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!

Earth Hour in Ottawa Tonight

I first participated in Earth Hour (a campaign initiated by WWF) a couple of years ago, when I was living and working in Sydney, Australia.

I remember turning out all the lights in my apartment and using as little electricity as possible for one hour (7:30-8:30pm). It was a weird feeling to sit in the dark, but it was also a thought-provoking exercise. Made me so much more aware of environmental and energy-consumption issues. If every individual did their part (however small) to conserve energy resources, it would make a big difference eventually.

It appears Ottawa is participating in Earth Hour this year (tonight, in fact). For more details, please see this website:
http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/environment/community/earthhour/index_en.html

Volunteer Event (RCMP)

Yesterday I spent over 13 hours at School (before 10am till after 11pm) helping out with the special event that LCB Ottawa was running. Frankly, it was an interesting experience for me!

You see, sometimes LCB Ottawa runs team-building events for corporate groups or people outside of the School, which means these people (who may be from the same company or organization, but who don't know each other) come into the LCB kitchens to learn to cook a special menu, just as a team-building/networking exercise. When LCB Ottawa conducts these events, student volunteers are needed to assist in the kitchen. And that's what I volunteered for.

Yesterday it was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who were doing their team-building exercise. About two dozen of their senior executives from different parts of Canada were here, and they were asked to prepare all the dishes on a menu created by a consultant (they were given recipes to follow). My classmates and I had assembled all the necessary ingredients beforehand, and we were on hand to assist if they needed help with the cooking. But the participants, divided into teams, basically had to work out how they were to tackle the task of making a five-course fine-dining meal.

I was assigned to assist in the pastry kitchen, while a couple of my classmates were in the cuisine kitchen next door. By the way, here are some photos of the pastry kitchen (where I normally have my practicals):

That station at the end (where my classmate is standing) is my favourite station. If I am lucky (i.e. I get into the kitchen first when Chef opens the door at the start of a practical), I go for that station. It is nearest to all the ingredients we need (sugar, flour, butter, etc.), so that is why everyone likes that station.



This is the other side of the pastry kitchen. Marble kitchen bench with refrigerators and freezers underneath, and stoves/ovens across from the kitchen bench.



The stoves, ovens and pots we work with, along with racks on the side for baking trays.


We assembled ingredients and did the mise en place from 10am to 12noon, then we had a break for lunch. From 1pm to 3pm, the consultant briefed us on what needed to be done (the schedule, procedures and protocols), and then the event began at 3pm.

The photo below shows the simple but tasty lunch that Chef JM (the supervising chef for the event, and LCB Ottawa cuisine chef) made for us - it was French omelette with salad and crusty bread. It was so good!




Anyway, back to the event... As a former educator, I found it fascinating to observe the event participants working in the pastry kitchen. These senior police officers were very good at following instructions - they read the recipes and they followed the steps closely (more so than us students would have, I reckon). They started out working on small tasks as individuals, but by the end of two hours they were communicating and negotiating the tasks as teams (as you can see in the photo below).


The participants working in teams.


Below are some of the dishes the participants had to prepare in the afternoon (3pm-5:30pm). The participants prepared the food for the appetiser and dessert, the volunteers cooked the main course and plated all the dishes, then the restaurant servers took the dishes downstairs to the restaurant below the pastry and cuisine kitchens to serve to the participants at dinnertime (6:30pm), when all of the participants had changed into formal attire and gathered in Salle Cointreau.


Heart of palm cucumber soup, served chilled with sliced ham in a shot glass



Asian beef carpaccio on sushi rice, sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds and served on oriental porcelain spoons



Spicy shrimps sautéed in herb garlic butter, served with zesty ginger mayonnaise



Smoked salmon stack with mâche, avocado and mango, drizzled with a mustard herb vinaigrette and served with a bouquet of sprouts



Strawberries (dressed with Cointreau orange liqueur) and cognac chantilly cream sandwiched in kataifi discs, served with caramel sauce and fresh fruit (the orange fruit on top of the dessert is known as "physallis" or "cape gooseberry")


I didn't get a photo of the main course (lamb medallions, served with seared pâté, fruit-and-nut buckwheat pilaf and garlic butter glazed baby vegetables) because I was busy helping with the plating and it was quite hectic. The main course had to be served hot, so there was no time to waste. As soon as it was plated, it was served.

