le cordon bleu - day 14

6 out of 6 of the people who tried my eclairs today said they were yummy but at the same time, the same 6 complained about the sickly sweet fondant that sat on top of it (Sorry everyone, it's not my fault. It's part of the class that we learn how to use fondant. You see, in industry, it's actually more economical to purchase fondant in a tub than to make it yourself. Essentially, fondant is sugar syrup that's been crystallised and tabled; the end result being this gluggy white glop that resembles your royal icing sugar. So basically with this tub, you can then break some spoons, pull a few muscles getting it out, warm it to no more than 37 degrees i.e. body temp, and add some flavour/colour to it to get what you're after. The first time I played with fondant I spent about 5 hours icing over 200 cupcakes; it's definitely something I will never forget. Why people like it and use it, it's quite beyond me. It certainly pissed me off the first time and it certainly aggravated a fair few today who used it for the first time. It's going to be one of our assessment items so regardless of whether we like it or not, we're going to have to live with it.) Wouldn't people prefer tempered chocolate on an eclair? By the way, the chef's ones turned out really shiny cause she stuck hers in the fridge (we're not allowed to do that :P)

And yes, I'm feeling much better since Sunday. I could be much better but I guess that will have to wait another day or two until I can get a bit of a sleep in. I was speaking to Swee (a girl who does Super Patisserie - find the link to her blog 'A Self Proclaimed Foodaholic') and she was saying how it's actually much easier to wait till your day off to get better than to miss class. And I agree with her completely; there would be just so much to catch up on (if that's possible). One of the girls in my class was away for the last 3 days and even the chef said to her, 'something really important must've happened for you to miss class'. So far, I'm still hanging in there and I'm promptly in class every morning. My body seems to wake itself up before I do now in the mornings. But gosh, I do miss my sleep-ins.

I told Emily just then that we were making 'Paris Breasts' tomorrow and now that I think of it, it sounds pretty bad. I've left my notes in my locker so maybe it's called something different. More tomorrow!