Snow in Ottawa: some photos for future reference

Here are the photos I had promised to post. I walked to LCB in the snow early this morning, and it was still snowing gently. It was such a novelty for me.


This was the backyard of Wilbrod House this afternoon. Almost 20 hours after it started snowing yesterday.



And this was the front of Wilbrod House.



This was a view of the student entrance area of LCB in early October.



The same view of the student entrance area today (late October). Lots of snow around.



This was what I saw when I came out through the student entrance area after I had completed my production kitchen shift at 2pm today.

I will post more photos as they become available.

BP Lesson 15: Cakes and Almond Paste (aka Marzipan)

This morning Chef H showed us how to make a Gateau Basque, a lemon cake, and some marzipan flowers and animals.

In our practicals, we had to make the Gateau Basque, a marzipan rose and leaves, and at least five marzipan animals (choices: duck, mouse, elephant, frog, cat, rabbit).

The Gateau Basque was not all that hard to make. We basically make a "cake dough" (well, it is like a dough/paste, but softer) from butter, eggs, sugar, lemon zest, flour and baking powder. We then pipe the "cake dough" into a genoise mold to form a shell -- first in a spiral to cover the bottom of the mold, then in rings around the side of the mold to build up the shell. Next, we pipe the special pastry cream (which has almond powder and rum) into the shell, followed by cherries and more pastry cream. Then we pipe the "cake dough" on top to cover the whole thing. After that, we use our spatula to smooth out the top, brush on coffee egg wash, score a pattern with our fork, and bake for 35 minutes.

The whole thing looks like a pie. Instead of pie shell and lid, we have the "cake dough". The filling is the pastry cream and cherries. When baked, the Gateau Basque tastes like a pound cake with pastry cream and cherries inside. Chef H told us the cherries are optional -- the cake actually tastes quite nice without them (i.e. with just the pastry cream).

Below is my Gateau Basque:


In this photo, you can see the marzipan rose and leaves we had to make as a decoration. Chef T said my cake was fine. The texture and consistency were as they should be. I baked it at the right temperature for the right length of time. He did ask me to practise making marzipan roses, as mine had uneven petals and oversized centre petals. I have to agree my effort was mediocre. I know what roses should look like (since I have taken hundreds of photos of them), but it was not quite as easy to make marzipan roses.

The marzipan animals are not quite finished yet. We have made the basic shapes for the animals, and we still have to colour them on Thursday. I made a mouse, a cat, a frog and two ducks. Unfortunately, my mouse looks more like a pig, which is not on the list of animals Chef H made. :) I must practise making the mouse again.

I have a scheduled production kitchen shift tomorrow, meaning it is a compulsory shift and it starts at 8:15am. But I usually start my voluntary shifts at 6am anyway, so I will just stick to my routine. I wonder what it will be like to walk to School in the snow at 5:55am...

Snow

Yes, it started snowing a few hours ago (around 5:30pm Ottawa time). This is the first time I have seen real snowfall. I sat by the dining room window and watched the snowflakes swirling around in the strong winds outside... It was mesmerising!

Anyway, the winds have eased. Now there's probably half a cm of snow on the lawn outside Wilbrod House. And it is freezing cold outside. I'm glad I bought some warm clothing and shoes two weeks ago.

I will see if I can take some pictures of the snow tomorrow.

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!!!

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.

Production Kitchen 5 & 6

On Wednesday, I had a shorter production kitchen shift because I had a practical class at noon. I basically helped put together some ingredients for the demo and practical of a superior cuisine class. It took me a long time to gather all the ingredients and prepare them as the chef wants them to be prepared. I ended up messing up my apron and jacket (with grease, dirt and food stains), so I had to run home to get changed into my other set of (clean) uniform before heading to my practical class, where I made the failed miroir cassis (well, "failed" in the sense that the meringue in my mousse collapsed, as I mentioned in an earlier post).

