SURVIVAL OF THE NOT-SO-FIT

Day #3 of the Patisserie Assessments involved (1) prepare from scratch a Fruit Tarte or Flan and (2) using the Puff Pastry we made earlier to prepare 10 large & 5 small Vol-au-Vents. The Tarte turned out OK, using kiwi as my key color this time. It is child's play compared to the elaborate decorations from my classmates. 'Do you think a customer would buy this cake?' ... well, must you ask embarrassing questions like this? This is the 3rd time I made a flan, twice in Patisserie & once in Cuisine as a dessert. While the recipe & ingredients look simple enough but hidden underneath are techniques that one can only learn from experience. The paste, the creme, the fruits all require 'discipline' - for the lack of a better word - if one were to make a perfect tarte. I passed this one, I am sure it is a mediocre pass when I saw the parade of what others produced. The women in our group, Koreans & Mainland Chinese, are truly creative, how do they do it? The Vol-au-Vents also passed scrutiny. I was literally sweating when I took the dough out from the cool room. To describe it as 'life & death' is not an exaggeration. I am not confident with my technique in the French & English Methods but this time, they came through. The lamination, what the examiners look for, was there, 'not great, but not bad'. The last time I did this the lamination failed, and I cut them too thin, hence the pastries did not puff. To compensate I gave them more thickness (we are talking about the difference of 1-2 mm here) and while acceptable they were too large. 'Now you know what to do the 3rd time, it is all trial & error' ... Chef Michael said, indeed! There it is, I passed 2 out of 3 and await my re-sit on Eclairs next week.

I was relieved as this incredibly stressful week of 6 exams over 6 days was finally over. Passed 5 & Failed 1 .... On the way home I decided this routine of motel-school-motel had to take a spin. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon so I took a detour to visit my neighborhood, West Ryde. Would you beleive there are 3 businesses with company names prominently displayed in Chinese characters, rather than English, on Main Street West Ryde? No joke : a hair salon, a kitchen supplies shop & a vegetarian restaurant that offers daily veggie yum-cha. Andrea, you would be impressed. It was almost 3pm, I was hungry and was attracted by an unassuming Korean restuarant with a catchy name - SING SONG. For the uninitiated Song is a common Korean last name. The late CEO of Phillip Morris Korea, a wonderful business friend of mine whom I dearly miss, was Duck Song. Now .. to add a first name of SING to SONG and then name the restaurant is sheer advertising genius. I ordered a Bi-Bim-Bab to test its authenticity, it was excellent. This Korean staple rice dish managed to cleanse my sweet palate from the past 3 days with the delight of garlic & kimchi, and lots of both. I was very close to paradise with this affordable A$12 indulgence.

Welcome to main stream Australia!