Last day at the Italian Spa...

You when (or maybe you don't) you are at the end of a long run; You are tired. You are most likely cranky. You are cursing every car that passes you because they are not offering to drive you home and maybe buy you a Klondike bar on the way. It's all self-talk at that point. If you are me, you are likely emanating steam from the top of your head. You are NOT DONE. And if you sit down and pout because you are tired, people will throw garbage and empty juice boxes at you because you are lame. You have to keep going because you have already run SO FAR. And you are going to be proud of yourself and quite possibly lord over people the fact that you run EVERYDAY and they sit on the couch and watch Jenna Marbles. Which is what you wish you were doing every second that you were running.

This complex (and completely hypothetical, I swear) situation is somewhat akin to what this day felt like, with or without the excessive heat release from the top of my head. The kitchen is very hot. We are cresting a hill, with our Midterm theory and practical tomorrow and Wednesday, respectively. But once we are through that, we are HALFWAY. What we have just learned, there is that and more in Advanced. There is so much on that side for us but there is a crud tonne of hard work too. (*I said 'crud tonne' at school the other day. Everyone was amused by my hillbilly language.)

A lot of running metaphors, hey? Maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something.

The students that are presently in Advanced have been so helpful giving us some healthy feedback as to what to expect and how to enjoy the experience. Last  night, I was awake for quite a while when I should have been asleep dreaming about what advanced would be like.

There is a portion where we serve in the restaurant. We talk to they guests about the dessert, take their orders, take care of them at the end of their meal. I love that crap. Quite reasonably, if someone orders dessert in a restaurant, it has the potential to make or break their dining experience. It can redeem everything that went wrong at any point during the night. But it can also damage an otherwise flawless evening. Talking to people about something that you're passionate about is fun. And not hard. I turn into the 'Phone Voice' version of myself. Do you ever listen to a recording of yourself on someone's answering machine or you hear your voice in a video and you think to yourself, "THAT is what I sound like? Whoa." You have to kind of create a persona that is half your day to day personality so that you are at ease and authentic, but then you also have to create a version of yourself that is endearing and approachable. You don't have to be perfect. People actually like you better if you seem somewhat like them, even in a fine dining experience. We've all had servers that have no sense of humour, who are strangled in this really foreign interaction. If you can converse with someone respectfully, in a way that enhances their dining experience, you are set.

But I was also thinking about dessert. Of course. In Advanced we will do Bread Room and Dessert Service. In Dessert Service, you have the opportunity to play with flavours, textures, temperatures -all the components that go into creating a really memorable dessert.

We did plating today. All of those plates that Moozh has been doing all semester that looked so pretty. I got to do that today. Yesterday we made a Spice Passionfruit Poached Pear and a Panna Cotta. We used those today to practice plating and get a sense of what presentation looks like, especially in a dessert service. Chef gave us feedback as to how to create a plate is not only beautiful but still functional.


This was the Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta that we made. I paired with with some fresh citrus, a raspberry puree and a mango coulis. One of the aspects to a plated dessert is that all of the garnishes should be edible (remember what I said about the mint sprig yesterday? You can still EAT a mint sprig. That option is still on the table.)

This was the Poached Pear, which was amazing. I'm usually not a fan of the texture of cooked pear but this was perfect. It was just fork tender, while still having some bite to it. I halved it because I thought that it would be cute to use the poached pear as a vessel for some fruit and a chocolate cigarette. It sits on a chocolate ganache smear with some chocolate gelato at the end. I went a little heavy on the chocolate ganache. But I did say yesterday that you always want more sauce than they give you on the plate. Oh well. Next time.

These were some of the options that Chef gave us as inspiration. Early this morning before I left for school I was looking for dessert plating inspiration. Maybe these will provide some inspiration for someone doing the same thing.

More Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta:

Poached Pear: 

This was an Espresso Panna Cotta with the Poached Pear on the same plate. 

It all gets real from here on out.

Find some dessert. Even Oreos will do. Put some sweet sauce on a plate. Chocolate sauce will do. Put a mint sprig on top. Enjoy even though haters be hatin'. Repeat.