See ya Baking II!

So baking II ended this Friday. For those wondering if Iam alive, i assure you i am, but just barely, hence my infrequent posts. A LOT went on since i wrote last, finals week, and i wish i could be more articulate to describe it, sucked! lets begin with my little mystery box fiasco. I did LOADS of research, i went to three bookstores to look for this particular fine dining dessert cookbook for ideas, I browsed online for ideas and plating designs. I had a concept, i wanted to have a chocolate devils food cake tart with a chocolate tart shell filled with thyme infused pastry cream with caramelized orange segments on top with a orange thyme creme anglise and orange apple cider gastrique (we needed two sauces). But everything that i tried to execute just didn't go! the ONE thing that went smoothly was the bake on my cake, but when i made the chocolate tart shells, they stuck to the molds and wouldn't come loose! so i covered the molds with plastic wrap, hoping i could just remove the plastic to help them move off. but it just broke off the set up, chocolate! At this point i had about ten minuets to plate up, clean, and fill in my mystery box form (explaining all the components of the dish and listing ingredients). my orange segment which i cooked with flambeed triple sec completely fell apart and didn't hold their crescent shape I'd hoped they would, they just looked like orange mush. It was awful, i didn't know what to do, so i just piled everything on the plate. I know I had to kill it with my final products that were to be due on Thursday. So Tuesday, from 6:00-9:30 we need to do what we could for Thursday where, as i mentioned previously, I needed to turn it a dobos torte, 12 tempered chocolate truffles, 12 petite fours, 12 biscotti cookies, creme brulee, and caramel sauce. We had Wednesday too, but the catch was, that we needed to turn in a hot souffle at a specific time on Wednesday. you see souffles need to be served "a minute", french for "at the moment" otherwise they deflate and i guess are no longer considered a souffle. So everyone really needed to time it perfectly, get them in the oven with enough time to rise and bring them with their given time. I was three minutes late, but at my time they really weren't puffed up enough and she mentioned that she'd prefer a late, puffed souffle as opposed to a flat ramekin on time. It wasn't even that puffed up, but i didn't was to be TOO late. SO i was super stressed for time, everything was made hastily and without careful attention, and hence done, and again excuse my in-articulate use of words, half-assed. Fat blooms (or streaking) surrounded my truffles, my petite four were not uniform and not all completely glazed, my biscotti was way too big (i forgot to half the recipe), and my sponge layers for my dobos torte were not "spongy" and hence super dry and hard. The one thing i think i nailed was the creme brulee. I say "think" because when i received my final grades, yesterday, i was so embarrassed from my performance during finals that i folded it over without looking and its in that same position in my car as we speak. a terrible habit of mine where i do into denial mode until i get in a better mood and then face it. Maybe I'll look at it next week, in the meantime i just need to focus forward, on whats next. Well actually we have a week break (thank the lord)and then i start a class called Garde Manger, french for "keeper of the food". Its basically all about preparing and presenting cold foods like canapes, cold cuts, terrines, sushi, sandwiches, salads, and stuff like that. Its also about making decorative centerpieces from ice sculptures to decorative cuts of fruits. The class works a bit differently from the others, you work in groups and you do a whole buffet spread each week. The final is a whole buffet spread you prepare by yourself, without your "group". I am nervous, i hated when we had to work in groups for our fried chicken day in my Intro II. Not to get snotty, but i really think some people are difficult to work with and um...i don't know i kinda am a bit of a control freak, i like doing things my way. I guess that makes me bossy, but i always avoid fights by not staying out of drama. anyhow, I have week to recharge. I'll be posting some recipes and other articles here throughout the week so check often, I'll try to get them in daily, thanks for the support guys!