Intermediate Patisserie Begins

Today was my first day of Intermediate.  We received our binders and had our first demo.  I also received my certificate for completing Basic with a "mention bien." Above 50% is passing, above 80% is "mention bien (credit)," and above 90% is "mention tres bien (distinction)." I was a few points higher than the class average and was very happy to receive mention bien.  I'm not sure how many people received mention tres bien. I heard of one.

This term we will be building on a lot of things we learned in Basic - more puff pastry, croissants, brioche, lots of cakes, sponges, and mousses, more advanced chocolate work, and we'll end with an introduction to sugar work.  Our groups got switched up a bit.  My closest friend is not in my group this time, but another good friend that was not in my group now is.  We now have five groups of ten instead of seven groups of nine.  We were already feeling crowded in the kitchens with nine people so it should be interesting to see how it is with ten.  Our demos now include all five groups including those doing both cuisine and patisserie (grand diplome).  Last term we were split up and the grand diplome groups were not in our demos.  This is definitely going to bring a new dynamic to the demos.  The cuisine students tend to be a little louder and have a different attitude than the patisserie students.

A good thing about my schedule this term is that I have a lot of Thursdays and Fridays off.  Hopefully I'll be able to get in some good trips this term.  We have this Friday and next Monday off for Easter and I'm going to Scotland with a friend to take advantage of the extra long weekend.  I'm also very happy to have visitors!  I have my first vistors coming in a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to it.