Intermediate Pastry Begins!

Christmas Break had me rejuvenated and ready to work.  I was a little afraid of Intermediate, as Chef Eric Jauoan really intimidated me, and I had heard stories of him making students cry.  Nonetheless, I was so ready for Intermediate Pastry to begin.

We had orientation on a Friday (January 4^th), so Chad and I were back in town and all settled on Thursday.  The orientation wasn’t really that…it was more of an introductory class.  So, we all showed up, in clean and pressed uniforms, to see what Intermediate was going to be like.

Chef Eric sporting a big smile at Graduation

Chef Eric gave us a three-hour class on chocolate, the star of Intermediate Pastry.  He taught us how to temper it (to re-organize the molecules in the chocolate so that when it sets up, it is shiny, strong, a little more resilient to temperature fluctuations, and has a nice “snap” when it is broken or bitten) and the temperatures required to temper every different kind of chocolate.  We watched a cute little video about tempering, and the Chef made a few example pieces for us.  He sent us home, excited for the months to come. 

I was wrong about the Chef.  He was only a little scary because he rarely talked, but rather stared at us without a smile.  I discovered that he rarely talks because he much prefers to speak in French.  He smiles often, and is actually a little crazy, going on frequent tangents and swearing in French during his demos.  He figured out early on which of us speak French, and in the practicals when we speak, he speaks to me in French and I reply in English.  It is nice that we have the opportunity to each speak our language of preference without inconveniencing the other.  We have been bonding over the fact that I am American, as he lived in the US for quite a few years, and he often jokes about how few Americans speak French.

Leçon 1

Our first Intermediate class consisted of tarts.  Three tarts: Tarte Fraise-Cassis (strawberry black currant tart), Tarte aux Poires au Flan Caramel (pear and caramel tart), and Tarte Passion-Framboise (raspberry passion fruit tart).  The tarts themselves weren’t very difficult, it was the requirement that was sure to catch us off balance.  We were required, for the first time, to execute and finish two tarts in our 2.5-hour practical (the strawberry and the passion fruit), rather than one.  The other difference:  we were using KitchenAids now!

Chef's Pear and Caramel Tart (with plated ones above)

Chef's Strawberry and Currant tart (bottom)
and Raspberry Passion Fruit tart (top)

Chef's Raspberry Passion Fruit Tart

The practical lived up to my expectation: it was busy!  I had two completely different tarts to do in the time I was used to doing half of that work.  Using the KitchenAid was different than what I was used to, and added another thing to have to think about while working on something else.  I tried to hurry, but still ended the class not quite finished.  My strawberry tart was short some berries on the top, and my passion fruit tart should have had some passion fruit seeds in the glaze.  I also baked my pies in the opposite tins.  What an initiation into Intermediate!

My Strawberry Tart (mission some berries, as you can see),
Passion Fruit tart, and a passion fruit in the middle, so the Chef
could show me what the inside of one looks like.

The "Raspberry" in Passion Fruit Raspberry Tart comes from
this disc of really tasty raspberry coulis in the center

Leçon 2

For Lesson 2, we were back in some familiar territory: Pâte à Choux.  We had some pretty extensive practice with the stuff in Basic, so this lesson was more of a piping class.  For this Demo, the Chef showed us the Petits-Fours versions of piped pâte à choux desserts: éclairs, salambo, swans, Paris-Brest, and religieuses.  We were to make mini-versions of all of these, small enough to eat in two bites or less.

Chef Eric's petits fours...more than we had to do
in practical

Most of the students were pretty frazzled from the first practical, seeing as only about half of us finished.  We strove to work even faster this time to be sure to complete our mission: six of each of the five types of pastries, for 30 petits fours total.  I worked clean and organized, and I finished right down to the wire, but finished completely.  So far, it felt like every day was exam day!

