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 :)