Pastry Party!

Just goes to show what 6 hours of working in a cold (pastry likes to be prepped in the cold) and hot (they like to be cooked at high temps) kitchen can do.  Pastry magic.

Gateau Pithiviers - like thick, melted marzipan in puff pastry. I caused a little fire in the broiler with my grease proof paper catching, but no one noticed and the danger was worth the results.

No, they didn't have platters available for this so it is squeezed onto the plate, but isn't it pretty?!  The pastry is a pate pate, made into a flat ham pie.  Like a gourmet hot pocket filled with ham, chicken, cheddar and parmesan, bread crumbs, sour cream garlic, chives, pepper and lemon juice. High fat, high calorie, high satisfaction!

This is my pate sucree pastry made into a chocolate ganache berry tart.  It is berry delicious!

All the students have identical knives, so we are told to mark them so that they don't get mixed up or accidentally permanently borrowed. Oddly enough, nail polish is the suggested method of labeling.  Lucky for me, Annie has some orange nail polish, and she was in the mood to share.  Notice the FüD Feud design?  What fun.  Good day. I am so very glad that the week end is here.  I miss my children, and being a mom.

Hazelnuts = Heaven

Today was meringue day.  I made a French meringue with a raspberry coulis and whipped cream, and a Swiss meringue (way better than French) with a lemon syllabub.  It went very well, thanks to many prayers, and I have just finished 2 hours of homework so I am off to bed.  Someone fainted on the second day of school because she cut herself.  I forgot to mention that.  So glad it wasn't me, and that the gal recovered quickly. Though meringue's aren't my favorite dessert, it's pretty hard to argue with one that has roasted hazelnuts.  

Swiss Meringue with Lemon Syllabub.

French Hazelnut Meringue with Raspberry Coulis and whipped cream.  It's actually two layers, which this picture doesn't show at all.   I should have taken a side shot as well.  Ah, Hazelnuts! 

Flan-Tastic!

Let's just say that fish and I are now o'"fish"ially friends.  Today I made a Creamy Fish Flan With Burnt Hollandaise.  The crust was like a sandy beach, the filling was perfectly seasoned with large, happy chunks of halibut, and the hollandaise sauce was rich and lightly toasted (which was a miracle because I am too short to actually see anything under the broiler.) My souffle needs some work (my first attempt looked like a first attempt), but the fish swam easily into my mouth.  What we make in the morning typically becomes our lunch.  There seems to be quite a bit of leftovers, so I brown bag it (we are actually instructed to bring tupperware with us everyday.)  Ryan is finally home from D.C. (yeah!) and so he and Preston got to sample the leftovers, with Preston exclaiming "Mom, this is really good.  No, I mean it.  It is really good." Calvin liked it very much...except for the fish. You can't win em all!

I literally have no time to take pics while in the kitchen, but I wanted to show a picture proving that I am actually telling the truth about going to cookery school.

This is the demo room.  I was sitting in that empty chair but popped up to take this picture.  The kitchen is beautiful and perfectly equipped.

My locker is #21, the age I was when I had Preston.

These were made at the demo today.  They are french meringues with raspberry cream and blue berries.

I make mine tomorrow in the morning.

Yesterday's Trout Fillet with Lime Beurre Blanc.

Today's Fish Flan with Burnt Hollandaise Sauce.  Notice that lovely chunk of fish in that cut out slice.  

Butter Makes it Better

I am fairly confidant that half of the operating cost of the school can be attributed to the vast quantities of butter that we use in almost every dish that we prepare.  Today we played with hollandaise sauces, which has loads of butter. They use the term "knob of butter" to refer to a small cube, like 1/2 inch cube of butter.  A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. Things went as well as could be hoped for, with plenty of room for improvement.  Basically, it was fantastic! I couldn't stop grinning the entire morning, and the entire afternoon I wanted a nap.  Kitchens are hot, and standing on my feet all day is not something I am accustomed to... all those afternoons lying on the couch while Owen feeds me grapes.  I'm just trying to get through the week without crying, and without gaining 7 pounds, or half a stone (a unit of weight used here.) I promise pictures tomorrow, we are having some camera technical difficulties. 