My Paris-Brest (left) and Swans (right).  The swans' heads
are a bit too large...but I can fix that next time

My Salambo (left), coffee eclairs (top right), and chocolate
religieuses (bottom right)

My Paris-Brest and Swans

My Religieuses were a little wobbly, but that seems  normal

Leçon 3                                                                                          

For Demo 3, Chef Eric showed us two versions of the “Ambassadeur” cake; the traditional version, and the Ambassadeur Exotique (Exotic Ambassador), which we were to recreate in the practical.  The traditional Ambassador was a white cake with cream, buttercream, and macerated fruits, and the Exotic Ambassador was a white cake with cream, fresh oranges and pineapples, and meringue.  The Chef made chocolate triangles with transfer sheets to show us how they are used, but expressed his dissent for them, and made it clear that this would be the only time we were to even think of transfer sheets in the class.

The Chef piping some crazy designs on his traditional Ambassadeur

Chef's Ambassadeur (Traditional)

Chef's Ambassadeur Exotique

The Practical went well for my Ambassadeur Exotique!   I finished in plenty of time, though my meringue was a little over-whipped with the machine.  When it came time to temper chocolate for my décor, I was successful, and the décor held up in the heat of the room.  Score!

My Ambassadeur Exotique

Chocolate Piping Workshop

Before going any further, the Chef gave us an entire three-hour workshop on chocolate piping.  At school, we pipe chocolate with little bags folded from parchment paper (which we fold ourselves as we need them), and we will be piping decorations on almost every cake from here on out.

Chef Eric showed us a few traditional borders and gave us a packet of suggestions, then set us free to practice piping on paper.  At the end of the class, we were to pipe designs onto three fake cakes: two flipped cake pans and a piece of parchment paper, cut to the size of an Opéra cake.

My piping

My piping

My piping

Leçon 4

We were warned about Lesson 4 during the chocolate piping workshop: it was the first time we would pipe a chocolate border onto a real cake: The Fraisier.  Fraisier is a delicious cake (my favorite so far)!  It is a vanilla cake with a very tasty cream (called “mousseline cream”) and fresh strawberries.  In the Demo, the Chef showed us three versions of this same cake: the Traditional (the cake layered with the cream and strawberries, iced with buttercream with fresh strawberries fanned on top), Modern (the cake with exposed cream and fresh strawberries around the outside, topped with marzipan and chocolate piping, a marzipan rose, and one fresh strawberry on top), and a plated version of the modern one. 

Chef's Fraisiers: Modern (bottom), Traditional (middle),
and Plated (top)

The inside of a slice of Chef Eric's Fraisier...so tasty!

In the practical, we were to make one full-sized modern Fraisier.  I hurried again, knowing that I would need to in order to let the cream set in the fridge, and everything went well.  I am proud of my first chocolate piping on the cake.  The Chef agreed that I did a nice job, but reminded me that I still have a lot of practicing to do.  He was, however, happy with my rose.

My Fraisier: the piping isn't too bad!

Fresh strawberries and cream on the side

Nice rose!

Leçon 5

Lesson 5 began our chocolate-intensive work in Intermediate, and it was the first time that our tempering was absolutely crucial.  Lesson 5 was the Chocolate Box.  Chef Eric showed us two boxes in the Demo, a teardrop-shaped and a round one.  They are larger than I expected (the round one is nine inches in diameter), and more fancy.  The chef piped and embellished his box, but he had enough time at the end of the class to show us a few other chocolate décors. 

Chef's Teardrop Box

Chef's round box, side piping

Chef's top.  The wooden design is inlaid into the piece, and the
other piping is on top

This was my favorite of the other chocolate garnishes he showed us

This practical was really fun.  I like working with chocolate, and I think I want my future to include showpieces (maybe working for a fancy hotel).  We were given free reign over the design of our box, and I was excited.  I decided to pipe a white chocolate design on the sides and the top, and finish the box with dark chocolate.  My tempering went well, but it took longer than I expected it to.  I finished on time, but only barely.  My box stayed at the school, along with all of the others.  On Wednesday, the Filled Bonbons lesson, I will make a bunch of beautiful chocolates, fill my box with them, and take it home.  I can’t wait!

