Decorating Easter Eggs

This afternoon, about 10 of us sat around the dining table in Wilbrod House and decorated a few dozen Easter eggs. It was so much fun!!! See photos below.







And here's the first one I decorated today:


For me, this really brings back childhood memories of finger painting and playing with colours. I haven't felt so spontaneous in a long time.

Thank you, DF, for organising this activity!

I for Isomalt

It started with a light-hearted conversation with a housemate tonight. I cannot remember the exact context or entire content of the conversation, but we were sitting in the dining room and, somewhere in the conversation, the phrase "I for Isomalt..." came up, and we had a good laugh over it.

That's when it got me thinking about telephone alphabets - you know, the words you use to stand for a letter of the alphabet; for instance, A for Alpha, B for Bravo, C for Charlie, and so on.

I wondered if we could create one using pastry terms, or using kitchen-related vocabulary from Basic and Intermediate Pastry at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa. :)

Here's what I came up with:
A for Almond
B for Bavaroise (or Butter)
C for Chocolate
D for Dacquoise
E for Eggs
F for Frangipane (or Flour)
G for Ganache
H for Honey
I for Isomalt
J for Joconde
K for Kirsch
L for Lemon
M for Meringue
N for Nuts
O for Oven
P for Praliné (or Pastry)
Q for Quantity
R for Recipe (or Rum)
S for Spatula
T for Tuile
U for Utensil
V for Vanilla
W for Whisk
X for ??
Y for Yeast
Z for Zest

And I swear every single one of the words above has been uttered by one of the chefs, either in a demo class or in a practical class. Because I found these words in my notes.

Yes, I know, I have too much time on my hands at the moment. But not for long ...

Classes start tomorrow.

We had our Superior Cuisine/Pastry orientation today. I am so excited about the opportunity to be involved in Bistro Bleu throughout this term. Stay tuned for blog posts on what I learnt in Bistro Bleu.

Mean Chef

We had a really good time at the graduation ceremony this afternoon. What made me laugh the most was Chef H wearing his new name tag that we (Intermediate Pastry Group B) gave him (see photo below).

You see, this all started weeks ago, when one of my classmates was teasing Chef H and said to him (in jest, of course), "You're so mean..." Chef H responded by saying perhaps he should wear a name tag highlighting that "fact". I remarked that could be arranged. I had a name tag engraved about two weeks ago, and it was presented to Chef H by one of my classmates several days ago.

Well, here is what the name tag looks like:


And Chef H was such a good sport. He actually pulled it out of his pocket and put it on just as the Intermediate Pastry students went on stage to collect their certificates today. :D

Chef H, you're so funny!!!

My First Fruit Carving

Yesterday a couple of my housemates decided to carve some fruits for fun (perhaps they were inspired by Chef A's masterpieces at School), and I happen to see them doing that in the dining room, so I pulled out my knife kit and joined in. I chose to carve an orange because that's what I had in my fridge. Here's my effort with a paring knife:





I found that it is not that hard to carve a fruit (assuming you have really sharp knives), once you have the hang of what to cut out and what to leave behind. However, it is quite a skill to get the carving to look clean and neat. That's where practice makes perfect. It was the same with the two pumpkins I carved for Halloween.

I guess that means my housemates and I will be practising more fruit carving in the future, seeing as it is one of the components in Superior Pastry.

Snowman

This is the snowman a friend and I made yesterday outside Wilbrod House. It's the first snowman I'd ever made. Took us about 3 hours. I think it is not too bad for a first-time effort.



By the way, the housemate who made the gingerbread tree house is currently working on a new project -- an igloo in the backyard of Wilbrod House. It is work-in-progress at the moment. I helped him out when he was making the first course of snow bricks two days ago... I'll post photos when the igloo is finished, which is expected to take quite a few days.

It snowed lightly yesterday, but it is raining at the moment. Hmm... I hope the igloo and the snowman are still around by tomorrow.

Anyway, I love being outside in the snow and doing silly things like running through the thick snow or rolling around on the soft, powdery snow. It's like being a child again. :)

Many of my housemates are away on vacation, and all of them are in warmer places (e.g. the tropics). Lucky b*st*rds!!! :) The rest of us left in Wilbrod House figured we might as well enjoy the snow while we can, and have fun making snow-related things. All this time, we continue to cook and bake (trying out new recipes), of course -- a good way to keep warm after being outside in the snow. :D

Pumpkin Carving for Halloween

Yesterday, several of my housemates sat down to carve some pumpkins. You see, the owner of the house had bought each of us a pumpkin for Halloween, and it was our job to carve and decorate it.

It was the very first time I had carved a pumpkin (or any other vegetable, for that matter). Most of my housemates chose to carve Halloween-related themes, but I really wanted to carve a rose on my pumpkin. Some of my housemates thought I was crazy, but I did it anyway. :)

It took me over 3 hours to do it. First, I used a whiteboard marker to draw a rose on the pumpkin (I had a photo of a rose on my laptop that I used as a reference), then I used my lino-carving tools (I did a short course on lino printing a couple of years ago, and I had some tools leftover from that "hobby") to cut away the skin of the pumpkin. After that, I used a sharp paring knife from my LCB knife kit to cut out chunks of the pumpkin flesh.

Voila! Here is the result:




I decided to put a white light inside the pumpkin to see what it would look like. I think it looks nicer as a white rose. Don't you agree?


This is what my carving looks like in total darkness. (This photo is courtesy of a housemate.)

This morning, I got up and felt like doing another pumpkin carving, so I did. One of my housemates didn't feel like doing hers, so she said I could carve her pumpkin. After 4 hours at it, this is what I came up with:



Before I put the light inside the pumpkin, some of my housemates thought I (the "crazy" one) was carving a pineapple (an "angry" pineapple??). :-D However, once the light went inside, it was obvious that this was a great horned owl (albeit one with a quizzical look on its face).

(Aside: I dedicate this carving to my sister, who loves owls, and all creatures great and small.)

I really enjoy carving pumpkins! I think this won't be the last time I do it. I find it so meditative... I actually gave up a lunch outing with friends today to carve this owl. It was so much fun!!!