Day 43

Last day of 2nd week, 2nd day at pastry..

We did our daily routine, slice bread, heat up sauces, prepare equipments, unmould parfait, bring to top table pantry, plate and come back down for mise en place..

Today we made pastry cream! As next week dessert is espresso profiteroles, we have to make the coffee diplomat cream for the profiteroles. We had a extremely good news! Due to all the choux we made yesterday, we had enough to last the whole week! No more choux to pipe^^

Chef T taught us how to make the cream.. Its was a simple process yet tiring for arms as the cream will get thicker and thicker.. Which means it will get heavier.. And I almost burn my cream due to the induction stove.. =.= Oh well. Almost. Phew.

Then we make the coffee extract using coffee powder and water.. WOW. If all extract is made this way, I gonna save lots of money!!! $.$ ka-ching! Haha. Anyway, we can't mixed them together till Monday so the cream is considered done.

After break, we make strawberry shortcake! First we slice the strawberries to the desired size, then we make the cream and have some simple syrup standing by.. We start by cutting the cake into half to create layers.. Then we spread some syrup on it to keep the cake moist.. Next, we spread the cream.. It's very difficult for me -.-" Keep getting it wrong and have the cream on the wrong side of the pallet knife.. Haha. After spreading the cream, put some strawberry and spread more cream.. This is even more difficult than the previous ones.. -.- Then we put the other half of the cake on it and spread cream on the whole cake.. Including the sides.. Then we put some almonds flakes at the sides.. And viola! The cake is finally completed! Yeah~ Then we decorate the cake with chocolate :D Too bad we can't try that.. Aww..

Then after that we make macaroon.. Using meringue.. So fun. But its piping again.. -.- Lucky its not me who is doing the piping.. Haha. Then we bake inside the oven.. And we have food tasting! Yum yum :D

Day 42

First day at pastry side, under chef T ^^

He briefed us on what we'll be doing everyday.. For his side, we'll be producing for the top table dessert and some cake orders..

So the first thing we did is make some sauces.. Dark chocolate sauce and caramel sauce.. Then we slice the bread for upstairs in top table.. Slicing is so fun when you know the right techniques.. Hehe.

Since it's our first day, we went up to show the people upstairs how to plate the parfait and learning how to plate at the same time.. It's the exact same thing that I ate on Tuesday, my dining experience ^^

Chef plated one for us and the service people to see then he told us to make another sample.. It looks a little different from what chef did but is similar.. Hehe. After that we go back to the kitchen to make pate e choux to make profiteroles for next week menu.

The choux is really X.X I sucks at piping.. And today I piped the most things =.= So ugly.. But I managed to get the hang of it after many trays later.. And I didn't use the stencil anymore.. I think I had enough of all that choux. Haha.. And the piping..

Day 41

Early in the morning, we had our test.. It was a written test, we just have to list out the steps so its quite easy.. Since there's only 12 of them :D

After the test, we moved on to the daily production.. I made pound cake! The process is quite fun and messy.. Hehe.. Can't be helped..

So my partner measured out the batter for the cake while I add the streusel to it.. Its a two layered cake! Then we bake off.. Today is the last day at the baking side.. Tomorrow will be switching to pastry! More food!!

I also made some doughnuts.. The doughnut balls and the square ones.. Frying them is a piece of cake! Wanna try them though.. Too bad..

We had some food testing then we went for the daily lecture.. AND we got another homework.. Finding out information on log cakes such as its name.. Haha.. We sure have interesting homework in this course!

Day 40

I think I'll try to forget all my unhappiness by updating on my so long forgotten days in school..

Day 40. 2nd day 2nd week of baking and pastry..

Can't really recall much.. Even though I'm refering to my notebook.. 2 very important things: I having my dining experience at top table with C.L and J. Then we also have a demo on plain biscuits, how to make them using the folding method to create layers and how to plate it..

Since my little experience of the fine? dining starts at 11.30am and the demo of the biscuits end at 11.20am, my little plated biscuits filled with cream, strawberry and something else will being reserved till I'm back..

This week menu consists of:

Appetizer
Mesclun Salad Tossed with Lemon Parsley Vinaigrette Egg Yolk And Chapon
OR
Soup
Onion Soup Gratineé

Main Course
Braised Veal Cheek in Madeira Sauce with
Whipped Potato & Roasted Root Vegetable
OR
Pan Seared Cod with Ratatouille, Beurre Blanc and Pilaf Rice

Dessert of the Day
Hazelnut Nougatine Parfait Served with Apricot Vanilla Compote

I had the onion soup, pan seared cod and mocktail of the day, the dessert and english breakfast tea.. As I have prepared some of the dishes before like the onion soup, parfait etc, I have an idea of how they taste like..

The food are good, but the service is a little unstable.. But who can blame them? The service staff are only here once a week unlike us who are in the kitchen every single day.. Okay, I shall now evaluate the food better.. Haha.

Just like any other fine dining restaurant, bread are served before the start of a meal.. The bread are made by us, the baking and pastry people.. Haha. Foccacia is nice, I like the taste.. Its a savory bread with onions and some other ingredients on top of the bread.. Kinda taste like pizza.. Actually all bread are good, the only thing I don't like about them is that its cold.. When it supposed to be at least warm..