Top of my box.  This white chocolate is inside of the dark
chocolate, making the piece smooth

My box: side piping

My chocolate box!  The silver cake board isn't part of it,
it is merely there to keep the top from melting onto the bottom
in the warm practical room.

Christmas Break

Ok.  Now that things have settled back into a semi-normal routine here in Ottawa, it is finally time for me to write about the lovely Christmas Break!  I’ll pick up where I left off in the “Graduation” post: My family had safely arrived via airplane to Ottawa.  Chad and I made Christmas cookies in anticipation!

Christmas snails, hedgehogs, trees, and one
special moose (for my brother!)

While planning for their visit, I asked my family what they would like to do.  Ottawa is, after all, a large and historic city with plenty to see.  The consensus: just chill out.  My family (myself included) wanted to keep the visit pretty low-key, with a few nice dinners and the graduation to keep us entertained, and each other’s company to keep us happy.

They arrived one day before graduation and we all headed to the Château Laurier, the historic castle-turned-Fairmont-hotel.  It was beautiful, decorated for Christmas with fresh greens and bows and themed Christmas trees.  There was a woman at a lovely table in the lobby (dubbed the “Holiday Concierge”) that immediately caught the eyes of Mom and I.  After the family was settled (and fed – they were pretty hungry after a day of travel), Mom and I spoke with the lovely lady at the Christmas table about one of her flyers in particular:  Tea with Santa.

I had seen the “Tea with Santa” event on the Château Laurier webpage during my research but, though it sounded SO fun and right up Mom and my alleys, I feared it was a little girly for the men in our party.  Mom had evidently also seen it online and thought the same thing.  So, with the picture of a great high-tea atmosphere in mind, Mom, Dad, and I decided that it would be fun for everybody and we booked a table for 6 for the next morning.  Hooray!

The next morning (graduation day), we got dressed in the Christmas spirit, with Mom and I each in a red sweater and Christmas pin and the boys in sweaters and khakis.  We were in the lobby early, to be sure to be there when the doors opened for our tea party.  And what a tea party it was!  I had never been to high-tea, though Mom has told me all about them, and this was better than I imagined.  We sat at a table by a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, and it snowed gently throughout the entire tea.  There was a live piano player in the corner.  We each ordered tea and received a personal little teapot and a fancy little strainer to rest on top of our cup to catch the leaves every time we poured.  Servers brought a three-tiered tray for each two people that contained finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts (which were all great except the fruitcake, which Mom loved and everyone else could barely eat politely). 

Pouring his personal tea through his personal
tea strainer

What treats!  Mincemeat pie, Christmas log, fruitcake, wildberry scones,
normal scones, and cucumber, turkey salad, egg salad, and
smoked salmon sandwiches.  It doesn't look like much,
but we were all stuffed!

Pinky up!

My favorite - the cucumber sandwich!  Chad even gave me his!

Eventually, Santa did come.  He made his way around the room, greeting and taking photos with every table.  He was probably the most convincing Santa Claus I have ever seen; even his voice was perfect for the role!  We took photos and offered him some of our desserts, and went back to our tea.  After a little while, the piano player encouraged us to come down and sing Christmas carols with Santa, so we did, and we were followed, reluctantly, by all of the children in the room.  It was such a great experience, and I discovered a true love for cucumber sandwiches!

Santa! The snow was so lovely the entire time, too.

Mom loved the fruitcake...and no one else did

My youngest brother won for "most chunks in the strainer"

Graduation was that night, and afterwards we went to dinner at Milestones, a fun little place across the street from the Château.

The rest of the break was all about rest and relaxation and food.  We fit everyone in our tiny apartment to hang out a few times, which was really nice.  My brothers played Battleship on the floor and Othello on the table, and we made a few trips to the local grocery store to show the family.  We made brunch here one morning, and my youngest brother wanted to make cookies one evening, so we did that, too.

