Intermediate French Cuisine

The past few days had been surprisingly easy. I guess it's becoz instead of cooking individually, my chefs allowed us to cook in groups of two, which significantly reduced our workload. I discovered something about myself over the past few days. I find myself working so much better in a group rather than individually. It's really weird...coz when I was still in Uni, I had so much trouble working in groups. I never really wanted to put much effort in group assignments and most of the grades that I got from group assignments are only average. So I was kinda surprised at myself when I actually enjoyed the group effort during practical classes.

On Wednesday, I had one of the best demo lessons ever. Chef Ross was our demo teacher and he was just totally AWESOME!!! It was definitely one of the busiest demo that he had to show, coz there were like 3 recipes that needed to be made and he was all on his own. Plus, that lesson was really technical coz there were so many skills involved, such as cutting precision vegetable cuts, making pastry, cutting up and deboning the pheasant and presentation skills. All these procedures were very technical and time-consuming...but man...Chef Ross made it all look so damn easy. He's the type of chef that makes you feel proud of choosing this career path. He is such an inspiration to me...and the stuff he does just keeps motivating me all the time. Sometimes you'd even find my jaw wide open....coz I really am in awe!! I'm telling ya...he's definitely my role model and I really wish that he could teach all three demos that we have. He really is the "Chef Awesome."

However, Chef Ross got a little pissed off towards the end of the demo and it's all the Korean clique's fault. These people can be so rude and greedy sometimes, and it makes us all Asians look so bad. Okay this is what happened. When Chef Ross removed the sponge cake from the oven, he cut the cake up into small pieces. He hasn't even plated the cake yet, and these bunch of Koreans just helped themselves with the cake while Chef Ross has his back turned for a couple of seconds. When Chef turned around and saw them all grabbing the cake with their hands, he got so pissed off and yelled at them. He was like, "Hey what are you doing...it's not ready yet. Come on guys...I haven't even plated the cake yet and you guys are already trying to help yourselves. How could you guys be so rude?"

And you know what they did? They just giggled amongst themselves and didn't even apologize. OMG...it was just so rude. I couldn't help it but I kinda felt like I was implicated too....coz u know, they're Asians and I'm Asian too...I just felt so embarrassed. I mean seriously...these ppl gotta learn some manners. I could let that go...coz I thought that maybe they're just too anxious to taste that delicious sponge cake that Chef Ross had baked. Fine...I could totally let that go. But u know what happened next? After Chef Ross has plated the cake, he announced that whoever has already taken a piece of the cake just now shouldn't have another piece coz there's not enough for everyone to taste, and that we should share a piece between 2-3 ppl. But still, they totally ignored him and they went for their second serving. And u know what? I saw this Korean girl took about 3-4 slices of the cake to share amongst her 3 friends...and u're not supposed to do that, coz Chef has already said to share one piece between 2 or 3 ppl becoz there's not enough for everyone. And in the end, me and my group of friends never got to taste it becoz by the time we were in front of the queue, the cake's gone.

I'm telling ya, I don't like to stereotype people and their culture...but sometimes it's difficult not to. U know, I just talk about what I see. I mean really, Asians can be so freakin' rude, selfish and greedy. Freakin' Koreans man....for shit's sake....they bow to each other when they greet to show respect and manners....but when it's time to eat, they eat like hungry ghosts that haven't eaten in centuries. Don't u think that it's so paradoxical?? It's all so superficial man...I guess that's why I could never hang out with them.

I could totally understand if these people come from a small village where it's all still under-developed and uncivilized. But DUDE...it's freakin' Korea man....and most of them are from the big cities like Seoul and Suwon!! Where the bloody hell are their freakin' manners??? I mean I'm from a small town called Kota Kinabalu, where some idiotic ppl still think we live on trees, have better manners than these ppl who live in big developed cities like Seoul?? To make it worse...some of them are actually in their late 20s and early 30s. Unbelievable?? Well, believe it!!

I guess I'll stop bad-mouthing the Koreans now...lol. I'm sorry...I really don't mean to stereotype...but like I said...I say what I see. Anyway...here are some pictures of the food that I made last week and the past three days.


This dessert is called Tulip Basket with Lemon Cream topped with strawberries. As you can see, the base is shaped like a Tulip basket...and the inside is filled with lemon cream and fresh strawberries. The texture of the tulip basket is actually similar to those chinese fortune cookies...in fact...they might be exactly the same, which is why the biscuit base can be shaped into any shapes that you like.
This is a traditional French fish stew called "Bouillabaise". It's got 8 different varieties of fish in there, plus mussels and scampies. Very delicious dish.
This dish is called "Stuffed Squid a la Provencale." It's basically squid with stuffing and it's half braised in a nice refreshing sauce. I personally love this dish very much.
This is a puff pastry dish with marinated tuna inside it.
I thought this was kinda cute...it's just puff pastry shaped like a giant leaf with scallops inside. I didn't make this....Chef made it during demo.
This is definitely the highlight dish of the week. This is "Pheasant breasts in puff pastry with truffle sauce." This is one of my favorite dish of all time. The pheasant breasts are wrapped around in a piece of crepe and then wrapped around with puff pastry. Then it's baked in the oven until cooked. And the sauce is magnificent...or at least the one that I made. Lol..
This is actually a cold soup called "Gazpacho Andalouse." Yes it's a cold and refreshing soup. It's got capsicums, tomatoes, spanish onions, garlic, cucumbers and tomato juice blended together. It sounds disgusting...but it's actually very tasty.
Same thing...but served in a martini glass.
This dish is called "Brandade of Cod and Leek with Garlic Cream." It's basically just mash potato with flakes of cod fish mixed together. This dish was way too salty...coz whoever marinated the fish put way too much salt.