At the end of the evening (i.e. after service and after the clean-up), Chef JM and all the volunteers each had a glass of red wine in the pastry kitchen to debrief and unwind. Yes, I had a glass, even though I don't normally drink alcohol (I just used to prefer to cook with alcohol, rather than drink it).

In under six months, studying at LCB Ottawa has taught me to appreciate fine food (including the unusual ones, e.g. veal sweetbread) and food I didn't used to enjoy (e.g. lamb, pumpkin), to drink alcohol, and to make some pretty nice cakes and desserts by hand ... I think my friends and relatives back home would be amazed by the transformation. :D

IP Lesson 11: Délice Caramel

Yesterday morning we made the Delice Caramel in our practical. The day before that, Chef H had shown us how to make this cake, which is basically a mousse cake. Chef said we had to make the cake in two versions - a full-size cake, and a mini-cake for plated dessert.

The cake is lined with coffee lady fingers (done with the cartouchiere technique - piping the lady fingers like a cartridge of bullets) on the side, and the bottom is a disc of the same lady finger mixture, imbibed with pear liqueur syrup. Then the disc is covered with a layer of caramel bavarian mousse, studded with diced canned pears, then another imbibed disc of cake goes onto the mousse, and we top the cake with a pear mousse. After that, we put a thin layer of natural clear glaze, and decorate it with canned pear, chocolate decorations and caramel sauce (which is served on the side too).

Here's what my full-size Delice Caramel looked like:

Chef liked the way I marbled the glaze on the cake. I used the caramel sauce and some drops of coffee extract to create the effect.


Side view of the same cake.

Chef said I still need more practice with the chocolate decorations -- it is quite hard to make the chocolate fans and the two-toned chocolate cigarettes, because one has to temper the two kinds of chocolate and then complete a series of steps before using the metal scraper to create this "chocolate curl" (which we call "chocolate cigarette"). I still haven't quite mastered this technique yet.


My delice caramel as a plated dessert. I served the mini-cake with the caramel sauce, and a quenelle of caramel bavarian mousse. I was pressed for time to complete this, so my plated dessert didn't look all that special. I basically created this plated dessert in 5 minutes - I threw a few things together and served.

Chef wasn't impressed with this plated dessert, but at least I served on time. He also said my lady fingers were a bit too thick, which, I realised, made lining the outside of the cake a bit difficult.

Anyway, I am not a big fan of pear cakes. You might recall my least favorite cake in Basic Pastry was the Pear Charlotte.

I gave my cake away to the neighbours when I got home. I kept the caramel sauce for myself, though. :)

Then I went out to lunch with a friend at a sushi restaurant, called Banc Sushi. It is a nice restaurant about 10 minutes' drive from Wilbrod House, where it is all-you-can-eat for around $14. As a foodie, I have tried out many restaurants before (esp. in Sydney, Australia), and I rate this as one of the better restaurants I have ever visited.



After lunch, I went back to School for a demo class, where Chef CF demonstrated how to make a showpiece with pulled sugar, something we will be doing when we get to Superior Pastry (we are just getting a taste of things to come).


Chef CF's sugar showpiece, with a flower, a bird of paradise, ribbons and an apple (demonstrating a number of techniques for working with pulled and blown sugar).

I have to say Chef CF's demo was inspirational. I loved the way he got us all excited about making a sugar showpiece in Superior Pastry, even though I know working with pulled sugar is a "torture" - you work with sugar that is over 70 degree Celsius with your bare hands. (The hot water from your hot water tap is usually below 60 degrees Celsius, so you can imagine 70 degrees would most likely make you say more than just "ouch!")

The Igloo that My Housemate(s) Built

Weeks ago, I reported that the housemate who designed and made the gingerbread houses was working on an igloo in the backyard of Wilbrod House. Well, he's finally finished building it, with the help of a couple of housemates. Here are some photos of the igloo:


It took a while to make the first couple of courses of snow blocks.


Making progress ...


In this photo, my housemate is standing on a chair inside the igloo. He is working on the roof of the igloo, which can easily hold 6 people inside.


The building you see in the background of this and the next photo is Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa. I'm sure the chefs can see the igloo from one of the back windows on the second or third floor of the School.





