No lecture. Just work.

We "pushed it out" today, as Chef Lorriann said. Each member of the plated dessert group had three and a half hours to prepare a single plate for competency evaluation. The bread group spent the morning making pizzas for all, and delivering a couple of them to Chefs throughout the building. For those of us on the buffet team, today was the culmination of our week's efforts.

The CCA restaurant has lunch buffet on Fridays, and it's quite amazingly elaborate. Our class contributes the desserts. I started out today with my cheesecakes and mousse cakes, piping them with whipped cream and decorating them with berries. I unmolded the creme caramels and fancied them up, as well. My challenge of the week -- I kid you not -- were "tuxedo strawberries", dipped once in melted white chocolate coating, then dipped again, twice, in melted dark chocolate to make the "coat" -- a process that I could not master cleanly. It was slow-going and messy, and I had to stop several times to remelt the chocolate. Finally, I piped bow-ties and buttons, using a folded parchment paper piping bag. It was a series of "Breathe deeply. Wash the chocolate off your hands. Begin again."Our buffet table included dozens of cookies that the bread team made earlier in the week, as well as the chocolates we made on Wednesday.In the middle of the table, we arranged a marble slab covered with little two-bite cakes.I left class with a fabulously messy coat and apron (this week's laundry will definitely require a pre-wash soak), and a great feeling of accomplishment.