Amuse bouche for the day is vichychoise, which is also known as the potato and leek (cold soup). I've tried this during the buffet we had the other time and I don't really like the taste but this time round, the flavour is very good. I can really taste the potato and the leeks, yeah I know its potato and leeks soup but the flavours will tend to be different when its cold compare to hot.

The onion soup however is a little disappointing.. I had fallen in love with onion soup since the first time we made it in the skills camp, so naturally I had a little higher expectation of the soup.. It wasn't seasoned enough and the flavour of the onions didn't come out enough..

The main course, cod was slightly undercooked.. Chef L's is cooked just nice, mine is slightly under then J's is almost raw.. Then he had to reject his to get it done right.. The fish is good with the sauce but my sauce is kinda little so by the time I get to the end of the fish, it didn't taste that well.. The pilaf rice served with the fish required more salt, otherwise it tasted just like any rice? Haha.. Maybe with more butter flavour compared to the usual plain rice..

Parfait, there's only one word to describe it, PERFECT! Simply loved it ^^ It wasn't too sweet, the texture is very smooth and creamy, melts in the mouth.. So sad that the portion is so small.. Well, I bet the chefs will say too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing~ But still.. I WANT MORE!!! Haha.

My tea, I saw the packet says black tea, so i assumed that the tea will turned out to be black.. =.= So silly.. When I add the sachet to the hot water and it didn't turn black, I was a little surprised.. Then chef saw that blank looked on my face and asked, then I realised there's no such thing as a BLACK tea, you know, the tea is black in colour.. Haha.

Did I mention that throughout the whole experience my file, my pen, my hat and everything else that was on my lap kept dropping to the floor? -.-" So irritating.. Anyway, in conclusion, I had a great time at the dining experience, especially since I get to escaped from the canteen food for a change..

When I'm back to the kitchen, I made brownies.. At the end of the day during debrief, we were told that we will be having a test on the 12 steps of bread making.. We also have homework, we have to research on how to make carrot cake, mooncake, history of mooncake etc.. Haha. Then I ate my biscuits :)

Day 39

Okay.. Now I shall continue on my long lost entries.. Haha.

Day 39. 2nd week of baking and pastry.. Will be changing to pastry in a few days time.. Enjoying the joy of baking now that I've gotten the hang of it.. Haha.

Today supposed to be my dining experience at the Top Table.. Was so looking forward to eating those nice food, then I was told that it was being postpone! So in the end had to eat the canteen food again which is like ............. So enjoyable. -.-"

Made chocolate chips cookies, muffins and oatmeal cookies today.. Plus some others I can't really recall.. And mise en plus for tomorrow..

There's nothing much to say except that I've learn a new way of making cookies.. Hehe. I was following my friend method when my chef came over and taught me a easier and faster way to do it. The end result is the same but the procedures are different..

Many ways to look at things.. It may appears to be this but it might be something else.. It depends on how you look at it.. Didn't know that making cookies can be a very meaningful thing to do.. Haha.

Then do mise en place for the biscuits tomorrow.. And that's the end of the day..

Day 38

3 man down today.. Means more work to do.. We almost 4 man down due to the thermometer that was spoilt. Luckily, there's no fever.. Or else I really can't imagine 3 people doing 7 people work.. Phew.

Become muffins people again.. Cause lack of people.. Blueberry muffins become cranberry muffins.. Haha. We ran out of blueberry so we changed it to cranberry.. Now the batter become red.. Haha.

Made mudslide cookies.. Expected, my chef jacket is full of chocolate stain.. Melting chocolate is fun.. Too bad can't eat it.. I don't know why today I'm so blur that everything do quite slowly.. Then keep asking chef if I'm doing the right thing.. So I keep getting the answers like, this is what day already? De? Where's your common sense? Haha. But I still keep asking anyway.. I say I never make muddslide before so I ask to confirm then chef say I should know by now.. Haha.. Who ask the first batch fail give me pressure?

So I make a mess of my jacket, complete the mixture, scoop into portion and let them rest before I shape them.. Then I move on to prepare the brownies.. When the muddslide set, I shaped it.. And I continue to make brownies..

When I'm done, went to help with bread making.. I really enjoyed making bread. Hehe :)

Did some mise en place for Monday.. No lecture today!! Haha.. Had food tasting then went home..

Day 37

4th day in baking. 2nd day making bread.

2 man down today, more things to do, more stress..

Made pate a choux.. The process of making the mixture is easy.. Its only the piping part.. I realised I really had no talent in piping stuff.. We used stencil to ensure that the sizes are the same, however, the stencil doesn't really have any use to me.. It looks easy but its not.. The amount of pressure applied to the piping bag is very important..

I see my friends pipe like so easy, everything come out very uniform.. Then when I try.. Its either worm or some messed up shapes. -.-" And it supposed to be circle.. When I finally get the hang of the shape, its either too fat or too small. Another -.-" Sigh.

For the bread side, basically is just make some breads.. The steps for making bread are all the same.. Mix, ferment, cut, rest, roll, proof, done. But its very fun! I like to fold the dough and roll the dough.. Hehe. Entertaining.. We can't handle the dough for too long though.. We make some soft rolls, focaccia, walnut and dates bread..

