Passing!

What a day! I had trouble sleeping last night, knowing that today would bring my final practical cooking exam in the kitchen.  Soufflé, foccacia, pommes anna, duck breast and sauce, puff pastry with mushroom cream, orange tuilles.  We started prep work at 9:30am prompt.  We could begin cooking at 10:00am. Every dish was to be finished and plated up by 1:55pm - 2:05pm.  Points would be deducted for finishing late.  I called service at 2:04pm, thank heaven.*Today, we left the kitchen when our dishes were completed because they were  graded by the principal of the school, and she wanted to give scores based solely on the food.  It took about 1 1/2 hours to get our scores.  We were judged on a few criteria, such as our time plan for the day, our cleanliness and demeanor in the kitchen, and the food. We only got the score for the food however.  The principal told me what I got on my food score, which she said was "very good."**   Well done me!

A shot of me after the exam.  Don't I look tired?! If you look closely you can see that I am wearing my  special spoon necklace, given to me by my good friend Janelle from Utah.  I wore it today for luck.  I think it's safe to say that it worked.  I was too tired to do a proper post yesterday, but I wore my special "ICB" necklace during my written exam for luck as well.  I'll find out on Friday how that went.

The "after" shot of my dishes, after each one was picked apart, tasted, poked, and enjoyed.

* I would be a loser if I didn't mention two tender mercies God sent me for today's test. #1 - Whilst waiting for the exam to start, He helped me remember that I had forgotten to make a cardboard cutout necessary for the orange tuilles.  I had enough time to make it, thank heaven. #2 - I almost completely forgot to add the sugar to my soufflé, which would have been a disaster. I felt prompted to pause and assess what I was doing.  I could almost hear angels shouting "ADD THE SUGAR!" and then sighing in relief when I did.

** Several hours ago I accidentally posted an inaccurate score, based on faulty math, and me being as tired as I was when I ran a marathon. Literally.  Sorry for the false advertising. Let us never speak of this again.