Day 30

Well it was bitter sweet today. On the one hand we had the exam, on the other, it was Pizza day! Truely bitter/sweet.

I got myself in nice and eatly to help was the salad, with the pri,e intention of learning them asap. And I pretty well got them all done. Salad Burnette, Edibile Chrysanthemum, Mizuna, Mibuna, Rocket, Green Mustard Greens, Red Mustard Greens, Tat-Soi, Pak-choi, Butterleaf were all there, amongst others.

So after i was comfortable with them, it was in to the deomonstration on Pizza. They've got a really cool wood fired oven here, and they've had to have it burning now for 3 days. But it looks amazing, and for anyone that's ever had a pizza from a wood ovem you'll know it's worth it. There was also demonstrations on Stromboli and other Italian breads like Forcachia.

Unfortunately for me, I stayed up til about 1am the precious night watching Lost and 24, not the best preparation for an exam I know, but it had to be done none the less.
I say unfortunately because straight after the demo, and after at least 4 moments of "closed eyeness", I was knackered. So i turned round to the girl I sit next to in Demo's (we've all settled in to our own little seats now) and asked if I could have a sleep in her car. She gladly obliged and I went in to her people carrier, and there I spent the next 2 hours. I MISSED THE PIZZA! Bollocks.

Anyway it left me reasonably prepared for the exam, and off I walked in there to do my herb/salad part. There was a station set up for me with 15 herbs and 5 salad leaves. And I'll be very surprised if I didn't get them all right, even with my fool-proof learning technique. We also had to name 2 dishes that we could serve with each herb. Some, like Fennel, I had only ever used once before so I couldn't name both. But I had about 90% of them, so I was reasonably happy. And after a quick test on place setting, I walked out a pretty happy man. Walked out in to the next part of the exam that is.......

So onwards it was to the technique part. Again you walk in the room and there was 2 random techniques that they would ask you to perfom. I was given scrambled egg and mayonaisse. 2 things I hadn't made before here. I aced them both though. Can't say I agree about their method of cooking eggs, I prefer the one i've read in Nigel Slaters excellent Real Fast Food.

You should have seen my face when I walked out of there. Chuffed.