par punde`

Backed with 2 assignments due in a couple of weeks, which i havent started yet.

Extra reading and lotsa remembering quotes and referencing , for early june exams.

Im coming down with something. something bad. must be the sudden change of weather. its suppose to be spring but its shit cold and pissing with rain everyday. blah.

starting work on thursday at balans. chef wants me to do 28-30 hours over 3 days. fun shit!

faheem and yaz made laksa today. wicked!!

so much going on at the moment. trying to figure things out. have a problem with keeping with my priorities. feeling a bit off-track atm.

pick-me-up juice running out.

nnaammbbbaa ffooorteee tiuuuu. tiuuu poouuunnnd

I hate shopping, always have, always will. Something about the mixture of crowded spaces, noisy spaces and departing with your cash which puts me off. I dont really get why one would endure such hardship of being mingled amongst the rest around the racks. Or walking on the crowded streets ie oxford street, where it is imposible to walk in a straight line longer than 5 yeards before u need to adjust ur direction caused by either a slow geezer, a bunch of WAG crazed youths/young adults out shopping, tourists, or something of that sorts. I went shopping today. I sorta enjoyed it. I enjoyed more the whole roast duck we tapau-ed from china town to eat at home. 12 quid for a whole duck. bargain man!!! fatty but pukka in its own sense.

pastry daa....

I must say pastry classes are getting awfully interesting and challenging with the weeks we`re going into. We were doing petit fours and lil deserts in the start, but now its more `hard core` in my sense (taking into account im not really the best person to talk to pertaining to the making of sweets and such). The work we are more into this term is more to centre pieces and the different mediums of coming up with one, ie chocolate, pastillage, nougatine,sugar,etc. The last 3 weeks have been solely on chocolate work. Interesting, yet fucking messy at the same time. The need for total control and management of work is vital. (And a lot of tissue wipes!) It was around the festive season of Easter which explains the production of animals?? evil looking choc egg 1

evil looking choc egg 2

evil looking choc egg 3 choc squirrel with choc truffles nougatine 1 nougatine 2

Today we were introduced to the art of sugar pulling, blowing and pouring(not necessarily in that order). Really tricky, working with hot sugar (140 degrees celcius), burned fingers, gotta go easy on the colouring. i was feeling butty-boyish. made a heart for you, based on a flat circle with a flower to the side. butty boy butty boy!

sugar 1

sugar 2

sugar 3

Sat nite at 32CT

Last Saturday, we got jez and naj over for for a nite of good food, wine and poker. Goat cheese in filo Roast leg of lamb, roasted veges, aglio olio choc & thyme souffle Screw the starters and desserts, the lamb was pukka!

Pukka Tukka

at 8.30 in the morning, waking up to a nasty hangover.......

Faheem: hey,where the fuck are you?

Joe: err, what? what time is it? im at najs`.

Faheem: the taxi leaves from Ealing at 10 for Bray. Cepat lar bodoh.

Joe: Oh shiiit. ciao

Thats how the day started. I was on the other side of London and i was gonna miss my ride Waterside Inn in Bray. Thank god, i made it and had enough time for a quick wash up. (diana was pissed as i was 30 mins late)
We were off to wine and dine at Michel and Alain Roux`s 3 Michelin star restaurant in Bray. It was a class trip and we only had to pay 20 quid for lunch.( shit the things i have to do for class! hehehe)
The place is by the Thames, really nice and quaint town, and awfully picturesque for the 20 jakun londoners.

We started off with champagne and canapes in their lovely garden with a extending jetty. The platter consisted of:

• deep fried extra thin chips of basil, purple potatoes,etc
• whole anchovies on toast with a basil oil
• quenelle of foie gras on toast (i didnt get any. faheem polished them all)
• a type of olive bread stick

group picture

with apek

canapes

Alors we were ushered in by the extensive amount of penguin dressed captains and servers to our tables. it was as if there was a server to do one job each. a dude to serve the Chablis 2003, one for uncorking the Chateau Falfas 2004, one for pouring stilled water,and one to serve the sparkling.

Starters was a delightful choice of:

• Broad bean soup with prawns and mint

or

• Ballotine of foie gras cooked in a cloth, flavoured with a damson compote, brioche toast.
  

Main course was a choice of:

• Pan fried fillet of sea bream with an olive crust, gnocchi with herbs, virgin olive olive oil sauce with pesto.
  or
  
• Sliced breast of guinea fowl poached and served in a lemon thyme scented consomme, garnished with farfalle pasta and seasonal vegetables

Dessert was a choice of:

• Selection of chocolate desserts

or

• Rasberry tart "Princess" served with a sweet basil sorbet
  
  

The meal was ended with wicked french coffee and petit fours.

Overall the food was really good. I felt the dishes were assorted with really distinctive flavours complementing each other. Really enjoyed the foie gras(havent had much of it in recent times), the fish was good and the tart went miles with the pukka sorbet.

I think i enjoyed the whole visit as a whole and not just concentrating solely on the food. The whole experience of being pampered by french servers, the ambiance, the location, the reputation and the company at the table. hey, how often do u get to a 3-starred michelin restaurant to wine, dine and all that.

the group

un cafe avec diana

housemates

Thames

joe, diana, faheem, mike, ray, adrain, denise

alain roux

glasses

waterside inn

waterside inn's jetty

night out

Had an early start with going for a work trial in a restaurant in high street kensington. This place isn`t exactly fine dining and michelin star-ed and all that, but i thought it would give me a lil start to kitchens in London. http://www.balans.co.uk/ is sorta like an all day restaurant serving all kinda grub from Thai curry to duck breast to all day breakfast plates. The kitchen isn`t too big but its run by a relatively cool Africain, and the good news is that most food is done from scratch.(just how i like things! i have a problem with kitchens relying on convinience products). Chef likes me, pays good, I start next week. Then i was heading back from lilas place, when i bumped into naj, jez and adam. Seemed they were on their way back to naj`s with booze in tow, and i had no choice but to join them. RIght, drinking started early and by 10pm, some one had a brilliant idea to go out on the town. It was to Leicester Sq. Ended up in Storm which was literally SHIT! 20 odd ppl. no one on the dance floor. It was SHIT! After a couple of drinks, headed off to another place where we (I) got rejected by the bouncer(racist doh!) coz he thought we (I) was sick. Ended up in Cheers. Had a good boozy night. Couldnt remember much. p.s. early morning to waterside inn for lunch.

drinks at najs

jez doin her thing

the boys

start to a good night

storm

storm was bad man

moving on

cheers

cheers( who u pablo?)

things went pete tong from here

peciahh

pecccciiiaaah