as this chapter in our life has ended, my musings can be found at sailboatholly.blogspot.com if you feel inclined to 'listen' in. thank you for reading and being encouraging and awesome, i have really appreciated you :)

here are some pics of our practical final dinner that my parents and husband came to:

half of these canapes are from my team, and half are a different teams. Unfortunately, I wasn't part of the service part of the practical final (although i was for the prep) because i was helping with 'banquets' which means i was doing prep for the grad buffet the whole time. Originally i was glad about that because i wasn't looking forward to the stress of service, but it was sad to not be a part of the final dinner service, especially because there were guest chefs there who marked us.
this is my appetizer that i created for my black box exam, and then tweaked a bit for finals: Trout with Chard-wrapped Bulgar Pilaf, Sauteed Mushrooms and Buerre Blanc w/ Tomato Concasse
Consomme Celestine
Cornish Game Hen Two Ways, Quinoa Pilaf, Turned Carrots and Green Beans
Pear Tart (which i made) with Plum Coulis and Candied Pecans
My team (Team Awesome) for the whole week of finals :D
Chef Warren and I
Chef Tony (not a hockey player) and I
Chef Christophe and I (and i'm receiving my diploma)
My class
And so, i have graduated with a Professional Culinary Diploma.

forgive me bloggers for i have laxed. it has been 2 weeks since my last post :P it's been a bit of a crazy 2 weeks. we spent Nov.29-Dec.1 doing Classic French dishes:

Navarin de Veau with Pate Feuillette (veal stew with carrots, turnips, squash and carrots)

Trout Amandine
Salmon Rillette
Crepes Suzette
canapes. from left: a classmates (not sure what's in it), trout w/ sour cream dressing and diced apples, bruschetta
Throughout that week i was practicing for the black box exam we had on friday the 3rd (happy birthday dad!) This was my quail option: Stuffed Quail with Mushroom Risotto, Turned Carrots and Green Beans
Thursday was Thai Day, and i forgot to take pics of the other dishes. This is a warm mussel salad i believe.
more practicing: Stuffed Cornish Game Hen with Spaetzle, Turned Carrots and Green Beans. maybe just to explain a bit, the foods we got for our black box were 1 of 4 options of grain, vegetable and protein. We had 2.5 hours to present 2 portions each of a vegetarian appetizer and a main course with a protein. But we had to be prepared for any of the options we would get. In the end i got puy lentils, green beans, and trout, which i did practice but i don't have a picture of.
my vegetarian (also vegan and celiac) appetizer: Millet/Quinoa/Lentil cake with Julienned Beets and Hummus Sauce
this week we started with 2 days of menu development: developing our black box dishes and taking them to the next level. this is the dessert i created for the 2nd day: Bread Pudding with Creme Anglaise and Caramelized Pears. yummy :)
more canapes: one is leftover grains from the millet cake with grilled eggplant en croute, the other is grilled chicken, oven roasted tomato and garnished with fried capers.
my partners black box dish: game hen two ways (braised leg, seared breast), quinoa cake, green beans and beets (they're under the green beans
On Wednesday we played Food Jeopardy as our theory review. My team got 3rd out of 6 teams. We would've had more points but (among other things) i was giving one of our answers pertaining to cauliflower and i was asked "how would you serve it?" and i came back with "on a plate" to which everyone burst out laughing (i was supposed to say a cooking method but i decided to answer honestly lol). anyways, the chef, although amused, took away a point for my cheekiness :P it was pretty funny and people kept reminiscing about it all day :) after that we had a create-your-own-pasta lunch. ours was whole wheat spaghetti (tossed in aglio e olio), the sauce includes pine nuts, dried apricots, chickpeas, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, chard stems, parmesan, and is topped with a raw egg yolk. this may sound gross, but it tastes AMAZING! easily the best pasta i've ever had in my life.
yesterday was our theory final, which i think went pretty well, i'm expecting between 80-90%, which i'm totally fine with. Today and tomorrow we have off as our weekend because next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are our practical finals, where we will be serving meals to our friends and families and industry chefs, and Sunday is our prep day. It's going to be a long week, and i'm nervous about 3 days of restaurant days which have not been my favorite days. but after that we have grad prep on Thursday, and graduation on Friday! wow.

THEN our plans have changed a little bit. I've decided to withdraw from the pastry and practicum portions of the 1-year program i initially signed up for, and move back home. It's been a fairly challenging semester and i've realized that although i wish to learn, perhaps the school setting isn't quite what i had in mind. i'm not sure what the next few months will hold, but i can't wait to see my friends and family for longer than 2 weeks :)

This week we had 3 days of regular classes, and Wednesday and Thursday were prep and catering for a architecture firm's christmas party (i presume). Those days were especially fun because it was more relaxed, and for the day of the catering i only had to be there at 5:30pm and was done by 9pm! i did another observation at a small restaurant last night, which was really fun and the food looked amazing. Today i'm spending the day coming up with ideas and making timelines for my black box 'exam' next friday, where they'll give us a few surprise ingredients and we have 2.5 hours to present 2 portions each of an appetizer and main course. I'm feeling a lot better about it now that i'm partially prepared (i will be fully prepared by the time friday rolls around don't you worry). and tomorrow is the grey cup! we're going to make chili and puppy chow :) intricate and creative i know :P anyways, without further ado, here's the food:

Fried Oysters with Beet Emulsion
Herb-Crusted Lamb Rack with Ratatouille and Duchesse Potatoes
Sausage-Stuffed Calamari Braised in White Wine
Stuffed Lamb Loin, Moroccan Style (couscous, snap peas)
Forest of Belgian Endive (lol)
homemade chicken fingers and fries with honey-dill sauce!
Crepes Forestiere (means it's made with mushroom filling) with Mornay sauce (Bechemal with cheese)
Fried Escalopes of Sweetbreads (thymus gland of lamb or calf) with Potato Anna, Bearnaise Sauce and Gremolata
Stuffed Quail with Cherry Sauce, Yam Puree, and Braised Chard

Monday: menu development day - i and my teammate had to produce 2 appetizers, and 1 entree...i think. or was it 3 appetizers? anyhoo, this is deep fried duo of tempeh (fermented soy beans) and tofu with a chili mayonnaise (which i made), with a pickled salad of cucumber and red onion.