On Friday, I did the full 6am-to-2pm shift in the production kitchen, where I learnt some catering skills. A classmate and I made 40 sandwiches with rustic bread. The fillings were either chicken salad or ham & cheese. Chef CP showed us how to organise things so that the sandwich-making was like an assembly line. He also taught me how to get all the ingredients ready and to estimate the quantity required for 40 portions, as well as some safe food-handling techniques. He told us we should only have enough cold ingredients (or meat/dairy products) on the benchtop (i.e. outside of the fridge) to complete 20 minutes of sandwich-making, everything else should be in the fridge or wrapped tightly to prevent contamination -- and that was an important HACCP (i.e. hazard analysis and critical control points) lesson for me.

I also learnt how to remove all the meat off a roasted ham, to sort through some air-dried herbes de Provence and put them in a container, and to peel and turn turnips (this is what Basic Cuisine students learn, and I get a chance to learn it in the Production Kitchen). I think this was one of the most interesting production kitchen shifts I had ever done. I came home happy that I had the chance to learn so many things.

BP Lesson 14: Hot Soufflés

This morning Chef H showed us how to make a tart soufflé with fruit gratin and coulis. He also made a hot soufflé, called the Soufflé chaud Rothschild, just for demo only.

Immediately after the demo, I had my practical class. Here is my tart soufflé with fruit gratin and coulis:


This is what I presented to Chef N for grading. The coulis (sauce) is to go with the tart soufflé.


This is the fruit gratin. Mixed berries topped with some diplomate cream (= pastry cream + chantilly cream), which was torched and then decorated with strawberry fans and a slice of lemon twist. The decoration was my own idea. Other students made tuiles to decorate theirs.


Here you can see a cross section of the tart soufflé. It has a pâte sucrée base, then filled with almond cream (which we learnt early in the term) and topped with a soufflé mixture (= pastry cream and a sort of meringue/egg white mixture).

Chef N said my soufflé was fine - it was the right texture and consistency. But he said I needed to dock the pâte sucrée (sweet dough) tart shell properly so that the bottom of the tart shell wouldn't lift off the tart mold when baking. Also, he said I had put too much diplomate cream into the fruit gratin. I think I was trying to use up the diplomate cream and ended up "drowning" the berries (raspberry, blackberry, strawberry) in it. :)

Apart from that, it was a good day for me. My coulis was perfect. But then it is not the first time I've made coulis. I guess experience is very important.

I'm not a big fan of the sweet, hot soufflé, but I don't mind a savoury version. I should ask my housemates (the cuisine students) for a nice cheese soufflé recipe.

BP Lesson 13: Miroir

The focus of this lesson was mirror cakes. These are essentially mousse cakes with a layer of glaze on top, making them mirror-like. Hence the name.

Chef H showed us how to make a blackcurrant mirror cake (Miroir au Cassis) and a lemon mirror cake (Miroir Citrons). I prefer the taste of the lemon mirror cake. The flavour of the lemons is refreshing. The taste of citruses just reminds me of home, where lemons, limes and other kinds of citruses are plentiful.

In our practicals today, we had to make the blackcurrant mirror cake. It was quite a task, because there were so many little steps to making this cake. First, we had to make a biscuit (sponge cake) mixture. Then pipe it onto a tray, in diagonal lines, and then bake it for 8 minutes. We line the cake ring with the biscuit, then pour in the mousse (which has Italian meringue, gelatin, blackcurrant pulp and fruit, and cream). We chill the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes. After that, we glaze the top of the cake, before finishing it off with the decorations (blackcurrants, marzipan leaves and white chocolate piping).

My cake looked fine from the outside, but when Chef H cut it open, he could see that there was some problem with the mousse inside. The meringue inside the mousse seemed to have collapsed, making it rather "soupy" (this is Chef's way of saying too much liquid). Basically, my mousse wouldn't set properly, even though it was in the blast chiller for 30 minutes.







Anyway, I plan to practise making this cake (or the lemon version) again. It is a nice cake to eat, but just really troublesome to make. Still, I am determined to perfect my techniques for this cake, even if I have to keep doing it 10 times. I'll learn from the experience.

BP Open Lab (20 Oct)

Last night at 7pm I turned up to the Open Lab session at School to practise making eclairs and religieuses again. During the term, LCB Ottawa would hold practice sessions for students to give them a chance to use the practical kitchen to practise recipes that they are not confident about or need some help with.

