stop looking at me schwan

If I never see another swan in my life, I will not be upset. I made it through our final pastry creams class yesterday, but everything did not go quite as well as I had hoped. The good news is that I survived and didn't fail. The bad news is that I wanted to wring my tiny, crispy swans' necks. 

We started out our day by catching up on a few things from the previous week. First, we made chocolate soufflés, which involve pastry cream so we were able to practice a batch of that before our practical exam. The soufflés turned out deliciously and unfortunately I don't have a picture because they must be eaten right out of the oven. If I had brought one home to photograph, you would think I made a chocolate graham cracker. But they tasted like light and fluffy brownies. Next, we made dark chocolate mousse. This was fun and fairly easy to make - although I'm sure anything seems easy when you have an intense practical looming on the horizon - and I was able to bring some home after chilling it in the fridge all day. It was definitely the best thing I made all day. Or, as Greg said between bites, "This is the best thing you've made. Ever." Here's a bite for you.

That brings us to the portion of my Saturday where frustration began and a few expletives were exclaimed. Before lunch, Chef had us all mise en place (get everything organized and all the ingredients measured out) for our practical in the afternoon. After lunch, we took our written exam first, which I think I did okay on, and then the fun began. I started with my pastry cream, which turned out perfectly (as quoted by Chef). Then I made my crème anglaise, which also turned out great (as quoted by Chef). While these were cooling in the refrigerator, a dark cloud settled over my chef's hat. Pate choux officially became my worst enemy yesterday. I knew I wasn't great at making this dough after I practiced at home on Monday; however, I was still able to create some pretty nice looking swans. After whipping up my first batch of pate choux yesterday though, I wanted to cry. It was very oily and watery and there was no way that it was going to pass as dough. I could barely even pipe it out on the pan. Chef let me remake the dough and pretty much the same thing happened, but I had to bake it off anyways and do the best I could with the final results.

Lucky for you, I don't have pictures of my tiny, burnt necked swans, but just imagine a darker, shrunken version of my swan from last week and you'll get the idea. I attempted to save myself with some creative plate presentation - we were able to pour our crème anglaise onto a plate and decorate it with some swirled raspberry sauce. Then you place the swans on top facing each other (they're called courting swans). My two swans were matching in size and shape, but they were definitely ugly ducklings and no one would be courting them anytime soon. Chef was fairly lenient on the grading scale and I received a B for my work. And now I know what I did wrong - not cooking all of the moisture out of the mixture on the stovetop before adding the eggs to it in the mixer. I will be practicing at home sometime - but probably not anytime in the near future. Maybe I'll be inspired in the Spring when swans migrate back to Indiana ponds.

For the next seven weeks, I will be trained in culinary arts. I am going to sharpen my knife and season some meat. Stir up risotto and poach fresh eggs. I'm excited to improve on my culinary skills - although you must admit that I've already come a long way from the hotdogs and macaroni and cheese du jour of my childhood...

Final taste - anyone know what movie this post's title is from?