Trying poutine for the first time -- something truly Canadian!

Live lobsters are only $6.99?

Making cookies...SUPER delicious cookies
in our tiny kitchen

Playing Battleship on the floor

My family couldn’t leave Ottawa without first visiting Le Cordon Bleu itself!  When we were scoping out the city in March, Mom, Dad, Chad, and I had dinner at the school one night, and it was wonderful.  So, in anticipation of another visit, I made us a reservation at Le Cordon Bleu once again. 

We dressed up, and I was beyond excited for another meal at the Bistro (at the school)!  After some snow-related car troubles we finally arrived and were seated.  The menu was lovely, as usual, and it was so difficult to decide what to have.  The waiter informed us that, as usual, there was the weekly menu, which was handled in a usual, à-la-carte way, and there was “The Chef’s Tasting Menu,” which was a tour of the best dishes on the menu, and consisted of five courses rather than three.  The catch:  the tasting menu was either for the entire table or no one at the table, as the imbalance in courses between the weekly and the tasting menus would be awkward.

After some quiet browsing, we admitted, one-by-one, that we did, in fact, all want the tasting menu.  Excellent!  We told the waiter, and we began what is one of the best meals I have ever had.  The dinner was exquisite, opening with a lobster bisque (a favorite of Chad and my youngest brothers’), moving to three main courses (which were all divine, with each course more interesting than the last), and finishing with dessert that included fresh vanilla bean ice cream.  Each course came out with its own expertly-paired wine, and we got an extensive explanation of each before our food arrived.

When the meal was finished (and we were all in awe), the waiter offered to take us on a tour of the facility, knowing that I was a student.  We agreed, and he proceeded to take us all over the building, from my classrooms to the lab kitchens, to the cedar-walled wine cellar in the basement.  I added certain things to his tour, and it was nice for my brothers to see my classrooms.

Having my family in Ottawa was so special.  It was great to have them, not only at graduation, but also in our tiny apartment so they could really see first-hand how fun our life is here.  It was funny to trudge around in the two feet of snow with them back and forth between our places, and after four days, it was exciting to return to Iowa.

First Class!

We (minus Dad, who had to fly home early for work) flew home on the morning of Christmas Eve.  Because the plane was packed, Chad and I got to sit in first class on our second flight (from Detroit to Minneapolis).  How fun!  Neither of us had ever flown first class, and it was superb.  There was enough space in front of me that I could fully extend my arm.  The flight attendants offered to take our coats and hang them.  We were served drinks before most of the rest of the plane had boarded, and when they came, there were no plastic cups.  I ordered a Blue Moon (which was free), and it came in a lovely glass with a fresh orange wedge on the rim.  What a way to fly.  It was a shame the flight was only an hour and a half!

At home, Chad and I were ready for a true tour of Iowa.  We began with Christmas Eve at my family’s house, then four days with his family, a day with my grandparents and extended family, a day with his brother and soon-to-be-sister-in-law, and three more days with my family.  It was a lot of driving, but it was definitely worth it to see everybody.

While we were in the United States, we also:

Had lovely Christmas steaks made by my brother

Made s'mores over my family's "fire table"

Finished Chad's family's annual Christmas puzzle

Ate crab rangoons!!!  (Which we have not been able to find
in Ottawa)

Caught an Iowa State game

Played the piano

Celebrated the new year

Made some really great beef jerky 

Made Pain au Chocolat

Made a Black Forest cake

Packing was like a super-sized puzzle with our Christmas gifts (including an ice cream machine), but we finally fit everything in a large suitcase and were set to fly back to Canada.  Mom drove us to the airport in the morning, and we arrived safely in Ottawa that afternoon.  There was a lot more snow here than when we left (our cab driver nearly got stuck on our way home), so, when we were situated in the apartment, we went out and cleared off the car before everything had a chance to melt and re-freeze.

She's under almost a foot of snow!

Break was busy, but restful, and after two weeks, it was time for school to start again.