The igloo is given the address of "476.5 Wilbrod", because it is in the backyard of 476 Wilbrod Street. We are hoping the igloo will last until end of March, as one of our former housemates will be driving 8 hours to come visit us then.

My Second Ambassadeur Exotique

This morning I decided to practise making a second Ambassadeur Exotique at home, just to practise some of the skills I learnt in class the other day. I think my piping is more even this time. And less wobbly too.



When I finished making the cake, I took it to the neighbours. I figured that would be preferable to throwing the cake out, since no one at Wilbrod House even wants to taste another Ambassadeur Exotique this week. In fact, some of the cakes we brought home from school are still in the fridge... My cake from the other day is half eaten -- various housemates had helped themselves to it. The other half, if untouched by tomorrow, is going into the garbage bin.

Each of our 8-inch cakes has a standard 8 servings. Four of us in Wilbrod House are taking Intermediate Pastry this term, therefore the cakes we bring home total 32 servings, which means each housemate must eat 2 servings in order to finish all the cakes. But people rarely have 2 servings each, so there's always some left over. Besides, there are also five housemates taking Superior Pastry this term, so we have a total of at least 18 cakes per week. It is no wonder the squirrels and other pests rummage in the Wilbrod House garbage bags the night before garbage collection day. I guess they can smell all the lovely leftover cakes -- rich in eggs, sugar, cream and butter -- going to waste.

For food safety and legal reasons, we are not allowed to sell the cakes. That's because we are not certified food handlers. We try to give some of the cakes away to people we know, but that's about all we can do. I had thought about giving my cakes to the homeless on Rideau Street, but I wasn't sure if I would get into trouble for that. So, for now, I am giving my practice cakes to the neighbours around here.

Panettone and Stollen

On Christmas Day (yesterday), in addition to a rich (and very alcoholic) fruitcake a housemate had made, I had the following Christmas cakes/bread. I have tasted these cakes many times before (back in Australia), and I've always liked them. I was glad to be able to enjoy these on Christmas Day here in Ottawa. Yummy!


Panettone - Italian Christmas Cake/Bread
(I bought this from Loblaws)


Stollen - German Christmas Cake
(Given to me by a housemate, who bought it from the Stubbe chocolate shop)
_________________________________________


Today is Boxing Day... A few of my housemates have gone to Rideau Centre for bargains. I heard that lots of things are on sale, or even 50% off, but I decided not to go because I wasn't keen on the bargain-hunting crowds (or aggressive shoppers). I will leave it for a few days, and go when I need to do some grocery shopping.

Homemade Danish Pastry

Well, this is the first lot of Danish pastry I'd ever made. I used the croissant dough that I had made from scratch (and completely by hand) a few days ago. Note: it does take a couple of days to make the croissant dough because you have to do about 3 turns for it, while relaxing the dough in between the turns.

Here's what I did with the prepared dough. First, I roll out the dough, and I egg-wash it before rolling it like a Swiss roll, then I slice it so that I get disc-like scrolls. Next, I proof the scrolls in a warm oven. After that, I put some canned peaches (which I had pat dry on a paper towel before using) on the scrolls. Finally, I egg-wash the scrolls and bake them. After they come out of the oven and are cool to touch, I brush on the glaze (= apricot jam + water, heated on the stove). These are basically the main steps for making Danishes.

I am so glad they turned out well.


Close-up of one of the Danishes. You can see the shiny apricot glaze on it.

Now, to find someone to help me eat the Danishes...

Volunteering at the Ottawa Food and Wine Show

Last Friday, some of my classmates and I volunteered for the Ottawa Food and Wine Show. We were there to help out the chefs for their demonstration sessions, and it was quite an experience.

I think it is good to interact with the chefs outside of the classroom setting, because one gets an insight into the way chefs actually work in a commercial kitchen and in a demonstration (with audiences sampling the food afterwards).

In the afternoon, one of the cuisine chefs from LCB showed the audience how to cook duck breasts and foie gras. In the evening session, Chef CF and Chef T did the demonstration on chocolates, basically to promote the short courses that LCB Ottawa offers (mostly on weekends) to the general public. Prior to their demonstration, Chef A demonstrated how to make sushi, and then served up all the ones he had made earlier. They went like hot cakes, as you can imagine.