Quail bun with lotus chips
Salmon and lentil wrap on a pea shoot salad and squash/cucumber garnish
Tuesday was Sous vide (soo-veed) day. Sous vide is a cooking technique that cooks food in vacuum sealed foodsafe plastic bags in a water bath that is kept at a certain, constant temperature (uses a machine). this seals in all the nutrients and juices and such things, and works well for some things, but not so well for others, like some meats, where the texture can be a bit weird (i've heard). These are chard stems preparing to be sous-vided.
Rabbit Liver-Kidney Salad (delicious when one does not eat the livers or kidneys)
Stuffed Saddle of Rabbit w/ Creamy Polenta and chard & chard stems and carrots. the rabbit is stuffed with almonds and prunes.
Wednesday: the class was split into two groups, one helped prep for a catering that happened on Thursday (they also went to the catering on Thursday), and the other (mine) did 2 days of pastry! We started with Millet & Pumpkin seeds muffins (yum!), peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies (not pictured, phil ate them too fast), and bluberry-lemon-basil scones.
Thursday: Ginger-Star Anise Creme Brulee, which i enjoyed at first, and then felt slightly sick cuz we ate a lot of sweet things that day.
Genoise cake with German Butter Cream, Tuille and orange-almon lace cookies and my attempt at chocolate writing:P i didn't really think about placement before i started with the 'happy'. in case you are wondering, it says happy thursday.
Friday: Latin Day: The chefs told us how much we could eat of everything so we wouldn't be sick by the end of the day. it was really hard not to eat a lot of everything!

EGG TACOS!!! i loved these so much, i'm making them for supper today :)
Chicken Empanadas, Double-fried Plantains w/ Pineapple Salsa
Vegetarian Tamales w/ Mole Sauce
Mate Smoked Trout Escabeche, Steak w/ Chimichurri Sauce, and New World Quinoa Salad

We were going to go see the new Harry Potter movie friday night, but i failed to exchange my free passes for actual tickets, and it was sold out :( So instead we set up the new tree, lights and ornaments that phil surprised me with! He's such a sweetheart :)

Then Saturday we woke up to this!!! it was really beautiful. and i even drove to my catering observation on my bike! it was fun :D (the bike ride and the catering) I really enjoyed the people and the cool things i got to make and assemble at the observation. They even let me make crepes, 6 pans at a time! and i did well! i'm really proud of myself :)

hellooooooo. this past week was Asia week, and we started with Japan: Japan: Sunomono (pickled cucumber and seaweed salad)

Okonomiyaki (cabbage pancake - yum!)
maki (sushi)
Tuesday was India week: Chappati, Lamb Roganjosh, aaaaaand Stewed Tomato Relish i think
Samosas!! yummy.

Aloo Gobi Dalna (Cauliflower and Potato Curry), Pork Vindaloo, Lemon Pulloa (rice dish)

Soup Mulligatwany, Naan, Mint Chutney, Eggplant Curry, Kachumber Salad

Fish Amrisari
Dal Panch Phoron (red lentil...stew)
Chicken Tikka

Wednesday & Thursday were China days: Stir Fried Lotus Root

Clams with Black Beans (i can't for the life of me un-underline these so we will all suffer through)
Double Cooked Snake Beans
Ginger Animal with a Shaved Head (lol)
Cantonese Style Steamed Fish

Deep Fried White Fish

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns - FAVORITE!!
(on the inside)
Mapo Tofu, Turnip Cake
Har Gow (chinese perogies w/ shrimp filling)

Shanghai Bok Choy

Spring Onion Pancake (more like a flatbread)

Phew. that is a lot of food. contrary to my thoughts before this week began, i actually enjoyed many (but not all) of the dishes! Especially the steamed pork buns...mmmmmmmm. This week we got Friday off because we had school on Remembrance Day. Phil also had the day off, so we went on a little adventure around our area. We went to a park near the ocean, up Cypress Mountain, and more inland to Deep Cove, where we had 'lunch' (it was 3 o'clock) at a Bistro. Here's some pics!

see the seals?

today i did an observation at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. It is HUGE. and i only saw the food prep areas!! it's like 3 whole floors of kitchens! very easy to get lost. I started in the banquet department (which handles plated meals and buffets), and then spent the last 2 hours in the department that handles the restaurant and lounge. There wasn't a lot going on today, so it was a little slow, and i did a lot of cutting up vegetables. I enjoyed helping plate the lunch, which they do on a conveyor belt, and how nice everyone was. At the end the chef(s) graded me, and they mentioned that for the amount of experience I have, my knife skills are good! although i had an alright time, i don't think i'd like to work there; it's very dreary (not many windows at all) and i think i'd get depressed. Next weekend I'm doing an observation with a catering company. Should be interesting!

In other news, I'LL BE DONE IN 5 WEEKS!!!!