Even though there's lesser people in our team today, everything still went very smoothly.. And we completed everything on time! I can't really remember what else we did though.. Too much for a day.. I just know that at the end of the day, me and steph was told to explain how to make pate a choux during lecture.. -.-"

So during lecture, we take turns to explain the steps.. And of course, we received some weird questions.. Questions that I don't know the answer.. So I just use my knowledge to answer, and some are wrong.. Haha. Expected. I don't know what to say in front of the group that I sort of keep repeating the same thing.. Everything is caused by the eggs and the air.. -.-" That's very funny.. The answer that I received from my chef before I left class doesn't help at all during the "questioning".. Anyway, I think we did a good job today..

After lecture, went to discuss the cc.. I'm soooo tired..

Day 36

3rd day! Survived half the week.. YEAH~!

Today from the muffins people, I became the bread people.. So start off with making ciabatta? a kind of bread.. Mise en place was already prepared by the previous bread people so just need to measure the water.. However, its at 25degrees.. -.-" I have to add quite alot of ice to reach the temperature.. Dots. Then put into the mixer.. Get scolded again by almost using the wrong machine.. -.-"

After the dough is done, we let it ferment and went to make the tortilla dough.. And roll it into balls.. At first I not sure how to do it, the surface didn't come out smooth enough.. Then chef show me how to do it and it became a piece of cake! Haha.. So fun to roll things.. :)

When the fermentation is done, we fold it and let it ferment again. After that we cut it into 8 parts and let it rest for 10mins.. After that we stretch and put in on hotel pan. And proof it. Then went to do stewarding awhile then move on to bagels.

Making the bagels using the mise en place prepared.. Once the dough is done, we bring it to the table and start to fold and roll it.. Then we make them into long rolls and make a ring to form the bagels. So fun. Just like the tortilla dough, once you got the hang of it. Its really easy to do and you can complete it faster.

Then we prepare mise en place for foccacia. I sliced the onions.. Sad to say, they're not very uniform.. After skills camp and production stock side, I didn't really cut alot onions.. Haha. And I can't cook at home for the past 1 month.. So rusty. Haha.. Anyway I mixed it with the olive oil and roast inside the oven.. That's about all the things I've done today..

We didn't have food tasting today cause we were late for lecture.. Sigh. I was really looking forward to eat all those freshly baked food.. But no choice.. Sigh.. Lecture was quite funny today.. We laugh alot.. Haha..

After that went to see our mentor for comis challenge and listen to the answers for the test.. I realised I got alot of the questions wrong. -.-" My grades sure going to be humilating. I have to rush off earlier from the meeting cause I had something on.. As I was late already, I ran in the rain. Guess what? The so called safety boots that can walk on slippery surface without making you slip, made me fell. Both my knees scratch and bleed. It had been quite long since I last fell, I wasn't enjoying at all. -.-" And my boots one of the tip got chip off. XX -.-" The worst thing is, I can't find my new shoe polish to attempt to cover it..

I'm just so tired and hurt.

Day 35

2nd day.. It is not any better than yesterday.. Still get scolded as much.. Except for different reasons..

Made muffins again today.. Completed in less than an hour.. YEAH~! I managed to turn the tray around without dropping anything.. :) Then after that we were told to do stewarding and the muffin batter..

The batter.. Measuring the amount required is okay.. Except for the part where I mixed up the baking soda and baking powder.. -.-" When it comes to making the batter.. It is really DOTS. We're doing it for the first time so assembling the equipment is already a problem. Same goes for incorporating the mixture.. We didn't know when to add what and the speed for the mixer so naturally we do the wrong things.. And we got scolded for doing wrong things and too slow.. For the batter I think we spent more than 1hour mixing it.. -.-" But at least now we know what to do in the future..

Then I scoop the chocolate cookies dough to form cookies, cut the 1-2-3 dough, prepare mise en place for bagels, and more stewarding.. That sums up the whole day.. At the end of the class, we have food tasting session! Finally.

Chef starts by going through all the breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, strawberry truffle, lemon meringue tartlet, bagel and creme brulee.. Telling us how to see if they're being cooked in the right way.. Then we get to taste them.. All tasted not bad.. I like the flat bread! Extremely nice..(^.^)

Supposed to have baking lectures but we didn't read up on the topics so was postpone to tomorrow instead.. -.-" Which means school will end even later.. Plus have to meet for cc.. Today's lecture on the top restaurants in the world which is quite interesting.. We also watch a video on the world best restaurant.. Felt like going there to eat.. The food looks so interesting and delicious.. I wanna try the apple caviar! But doubt it will be possible.. Only accept 55guests per day.. Just in one day, full reservation for the whole year.. 55chefs serves 55guests.. 1 chef to 1 guest.. You can just imagine the quality of the service.. Sigh. The standard of top restaurant..

Day 34

First day at baking & pastry.. Just half the day I'm already exhuasted.. And I'm sick.. Sort of.. Lucky now feeling better..

Today didn't went as smoothly as I thought it will.. There's so much to do.. I made blueberry muffin with crumble mix as garnish, chocolate muffin with walnut, prepare mise en place for mudslide cookies.. Then go for 30mins lecture.. Sound easy right? So that's a very good question why I'm feeling so tired.. If I "don't really" have much things to do.. -.-"

For the muffin its considered easy cause just incorporate the garnish to the batter which is already done and measure out each cup.. But that took us around 1hour? I think its caused by we don't know where are the ingredients plus we don't really know how to do.. During the process we got scolded a few times.. You can hear the chef keep asking is my muffins ready, is my muffins ready and that question was being asked for more than 15times I think.. -.-" Every 2mins once.. Haha. Then after we put the muffins into the convention oven, the chef now says your muffins are overcooking! Haha..

