This past weekend, Friday April 8th to Sunday April 10th was the 2nd time I competed in the National Chocolate Competition.
Brief: On Thursday the night before the competition, I create well in advance a sculpted mermaid piece and a rolled out chocolate octopus. This was 4 weeks in advance. Unfortunately, the pieces broke and i spent all night trying to repair it, but no luck.
So I decided to not go to the competition. (for those who don't know me, I'm not a quitter :) My Chef emailed the head judge and said I wasn't attending. Shortly after some tears, running home, I received an email from the lady from the Academy encouraging me to come. I called her and after an hour or so, many solutions later.. I hopped on a greyhound to Toronto and went to the competition, after one of the generous ladies picked me up from Yorkdale mall.
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At the Competition College..
When I had arrived at Humber, I was surprisingly calm. I entered the kitchen with no expectations. I was greeted with a warm hug from Lianne and many "hello's!!" Very warm and inviting atmosphere. I glanced around the room with a familiar sense of relief. I walked over to my station, workstation #8. ***Might I note that this station was infront of everyone, the audience. ****** this was extremely nerve racking.
I put all my chocolate equipment away, rolls, spatulas, etc.. I was incredibly fortunate to have the chefs at Humber college assist me in all my ingredients that I needed and equipment that I needed for that day. ******FOREVER GRATEFUL!!***
Fortunately, I had a hotel room booked to stay in for the nights at the Comfort Inn. Everything was going to be awesome, just from going and participating in this exciting event.
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Showpiece Day
Saturday morning at 6:20am, I woke up extremely calm and ready for the day to come. That day we had to create a showpiece with the theme, "Under the Sea" . I made mine all on site, for those of you who don't know, showpieces take months to prepare for. It turned out pretty good considering what I had done.
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Moulded Bonbon, Dipped Bonbon, Plated Dessert Day
Sunday Morning, at 7:20am, I entered the college kitchen with a mild plan of what i was going to create. The first deadline was the moulded bonbon, I made a dot of green white chocolate with St Dominque chocolate coating filled with mango mousse and white chocolate ganache finished with a crunch, quite tasty.
Dipped Praline was Soft Caramel with a hazelnut ganache dipped in Cuban Chocolate. Plated dessert was a parfait nougatine layered with chocolate brownie, with chocolate decorations, roasted hazelnut truffle, toasted coconut ice cream.
Overall, GREAT WEEKEND!!
J
