Sunday, May 10, 2009

Afternoon tea snacks: Madeleines, fruit scones, friands


My zesty madeleines


Lesson II

Here’s the thing: when you go for a masterclass say at the World Gourmet Submit, you just have to go for that date, for that couple of hours and feel happy about it. But, for the second day, I had to wake up at 5am once again. That was really hard for me because I started to feel the exhaustion creeping in. When I heard my alarm sound, it used to be a comforting song and a favourite of mine. Today, it was like the annoying ringing from a fire engine.

I had to dragged myself out of bed, literally.

I was almost falling asleep while having breakfast. That never happens to me. My sis was sound asleep in bed and I felt that instant pang of jealousy. I want my bed and barbarpapa (my mogu man)!

And so the day began on a sleepy note. When I arrived at school, I realised that I wasn’t alone. The excitement from the first class has weaned off (almost) and you can see the tired and sleepy faces.

But after seeing chirpy Chef M*ichael, I kind of perked up as I listened to this class on madeleines, more scones and friands (or financiers). I realised that I am quite a afternoon tea person. I love those English Devonshire tea sets; I love high teas with pretty little tea snacks and dainty tea cups. And so, this class really made me hungry.

Chef spoke about making madeleines and how preparation is absolutely essential. Then he spoke about friands (a French little cake made with almond meal). The friands are typical part of petit fours served in restaurants at the end of the meal. I learnt about the preparation of the beurre noisette (which is browned butter) which gives the friands a nice, burnt beutter flavour. We also learnt about making savoury scones as well as fruit scones.

For the practical lesson, we had to produce three different products as compared to a single product in the first lesson. This meant that we had to manage our time properly, work fast, and be organised. I love baking, loads but I rarely, if ever, attempt to make 3 items in 3 hours. This was really hectic and fast paced and towards the end of the class, I didn’t really know what I was doing anymore. I was just going through the motions, according to the recipes.

Surprisingly, the zesty flavoured madeleines turned out well ( my sis ate them all up which is a testament of how good they were). The friands had chocolate chip in them and I must say I really like the almond flavour in them. It reminds me of the traditional French macaron. As for the fruit scones, I baked them for a little too long I think but on the whole, they are fine.

When I was packing up, I felt a wave of relief more than anything else. Relieved that practical class was over; relieved that the baked goods turned out okay in general; relieved that the school week was about to end.

But first, I had to go through another two hour theory lesson after lunch.
Compared to demo and prac class, theory class was indescribably dry. The first theory class was on food safety. Did I mention how we cannot skip classes? Attendance is taken before and after each class and if you skip more than 2 or 3, you might not pass the course. Isn’t this worse than college? I feel like a student once again. Oh wait, I am a student!

The two hours went on for a long time. When it ended, I skipped out of school and headed to Chatwood to meet my sis and Jo for dinner.

I was tired, hungry and craving for anything savoury. We had Japanese food which was honestly not bad apart from the slightly drier rice grains. I was too hungry and too tired to really bother. Both my sis and Jo commented that I looked really washed out.

Yes. And I still had another day of school before my ‘weekend’.

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