So a great deal has changed for me in the past 6 weeks. I was busy towards the end of February wrapping up everything in Korea and saying farewell to some excellent friends. March was my first month back in sunny England and my my, how I have gorged myself on cheese, apple pie and other long awaited treats.
I have been job hunting and spent rather a lot of time looking into supply teaching work, but as I have had a long planned 10 day cookery course booked in at the renowned Bettys of Harrogate I decided to see if there were any jobs available there. Working at Bettys would be an absolute dream, especially if it allowed me to develop skills and enjoy my work.
So I applied and I got a job working at Bettys Harlow Carr in Harrogate!!! :)
So I am one very pleased little lady. But back to the current turn of events, I have today worked myself into an exhaustion cooking up a storm. It was day one of my much anticipated cookery course.
Today we learnt knife skills including crudities, brunoise and julienne, Chicken stock, Beef stock, Vegetable soup, Houmous, Victoria sponge, Buttercream, Roast red pepper sauce, Chicken basil and parma ham, Pomme puree and Sauteed courgette.
Although I have previously made a few of these things many times, it was interesting learning about the reasoning behind each and every ingredient, the importance of how and why chefs hold their knives in a certain way and the painstaking attention you must pay when skimming the scum from a good Chicken stock!
Feed back for my Houmous and crudites was excellent, apparently my batons were perfectly cut into equal lengths and widths, my soup needed a little more seasoning.
The Vic sponge looks so good, but I am saving it for the weekend so didn't get to sample it. The key point I took away from this quite simple recipe was aeration and more aeration. Also it's helpful to use a thermometer inside the oven to ensure your oven is the perfect temp. The original Victoria sponge was sprinkled with castor sugar and not icing sugar. It looks a bit like it is smiling!
My main dish of chicken and parma ham was presented in threes which is apparently a nice number for the eye to look upon.
Hardest part of the day: Pushing my potatoes through a sieve.
Funnest part: Piping butter cream onto my sponge cake!
There are a variety of people on the course, including a lady from Japan who is working next to me.
I am looking forward to the next 9 days. Tomorrow will be a day of study towards our food hygiene certificate....
I have been job hunting and spent rather a lot of time looking into supply teaching work, but as I have had a long planned 10 day cookery course booked in at the renowned Bettys of Harrogate I decided to see if there were any jobs available there. Working at Bettys would be an absolute dream, especially if it allowed me to develop skills and enjoy my work.
So I applied and I got a job working at Bettys Harlow Carr in Harrogate!!! :)
So I am one very pleased little lady. But back to the current turn of events, I have today worked myself into an exhaustion cooking up a storm. It was day one of my much anticipated cookery course.
Today we learnt knife skills including crudities, brunoise and julienne, Chicken stock, Beef stock, Vegetable soup, Houmous, Victoria sponge, Buttercream, Roast red pepper sauce, Chicken basil and parma ham, Pomme puree and Sauteed courgette.
Although I have previously made a few of these things many times, it was interesting learning about the reasoning behind each and every ingredient, the importance of how and why chefs hold their knives in a certain way and the painstaking attention you must pay when skimming the scum from a good Chicken stock!
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| Vegetable Soup and Houmous with crudities- Betty certificate course. |
Feed back for my Houmous and crudites was excellent, apparently my batons were perfectly cut into equal lengths and widths, my soup needed a little more seasoning.
 |
| Victoria Sponge - Bettys certificate course. |
The Vic sponge looks so good, but I am saving it for the weekend so didn't get to sample it. The key point I took away from this quite simple recipe was aeration and more aeration. Also it's helpful to use a thermometer inside the oven to ensure your oven is the perfect temp. The original Victoria sponge was sprinkled with castor sugar and not icing sugar. It looks a bit like it is smiling!
 |
| Chicken, basil and parma ham with roasted pepper sauce, pomme puree and sauteed courgette- Bettys certificate course. |
My main dish of chicken and parma ham was presented in threes which is apparently a nice number for the eye to look upon.
Hardest part of the day: Pushing my potatoes through a sieve.
Funnest part: Piping butter cream onto my sponge cake!
There are a variety of people on the course, including a lady from Japan who is working next to me.
I am looking forward to the next 9 days. Tomorrow will be a day of study towards our food hygiene certificate....
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