I know it has been a while since I have posted. Life as a pastry student is quite a busy one. I am not sure my life will ever be the same again and that's OK! I have completed two courses since you last heard from me. The second course I completed was breakfast pastries. You know people really take these yummy foods for granted . You have no idea how much labor, and care goes into these amazing treats. Danish, Puff Pastry, Croissants, you name it we made it. The next time you eat a cheese danish or scone really take a minute to savor it because your chef
worked their but off to make it just right. Our final for this class was to produce two products. I made a braided danish with cheese and fruit filling as well as a sticky bun danish cake which was a favorite by far! It was so gooey and yummy! All in all I was not a big fan of this course. There were a few things I liked out of it but overall I felt the endless babysitting, turning and folding of danish, croissant and puff dough days on end was really annoying. I may learn to fall in love with it wherever I end up in the future but for now I still love desserts!The course after that was Petit Fours. Petit Fours include small cakes, tarts, mousses and cookies. Basically any small dessert you can eat in one to two bites. I LOVED THIS CLASS.
.. What is funny about this is that almost everyone hated this class. These items take many steps to be completed, but the end result is ohhhhh so good and very fancy looking. The pecan pie tarts, the frozen gelee's and mousses, and the cookies were to die for. I hope I will get to make more of these in the future. In each course we make 30 to 40 different items but only one time. So it will certainly take more practice to get them just right. These recipes we are learning are real quality!Learning the skills and material is great. However, we are also learning how to work in a typical kitchen environment. Here comes the dark side to my story. Hells Kitchen is in fact a real place on Earth and I am pretty sure you can find it in many places. Try stuffing 13 adults into a small kitchen for 7 hours a day for 6 months. P.S. I AM STILL LEARNING TO WORK WITH ADULTS, I spent the last 10 years of my life with children allllll day. Although, adults can sometimes be like children it is quite an adjustment for me. Now we have people of all ages, all walks of life, all levels of tolerance-this being the key point. Not to mention our Chef who has worked in high paced kitchens his whole life and has to often remind himself we are students. Some days Chef would work us to the bone as if we were "at work". Fast and furious, quick and exact, spotless but cluttered. If you missed any information in the 5 minute demonstration you were done. Thankfully we have teammates to help keep each other afloat. But if you or your teammate are having a bad day, feeling sick, not well rested, or simply have your mind somewhere else but at school you were looking at having a Hell's kitchen day. Unlike other jobs I have had you can't just muddle through the day you have to produce perfectly no matter what your circumstances are. We have had a handful of days like this, rough and tough, and wearing you down. I would walk away from class thinking "man I can't wait to get my paycheck from today" and then realizing "oh yeah dummy it's not work it's school, I AM PAYING THEM. " hahahaha But despite how painful the day was or how worked up we all could get over Chef or over each other it is worth the few days experience of seeing what a real fast paced kitchen is like. Not sure I am ready for that quite yet but we will see.
I have not doubt that I am learning from some elite chefs. I see the skill set they bring to the table is much higher and more modern from those of other schools. So I am thankful, however you do go in to class each day wondering is today going to be a Hell's Kitchen day or a Notter School learning day. Either way it's a learning experience and we have each other to help us get through! Teamwork is the truest form of Humanity. If you aren't there for each other, then you aren't even there for yourself. Take that food for thought until next time!
Here is most of our "team"! "The Notter Naughties-lol"
So my next course is Classical Cakes and Tarts, I can't wait to see what adventures will come next.
Bon appetit!- Layla
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