Cuts Scratches and Burns: Last Day of School

Friday, December 13, 2013

When Will I See You Again? When Will We Share Precious Moments?

Is this my beginning or is this the end?
(The Three Degrees - When Will I See You Again)

Intermediate Lesson 30- Corsica

Today we had the final demonstration class for the Cordon Bleu Intermediate Cuisine program. Similar to the Basic program, the final class in intermediate had no practical, which meant ~~no one was paying attention~~ I wasn't paying attention. Hey at least I was here. 5 people out of our 19 person program didn't even show up for this 8:30am demonstration class.

The region of focus today is Corsica, the beautiful Mediterranean Island north of Sardinia. Poor Corsica, despite its majestic ocean views and pristine mountains, Cordon Bleu relegated it to the last class with no follow-up practical. Let me tell you something about their cuisine.... Actually, I can't for the life of me tell you what we learned today. Sorry. I think they have a lot of tasty black pigs. I've eaten the black pigs in Sardinia, which were delicious, so I bet the Corsican ones must be delish as well.

Oh, we did learn something interesting- Zucchini flowers, which, if my memory serves me correctly, are the flowers of the zucchini plant. Yes. I bet you didn't know that from its name. And it is also... damn, completely forgot everything else about it.

Zucchini flower. Very interesting stuff.

but what did we use this for again?

Oh I remember now, it's excellent for frying, so we used it in the Vegetable Fritters dish. This dish reminded me of the Japanese Tempura fried vegetables.

What I can tell you is we had sparkling wine at the end of the class. This I remember. So much for my last class ever in Le Cordon Bleu.

YAY for celebration!

The end of the class was actually quite touching, because this was the last day that we would definitely see everyone from class today, well at least the people who showed up. Everyone has different start time tomorrow during the final, so we probably won't see each other, and although there's a graduation ceremony next week, a lot of people will be skipping it. After the demonstration, we all huddled and gave each other hugs, drank sparkling wine, and took lots of photographs. This was also the first time that I stood behind the chef's demonstration table.

Band of Misfits. It has been grand guys and girls. Thank you!

I just want to say that we also will miss the folks who didn't show up.

Christian, Gulnazi, Martin, Meng, and Random-Chinese-Guy-I've-never-talked-to

Once class ended, I went back to my favorite café near school Le Vaugirad and started studying again. We have an afternoon to study before our exams tomorrow morning. Unlike in basic, I've barely practiced most of the dishes for the exam, and I'm just hoping that the muscle memory that I've acquired throughout the last two months will come into handy.

This photo doesn't look staged at all

Hopefully I'll be fine.

Quote from today's class:

"The little blag pig of Corsica. A very pretty little animal. Wears a thick black robe. Not a robe like on a French woman. I mean the skin. It's got grey droopy ears, a bit chubby. You just wanna pick it up, take it in your arms and cuddle with it."

-Demo Chef Caals,

On the Coriscan Black Pigs

"Don't be worried about the exam! See this quote? 'Athlete leave only records behind!' I like the quote, almost as much as the photo."

-Demo Chef Caals,

Showing us one of those motivational pictures from a magazine.

The accompanying photo is of a very sexy scanty clad woman

Not sure how it relates to the quote
or how this is suppose to motivate us for the exam.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Beauty School Dropout, Missed Your Midterms and Flunked Shampoo!

Turn in your teasin comb and go back to high school!
(Grease- Beauty School Dropout)

Lesson 30- The Finale

Today's our last demonstration class in Basic Cuisine. There is no practical class to follow this, and it was clear that demo Chef Stril was just having a lot of fun. He always liked to crack jokes but this time he was just on a roll, poking fun at the assistant, translator, the food, students, himself... everything. Honestly I suspected that he was probably drunk. And he still managed to whip up two amazing and complex dishes: Baked Alaska and a Herbal Crusted Lamb Chops. That's why he's Grandpa Bear!

Chef Stril's Baked Alaska (Omelette norvégienne)

Delicious Herbal Crusted Lamb Chops

Baked Alaska always has a special place in my heart. I remember for my 16th birthday my family brought me to Locke-Ober in Boston (R.I.P.) and pre-ordered a Baked- Alaska. I will never forget the excitement of the entire restaurant when the waiter poured the flaming liquor over the cake and the entire thing lit on a blue fire. Thank you Elaine for planning that birthday. Too bad we didn't get to make this today.

The reason why we didn't have practical today was that exams start the next day. Truth be told, I haven't been taking studying too seriously. Come on, it's cooking, right? We have 10 recipes to memorize. On exam day, we will randomly draw one of the recipes, write out the exact quantities of each ingredient, and then cook it by heart. We will also have a "technical" test in which we all have to cut an artichoke and cook it, which is actually quite complicated.

I figured it wouldn't be that hard right? I mean we've done every dish on the exam. And then as I started studying on Monday (already very late, most people started 2 weeks ago), I realized there's a lot of stuff to memorize, and it's so easy to get the ingredients mixed up. Crap. I am suddenly facing the prospect that I may actually FAIL cooking school.

Can you imagine my conversation with my friends or future colleagues?

Friend: I heard you went to cooking school.
Me: Nah, I flunked out.
Friend: Holy cow, was it really hard? What did you fail? Butchering a cow? A super complex molecular gastronomy dish?
Me: I failed at cutting an artichoke....
Friend: Wait, really?

This sounds just as ridiculous as that Grease song "Beauty School Drop Out"-
Beauty school dropout,
No graduation day for you.
Beauty school dropout,
Missed your midterms and flunked shampoo!

HOLY SHIT I'M BASICALLY GOING TO FLUNK SHAMPOO!! I didn't survive 4 years of college and 2 years graduate school only to fail artichoke in COOKING SCHOOL. No graduation day for me????

So yeah, since Monday I've been in lock-down mode and studying at home. I also went to the Luxembourg Garden to do some studying. I couldn't have gone through 3 years of French in Action and not study in Le Jardin du Luxembourg.

Here's to you, Prof Pierre Caprez

I still can't get over the fact that I am memorizing "2 carrots, whole. 2 onions, whole. 2 medium leeks, whole. 1 celery stalk. 2 Garlic clothes. 1 Bouquet Garni." Whatever, I just don't want to fail cooking.