Practical 2

Today we had our quick breads and cookie practical: make six muffins, 12 chocolate chip cookies, and 6 macaroon sandwiches.

I got a 191/200 (58 muffins, 55 cookies, 58 macaroons, 20 kitchen behavior).

Here's what my mistakes were:

As you can see, my muffins are a little off in shape. I was being just a bit lazy, and instead of just pouring the extra batter to make a tiny seventh, I topped off two of the six. That was stupid since consistency matters in grading. Oh well, he said they tasted good.

Similar problems with consistency for the chocolate chip cookies. I knew that walking up there. I lost 5 points for it because it was so obvious. I need to buy a scoop instead of using my measuring spoons - getting all the batter out of the spoons is a mess. And they're darker than I wanted, but he said it still falls in the acceptable range. And they tasted right too.

No surprise here, but also problems with consistency for the macaroons. I am still frustrated with this process, but at least I'm closer now, so give me a reason to practice whipping eggs and sugar people... throw a party or something! I got the meringue exactly right, but I must be messing something up with my folding technique. I think it's also because it's an intricate process, and I don't have the best attention span or focus - I get bored pretty easily and just want things to be done, especially when I'm tired. I'm not the most dedicated person you'll meet, not even close... So I was disappointed, and even though they didn't spread as much as yesterday, I thought they would get marked down a lot, but he said they tasted fine, and the color is good. Cool.

Then we took a test, which, he's so nice, he found an all multiple choice version instead of fill-in-the-blank. Thank goodness. I still definitely missed some, but at least I have a chance to guess correctly!

I got a 94/100 on the written part of the first exam, and 23/25 on the vocabulary.

Lessons learned:

When you get soaked in the dishroom in an attempt to clear another few feet of dishes, you don't dry very quickly. But getting out at 11pm makes up for it! On that note, I'm off to bed to catch an extra hour of sleep - maybe then I can work out tomorrow afternoon instead of napping for 1.5 hours. And go out tomorrow... Tennessee's sister is visiting and she wants me to meet her. Then possibly Jazz Fest and out again. Mostly, I'm just excited about the fact that I will have time to work out and do laundry. And sleep until I feel like waking up. Here's to three-day weekends!