After that clean up abit and I went to help to prepare mise en place for oatmeal for awhile.. Then I convert to doing soft rolls.. Actually all of us changed to do the soft rolls cause it was the most important thing to do according to the chef.. So we cut the dough which was done earlier by classmates and roll into small balls..

Next is the mudslide cookies mise en place...................... This is also where I get scolded the most.. -.-" I asked questions and somehow cause of the answers I get, I think I asked stupid questions.. -.-" But I really don't know if not why I ask? Sigh.. If I know why should I ask again.. First day already bad, tomorrow I hope will be better..

Lunch I had mee rebus again.. I think by now the auntie know who am I already.. The girl who everyday eat mee rebus cause there's nothing else to eat.. -.-" I miss fish&co.. Haha. Back from lunch I continue doing mise en place.. Measuring the amount is easy.. This is the difference from production.. In production, you get scolded by using hands. Here, you get scolded by using spoons.. Reason is, its faster to use your hands. Quoting from the chef, you won't forget to bring your hands out of your house. Haha XD

So yesterday I was hoping that I'll be handling chocolate today.. And I did. But it wasn't what I had in mind.. I had to hunt the whole kitchen down for 3 different chocolates.. Measure, swop them and crush them.. Its not fun at all... Not when you have 2 huge bowls of big chunk of chocolates.. And you chop them using chef knife.. Next you know what happen? After awhile your hand turned into chocolate.. So tempted to eat them.. 55%cocoa.. Its not easy to do because 1. they are big or there's alot 2. time constraint 3. pressure 4. keep cutting the wrong way cause I don't understand what the chef want.. How to understand when somebody only say one word. It can mean alot things.. I tried 3 or 4 times still wrong then the chef give up and demo for me..

Next time if I don't understand I think I just say chef, can you show me how you want me to do it? -.-" I hope that won't be considered as a dumb question.. But overall the process is fun (: So not that bad I guess.. The lecture also ended early.. At around 3.05pm.. If everyday end this early, that will be great.. But its too good to be true.. Cause tomorrow there's a lecture at 4pm.. And I'm seriously not looking forward to it.. Today so tired.. Tomorrow doing same thing so will be equal or more tired.. -.-"

I just remembered I'm going to dine at top table next Monday.. I just saw the menu.. :( I wanna mix and match the appetiser and dessert.. :( Sad. I wanna make onion soup! Maybe I'll start making my chickie stock.. Haha.. Those instand ones are really salty.. -.-" Can cause hypertension and blah blah blah.. Oh well.. I finally created a facebook.. And the sad thing is I don't really know how to use it.. Its kinda complicated in a way.. I can't change things can't add pictures and I'm not really interested in playing the games there (I got better games to play! & mafia I already level 131 somewhere else.. Too lazy to start over.. Its not that fun anyway).. I'm too tired to figure it out.. Think I'll just add people and let it rot there.. Haha! Till I figure out a way..

Day 33

I shall jump to this day first.. Haha. Last day at production kitchen..

I bet nobody will forget this day.. The day where late doesn't matter.. I went to school with Mj today.. Reach school at around 7.20am.. Happily chat and walk to the locker room to change.. Guess what? We tapped our card alot of times, press the button alot of times from the inside, the stupid gate won't open. So much for technology.

The situation is actually quite funny.. People stuck inside and outside.. Then we find teacher to help us open but failed.. As that time is already around 7.40, we had to walk back to tcc to change.. When we came back, I realised I lost my locker keys.. Ran back to toilet, carpark can't find.

By the time we come back from the search, the gate is already opened by the technicians.. Haha. So didn't get to see what happened in the end.. I told Yt that I lost my keys and asked her to remember to take hers.. Then I thought she took out hers and lock the locker with the key inside. Don't ask me why, I'm insane. -.-"

Then we go for roll call and went back to kitchen.. We cleaned up the whole kitchen.. Its very tiring.. There's 16 stations plus all the ovens need to be washed, scrub all stoves, salamander, clean all rack and cabinet.. Its not a easy job. Some of us went to clean the chiller too.. I kneel on the stove till they're very pain (cause can't reach the salamander and the top of oven).. And hands become wrinkled like don't know what.. Don't worry, everybody is going to go through that.. You can seriously have fun washing.. Me and Steph tried to make things easier by using the oven hose, in the end the whole place flooded.. Haha. So much for trying to be more efficient.. But is quite fun so just mop the floor and wipe the stove again.. Hehe.

During break, A helped us to open the locker and unlock the lock.. Phew.. But I still went to look for my keys again.. Under the hot sun. I asked the uncle if he saw my keys lying around when he was at the car park, he said no and went to ask people to help me find. So nice of them. But in the end I give up cause really too hot and can't find.. For some reason, a lot people know I lost my keys.. Dots.

