Its a Monday

When i woke up this morning i look through my bedroom window and guess what i saw?...more SNOW. Its Monday and its snowing AGAIN?!..i thought its spring so its gotta be over right but apparently mother nature is giving us more snow again.

Here are some of the pictures i took this morning:

What we were up to

Yday i went for lunch with fei, jing hao, rahim, mahrie and her boyfriend paul. Laura couldn't make it yday..she said she's too upset (coz her brother went back home in Mexico) so she had been crying and her eyes were red and small thats why she didn't want to go out and she was afraid they might make fun of her...haahahah silly girl.

We wanted to go to the sushi place @ Dalhousie st it was finally open when we wanted to go. We thought the buffet was for lunch but it was for dinner. Fei said maybe they had change it recently coz the last time she asked it was for lunch. We went to Coasters instead which is located @ Byward Market. The fish & chips is so good, the fish is so soft but the fries & calamari isn't that great. The ambience of the restaurant is nice its very cozy.

After lunch we went ard Byward coz they haven't look ard at Byward. Than we went to the park near the bridge of Quebec. We took lotsa pictures there.

Here are the photos of us..jing hao was too shy take pictures with us :




Me.



Me falling in the icy snow.



Me @ a park.



Me + Fei + Rahim



Me + Rahim




Me + Fei

Oh than we had Beavertales, its a Canadian thing. Its so gooood its like a donut dough but its flatten. I bought it with cinnamon and sugar topping, Fei bought the same as me, Rahim bought it with cinnamon, sugar and lime/lemon. Jing hao didn't buy it. The 3 of us really liked it a lot, i probably gonna buy it again during spring coz its nice when its warm but when its cold it taste okay. Next we gonna try the Poutine..Mahrie said we gotta buy the one on the streets its so much nicer.

Classes begins..

WHOAA!!! i can't wait!! Intermediate Pastry class is on April 2nd 2008. Gonna do something even more, more chocolates, more cakes, more breads and a lot more!!!! I'm very very very excited yet very very nervous. 2 more days to go than back to school! YIPEE!! my very first time i'm excited to go to school hahahhaha :D :D

Went out with a different clique

Today i went out with the m'sian students frm Cordon Bleu..Laura is back from Quebec. We went to watch "SHUTTER" i didn't get to see the original movie but the english version is good also, i thought it was gonna be scary but it wasn't so scary. I jump a few times but other than that its a good movie to watch. Than we sat at the food court on Rideau Center and chat for 2hrs. Just chatting and we didn't realize it was 8 30pm. When i got the bus ard 8 45pm reach the bus stop ard 9 15pm. The 'alley' i gotta walk in order to reach the house was so dimmed i was so scared but i thoughen up and walk very quickly coz the wind is so strong plus i didn't wear my leggings today so my legs are cold. Gonna meet up with them again tomorrow and laura to go to school to pick our lockers i'm still gonna pick the same locker. Hopefully no one has taken my locker.

After that i'm not sure where we'll go. Ouh laura's brother is gonna join us and he wants to buy some stuff downtown so i guess we're going shopping!

After Gradutaion Party

After dinner that nite we went down to meet the rest of Cordon Bleu students @ Urban Well. It was so much FUN we were LOUD bunch. Finally met up with some asian students frm Cuisine side. Fei, Rahim and Jing Hao they are from M'sia, Eddie and Hyunmin from Korea. I had a great time with them. Next term is gonna so much FUN i can't WAIT for intermediate pastry!!!!!



Photos of us @ Urban Well:


Eddie, Hyunmin & me.



Group Photo



Kiel & Me.

More Picture

My Basic Certificate



Us with our Certificates.



Me & Fei



Leftover petit fours

Graduation Day!

We had our graduation today @ 2pm, only 3 people showed to the graduation ceremony from Basic Pastry. Laura went to Quebec with her mum,bro &boifey, Ashley gotta work, 1 went back to Alabama, 1 couldn't make it,1 came but she didn't bring along her chef jacket coz her excuse was she didn't have a computer nor an email account so she didn't know. Well she if that was the case why didn't she have any initiative to ask someone from the office and ask if she needs to bring something along or what?! RIGHT!? If it was me and i didn't have my computer and i wanted to go to the ceremony i would have ask someone do i need to bring something along?

AAAhhh oh well thats her problem! who cares! Ok so the ceremony went well, there were some cheese & crackers, petit fours, some mixed fruit and hors d'œuvre i didn't really try it coz it didn't look appetizing to me..ooohhh i cld try it next time.Flow of champagne and fruit punch. So that was nice. Kiel's parents gave me a ride after that ard 620pm we (Kiel's parents,Kiel and me) met up with Valerie and her mum at a restaurant on Bank street (i think)..his parents paid for my meal..i don't feel comfortable about it but his mum offered so..i didn't say anything.