Many students in my group decided to practise making choux pastry again because it was the recipe many of us found quite challenging and time-consuming. Besides, choux pastry usually comes up in the exam, so it pays to know how to make it well.

Also, it is important to perfect our choux pastry techniques now because choux pastry comes up again later in the term (in the St Honore recipe) and also at the Intermediate level (in the Croquembouche recipe). There's just no way to avoid it if you are learning French pastries.

My choux pastry came up better this time. Remembering my mistake from the previous time I made eclairs, I took the time to clean the sides of the eclairs so that the fondant looked nice and neat. However, I made my fondant icing on top of my eclairs too wide. Chef T said the fondant on top of the eclairs should only be two finger-widths (not three, like mine were). And that I had heated the fondant way too much, so it lost its shine. Chef T then told me how to fix the fondant problem. These are examples of little things the chef instructors will teach you if you put in the effort to attend Open Lab. It costs nothing; you just have to put in the time and effort.

All in all, it was a good practice session. I felt relaxed because we were not assessed for the practice session.

We were not allowed to take our Open Lab creations home (School policy), but I was able to taste one of my coffee eclairs, and it was really yummy. If eclairs were not so time-consuming to make, I really wouldn't mind making it often. (Making the choux paste by hand really kills your arms. In my opinion, it is harder than whisking meringue by hand.)

The Locks at Rideau Canal

Yesterday afternoon I went with a group of my housemates to see the Locks at Rideau Canal, which is near the Fairmont Château Laurier hotel. The weather was great and the view was spectacular. I'm including some photos here for you to enjoy.

Production Kitchen 3 & 4

This week I volunteered in production kitchen on Wednesday and Friday (today). On Wednesday I learnt to make a fruit platter for staff and to vacuum-seal meat products, cut and marinade some chicken, and so on. But the highlight was watching the chefs make a beautiful and tasty sandwich platter at short notice for Monsieur A. Cointreau (President of Le Cordon Bleu), who was in town for meetings. I know the sandwiches (made with freshly baked bread, french cheeses, roast chicken and vegetables) were tasty because I got to taste some "offcuts". Lucky me!

This morning I was mainly involved with rolling the bread dough into baguettes (for baking later in the morning), and preparing/assembling all the ingredients required for a Superior Cuisine demonstration class next week, plus a weekend workshop this week. It meant I got a chance to see and touch a range of ingredients, some of which I had never heard of before (e.g. pastis, vermouth, fish fumet, chervil). I spent quite a bit of time rummaging in the walk-in fridge for various ingredients, and it was cold. After all that hard work (a 6am-to-2pm shift), I was rewarded with a slice of pizza fresh from the oven, that was made by the chef this morning. It was simply divine. Best pizza I have ever tasted. Quality ingredients with first-class know-how - you just cannot beat that. Lucky me again! :)

BP Lesson 12: Christmas Log

This was a really fun lesson. Chef CF showed us how to make a Bûche de Noël (Christmas Log) yesterday. His demo classes are always entertaining because he has a great sense of humour. He tells us interesting/funny stories as he is demonstrating a recipe. Never a dull moment. Makes the 3-hour demo go by quickly.

Here's Chef CF's Christmas Log:


The Christmas Log we were taught to make basically consists of biscuit roulè base (like the sponge cake in a Swiss roll), imbibed with rum syrup and buttered on one side with chocolate buttercream (made using the French buttercream technique, which we learnt in the previous lesson). Then the sponge cake base is rolled tightly and covered with more buttercream. We scrape the buttercream with a special comb to create the wood-grain texture. We leave the cake in the refrigerator for a while so that the buttercream hardens, then we decorate the cake with marzipan leaves and so on.

Here's my creation (from different angles):




As you can see, I kept my design simple and uncluttered. I am really pleased with my effort because this is first time I've made a Christmas Log, and it turned out well. I included some chocolate shavings around my cake, and dusted the cake with icing sugar to create the effect of snow. Officially, I used chocolate shavings at the base of the log to simulate leaf litter and slivers of bark and woodchips. Unofficially, I used the chocolate shavings to cover the smudges on my cake board, which I could not clean very well... Hey, I'm learning to be a creative problem solver. ;-)

Chef T, who was supervising my practical class, showed me how to make the marzipan leaves. He does not speak a great deal of English (and I don't have enough French to converse with him), but he is very good at demonstrating how to do something. His techniques are easy for beginners to learn. I always learn a lot from Chef T when he is supervising the practical class.

