"It looks like a cemetary..."

People have been asking me if the chefs have given us feedback on our sugar showpieces. Well, Chef CF did last night.

His main comment for mine was that it looked like a cemetary because there was not enough movement in the flowers (most of the flowers were sitting on the turntable). He also said my pastillage butterfly was too thick, which I accept as fair enough.



As with my chocolate showpiece, I had put a lot of thought into the design of this showpiece. I wanted my sugar showpiece to be like a table centrepiece (in other words, like a real floral arrangement that one might use in the middle of a dining table). I chose to make a turntable as a base for my showpiece to show my appreciation to everyone in the Pastry program at LCB Ottawa (what better way to suggest pastry than a cake turntable). The flowers were deliberately arranged in an L-shape, and together with the butterfly, were meant to frame the LCB logo in the centre, thereby highlighting the logo, rather than overshadowing it.

I am somewhat disappointed that, for Chef CF, it didn't achieve the effect I intended.

I guess my sugar showpiece is open to interpretation. Whether you like it or hate it, I gave it my best shot, and did it with a lot of love. I don't regret coming up with this design.

SP Lesson 10: Petits Fours

In this lesson, Chef CF showed us how to make different kinds of petits fours -- pistachio macarons, duchesses, petits fours (pâte d'amande), sablés guitare, sablés breton, and so on.

In our 5-hour workshop today, we made pistachio macaroons, petits fours (pâte d'amande) and two kinds of duchesses. My macaroons were not baked enough, but other petits fours were basically OK (must remember to make them smaller next time). I felt really tired even before the practical started, and hence had trouble staying focused on things...

Anyway, it was just one of those days. At least I got some feedback from Chef CF about how to fix my mistakes, and what to look out for.


My petits fours (pâte d'amande) and duchesses with praliné cream


My duchesses dipped in chocolate


My failed pistachio macaroons. A lesson learnt.

Spring in Ottawa: Dicentra and Aquilegia

Here are two photos of pretty flowers I see in Ottawa:


These are the lovely pink, heart-shaped Dicentra flowers.


These are blue Aquilegias. They are so pretty... I would have tried to make these flowers for my sugar showpiece if I had had blue or purple colours to work with.

A Baby Cottontail Rabbit

I almost forgot to post these photos for my friends and relatives to enjoy.

These two photos are of the baby cottontail rabbit that comes into the Wilbrod House backyard regularly. It is such a cute little thing! :)


As you can see, this baby rabbit is not afraid of people, though it keeps its distance.



Of course, rabbits are such pests in Australia that in the state of Queensland, it is illegal to keep a pet rabbit. That's because feral rabbits (pet rabbits gone feral) can destroy the paddocks used for raising cattle and sheep, which means undesirable consequences for the primary industries.

(Aside: Click on the link to read about the rabbit problems in Australia.)

SP Lesson 9: Wedding Cake Demo

In Superior Pastry Lesson 9, we saw Chef N demonstrate how to make a wedding cake, but we did not have to make a wedding cake in our practical, because we used that time for our sugar showpiece exam, which I've mentioned in an earlier post.

Chef N showed us the techniques for covering a wedding cake and some of the tools we could use for doing that. He also showed us examples of what we could use to decorate the cake. Here's the one he made:

The two hearts on top of the wedding cake are made with blown sugar.


It is certainly an unusual-looking cake... I'm glad Chef chose to show us something different from the usual form of wedding cake.

Exam Sugar Showpieces: A Photo Gallery

Here's what my classmates presented in their sugar showpiece exam:

My Exam Sugar Showpiece

This is my exam sugar showpiece.

I had the most nerve-wracking time this morning, because I found the three chefs who were supervising the sugar showpiece exam (Chef H, CF and T) quite intimidating. They were scary because they looked so stern.

I struggled with a few of the items early on -- I couldn't understand why the things I made, e.g. petals and leaves, kept breaking in my hands. I just wished I had more experience with pulling sugar to be able to diagnose problems when they arise.

Anyway, I eventually managed to produce the required items to make a showpiece.

For my sugar showpiece, I did my turntable design again. This time I used less black colouring for the turntable, because I wanted to make the turntable slightly transparent, like smoked glass. The poured sugar turntable turned out almost the same colour as a vase my mum has had for years, and I've loved that vase since childhood. I was really happy with my turntable and support pieces, because I got exactly what I wanted.

Late last night I wondered whether I could encase some pastillage leaves in poured sugar, so today I tried it (just as an experiment). It worked (and looked like amber), but I broke it as I was unmolding it... Fortunately, it was not an essential part of my design. In other words, I hadn't planned on definitely having it in my design, just in case it didn't work and I had nothing. But it was good to know it could be done.

I am glad my pastillage leaves (from two weeks ago) turned out well, and I could air-brush them green and use them as part of the arrangement. (I like the look of pastillage, and I certainly enjoyed working with it. It reminds me of gum paste.)



All in all, I feel I did better today than for my practice showpiece. Every little bit of experience helps... And I find sugar work quite interesting. I wouldn't mind doing more of it in the future, especially if it involves floral arrangements.

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PS. Just in case you are wondering about the choice of colours on my showpiece, green and gold/yellow are Australian colours -- the national rugby team (the Wallabies) wear green and gold uniforms. :)

My favourite colour would have to be blue, but we were not allowed to use blue in our showpieces, so I settled for green and gold.

Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa: Through the Seasons (Photo Gallery)

When I first came to study in LCB Ottawa, I decided I would take a series of photos of the School building from one particular position just outside the School, and that would allow me to record the visible changes to the landscape through the seasons. I decided to take photos of the Student Entrance Area by the side of the LCB Ottawa building at 453 Laurier Avenue East.

Here is my photo gallery. Enjoy! (I will add a few more photos later, if necessary.)


02 September 2008 (the day I arrived in Ottawa)


10 September 2008 (First day of classes for me)


06 October 2008 (A month into my studies here)


29 October 2008 (First snowfall for the season)


06 November 2008 (First fog I saw here in Ottawa; snow from the first snowfall has melted)


10 December 2008 (Start of the 51-day bus strike in Ottawa)


18 December 2008 (Snowing)


18 December 2008 (When it stopped snowing ten minutes after the last photo)


30 December 2008 (End of the year -- the holiday season)


07 January 2009 (Second day back at school for Intermediate Pastry, walking in the snow)


12 January 2009 (A sunny winter's day, around midday)


21 February 2009 (A sunny morning in winter -- I went to school to watch a demo on Spanish cuisine)


27 March 2009 (A lot of the snow has melted)


14 April 2009 (The start of spring; there's still patches of snow on the ground)


17 April 2009 (An overcast day in Ottawa)


06 May 2009 (Around 8am on a typical spring day)


22 May 2009 (Everything is looking nice and green now)

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Updates:


26 May 2009 (Late afternoon on a lovely spring day)


06 June 2009 (After 7:30pm in early summer)


09 July 2009 (Around 2pm on a summer's day)