Then after break we went to theatre for demo on Hainanese chicken rice, chilli crab and fried squid. One word, delicious. Haha. After that its the block test.. We had it at the top table.. 15minutes.. I got at least 5 wrong. SAD. :(:(:(:( I'm going to miss production.. On the bright side, its holiday now and I'm going to baking and pastry when school reopen! And its operation!

Oh. I just remembered today no ghost whisperer.. It ended last week.. Sigh. Friday nights empty now..

PS People if you have pictures that I don't have please send me.. THANK YOU! ^^

& Happy birthday TSQ BFF!

Preparing for buffet

Okay, I'm outdated again.. Before I show you the food, here's how it looks like before it start..

This is overall how the dessert table will look like :)

This is how the 2 tables look like..

Action station for Asian vietnamese summer roll

Action station for Garde manger, caesar salad

This is where I cook (: In the production kitchen!

That's all for the setting for the buffet at the family area!

Day 32

I forgot to write one thing that we did yesterday.. Preserved capsicums.. I was cutting those capsicums for the paella and there was a box of leftovers.. To prevent the capsicums from spoiling after 2 weeks, we were told to preserve them.. First we charred the capsicums in the big convention oven.. Then we remove the skin and the seeds.. This is the irritating part.. After removing from oven, we cover the bowl of capsicums with cloth to steam it.. The skin now became very soft.. However, its still very difficult to remove the flesh from the skin.. And we have alot of flesh to remove? The glass bottles used must be sterilised before using and after adding the flesh and olive oil to the bottle.. Guess what? A bottle of preserved capsicums or any others like jam, homemade ones can sell up to 30dollars per bottle. $.$ Next time if I'm jobless can make them to sell.. Haha.

Back to what happen today.. Its the big day for everybody as we're preparing the BUFFET. Everything went smoothly and the food is great. But the ending when we cleaning up.. There's so much to do.. However, our chef told us that other instructors commented that the food prepared by us is best among all the others.. Hehe. Sure give us a great sense of achievement (: The pictures of the food will be shown in another post.. You will get to view them once I finished editing.. :P We also took a picture with our chefs!

Tomorrow is the last day at the production.. We're cleaning up the WHOLE production kitchen.. And the walk in chiller.. Plus we have the test.. MCQ 20qns.. Luckily. Tomorrow also have demo on the crabs and squid again (can eat again ^^) and the hainanese chicken rice! After that is holiday! Must work hard to earn money :)

Day 31

Day 31, we still don't have much to do today... Yet, I'm still very tired and sleepy..

I woke up late today.. Rush out, missed 4 bus.. Including the 6.30 8 and 59 and 6.45 8 and 59.. -.-" So I waited till 6.50 plus then I board 8.. Throughout the whole journey, the bus kept stopping due to traffic light and moved very slowly.. Make me even more nervous.. I thought today I would be late for the 1st time.. When reaching Eunos, I saw alot of taxi around empty.. At that time, its already 7.25am.. And we've to report in like 20mins time? So I took the risk and went down to flag a taxi.. Luckily, one came just as I hopped out of 8.. Reached school at 7.31.. Spent $6.75.. At least I wasn't late.. Phew.. I broke the record today by finish changing and getting ready to report in 4mins! Haha. Though I can change fast, I think I rather to have more time.. Rushing is bad for my health. Will suffer from heart attack.. -.-"

When we go down to the production kitchen, we measure the rice required for paella and set aside.. Then remove the beards for the mussels.. Remove the intestines from the prawns.. And prepare chicken consomme. Chef taught us how to use the robot coupe today.. Its also known as the food processor.. Quick and easy way to cut brunoise.. 

We add mirepoix, minced meat and egg white to the big pot.. Pour chicken stock and chicken consomme into the pot. (The chicken consomme was being defrosted so we used it, so the consomme we did today is double consomme ^^) It was extremely clear.. We tasted it with and without seasoning, it was very different.. After seasoning with sea salt, the taste was enhanced.

Before break, we tried the seafood paella done by one of our instructors.. As its a spanish dish, saffron was used. I don't really like the taste and smell of saffron so I didn't enjoy the dish.. So I went to steward instead.. Chef show us how to pan fry the salmon for the buffet tomorrow.. It looks very easy but can be easily burnt.. The root vegetables that goes along with it was seasoned with cajun spice.. It was too spicy for me..

After break, chef demo how to make the paella. The most important thing in the dish is cooking the rice well.. You can add any ingredients to it, but its not a paella if your rice fail. Anyway, its a must to taste.. So I tasted the paella, again. Surprisingly, the taste of saffron is mild, I almost couldn't taste it at all, which is great. (: This make up for the lunch I skipped earlier on..

Then we have nothing to do again.. So we prepare the equipment for tomorrow and clean up the area.. Garde manger brought us some caesar salad to taste with croutons. For a non salad fan like me, I find the taste just nice. The dressing is appropriate and tasted good. Tomorrow there's so many salad out there, I think I will be looking forward to try all.. (:

There's so much to see and eat tomorrow.. Can hardly wait! Luckily we were allowed to bring our phone upstairs to take pictures.. I can't find my camera anywhere.. So this is a extremely good piece of news.. Haha. 

10 more days! Hope it will be a happy one..

Day 30

2nd day at Sugarloaf side and we still don't have much to do.. Yet, surprisely, despite the fact that I woke up later than I should be, I'm very tired and sleepy :( Maybe its due to the weird weather we're having..