BP Lesson 11: Russe, Progrès, Succès

Lesson 11 deals with buttercream cakes with dacquoise bases. Chef N demonstrated the following cakes:
** Succès (dacquoise with praliné buttercream)
Progrès (dacquoise with chocolate buttercream)
Gâteau russe aux noix (Russian buttercream cake)

Students made only the Succès in the practical class.

A dacquoise is a cake base made with nut flour (e.g. almond powder). It is basically whipped egg whites + nut flour + icing sugar + sugar. When baked, it is quite light, and it has a lovely aroma.

The buttercreams used in this lesson are known basically as French buttercreams (= egg yolks + sugar syrup + butter).

The Succès has three piped and baked dacquoise discs, with two layers of praliné buttercream sandwiched in between. It is masked with almond slices around the side, and dusted with icing sugar on top. Then we add the decorations on top.

(Aside: Praliné is hazelnut paste with sugar. It tastes like nutella because nutella is basically hazelnut paste + sugar + milk chocolate.)

Here's my Succès (photo courtesy of a classmate, because I forgot to bring my camera to the practical class):


Chef T tasted my cake and said I should have baked my dacquoise for 2 minutes longer. (These chef instructors are pretty good with things like that, and I guess that is because they have tasted lots and lots of students' cakes over the years.) And he said I still need more practice with chocolate piping. Otherwise, the cake tasted fine because the buttercream was OK.

PS. I was successful in making a Black Forest Cake at home the other day (13 October 2008). It's the first time I have been able to get the genoise sponge cake to rise so nicely. Of course, some of my housemates (Intermediate Pastry students) were on hand to give me tips on various techniques -- they picked up on all my little mistakes and corrected me. Now I can finally say I can make a sponge cake properly. (Aside: 13 October was Canadian Thanksgiving Day, and I give thanks to my housemates.)


My second Black Forest Cake

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.)

Production Kitchen 2

Yesterday I volunteered for a production kitchen shift again (from 6am to 2pm). It was fun!

I helped to bake some brownies for a function (a wedding reception, I believe). I also strained veal stock (from a huge stock pot), cleaned up the kitchen workspaces, worked with a classmate to arrange some petit-fours on large presentation platters, egg-washed various pastries, washed the salad greens for staff meals, labelled the bags of Italian Bread dough another student had prepared, and so on.

I learnt a lot from Chef CP, who runs the production kitchen. He gives very good explanations for why things are done in a particular way in a commercial kitchen. I know I learn better when I know the reasons for various actions and techniques. I really enjoy working in the production kitchen. The tasks may be simple and repetitive, but they build confidence.

I decided to volunteer for two shifts per week in the next few weeks.

BP Lesson 10: Petits Fours Secs

The day before yesterday, Chef N showed us how to make petits fours secs (which, he explained, meant "dry, little pastries" -> bite-size pastries that have been baked in the oven). In the demo, he made the following:
** Madeleines
Almond Tuiles
Batons de Maréchaux (coated with chopped nuts and chocolate)
** Palets de Dames (raisin cookies, with raisins macerated in rum)
** Cigarettes & Tulips
(We had to make the ones marked with asterisks)

Here is Chef N's presentation of the petit-fours he made:


And here are the petits fours I made and presented to the chef for grading:

From left to right: Madeleines (coated with chocolate on one side), Tulips (can be used as an "edible cup" for ice cream or other desserts), Cigarettes (with one end dipped in chocolate), and Palets de Dames (basically, raisin cookies)

Chef N said we could brush some chocolate on our madeleines, so I did. I have to say it made the madeleines taste even better. Chocolate makes everything taste better. ;-)

The cigarettes were not easy to make because you have to work quickly while it is hot and pliable. You have to roll it into shape as soon as it is out of the oven, and I hated getting my fingers burnt for that. But, we all had to do it. I think saying "ouch, ouch, ouch" while rolling the cigarettes helped me to endure the pain. :-)

Chef N told me later that I could have used the latex gloves in the kitchen, if I really felt the unrolled cigarettes were too hot to touch. Why didn't he tell me earlier?! He had actually watched me go "ouch, ouch, ouch" but did not suggest the gloves (until later). In fact, at the time, he said "allez, allez, allez" ("c'mon, c'mon, c'mon" in French). He wanted me to work faster... Sigh!

