some the bigger parks set up by the city.  We stayed quiet and nibbled on cheese and bread.

Only thing missing was the wine.

So there you have it.  I have to make some changes in my study routine for this next session.  I will not have the luxury of rewriting my Demo lessons prior to Practical.  These days are filled with more classes and more pressure because we are fitting it all into 4 1/2 week.

Talk later.

Mel