The Best Day and Worst Night Ever

Last Thursday was our first written exam for phase II, which I have made very clear – has been rocking my world – and not in the good way.

This phase is tough.

I haven’t received my grade yet but I left with a very good feeling about it. 

I celebrated (prematurely) by having a double cheeseburger from Five Guys and watching “Ugly Betty”.

Yes… I’m 30 and watch “Ugly Betty”. Wanna make something of it?

The following day was our first practical exam of the phase and my stomach was in knots. During the first phase, we were given the menu for the exam several days before – this phase, we were given it the day of – so there was no way to really practice making the dish in advance or come up with a detailed plan of execution.

The menu was:

Tomato and Zucchini Tartlette

French omlette with tomato concase

Tourned, sauteed potatoes

Chocolate mousse inside of a tulipe

The menu seemed simple enough – certainly something that could be accomplished in three hours. And yet… everything went to hell…

Tulipes… suck. You have to spread the batter really thin on a silpat and let it bake for about 4 minutes, depending on the temperature. The problem is that this isn’t enough time for me to really do anything else while it’s baking and I felt like I had no choice other than to just stand there and wait.

As soon as they turn brown, you have to pull them out and immediately take them off the silpat, which takes a bit of finagling and you are sure to burn yourself, and then bend them over a champagne glass or anything that will allow you to form a “tulipe”.

It took almost everyone in the class at least two tries just to get one decent to serve. Mostly because they break when you try to form them or move them.

Chocolate mousse required Italian meringue – which means that you have to boil sugar and add it to your egg whites while whipping. It also required whipped cream and somehow you need to also melt chocolate and assemble it around the same time.

My first attempt was a bust – I don’t know if there was something in my egg whites but they would not whip. I had to start over but got it together at the very last minute.

The tart came together without much of a hitch – I’ve always had good luck with those. My potatoes also looked pretty good.

I ended up being six minutes late but it was one of those situations where to sacrifice a two point penalty would have gained me about 15 points.

After a brutally long judging process, I received a 94.

I haven’t done this since I was a college freshman but I needed to celebrate – with a lot of liqour.

I met up with some classmates after the exam and lets just say… the night was a blur.

After multiple shots of Johnny Walker Black and Vodka, I woke up the next day to find my couch moved, my record player on (I hope I did not perform a jazz number), and my bathroom – well… decorated – would be a less gross way of saying it.

Saturday was spent crying and cleaning – and apologizing.

94!