Classes are back in full swing. Now that we’re all in intermediate cuisine and pastry, the recipes are getting harder and harder. This quarter, we’re studying regional French cuisine. Right now we’re in Normandy where they use gobs of butter and cream. I probably wouldn’t mind so much if it was cold outside, but right now when it’s so hot, I hardly want to eat a thing.

Today it was 32 degrees Centigrade. Tomorrow will be 34. Goodness only knows what that is in Fahrenheit, but needless to say, it’s hot. This doesn’t help us at all in pastry class. Earlier this week we made a wonderful passion fruit and raspberry tart – probably the best thing we’ve made so far. But the crust is extremely fragile since there’s a load of butter in it.

During our practical, the chef expected us to make the dough, immediately roll it out and place it into the molds. This was a nearly impossible task since the dough needs time to relax in the refrigerator before it’s ready to roll out. To make matters worse, the chef is standing over us and yelling. Of course my crust tears in a million different places as I’m trying to get it into the tart ring. I manage to get it back together, but the result isn’t pretty, and I get graded down at the end of class.

Group A managed to stay in tact this time around. Usually the school mixes up the four different groups, but we asked to stay together. We did lose one person though and she was replaced by Yoshi. Yoshi is Japanese and did his basic courses at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa. He seems to be pretty happy in our group, and we all like him.

The pasty chefs have already warned us about our pastry final. Evidently three students failed the exam and weren’t allowed into superior pastry. They would have to take the whole intermediate class over again – and pay for it. I spoke with one person who failed, and he said the reason was because he whipped his ganache (chocolate melted in cream) for the Opera cake. It seems so cruel that someone could fail for one tiny mistake. But perhaps there’s more to the story that what I heard.

Our schedule is pretty decent this quarter, but we have quite a few Saturday and late night classes. I don’t mind all that much if we have some more free time during the day. It just means I have more time to work on my tan or go on group field trips.

Stay cool!

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