Desserts a la minute

[elyse]

So, was it well received?

[KateW]

I don't know, we just handed them in today. She'll have them back to us by Wednesday evening probably.

[elyse]

[KateW]

I got a 90...she said she wanted me to be more creative *and* make more use of what we learned in class. So both schools of thought are right, in this case.

She liked the hot chocolate idea, didn't like my drawings because I didn't use "templates". I thought it would look funny to have perfectly shaped desserts when they are not really like that, so I drew most of it freehand. I guess it would have looked better using rulers and stuff, even if it wouldn't have been accurate.

Points were taken off for not having the title of my establishment on the title page. I could have sworn she said the title page could be whatever we wanted. But I'm not going to squabble over that.

I was really nervous about my practical yesterday (molten chocolate cake with a sauce, crunch component and garnish of our choice based on what we had available) but I think it turned out ok. I don't know why I am such a klutz in the baking kitchen and not so much in a regular kitchen but I always end up spilling something...Yesterday I spilled the egg yolks for my creme anglaise and she said "I just have to say this...'the yolk's on you'..." Of course I laughed amiably and was just happy she wasn't yelling for once.

I think my creme anglaise came out well, that was 10 points. 10 points for each component on the plate, 10 points for sanitation, 10 for uniform inspection, 10 for use of tools, and 10 for time management. It all added up to 120 points so I might be forgetting some things. I was on time. I was so afraid I'd be the shmuck who was late, but nobody was late.

3 hours sounds like such a long time to make a dessert, but when you have 12 people doing the same thing, you have to wait for equipment, oven space, etc. It's a pain in the butt and that's what made me later than I expected.

The final exam wasn't too bad. It was both scantron and written answer.

I should be able to get the rest of my grades in the next couple days. Today I start garde manger.

[KateW]

You all must be busy today

[herbacidal]

You all must be busy today 

howja know?

good going, for a somewhat awkward assignment.

[elyse]

Not only was I baking all day, I could not log on to eG.

But it sounds great, Kate. Congratulations.

Tell us what you would do differently next time.

[KateW]

I would *think* more. Outside the box and all that.

The drawings I can't do much about. No matter what I do it looks like a little kid did it.

I showed her all my written stuff, but I did not get her approval of the drawings. Perhaps I should have shown her the drawings too and gotten some ideas of how to make them better. And the title page, so she could have told me I needed the establishment name on it.

Surprisingly, my fiance is very creative with plating desserts, even though he hates the whole concept. Like me, he doesn't like food looking so extravagant when you're just going to ruin the whole thing with your fork. But he is very good with visuals and contrasting ideas. I should have asked him for help with my project but I had no idea he could do that stuff until I timidly asked him for help a couple days later on drawing my molten chocolate cake, expecting him to say "Are you kidding?" Instead he said "Oh sure! You could do this and this, or this and that..."

[Toliver]

I would *think* more.  Outside the box and all that.

The drawings I can't do much about.  No matter what I do it looks like a little kid did it.

I showed her all my written stuff, but I did not get her approval of the drawings.  Perhaps I should have shown her the drawings too and gotten some ideas of how to make them better.  And the title page, so she could have told me I needed the establishment name on it.

I wonder, though, if you could have capitalized on your artistic ability and gone the other way. Since it was intended to be a restaurant geared for kids, why not make the drawings look like a kid drew them? Draw the pictures with crayons. Make the drawings colorful and simplistic (i.e., kid-like). Write captions with a couple backward letters and so on. It would fit perfectly with the theme and would be geared towards your target demographic.

I guess I am having trouble understanding why someone in training to become a chef needs to also have the hand of Da Vinci when it comes to drawings?

[KateW]

I dunno if she would have gone for that. True the menu is for kids but it's not by kids, lol. I guess she thought if you used compasses and rulers and such, it would look good, but I thought it would look rather unnatural to have perfectly rectangular brownies and such.

Guess what...for the garde manger project we have to draw more pictures...but I guess I'll be consulting another forum for that one