I know I will have to master the techniques in this lesson really well, because (1)petits fours are popular with the public, and is usually part of a French pastry chef's repertoire, and (2)some of the techniques learnt here will be needed again at the Intermediate level, with plated desserts and so on.

Next lesson, we will be making dacquoise cakes, i.e. cakes made with almond powder or nut flour (as opposed to plain/all-purpose flour). I really like the taste of the dacquoise, so this should be a "delicious" lesson.

BP Lesson 9: Choux Pastry (Part I)

We basically covered choux pastry in this lesson. Yesterday morning Chef N showed us how to make chocolate and coffee eclairs, religieuses au cafe (nuns), cygnes (swans) and salammbo. Students had to make all of these except the salammbo.

In the practicals yesterday afternoon, we took forever to present our creations. All of us ran out of time at the end, and it was the first practical that we could not really finish on time. There were just too many little things that had to be prepared (note: everything was done by hand), e.g.
choux paste (for piping into various shapes)
pastry cream (coffee and chocolate flavours)
chantilly cream (for the swans)
fondant (coffee and chocolate flavours)

Then we had to pipe the eclairs, swans (body and head) and nuns (body and head) onto baking trays. Bake them, let them cool down, pipe pastry cream into the choux pastry (except for the swans, which required chantilly cream), cover the top of the pastry with fondant, pipe the decorations on the nuns, pipe the chantilly cream onto the swans and assemble them.

Everything had to be stirred, mixed or whipped constantly. I was the human equivalent of a cake mixer for a couple of hours. My arms are sore as I type this post.

What you see below were what I could manage to finish and present to the chef. I think things could have been neater if I had more time. Chef T made me redo some of the piping because he wanted the choux pastry to be a particular size or shape (which was different from what we were shown in the demo) and I was not doing it "correctly". So, a lot of time was wasted on getting things to be a uniform size and shape. Not easy if you have never practise this before. (However, I didn't mind the least bit, because I felt I learned a great deal from Chef T. It was good to know another way of doing things.)


Chocolate and coffee eclairs. Chef T said I should have "cleaned up" the sides of the eclairs. I agree it could have been better presented (i.e. cleaner).


Swans. Yes, I know the swan necks could have been slimmer, but that's what we were taught, and that's what I managed to make.


Religieuses (Nuns). Do you think they look like nuns? I cannot for the life of me see nuns. Maybe it is just that my decorations are badly done. So, here's the chef's version:



So, do you think they look like nuns? Make up your own mind.

Anyway, I was not keen on eclairs or choux pastry in the past, but now that I have tasted some that are fresh from the oven (e.g. the ones made by the chef instructor), I have to say it is actually very nice (if you can get them fresh and if they are well-made).

Halloween Decorations Outside the House

As you can see from the photos below, the owner of Wilbrod House has put up Halloween decorations around the House. It's fun!


This is the front door of Wilbrod House. We never use this entrance/exit. It is an emergency exit door only.


The backyard and garage of Wilbrod House (photo taken from the driveway)


The side door, which we use as a main entrance/exit
(Note: Wilbrod House used to be a nunnery, hence the crosses on the doors.)




(The three photos above) This is the Charlotte Street side of Wilbrod House. We use this side door as a main entrance/exit, because it is closer to LCB. The driveway leads to Charlotte Street.


This is the Halloween scarecrow outside the dining room, and next to the side door.

There will be more Halloween photos to come later.

PS. I couldn't help but include this next photo. This is one of the resident squirrels at Wilbrod House. It sometimes comes up to look at us when we are outside. It looks like a friendly little thing, but I still wouldn't dream of touching it. (Doesn't it remind you of Scrat from Ice Age?)

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.