This week the angels must have been smiling on me. I found out my countertops that were no where to be seen might actually be installed the first week of May. They orginally didn't know when they would even show up in Omaha, let alone my kitchen. Then, I got out of class early on Wednesday night!! Can you hear the choir sing??? I know I was singing when I rolled in by 10 that night. 10! Not midnight, not even 11. I was home by the evening news--or Chelsea Lately--which is what we watch instead of the news for the third time. Love me some Chuy. Anyway, my midterm was on Wednesday night. I had it all planned out and had practiced which is unusual for me. Generally I like to let my adrenaline kick in and take me away or it could be that I'm lazy. Either way I should have trusted my instincts. I made a lemon tart, little butter cookies, and an apple and brie bite that I winged that night. We were given a half and hour to mise en place (set our stuff up) which allowed us to make some doughs that needed to be chilled and prepare some other ingredients. Then we had to stop for another half hour--the dream team worked straight through which I'm not quite sure about...chopping nuts, cooking something on the stove... Oh well, anyway, then we were off to the races. Literally people were racing around. Me included. I started with my lemon tarts, which, mind you I had practiced with great success at home. Well, the crusts puffed up too much in the oven and the lemon curd never fully set. Tasted great but a bit runny. Would have been great on ice cream. My cookies turned out but she didn't like the filling. Her tech that graded with her did, I did, but she did not. She gives the grades so that who counts. If I hadn't practiced at home I wouldn't have changed the recipe. See? No more practicing. She really liked them though. The apple brie bites were pretty good considering I made them in 20 minutes with no recipe. The only criticism was that I should have heated them a bit. I was finished at 8:30 without a minute to spare. I don't know why I hurried though. There were people putting stuff in the oven and cooking things on the stove at 8:30. There were only two of us done on time. If I knew I could take all the time I wanted, I would have slowed down and finished my damn curd. Chef had a chat with each of us about our project. I don't know if our chat was a C chat or a B-/B+ chat. No clue. You should have seen some of these people's things. Our class ringer produced tuille cookies shaped like ice cream cones and put them in a decorated basket like a children's birthday party. She is quite amazing and she works full time and she has kids at home. Wow.
When I walked in to class on Thursday I was coming off a full night's sleep. I hadn't prepared at all for our Hollandaise final. I just figured I'd work though it and hopefully everything would work itself out. This class has been one of my favorites. By far the hardest work and most taxing but I really like it. I think it really helps when you have a great group. Maybe it's a comfort level thing too. I'm just way more comfortable in front of a stove than an oven apparently. The practical exam was straighforward. Produce a nice tasting, beautifully textured sauce in an hour. Maybe even 90 minutes. I can't remember because we all did--in one try--in about 30 minutes. Even me. I, who broke six sauces last week, produced a nice sauce in no time. I think I even got one of the better grades too. Ken (the class hollandaise ringer) finished first and therefore got to skip dishes and go home early. I would have saved that chit for a day we were running late. There was some negotiating to do there. Maybe he is just a nicer, less devious person than I. After our exam we marinated and brined all sorts of things. We made salad dressings. Then we grilled and sauted and pan fried. My group was all women. The minute we stepped up to the grill every single man in the class asked us if we were doing okay. Did we know what we were doing? Did we need any help? Have you never seen a woman at the grill before? Apparently not. Our meat was grilled perfectly. Lesson of the day--never mess with a group of women at a grill. Noted. Thank god the meat was perfect or we would have never heard the end of it. Thank you Laura. We sat down to a feast. Dishes done, no problem. AND I was home by 4. Cue the choir...
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