First Bad Day

First things first, we are real people again and have our own Internet and cable -- this blog is no longer operating off on an illegal Internet connection thanks to Time Warner Cable.

Now, for the not so hot part, school was not that great today. We started off by practicing our piping which actually went pretty well. I think that if I keep up my practicing at home, I may one day have talent in the piping area. Then we got into our groups and our chef showed us how to make pate de fruit. Now, do not kid yourself that you say this in the way that it appears to be spelt, we are in a French-based baking and pastry school here. Phonetically, pat do fru-ee, was a difficult combination of sugar and pectin, glucose and tartaric acid and a raspberry fruit puree. My group, which today consisted of three people, the extra member being a student you didn't come to class yesterday and who was late on the day we were given partners, had quite the time. We each measured out ingredients and I set up the cooking station but when it came time to actually begin cooking, the artist/bartender failed to read the recipe and ruined half our ingredients. So, we started again and I began warming up the puree, once it boiled, we added a small amount of sugar and pectin and let the mixture boil for about two minutes. Then we added the rest of the sugar and when that was mixed in, added the corn syrup-like glucose and waited until the liquid heated up to about 218 F. Now, the recipe very boldly stated that we should not let the mixture heat too quickly as it would not evaporate enough to set, but artist/bartender girl and the non-breathing late girl were adamant that our temperature was fine and it was not heating too quick. I felt differently but was over-ruled and so when the mixture was heated to 218 F, we poured it into a greased pan. Since I was doing the actual cooking, I didn't look at the recipe before we poured and so I didn't notice that we forgot to add one more ingredient before we poured...I noticed when I was cleaning up but by that time it was too late. We asked the chef if we should begin again but she said that the missing ingredient wasn't really necessary and that the mistake we made would allow the rest of the class to learn. She is right, but it is annoying to have made such a mistake and to be paired with people who are spaced out. I mean, one of them ate my snack. Seriously?! The pate has to firm up overnight so I guess we will see how it turns out tomorrow; Collin may have to eat my spoils... Anyways, it is only two more days with these two people and then hopefully luck will be on my side and I will get someone who really is into what we are doing. You know you have bad partners when you ask for a spatula and they can't pass one to you because they don't know what a spatula is...

After the horrible pate making, the class was supposed to watch a video on kitchen sanitation but we had a malfunction so our chef taught us how to cute onions. She informed us that she couldn't stand that pastry chefs usually don't know how to cut an onion; how could you not know how to cut an onion and be in culinary school?! Anyway, I finished my onion well ahead of everyone else, I knew the method and helped the girls around me with how to hold the knife and how to best cut the onion, so I guess that is a positive. At least I can make up for my forgetfulness by helping the others who are not sure of the basics that I do already know.

Tomorrow I am not sure what we are going to be up to. Hopefully our pate de fruit turns out, if not, I'm going to require a cupcake to cheer me up. A Big one.