I was out the back (in the kitchen) doing whatever was required by the chefs (e.g. dishwashing, helping to peel apples, cutting up the sushi rolls, and so on). I really enjoyed the work. The seven hours of working in the kitchen was nothing, because time flies when one is having fun.

To me, the reward for volunteering was getting to sample the chefs' food. The chocolates, the duck breasts, and the sushi were all really delicious.

Here's what Chef A carved with different types of vegetables:


Chef A made a range of flowers and sea creatures with pumpkins, beetroots, radish, turnips, carrots, bell peppers and so on. The sea creatures were so life-like -- I couldn't believe those were originally vegetables. He was so good at it. He is not just a chef; he is an amazing artist!



Isn't this just amazing? Please enjoy the photos!

I look forward to Chef A teaching us some fruit/vegetable carving techniques in Superior Pastry. But first things first, I have to pass my Basic Pastry exam next week.

My Second Mousse Cake

Because I failed in the making of the miroir cassis (blackcurrant mirror/mousse cake) the other day, I decided to practise making a citrus mousse cake for my French language class yesterday (there was a potluck party organised by Alliance Francaise). One of my housemates gave me a hand with the cake. He was there to watch me make the mousse and he corrected my mistakes (esp. my incorrect whisking/whipping technique) when he spotted them. It was almost like having a private tutor.

Here's what my cake looked like (I used 2 teardrop-shaped molds we have in Wilbrod House):


For this citrus mousse cake, I used fresh lime, lemon and navel orange pulp in the mousse. Because the mousse has a combination of citruses, it is not as sour/tart as the plain lemon version (the miroir citrons version). Everyone who tasted the citrus cake said the flavour was really good. I'm pretty sure I will be making this mousse cake again, because I myself loved the taste.

Photographic Composition: A Learning Experience

Yesterday I went to the park across the road from LCB to take some photos of autumn leaves. I have not had much experience with photography, and I was in the process of trying to learn more about it. One of my housemates accompanied me to the park. When I had taken a photo of a particular vista, I asked this housemate (who is quite an artistic individual) to do the same. It was my way of getting sets of photos for comparison and analysis. That way I could work out how to better frame a picture. You will understand what I mean when you see the pairs of photos below. All photos labelled (A) were taken by me, and all photos labelled (B) were taken by my housemate (a graphic designer by trade, but who is studying at LCB at the moment).


Photo 1(A)


Photo 1(B)

In Photo 1(B), my housemate was trying to make the picture interesting by framing it with several elements in the background. You have to agree that Photo 1(B) is more interesting.



Photo 2(A)


Photo 2(B)

In photo 2(B), my housemate tilted the camera in order to get a slightly more interesting perspective on the row of trees on the other side of the river, framed by some leaves in the foreground, creating a contrast between fore- and background.


Photo 3(A)


Photo 3(B)

The two photos above are quite similar. However, photo 3(B) included more of the water (and the reflections in the water). Make up your mind about which you think is nicer.


Photo 4(A)


Photo 4(B)

In Photo 4(B), my housemate chose to accentuate the height of the tree by framing it using portrait rather than landscape. I can see it is a better way of presenting the majestic beauty of the tree.

Anyway, it was a nice learning experience for me. I learnt some important basics about photography, and enjoyed a relaxing stroll around the park. What more could you ask for on a lovely Sunday afternoon. (A thank-you to my housemate for the learning experience.)

My Second Lemon Tart

Last night I made a lemon tart so that I could take it to my French language class today. My French teacher and classmates,when they found out I was studying at LCB, had asked to sample some cakes and pastry, so I agreed to bake something for the class. I decided on the lemon tart because I knew I could prepare it at home the night before, and chill it in the refrigerator.

It's the second lemon tart I've ever made in my life. I saw it as a good opportunity to practise my skills. I was told the lemon tart could be in the final exam, therefore I wanted to keep practising until I could make it from memory. I gave myself 3 hours to make it, and I was able to finish before then.

Here, you can see the first lemon tart I made a few weeks ago, and the one I made last night (I baked the Italian meringue for a bit longer, so it had more colour):




I am happy with the second lemon tart. However, I'm sure I will make a couple more before the exam, because I really could do with more practice.