Today is quite similar to yesterday.. Except that we did some mise en place for the demo on seafood paella tomorrow, defrost some frozen prawns, kill some clams, try the disgusting clams :(.. Its so different from what my mum made. Same as outside, got the stinky taste. (>.<) Then we got nothing to do.. So we cut the vegetables for thursday buffet and keep them.. *Capsicum is so hard to cut fast.. -.-"*

We're so free that chef told us to prepare onion soup.. Haha. 900g of sliced onions.. Slice until I almost wanna cry.. "cry". Chef wanted us to slice as thin as a sheet of paper.. T.T I only managed for the half of them?

After break (I didn't eat mee rebus today.. Bored of it.. Tried the bee hoon.. Its edible but.... Sigh.) we cooked the soup.. Saute the onions till they're very brown.. I don't know why we're using such a short wooden spoon to stir.. As we use the chicken stock to deglaze, the steam burn my hand.. Become red colour.. Then the stupid steam fog my glasses make me can't see properly.. So troublesome wearing specs.. -.-"

Anyway, my soup tasted great! Too bad I can only taste.. Not drink.. :( SAD. Tomorrow we're making chicken consomme cause we're too free again.. Haha. Friday there's production test.. And I don't know what to study.. -.-" Hopefully will be easy..

And today's lecture is a disaster.. Wasted 1hour.. Tomorrow have to go again to make up for today.. -.-" Can't even go home earlier this week.. I'm soooo tired.. D: Yet I still have that case study which I don't know how to do.. On the bright side, my mum bought me lemons today.. Can try chef J's lemon drink.. Haha. So much for being positive..

Sims 3 out today! But I not buying yet.. -.-" I need to work more.. ))):

Day 29

Though there's nothing much to do today, I felt extremely tired and sleepy.. Sorry kwa for changing my mind about going to library with you :(

Checking of attire during roll call was done very quickly, which is very lucky for me.. I've a small yellow stain on my sleeve don't know why.. -.-" Then we went into the theater and had lecture on classic & modern buffet and how to present the food. The lecture went on from 8am to 11am. I kept myself awake by copying all the words from the slides :D So hardworking of me.. Haha. When the lecturer/chef is changing the slides quickly and the slides are full of words, it really hard not to stay awake.. The topic today is quite interesting too, full of delicious looking food ^^

After eating the up sized mee rebus, we went back to the production kitchen to prepare the mise en place for Thursday buffet.. This week, my group and I are at the Sugarloaf side.. So we'll be preparing all the food for the buffet that is under production.. Except for soups..

There's alot things that we can't do as its too early.. So we just set up the stations for tomorrow, wash the platters and help out with the production.. Plucking the basil leaves! Haha. Basil smell so much nicer than fish.. But I really starting to miss fabrication now.. :C

As I really have nothing to do, I went to take down the menu for the buffet.. Just in case I was being questioned and I have no idea what to say.. The following is the menu for 80pax!!!

Appetizer
- Cured salmon on potato pancakes with mustard dill sauce (GM)
- Scallop seviche in cucumber cup (GM)
- Wrapped shrimp with Asian barbeque sauce (GM)
- Crab cakes with creole honey mustard sauce (GM)
- Chilled vichyssoise with white truffle oil (GM)
- Gazpacho Andalusia (GM)

Salad
- Pomegranate glazed duck breast (GM)
- Lentil and walnut salad (GM)
- Couscous salad with curried vegetables (GM)
- Vietnamese paper rolls with nouc cham sauce (Asian)
- Roasted corn and tomato salad (GM)

Action station
- Caesar salad with parmesan crisp (GM)
- Vietnamese warm beef on cool noodle (Asian)
- Crepe with assorted filling (Pastry and baking)

Soup
- Ginger carrot soup (Production)
- Assorted breads (Pastry and baking)

Main course
- Plain rice (Asian)
- Whipped potato (Top table)
- Roast tubers vegetables (Top table)
- Braised veal cheek in Madeira sauce (Top table)
- Chicken in red curry sauce (Asian)
- Thai seafood cake with cucumber sauce (Asian)
- Seafood paella (production)
- Pan fried salmon with gremolata and root vegetables (production)
- Pan seared cod fish with ratatouille (Top table)

Dessert
- Mini fruit tarts (pastry and baking)
- Mini lemon meringue tarts (PB)
- Raspberry and chocolate mousse (PB)
- Ginger and orange creme brulee (PB)

So much food to eat (^.^) erm, taste.. Haha.. But we only have 45mins! Luckily, its a buffet style.. Thus food will be replenished.. So we don't have to worry about running out of foooood!
PS I wanna be the first to get the crepes! Still can't forget the taste from 2 weeks ago.. :D

Day 28

So I was told that my blog is all about school.. Its true in a way but not exactly.. But now my life really revolve around school. Well, its more about food. The fun of cooking.. :) Hehe. I love food and cooking so :D Bear with me! I will write about something else too (:

Anyway.. Back to "school" again.. Hehe. Today is the last day at fabrication.. The topic today is seafood. The first thing I did when I went into the outlet is open the box that contain the crab. I was extremely surprised to found them gone with 2 legs left behind.

