Day 22: Ice. Cream.

This most delicious class began with the preparation of additional frozen desserts. In our texts, these products were referred to rather unromantically as simply “frozen dessert” of various flavors; they’re the things on menus that usually end up with names like Pineapple Paradise or Strawberries and Dream. They’re somewhat mousse-like in texture, being creamy and whipped. We poured our coffee flavored dessert into pyramid-shaped molds, and our banana flavor went into molds shaped like straight-sided eggs. I don’t know if I have my partner’s approval on this one or not, but I think “Espresso at Giza” and “Gorilla Eggs” might have been my choices for more inventive menu-naming. These molds went into the freezer (next door, of course) for the weekend.

We followed this by a lengthy group discussion of material for our Module I final and practical examinations, which are coming up next week, believe it or not. We also practiced slicing apples. It’s a fairly simple concept, but executing it in a very consistent manner is actually rather challenging. In addition to more apple-slicing, this weekend will find me making soufflés and folding, filling, and using cornets – these three activities comprise the practical portion of the exam.

At the end of this practice, with fully two hours of class remaining, we retrieved our ice creams and sorbets from the freezer. We then proceeded to plate them, using our pizzelles and tulipes from earlier in the week as well as our sauces. We were instructed to eat as much of them as we wanted to, which for some of us, such as me, was a lot. (A disturbing trend I'm noticing lately is that it amuses people when I gorge myself.) As we began plating them, we were informed that a pork class was in the mood for ice cream, so we sent a couple dozen plates up their way. Their pork wasn’t finished by the time we were done for the evening, allegedly. I take it as a given that we have advance credit in the pork department for one night next week.

Now, back to the books!