Day 1

I have homework. Actual homework. All the UK English is throwing me (like the word "hob" for "oven") which means that as I am working out that simple translation, the instructor is making a point that I am missing.  The English measurements are virtually meaningless to me as of yet.  And just to be silly, I somehow missed the memo that today was an overview/information day and that we wear our uniforms tomorrow.  Picture me, in my chef whites, sitting with 15 other students who don't look over eager and are wearing normal clothes. Mercy. Feel free to laugh out loud about this, but don't feel free to mention it to me. What a day. And it isn't like signing up for a cookery class, where everything you do is art. I will be critiqued, and I can fail and not get the certificate at the end.  Throw in  Ryan in DC, dinner guests, and a FHE (which were both great, but I sure I was a frazzled hostess) and you have my day.  I seriously hope that this is just the initial shock of jumping into the cold pool, but that I still have a wonderful time swimming.  Please eat a chocolate on my behalf, and add me to your prayers, just because you love me, and I showed up to class being the only one in uniform. Oh wha ta goo sei am. Oh what a goose I am.

Ratuki!

Sundays give us plenty of quality time to spend with each other.  We discussed goals/new years resolutions and I am struggling to come up with a family goal that comes even close to my twin sister's, which is "No Homeless Howes." Her last name is Howe and she is done with her littles wearing the same shirt 10 days in a row, or showing up to church without socks, wearing mis-matched shoes out in public, or forgetting to grab a towel for swim team, thus making her look like a bad mom.  I get it.  I think every mother has experienced the exasperation of kids looking like they are homeless... Safety Smiths?  Smart Smiths? It still needs some work.... Tonight featured the famous singer and dancer Annie Joy, complete with costume changes between each musical number. Good Stuff. We ended the night with a few amazing rounds of our new family favorite card game, Ratuki! 

Annie singing a self composed song, "SanCisco."

Annie singing a Chinese song about a cat.

Annie singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Annie singing another Chinese song.

Annie Singing our ward roadshow version of Choose the Right.

Fun with the card game Ratuki!

**** FYI- Tomorrow I start school at the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School.  I keep thinking of the Les Mis song, One Day More!

The Scottish Rec. Center

Spurred on by seeing Preston in his swim trunks (because all of his trousers were apparently dirty) we decided to head to the pool.  The Royal Commonwealth Leisure Center was our destination, and for a mere 13.75 pounds, we were able to visit what is probably the nicest public swimming area I will probably ever attend, renovated just last year and taxes dumping 37 million pounds (about $60 million USD!)   The facility has three separate pools: one that is fairly shallow, slightly warmer and intended for younger children and swimming lesson, one that has lane swimming and a play area, with a pool bottom that can be adjusted in height to change the depth (totally cool,) and the third pool is much deeper and is used by the divers with five diving boards, the low spring board, the 3 meter spring board, and then 3 platforms.  The Leisure Center has a complete indoor jungle gym for little kids with slides, balls, climbing tools, that is three stories high.  They have a full restaurant, and a workout room that is about 10 times the size of our rec center back in Bountiful, UT.  The real shocker was the co-ed changing room.  Though surprising at first, it was not a big deal by the end of our visit, as my family is co-ed.

Totally weird.  The picture below will illustrate our desire to follow the rules.

Like going through an open house for the temple, except not a sacred experience, we're wearing swimsuits under our clothes, and the booties are blue, not white.

The locker doors are made of translucent glass (spendy!) and require a pound coin to use, but you get your pound back when you are done.

Once you lock your locker and remove the key, you wear the key like a bracelet (or anklet if you don't have cankles - a term referring to the unfortunate condition of having your calf go straight to your ankle without getting attractive and skinny.)

Above the white mezzanine is the kids play.ball/slide/wear just socks/trampoline area.  Below the mezzanine is the family swim pool.

This is the pool we swam in.  Today it was 3.5 feet deep. Last time Preston was here it was 6.5 feet deep. There was also a sign posted that stated that underwater cameras were in use, so "they" would know if you tooted.

The highlight of the changing village was the area that had 13 blow dryers.  I have been too cheap to purchase either a curling iron or blow dryer since we moved here. So today at the Royal Commonwealth Leisure Center (a.k.a. The Commie) was the first time I have blown my hair dry in about 3 months.  True that.