Here are some of the photos i took at the graduation:



Me & Chef Herve, a really nice Chef.



Me, Valerie, Chef Herve, Chef Jerome & Kiel.



Me & Rizza from Superior Cuisine & Pastry
(she did her Grand Diplome both at the same time)


Me and Kathy Shaw.


Me & Valerie


Us with our Certs!
Frm left: Valerie's mum, Valerie, Kiel, his mum Mary and ME!!


Us at Oz Bar/Restaurant.

I did pretty well i got a 71.11/100 class average is 67.58 so i think 71.11 is good enough.

I thought i screw up my bon d'economat but i didn't i got a 9/10, my presentation i got 16.3/20, technique 17.63/25, taste 19.56/25, organization is 12.5/20 now thats bad organization but i thought i was organize but apparently not. For exam marks i receive 74.99/100 and overall out of the whole term i got 71.11/100 not sure why. I didn't miss a class so we receive a pin for attendence so thats cool!!!


My Basic Patisserie Certificate!!


My attendence pin.

FINAL EXAM & PRACTICAL

Well today was my practical exam..pheeww glad its over & done. We just need to wait for a phone call tomorrow to let us know whether we pass or fail. If there is no phone call than we are safe meaning we have passed our basic patisserie.

Well i totally screw up my Bon d'economat which is basically a form we need to fill up, the ingredients and the quantity of each ingredients, from a list of recipe they have given us. And we need to memorize 10 recipe, i have mixed up my quantity from other recipe with the one i've picked. OH WELL!! its only 10 marks. The important part is the practical exam..there were some minor mistakes i've made luckily no major ones!! And i'm sooo sooo glad the exam is DONE!! i was so nervous just now but when i did the practical i was calm as i can be... :D

Well at least my border today is nicer than the one i did in class... :D :D :D

This is my FINAL EXAM presentation:

Miroir Cassis

BTW the list of practical exam is:

1. Charlotte aux Poire

2. Eclair's & Religiesus

3. Miroir Cassis

And the list we need to remember was:

1. Pave du Roy

2. St Honore

3. Tart Citron

4. Gateau Basque

5. Miroir Cassis

6. Eclair's & Religiesus

7. Gateau Foret Noire

8. Charlotte aux Poire

9. Tart Souffle

10. Succes

Class photo

OhMyGoodness!! I look so weird in this photo..hhahahah us malay have a saying that if you eat a lot of chicken neck your neck will be tilted to either right or left depending on which you eat the most, i guess i have eaten my share of left chicken neck. So my neck is always tilted when i take pictures...ahahahahahh not sure if this old grandma tale is true or not but its a funny tale to tell.. =]

Le Cordon Bleu Paris, Ottawa

Basic Patisserie 2008.

Oh by the way i uploaded this using my web camera that's why the colour contrast looks so weird also i edited it wif some other software.

The house is leaking and the snow is still around...

When i came home from school on thursday afternoon i saw a leak on the kitchen ceiling. But i think Kiel(my room mate) saw it too, he called his mum i guess. His mum ask him to try and remove the snow on the roof. There is REALLY ALOT of snow in our backyard. Then his mum ask him to ask some of his friend to clear the snow off. I guess he called one of his friend a certified contractor to do it (thats what he said). And he came by he check everything i dont know why/where the leak came from and i dont know whats the story until he have to hammer the ceiling and now there's a hole in the ceiling. He (kiel) told us (me & vernette) dat the person will come by and do the ceiling but its already been 2 1/2days,he said he'll come by in 1day and do it but he have not came by yet...haizzz..

Me & Vernette rented 2 movies that day, we rented "no country for old man" & "the nanny diaries" both movie is good but i wouldn't watch it at the cinema. We bought bbq chix pizza @ pizza pizza its quiet nice uh..

Practice Time!!

Today is the day that we need to practice for our practical exam on which lesson we aren't sure of so,its a free lesson but we already told the chef what we want to practice again.I re-did my Eclairs and Religieuses. The first time i didn't do it correctly, the choux puff have a big hole at the bottom and to make matters even worst it happen again today! But chef told me that i grease the tray with to much butter.

And my speed is still not quick enough i was late serving it 3 minutes..its alright to serve it 3 minutes late BUT not 7 mins late or else you'll FAIL! I think its because i went down to take my pastry bag and i waste some time ard 8mins top. If i didn't go down to collect it i wld have serve it on time.

Its the first time i'm doing the fondant by myself coz when we did this i was so behind time my partner did it for me. So THANK GOODNESS i did this again!! Or else if we had this for the exam i would have not known what to do with the fondant. I keep asking the chef so now i think i know what the fondant's texture & consistency is.