When our chef told us that the crabs escaped and told us to look for them, we all panic. And start to hunt for the crabs only to realised that it was in the sink. -.-" We start by preparing the most important thing.. The prawns for top table event.. It was completed quickly as is easy to do.

Next we move to the main focus of the whole day.. Crab. Live ones. And of course, we have to kill them. First we have a demo on how to kill them.. Differentiating the dead and the live ones. I had problem with the crab right from the start.. I think the main reason is I scare the crab pinch me..

Another reason is.. The crab that I got was the last one, and its hyper active! Extremely scary. I don't dare to take it out of the sink cause it keeps moving and staring at me :( Then my life savior help me take it out from the sink! Yeah~ I quickly take and walk to my board, throughout the short distance.. It kept struggling. (!!!!)

On the chopping board, it tried to run away. I had a hard time protecting myself and keeping it on the board.. We were supposed to kill it in one cut so that it dies fast without suffering much.. But this particular crab that I got, refused to die. Then I have to keep chopping it and asking for help. Due to time constrain, we can't fabricate it after it died. So while its still sort of alive, we remove the shell.. (Its still struggling.. -.-)

After remove the shell, we tear off the legs.. But it moved so many times that I have to keep throwing it on the board to protect myself.. o.o Finally, the crab died. Then I wash it and keep in the fridge.. The battle last very long.. I hope I will not have to kill crabs again..

After crabs, is squid. Chef demo how to remove the mantle from the head, the quill, ink sac, tentacles and remove the skin. Then we were told to show him how to do it. It was fun and quite easy but removing ink sac require a skill as you have to prevent the ink from flowing out.

We also learnt how to cut the squid in such as a way that it looked like a flower after cooked and the squid rings. We tested the flower to see if it curls the right way by blanching it. With the chef special sauce, we taste the squid. Though was cold, it taste good :) Despite the fact that I don't really like squid.. Haha.

Lunch I had maggie soup. I regretted it. I should have mee rebus instead. Just realised that we can actually upsize it! From now on, my lunch will be that.. But next week is school holidays for others, so what if the canteen didn't open? Can we cook for ourselves? ^^

There's a buffet from garde manger, quite alot of variety of food. Finger foods. Taste great except for the goat cheese which I don't really like.. I didn't get to try the tomato cold soup which taste like pasta sauce though..

Right after lunch, we prepare mise en place for the chef to cook chili crabs, black pepper crabs and fried squid! I just realised that crabs is soooo easy to cook. And the recipes is created by the chef! Taste heavenly. I love the chili crab, especially the sauce! You'll be addicted to it too. So we ate at the family table and share our food with the rest of the production students.. I also had a tortilla something that taste like roti prata, ice cream from sugarloaf! (Outer layer - ice cream, inner - shebert) If only I have more time, there's leftover of ice creams! (I asked chef today how much does the ice cream machine cost, she say a few hundreds for family size.. I'm going to save for it!!!) Oh ya, we also had the salmon belly from yesterday, it was very oily, but tasted great when is hot.

Lastly is te oysters. We have to shuck them. The worst thing is, we have to eat them live after we open their shell!!!! I so not into raw food.. Last week had a slice of raw salmon, today oyster.. But I must admit, it smell fresh, the texture is very frim and crunchy in a way.. But I still don't enjoy eating :( With this, it sums up my week at the fabrication outlet. Next week is buffet! Yeah~ Plus lecture.. :(

Day 27

It is a very sleepy day..

Quite a lot of things to do.. Start the day by having a demo on how to fabricate a whole salmon fish.. Note: Never work with meat that is frozen or semi frozen.

Then I helped garde manger clean up their salmon, remove pin bones, scales and fats while others fillet seabass.. After we're done with the fish, we move on to prawns. IQF prawns.. W learnt how to devein, slice and make tempura..

After break, move on to lamb. Demo how to cut the rack, remove fats and back bones.. Removing fats is very fun, just like pork, the fats can be removed just by tearing. However.... Just it comes to removing the back bones and scraping the fats and meat off the bones, it is really -.-" So hard to do.. Chopping off the bones is still not that bad.. The worst thing is the scraping off meats.. 1. Very difficult to scrap cause it won't come off easily (chef spent average 30sec on a bone, we spent more than 10mins!) 2. Hands very pain.. 3. Blood keep dripping from the meat and stuck onto my palm..

When we finally completed the rack, there's another demo on how to remove bones from the lamb leg.. Its just like the way we remove a bone from the chicken thigh.. Same method.. Just that the bones is so much bigger and heavier..

Next, we cube the chicken thighs and skewer them.. Today's meat structure very funny.. Hard to slice and skewer.. When we're done with everything, just nice time's up. We had a food tasting on seabass.. Then we pack and go to the boring lecture.. Plus I still have apel today..

When I came home, I realised 2 things. 1. The salmon belly is still in the fridge.. We supposed to pan fry them and eat.. But we were so busy that we forgot all about it.. We didn't wrap it up at all.. 2. I don't have the food magazines.. And I wanna read.. So not fair.. Nobody help us take :( Then not enough for everybody..

Seems simple and easy, but when it comes to doing, its a totally different issue.

Day 26

Wednesday.

The crabs have arrived for the ritual on Friday.. We're going to have chili crabs if we're lucky.. There's something funny happened.. We were having a demo when we heard something whistling.. Some people thought is lizard some thought is bird.. Then chef say is crabs. Its only then I realised they're under my feet! Okay, not under, they're in the box.. But still.. We're killing them on Friday.. I scare they run away.. -.-"

Anyway.. This is what we did today.. Skewer the chicken cubes from yesterday.. Then demo on how to remove the bones from chicken with breast meat intact.. And we do it ourselves..

Removing the back bones is quite easy.. But the rib cage is very dangerous.. The bones are sharp, can cut yourself easily. Then remove the thigh and take the bones.. Not a simple task and is time consuming.. After at least 15 minutes of battling with the chickie, all bones are out.. Next, we dice and skewer them..

Next task is pork loin. Basically is just a demo.. We learn about different part of the pork, which I can't really remember now.. And how to truss it. There's two methods, one is the traditional and the other is time consuming.. Haha. Chef show us how to truss using the traditional way, the more common one and told us to demo to him.. It was quite fun to do but as the string is thick, it is difficult to tighten the knot.. Then the loin is being cut into slices and we pound them with tenderizer.. Vacuum packed and freezed.

Then we go for food tasting.. Cream of carrot and ginger with puff pastry.. Love the soup. Reminds me of something my mum cooks.. I like ginger :) and carrot? Then we go for lunch.. I finally found a edible stall.. Malay food! I love mee rebus.. Too bad the serving is too little.. I can't get enough of it.. So sad. Tomorrow I going to try another dish from the stall.. :D

After break, demo on beef tenderloin. There's tornado cut, goulash, and some others I don't know how to spell.. Anyway.. The goulash part was cut into cubes and there's a some sort of steak and we get to pan fry it and taste! We season with the chicken marinate made on Monday.. And chef show us how to pan fry them.. The goulash part quite chewy but taste good. The steak was medium, so tender and juicy. When you bite onto the meat, all the juice flow out..

Following next is the beef strip loin. Chef show us how to remove the fats and explain why we should do that.. Then he cut a sirloin steak for us to pan fry and taste the difference between tenderloin steak.. I can't really tell the difference but I know both taste GOOOOD! Thumb up!

We end the day with forest of mushroom soup with cream. The taste of the soup with and without the cream is totally different. Without, it already taste good, full of mushrooms.. With the cream, the soup taste more complete and has a better taste.. More creamy.. The mushrooms don't taste as raw.. So tired today.. Glad its over.. Tomorrow is a brand new day, a brand new challenge..

Day 25

2nd day at fabrication was a breeze.. Nothing much to do.. Just filleting 15 red mullet, cubed 6 packets of chicken thighs and do some demo..

We had lots of time today cause yesterday we did alot of things.. Early in the morning, we spent 1hour or more on learning how to sharpen our knives and sharpening and honing it.. Not as easy as it seems.. You have to get the angle right at all times.. -.-" I did alot of times still don't quite get it.. Dots.

Then we had a demo again on how to fillet fishie.. I asked chef if we can chop away the head and tail first, like will it be easier.. He say is possible and he try.. He had such a hard time filleting after the head and tail is gone, cause not easy to balance.. Feel bad making him do that.. -.-" Anyway.. We spent less than 1hour to complete 15 red mullets and cleaning up. After doing so many fishes yesterday, we sort of get the hang of filleting.. Just that the fish today, its meat is kinda mushy..

Next we have break for 1hour! We went to the production kitchen to have our food tasting on braised beef and seabass? with pesto linguini.. While we are "tasting" (eating), garde manger team brought out a few trays of finger food! And of course, we get to taste them too.. A cheese ball serve with tomato and tomato sauce, the combination is perfect! Goat cheese tart with a sauce, I tried, its not my taste.. Pineapple/honey drew and prawn kebah with unknown sauce, Some puff that look like curry puff with 2 different type of sauce.. Very crunchy :) We ate so much during the food tasting, lunch I only drink fruit juice plus the leftover fruits (wo de mei ren & honey drew)

Back from break, demo how to cut the chicken.. Completed very quickly.. Then we clean up again (sanitation is extremely important).. After that is the demo for how to cut sole, a flat fish.. The eyes actually grow on the same side.. Quite disgusting and weird..

Anway chef demo how to do then he told us to show him.. So I had to fillet one side for him to see.. Luckily it went quite smoothly.. If not quite embarrassing.. We don't have to remove skin for anything, so I can't practice.. I think most likely I'll break them again. SOBS. After the sole demo, we pan fry the both fish and ate them. Delicious.

There's also a interview with chef.. They're trying to collect feedback on the course so far.. I asked about the degree stuff.. But I only know its conducted by the CIA chefs and the degree is culinary arts and there'll be more practical this time round.. So its something like training to be a chef.. Not enough details.. I just know that when I graduate, I can get into that degree already.. And I intend to do so if possible :)) PLUS, this year freshies are very lucky.. Cause when they do practicum next year, the TCA already expanded! But they're also unlucky cause more places to clean.. Haha. But still.. More rooms!

Today's lecture is on some culinary math? Measurements and some recipes calculation.. Quite boring.. I dozed off a few times for a few seconds.. And I'm sitting at the front row.. Haha. Too tired and bored..

7 more days to June 2! But I'm not buying yet.. No money.. -.-"