So IF i had this for the exam i need to remember:
1~DONT OVER GREASE THE TRAY.
2~DONT TURN THE TRAY IF THE CHOUX IS NOT THOROUGHLY COOK ALL AROUND.
3~DONT HEAT THE FONDANT TOO MUCH OR ELSE IT WILL LOOSE ITS GLAZE
***BUT IF YOU OVER HEAT IT YOU COULD PUT MORE FRESH FONDANT**IF ITS TOO THICK YOU COULD POUR SOME SIMPLE SYRUP SO IT WILL BE SLIGHTLY THINNER.**AND ITS ALWAYS AT BODY TEMPERATURE.
4~TRY TO GLAZE IT NICELY.

Other than that i think/hope i did everything okay today. Sorry no pictures i was trying to do it quickly until i forgot to take some photos. :) :)
WISH ME LUCK!! <3>

What a day..

This morning i was searching all over my room, my pocket jeans, the washer & dryer and the house for my locker key and i couldn't find it. Then when we reach school only to find out that i didn't even LOCK my LOCKER!! OH MAN!!! But thankfully nothing was stolen. What i have in my locker was my tool kit, my camera (old nikon 2100) and my safety shoe. Nothing was worth stealing for except for the very expensive tool kit!..Pheewww! at least nothing was stolen/taken out of my locker..everything was the way i left it. And it was a long weekend coz we didn't have class on fri,sat,sun & mon.

I planned to go back to school last friday coz i left my camera and i was thinking shd i go to school to take my camera home or shd i just wait till tuesday. And i choose to wait and now i regret not going back to take my camera. BUT nothing was stolen so no worries... :D :D :D
And ouh btw the canal is OFFICIALY CLOSED since march 5th 2008...!!! :(

Lesson 19: Choux Pastry

The last lesson for Basic Patisserie!! WOW! i can't believe its already been 3 mths and its the last one. We had to make St Honore, which is basically choux puff on top of a shortcrust dough. Its filled with a Chiboust Cream, which is pastry cream (custard cream) with italian meringue, which is whisked egg whites and cooked sugar.

My choux paste i didn't overcooked it like the last time i did eclairs. But i did burn 2 of my fingers while dipping the choux puff in caramel.. but this time i was smart enough to quickly dip my fingers in ice bath at least its not stinging that much.

For this practical i had no problem piping with the St Honore tip, like the one i made lemon tart was difficult because my meringue wasn't stiff enough to hold the pattern. The chef said my St Honore is good. Presentation is good (4pts), Montage is good (4pts), Chiboust Cream is also good (4pts). Overall i got a good grade for my St Honore :) :) :)

Ouh by the way we got to make spun sugar!!!! ITS SOO MUCH FUN!!!

Here is my presentation of St Honore:

Lesson 18

Its the second last lesson for the Basic Course..only 1 more lesson to go. Actually there is another lesson but the last lesson is for us to practice which lesson we are not sure with. And we can practice it for the upcoming practical test. And the last lesson will be St. Honore! Whooaa that will be tough but i can't wait to practice my choux paste again...coz that didn't go well the last time i made it.

Y'day lesson was Charlotte aux Poires & Entrements aux Poires (Pear Charlotte & Genoise Sponge with pear). Mine turn out fine, no bad remarks from the chef. Everything turns out good. Presentation is good but if i got this for exam i need to remember to use a small star tip coz mine was to big. Taste: this is nice its made of Bavaroise Cream & pear puree & cubes pears in between, surrounded with ladyfingers sponge.

Here is my presentation of Charlotte aux Poire:

And the Results is......

We had a written exam last thursday, 28 February. I thought the paper was easy enuf..we went through the answers today. What really suck was that i keep changing the answer for the true or false part and i got like 4 wrong answer..and if i didn't change it i cld have gotten it right..haizz. But the MCQ (multiple choice questions) most of it i got it right. Than match the correct answer i got 5.5/10 and some qns abt temperature i've got 5.7/10...so overall i did alright.

Could have done better but it was okay..eventhough its only 10% out of everthing its a free grade. I think i got a B for this test. So i guess i shdn't be hard on myself i still pass the test rite. :D :D :D

Lesson 17

Today we made Pave du Roy (jaconde sponge with ganache). The Chef instructor made Pave du Roy and Entrements Casino (biscuit sponge rolled with blueberry jam and cream bavaroise). The ganache cake is normal to me but the Entrements is really what i have never seen b4 or at least in SG i've never seen it. The taste for the Entrements is like eating a jell-o cake but smoother the texture is smooth but when you bite into it, it will taste like a soft jell-o.

My Pave du Roy is good. The sponge is spread evenly, the ganache is enough but the top part was slightly uneven. The chocolate deco needs to be clean coz i leave a fingerprint marks (coz i have hot hands so my fingers sticks to the chocs). The deco on top i need to press the comb a bit deeper coz in the middle part i didnt press it deep enough so the pattern didnt show that much.

My presentation of Pave du Roy:



Decorated


Not decorated.


Chefs Entrements Casino: